Anticonvulsants that belong to the third generation are considered as 'newer' antiepileptic drugs, including: eslicarbazepine acetate, lacosamide, perampanel, brivaracetam, rufinamide and ...stiripentol. Areas covered: This article reviews pharmacodynamics (i.e. mechanisms of action) and clinically relevant drug-drug interactions of the third-generation antiepileptic drugs. Expert opinion: Newer antiepileptic drugs have mechanisms of action which are not shared with the first and the second generation anticonvulsants, like inhibition of neurotransmitters release, blocking receptors for excitatory amino acids and new ways of sodium channel inactivation. New mechanisms of action increase chances of controlling forms of epilepsy resistant to older anticonvulsants. Important advantage of the third-generation anticonvulsants could be their little propensity for interactions with both antiepileptic and other drugs observed until now, making prescribing much easier and safer. However, this may change with new studies specifically designed to discover drug-drug interactions. Although the third-generation antiepileptic drugs enlarged therapeutic palette against epilepsy, 20-30% of patients with epilepsy is still treatment-resistant and need new pharmacological approach. There is great need to explore all molecular targets that may directly or indirectly be involved in generation of seizures, so a number of candidate compounds for even newer anticonvulsants could be generated.
Objective of this systematic review was to establish whether and what invasive infections in humans were caused by Kocuria kristinae, and to evaluate outcomes of administered antibiotic treatment. ...MEDLINE, EBSCO, SCOPUS, SCINDEKS and GOOGLE SCHOLAR were systematically searched for primary case reports or case series describing invasive infections with K. kristinae. K. kristinae is a pathogen microorganism that could cause invasive infections of various tissues in patients of any age. Majority of the patients had K. kristinae isolated from blood. It was also found in peritoneal fluid, pus, sputum, synovial fluid, bile, fluid from abdominal abscess, throat swab, urine catheter tip and mid-stream urine. Antibiotic treatment was almost universally effective, with only one death reported. Susceptibility was highest to vancomycin, linezolid, rifampicin, teicoplanin, tigecycline, cefotaxime, ampicillin/sulbactam, minocycline and meropenem. Initial treatment of Kocuria kristinae infections should involve parenteral vancomycin in combination with some other antibiotic to which it is susceptible.
Stenotrophomonas maltophilia can cause serious infections in immunocompromised patients. The aim of this systematic review was to establish what invasive infections in humans are caused by S. ...maltophilia and to evaluate the optimal choice of antibiotics for their treatment. MEDLINE, EBSCO, SCOPUS, SCINDEKS and GOOGLE SCHOLAR were systematically searched for clinical trials, observational studies, case reports or case series describing invasive infections with S. maltophilia in patients of any age. S. maltophilia may cause invasive infections of various tissues in hospitalized patients. In the great majority of cases it was susceptible to co-trimoxazole, levofloxacin and ceftazidime. In about three fourths of the cases, the treatment was successful, while less than 20% of the patients died. S. maltophilia is increasingly associated with serious invasive infections in hospitalized patients and due to growing trend of resistance to almost all antibiotics requires a careful approach to patients who is harboring this bacterium.
Up in the Air? Jusic, Tarik; Puppis, Manuel; Herrero, Laia Castro ...
2021, 20210601, 2021-06-01
eBook
The agenda for transition after the demise of communism in the Western Balkans made the conversion of state radio and television into public service broadcasters a priority, converting mouthpieces of ...the regime into public forums in which various interests and standpoints could be shared and deliberated. There is general agreement that this endeavor has not been a success. Formally, the countries adopted the legal and institutional requirements of public service media according to European standards. The ruling political elites, however, retained their control over the public media by various means. Can this trend be reversed? Instead of being marginalized or totally manipulated, can public service media become vehicles of genuine democratization? A comparison of public media services in seven countries (Albania, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Serbia) addresses these important questions.
