1,720,963 research outputs found
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe 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
Nanoengineering liquid metal core–shell nanostructures
No full textNanoengineering the composition and morphology of functional nanoparticles endows them to perform multiple tasks and functions. An intriguing strategy for creating multifunctional nanomaterials involves the construction of core–shell nanostructures, which have enabled promising applications in biomedicine, energy, sensing, and catalysis. Here, a straightforward nanoengineering approach is presented utilizing liquid metal nanoparticles and galvanic replacement to create diverse core–shell nanostructures. Controlled nanostructures including liquid metal core-gold nanoparticle shell (LM@Au), gold nanoparticle core-gallium oxide shell (Au@Ga oxide), and hollow Ga oxide nanoparticles are successfully fabricated. Remarkably, these investigations reveal that LM@Au exhibits exceptional photothermal performance, achieving an impressive conversion efficiency of 65.9%, which is five times that of gold nanoparticles. By leveraging the high photothermal conversion efficiency and excellent biocompatibility of LM@Au, its promising application in hyperthermia cancer therapy is demonstrated. This simple yet powerful nanoengineering strategy opens new avenues for the controlled synthesis of complex core–shell nanostructures, advancing various fields beyond biomedicine.</p
Development and characterisation of star-shaped nanoparticles to deliver therapeutic siRNA to medulloblastoma
Get PDFBrain cancer kills more children in Australia than any other disease. Medulloblastoma (MB) accounts for approximately 20% of all childhood brain tumours. Chemoresistance, relapse and treatment related toxicity are common for this disease. There is an urgent need to develop new effective and less toxic treatments.
Gene therapies which use short-interfering RNA (siRNA) to silence the expression of a target gene have great potential for the treatment of a host of human diseases including cancer. However, a major hurdle for the clinical translation of siRNA drugs is the need for a delivery vehicle to allow siRNA to internalise into cells. Nanoparticles may offer a solution to this problem and can be used as delivery vehicles for siRNA. No studies have examined the potential of star nanoparticles for the treatment of MB.
The aims of this study were to: 1) define the biological conditions for di-block copolymer nanoparticles (star nanoparticles) to deliver siRNA to MB cells in vitro to silence the expression of a gene (Polo-Like Kinase 1, PLK1) which is highly expressed in MB cells and plays a major role in promoting tumour growth; 2) determine whether star nanoparticles could deliver siRNA to solid tumours in mice; and 3) examine whether Star nanoparticle-siRNA (star-siRNA) could penetrate a blood-brain barrier (BBB).
Results from this thesis demonstrate that star-siRNA form monodisperse nanoparticles with a size of 19 nm. Star-siRNA is internalised into MB cells in vitro and can silence PLK1 expression leading to mitotic arrest, DNA damage and apoptosis. Star-siRNA was non-toxic to mice and siRNA could be effectively delivered to subcutaneous MB tumours to silence PLK1 expression which induced apoptosis. Finally, using in vitro and in vivo models we showed that star-siRNA could penetrate the BBB. Importantly, star nanoparticles delivered siRNA to the brains of mice with growing orthotopic MB tumours.
Collectively, results presented in this thesis demonstrate for the first time the potential of star nanoparticles to deliver siRNA to induce apoptosis in MB cells in vitro and in vivo. Star-siRNA nanodrugs may be a novel therapeutic strategy to inhibit MB growth and increase patient survival
Variations on the Author
Get PDF“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
Get PDFWe 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
Tailored fluorosurfactants through controlled/living radical polymerization for highly stable microfluidic droplet generation
No full textDroplet-based microfluidics represents a disruptive technology in the field of chemistry and biology through the generation and manipulation of sub-microlitre droplets. To avoid droplet coalescence, fluoropolymer-based surfactants are commonly used to reduce the interfacial tension between two immiscible phases to stabilize droplet interfaces. However, the conventional preparation of fluorosurfactants involves multiple steps of conjugation reactions between fluorinated and hydrophilic segments to form multiple-block copolymers. In addition, synthesis of customized surfactants with tailored properties is challenging due to the complex synthesis process. Here, we report a highly efficient synthetic method that utilizes living radical polymerization (LRP) to produce fluorosurfactants with tailored functionalities. Compared to the commercialized surfactant, our surfactants outperform in thermal cycling for polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing, and exhibit exceptional biocompatibility for cell and yeast culturing in a double-emulsion system. This breakthrough synthetic approach has the potential to revolutionize the field of droplet-based microfluidics by enabling the development of novel designs that generate droplets with superior stability and functionality for a wide range of applications.</p
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Get PDFWe 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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