1,720,984 research outputs found
Correlation between the DNA fragmentation index (DFI) and sperm morphology of infertile patients.
Full text linkPurpose To evaluate the correlation between the DNA Fragmentation Index (DFI) and sperm morphology in patients undergoing ICSI, as a predictive parameter in reproductive outcomes.
Methods A retrospective study was conducted on 125 infertile patients enrolled in a fertility clinic. Seminal characteristics were measured following the WHO guidelines (2010) for the examination of the seminal fluid. After collecting motile sperm popu- lation by pellet swim up, DFI was calculated and simultaneously associated with sperm morphology using in situ TUNEL assay and an image analyzer software in at least 250 spermatozoa for each patient.
Results All subjects were divided into two groups according to a cutoff established, by choice, of the sperm DFI (15%): group A (< 15%) consisting of 65 patients and group B (≥ 15%) of 60 patients. Data were analyzed using non-parametric statistical methods. The results demonstrate that there is no statistical difference between the two groups in seminal characteristics. The collective data show a high significant correlation, suggesting that spermatozoa with abnormal morphology are the best candi- dates to contain DNA damage (p < 0.001). Also, when group A is compared with group B, an increased percentage of morphologically normal spermatozoa with fragmented DNA was observed in patients, with DFI values ≥ 15% (p < 0.001).
Conclusion These results are aimed at providing an exact value of DFI in morphologically normal spermatozoa, which will be helpful to the embryologist in evaluating the risk of transferring, during the ICSI procedure, a spermatozoon whit normal morphology but fragmented DNA
Extra-Intestinal Fluoroquinolone-Resistant Escherichia coli Strains Isolated from Meat
Full text linkExtra-intestinalE.coliareemergingasaglobalthreatduetotheirdiffusionasopportunisticpathogensand,aboveall,totheirwide setofantibioticresistancedeterminants.Therearestillmanygapsinourknowledgeoftheiroriginandspreadpathways,although food animalshavebeenadjudicatedvehiclesfor passingmult-drugresistantbacteriatohumans.Thisstudyanalyzed 46samples of meat purchasedfrom retail stores in Palermo in order toobtain quinolone-resistant E. coli isolates. Strains were screenedfor their phylogeneticgroups, ST131-associatedsingle nucleotidepolymorphisms (SNPs),andthentypedbyERIC-PCR. Theirsetof virulencefactors,namely,kpsMII,papA,sfaS,focG,iutA,papC,hlyD,andafagenes,wereinvestigatedandtheirfluoroquinoloneresistancedeterminantsevaluated.Thedataobtainedshowadramaticallyhighprevalenceofmultidrugresistancepatternsinthe Palermoarea,with28%oftheisolateshavingvirulencefactorgenestypicalofExPEC strains.NoB2grouporST131 strainswere detected.Moreover,20%ofourisolatesshowedpositivitytoalltheplasmid-mediatedquinoloneresistance(PMQR)determinants, showingapotentialtotransferthesegenesamongotherbacteria.Therefore,thesedataunderlinethepossibilitythatfoodanimals and,specifically,poultryinparticularmaybeasignificantsourceofresistantbacterialstrains,posingapotentialzoonoticrisk
Interesting case of syphilis with atypical vegetative lesions
No full textSyphilis is a re-emerging disease, and suspicion of syphilis infection should be considered in all cases with atypical skin manifestations, mainly when there is
a history of unprotected sexual intercourse. Here, we
describe a case of secondary syphilis in a woman aged
42 years, who presented with an atypical, painful and
itchy skin rash with vegetative cerebriform lesions, which
resolved after the administration of penicillin. Multiplex
PCR targeting Treponema pallidum on vaginal and
lesion swabs, along with syphilis serology, confirmed the
diagnosis
Orogenital Human Papillomavirus Infection and Vaccines: A Survey of High- and Low-Risk Genotypes Not Included in Vaccines
Full text linkKnowledge of human papillomavirus transmission from the genital tract to the oral mucosa remains unsatisfactory, with poor and often inconsistent literature results. The increase in HPV-associated oral malignancies prompts further analysis of the simultaneous detection of the virus in the two anatomical areas and on the identification of genotypes to be included in future vaccines. Therefore, in this retrospective study, we evaluated orogenital HPV concurrence, hrHPV, lrHPV and type-concordance in 337 samples, as well as the prevalence of the most common genotypes not included in HPV vaccines. Concurrence was found in 12.5% (31/248) of cases, hr-concordance in 61.3% (19/31) and lr-concordance in 12.9% (4/31). Finally, type-concordance was found in 32.3% (10/31) of concurrent infections. Regarding the identification of non-vaccine genotypes, the significantly prevalent genotypes in the anogenital area were HPV66 (12.6%, p p p p p = 0.0034) in women and HPV66 (14.6%, p = 0.0058), HPV42 (12.2%, p = 0.0428), HPV51 (12.2%, p = 0.0428), HPV53 (12.2%, p = 0.0428), HPV70 (12.2%, p = 0.0428) and HPV73 (12.2%, p = 0.0428) in men. Considering the results of our study, we recommend including the high-risk genotypes HPV51, HPV68, HPV53 and HPV66 in future HPV vaccine formulations
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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