1,721,087 research outputs found

    The effect of intracellular Ca2+ on GABA-activated currents in cerebellar granule cells in culture

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    The patch clamp technique was used to study the effects of intracellular free calcium ([Ca2+]i) on GABAA-evoked whole-cell and single channel currents of cultured cerebellar granule cells. Changes in [Ca2+]i were obtained by adding to the extracellular solution the calcium ionophore A23187 (2 μm). The relationship between [Ca2+]i and [Ca2+]O in the presence or absence of A23187 was assessed using fluorimetric measurements from Fura-2 loaded cells. In 2 m m [Ca2+]o and A23187, [Ca2+]i was about 1.5 μm, whereas in the absence of A23187 it was about 250 n m. In whole-cell experiments (symmetrical chloride concentrations) at -50 mV, GABA (0.5 μm) evoked inward currents that did not desensitize. Bath application of A23187 significantly reduced the steady-state amplitude of GABA currents by 37 ± 6%. Single channel currents activated by GABA (0.5 μm) were also recorded in the outside-out configuration of the patch clamp technique. Kinetic analysis of single channel events revealed that A23187 significantly increased the long closed time constant (τc3) without affecting the open time constants (τo1 and τo2) or the short and medium closed time constants (τc1 and τc2). Moreover, application of A23187 induced a significant reduction of burst duration (τb). We conclude that a rise in [Ca2+]i by A23187 may decrease the binding affinity of GABA for the GABAA receptor. We thank Prof. D. Colquhoun for critical reading of the manuscript and Drs. F. Vittur and M. Fragonas for allowing us the use of the spectrofluorimeter. © 1994 Springer-Verlag New York Inc

    Single-channel currents of NMDA type activated by L- and D-Homocysteic acid in cerebellar granule cells in culture

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    The whole-cell and the outside-out configurations of the patch-clamp technique were used to study macroscopic and single-channel currents evoked by the enantiomers of homocysteic acid, the sulphur containing analogue of glutamate, in cerebellar granule cells in culture. L-Homocysteic acid (L-HC, 15-mu-M) and D-homocysteic acid (D-HC, 50-mu-M) induced whole-cell currents of comparable amplitude, that were abolished by the N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist 2-amino-5-phosphonovalerate (AP-5) (20-mu-M). AMPA (100-mu-M) induced whole-cell currents which were not modified by AP-5 (20-mu-M) but were blocked by CNQX. In the outside-out configuration, both L-HC and D-HC (15-mu-M) elicited single-channel currents. of the same conductance, mean open time and reversal potential as the NMDA-induced single-channel events. In the presence of Mg2+ (2 mM), D- and L-HC-induced single-channel currents were voltage-dependent. These data suggest that in cerebellar granule cells in culture, both L-HC and D-HC activate the same NMDA receptor channel complex

    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

    N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor mediated spontaneous activity in cerebellar granule cells in culture

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    An outside-out configuration of the patch-clamp method was used to study the properties of spontaneous and glutamate-evoked single channel activity in cerebellar granule cells in culture. Both spontaneous occurring events and glutamate-evoked single channel currents had similar conductances (17.7, 36.5; 17.3, 35.8 pS) and mean open times (0.7, 7.1; 0.6, 7.8 ms). In magnesium free solution, the spontaneous channels were blocked by the NMDA-receptor antagonist APV (0.1 mM) and by the NMDA-channel blocker MK-801 (0.1 mM). The spontaneous activity disappeared at negative holding potentials when the bathing solution contained magnesium (5 mM). Maximum conductance of spontaneous channels increased with days in culture (DIC) from 9 pS at 1 DIC to 59 pS at 10 DIC. These experiments suggest that endogenous transmitter activates NMDA-receptors in cerebellar granule cells in culture

    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

    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
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