1,720,989 research outputs found
The Impact of Crohn’s Perianal Fistula on Quality of Life: Results of an International Patient Survey
Get PDFLay Summary Results from an online survey completed by patients with Crohn's disease (CD) and perianal fistulas showed the presence of perianal fistulae has a greater negative impact as compared to CD-only patients. These results may help practitioners address patient burden.Background Crohn's perianal fistula is a disabling manifestation of Crohn's disease. However, the additional burden of perianal fistula on patients with only Crohn's disease remains to be addressed. This patient-reported survey considered outcomes of two domains: "diagnosis" (eg, symptoms) and "living with the disease" (eg, quality of life, well-being, and relationships). Methods Patients with perianal fistula and Crohn's disease completed an online, self-selective, anonymous, 46-item survey available in 11 languages hosted on the European Federation of Crohn's & Ulcerative Colitis Associations and national patient association websites. The survey was conducted between July and December 2019 in Europe and other regions. Likert scales and closed questions were used to assess outcomes. Results Of the 820 respondents with Crohn's disease (67.2% women; median age, 40.0 years), 532 (64.9%) reported the presence of perianal fistula. Patients with perianal fistula reported a greater impact on overall quality of life (P < .001), well-being (P < .001), relationships (P < .001), social life (P = .001), and work life (P = .012) than patients with only Crohn's disease. Conclusions Perianal fistulas impact several domains of the life of patients with Crohn's disease. These results may help healthcare practitioners plan therapeutic strategies that address the symptomatic and psychological burden experienced by patients with perianal fistulizing Crohn's disease
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
THE HUMAN-RESTRICTED DUPLICATED FORM OF THE ALPHA7 NICOTINIC ACETYLCHOLINE RECEPTOR, CHRFAM7A: TRANSCRIPTIONAL REGULATION, ROLE IN INFLAMMATION AND POTENTIAL PHARMACOLOGICAL IMPLICATIONS
Get PDFThe α7 nicotine acetylcholine receptor (α7nAChR, CHRNA7) is a homo-pentameric ligand-gated ion channel widely expressed in the Central Nervous System (CNS). Recent evidence has demonstrated its expression also in non-neuronal tissues, including monocytes and macrophages, where it mediates the Cholinergic Anti-Inflammatory Pathway, a neuronal reflex providing the central control of systemic inflammation.
Recently, the human-restricted duplicated gene of the α7nAChR, called CHRFAM7A (α7dup) has been discovered. It is the product of the partial duplication and fusion of exon 5-10 of CHRNA7 gene with the novel exons D, C, B and A belonging to the FAM7A gene, of unknown function. The CHRFAM7A gene is expressed in human immune cells and in the CNS and is translated into two proteins, of 45 kDa and 36 kDa, which are the result of alternative splicing. The α7dup protein assembles with the α7 conventional subunits and exerts a dominant negative regulation on the α7nAChR function. The importance of the α7dup protein in the human inflammatory process has been confirmed by the demonstration of its responsiveness to pro-inflammatory stimuli: indeed, the Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) treatment of THP-1 monocytic cells and of human primary monocytes and macrophages down-regulates CHRFAM7A transcript and protein through a transcriptional mechanism reliant on the NF-κB transcription factor. Moreover, unpublished data demonstrated that LPS has the opposite effect on the α7 transcript in monocytes and macrophages, leading to CHRNA7 up-regulation.
In this study, we have investigated the transcriptional mechanisms leading to CHRFAM7A expression in the THP-1 monocytic cells and in neuroblastoma SH-SY5Y cells and we demonstrate that the CHRFAM7A gene is endowed with several complex transcriptional mechanisms leading to fine expression modulation, including the presence of alternative and tissue-specific Transcription Start Site (TSS), alternative splicing mechanism, tissue-specific transcriptional elements and intronic silencer elements. Moreover, we demonstrated that the CHRFAM7A down-regulation exerted by LPS involve the chromatin remodeling of CHRFAM7A promoter in THP-1 cells.
Increasing evidence has linked CHRNA7 expressional and functional dysregulation to several neurodegenerative disorders, including Alzheimer’s disease. The treatment with the acetylcholinesterase inhibitor Donepezil is effective in temporary ameliorating the cognitive symptoms of AD, by increasing the synaptic levels of ACh and counteracting the cholinergic loss, which is characteristic of AD. However, emerging findings sustained that Donepezil can exert its therapeutic effect also by modulating the immune response and potentiating the Cholinergic Anti-Inflammatory Pathway.
So far, the role of CHRFAM7A gene in AD pathogenesis or pharmacological response has not been elucidated. In the present study, we have investigated the expression profile of CHRNA7 and CHRFAM7A genes in human nervous and immune tissues obtained from AD patients, highlighting expressional alterations of both the α7 conventional and duplicated form. Moreover, we have investigated the effect of the AChEI Donepezil on CHRFAM7A and CHRNA7 transcription in THP-1 cells, human primary macrophages and SH-SY5Y cells, collecting new insights about the possible role of the α7dup gene as a pharmacological target in AD therapy
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
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