Quality Assessment and Economic Sustainability of Translation

pp.15-38The concept of quality is mature and widespread. However, its associated attributes can only be measured against a set of specifications since quality itself is a relative concept. Today, the concept of quality broadly corresponds to product suitability – meaning that the product meets the user’s requirements. But then, how does one know when a translation is good? No answer can be given to this very simple question without recall to translation criticism and the theory of translation. However, the relationship between a source text and the translated text is unfit to solve the problem, as readers often perceive the endproduct of translation as the only material available for scrutiny; they have no interest in the translator’s decision-making process (the hermeneutic process). Therefore, translation adequacy should be taken into account in assessment especially when customers impose their own subjective preferences (requirements)

El síndrome del lápiz rojo

Aquest article és una revisió dels estàndards de qualitat en traducció i una proposta per a la formació dels estudiants des d'una perspectiva històrica. Les opinions i suggeriments en aquest article no són els resultats de qualsevol investigació empírica i només provenen de l'àmplia experiència de treball de l'autor com a professional i professor universitari..This article is a review of current translation quality standards and a proposal for studenttraining from a historical perspective. The opinions and suggestions in it are not the resultsof any empirical research and only come from the author’s extensive working experienceas a practitioner and a university teacher.Este artículo es una revisión de los estándares de calidad en traducción y una propuesta para la formación de los estudiantes desde una perspectiva histórica. Las opiniones y sugerencias en este artículo no son los resultados de cualquier investigación empírica y sólo provienen de la amplia experiencia de trabajo del autor como profesional y profesor universitario

The red-pen syndrome

This article is a review of current translation quality standards and a proposal for studenttraining from a historical perspective. The opinions and suggestions in it are not the resultsof any empirical research and only come from the author's extensive working experienceas a practitioner and a university teacher.Aquest article és una revisió dels estàndards de qualitat en traducció i una proposta per a la formació dels estudiants des d'una perspectiva històrica. Les opinions i suggeriments en aquest article no són els resultats de qualsevol investigació empírica i només provenen de l'àmplia experiència de treball de l'autor com a professional i professor universitari..Este artículo es una revisión de los estándares de calidad en traducción y una propuesta para la formación de los estudiantes desde una perspectiva histórica. Las opiniones y sugerencias en este artículo no son los resultados de cualquier investigación empírica y sólo provienen de la amplia experiencia de trabajo del autor como profesional y profesor universitario

D-mannose: a promising support for acute urinary tract infections in women. A pilot study

Urinary tract infections still represent a significant bother for women and result in high costs to the health system. D-mannose is a simple sugar; it seems able to hinder bacteria adhesion to the urothelium. The present study aimed to determine whether D-mannose alone is effective in treating acute urinary tract infections in women and its possible utility in the management of recurrences

Unexpected Metastasis of High Grade Serous Ovarian Cancer to Breast: Case Report and Literature Review

Introduction: Metastasis of ovarian serous carcinoma to breast and/or axillary lymph nodes represents an unusual event. Nevertheless, their detection and distinction from mammary carcinoma are of huge clinical importance because the treatment and prognosis diverge significantly. Case presentation: We report a case of a 47 year-old Caucasian female patient with unforeseen metastasis to the breast and to axillary lymph nodes due to ovarian serous carcinoma. Conclusion: In patients with history of OSC who present with axillary or breast mass, an accurate histological diagnosis should be obtained since this has a great impact on treatment outcomes

Surgical anatomy of a neurenteric cyst anterior to the brainstem

Abstract The authors report on a sixteen-month old boy who presented a neurenteric cyst located in the cervicomedullary junction, anterior to the brain stem. Centred on the ventral aspect of the premedullary cistern, the cyst extended from the prepontine space to the cervicomedullary junction, causing important brain stem compression. The lesion was totally removed via a posterior approach with suboccipital craniotomy and laminectomy of C1. After surgery the patient recovered his neurological function and the postoperative MRI showed total resection of the cyst

Weekly versus three weeks chemotherapy for advanced ovarian cancer. A meta-analysis

Aim: Three weeks paclitaxel and carboplatin has been considered the standard of care for primary treatment of ovarian cancer (OC). Whether weekly therapy will further improve the clinical outcomes or not is still unclear. We conducted a meta-analysis to compare the two regimens. Method: Articles were selected with a systematic approach, using PubMed databases. Trials concerning comparison between carboplatin plus weekly paclitaxel (dose-dense regimen) and carboplatin plus paclitaxel every 3 weeks were considered. Outcomes included overall survival (OS), progression free survival (PFS) and severe acute toxicity. Results: Dose-dense regimen was associated with significant improvement of PFS compared with standard schedule, with HR of 0.73 (95% CI 0.61-0.88, p = 0.001). There was no difference in OS between treatment regimens (HR 0.95, 95% CI 0.77-1.16, p=0.06), as well as in term of severe acute toxicity. Conclusion: Dose-dense regimen is superior to standard schedule in terms of PFS. Further studies are necessary to firmly confirm this evidence in advanced OC treatment

Efficacy and toxicity of bevacizumab in recurrent ovarian disease: an update meta-analysis on phase III trials

Background: To analyze the efficacy and toxicity of bevacizumab on survival outcomes in recurrent ovarian cancer. Results: Bevacizumab was associated with significant improvement of PFS and OS compared with standard treatment with HRs of 0.53 (95% CI 0.44 - 0.63; p < 0.00001) and 0.87 (95% CI, 0.77 to 0.99; p = 0.03), respectively. Bevacizumab increased the incidence of G3/G4 hypertension (RR 19.01, 95% CI 7.77 - 46.55; p < 0.00001), proteinuria (RR 17.31, 95% CI 5.42 - 55.25; p < 0.00001), arterial thromboembolic events (ATE) (RR 4.99, 95% CI 1.29 - 19.27; p = 0.02) and bleeding (RR 3.14, 95% CI 1.35 - 7.32; p = 0.008). Materials and Methods: Three randomized phase III trials representing 1502 patients were identified. Pooled hazard ratio (HR), odd ratio (OR), risk ratio (RR) with 95% confidence interval (CI) were calculated using fixed or random effects model. Conclusions: Adding bevacizumab to standard chemotherapy improved ORR, PFS and OS, and it had a higher, but manageable, incidence of toxicities graded 3 to 4