1,720,988 research outputs found
Infectious diseases, IL6 −174G > C polymorphism, and human development
No full textInterleukin-6 (IL6) is a pro-inflammatory cytokine that is required for resistance against many pathogens. However, sustained IL6 activity can cause tissue damage in the periphery and brain. Previous studies have shown that populations in disease-endemic regions adapt by selecting the high-producing G-allele at the −174G > C (rs1800795) polymorphism, while others have linked increased IL6 to cognitive impairments. The present study sought to determine whether up-regulation of IL6 by the G-allele at rs1800795 polymorphism in disease-endemic regions was associated with increased cognitive deficits and corollary reductions in social, economic, and political development. We tested these hypotheses in a global sample of 189 nations with World Health Organization ratings for infectious diseases. We also included the Historical Pathogen Prevalence index, a measure of national average intelligence (IQ), and the United Nation Human Development Index (HDI) including per capita income, life expectancy, child mortality, and fertility rate. IL6 −174G?> C allele frequencies were obtained from 171,168 individuals spanning 84 nations. The high-producing G-allele frequency was positively correlated with infectious disease ranking (r = 0.745, P < 0.001) and negatively with IQ (r = −0.524, P < 0.001) and HDI (r = −0.671, P < 0.001). These robust findings suggest that in regions with a high pathogen burden the need for a strong IL6 response is accompanied by cognitive deficits and reduced HDI ranking
The gene-immune-behavioral pathway: Gamma-interferon (IFN-γ) simultaneously coordinates susceptibility to infectious disease and harm avoidance behaviors
No full textCytokine gene variants are known to influence both infectious disease susceptibility and harm-avoidant behaviors, suggesting that these risk variants may be pleiotropically linked to instinctual disease-avoidant traits. The gamma-interferon (IFNG) +874 T > A polymorphism (rs2430561) is an ideal candidate gene variant for immune-behavioral studies. It is a functional SNP, regulating IFNG mRNA expression; it is known to modulate serotonergic activity and is therefore capable of modifying behavior; and it has previously been associated with increased susceptibility to malaria, tuberculosis, leprosy and Chagas disease. We hypothesized that the infectious disease-high-risk IFNG +874 A-allele would be associated with four personality traits previously reported as behavioral defenses against infection: Harm Avoidance (HA), Extraversion (E), Exploratory Excitability (Exp E), and Openness to Experience (O). We tested this hypothesis in a sample of 168 healthy university students from Southern California genotyped for IFNG +874 T > A and evaluated by the Temperament and Character Inventory-Revised (TCI-R) and the NEO Five-Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI). We found that the infectious disease-high-risk IFNG +874 A-allele was associated with increased HA (P=0.001) and decreased E (P=0.030) and Exp E (P=0.030). These findings suggest that the IFNG +874 A gene variant is linked both to infectious disease susceptibility and to proactive behavioral defenses that reduce infection risk in healthy subjects
Interaction between infectious diseases and personality traits: ACP1*C as a potential mediator
No full textIn geographical regions characterized by high pathogen prevalence, it has been shown that human populations tend to be characterized by lower levels of extraversion (E) and openness to experience (OtE). According to the "behavioral immune system" hypothesis, the reduction of extraversion and openness levels represents a behavioral defense against infections. Like the 'classical' immune system, the "behavioral immune system" could also be shaped by its underlying genetic background. Previous studies have shown that the *C allele of the ACP1 gene confers increased susceptibility to infectious/parasitic diseases. We hypothesized that carriers of the ACP1*C allele should likewise be associated with reduced E and OtE. We tested this hypothesis using two samples comprised of 153 students from Southern California (Group 1), and 162 female subjects recruited from an executive health program (Group 2), genotyped for ACP1 polymorphism and evaluated by the NEO Five-Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI). ACP1 was significantly associated with E: we found that carriers of ACP1*C showed reduced scores for E (Group 1: β= -4.263, P= 0.027; Group 2: β= -8.315, P= 0.003; Group 1. +. Group 2: β= -5.366, P= 0.001). Across groups, ACP1 was only marginally associated with OtE. In conclusion, the present study found that the ACP1*C allele, previously associated with an increased vulnerability to infectious/parasitic diseases may also be able to shape behavioral immune defenses by interaction with the level of E. © 2014 Elsevier B.V
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
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
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