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Phospholipase activity of yeasts from wild birds and possible implications for human disease
Get PDFOver the last decades, reports on yeast infections in humans have increased
especially with respect to immunocompromised individuals. Phospholipases
are enzymes which may be associated with pathogenic processes caused by
opportunistic yeasts. Phospholipase activity (ph.a.) was investigated in 163
isolates of 13 species of yeasts. A total of 133 isolates were obtained through
the screening of a total of 768 cloacae of wild birds (Group I: 182 birds of
prey; Group II: 165 passeriformes and Group III: 421 other wild migratory
birds), while 30 isolates were recovered from the droppings of birds housed in 32
distinct aviaries (Group IV). Phospholipase production was evaluated and
quantified at 2 and 5 day pre-incubation (Pr.t) and incubation times (I.t).
Isolates from cloacae (48.1%) and excreta (73.3%) produced ph.a. with the
highest values registered after 5 days of I.t. Candida albicans, C. tropicalis, C.
glabrata, C. lusitaniae, C. pelliculosa, Cryptococcus albidus, C. laurentii, Trichosporon
beigelii, and Saccharomyces cerevisiae displayed the highest ph.a. after
2 days of Pr.t while Candida famata, C. guilliermondii and Cryptococcus
neoformans after 5 days of Pr.t. Ph.a. was never found in Rhodotorula rubra
isolates recovered from the cloacae of wild birds. Isolates (73.3%) from bird
droppings showed a higher ph.a. than those from cloacae thus indicating that
wild birds not only act as carriers but may also spread phospholipase-producing
yeasts in the environment
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
Epidemiology and risk factors for dermatophytoses in rabbit farms
Get PDFWhile dermatophytoses of several animal species have been extensively investigated, information on their occurrence and epidemiology in rabbits is limited. We carried out a study from October 2006 to February 2007 of 23 rabbit farms in Apulia and Basilicata regions (southern Italy) in order to investigate the occurrence and risk factors associated with dermatophytoses in breeding rabbits. Dermatophytes were isolated from 86.9% (20/23) of the farms and from 51.8% (420/810) of the animals sampled. Trichophyton mentagrophytes (47.9%) and Microsporum canis (3.2%) were isolated from diseased (71.7%) and healthy (48.4%) animals as well from the surrounding environment (7.5%). The occurrence of lesions, the age of rabbits, and farm management (e.g., temperature, humidity and methods and frequency of disinfection practices) were identified as the most significant risk factors (P 20°C) and relative humidity ranging from 6265%. The results of the present investigation suggest that zoonotic dermathophytes are present in rabbit farms and highlight the importance of correct management procedures for the control of the infections
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
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