1,721,086 research outputs found
Gelectin-1 is a new potential therapeutic target in multiple myeloma
No full textGalectin-1 (Gal-1) is a lectin, involved in several processes related to cancer, including immunosuppression, angiogenesis, hypoxia, and metastases. Currently, the role of Gal-1 in multiple myeloma (MM) pathophysiology and in MM-induced angiogenesis is unknown. Firstly, we found that Gal-1 was expressed by malignant plasma cells in the bone marrow microenvironment. Moreover, our data demonstrated that Gal-1 expression was up-regulated in MM cells by hypoxia treatment (1% of O2).Furthermore, the stable knock-down of Hypoxia Inducible Factor-1α, the master regulator of oxygen homeostasis, in human myeloma cell lines (HMCLs) markedly down-regulated Gal-1 expression. Thereafter, we found that the stable inhibition of Gal-1 by lentiviral vector short hairpin RNA (shRNA) anti-Gal-1 did not affect the proliferation and survival of MM cells, but significantly modified their transcriptional profiles, both in normoxic and hypoxic conditions. Notably, Gal-1 inhibition in MM cells significantly down-regulated genes involved in promoting tumor angiogenesis such as CCL2 and MMP9, and up-regulated some putative anti-angiogenic genes, including SEMA3A and CXCL10. In line with these observations, we found that Gal-1 suppression significantly decreased the pro-angiogenic proprieties of HMCLs, assessed by in vitro angiogenesis assay. Finally, we found that NOD-SCID mice, injected subcutaneously with HMCLs carrying a stable infection with lentiviral vector shRNA anti-Gal-1, showed a reduction in tumor volume and a significant reduction in the plasmacytomas microvascular density, compared to mice inoculated with HMCLs carrying a stable infection with the control vector. In a different set of experiments, a HMCL JJN3 infected with shRNA anti-Gal-1 and with control vector were injected in NIH-III SCID mice, an intratibial mouse model. We found that the anti-Gal-1 group developed tumors reduced in length, thickness, width and volume size and, in addition, developed fewer and smaller lytic lesions on x-ray compared to the control group.
Overall, our data indicate that Gal-1 exerts a role in MM pathophysiology and in MM-induced angiogenesis and its inhibition in MM cells significantly reduced tumor growth in vivo, suggesting that Gal-1 is a new potential therapeutic target in MM
L'Italia dei trasporti tra Adriatico e Tirreno
No full textThe transports’ infrastructure represent a key element for the economic growth of both regions and sectors in Italy. In order to better examine it, we go through the analysis of passenger traffic making a distinction among modes of transport: railway, airport, road and sea. The study gives also a statistical overview on accidents related to the different means of transport; where the number of road accidents, despite its decline, remains very high. The paper concludes with recommendation toward strategies to implement security, particularly in those areas disadvantaged, as the Mezzogiorno
Differenziali salariali fra occupati laureati con contratto a tempo determinato e indeterminato. Una misura dell’effetto contratto
Full text linkL’articolo si propone di controllare empiricamente l’esistenza di un differenziale
salariale tra gli individui in possesso di un titolo di studio terziario
occupati a tempo determinato e a tempo indeterminato, controllando
per un vasto insieme di caratteristiche individuali e del posto di
lavoro. I dati utilizzati provengono dall’indagine campionaria sull’inserimento
professionale dei laureati condotta dall’Istat nel 2015 in riferimento
ai laureati del 2011. In particolare, dopo aver considerato i
problemi di autoselezione legati al tipo di dati utilizzati, si applica la decomposizione
Oaxaca-Blinder (1973) al fine di stimare l’esistenza di un
differenziale salariale attribuibile esclusivamente al tipo di contratto di
lavoro. L’analisi mette in luce che i lavoratori laureati con un contratto
a tempo determinato guadagnano il 19% in meno dei laureati occupati
con un contratto a tempo indeterminato. Oltre il 50% del differenziale
salariale stimato è attribuibile esclusivamente al contratto di lavoro a
tempo determinato
Morpho-histological characterization and nutritional properties of prickly pear (Opuntia ficusindica L. Mill)
No full textOpuntia ficus indica (L.) is a large genus of succulent shrubs native to Mexico. In 16th century it was
introduced into several continents and is now widely grown in the warmer parts of the world. It has been
shown that the prickly pear fruit is very rich in vitamins, minerals, amino acids and in sugars. Another
important compositional factor of prickly pear is the presence of pigments, such as betalains, which make
the fruit and its products particularly attractive. Betalains are vacuolar pigments present in all varieties of
reported O. ficusindica. Their main function in the plant is to attract animals for pollen transfer facilitating
plant propagation and to protect against UV radiation. Two betalain derivatives are present in cactus-pears:
betacyanin, which gives the red-purple colour, and betaxanthin, which gives a yellow-orange colour. These
pigments have important antioxidant activities without toxic effects to humans. Given the considerable
interest aroused by this species, the aim of our research was to study the morphological and cyto-histological
characteristics of the fruit from two different varieties of the prickly pear typical of Sicily (Italy):”
Sanguigna” and “Muscaredda” or “Sciannarina”.Some functional compounds of prickly pear such as the
betalains, the carotenoids and chlorophyll (a and b) were also quantified. There were no cyto-histological
differences between the fruits of the two considered varieties; instead the content of betacyanins and
chlorophyll was very different
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
- …
