1,721,116 research outputs found
Lymphocystis virus disease
No full textLymphocystis disease (LCD) is a chronic self-limiting disease involving a number of teleost species throughout the world. It is caused by the lymphocystis disease virus (LCDV) and characterized by white nodules affecting the fish's skin/fins. Although LCD is frequently benign, it may be responsible for economic losses related to poor growth, nonmarketability of diseased fish, and secondary bacterial infections. Currently, no specific prevention or therapeutic methods are available, and the control is based on the application of a biosecurity program including disinfection procedures, screening and quarantine of fish stocks that have to be introduced. Recent studies showed that LCDV causes systemic infection, and surviving fish can become asymptomatic carriers, thus presenting new challenges in the control of LCD. This chapter reviews the literature providing an overview of this insidious disease, including recent insights on pathogenesis and epidemiology, available methods for the diagnosis and future prospects to improve LCD control
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe 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
Full text link“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
Full text linkWe 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
Full text linkWe 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
INHIBITORY EFFECT OF RIBAVIRIN AND EICAR AGAINST THE REPLICATION OF BETANODAVIRUS
No full textRibavirin and EICAR compounds were tested in vitro against Betanodavirus to value their antiviral activity
Evaluation of cytokines expression by Real time PCR from organs and blood of persistent infected animals by BVDV
No full textThe aim of this study was to apply the Real time PCR technique to tissues and blood samples of persistently infected animals and healthy animals in order to evaluate the expression of cytokines as INF-γ, IL-8, IL-1β and IL-10.
Eighty-one samples of organs from 15 animals both BVDV persistently infected (PI) and healthy were collected and analyzed for cytokines expression. Following cytokines were quantify with a real time PCR technique: INF-γ, IL-8, IL-1β and IL-10.
The quantification of cytokines expression from organs by Real time PCR showed differences between PI and healthy animals. Both INF-γ and IL-8 expressions were down-regulated in the organs from PI animals compared to healthy animals, and the INF-γ decrease was statistically significant (P< 0,001) in each group of organs analyzed.
The expression of each cytokine evaluated on buffy coat was different depending on the time point considered. Only IL-8 was quantified in each time point reaching a peak of expression at the ninth blood collection and its level was higher than that one of other cytokines. INF-γ expression was detectable among the seventh and the ninth blood collection; IL-1β among the second and the sixth blood collection and IL-10 between the sixth and the seventh blood collection. Cytokine levels of PI and healthy animals were almost comparable and no statistically significant differences were observed.
This study put in evidence that Real time PCR is a suitable technique for the quantification of cytokines. We found a reduction of cytokines expression (INF-γ and IL-8) from organs of PI animals compared to control animals confirming the activity of BVDV on the immune system. The INF-γ down-regulation could be due to the immunotolerance phenomenon and to the ability of the virus to infect persistently without triggering an antiviral state. In blood samples of PI and healthy animals cytokine levels were almost comparable, but the expression curves were different. The detection of INF-γ only at 3 time points out of 10 confirms the hypothesis that in PI animals there is not an effective antiviral state and that CD4+ and CD8+ depletion decreases the expression of this cytokine. As demonstrated on organs analysis there is no difference between the expression of IL-8 in PI and healthy animals probably because of its function as neutrophil chemotactic factor at the inflammation site. IL-10 is a modulatory cytokine mainly decreasing other soluble factor as IL-1 β. The reduction of this cytokine since the sixth blood collection could be correlated to the higher level of IL-10. In conclusion our results demonstrate that Real time PCR is a useful technique in the study of cytokine expression and further studies are justified to increase the panel of cytokines to be evaluated in order to better understand the role of these soluble factors in the immune response against BVDV
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