1,720,960 research outputs found
Prevalence of feline bartonellosis and multilocus sequence typing of Bartonella henselae isolates in urban stray cats living in Milan, Italy
No full textCat scratch disease is a worldwide zoonosis caused predominatly by Bartonella henselae and in a lesser extent by B. clarridgeiae. Cats are the natural reservoir and vectors for B. henselae and B. clarridgeiae infections in humans. Genetic heterogeneity of B. henselae strains has been reported and multiple sequence types (STs) have been identified by the use of multilocus sequence typing (MLST). Particular sequence types have been more frequently associated with zoonosis than others. The aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of B. henselae and B. clarridgeiae infection in stray cats from Milan, Italy and to explore the genotypes of the B. henselae population for the evaluation of the potential risk of transmission to humans. Whole blood samples collected from 89 stray cats were cultured and analyzed by PCR. Sequence types of the feline B. henselae isolates were delineated using MLST. Bartonella henselae was detected in four (4.5%) cats and B. clarridgeiae was detected in one (1.1%) cat by PCR on blood samples. Coinfection by B. henselae type I and type II was identified in one cat. Four B. henselae isolates were cultured and were characterized as ST1 (2/4), ST5 (1/4) and ST8 (1/4), that are more commonly regarded as human associated or zoonosis associated STs. Typical feline associated B. henselae STs were not observed. Despite the low prevalence of B. henselae infection in stray cats from Milan, further investigation are needed to assess the risk for human health
IDENTIFICATION OF BIOMARKERS FOR THE ASSESSMENT OF FARM RUMINANT HEALTH STATUS
Full text linkThe aim of this PhD thesis was to identify biomarkers for evaluating the health of farm ruminants and possible the quality of products. A rapid identification and quantification of acute phase proteins (APPs) can provide useful information on the health status of animal.
From a clinical perspective, the availability of a quick, and reliable, diagnostic marker specific for inflammatory diseases is of paramount importance.
APPs can be employed in the assessment of animal health and welfare both ante- and post-mortem as an aid to meat inspection.
This work can be divided into two principal studies: the first one focused on the localization of APPs in extra hepatic tissues; in particular we have analyzed the distribution of acute phase proteins in the bovine forestomachs and abomasums and then the expression of SAA and Hp RNA in bovine tissues (and evaluation of suitable reference genes). The second part was more focused on the search for specific inflammatory biomarkers; in turn, this part of the thesis can be sub-divided into 2 studies: Escherichia coli lipopolysaccharides and Staphylococcus aureus enterotoxin B relationship with inflammatory microRNAs in bovine monocytes and the development of a highly sensitive sandwich ELISA to quantify the goat and bovine AGP and SAA in serum.
Regarding the first part of our investigations we demonstrated the expression of the four APPs’ mRNA. These results were confirmed by Western blot analysis followed by localization through immunohistochemistry. We have also identified SAA and Hp’s mRNA in all analyzed tissues in non pathological conditions.
In the second part of the thesis, we investigated the effect of Escherichia coli lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and Staphylococcus aureus enterotoxin B (SEB) on the expression of five miRNAs involved in the inflammatory response, including miR-9, miR-125b, miR-155, miR-146a and miR-223, in bovine CD14+ cells (monocytes). We obtained an up-regulation both miR-155 and miR-146a when cells were stimulated with LPS and a down-regulation of miR-125b, miR-155 and miR-223 after SEB stimulation, suggesting miRNAs as potential inflammatory biomarkers.
The last part of the study was devoted to ELISA detection of APP. A precise and sensitive test to determine AGP content was developed as sandwich ELISA in serum of bovine and goats. A good analytical sensitivity was demonstrated. The test can detect a wide range of AGP concentrations. Yet, neither in goats nor in bovine species, the test managed to identify the animals with disease. Regarding SAA, a novel immunoassay to specifically detect SAA in ruminants' serum was developed, but the present results must still be regarded as preliminary
Widespread expression of SAA and Hp RNA in bovine tissues after evaluation of suitable reference genes
No full textThe serum amyloid A (SAA) and haptoglobin (Hp) are the most prominent acute phase proteins (APPs) in cow. Liver mainly produces APPs, but extra hepatic expression has also been demonstrated in some tissues. The major aim of the present study was to assess the constitutive SAA and Hp mRNA expression by quantitative PCR (qPCR) in a wide panel of 33 bovine tissues, including gastrointestinal tract, respiratory system, urogenital system, mammary gland, hematopoietic system, central nervous system, eye, thyroid and heart. Normalization of gene expression in different samples requires reference genes, which are stably expressed. Therefore, seven reference genes were investigated (ACTB, GAPDH, HMBS, SDHA, YWHAZ, SF3A1, EEF1A2) and three genes, namely SF3A1, HMBS and ACTB, were selected after assessing their stability with geNorm and NormFinder() softwares. The qPCR analysis confirmed liver as the principal source of SAA and Hp, but also identified both APPs' mRNA in almost all tissues. The highest expression rate of SAA was found in thyroid, followed by pancreas and submandibulary gland. Hp mRNA expression was detected at high concentration in pancreas and submandibulary gland. The present data indicated a widespread expression of SAA and Hp also in non pathological conditions, thus envisaging a possible role as immunomodulatory and protective molecules. To understand where SAA and Hp come from is the prerequisite to their utilization as Acute Phase Reaction biomarkers
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
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