1,720,964 research outputs found
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
The regulatory activity of autophagy in conjunctival fibroblasts and its possible role in vernal keratoconjunctivitis
Get PDFVariations 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
Verteporfin induces apoptosis and reduces the stem cell-like properties in Neuroblastoma tumour-initiating cells through inhibition of the YAP/TAZ pathway
No full textNeuroblastoma is an embryonal malignancy of early childhood arising from the embryonic sympatho-adrenal lineage of the neural crest. About half of all cases are currently classified as high-risk of disease recurrence, with an overall survival rate of less than 40% at 5 years despite intensive therapy. Recent studies on matched primary tumours and at the relapse revealed downregulation of genes transcriptionally silenced by YAP as significant association with neuroblastoma relapse. Here, we evaluated the pharmacological targeting of YAP/TAZ with the YAP/TAZ-TEAD inhibitor Verteporfin (VP) in Tumour Initiating Cells (TICs) derived from High-Risk Neuroblastoma patients. VP treatment suppresses YAP/TAZ expression, induces apoptosis and causes the re-organization of the cytoskeleton reducing cells migration and clonogenic ability. Moreover, VP reduces the percentage of side population cells and ABC transporters involved in drug resistance, and the percentage of stem cell subpopulations CD133+ and CD44+ of TICs. Finally, we demonstrated that VP sensitizes TICs to the standard drugs used for neuroblastoma therapy etoposide and cis-platin opening the way to use VP as drug repositioning candidate for recurrent neuroblastoma
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
In Vitro Effects of Low Doses of β-Caryophyllene, Ascorbic Acid and d-Glucosamine on Human Chondrocyte Viability and Inflammation
Get PDF-caryophyllene (BCP), a plant-derived sesquiterpene, has been reported to have antiinflammatory
and antioxidant effects. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effects of BCP
in combination with ascorbic acid (AA) and D-glucosamine (GlcN) against macrophage-mediated
inflammation on in vitro primary human chondrocytes. Changes in cell viability, intracellular ROS
generation, gene expression of pro-inflammatory mediators, metalloproteinases (MMPs), collagen
type II and aggrecan were analyzed in primary human chondrocytes exposed to the conditioned
medium (CM) of activated U937 monocytes and subsequently treated with BCP alone or in combination
with AA and GlcN. The CM-induced chondrocyte cytotoxicity was reduced by the presence of
low doses of BCP alone or in combination with AA and GlcN. The exposure of cells to CM significantly
increased IL-1b, NF-B1 and MMP-13 expression, but when BCP was added to the inflamed
cells, alone or in combination with AA and GlcN, gene transcription for all these molecules was
restored to near baseline values. Moreover, chondrocytes increased the expression of collagen type
II and aggrecan when stimulated with AA and GlcN alone or in combination with BCP. This study
showed the synergistic anti-inflammatory and antioxidative effects of BCP, AA and GlcN at low
doses on human chondrocyte cultures treated with the CM of activated U937 cells. Moreover, the
combination of the three molecules was able to promote the expression of collagen type II and aggrecan.
All together, these data could suggest that BCP, AA and GlcN exert a chondro-protective action
A cost-effectiveness analysis of seminatural wetlands and activated sludge wastewater-treatment
No full textA cost-effectiveness analysis was performed to evaluate the competitiveness of seminatural Free Water Surface (FWS) wetlands compared to traditional wastewater-treatment plants. Six scenarios of the service costs of three FWS wetlands and three different wastewater-treatment plants based on active sludge processes were compared. The six scenarios were all equally effective in their wastewater-treatment capacity. The service costs were estimated using real accounting data from an experimental wetland and by means of a market survey. Some assumptions had to be made to perform the analysis. A reference wastewater situation was established to solve the problem of the different levels of dilution that characterize the inflow water of the different systems; the land purchase cost was excluded from the analysis, considering the use of public land as shared social services, and an equal life span for both seminatural and traditional wastewater-treatment plants was set. The results suggest that seminatural systems are competitive with traditional biotechnological systems, with an average service cost improvement of 2.1-fold to 8-fold, according to the specific solution and discount rate. The main improvement factor was the lower maintenance cost of the seminatural systems, due to the self-regulating, low artificial energy inputs and the absence of waste to be disposed. In this work, only the waste-treatment capacity of wetlands was considered as a parameter for the economic competitiveness analysis. Other goods/services and environmental benefits provided by FWS wetlands were not considered
Characterization of superoxide dismutases in the Antarctic scallop Adamussium colbecki.
No full textSuperoxide dismutases (SODs) are considered the most important and ubiquitous antioxidant enzymes, involved in cellular antioxidant defenses, maintaining the redox homeostasis during the aerobic cell metabolism. Moreover, SODs are also closely involved in the innate immune response of animals, as evidenced by the rapid modulation of transcription during challenges with endotoxins, bacteria or viruses. During infection, the host often uses reactive oxygen species (ROS) to react to pathogenic invaders via phagocytosis. However, excess ROS generated during the respiratory burst may also be harmful to the host, that use the antioxidant machinery to maintain low ROS concentration in the cytoplasm. Antarctic species are characterized by a large number of special physiological features that allow the life in the extreme environment. First of all, low temperature and salt concentration are physicochemical conditions that increase oxygen solubility and, consequently, the rate of ROS formation. For this reason, a finely modulated antioxidant system is essential to prevent macromolecules oxidation that could result in DNA damage, loss of membrane integrity and changes of protein activities. Despite numerous previous studies on SODs from aquatic animals, only few data are available for the SODs of Antarctic mollusks. In the present work, we studied the Antarctic scallop Adamussium colbecki, a bivalve mollusk widely distributed in the Antarctic Ocean; for the first time we characterized the gene structure and expression of Adamussium SOD. Specimens were sampled in the Ross Sea (Terra Nova Bay, 74°42’S, 164°7’E) during the XXI Italian Antarctic Expedition. Partial cDNA sequences of Cu,Zn SOD and Mn SOD were obtained from gonadic tissue by RT-PCR and TA-cloning. The obtained nucleotide and deduced amino acid sequences were compared with those of orthologous genes already available in GenBank and the protein phylogenies were reconstructed. We also studied the gene transcription and enzyme activity in various organs and tissues, to investigate the biological fraction of SODs in molluscs living in extreme environmental conditions
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
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