1,720,994 research outputs found
Adenovirus-mediated gene transfer of an IL-6 antagonist
No full textIL-6 is a pleiotropic cytokine and plays a major role in inflammation and in the immune response. Altered serum levels of IL-6 have been described in several pathologies such as myeloma, EBV-lymphoma and chronic autoimmune disease. Here we report data on the utilization of a hIL-6 receptor superantagonist with a gene therapy approach. The superantagonist used in this work possesses very high affinity for the hIL-6 receptor, and is therefore an excellent candidate for the treatment of IL-6-dependent diseases. To obtain an efficient in vivo delivery method, we constructed a recombinant adenovirus expressing the IL-6 receptor superantagonist by inserting the cDNA, controlled by the RSV promoter, into a first generation replication-incompetent adenoviral vector. Recombinant virus allowed correct expression of the transgene in vitro. Supernatants of infected cells specifically inhibited IL-6-induced transcriptional activation in hepatoma cells and blocked the IL-6-dependent proliferation of human myeloma cells. After intravenous injection of the recombinant virus into mice, nanomolar amounts of antagonist were produced in the serum, and these were able completely to inhibit IL-6 bioactivity. Gene transfer of such an antagonist offers a practical means of imposing long-term blockade of IL-6 activity in vivo for investigational and therapeutic purposes
INVITRO AND INVIVO SYNTHESIS OF THE HEPATITIS-B VIRUS SURFACE-ANTIGEN AND OF THE RECEPTOR FOR POLYMERIZED HUMAN-SERUM ALBUMIN FROM RECOMBINANT HUMAN ADENOVIRUSES
No full textWe have developed an adenovirus vector to express foreign proteins under the control of the adenovirus E1a promoter. Two recombinant plasmids, harbouring either the S gene or the pre-S2 region and the S gene of hepatitis B virus under the control of the E1a promoter, were used to construct two recombinant adenoviruses. These two viruses direct the synthesis of hepatitis B virus surface antigen (HBsAg) particles during the time course of an infectious cycle. When the pre-S2 region is present in the constructed virus, the synthesis of particles carrying the receptor for polymerized human serum albumin (pHSA) is observed. Moreover, the inoculation of rabbits with this latter purified recombinant adenovirus elicits the production of antibodies that react with both HBsAg and pHSA receptor
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
HEPATITIS-B VIRUS (HBV) X-GENE EXPRESSION IN HUMAN-CELLS AND ANTI-HBX ANTIBODIES DETECTION IN CHRONIC HBV INFECTION
No full textAll mammalian hepatitis B virus genomes contain an open reading frame X (X-ORF) of unknown function which could encode a protein of 17 kDa. Using a plasmid containing the entire X-ORF preceded by the adenovirus type 2 major late promoter and its tripartite leader sequence efficient expression of the HBV X-gene was achieved. The X protein of 17 kDa was characterized by immunoblotting and immunoprecipitated with an antiserum prepared against a X fusion protein produced in E. coli. By cell fractionation and indirect immunofluorescence the X-protein was found at least in part associated with nuclei. Human cell extracts containing the X protein have been used to screen human sera for anti-HBx antibodies. Such antibodies were detected in sera from patients with active chronic hepatitis with ongoing viral replication. The efficient expression of the HBV X protein obtained will facilitate its functional analysis. © 1990
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
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