1,720,953 research outputs found
Enrichment of Bacillus anthracis using phage-derived recombinant fusion proteins
No full textBacillus anthracis is a rod-shaped, Gram-positive, spore-forming bacterium causing the lethal zoonotic disease anthrax. This disease mainly infects herbivores, but many mammals can be hosts as well, including humans. Multiple cases in history are known, in which human infection resulted either from digestion or handling of contaminated animal products, from industry accidents or bioterrorism attacks. The endospores of B. anthracis are persistent to harsh environmental conditions and can survive in soil for decades, before heavy rains or grazing animals can reemerge the spores again. In appropriate medium, like blood, the spores germinate again to the vegetative cell form. B. anthracis belongs to the “Bacillus cereus group” which shares high genetic similarity, with cases where the virulence plasmids of B. anthracis, which are responsible for the toxin and capsule production, are even shared with other members of this group. Species-specific testing therefore often poses a challenge, because sophisticated equipment and financial investments are needed for a correct diagnosis. Because of appearing new infection cases, a species-specific, rapid and inexpensive method for the detection of B. anthracis is needed.
Apart from the gold standard of detection of B. anthracis via PCR, receptor-binding protein (RBP) based detection methods are in research for a few years. Bacteriophages (phages) represent the most prevalent biological entities on earth and are viruses targeting bacterial cells. Brown and Cherry isolated a phage named gamma (γ), demonstrating high efficiency in infecting encapsulated bacilli. Notably, the γ phage exhibited sensitivity across nearly all variants of B. anthracis, while members of the B. cereus sensu lato group displayed resistance. The specificity of phages is attributed to their RBPs, which recognize distinct structures on the host cell, inducing the initial step of phage infection. One of these RBPs specific for B. anthracis is BA4079Δ1-127.
This work aims to produce two recombinant fusion proteins, with two different cellulose-binding domains (CBDs) which were internally linked to the fluorescent reporter protein superfolder green fluorescent protein (sfGFP) and coupled to BA4079Δ1-127. The protein tools would enable binding to B. anthracis and at the same time would allow sequestration to cellulose materials. Because of the fluorescence protein, the sample can be observed by fluorescence microscopy and cells or cellulose bound to the fusion proteins would exhibit green fluorescence. This experimental approach could lead to a new low-cost enrichment tool for B. anthracis cells using the fusions proteins containing CBDs, RBPs and fluorescence proteins.
The fusion proteins were tested with various cultures of B. anthracis cells, grown under different conditions, as well as different cellulose materials including cotton wool in a syringe, cotton wool fibers, cellulose filters and microcrystalline cellulose. Binding tests showed, that the fusion proteins were not able to connect B. anthracis cells with diverse cellulose materials in a way that cells could be enriched from media. However, both fusion proteins successfully bound to both, cultured B. anthracis cells and different cellulose materials individually
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
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
Author-wise bibliometric analysis based on entropy.
No full textAuthor-wise bibliometric analysis based on entropy.</p
Author Under Sail The Imagination of Jack London, 1893-1902
No full textIn Author Under Sail, Jay Williams offers the first complete literary biography of Jack London as a professional writer engaged in the labor of writing. It examines the authorial imagination in London's work, the use of imagination in both his fiction and nonfiction, and the ways he defined imagination in the creative process in his business dealings with his publishers, editors, and agents. In this first volume of a two-volume biography, Williams traverses the years 1893 to 1902, from London's "Story of a Typhoon" to The People of the Abyss. The Jack London who emerges in the pages of Author Under Sail is a writer whose partnership with publishers, most notably his productive alliance with George Brett of Macmillan, was one of the most formative in American literary history. London pioneered many author models during the heyday of realism and naturalism, blurring the boundaries of these popular genres by focusing on absorption and theatricality and the representation of the seen and unseen. London created an impassioned, sincere, and extremely personal realism unlike that of other American writers of the time. Author Under Sail is a literary tour de force that reveals the full range of London as writer, creative citizen, and entrepreneur at the same time it sheds light on the maverick side of machine-age literature.Intro -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Dedication -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- 1. Spirit Truth -- 2. From Absorption to Theatricality and Back Again -- 3. "I Will Build a New Present" -- 4. Sons as Authors -- 5. Fathers as Publishers -- 6. The Daughter as Author -- 7. Lovers as Authors -- 8. At Sea with the Family -- 9. Yellow News, Yellow Stories -- 10. The Return Home -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index -- About Jay WilliamsIn Author Under Sail, Jay Williams offers the first complete literary biography of Jack London as a professional writer engaged in the labor of writing. It examines the authorial imagination in London's work, the use of imagination in both his fiction and nonfiction, and the ways he defined imagination in the creative process in his business dealings with his publishers, editors, and agents. In this first volume of a two-volume biography, Williams traverses the years 1893 to 1902, from London's "Story of a Typhoon" to The People of the Abyss. The Jack London who emerges in the pages of Author Under Sail is a writer whose partnership with publishers, most notably his productive alliance with George Brett of Macmillan, was one of the most formative in American literary history. London pioneered many author models during the heyday of realism and naturalism, blurring the boundaries of these popular genres by focusing on absorption and theatricality and the representation of the seen and unseen. London created an impassioned, sincere, and extremely personal realism unlike that of other American writers of the time. Author Under Sail is a literary tour de force that reveals the full range of London as writer, creative citizen, and entrepreneur at the same time it sheds light on the maverick side of machine-age literature.Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, YYYY. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries
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