1,720,969 research outputs found
Response and Rebuttal to “Conclusion from comparison of BioRipar® to Tutomesh®: Overstretched or invalid?”
No full text
Might cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), p21 and p27 expression affect prognosis and therapeutic strategy of patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma?
No full textObjectives: To evaluate the impact of immunohistochemical expression of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) and cell-cycle proteins (p21 and p27) in specimens from malignant pleural mesothelioma.
Methods: We retrospectively reviewed immunohistochemical expression of COX-2, p21 and p27 dichotomised into high and low expression from specimens of 67 consecutive patients undergoing biopsy plus pleurodesis (n=6), pleurectomy-decortication (n=44) or extrapleural pneumonectomy (n=27) operations for malignant pleural mesothelioma between 1987 and 2007. Histology was epithelioid (n=50), biphasic (n=17) and sarcomatoid (n=10) subtypes. TNM-stage was I (n=21), II (n=36) and III (n=20). Combined therapies were sole adjuvant radiotherapy (n=17), adjuvant radio-chemotherapy (n=36) and neoadjuvant chemotherapy plus adjuvant radiotherapy (n=24). Results were investigated by Kaplan–Meier survival and Cox regression analysis.
Results: Median survival was 13 months. Survival was negatively influenced by nonepithelial histology (P<0.01), positive resection margins (P<0.02), metastatic mediastinal lymph nodes (P<0.01), high COX-2 (P=0.001), low p21 (P<0.0001) and p27 (P=0.001) expression. Conversely, neither the type of surgery (biopsy vs. pleurectomy-decortication vs. extrapleural pneumonectomy), nor combined therapies (sole radiotherapy vs. adjuvant radio-chemotherapy vs. neoadjuvant chemotherapy plus adjuvant radiotherapy) reached a significant level of difference. Cox regression analysis showed that only immunohistochemical triple combination of high COX-2 and low p21 and p27 expression influenced survival (P<0.0001, Odds Ratio 4.7, 95% confidence interval 3–11) regardless of kind of treatment.
Conclusions: The presence of high expression COX-2 and low p21 and p27 expression significantly influences the prognosis of malignant pleural mesothelioma. Therapeutic strategy should consider these protein expressions, avoiding major operations in cases of combination of these factors
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
Corrigendum to “Characterization of a new decellularized bovine pericardial biological mesh: Structural and mechanical properties” (Journal of the Mechanical Behavior of Biomedical Materials (2018) 78 (420–426), (S1751616117305386) (10.1016/j.jmbbm.2017.12.003))
No full textVariations 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
Lung volume reduction reoperations
Full text linkBACKGROUND:
Optimal management of emphysematous patients who have lost the benefits achieved after lung volume reduction surgery is a clinical dilemma. We have hypothesized that in stringently selected instances, lung volume reduction reoperations might be considered as a salvage surgical treatment. We sought to analyze the results of a series of patients undergoing lung volume reduction reoperations after successful bilateral lung volume reduction surgery.
METHODS:
Between January 2000 and April 2006, 17 patients (mean age, 66 +/- 3 years) with radiologic evidence of distinct regional lung hyperinflation underwent lung volume reduction reoperations. Surgical procedures entailed completion lobectomy in 7 patients, nonanatomic resection of lung target areas were performed in 5 patients under general anesthesia with one-lung ventilation, and awake lung plication was performed in 5 patients under sole epidural anesthesia. Follow-up at 6 and 12 months was complete in all survivors.
RESULTS:
Mean operative time was 100 +/- 12 minutes. Two patients (11.7%) died perioperatively of adult respiratory distress syndrome. Hospital stay was 9 +/- 2 days. Significant improvements occurred for up to 12 months in forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV(1); p < 0.001), forced vital capacity (p < 0.002), residual volume (p < 0.001), 6-minute walk test (p < 0.001), and modified Medical Research Council dyspnea index (p < 0.001). At 6-months, improvements in FEV(1) were greater than 200 mL in 11 patients and correlated with the postoperative reduction in residual volume (r = -0.62, p = 0.01); baseline residual volume was inversely correlated with the degree of improvement in the dyspnea index (r = -0.54, p = 0.03).
CONCLUSIONS:
Lung volume reduction reoperations can offer significant clinical improvement to stringently selected patients who have lost the clinical benefit achieved after lung volume reduction surgery
Cancer patients' organisation participation in heath policy decision-making: A snapshot/cluster analysis of the EU-28 countries
Full text linkEven though patient involvement in health policy decision-making is well documented, studies evaluating the degree and impact of this participation are scarce. This is even more conspicuous in the case of cancer. There is evidence showing that patients with the same type of cancer and at the same stage of the disease will receive different treatments in different countries. Therefore, it is crucial to assess the degree of patient participation in health policy decision-making across Europe, as it may result in health inequalities across countries. In a response to this research call, the present study aimed to provide a snapshot of cancer patients' organisation (CPO) participation in health policy processes in European Union (EU)-28 countries
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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