1,721,135 research outputs found
Effects of aerobic exercise training in children after the Fontan operation
Full text linkAm J Cardiol. 2005 Jan 1;95(1):150-2.
Effects of aerobic exercise training in children after the Fontan operation.
Opocher F, Varnier M, Sanders SP, Tosoni A, Zaccaria M, Stellin G, Milanesi O.
Source
Department of Pediatrics, Medical and Surgical Sciences, University of Padova, School of Medicine, Padova, Italy.
Abstract
It was demonstrated that patients who have undergone the Fontan operation can safely undertake exercise training and that this results in an improvement in aerobic capacity. These findings suggest that aerobic training could be useful in the long-term management of these patients to optimize their cardiovascular fitness for more active lives.
PMID:
15619417
[PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE
Human microsporidiosis: emergence of a new opportunistic microorganism in patients infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).
No full text
Treatment of brain metastases in uncommon tumors
No full textMelanoma spreads to the CNS with an incidence of 4 to 20%. Metastases from cancer of the colorectal and genitourinary tract, as well as sarcoma, are less frequent (1%). Surgery should be considered for single brain metastases in patients with controllable disease. Stereotactic needle biopsy may still be worthwhile to confirm diagnosis, and also in patients whose tumors are considered unresectable. Whole-brain radiotherapy is the treatment of choice for most brain metastases, since more than 70% of patients have multiple metastases at the time of diagnosis. Radiosurgery is particularly useful for patients unable to tolerate surgery and for patients with lesions inaccessible to surgery. Chemotherapy could be useful in patients with asymptomatic brain metastases and uncontrolled extracranial disease, depending on performance status and previous chemotherapy received
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
The effect of reward expectation on the time course of perceptual decisions
No full textPerceptual discriminations can be strongly biased by the expected reward for a correct decision but the neural mechanisms underlying this influence are still partially unclear. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) during a task requiring to arbitrarily associate a visual stimulus with a specific action, we have recently shown that perceptual decisions are encoded within the same sensory-motor regions responsible for planning and executing specific motor actions. Here we examined whether these regions additionally encode the amount of expected reward for a perceptual decision. Using a task requiring to associate a gradually unmasked female vs. male picture with a spatially-directed hand pointing or saccadic eye movement, we examined whether the fMRI time course of effector-selective regions was modulated by the amount of expected reward. In both the pointing-selective parietal reach region (PRR) and the saccade-selective posterior intraparietal region (pIPS), reward-related modulations were only observed after the onset of the stimulus, during decision formation. However, while in the PRR these modulations were specific for the preferred pointing response, the pIPS showed greater activity when either a saccadic or a pointing movement was associated with a greater reward relative to neutral conditions. Interestingly, the fusiform face area showed a similar reward-related but response-independent modulation, consistent with a general motivational signal rather than with a mechanism for biasing specific sensory or motor representations. Together, our results support an account of perception as a process of probabilistic inference in which top-down and bottom-up information are integrated at every level of the cortical hierarchy
Can you change my preferences? Effect of social influence on intertemporal choice behavior
No full textThe present study presents a novel social observation paradigm to examine whether temporal discounting (TD) can be modulated in a specific direction. In particular, after estimating a baseline discount rate, we exposed subjects to a pattern of choice that was opposite to their baseline preferences, i.e., subjects preferring immediate over delayed rewards were exposed to a farsighted pattern of behavior and vice-versa. The results showed a significant decrease of the discount rate in the discounter group and an increase in the farsighted group. The effect was mainly guided by a modification of the subjective values at short time delays and was stronger in subjects with extreme, compared to mild, baseline preferences. Importantly, the magnitude and direction of the effect predicted the baseline preferences. These findings have potentially very relevant implications for the prevention and treatment of clinical conditions, such as addition-related disorders, characterized by severe impairments of decision-making mechanisms
Effects of individual discount rate and uncertainty perception on compliance with containment measures during the COVID-19 pandemic
Full text linkAnti-contagion measures restricting individual freedom, such as social distancing and wearing a mask, are crucial to contain the COVID-19 pandemic. Decision-making patterns and attitudes about uncertainty can highly influence the adherence to these restrictive measures. Here we investigated the relationship between risky behavior and individual preferences for immediate vs. delayed reward, as indexed by temporal discounting (TD), as well as the association between these measures and confidence in the future, perceived risk and confidence in the containment measures. These measures were collected through an online survey administered on 353 participants at the end of the more restrictive phase of the first Italian lockdown. The results showed an unexpected inverse relationship between the individual pattern of choice preferences and risky behavior, with an overall greater adherence to containment measures in more discounter participants. These findings were interpreted in terms of a reframing process in which behaviors aimed at protecting oneself from contagion turn into immediate gains rather than losses. Interestingly, an excessive confidence in a better future was correlated with a higher tendency to assume risky behavior, thereby high-lighting the downside of an overly and blindly optimistic view
Long-term results of a prospective study on the treatment of medulloblastoma in adults
No full textAbstract
BACKGROUND:
Because medulloblastoma (MB) is rare in adults, the few studies on this condition have been retrospective, and the follow-up has tended to be short. Furthermore, the different therapeutic strategies used in these patients has made it difficult to assess survival rates and prognostic factors.
METHODS:
In 1989, a prospective Phase II trial was initiated to evaluate the efficacy of treatment for adults with MB. Patients were staged completely with a neuroradiologic examination of the brain and neuroaxis and by cerebrospinal fluid cytology, according to Chang's staging system. Low-risk patients received radiotherapy alone, whereas high-risk patients received 2 cycles of upfront chemotherapy followed by radiotherapy and adjuvant chemotherapy. The current article reports on the long-term results from that trial.
RESULTS:
After a median follow up of 7.6 years, among a total of 36 adults with MB, the overall progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) rates at 5 years were 72% and 75%, respectively. In low-risk patients, the 5-year PFS rate was 80%, and the 5-year OS rate was 80%; in high-risk patients, the 5-year PFS rate was 69%, and the 5-year OS rate was 73%.
CONCLUSIONS:
In adult patients with MB, long-term follow-up was essential for evaluating the real impact of treatments. Low-risk and high-risk patients did not differ significantly in terms of PFS or OS
- …
