1,720,985 research outputs found
Reversible megaoesophagus associated with primary hypothyroidism in a dog
No full textHypothyroidism has historically been cited as a possible cause of megaesophagus. However, a definitive association between hypothyroidism and megaesophagus has not been proved.
A 7-year old entire female German Shepherd dog was presented with a ten day history of regurgitation a few minutes after feeding. It was also reported that the dog was weak and had nonpruritic dermatological abnormalities since months: poor and dull hair coat and hair loss.
On the physical examination, the dog had a body condition score of 6/9 and a diffusely poor, dull and dry hair coat with bilaterally symmetric rarefaction in the truncal area, alopecia and hyperpigmentation in the friction areas and on the tail was evidenced. The remainder of the physical examination was unremarkable.
The blood results showed a moderate non regenerative normochromic and normocytic anaemia and a mild increase in serum cholesterol concentration.
On survey radiographies (figure 1) of the thorax, pre and post barium PO administration, a consistently diffuse megaesophagus was evident.
Further diagnostic work-up included: measurement of serum canine thyroid stimulating hormone (cTSH), recombinant human thyroid stimulating hormone (rhTSH) stimulation test to investigate hypothyroidism, measurement of Acetylcholine (Ach) receptor antibodies to investigate MG and skin scraping to investigate demodicosis.
There was a high concentration of cTSH associated with low basal total thyroxine (T4) which did not increase six hours post stimulation. These findings allowed to diagnose a primary hypothyroidism.
The serology for Ach receptors antibodies was negative and, therefore, a focal MG was considered less likely.
The final diagnosis was hypothyroidism associated with most likely secondary megaesophagus.
Treatment was initiated with levothyroxine 20 μg/kg body weight q12h PO and specific feeding instructions for the megaesophagus were recommended.
One week later the owner was telephonically contacted, he reported that the dog was much more active and not regurgitating anymore.
Twenty five days after treatment the dog was in a good general condition, the haircoat was less dull, with new areas of hairgrowth. Follow up blood results and chest radiographies (figure 1) were within normal limits.
Two years after the diagnosis, the dog is clinically well and no further dermatological signs or regurgitations are reported.
The association between hypothyroidism and megaesophagus is controversial. In a retrospective study by Jaggy and others (1994) of 29 hypothyroid dogs, four had megaesophagus; one dog showed an improvement of the esophageal clinical signs after therapy but radiological evidence of megaesophagus persisted in all dogs. As previously reported, complete resolution of clinical and radiographic signs was achieved in our case. Although concurrent MG was unlikely, it was not possible to completely exclude spontaneous recovery from a focal MG at the same time of levothyroxine supplementation.
Finally, only the suspension of levothyroxine therapy, with a recrudescence of the megaesophagus, could have proven irrefutably the connection between hypothyroidism and megaesophagus, however, such procedure was not performed for ethical reasons
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Epidemiologia delle batteriemie e tempi di positivizzazione delle emocolture: valutazione di due sistemi automatici
No full textTrattamento delle batteriemie: possibili strategie per ottenere migliori risultati terapeutici: XXXI CONGRESSO NAZIONALE AMCLI, RIMINI, 17-20 SETTEMBRE 2002
No full textPlasmid-mediated multidrug resistance in an epidemic strain of Klebsiella pneumoniae causing nosocomial infections
No full textEVALUATION OF THE PHOENIX AUTOMATED MICROBIOLOGY SYSTEM IN IDENTIFICATION AND AST OF CLINICAL ISOLATES OF PSEUDOMONAS SPP. AND OTHER NONFERMENTING GRAM- NEGATIVE BACTERIA
No full text
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
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