1,720,977 research outputs found
Development of a multivalent DNA vaccine against pathogenic leptospiral infection in laboratory animal model
Get PDFLeptospirosis is neglected emerging zoonoses, occurring both in urban
environments as well as rural regions worldwide. During occupational and
recreational activities, humans that come in direct contact with infected
animals or environments contaminated by the urine of reservoir animals are
at a higher risk of infection. Prevention is basically through improved
hygienic measures and rodent control which is very difficult to achieve
particularly in developing countries. Development of an effective vaccine
against leptospirosis remains a challenge. The heat-killed whole-cell vaccine
has been seen to produce some undesirable side effects which include pain,
nausea and fever, short term immunity and serovar restricted protection.
Multi-epitope peptide DNA vaccines are effective against some viruses and
they have recently been shown to have potential efficacy against some
bacterial diseases including leptospires. They are also known mimic antigen
processing and presentation during natural infection and can induce more
potent immunoreaction than the whole protein vaccine. The aim of this
study is to develop a multivalent DNA vaccine that can stimulate significant
antibody production that will aid the control and prevention of leptospirosis
using hamster model. Antigenic B cell epitopes from highly conserved
leptospiral genes LipL32, LipL41, OmpL1, Loa22 and LigA were predicted
using bioinformatics tools, assembled and linked using Gly-Ser spacer and
chemically synthesized. The vaccine constructs were composed of the
lipopolyscharide genes (LipL32, LipL41), the outer membrane porin and
outer membrane-like protein (OmpL1, Loa22), the immunoglobulin-like protein (LigA) and the final construct that is a combination of all the other
constructs. The synthesized DNA was cloned in a pBudCE4.1 mammalian
expression vector. The multivalent DNA(s) were expressed (invitro) and
confirmed by indirect immunofluorescence antibody test. The indirect
immunofluorescence test showed that the recombinant protein was
expressed in CHO-K1 cells and it reacted with antibodies against the V5 and
Myc epitope tags fused to the cloned expression plasmid vector at the 5’ end
of the constructs. To evaluate the efficacy of the DNA vaccines, 3-4 weeks old
golden Syrian hamsters were immunized with 150μg of the vaccine in equal
volume of incomplete Freund’s adjuvant. Subsequently, all the hamster
groups were challenged with L. interrogans Copenhageni Fiocruz strain
except the control group. Analysis of humoral immune response by
microscopic agglutination tests showed agglutinating antibodies production
(p<0.05) by the immunized hamsters and the antibodies were
immunologically cross-reactive with a range of reference pathogenic
leptospira strains including L. interrogans, L. borgpetersenii, L. weilii, L.
santorasai belonging to different serogroups. Similarly, all the vaccines were
able to stimulate secretion of neutralizing antibodies that prevented the
growth of a number of pathogenic leptospira species as indicated by the
invitro growth inhibition test using a panel of 19 serovars. Histopathological
evaluation of kidneys of challenged hamsters showed that the vaccine
significantly reduced kidney colonization by the leptospires as indicated by
the moderate to severe pathological lesions observed in the kidney tissues. In
conclusion, the multi-epitope chimeric DNA vaccine proves to be a
promising antigen for the prevention of renal colonization and urinary
shedding of the bacteria, which is the major contributing factor for the
persistence of the bacteria in susceptible animals as well as as the
environment. It also showed great potential for stimulation of cross-reactive
immunity against a broad range of pathogenic leptospira serovars
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe 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
Get PDF“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
Get PDFWe 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
Get PDFWe 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
No full textWe 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
Author-wise bibliometric analysis based on entropy.
No full textAuthor-wise bibliometric analysis based on entropy.</p
Author Under Sail The Imagination of Jack London, 1893-1902
No full textIn Author Under Sail, Jay Williams offers the first complete literary biography of Jack London as a professional writer engaged in the labor of writing. It examines the authorial imagination in London's work, the use of imagination in both his fiction and nonfiction, and the ways he defined imagination in the creative process in his business dealings with his publishers, editors, and agents. In this first volume of a two-volume biography, Williams traverses the years 1893 to 1902, from London's "Story of a Typhoon" to The People of the Abyss. The Jack London who emerges in the pages of Author Under Sail is a writer whose partnership with publishers, most notably his productive alliance with George Brett of Macmillan, was one of the most formative in American literary history. London pioneered many author models during the heyday of realism and naturalism, blurring the boundaries of these popular genres by focusing on absorption and theatricality and the representation of the seen and unseen. London created an impassioned, sincere, and extremely personal realism unlike that of other American writers of the time. Author Under Sail is a literary tour de force that reveals the full range of London as writer, creative citizen, and entrepreneur at the same time it sheds light on the maverick side of machine-age literature.Intro -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Dedication -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- 1. Spirit Truth -- 2. From Absorption to Theatricality and Back Again -- 3. "I Will Build a New Present" -- 4. Sons as Authors -- 5. Fathers as Publishers -- 6. The Daughter as Author -- 7. Lovers as Authors -- 8. At Sea with the Family -- 9. Yellow News, Yellow Stories -- 10. The Return Home -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index -- About Jay WilliamsIn Author Under Sail, Jay Williams offers the first complete literary biography of Jack London as a professional writer engaged in the labor of writing. It examines the authorial imagination in London's work, the use of imagination in both his fiction and nonfiction, and the ways he defined imagination in the creative process in his business dealings with his publishers, editors, and agents. In this first volume of a two-volume biography, Williams traverses the years 1893 to 1902, from London's "Story of a Typhoon" to The People of the Abyss. The Jack London who emerges in the pages of Author Under Sail is a writer whose partnership with publishers, most notably his productive alliance with George Brett of Macmillan, was one of the most formative in American literary history. London pioneered many author models during the heyday of realism and naturalism, blurring the boundaries of these popular genres by focusing on absorption and theatricality and the representation of the seen and unseen. London created an impassioned, sincere, and extremely personal realism unlike that of other American writers of the time. Author Under Sail is a literary tour de force that reveals the full range of London as writer, creative citizen, and entrepreneur at the same time it sheds light on the maverick side of machine-age literature.Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, YYYY. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries
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