1,720,984 research outputs found
The Mediterranean Diet: An Update of the Clinical Trials
No full textThe Mediterranean Diet (MedDiet) is a term used to identify a dietary pattern originating from the unique multi-millennial interplay between natural food resources and the eating practices of people living in the Mediterranean basin. Scientific evidence has described the healthy properties of the MedDiet and its beneficial role in several pathological conditions. Nevertheless, current socio-economic trends have moved people away from this healthy lifestyle. Thus, clinical and biological evidence supporting the benefits of the MedDiet is needed to overcome these limitations. Clinical nutrition research examines the effects of dietary interventions on biological or health-related outcomes in a determined study population. The evidence produced by these studies is useful for dietary guidance and public health messaging. We provided an update of the clinical trials registered on the database clinicaltrials.gov evaluating the effects of the MedDiet on health and specific diseases. Our findings revealed an increased number of clinical trials in the last decade and found that most disease-related studies focused on cardiovascular diseases, metabolic diseases, and cancer. The majority of MedDiet's beneficial effects could be primarily related to its anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant properties as well as the effectiveness of this dietary pattern in controlling waist circumference and obesity. Moreover, strict and long-lasting adherence to the MedDiet as well as the beneficial effects of specific components (e.g., olive oil or its polyphenols) seem to emerge as useful insights for interventional improvements. These findings present further insights into the MedDiet's resources and how it could strengthen overall public health
The Emerging Role of Macrophages in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease: The Potential Impact of Oxidative Stress and Extracellular Vesicle on Macrophage Polarization and Function
No full textChronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is one of the most common airway diseases, and it is considered a major global health problem. Macrophages are the most representative immune cells in the respiratory tract, given their role in surveying airways, removing cellular debris, immune surveillance, and resolving inflammation. Macrophages exert their functions by adopting phenotypical changes based on the stimuli they receive from the surrounding tissue. This plasticity is described as M1/M2 macrophage polarization, which consists of a strictly coordinated process leading to a difference in the expression of surface markers, the production of specific factors, and the execution of biological activities. This review focuses on the role played by macrophages in COPD and their implication in inflammatory and oxidative stress processes. Particular attention is on macrophage polarization, given macrophage plasticity is a key feature in COPD. We also discuss the regulatory influence of extracellular vesicles (EVs) in cell-to-cell communications. EV composition and cargo may influence many COPD-related aspects, including inflammation, tissue remodeling, and macrophage dysfunctions. These findings could be useful for better addressing the role of macrophages in the complex pathogenesis and outcomes of COPD
Micro-RNAs: Crossroads between the exposure to environmental particulate pollution and the obstructive pulmonary disease
No full textEnvironmental pollution has reached a global echo and represents a serious problem for human health. Air pollution encompasses a set of hazardous substances, such as particulate matter and heavy metals (e.g., cadmium, lead, and arsenic), and has a strong impact on the environment by affecting groundwater, soil, and air. An adaptive response to environmental cues is essential for human survival, which is associated with the induction of adaptive phenotypes. The epigenetic mechanisms regulating the expression patterns of several genes are promising candidates to provide mechanistic and prognostic insights into this. Micro-RNAs (miRNAs) fulfil these features given their ability to respond to environmental factors and their critical role in determining phenotypes. These molecules are present in extracellular fluids, and their expression patterns are organ-, tissue-, or cell-specific. Moreover, the experimental settings for their quantitative and qualitative analysis are robust, standardized, and inexpensive. In this review, we provide an update on the role of miRNAs as suitable tools for understanding the mechanisms behind the physiopathological response to toxicants and the prognostic value of their expression pattern associable with specific exposures. We look at the mechanistic evidence associable to the role of miRNAs in the processes leading to environmental-induced pulmonary disease (i.e., chronic obstructive pulmonary disease)
Polyphenols, the healthy brand of olive oil: Insights and perspectives
No full textGiven their beneficial potential on human health, plant food bioactive molecules are important components influencing nutrition. Polyphenols have been widely acknowledged for their potentially protective role against several complex diseases. In particular, the polyphenols of olive oil (OOPs) emerge as the key components of many healthy diets and have been widely studied for their beneficial properties. The qualitative and quantitative profile defining the composition of olive oil phenolic molecules as well as their absorbance and metabolism once ingested are key aspects that need to be considered to fully understand the health potential of these molecules. In this review, we provide an overview of the key aspects influencing these variations by focusing on the factors influencing the biosynthesis of OOPs and the findings about their absorption and metabolism. Despite the encouraging evidence, the health potential of OOPs is still debated due to limitations in current studies. Clinical trials are necessary to fully understand and validate the beneficial effects of olive oil and OOPs on human health. We provide an update of the clinical trials based on olive oil and/or OOPs that aim to understand their beneficial effects. Tailored studies are needed to standardize the polyphenolic distribution and understand the variables associated with phenol-enriched OO. An in-depth knowledge of the steps that occur following polyphenol ingestion may reveal useful insights to be used in clinical settings for the prevention and treatment of many diseases
Expression pattern of stemness-related genes in human endometrial and endometriotic tissues.
No full textEndometriosis is a chronic disease characterized by the presence of ectopic endometrial tissue outside of the uterus with mixed traits of benign and malignant pathology. In this study we analyzed in endometrial and endometriotic tissues the differential expression of a panel of genes that are involved in preservation of stemness status and consequently considered as markers of stem cell presence. The expression profiles of a panel of 13 genes (SOX2, SOX15, ERAS, SALL4, OCT4, NANOG, UTF1, DPPA2, BMI1, GDF3, ZFP42, KLF4, TCL1) were analyzed by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction in human endometriotic (n = 12) and endometrial samples (n = 14). The expression of SALL4 and OCT4 was further analyzed by immunohistochemical methods. Genes UTF1, TCL1, and ZFP42 showed a trend for higher frequency of expression in endometriosis than in endometrium (P < 0.05 for UTF1), whereas GDF3 showed a higher frequency of expression in endometrial samples. Immunohistochemical analysis revealed that SALL4 was expressed in endometriotic samples but not in endometrium samples, despite the expression of the corresponding mRNA in both the sample groups. This study highlights a differential expression of stemness-related genes in ectopic and eutopic endometrium and suggests a possible role of SALL4-positive cells in the pathogenesis of endometriosis
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
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