1,721,068 research outputs found
Hepatitis C vaccines
No full textIt is estimated that 3% of the world's population is chronically
infected by the hepatitis C virus (HCV). Most infections become
chronic and, over time, evolve into chronic hepatitis. The most
unwanted complication of chronic hepatitis is cirrhosis, a massive liver fibrosis, that can lead to liver failure and hepatocellular carcinoma. Indeed, hepatitis C is the leading reason for
liver transplantation worldwide. However, liver transplantation
is not a cure for HCV, as virus recurrence is universal.
Current medical therapy for chronic hepatitis C, consisting
of a combination of pegylated interferon- α (Peg-IFN) and ribavirin, eradicates the virus in fewer than half of treated patients
and is plagued with serious side effects. Although newly developed direct antiviral agents targeting HCV proteins have been
shown to improve virological response, toxicity and resistance
remain major challenges. There is, therefore, a pressing need to
develop vaccination strategies aimed at preventing and possibly eradicating HCV infection. The scientific and clinical challenges that must be addressed and overcome in developing an
efficacious HCV vaccine are substantial but may not be insurmountable. In the last years, considerable progress has been
made in the understanding of HCV virology, pathogenesis, and
immunology. Data indicating the existence of natural immunity against the hepatitis C virus and vaccine efficacy in the
chimpanzee challenge model allow optimism for the development of an effective vaccine against this heterogeneous pathogen that is responsible for much of the chronic liver disease
around the world
HCV can activate B cells via CD81 engagement: a molecular mechanism for B cell autoreactivity and crioglobulinemia in HCV infection
No full textSerum microRNAs as biomarkers of human lymphocyte activation in health and disease
No full textInduction of the adaptive immune system is evaluated mostly by assessment of serum antibody titers and T lymphocyte responses in peripheral blood, although T and B cell activation occurs in lymphoid tissues. In recent years, the release of microRNAs (miRNAs) in the extra-cellular environment has been exploited to assess cell functions at distance via measurement of serum miRNAs. Activated lymphocytes release a large amount of nano-sized vesicles (exosomes), containing miRNA, however there are insufficient data to determine whether this phenomenon is reflected in modulation of serum miRNAs. Interestingly, miRNA signatures of CD4+ T cell-derived exosomes are substantially different from intracellular miRNA signatures of the same cells. We have recently identified serum circulating miR-150 as a sensor of general lymphocyte activation and we strongly believe that miRNAs differentially released by specific CD4+ effector T cell subsets (Th1, Th2, Th17, and Treg) may serve as serum biomarkers of their elicitation in lymphoid tissues but also in damaged tissues, potentially providing clinically relevant information about the nature of immune responses in health and disease. © 2014 de Candia, Torri, Pagani and Abrignani
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe 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
Full text link“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
Full text linkWe 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
Full text linkWe 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
Trans-splenic Embolization Plus Partial Splenic Embolization for Management of Variceal Bleeding Due to Left-Sided Portal Hypertension
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