1,720,984 research outputs found
Development of an in vitro drug sensitivity assay based on newly excysted larvae of Echinostoma caproni
Get PDFEchinostomiasis is one of the major food-borne trematodiases and the species Echinostoma caproni serves as a useful model for trematocidal drug discovery. The current in vitro drug sensitivity assay uses adult E. caproni worms that are incubated with candidate drugs and scored microscopically for viability at 72 hrs. The aim of this study was to investigate the use of newly excysted larvae (NEL) of E. caproni for in vitro drug testing, which would be faster, more cost effective and more ethical compared to adult worm assays.; Larvae were obtained by collecting metacercariae from snails and triggering their excystation using the trypsin-bile salt excystation method. Studies concerning various parameters of this chemical transformation process as well as appropriate NEL culturing conditions were carried out and findings evaluated. NEL and adult worms were incubated with praziquantel, tribendimidine, albendazole and quinine and evaluated microscopically 72 hrs post-incubation. In addition, the colorimetric markers resazurin, CellTiter-Glo(R) and Vybrant(R) were tested as an alternative assay read-out method.; The chemical excystation method successfully induced E. caproni metacercariae to excyst at a rate of about 20-60% larvae excysted. NEL remained viable in culture medium for 5--7 days. The results of an in vitro drug assay using NEL mirrored the results of an assay using adult worms incubated with the same drugs. None of the markers could reliably produce signals proportional to NEL viability or cytotoxicity without significant complications.; NEL are adequate for in vitro drug testing. Challenges remain in further improving the excystation yield and the practicability of the assay setup. Resolving these issues could also improve read-outs using colorimetric markers. Using NEL is in alignment with the 3 R rules of the ethical use of laboratory animals and can greatly increase the rate and affordability with which drugs are screened in vitro against this intestinal trematode
Report of the World Health Organisation Informal Consultation on schistosomiasis in low transmission areas: control strategies and criterial for elimination
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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
Radiation-attenuated schistosome vaccination--a brief historical perspective.
Get PDFThe high level of protection which can be induced by vaccination of a range of hosts, from rodents to primates, with live radiation-attenuated schistosome larvae offers great promise for development of a human schistosome vaccine. Studies of the irradiated vaccine models benefitted from significant funding during the 1970-90s and much was learned concerning the inducers, targets and mechanisms of immunity. Less progress was made in definition of the protective antigens involved. The application of new techniques for identifying membrane and secreted antigens has recently provided new vaccine candidates and a new impetus for schistosome vaccine development. This article is intended as an overview of some of the main lessons learned from the studies of the irradiated vaccines as a backdrop to renewed interest in schistosome vaccine development
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
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