1,721,079 research outputs found
The Save-My-Bike Project. ITS technologies and rewarding policies to improve sustainable mobility in cities.
Full text linkSmall RNAs targeting the 5' end of the viral polymerase gene segments specifically interfere with influenza type A virus replication
No full textHuman and avian influenza A viruses, associated with seasonal epidemics and occasionally with pandemics, have a high impact on public health. The development of new antivirals to counteract the emergence of drug resistant influenza virus variants is a main concern. The aim of this study was to develop systems for the efficient and stable expression of small therapeutic RNAs into influenza virus infected cells in order to get further insights on the efficacy of nucleic acid-based antiviral strategies. To this end, lentiviral vectors expressing either microRNAs or antisense-RNAs targeting the 5' end of the PA, PB1 and PB2 influenza virus genomic sequences were generated. Derivative recombinant lentiviral particles were employed to transduce the influenza virus highly susceptible human alveolar basal epithelial A549 cells. The expression of both RNA molecules led to a reduction up to 3 logs of the viral titer when transduced A549 cells were challenged with different human and avian subtypes of influenza type A virus. Importantly, no inhibition of influenza type B virus was observed. Overall our data support the development of nucleic acid-based antiviral strategies to control human and avian influenza A virus infection
Investigation on torquetenovirus (TTV) microRNA transcriptome in vivo
No full textTorquetenovirus (TTV) is a widespread anellovirus that establishes persistent infections in human showing an increased viremia in immunosuppressed patients. TTV possesses microRNA (miRNA)-coding sequences that might be involved in viral immune evasion. Here, the presence of TTV DNA and miRNAs expression was investigated in plasma samples of 77 diseased (20 infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), 18 infected with hepatitis B (HBV) virus, 18 infected with hepatitis C (HCV) virus, 21 solid organ transplanted) patients, and 25 healthy controls. TTV prevalence was significantly different in healthy controls (60%, 15/25) versus diseased patients (80%, 62/77), showing the highest TTV loads in transplant recipients. Genetic TTV analysis showed the highest prevalence of group 1, followed by groups 3, 4 and 5, and a lack of isolates of group 2. The expression of at least one TTV miRNAs of group 1, 3 and 5 was found in exosomes of plasma of the great majority of individuals (96%, 98/102 subjects) showing the higher prevalence of miRNAs of TTV group 3 (90%, 92/102), followed by miRNAs of group 1 (66%, 67/102), and miRNA of group 5 (49%, 50/102). TTV miRNAs expression and TTV viremia were not always directly correlated, and significant differences appeared in production of some TTV miRNAs between healthy controls and diseased patients. The reported TTV miRNAs status in exosomes encourages further investigation to understand their potential role in the expansion of anelloviruses upon immunosuppression
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
Assessment of the risk of polyomavirus JC reactivation in patients with immune-mediated diseases during long-term treatment with infliximab
No full textPolyomavirus JC (JCV) reactivation causing progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy is a main concern during biological therapies. Here, JCV reactivation in patients suffering from immune-mediated diseases after a long-term treatment with anti-tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) inhibitor infliximab was investigated. Peripheral mononuclear blood cells (PBMC), plasma and urine samples were obtained from 61 immune-mediated diseases patients treated or not with infliximab in combination with steroid and other immunomodulators and from 20 healthy donors. JCV DNA was transiently detected in 12 PBMC of 40 patients at different doses of infliximab with a higher prevalence than that of the 21 patients untreated. Conversely, a stable JCV positivity in urine of treated and untreated patients was detected. Sequencing the noncoding control region (NCCR), all samples exhibited the archetype structure with few mutations in transcriptional factor binding regions. The consequence of anti-TNF-α treatment on viral persistence was examined monitoring Torquetenovirus viremia and investigating the TNF-α-induced microRNA regulators of transcriptional factors, with a binding site on NCCR. Although infliximab treatment in this study did not affect directly JCV reactivation, further investigation on host factor(s) regulated by it will be of warranty in the understanding the mechanism(s) that may affect viral persistence. © 2012 Journal of NeuroVirology, Inc
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