1,721,011 research outputs found
Retinoids as critical modulators of immune functions: new therapeutic perspectives for old compounds.
No full textRetinoids are vitamin A derivatives that critically regulate several physiological and pathological processes, including immune functions and cancer development. These biological response modifiers exert their pleiotropic effects through the interaction with nuclear receptors, defined as retinoic acid receptors (RARs) and retinoid X receptors (RXRs). These ligand-activated nuclear receptors induce the transcription of target genes by binding to responsive elements in the promoter regions. RARs and RXRs are also capable to interact with other nuclear receptors, thus expanding their spectrum of action on gene expression. Evidence has been accumulated indicating that retinoids may exert beneficial effects in both immune-mediated disorders and tumors. With regard to cancer, retinoids directly target neoplastic cells by inducing differentiation, inhibiting cell growth or promoting survival. However, the efficacy of these compounds in cancer treatment probably resides in their ability to modulate also the function of immune effectors. Vitamin A derivatives are currently used in the therapy of acute promyelocytic leukemia and of cutaneous T cell lymphomas, but they could be effective also on B-cell malignancies. Clinical trials are ongoing to test their efficacy in solid tumors. In this review, we give a broad depiction of how retinoids influence the function of immune effectors and affect growth and survival of hematological malignancies. This with the aim to better understand the clinical effects of retinoid-based therapies and provide the rationale to combine retinoids with other active compounds in new synergistic treatment strategies
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
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