1,721,004 research outputs found
Transglutaminases, neuronal cell death and neural repair: Implications for traumatic brain injury and therapeutics
No full textPurpose of review Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is one of the leading causes of death in the developed world. Despite advances at the bedside, pharmacological interventions have yet to be successful likely because of the need for a better understanding of disease mechanisms as potential targets for intervention. Recent evidence implicates a family of enzymes, namely transglutaminases, in the pathological mechanisms of TBI. Recent findings Transglutaminases are multifunctional, calcium-dependent enzymes that are significantly upregulated in TBI. They are known for their transamidase activity that consists of the covalent crosslinking of glutamines and lysines. Recent data support their ability to aminylate proteins with primary amines such as polyamines or monoamines like serotonin and histamine and to regulate gene transcription. Summary In this review, we will discuss data that support a role for transglutaminases, in particular transglutaminase 2, in mitochondrial damage, excitotoxicity and inflammation and their relationship to the pathobiology of TBI. We will review past evidence and outline the need for new experiments that could clarify the role of these enzymes in cell injury and death associated with traumatic brain injury
COMPOSTI ISOTIOCIANATI E ISOSELENCIANATI
No full textLa presente invenzione attiene una nuova famiglia di composti isotiocianati e isoselencianati idonei ad essere utilizzati come:
- farmaci innovativi con spiccato profilo di efficacia terapeutica, tali da consentire un miglior approccio alla patologia tumorale rispetto ai farmaci attuali,
- teranostici per la contemporanea diagnosi e cura della patologia oncologica;
- sonde fluorescenti per l'osservazione diretta di specifici organuli cellulari in applicazioni biomediche
Targeting Tau Protein with Proximity Inducing Modulators: A New Frontier to Combat Tauopathies
No full textDysregulation of correct protein tau homeostasis represents the seed for the development of several devastating central nervous system disorders, known as tauopathies, that affect millions of people worldwide. Despite massive public and private support to research funding, these diseases still represent unmet medical needs. In fact, the tau-targeting tools developed to date have failed to translate into the clinic. Recently, taking advantage of the modes that nature uses to mediate the flow of information in cells, researchers have developed a new class of molecules, called proximity-inducing modulators, which exploit spatial proximity to modulate protein function(s) and redirect cellular processes. In this perspective, after a brief discussion about tau protein and the classic tau-targeting approaches, we will discuss the different classes of proximity-inducing modulators developed so far and highlight the applications to modulate tau protein's function and tau-induced toxicity
Overview of the Anticancer Profile of Avenanthramides from Oat
Full text linkCancer represents one of the leading causes of death worldwide. Progresses in treatment of cancer have continued at a rapid pace. However, undesirable side effects and drug resistance remain major challenges for therapeutic success. Natural products represent a valuable starting point to develop new anticancer strategies. Polyphenols, well-known as antioxidant, exert anticancer effects through the modulation of multiple pathways and mechanisms. Oat (Avena sativa L., Poaceae) is a unique source of avenanthramides (AVAs), a group of polyphenolic alkaloids, considered as its signature compounds. The present review aims to offer a comprehensive and critical perspective on the chemopreventive and chemotherapeutic potential of AVAs. AVAs prevent cancer mainly by blocking reactive species. Moreover, they exhibit potential therapeutic activity through the modulation of different pathways including the activation of apoptosis and senescence, the block of cell proliferation, and the inhibition of epithelial mesenchymal transition and metastatization. AVAs are promising chemopreventive and anticancer phytochemicals, which need further clinical trials and toxicological studies to define their efficacy in preventing and reducing the burden of cancer diseases
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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