1,720,976 research outputs found
Novel FAP-Targeted Heptamethine Cyanines for NIRF Imaging Applications
Fibroblast activation protein (FAP) is a pan-cancer target that is useful for imaging, ideally all epithelial cancers. This work aimed to develop, characterize, and validate two novel FAP-targeted probes for optical imaging, both in vitro and in vivo. IRDye800CW and FNIRTag heptamethine cyanines were conjugated to the NH precursor of the well-known FAP inhibitor FAPI-46, which is widely employed in nuclear medicine. In addition to synthesis, the dyes were characterized in terms of physicochemical properties, biodistribution, and imaging performances in a breast cancer tumor model. FAPI-FNIRTag showed a stronger fluorescence and higher photostability compared to FAPI-IRDye800CW. Notably, both compounds exhibited strong tumor accumulation in TUBO breast cancer-bearing mice 24 h postadministration, suggesting potential for further investigation as fluorescence-guided surgery (FGS) agents
Silicon phthalocyanines functionalized with axial substituents targeting PSMA: synthesis and preliminary assessment of their potential for PhotoDynamic Therapy of prostate cancer
Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a clinical modality based on the irradiation of different diseases, mostly tumours, with light following the selective uptake of a photosensitiser by the pathological tissue. In this study, two new silicon(IV)phtalocyanines (SiPcs) functionalized at both axial positions with a PSMA inhibitor are reported as candidate photosensitizers for PDT of prostate cancer, namely compounds SiPc-PQ(PSMAi)2 and SiPc-OSi(PSMAi)2. These compounds share the same PSMA-binding motif, but differ in the linker that connects the inhibitor moiety to the Si(IV) atom: an alkoxy (Si−O−C) bond for SiPc-PQ(PSMAi)2, and a silyloxy (Si−O−Si) bond for SiPc-OSi(PSMAi)2. Both compounds were synthesized by a facile synthetic route and fully characterized by 2D NMR, mass spectrometry and absorption/fluorescence spectrophotometry. The PDT agents showed a suitable solubility in water, where they essentially exist in monomeric form. SiPc-PQ(PSMAi)2 showed a higher singlet oxygen quantum yield ΦΔ, higher fluorescence quantum yields ΦF and better photostability than SiPc-OSi(PSMAi)2. Both compounds were efficiently taken up by PSMA(+) PC3-PIP cells, but not by PSMA(−) PC3-FLU cells. However, SiPc-PQ(PSMAi)2 showed a more specific photoinduced cytotoxicity in vitro, which is likely attributable to a better stability of its water solutions
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
In situ sonoporation to enhance the tumour uptake of silicon phthalocyanine and improve PDT effectiveness in a triple negative breast cancer murine model
The effectiveness of photodynamic therapy (PDT) has been well demonstrated in vitro, but in vivo studies have only shown a delay in tumour growth. Tumour recurrence is often reported in clinical trials and is usually associated with limited tumour uptake of the photosensitiser (PS). In this study, sonoporation (SNP) is utilised as a physical targeting tool to enhance the uptake of an untargeted PS in cells and tumour tissues. Using a chemometric approach, we identified the optimal sonoporation stimulus to maximise uptake and cell viability (frequency 1.05 MHz, tON (percentage of positive signal in a single pulse): 50 %, DC: 90 %, burst: 1 s, sonoporation time 1 min). We achieved a viability of 83.9 % ± 10.3, and an uptake in live cells of 53.1 % ± 6.6. The combination of sonoporation and photodynamic therapy resulted in a significant reduction in cell viability. In a triple-negative breast cancer model, sonoporation combined with photodynamic therapy significantly inhibited tumour growth. For the first time, our results highlight the potential of sonoporation as a non-invasive method to increase the intratumour uptake of photosensitisers, offering a promising strategy to improve PDT efficacy
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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