1,721,056 research outputs found
Cough and ACE Inhibitors: The Truth Beyond Placebo.
No full textAngiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors are extensively used for the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular diseases with a wide range of clinical recommendations. The use of ACE inhibitors can cause the onset of a dry cough, whose prevalence has probably been overestimated because of the lack of adequate control. A correct interpretation of available data requires a careful evaluation of placebo-controlled studies to definitely assess the rate of the most frequent adverse event of ACE inhibition
Work-related cardiovascular stress in orthodontists: A pilot project
No full textBackground Contemporary orthodontics involves many potentially hazardous factors, including psychological stress with proven undesirable sequelae. The purpose of this study was to gain more insight into cardiocirculatory dynamics in orthodontists during work time and specifically to investigate the potential hazard of a series of orthodontic-related stressors. Material and methods The study population consisted of 10 orthodontists (five men and five women, aged 32–65; mean 57 ± 12). A 24-hour automatic device was fitted to each orthodontist to monitor blood pressure and heart rate. The parameter used for statistical analysis was myocardial oxygen consumption (MVO2) as the product of heart rate and systolic blood pressure (double product). Results The mean MVO2 percent increase in the entire population of orthodontists during the working day was 25.5 ± 14.1 with a range of 0% to 73%. The mean MVO2 percent increase during operative performances was 29.0 ± 14.1 versus 21.2 ± 13.3 during nonoperative performances; the difference was statistically significant (F = 11.7; P < 0.01). The mean MVO2 percent increase in the presence of parents was 28.5 ± 15.2 versus 22.6 ± 12.4 in the absence of parents; the difference was statistically significant (F = 5.4; P < 0.05). A statistically significant relationship was found between single values of MVO2 percent increases during performances and the degree of patient cooperation (F = 9.4; r = 0.27; P < 0.01). No statistically significant relationship (F = 1.9) was found between single values of MVO2 percent increases during performances and single values of subjective stress experienced by each orthodontist during each performance. Conclusions Routine practice affects the cardiovascular system of orthodontists during the working day. Lack of patient cooperation and psychological pressure from parents in the dental office may have a negative impact on the degree of circulatory dynamics
An evidence-based review on urate-lowering treatments: implications for optimal treatment of chronic hyperuricemia
Full text linkSeveral studies suggest that chronic hyperuricemia, the main precursor of gout, is involved in the pathogenesis of different systemic disorders that affect cardiovascular and renal systems, such as hypertension, obesity, hypercholesterolemia, atherosclerosis, metabolic syndrome, chronic heart failure, and chronic kidney disease. Recent epidemiological evidence has shown an increasing trend in the prevalence of hyperuricemia and gout in the Western world: a number of population-based studies estimate a prevalence of up to 21% for hyperuricemia and 1%-4% for gout. As such, early detection and careful management of this pathological condition is required, starting from lifestyle changes (mainly based on a diet low in red meat, sugars, and alcoholic beverages, with increased intake of vegetables, water, and vitamin C sources), adding specific drugs to lead serum uric acid (SUA) levels under the target value of 7 mg/dL. In particular, nonselective and selective XO inhibitors (allopurinol, oxypurinol, febuxostat) reduce SUA levels and the overproduction of reactive oxygen species, mainly related to XO overactivity that often causes inflammatory damage to the vascular endothelium. The effect of lowering SUA levels via XO inhibition includes an attenuation of oxidative stress and related endothelial dysfunction that largely contribute to the pathophysiology of metabolic syndrome and cardiovascular diseases. Therefore, the inhibition of XO overactivation seems to be an excellent therapeutic option to limit the harmful effects of excess UA and reactive oxygen species. In conclusion, rapid diagnosis and correct therapy for hyperuricemia may also improve the prevention and/or treatment of serious and multifactorial diseases. The available evidence supports the importance of promoting new experimental clinical trials to confirm the emerging antioxidant role of XO inhibitors, which could effectively contribute to cardiovascular and chronic kidney disease prevention
Effect of combined lipid-lowering and antioxidant nutraceutical on plasma lipids, endothelial function, and estimated cardiovascular disease risk in moderately hypercholesterolemic patients: a double-blind, placebo-controlled randomized clinical trial
No full textIntroduction: Nutraceuticals are a good means to lower cardiovascular risk. Having established a reasonable pharmacological background, a new nutraceutical combination should be tested in clinical trials. Material and methods: This double-blind, placebo-controlled randomized clinical trial aims to evaluate the modulating effect, in a setting of controlled nutritional habits, of a combined food supplement with DIF1STAT (based on red yeast rice with a very low content of monacolins, linear aliphatic alcohols and niacin) and Olea europaea on plasma lipids and endothelial function, in a group of 40 healthy, moderately hypercholesterolemic patients in primary cardiovascular prevention. Results: After 8 weeks of treatment, when compared to the placebo group, the active treated patients experienced significant improvements of different metabolic parameters and endothelial reactivity compared to placebo. The treated patients showed a statistically significant percentage change in total cholesterol (-12.25 delta% vs. -1.8%, p < 0.01), low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol (-28.7 delta% vs. -1.1%, p < 0.01), high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol (+4.99% vs. +0.9%, p < 0.05), non-HDL cholesterol (-16.02 delta% vs. -1.5%, p < 0.01), SUA (-12.96 delta%, p < 0.05) and endothelial reactivity (+6.73% vs. -1.4%, p < 0.01). In both groups, there was no case of intolerance and the safety parameters were unchanged. Conclusions: The tested nutraceutical association is able to significantly improve different lipid parameters compared to placebo, and endothelial reactivity compared to baseline. Even if the study power appears to be adequate for the primary endpoints, the effect on endothelial function needs confirmation in a longer clinical trial
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
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
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Full text linkWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
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