1,720,956 research outputs found
The role of probiotics and postbiotics in modulating the gut microbiome-immune system axis in the pediatric age
Get PDFThe complex microbial community of the gut microbiome plays a fundamental role in driving development and function of the human immune system. This phenomenon is named the gut microbiome-immune system axis. When operating optimally, this axis influences both innate and adaptive immunity, which orchestrates the maintenance of crucial elements of host-microorganisms symbiosis, in a dialogue that modulates responses in the most beneficial way. Growing evidence reveals some environmental factors which can positively and negatively modulate the gut microbiome-immune system axis with consequences on the body health status. Several conditions which increasingly affect the pediatric age, such as allergies, autoimmune and inflammatory disorders, arise from a failure of the gut microbiome-immune system axis. Prenatal or postnatal modulation of this axis through some interventional strategies (including diet, probiotics and postbiotics), may lead to a positive gene-environment interaction with improvement of immune-modulatory effects and final positive effect on human health. In particular probiotics and postbiotics exerting pleiotropic regulatory actions on the gut-microbiome-immune system axis provide an innovative preventive and therapeutic strategy for many pediatric conditions
Immunonutrition for Pediatric Patients With Cow's Milk Allergy: How Early Interventions Could Impact Long-Term Outcomes
Get PDFCow's milk allergy (CMA) is one of the most common food allergies and one of the main causes of food-induced anaphylaxis in the pediatric age. Moreover, up to 45% of CMA children develop other atopic manifestations later in life, a phenomenon commonly named atopic march. Thus, CMA imposes a significant cost to health care systems as well as to families, and has emerged as one of the most expensive allergic diseases. The immunonutrition strategy builds its foundation on the ability of selected dietary factors to modulate immune system development and function. Recent studies highlighted the potential of immunonutrition in the management of CMA. This review is focused on the mechanisms and long-term clinical outcomes of the immunonutrition approach in children with CMA.
Introduction
Much has changed during the recent decades regarding prevalence, persistence, and severity of clinical features and socio-economic burden of food allergy (FA) that currently affects up to 10% of children living in Western countries (1). Based on the immune mechanisms, FA may be classified as IgE-mediated, non-IgE-mediated, or a combination of both pathways (2). In addition, children presenting with FA in early life are at increased risk of developing other allergic manifestations later in life, such as allergic asthma and rhinitis, a phenomenon commonly named atopic march (AM) (3). With an estimated prevalence of up to 3%, cow's milk allergy (CMA) is one of the most common FA and one of the main causes of food-induced anaphylaxis in the pediatric age (4). This condition imposes a significant cost to health care systems as well as to families, and has emerged as one of the most expensive allergic diseases (4). Furthermore, early life CMA could be the first step of AM, which affects up to 45% of CMA children, also after the acquisition of immune tolerance to cow's milk proteins (CMP) (5–8). Both CMA and AM derive from a negative interaction between genetic and environmental factors (3) resulting in alteration in the gut microbiome (GM) and in immune system dysfunction. These modulatory effects are at least in part mediated by epigenetic mechanisms, and are now emerging as potential targets of intervention to facilitate the immune tolerance acquisition and to limit the occurrence of AM in CMA patients (5, 9–11).
The traditional dietary management of CMA has greatly changed in the last few years, moving from a passive approach based on the strict elimination diet of CMP-containing foods, to a proactive one, able to change the CMA course (12).
The discovery of the pivotal role of selected dietary factors in influencing immune system development and function has introduced the immunonutrition concept. The application of the immunonutrition approach in the management of CMA is paving the way to “active diet therapy,” an integrated dietary strategy able to facilitate the acquisition of immune tolerance and to prevent the occurrence of AM (5, 9, 13–15).
The modern dietary management in CMA pediatric patients is focused on three targets:
• Dietary education (allergen avoidance and healthy diet)
• Ensure adequate intake of macro and micro-nutrients (stimulation of optimal body growth and development)
• Active diet therapy (stimulation of immune tolerance and protection against AM occurrence).
The immunonutrition approach could be promoted for all three of these targets. This review is focused on the objectives and long-term clinical outcomes of the immunonutrition approach in children affected by CM
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
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