1,721,196 research outputs found
C-rel deficiency and its effect on proliferation and survival in immunodeficient lymphoblastic B cells
The analysis of lymphocytes from immunodeficient patients has provided valuable insights into understanding the development and function of the immune system. In particular, studies of patients with Hyper IgM syndrome, a rare immunodeficiency resulting from defects in both CD40L in activated CD4+ T cells and components of the CD40 signaling pathway in B cells have been crucial for the elucidation of molecular pathways involved in the activation, proliferation and differentiation of B lymphocytes. Previously our lab generated EBV transformed lymphoblastic cells with inducible LMP1 from a female patient diagnosed with non-X-linked HIGM (Pt1-LCLtet cells, Pt1). Analysis of these cells revealed a CD40-specific activation defect associated with low c-Rel levels. To broaden our understanding of the Pt1 phenotype we analyzed c-Rel expression and found that low c-Rel levels were the outcome of depressed transcriptional activation of the c-rel promoter. In-vivo analysis revealed that low transcription was coincident with increased p65 activity at the c-rel promoter although this was insufficient to induce normal c-Rel expression. Further investigations of the Pt1-LCLtet cells uncovered a proliferation and survival defect characterized by reduced c-Myc transcription and increased levels of caspase-4. This defect was complemented after c-Rel overexpression, supporting a causative role for c-Rel deficiency in the observed phenotype of the Pt1-LCLtet cells. The LCLtet cells were further utilized as a model system for the independent analysis of LMP1 and CD40 signaling. These studies revealed several outcomes of LMP1 signaling in the biology and function of CD40. Specifically, LMP1 signaling induced a unique pattern of CD40 phosphorylation as well as the expression of several novel CD40 isoforms. Moreover, when CD40 and LMP1 were activated simultaneously a synergistic effect was observed towards p65 and p38 phosphorylation suggesting a functional interaction that might occur during early stages of EBV infection or malignant transformation where both LMP1 and CD40 are co-expressed in the infected cell. Collectively, our results demonstrate that a majority of the defects displayed in the Pt1-LCLtet cells are a result of reduced c-Rel expression. Importantly, these results ascribe c-Rel a novel function as a negative regulator of caspase-4 expression and a putative key player in the control of cell survival in EBV-immortalized B cells.Ph.D.Includes bibliographical referencesby Anibal J. Valentin Aceved
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
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
“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
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
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
koamabayili/VECTRON-author-checklist: VECTRON author checklist
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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