1,720,989 research outputs found
Factors predictive of shockwave lithotripsy failure for ureteral stones: Why we need to hurry
No full textBackground: The Aims of This Study Are to Evaluate The Prognostic Factors of Extracorporeal Shockwave Lithotripsy In Patients With Ureteric Stones, and to Identify Which Patients Might Directly Benefit of An Endoscopic Treatment. Methods: We Performed a Prospective Study From January 2013 and July 2016 On Patients With Single Ureteric Stone and Undergoing Extracorporeal Shockwave Lithotripsy (Swl). We Divided Patients Into Two Groups: First Group (Success Group) Included Cases Resolved With Swl Only, and a Second Group (Failure Group) Including Patients With Stone Not Resolved By Swl and Requiring An Endoscopic Treatment. We Evaluated Age, Weight, Height, Body Mass Index, Stone Size, Hydronephrosis, Laterality, Location, Days Elapsed From Onset of Symptoms to Swl and Stone Density When Computed Tomography Was Performed. In Case of Stone Fragments >4 Mm, The Procedure Was Repeated Up to a Maximum of Three Times. Swl Was Considered As Failed If Patients Had a Residual Stone of Any Size After a Follow-Up of 3 Months or If a Complication Occurred. Results: 274 Patients Completed Follow-Up and Were Enrolled In The Study. Mean Age Was 53.22 Years (Standard Deviation: 13.98). Swl Overall Success Rate Was 84.3% (231 Patients Successfully Treated With Shockwaves) and Failure Rate Was 15.7% (43 Patients Underwent Auxiliary Endoscopic Procedure). At The Univariate Analysis, We Observed a Statistically Significant Difference for Hydronephrosis (P=0.006), Time Elapsed From Symptoms Onset (P=0.013), Patients’ Age (P=0.06) and Mean Stone Density (0.023). In The Multivariate Logistic Regression, Patients’ Age (or: 1.517), and Time Elapsed From Obstruction to Swl (or: 3.005) Were Independent Predictive Factors for Swl Failure. Furthermore, Moderate and Severe Hydronephrosis Seemed to Be Independent Predictive Factors for Swl Failure, Presenting An or of 2.451 and 4.207 Respectively. High Stone Density Resulted to Be a Predictive Factor for Swl Failure (or: 2.293 If Density Was Higher Than 1100 Hounsfield Units). Conclusions: We Report a Large Series of Patients Undergone Primary Swl for Ureteric Stones. Our Data Demonstrated The Role of Hydronephrosis, Time Elapsed From Obstruction Onset to Treatment and Stone Density As Independent Predictive Factors of Swl Failure
Should older patients be offered varicocoele correction to improve their fertility?
No full textWe reviewed a large number of patients from 2000 to 2010 that underwent varicocoele correction using the retrograde sclerotization approach. Three hundred and seventy-six of them were included in the study, as they met the inclusion criteria. Mean age at the time of surgery was 32 years (SD: 6.5); 32% of them were 35 years and older. Patients were classified according to the clinical classification (GC) and Sarteschi's Doppler ultrasound classification (GS). The patients showed up at the clinic after an average time of 30 months of referred infertility related (SD: 28.54). Patients underwent pre-operative assessment with physical examination, sperm analysis and Doppler ultrasound, and again the same assessment at least 3 months after surgery. We evaluated the following parameters: sperm concentration (millions/mL, CONC), percentage motility (a+b, MOT) and the percentage of morphologically typical spermatozoa (MOR). Univariate and Multivariate analysis were performed. The research of Pearson's coefficients was performed to test the correlation between sperm parameters and age, SG, CG. Semen specimens were evaluated according to WHO 1999 criteria. Mean CONC varied from 34.5 to 47.0 millions/mL (+12.5; p < 0.001); MOT from 27.2 to 34.5% (+7.3%; p < 0.001); and MOR from 44.0 to 47.6% (+3.6%; p = 0.001). Univariable and multivariable analysis of variance related to age showed no significant difference of parameters improvement. Pearson's correlation coefficient for pre-operative and post-operative sperm MOT related to patients' age was respectively -0.11 (p < 0.001) and -0.18 (p = 0.04). No other significance was found. Usefulness of treating infertile patients affected by varicocoele is confirmed: varicocoele correction leads to significant sperm parameters improvement. There is no evidence of different improvement related to patients' age. The decline in sperm motility related to age of the patients seems to be only age-dependent: the usefulness of treating patients affected by varicocoele is not influenced by their age: treatment should also be offered to older patients
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe 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
Get PDF“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
Get PDFWe 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
Get PDFWe 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
Neovaginal Prolapse in Male-to-Female Transsexuals: An 18-Year-Long Experience.
No full textNeovaginal prolapse is a rare and distressing complication after male-to-female sexual reassignment surgery. We retrospectively
analysed the prevalence of partial and total neo-vaginal prolapses after sexual reassignment surgery in our institute. During the
years, two different techniques have been adopted with the aim of fixing the neovaginal cylinder. In the first, two absorbable sutures
are placed at the top of the penoscrotal cylinder and fixed to the Denonvilliers fascia. In the second, two additional sutures are
added from the posterior/midpoint of the flap to the prerectal fascia. We enrolled 282 consecutive transsexual patients. 65 (23.04%)
out of the 282 were treated with the first technique and the following 217 (76.96%) with the last technique. In the first technique,
1 case (1.53%) of total prolapse and 7 cases (10.76%) of partial prolapse were observed, while in the other 217 patients treated with
the second technique only 9 cases of partial prolapse were observed (4.14%) and no cases of total prolapse. All prolapses occurred
within 6 months from the procedure. In our experience, the use of 4 stitches and a more proximal positioning of the sutures to fix
the penoscrotal apex with the Denonvilliers fascia guarantees a lower risk of prolapse
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
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