1,721,120 research outputs found
IN VITRO TOXICOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF FUSARIUM MYCOTOXINS ON BOVINE GRANULOSA CELLS
Full text linkInformation on the potential effects of fusariotoxins on reproductive system in ruminants are few. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to evaluate if DON and ZEA major hydroxylated metabolites, α-zearalenol (α-Zol) and β-zearalenone (β-Zol), alone or in combination, can impair bovine reproductive activity via affecting cell proliferation, estradiol (E2) and progesterone (P4) production and gene expression (CYP11A1 and CYP19A1 mRNA abundance) of primary granulosa cells (GC). GC were obtained aspirating aseptically small (1 to 5 mm) (SMGC) and large (8-22 mm) (LGGC) ovarian follicles. GC were cultured for 2 days in medium containing 10% fetal bovine serum followed by 1 or 2 days in serum free medium without (control) or with added treatments. At the end of the experiments, numbers of GC were determined using a Coulter counter, the concentration of steroid hormones was evaluated via radioimmunoassay and RNA analysis was performed. In SMGC cell proliferation was negatively affected after exposure to β-Zol at 31 μM and after exposure to α-Zol (3.1 μM) alone and combined with DON (3.3 μM). Steroidogenesis was differently affected by tested mycotoxins: DON and α-Zol had inhibitory effects while β-Zol at high concentration (31 μM) stimulated steroid production. DON (3.3 μM) and β-Zol (31 μM) increased GC CYP19A1 mRNA abundance. CYP11A1 mRNA abundance was stimulated by DON, alone and combined with α-Zol and β-Zol, whereas was inhibited by β-Zol alone. In LGGC, α-Zol alone and in combination with DON, increased cell proliferation whereas DON strongly inhibited P4 and E2 production mainly at high doses (3.3 μM). In conclusion these results demonstrated that DON and ZEA metabolites may affect in vitro bovine GC function and also provides information on the interaction between DON and ZEA metabolites
Poisoning of dogs and cats by drugs intended for human use
No full textOne of the main causes of poisoning of small animals is exposure to drugs intended for human use. Poisoning may result from misuse by pet owners, off-label use of medicines or, more frequently, accidental ingestion of drugs that are improperly stored. This review focuses on classes of drugs intended for human use that are most commonly involved in the poisoning of small animals and provides an overview of poisoning episodes reported in the literature. To perform this review a comprehensive search of public databases (PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, Google Scholar) using key search terms was conducted. Additionally, relevant textbooks and reference lists of articles pertaining to the topic were reviewed to locate additional related articles. Most published information on small animal poisoning by drugs intended for human use was from animal and human poison control centres or from single case reports. The dog was the species most frequently poisoned. The major drugs involved included analgesics (nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs), antihistamines (H1-antihistamines), cardiovascular drugs (calcium channel blockers), central nervous system drugs (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, baclofen, benzodiazepines and zolpidem), gastrointestinal drugs (loperamide), nutritional supplements (vitamin D and iron salts) and respiratory drugs (β2-adrenergic receptor agonists)
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
Italian national data bank of stillbirth vs. SIDS.
Full text linkSudden perinatal death, which includes antepartum
death (from 22 completed weeks of gestation), intrapartum
death and early neonatal death (occurring
within seven completed days of life), and sudden infant
death syndrome (SIDS), represents one of the major
sociomedical and scientific problems still lacking a
solution in today’s medicine.1 However, little effort is
being made to find a cause of these deaths, as there is
no standard method of performing an autopsy in these
victims, and no database exists from which researchers
can draw autopsy results. Therefore, the need to submit
the young victims to necropsy procedures through a
standardized protocol is unanimously recognized, and
the chance of preventing perinatal unexpected death
and SIDS relies mainly on a better knowledge of the
underlying alterations of organs and etiopathogenetic
mechanisms. Similarly, for diagnostic purposes, an
accurate and careful examination of the circumstantial,
environmental, and familial situation within which the
death occurred is extremely important.
All the information related to victims of sudden
and unexplained fetal death and SIDS will soon be
made available in Italy through a specific data bank
established under the Law 31/2006 “Regulations for
Diagnostic Post Mortem Investigation in Victims of
Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) and Unexpected
Fetal Death.”2 This law mandates that infants
who die suddenly within one year of life, and fetuses
that die after 22 weeks of gestation without any
apparent cause, must be rapidly submitted—with the
consent of both parents—to diagnostic postmortem
investigation.3 Information about the pregnancy, fetal
development and delivery, and, in the case of SIDS,
the environmental and familial situation in which the
death occurred—in addition to information related
to risk factors—must be collected by the obstetriciangynecologist,
neonatologist, pediatrician, and pathologist
involved in the case and recorded in the registry of
the data bank. In addition, to facilitate the collection
and analysis of the data, this data bank will allow the
Lino Rossi Research Center in collaboration with the
Epidemiology Center of the Italian National Health
Institute to update the population through public
education
and prevention programs aimed at decreasing
the incidence of stillbirth and SIDS
Epidemiological study (2006-2012) on the poisoning of small animals by human and veterinary drugs
No full textA retrospective study was conducted on the exposure of dogs and cats to drugs, reported to the Poison Control Centre of Milan (Centro Antiveleni di Milano (CAV)) between January 2006 and December 2012. Calls related to drugs for human use and veterinary drugs accounted for 23.7 per cent of total inquiries (1415) received by CAV and mostly involved dogs (70 per cent of enquiries). Exposure to drugs for human use accounted for 79 per cent of cases involving dogs, whereas veterinary drugs were the main culprit (77 per cent) in the case of cats. The most common class of drugs for human use proved to be CNS drugs (26.8 per cent), followed by NSAIDs (19.6 per cent) and cardiovascular and endocrine drugs (12.9 per cent each). The majority of calls (95.2 per cent) related to veterinary drugs involved dogs and cats exposed to parasiticides. The outcome was reported in only 58.2 per cent of cases, and fatal poisoning accounted for 8.7 per cent of these cases. Epidemiological data from this Italian survey provide useful information on animal exposure to drugs. The knowledge of agents involved in poisoning episodes can help veterinarians make the correct diagnosis and institute preventive measures to possibly reduce animal exposure to drugs
Gradient-based Worst Case Search Algorithm for Robust Optimization
No full textThe worst case search plays a fundamental role in the design of electromagnetic devices when robustness versus tolerances has to be pursued. Here, an approach is proposed to evaluate in effective and fast way the worst solution, when both the performance function and tolerance constraint function gradients are available. The algorithm is then generalized for the cases when such information is not explicitly given
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