1,721,010 research outputs found
ROLE OF THE LONG PENTRAXIN 3 (PTX3) IN CARDIOMETABOLIC DISEASES
Full text linkPTX3 is a biomarker of cardiovascular diseases and exerts protective functions in acute myocardial infarction and atherosclerosis. Here we aimed at investigating the role of PTX3 in cardiovascular diseases.
First we studied the role of PTX3 in arterial thrombosis induced by FeCl3 injury: PTX3 KO mice showed a 60% reduction in carotid artery blood flow with a greater thrombus formation compared to 20% of WT mice (p<0.01) following arterial thrombosis, an effect mediated by PTX3 derived from non-hematopoietic cells: indeed, PTX3 KO mice transplanted with bone marrow from WT or PTX3 KO mice presented a significant increased carotid occlusion compared to WT mice transplanted with bone marrow from WT or PTX3 KO mice (p<0.01).
This effect was independent of altered hemostatic properties, impaired platelet activation, modulation of P-selectin activity as P-selectin KO/PTX3 KO mice showed a significant reduction in carotid artery blood flow and increased arterial thrombus formation compared to P-selectin KO (p0,01), an effect related mainly to the C-terminal and N-terminal domain respectively. Finally, exogenous administration of hrPTX3 reverted the pro-thrombotic phenotype in PTX3 KO mice and improves the outcomes in WT (p<0.01).
In conclusion, PTX3 deficiency is associated with increased arterial thrombosis via modulation of collagen and fibrinogen thrombogenicity.
In parallel, we investigated the role of PTX3 in the immune-inflammatory response associated to obesity and metabolic disorders, a condition deeply associated with the incidence of cardiovascular events. After 20 weeks of high fat diet (HFD,45% of calories from fat), PTX3 KO mice compared to WT, showed a decreased weight gain (p<0.05), coupled to a decreased accumulation of fat at both 10 and 20 weeks in the visceral (VAT,p<0.05) and subcutaneous adipose depots (SCAT,p<0.05) measured by magnetic resonance for imaging. Basal glycaemia at both 10 and 20 weeks was similar between groups as well as glucose and insulin tolerance measured by glucose (GTT) and insulin tolerance test (ITT), excluding a direct role of PTX3 on glucose homeostasis. As PTX3 is a key component of innate immunity, we focused our attention on the inflammatory response in VAT of PTX3 KO: adipocyte size was significantly smaller (p<0.01) and associated with a decreased infiltration of leukocytes and expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines (MCP-1, IL-6, p<0.05) compared to WT. These data show that deficiency of PTX3 results in reduced HDF-induced obesity as a consequence of a decreased inflammatory state of PTX3 KO VAT.
Concluding, we have shown the dual role of PTX3 which plays a protective role in arterial thrombosis, while in a model of diet-induced obesity is associated with the promotion of inflammation and fat deposition in adipose tissue. This dual role suggests that PTX3 may play different functions depending on the origin and the site of action
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
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
HDL in innate and adaptive immunity
No full textDuring infections or acute conditions high-density lipoproteins cholesterol (HDL-C) levels decrease very rapidly and HDL particles undergo profound changes in their composition and function. These changes are associated with poor prognosis following endotoxemia or sepsis and data from genetically modified animal models support a protective role for HDL. The same is true for some parasitic infections, where the key player appears to be a specific and minor component of HDL, namely apoL-1. The ability of HDL to influence cholesterol availability in lipid rafts in immune cells results in the modulation of toll-like receptors, MHC-II complex, as well as B- and T-cell receptors, while specific molecules shuttled by HDL such as sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P) contribute to immune cells trafficking. Animal models with defects associated with HDL metabolism and/or influencing cell cholesterol efflux present features related to immune disorders. All these functions point to HDL as a platform integrating innate and adaptive immunity. The aim of this review is to provide an overview of the connection between HDL and immunity in atherosclerosis and beyond
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