1,720,966 research outputs found
Deoxynivalenol detoxification in transgenic wheat confers resistance to fusarium head blight and crown rot diseases
Full text linkGene Expression Profiling as a New Real-Time Assay in Human Biomonitoring of Waste-to-Energy Plant Workers
No full textExposure to heavy metals represents one of the most important risk factors for the health of incinerator workers. Indeed, heavy metals can determine increased generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). In this work, we introduced the use of transcription profiling of detoxifying genes, involved in redox balance and genome integrity, as a highly sensitive assay of heavy metal exposure and subsequent oxidative stress. For this purpose, blood mRNA levels of OGG1, ST13, NQO1 and MT1A genes, as well as urinary concentrations of nine heavy metals and the oxidized base 8-OHdG of 49 subjects (26 controls and 23 employees in the waste-to-energy plant of San Zeno, Arezzo, Italy) were determined. No significant difference between the two populations was observed, thus highlighting, as far as the biomarkers analysed are concerned, the absence of occupational exposure to heavy metals and systemic oxidative stress induction in the workers of the waste-to-energy plant of San Zeno. Correlation analyses underline a close association between heavy metals exposure and changes in expression levels of a number of genes, even at low exposure doses, thus remarking the greater capacity of detection of transcription profiling compared to other biomarkers and the importance of its introduction in future human biomonitoring programs
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
Protective effects of the neuropeptides PACAP, substance P and the somatostatin analogue octreotide in retinal ischemia: a metabolomic analysis.
Full text linkIschemia is a primary cause of neuronal death in retinal diseases and the somatostatin subtype receptor 2
agonist octreotide (OCT) is known to decrease ischemia-induced retinal cell death. Using a recently
optimized ex vivo mouse model of retinal ischemia, we tested the anti-ischemic potential of two additional
neuropeptides, pituitary adenylate cyclase activating peptide (PACAP) and substance P (SP), and monitored
the major changes occurring at the metabolic level. Metabolomics analyses were performed via fast HPLC
online using a microTOF-Q MS instrument, a workflow that is increasingly becoming the gold standard in
the field of metabolomics. The metabolomic approach allowed detection of the most significant alterations
induced in the retina by ischemia and of the significance of the protective effects exerted by OCT, PACAP
or SP. All treatments were shown to reduce ischemia-induced cell death, vascular endothelial growth factor
over-expression and glutamate release. The metabolomic analysis showed that OCT and, to a lesser extent,
also PACAP or SP, were able to counteract the ischemia-induced oxidative stress and to promote, with
various efficacies, (i) decreased accumulation of glutamate and normalization of glutathione homeostasis;
(ii) reduced build-up of a-ketoglutarate, which might serve as a substrate for the enhanced biosynthesis of
glutamate in response to ischemia; (iii) reduced accumulation of peroxidized lipids and inflammatory
mediators; (iv) the normalization of glycolytic fluxes and thus preventing the over-accumulation of lactate or
either promoting the down-regulation of the glyoxalate anti-oxidant system; (v) a reduced metabolic shift
from glycolysis towards the PPP or either a blockade at the non-oxidative phase of the PPP; and (vi) tuning
down of purine metabolism. In addition, OCT seemed to stimulate nitric oxide production. None of the
treatments was able to restore ATP production, although ATP reservoirs were partly replenished by OCT,
PACAP or SP. These data indicate that, in addition to that of somatostatin, peptidergic systems such as those
of PACAP and SP deserve attention in view of peptide-based therapies to treat ischemic retinal disorders
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
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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