1,721,001 research outputs found
Journal of Vascular Research
No full textConnexin 43 (Cx43) is essential to the function of the vasculature. Cx43 proteins form gap junctions that allow for the exchange of ions and molecules between vascular cells to facilitate cell-to-cell signaling and coordinate vasomotor activity. Cx43 also has intracellular signaling functions that influence vascular cell proliferation and migration. Cx43 is expressed in all vascular cell types, although its expression and function vary by vessel size and location. This includes expression in vascular smooth muscle cells (vSMC), endothelial cells (EC), and pericytes. Cx43 is thought to coordinate homocellular signaling within EC and vSMC. Cx43 gap junctions also function as conduits between different cell types (heterocellular signaling), between EC and vSMC at the myoendothelial junction, and between pericyte and EC in capillaries. Alterations in Cx43 expression, localization, and post-translational modification have been identified in vascular disease states, including atherosclerosis, hypertension, and diabetes. In this review, we discuss the current understanding of Cx43 localization and function in healthy and diseased blood vessels across all vascular beds.Accepted versio
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
On the effects of reactive oxygen species and nitric oxide on red blood cell deformability
No full textThe main function of red blood cells (RBCs) is the transport of respiratory gases along the vascular tree. To fulfill their task, RBCs are able to elastically deform in response to mechanical forces and, pass through the narrow vessels of the microcirculation. Decreased RBC deformability was observed in pathological conditions linked to increased oxidative stress or decreased nitric oxide (NO) bioavailability, like hypertension. Treatments with oxidants and with NO were shown to affect RBC deformability ex vivo, but the mechanisms underpinning these effects are unknown. In this study we investigate whether changes in intracellular redox status/oxidative stress or nitrosation reactions induced by reactive oxygen species (ROS) or NO may affect RBC deformability. In a case-control study comparing RBCs from healthy and hypertensive participants, we found that RBC deformability was decreased, and levels of ROS were increased in RBCs from hypertensive patients as compared to RBCs from aged-matched healthy controls, while NO levels in RBCs were not significantly different. To study the effects of oxidants on RBC redox state and deformability, RBCs from healthy volunteers were treated with increasing concentrations of tert-butylhydroperoxide (t-BuOOH). We found that high concentrations of t-BuOOH (≥1 mM) significantly decreased the GSH/GSSG ratio in RBCs, decreased RBC deformability and increased blood bulk viscosity. Moreover, RBCs from Nrf2 knockout (KO) mice, a strain genetically deficient in a number of antioxidant/reducing enzymes, were more susceptible to t-BuOOH-induced impairment in RBC deformability as compared to wild type (WT) mice. To study the role of NO in RBC deformability we treated RBC suspensions from human volunteers with NO donors and nitrosothiols and analyzed deformability of RBCs from mice lacking the endothelial NO synthase (eNOS). We found that NO donors induced S-nitrosation of the cytoskeletal protein spectrin, but did not affect human RBC deformability or blood bulk viscosity; moreover, under unstressed conditions RBCs from eNOS KO mice showed fully preserved RBC deformability as compared to WT mice. Pre-treatment of human RBCs with nitrosothiols rescued t-BuOOH-mediated loss of RBC deformability. Taken together, these findings suggest that NO does not affect RBC deformability per se, but preserves RBC deformability in conditions of oxidative stress.</p
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
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