1,720,969 research outputs found
IL MYCOARRAY: UN TEST RAPIDO PER LA DIAGNOSI SIEROLOGICA DI MICOSI ENDEMICHE
No full textIntroduzione
Le micosi da funghi dimorfi, estremamente rare in Europa, sono rappresentate da casi di importazione, con
l’eccezione della istoplasmosi per la quale sono stati segnalati anche casi autoctoni. La bassa frequenza, in
combinazione con l’aspecificità delle manifestazioni cliniche, rende difficile una diagnosi rapida. Scopo del
presente studio è la valutazione dell’utilizzo del saggio mycoarray (1) come strumento multiparametrico e rapido, a
supporto della sierologia convenzionale, nella diagnosi di laboratorio delle micosi endemiche.
Metodi
Antigeni fungini (H. capsulatum, C. immitis, B. dermatitidis e P. brasiliensis), diluizioni scalari di anticorpi IgG e
IgM e controlli sono stati deposti su vetrini microarray per mezzo di un sistema robotizzato ad alta precisione. I
vetrini così ottenuti sono stati cimentati col siero, opportunamente diluito, e successivamente con anticorpi
secondari marcati con fluorofori per rivelare l’avvenuta formazione degli immunocomplessi. Il segnale è stato
acquisito mediante uno scanner, quantificato ed analizzato per mezzo di un apposito software.
Risultati
Il mycoarray ha mostrato elevate sensibilità e specificità: un primo studio retrospettivo, condotto su sieri da
pazienti con diagnosi certa di istoplasmosi o di coccidioidomicosi, ha fornito risultati consistenti con i dati clinici e
di laboratorio, acquisiti con la diagnostica di routine. Indagini su ulteriori campioni da casi clinici “sospetti”,
analizzati con il mycoarray, hanno fornito risultati originali utili per la diagnosi definitiva di micosi endemica.
Conclusioni
Il mycoarray presenta una serie di peculiarità (miniaturizzazione, multiparametricità e rapidità di esecuzione) che lo
rendono estremamente utile come strumento di laboratorio a sussidio del percorso convenzionale nella diagnosi di
micosi primitive, specialmente in zone a bassa endemicità.
Ringraziamenti
Lavoro in parte supportato da MIUR, PRIN-200985J87J
Bibliografia
(1) Ardizzoni et al., (2011) New Microbiol, 34:307-16
The protein “mycoarray”: a novel immunoassay for the serological diagnosis of primitive invasive mycoses
No full textObjectives. Invasive fungal infections are an important cause of morbidity and mortality in an increasingly higher number of patients, also because of difficulties in providing a rapid and appropriate diagnosis. In some cases, detection of a specific antibody response is a crucial diagnostic tool; however, the available serological assays often provide qualitative results only, their sensitivity and specificity are poor and long time procedures are required. In addition, patients who suffer from an invasive mycosis may have multiple infections likely underestimated by conventional diagnostic approaches. In order to couple the serology of primitive invasive mycoses to the protein microarray technology, a “mycoarray” assay has been designed and set up.Methods. Four antigen extracts (histoplasmin, coccidioidin, Coccidioides “TP” antigen and aspergillin) and the appropriate controls were spotted in various conditions onto a restricted area of a microscope slide. The printed slides were then incubated with immune sera produced in goat against each single antigen or, subsequently, with human sera (6 from patients affected by primitive invasive mycoses and 7 from healthy individuals). The occurring immunocomplexes were detected by indirect immunofluorescence.Results. The pilot experiments, conducted using the goat immune sera, allowed to establish the optimal spotting conditions for each antigen in terms of both spotting buffer and extracts’ dilution. The “mycoarrays”, obtained by spotting all the fungal antigens with the best condition, were then processed with sera either from patients or control subjects. The reactivity observed in the arrays processed with the patients’ samples was in agreement with the clinical and microbiological diagnosis; no reactivity was ever observed in the arrays processed with the negative control sera.Conclusions. The “protein mycoarray” is sensitive enough to discriminate between healthy individuals and patients affected by histoplasmosis or coccidioidomycosis. This novel diagnostic tool, because of its intrinsic features, miniaturization and multiparametricity, can contribute to cut out costs and to shorten times-to-results, with the potentiality to be included in the daily clinical practice in the near future
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
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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