1,720,957 research outputs found
Quantitative analysis of Hepatitis B Virus DNA by real-time amplification.
No full textDiagnostic assays allowing the quantification of hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA over a wide range of concentrations are important for monitoring patients during antiviral therapy. The aim of this study was to develop a new real-time method for HBV DNA quantification. Primers and probe were selected in a highly conserved region of the HBV S gene, and a plasmid containing the pre-S/S region was used as a standard. Linear quantification of the standard was obtained between 10 and 10(9) copies/reaction, with high correlation between ayw and adw genomes (P<0.001). HBV DNA was detected in serial dilutions of a high-titer serum sample with linear results until 2.4 x 10(3) copies/ml. One hundred eight serum samples positive for hepatitis B surface antigen were tested in both the real-time assay and the Digene Hybrid Capture assay (Digene, USA). HBV DNA could be detected by both assays in 70 samples, with significant correlation of results (P<0.001). Results for 38 samples were below the sensitivity limit of the Digene assay, but they could be quantified by the real time polymerase chain reaction assay. These results show that real-time polymerase chain reaction allows sensitive, rapid and linear quantification of HBV DNA in serum
Real-time quantitation of hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA in tumorous and surrounding tissue from patients with hepatocellular carcinoma
No full textFew data are available on the levels of HBV DNA
in liver tissue of patients with hepatocellular
carcinoma. In this study, HBV DNA was quantitated
by a TaqMan real-time PCR method and
results were normalised to an endogenous reference
gene. The assay could detect reproducibly
viral sequences from over 107 to less than
50 copies/mg of liver DNA. The HBV DNA content
in liver samples from 11 HBsAg-positive patients
(median: 105 copies/mg of DNA) was significantly
higher (P<0.001) compared to the viral DNA
concentration detected in liver samples from 15
of 25 HBsAg-negative patients (median: 2.6102
copies/mg). A liver DNA amount 1 HBV DNA
copy per cell was detected in half of tissue
samples from HBsAg-positive patients, and in
none from HBsAg-negative ones. Liver tissue
HBVDNAcontent was significantly higher in anti-
HCV-negative than in anti-HCV-positive cases
(P<0.001). These results show that the quantitation
of liver HBV DNA by real-time PCR can be
useful to understand HBV state in hepatocellular
carcinoma and viral interplay in patients with
multiple viral infections
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
A real-time PCR method for the quantitative analysis of HBV DNA in serum and liver tissue.
No full textVariations 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
- …