PURPOSEA bioactive high performance polymer (BioHPP) and computer-aided design/computer-aided manufacturing (CAD/CAM) composite resin materials are a relatively new class of dental biomaterials, that ...are biocompatible and have good aesthetic features. In this review paper, we will summarize literature and publication data on the characteristics of the mentioned materials, as well as their potential application in the dental prosthetics. STUDY SELECTIONAvailable studies and literature reviews from PubMed, SCIndex, Scopus and Google Scholar corresponding to polyetheretherketone (PEEK), high-performance polymers, reinforced composite materials, composite materials, resins, glass-fiber reinforced materials, CAD/CAM materials, dental implants, removable and fixed dental were reviewed. RESULTSTo avoid many disadvantages of metals and their alloys in dental practice, such as inadequate color, high density, thermal conductivity and possible allergic reactions, materials based on polymers (such as BioHPP), and CAD/CAM composite resins are being developed. These materials have significantly better aesthetics and physical-mechanical properties. They are biocompatible materials that are lightweight, resistant, durable, exhibit high bending and compression resistance. CONCLUSIONSThe use of CAD/CAM composite resin materials and BioHPP in dentistry has begun recently, so the data about their potential clinical use are limited. Most of their features have been demonstrated through laboratory testing, while clinical studies are relatively scarce, so the need for further clinical trials is emphasized.
The regulation or self-regulation of online media is one of the key dilemmas of contemporary digital media and policy environment. This includes the new digital intermediary gatekeepers such as ...social media. The private rules of intermediaries, such as their ‘terms of service’ and content policies, importantly define their functioning and are sometimes thought of as self-regulatory mechanisms. Online intermediaries are increasingly being called upon to engage in codes of conduct or decisions about content. We focus on Twitter as one of the largest and most relevant new gatekeepers because of its use as source of news. The terms and other documents of Twitter are analysed as tools of self-regulation, and as the context within which the individual users and mass media (must) function in today’s digital environment. We also look at how Twitter has applied this framework in two high profile cases.
The study explores uses of algorithmic techniques in journalists’ working environments and investigates newsroom managers’ negotiations of automation as innovation process aimed at ensuring partial ...or full replacement of human labour with technology. Drawing from 15 qualitative interviews with representatives of newsroom management from legacy news institutions in the United Kingdom, Germany and the United States, the study analyses their (cl)aims to maintain the newsroom as a stable, but dynamic working environment and reveals three dualist propositions when negotiating automation novelties – human journalistic agency stands in contrast to technology, skills are separated from newsworkers, and the creation of news contrasts with its presentation. The results show the interviewees re-articulate the dominance of human agency over technology, re-establish technological innovations as liberating newsworkers rather than subordinating them, and standardise news by re-evaluating the concept as both a civic bond and a commodity. Such considerations are detached from recent concerns about automation of human labour and closer to what we call algorithmic sublime, maintaining the newsroom management’s loyalty to both the professional values of journalism and the corporate goals of management.
This article provides an in-depth analysis of public service broadcasters in seven countries of the Western Balkans from the perspective of capture by political and market forces. A lack of editorial ...independence, reflected in politically biased, pro-government news content, is the main problem of public service broadcasting in the region. Another factor is the commercialization of programs, reflected in the neglect of public interest content in favor of entertainment formats, and the introduction of sponsored content and product placement. Financial difficulties, small fragmented markets, minor languages, weak economies, market pressures from commercial broadcasters, inefficient license fee collection, pressure and interference from political elites, as well as characteristics of local political and journalistic culture are among the reasons that public service broadcasters in these post-communist countries currently display similar characteristics.
Human Still in the Loop Milosavljević, Marko; Vobič, Igor
Digital journalism,
9/14/2019, 2019-09-14, Volume:
7, Issue:
8
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
The study investigates how automation novelties in the newsroom both challenge and maintain the core values of journalism's professional ideology. Building on semi-structured interviews with editors ...of legacy news institutions in the United Kingdom and Germany, the study reveals the rationales behind the changing journalism-technology relationship and the dynamics of the re-articulation of the core ideals of journalism. In discussing automation with respect to strategic newsroom development, the interviewees see journalism's professional ideology as being in a state of flux. They identify contradictions between automation and some of journalism's core ideals (public service, autonomy, and objectivity) and acknowledge both the potential and limits of technology with regard to others (timeliness and ethics). Despite the growing relevance of automation for news production, human journalists are still regarded as the dominant agents in news production and its continuous reinvention. This human-still-in-the-loop perspective highlights the idea that journalism is undergoing a profound yet long transformation where new technologies are not simply appearing and changing everything, but are innovations developed and embedded in established relations of the news production process. This perspective both reiterates and challenges the prevailing meanings of journalism.
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