0000000000432449
AUTHOR
F. Anastasio
Probabilistic techniques for bridging the semantic gap in schema alignment
Connecting pieces of informations from heterogeneous sources sharing the same domain is an open challenge in Semantic Web, Big Data and business communities. The main problem in this research area is to bridge the expressiveness gap between relational databases and ontologies. In general, an ontology is more expressive and captures more semantic information behind data than a relational database does. On the other side, databases are the most common used persistent storage system and they grant benefits such as security and data integrity but they need to be managed by expert users. The problem is quite significant above all when enterprise or corporate ontologies are used to share infomation…
Pruritus characteristics in a large Italian cohort of psoriatic patients
Background: Psoriasis (Ps) is a chronic systemic autoimmune disease associated with pruritus in 64–98% of patients. However, few modestly sized studies assess factors associated with psoriatic pruritus. Objective: To investigate factors associated with Ps pruritus intensity. Methods: Psoriasis patients 18 years or older seen in one of 155 centres in Italy between September 2005 and 2009 were identified from the Italian PsoCare registry. Patients without cutaneous psoriasis and those with missed information on pruritus were excluded. Results: We identified 10 802 patients, with a mean age 48.8 ± 14.3 years. Mild itch was present in 33.2% of patients, moderate in 34.4%, severe in 18.7% and ve…
Efficacy of switching between tumor necrosis factor-alfa inhibitors in psoriasis: results from the Italian Psocare registry
Background: Some studies have shown that switching patients from one tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alfa inhibitor to another may be beneficial when they have an inadequate response or an adverse event. Objective: We sought to assess the variables predicting the efficacy of the second TNF-alfa inhibitor in patients discontinuing the first TNF-alfa inhibitor. Methods: Data from all 5423 consecutive patients starting TNF-alfa inhibitor therapy for psoriasis between September 2005 and September 2010 who were included in the Italian Psocare registry were analyzed. Results: In 105 patients who switched to a second TNF-alfa inhibitor who had complete follow-up data, 75% improvement in the Psoriasis …