117,459 research outputs found
Analisi di alcuni parametri di qualità in germogli di Glicine max (L.) Merr. e Vigna radiata (L.) R. Wilczek, cresciuti al buio e in condizioni di luce bianca e blu
No full textIodine intake in pregnancy
No full textIodine is an essential micronutrient required for thyroid hormone biosynthesis. The recommended daily adult intake is 150 μg, increasing to 220–300 μg for pregnant and lactating women. Urinary iodine concentration (UIC) is an accurate indicator of iodine intake because more than 90% is excreted over a 24-hour period. The World Health Organization, United Nations Children’s Fund, and the International Council for the Control of Iodine Deficiency Disorders established that for a given population, the appropriate UIC in clinically healthy pregnant women should be 150–249 μg/L [1] and [2]. Iodine deficiency disorders (IDDs) are implicated in several diseases [3]. Despite iodine prophylaxis programs in many countries, iodine deficiency is still a significant public health concern [4]. Following the introduction of a salt iodization program (30 mg/Kg of salt) in Italy in 2005, we wanted to investigate whether the increased iodine requirement during pregnancy is being met in an urban area of Rome. Between January 2007 and March 2008, 124 clinically healthy pregnant women were enrolled to evaluate UIC in spot urine samples collected in the morning. The mean age of the women was 32 years, and mean body mass index (BMI, calculated as weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared) was 25.3 ± 2.6. Fifty-seven women were in the first trimester of pregnancy, 34 in the second, and 33 in the third. A control group of 145 age-matched healthy nonpregnant women (mean age 30 years; mean BMI 24.2 ± 2.4) was also enrolled. All participants were resident in the urban area of Rome and had no restrictions on iodized salt intake. Informed consent was obtained from each participant. The mean UIC in the control group was 137.2 ± 5.9 μg/L (median 112 μg/L, range 62–465), but it was significantly lower in the pregnant women (P < 0.01). Mean UIC in the women who were in the first, second, and third trimesters of pregnancy were 93.6 ± 6.6 μg/L (median 85 μg/L, range 28–223), 90.11 ± 6.4 μg/L (median 82 μg/L, range 25–165), and 89.8 ± 3.6 μg/L (median 88 μg/L, range 39–113), respectively (Fig. 1). Notably, severe iodine deficiency (UIC less than 50 μg/L) was found in 12 pregnant women who were in the first trimester, 2 in the second, and 2 in the third. These results demonstrate that even in an urban area where iodine intake is expected to be adequate, pregnant women may be at risk of IDD. They also indicate the need to monitor iodine intake during pregnancy in areas with recently established salt iodization programs, and raise the question of whether iodine supplementation in pregnancy should be generalized or tailored on an individual basis
In vitro infection with Rhodococcus equi: Cytokine release and phagocytic functions by normal and HIV-positive human macrophages.
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Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
No full textThe 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
A Novel Benchtop Device for Efficient and Simple Purification of Cytokines, Growth Factors and Stem Cells from Adipose Tissue
No full textLipoaspirates represent a source of adult stem cells, cytokines, and growth factors of adipocyte origin with immunomodulation and regenerative medicine potential. However, rapid and simple protocols for their purification using self-contained devices that can be deployed at the points of care are lacking. Here, we characterize and benchmark a straightforward mechanical dissociation procedure to collect mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) and soluble fractions from lipoaspirates. IStemRewind, a benchtop self-contained cell purification device, allowed a one-procedure purification of cells and soluble material from lipoaspirates with minimal manipulation. The recovered cellular fraction contained CD73+, CD90+, CD105+, CD10+ and CD13+ MSCs. These markers were comparably expressed on MSCs isolated using IstemRewind or classic enzymatic dissociation procedures, apart from CD73+ MSCs, which were even more abundant in IStemRewind isolates. IstemRewind-purified MSCs retained viability and differentiation into adipocytes and osteocytes, even after a freezing-thawing cycle. Levels of IL4, IL10, bFGF and VEGF were higher compared to the pro-inflammatory cytokines TNFα, IL1β and IL6 in the IStemRewind-isolated liquid fraction. In sum, IStemRewind can be useful for straightforward, rapid, and efficient isolation of MSCs and immunomodulatory soluble factors from lipoaspirates, opening the possibility to directly isolate and employ them at the point-of-care
Inducible nitric oxide synthase expression in Leishmania-infected dog macrophages
No full textNitric oxide (NO) production by the inducible NO synthase (iNOS or NOS2) represents one of the main microbicidal mechanisms of murine macrophages, but its role in other animal models is poorly investigated. Therefore, the aim of this work was to evaluate NOS2 expression in dog macrophages infected with Leishmania infantum. Macrophages obtained from peripheral blood of healthy dogs were activated with recombinant human interferon (rhIFN)-gamma and bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and then infected with L. infantum promastigotes, zymodeme MON1. For the immunofluorescence assay fixed macrophages were incubated with polyclonal rabbit anti-NOS2 and then with rhodamine F(ab ')(2) goat anti-rabbit IgG. For immunoblotting, cell lysates were submitted to SDS-PAGE and blots were incubated with polyclonal rabbit anti-NOS2 and then with horseradish peroxidase-conjugated goat anti-rabbit IgG. Results demonstrated that L. infantum-infected cells, after stimulation with rhIFN-gamma and LPS, displayed high levels of fluorescence for the NOS2 in their cytoplasm, unlike unstimulated uninfected macrophages. In western blotting, polyclonal anti-NOS2 reacted specifically with a protein band corresponding to 130 kDa. The signal produced in Leishmania-infected cells stimulated with rhIFN-gamma and LPS was higher than that produced in Leishmania-infected unstimulated cells. No band was detected in cellular lysates from uninfected unstimulated cells. These results indicate that dog macrophages can express NOS2, and suggest a role for IFN-gamma and LPS in NOS2 induction also in this animal model
Square Dancing with the Stars to Enhance Dynamic Hirschman Linkages?
No full textIn this Presidential Address, the author takes the reader on a reconnaissance of his life and time as a regional scientist. He points out scenery he found scintillating along the way, hoping that some may pick up the banner and chew on a few of the ideas for a while. He suggests a revisit to Albert O. Hirschman’s notion of key sectors and more empirical analysis related to Marcus Berliant’s and Masahisa Fujita’s notion of knowledge creation and transfer.Presidential Address, San Antonio, Texas, March 29, 2014 (53rd Meetings of the Southern Regional Science Association
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
No full textWe 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
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