1,720,958 research outputs found
An overview on factors underlying gastric cancer; strategies for its management with particular reference to diet
No full textThe incidence of stomach cancer and the number of victims of this disease have decreased dramatically over the
last 60 years. However, gastric cancer still remains a very serious disease that requires further studies to enlarge
knowledge on its causes and to prevention methods. To date, the causes of gastric cancer are still not yet well
known but it is clear that some people are more prone than others to develop this disease. Gastric cancer affects
mostly adults aged 55 and over and men in percentage double than women. Stomach ulcer apparently does not
increase the risk of gastric cancer however, Helicobacter pylori, usually due to inflammation and gastric ulcers, may
be an important risk factor for this disease. Moreover, patients who have undergone stomach surgery or suffering
from pernicious anemia, achlorhydria or atrophic gastritis (that typically produce a reduction in the amount of acid)
are subject to a higher risk of gastric cancer. Exposure in workplaces to certain agents such as dust or fumes is
linked to a higher risk than average of developing stomach cancer. Smoking also contributes to increase this risk.
Moreover, epidemiological studies and animal models, conducted for years, have shown that some eating habits can
increase the risk of cancer. Other studies instead report that fresh foods (especially fruits and vegetables) play a
protective function against gastric cancer. For this reason, this paper provides an overview of the possible causes of
gastric cancer and the different therapeutic approaches, focusing in particular on the effects of diet
Role of human GKN1 on APP processing in gastric cancer
No full textGastrokine 1 (GKN1) is highly expressed in gastric tissue and is secreted into the stomach but is not expressed in gastric cancer. GKN1 belongs to the BRICHOS domain family and plays a major role in maintaining gastric mucosa integrity. We previously demonstrated that a recombinant human GKN1 protein was able to interact with the amyloid precursor protein (APP) and was endowed with an anti-amyloidogenic property because it inhibited polymerization of the Aβ(1-40) peptide released from APP upon its partial hydrolysis. Here, we report that GKN1 can act as a physiological suppressor of Aβ production in gastric cancer cells. GKN1 blocked the access of γ-secretase to APP, thereby facilitating the cleavage of APP by α- and β-secretases. GKN1 directly interacted with APP C-terminal fragments, C83 and C99. In addition, it did not affect γ-secretase activity in gastric cancer cells because it did not alter Notch1 processing. GKN1-mediated inhibition of APP processing might represent a new approach for the prevention and therapy of Alzheimer's disease (AD)
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
The jurona rhabdovirus as a viral vector platform
Full text linkRecombinant viral vectors represent a powerful emerging technology for the development of novel classes of biologics to prevent or treat human diseases. Replication competent viral vectors with natural or engineered tumor selectivity (Oncolytic Viruses, OV) have reached different levels of clinical development with one product (Talimogene Laherparepvec) being approved for the treatment of Melanoma. Viral vectors have also been shown to mediate efficient in vivo transduction of therapeutic genes, thus paving the way to the development of a number of gene therapy products or genetic vaccines aimed at eliciting specific immune responses against the encoded proteins.
In this PhD project, we aimed at generating a new recombinant viral vector platform from a virus of the Rhabdoviridae family that could be used as oncolytic virus, or as a vectored vaccine as well as being amenable to large scale manufacturing using an industrial process.
For this purpose, we screened five Rhabdoviruses from the American Type Culture Collection (ATCC) for their growing properties on Vero cells. Our screening identified the Jurona virus as the best candidate for vector construction. We established a reverse genetic system based on the T7 RNA polymerase (T7 RNAP) expression helper virus-free method to recover Jurona recombinant viral particles from a cDNA clone of the viral genome. We designed and cloned five plasmids by using various cloning methods: the full Jurona anti-genome, the T7 RNAP, and three helper viral proteins (Nucleocapsid (N), Phosphoprotein (P), and Large polymerase (L)). Following initial failure to rescue the Jurona vector, we used an end-joining-RT PCR sequencing strategy to identify a previously unknown leader sequence in the Jurona genome. By introducing this new sequence in our Jurona full-length constructs, we successfully rescued the Jurona vectors using the reverse genetic system. We showed that Jurona is capable of efficient expression of a heterologous gene upon infection of target cells and of potent oncolytic activity in vitro. Finally, we demonstrated that the Jurona vector could be efficiently produced in Vero cells, a validated cell line for vaccine production, and that it could be purified without losing infectivity.
Thus, the Jurona vector platform may represent a novel valuable option for oncolytic virus and genetic vaccine development, to be used alone or in combination with other compounds for the development of highly effective immunotherapeutic treatments
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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