1,720,966 research outputs found
NMDA receptor modulation by a conditioned medium derived from rat cerebellar granule cells
Full text linkOur previous studies have shown that the response to the excitotoxic action of glutamate by cultured cerebellar granule cells depends upon the cell density or the volume of medium in which they have been grown: the higher the cell density or the lower the volume, the higher the response to glutamate. We have hypothesized that this variable response is due to the formation in culture of a glutamate-sensitizing activity GSA more abundantly in conditioned medium derived from high-density or low-volume cultures than that present in low-density or high volume cultures and capable of restoring sensitivity in previously resistant granule cells. In order to elucidate the mechanism of action of glutamate-sensitizing activity, we measured the extent and function of NMDA receptors in low-and high-volume cultures and assessed the effect of glutamate-sensitizing activity on the same receptors. We found that under high-volume conditions the extent of MK-801 binding, the amount of NMDA receptor type 1, the currents evoked in whole cells after an NMDA pulse and the response of cultured cells to this ligand were markedly reduced compared with low-volume cultures. Addition of glutamate-sensitizing activity to high-volume cultures increased their glutamate sensitivity the NMDA-evoked currents, the extent of MK-801 binding and the amount of NMDA receptor type 1 protein present. The corresponding mRNA transcripts, on the contrary, were unchanged in high-volume, low-volume and high-volume GSA-treated cultures
Proteasome involvement and accumulation of ubiquitinated proteins in cerebellar granule neurons undergoing apoptosis
Full text linkWe investigated the potential role of the ubiquitin proteolytic system in the death of cerebellar granule neurons induced by reduction of extracellular potassium. Inhibitors of proteasomal function block apoptosis if administered at onset of this process, but they do not exert such effect when added 2-3 hr later. The same inhibitors also prevent caspase-3 activity and calpain-caspase-3-mediated processing of tau protein, suggesting that proteasomes are involved upstream of the caspase activation. Although the proteasomes seem to play an early primary role in programmed cell death, we found that with progression of apoptosis, during the execution phase, a perturbation in normal ubiquitin-proteasome function occurs, and high levels of ubiquitinated proteins accumulate in the cytoplasm of dying cells. Such accumulation correlates with a progressive decline of proteasome chymotrypsin and trypsinlike activities and, to a lower extent, of postacidic-like activity. Both intracytoplasmic accumulation of ubiquitinated proteins and decline of proteasome function are reversed by the pan-caspase inhibitor Z-VAD-fmk. The decline in proteasome function is accompanied by, and likely attributable to, a marked and progressive decline of deubiquitinating activities. The finding that the proteasomes are early involved in apoptosis and that ubiquitinated proteins accumulate during this process prospect granule neurons as a model system aimed at correlating these events with neurodegenerative diseases
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
Tau cleavage and dephosphorylation in cerebellar granule neurons undergoing apoptosis
No full textCerebellar granule cells undergo apoptosis in culture after deprivation of potassium and serum. During this process we found that tau, a neuronal microtubule-associated protein that plays a key role in the maintenance of neuronal architecture, and the pathology of which correlates with intellectual decline in Alzheimer's disease, is cleaved. The final product of this cleavage is a soluble dephosphorylated tau fragment of 17 kDa that is unable to associate with microtubules and accumulates in the perikarya of dying cells. The appearance of this 17 kDa fragment is inhibited by both caspase and calpain inhibitors, suggesting that tau is an in vivo substrate for both of these proteases during apoptosis. Tau cleavage is correlated with disruption of the microtubule network, and experiments with colchicine and taxol show that this is likely to be a cause and not a consequence of tau cleavage. These data indicate that tau cleavage and change in phosphorylation are important early factors in the failure of the microtubule network that occurs during neuronal apoptosis. Furthermore, this study introduces new insights into the mechanism(s) that generate the truncated forms of tau present in Alzheimer's disease
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
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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