1,720,956 research outputs found

    Differential Mechanism for structural and functional alterations of trypsin by heparin, evidence for a speific radical-generating mechanism at low heparin concentrations.

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    The oxidative mechanism whereby heparin may interact with various proteins was investigated in detail in this work by addressing the role of doses of heparin on the nature and effects of its binding to bovine trypsin, taken as reference protein. Unfractionated heparin was used at concentrations ranging from 6 to 400 microg/ml with a fixed trypsin concentration (250 microg/ml). At concentrations of up to 60 microg/ml, equivalent to trypsin/heparin molar ratios of between 30 and 3, increasing inhibition of amidolytic activity and radical-dependent peptide bond cleavage of the enzyme was observed, with the appearance in the electrophoretic pattern of new bands of trypsin fragments to which heparin was demonstrated to be bound specifically. Structural modifications were also revealed by increases in fluorescence emission spectra. On the whole, however, the alterations induced by these heparin concentrations only involved a limited number of trypsin molecules. At concentrations from 120 to 400 microg/ml (equivalent trypsin/heparin molar ratios of 1.5-0.46), heparin binding to trypsin appeared to cause more profound and generalized alterations of enzyme structure and function, with dose-dependent quenching of fluorescence emission and almost complete loss of amidolytic activity, although evidence of radical production was lacking. Collectively, the results stress the crucial role of heparin dose on both the nature and effects of its binding to trypsin. The change in heparin effects which reflects distinct underlying molecular mechanisms occurs dramatically at a critical concentration threshold. While a specific, radical-generating mechanism operates at low concentrations, less specific ionic linkages, apparently independent of radical production, best explain the effects of high heparin concentrations

    Role of reducing terminals in unfractionated and low-molecular-mass heparins in causing free radical generation and loss of structure and activity of tripsin.

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    The role of both the length of saccharide chain and reducing terminals in the heparin molecule in causing oxidative effects on proteins was investigated by employing unfractionated and low-molecular-mass heparins (LMMH), with both intact and reduced reducing terminals on bovine trypsin. The effects of heparin were found to be dependent on both the concentration and time of incubation. Heparins with intact reducing terminals caused significantly higher structural and functional alterations of trypsin compared with heparins with reduced reducing terminals. LMMH was slightly more effective than unfractionated heparin (UNFH) in reducing structural integrity and inhibiting the amidolytic activity of trypsin when used at the same mass, but not molar concentrations. Neither the length of saccharide chains nor the number of intact reducing terminals on the heparin molecule appeared to influence the characteristics of the initial binding of heparin to trypsin, but both these variables crucially affected linkages which in time mediate the inhibition of catalytic activity and the formation of free radicals, ultimately responsible for peptide bond cleavage in trypsin. The results suggest that both a critical number of saccharide units, preferentially lying on shorter chains, and intact reducing terminals in the heparin molecule are involved in setting up the binding which generates radicals and leads to loss of structure and function of the proteinase

    Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis

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    The 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

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    “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

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    We 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

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    We 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

    Author Index

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    koamabayili/VECTRON-author-checklist: VECTRON author checklist

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    We 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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