1,721,200 research outputs found
Synthetic peptides in the diagnosis of human echinococcosis
Get PDFEchinococcus granulosus and Echinococcus multilocularis are the two tapeworm species responsible for the majority of human echinococcosis cases. Infection of this zoonosis can be acquired all over the world by accidental ingestion of eggs. The prevalence of echinococcosis is highest in areas with extensive animal husbandry.
Most diagnostic tests for the detection of antibodies against echinococcosis in humans are based on crude or partly purified native antigen extracts. The production of standardized diagnostic-grade native antigen is not possible. Native antigen suffers from batch-to-batch variation depending on purity, origin and developmental stage of the parasite material. In addition, native antigen is limited in availability.
Substantial progress in the development of standardized reagents has been achieved by the production of recombinant antigens. Consequent further development of antigens might lead to the production of synthetic antigen.
This PhD thesis investigated the applicability of synthetic peptides ranging from 24 to 47 amino acids in length for the use as synthetic antigens in serological diagnosis of cystic and alveolar echinococcosis. A bioinformatic selection procedure was established for identification of potentially antigenic protein sequences. From each of these parent proteins one or several peptides were selected for chemical synthesis. Peptides were designed from predicted domains of alpha-helical coiled-coils and intrinsically unstructured regions. These two motifs are capable of adopting their natural conformation even if synthesized as isolated fragments. The diagnostic performance of a synthetic antigen depends on its ability to fold into its native structure and thus be recognized by antibodies that had been naturally induced in the course of an infection. Peptide candidates were designed from different sets of parent proteins which had been selected by three different approaches: i) a genomics approach, ii) a proteomics approach, and iii) a transcriptomics approach.
These three approaches identified 6 promising peptide candidates. The synthetic peptide performing best obtained a sensitivity of 74% for the detection of CE infection and 43% for the detection of AE infection in adult patients. Specificity was 94%. All identified peptides, apart from one candidate, were not able to discriminate between CE and AE infection.
The major drawback of using peptides for serodiagnosis was their reduced sensitivity compared to EgHF, the native antigen used in routine diagnostics. Our results indicated that test sensitivity could be increased by combination of several peptides into a pool of synthetic antigen. This strategy can solve the problem of decreased sensitivity in future assay development.
The most promising candidate, peptide longD8-9, was investigated as potential marker for serological follow-up of treatment success in young patients. This represents a novelty, as synthetic peptides have not yet been tested as marker for serological follow-up of CE patients.
The performance of longD8-9-ELISA compared well to that of EgHF-ELISA, but it was superior in that within three years after treatment, more cured CE patients reached seronegativity in peptide ELISA compared to EgHF ELISA. Non-cured CE patients produced highly positive test results until the end of the follow-up period.
This thesis provides proof-of-principle for the discovery of diagnostically relevant peptides by bioinformatic selection complemented with screening on a high-throughput microarray platform. It also showed the value of synthetic peptides as potential markers not only in primary diagnosis, but also in monitoring of treatment outcome in follow-up patients
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe 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
Get PDF“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
Get PDFWe 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
Get PDFWe 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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