1,721,138 research outputs found

    Body mass index as a phenotypic expression of adiposity: quantitative contribution of muscularity in a population-based sample.

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    OBJECTIVE: Although widely applied as a phenotypic expression of adiposity in population and gene-search studies, body mass index (BMI) is also acknowledged to reflect muscularity even though relevant studies directly measuring skeletal muscle (SM) mass are lacking. The current study aimed to fill this important gap by applying advanced imaging methods to test the hypothesis that, after controlling first for adiposity, SM mass is also a significant determinant of BMI in a population-based sample.DESIGN: Whole-body magnetic resonance imaging scans were completed in Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults study subjects aged 33-45 years. Physical activity (PA) levels, alcohol intake and adequacy of food intake were assessed by standardized questionnaires.SUBJECTS: The study included 58 African-American (AA) and 78 Caucasian (C) men; and 63 AA and 64 C women.MEASUREMENTS: Whole-body adipose tissue (AT) and SM volumes.RESULTS: AT was significantly predicted by not only BMI, but also PA and alcohol intake with total model R (2)'s of 0.68 (P<0.0001) for men and 0.89 (P<0.0001) for women. Men had more SM than AT at all levels of BMI whereas SM predominated in women at lower BMIs (C<26 kg/m(2); AA<28 kg/m(2)). In men, both AT and SM contributed a similar proportion of between-subject variation in BMI. In contrast, in women AT contributed approximately 30% more than SM to the variation in BMI. Developed allometric models indicated SM associations with AT, PA and race after adjusting for height. There was little association of age, lifestyle factors or race with BMI after controlling for both AT and SM.CONCLUSION: Variation in muscularity provides a mechanistic basis for the previously observed nonspecificity of BMI as a phenotypic expression of adiposity. These quantitative observations have important implications when choosing adiposity measures in population and gene-search studies

    Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis

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    The 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

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    “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

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    We 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

    TISSUE-SPECIFIC REGULATION OF INSULIN-RECEPTOR MESSENGER-RNA LEVELS IN RATS WITH STZ-INDUCED DIABETES-MELLITUS

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    In rats with STZ-induced diabetes mellitus, a reduction in insulin secretion is associated with increased insulin binding in the liver, muscle, fat, and kidney, but not in the brain. To test the hypothesis that tissue-specific modulation of insulin receptors (IRs) in STZ-induced diabetes occurs at the level of mRNA, IR mRNA levels were measured in the liver, kidney, and brain of Sprague-Dawley rats 15 days after intravenous administration of STZ (60 mg/kg body weight) and compared with those of control rats. Diabetic rats were either left untreated or given differing insulin regimens that were designed to achieve varying degrees of metabolic control. IR mRNA levels were measured by slot blot hybridization with a P-32-labeled rIR probe and standardized by 28S ribosomal RNA determination. Hepatic IR mRNA levels were increased significantly in both untreated diabetic rats and in those that received low-dose (2 U/day) insulin therapy. In contrast, hepatic IR mRNA levels did not differ significantly from controls in those that received moderate doses of insulin (3-8 U/day) and were significantly less than controls in those that received the highest doses (6-10 U/day). Renal IR mRNA levels also were increased significantly in the untreated diabetic rats but not in those that received low- or moderate-dose insulin therapy, and were significantly less than controls in those that received the highest doses. A highly significant negative correlation was observed between the level of hepatic (r = -0.84, P < 0.001) and renal (r = -0.64, P < 0.001) IR mRNA, and the plasma concentration of insulin obtained at the time of death. No significant difference was observed in brain IR mRNA levels between untreated diabetic and control rats. Thus, in rats with insulin deficiency, modulation of insulin binding in the liver and kidney can be attributed, at least in part, to a change in steady-state IR mRNA levels

    Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts

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    We 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

    Author Index

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