1,720,963 research outputs found
Laparoscopic pyeloplasty for repair of pelviureteric junction obstruction in children
Full text linkPurpose: The aim of this study was to report our initial experience with laparoscopic pyeloplasty (LP) in children with pelviureteric junction (PUJ) obstruction and describe the evolution and evaluate the results. Materials and Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the records of 32 consecutive infants and children with unilateral ureteropelvic junction obstruction and deterioration of renal function on isotope renography, who underwent LP (19 on the right, 13 on the left) between May 2003 and January 2007. Twenty-three were males and 9 females. The mean age was 7.7 years old (range, 2 months to 17 years); the patient was placed in a three quarter lateral position and three ports were used. The PUJ was resected and the anastomosis was made by using absorbable sutures. A JJ stent was inserted by laparoscopy in most patients. Follow-up included clinical and ultrasound assessment, followed by isotopic renography at 6 months. Results: LP was feasible in 29 of 32 patients (91). The procedure could not be completed by laparoscopy in 3 patients; the main reason was difficulty in completing the anastomosis. Only 1 patient with a big redundant renal pelvis underwent a reduction. Stent insertion was successful in all, except 1 patient. An aberrant crossing vessel was found in 12 patients. We held up the aberrant crossing vessel and PUJ with two- or three-point - not absorbable - sutures, without the needed pyeloplasty in 2 of them. The other 10 underwent a LP enabled ureteric transposition. Three patients presented with postoperative complications: pyelonephritis in 2 patients and PUJ leakage in 1 who underwent nephrostomy with a further uneventful course. Mean operative time was 152 minutes (range, 120-270), and average hospital stay was 4.7 days (range, 1-8). In 1 patient, cystoscopy showed that the JJ stent was not in the bladder at the time of removal, and ureteroscopy was used to retrieve it. Mean follow-up was 22 months (range, 2-56). A total of 29 patients (91) were asymptomatic after removal of the double JJ stent, showing a reduction of the degree of hydronephrosis in all patients, and had also improved PUJ drainage on isotope renography or sonography. Conclusions: LP is effective and safe in children with minimal morbidity and gives excellent short-term results. The feasibility is also excellent in patients younger than 1 year. The transabdominal approach revealed good exposition without disadvantages for the patient. © 2009 Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. 2009
One-trocar versus multiport hybrid laparoscopic appendectomy: What’s the best option for children with acute appendicitis? Results of an international multicentric study
No full textOne-trocar laparoscopic appendectomy (OTA) is routinely adopted in children with acute appendicitis. In case of a difficult appendectomy, it is necessary to add additional trocar/s to safely complete the procedure. This technique is called multiport hybrid laparoscopic appendectomy (HLA). We aimed to compare the outcome of multiport HLA versus OTA.
METHODS:
We retrospectively reviewed the data of 1,092 patients underwent LA in 5 European centers of pediatric surgery in the last 5 years. We compared 2 groups: G1 of 575 patients (52.6 %) (average age 10 years) underwent OTA and G2 of 517 patients (47.4 %) (average age 8.2 years) underwent multiport HLA.
RESULTS:
No intra-operative complications occurred in both groups. An additional pathology was treated in 12 cases (8 Meckel's diverticulum, 2 carcinoids, 2 ovarian cysts) in G2. Operative time was significantly shorter in G2 compared to G1 (47.8 vs 58.6 min; p < .001). The average analgesic requirement was significantly shorter in G2 compared to G1 (44 vs 56 h; p < .001). As for postoperative complications, the incidence of port-site infections was similar between the two groups, while the incidence of postoperative abdominal abscesses (PAA) was significantly higher in G1 compared to G2 (4.7 vs 0.2 %; p < .001). The cosmetic outcome was excellent in all patients of both groups. A subgroup analysis between complicated and uncomplicated appendicitis showed that only in complicated cases, the average operative time, the average VAS pain score, the average analgesic requirements and the incidence of PAA were significantly higher in OTA group compared to multiport HLA group (p < .001).
CONCLUSIONS:
Our results suggest that OTA is a valid and safe procedure for the uncomplicated cases, while additional trocars are required in case of complicated appendicitis. Multiport HLA significantly reduces the operative time, the incidence of abdominal abscesses and the analgesic requirements compared to OTA
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
koamabayili/VECTRON-author-checklist: VECTRON author checklist
No full textWe have done our best to complete the author checklist relating to the use of animals in the hut study. Note that the objective for the hut study was to evaluate the IRS treatment applications for residual efficacy against Anopheles mosquitoes, including the local An. coluzzii mosquito population. Cows were only used to attract mosquitoes into the huts and no tests were carried out directly on the cows. The author checklist is intended for use with studies where experiments are carried out on animals, which is why we have had such difficulty in completing this for the hut study, as many of the questions do not relate to how the cows were used
Author-wise bibliometric analysis based on entropy.
No full textAuthor-wise bibliometric analysis based on entropy.</p
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