1,720,957 research outputs found
Long Non-Coding RNAs as Novel Biomarkers in the Clinical Management of Papillary Renal Cell Carcinoma Patients: A Promise or a Pledge?
Full text linkPapillary renal cell carcinoma (pRCC) represents the second most common subtype of renal cell carcinoma, following clear cell carcinoma and accounting for 10–15% of cases. For around 20 years, pRCCs have been classified according to their mere histopathologic appearance, unsupported by genetic and molecular evidence, with an unmet need for clinically relevant classification. Moreover, patients with non-clear cell renal cell carcinomas have been seldom included in large clinical trials; therefore, the therapeutic landscape is less defined than in the clear cell subtype. However, in the last decades, the evolving comprehension of pRCC molecular features has led to a growing use of target therapy and to better oncological outcomes. Nonetheless, a reliable molecular biomarker able to detect the aggressiveness of pRCC is not yet available in clinical practice. As a result, the pRCC correct prognosis remains cumbersome, and new biomarkers able to stratify patients upon risk of recurrence are strongly needed. Non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) are functional elements which play critical roles in gene expression, at the epigenetic, transcriptional, and post-transcriptional levels. In the last decade, ncRNAs have gained importance as possible biomarkers for several types of diseases, especially in the cancer universe. In this review, we analyzed the role of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) in the prognosis of pRCC, with a particular focus on their networking. In fact, in the competing endogenous RNA hypothesis, lncRNAs can bind miRNAs, resulting in the modulation of the mRNA levels targeted by the sponged miRNA, leading to additional regulation of the target gene expression and increasing complexity in the biological processes
The Clinical and Molecular Features in the VHL Renal Cancers; Close or Distant Relatives with Sporadic Clear Cell Renal Cell Carcinoma?
Full text linkVon Hippel-Lindau (VHL) disease is an autosomal dominant inherited cancer syndrome caused by germline mutations in the VHL tumor suppressor gene, characterized by the susceptibility to a wide array of benign and malign neoplasms, including clear-cell renal cell carcinoma. Moreover, VHL somatic inactivation is a crucial molecular event also in sporadic ccRCCs tumorigenesis. While systemic biomarkers in the VHL syndrome do not currently play a role in clinical practice, a new promising class of predictive biomarkers, microRNAs, has been increasingly studied. Lots of pan-genomic studies have deeply investigated the possible biological role of microRNAs in the development and progression of sporadic ccRCC; however, few studies have investigated the miRNA profile in VHL patients. Our review summarize all the new insights related to clinical and molecular features in VHL renal cancers, with a particular focus on the overlap with sporadic ccRCC
Renal Oncocytoma: The Diagnostic Challenge to Unmask the Double of Renal Cancer
Full text linkRenal oncocytoma represents the most common type of benign neoplasm that is an increas-ing concern for urologists, oncologists, and nephrologists due to its difficult differential diagnosis and frequent overtreatment. It displays a variable neoplastic parenchymal and stromal architecture, and the defining cellular element is a large polygonal, granular, eosinophilic, mitochondria-rich cell known as an oncocyte. The real challenge in the oncocytoma treatment algorithm is related to the misdiagnosis due to its resemblance, at an initial radiological assessment, to malignant renal cancers with a completely different prognosis and medical treatment. Unfortunately, percutaneous renal biopsy is not frequently performed due to the possible side effects related to the procedure. Therefore, the majority of oncocytoma are diagnosed after the surgical operation via partial or radical nephrectomy. For this reason, new reliable strategies to solve this issue are needed. In our review, we will discuss the clinical implications of renal oncocytoma in daily clinical practice with a particular focus on the medical diagnosis and treatment and on the potential of novel promising molecular biomarkers such as circulating microRNAs to distinguish between a benign and a malignant lesion
MicroRNA Signatures in the Upper Urinary Tract Urothelial Carcinoma Scenario: Ready for the Game Changer?
Full text linkUpper urinary tract urothelial carcinoma (UTUC) represents a minor subgroup of malignancies arising in the urothelium of the renal pelvis or ureter. The estimated annual incidence is around 2 cases per 100,000 people, with a mean age at diagnosis of 73 years. UTUC is more frequently diagnosed in an invasive or metastatic stage. However, even though the incidence of UTUC is not high, UTUC tends to be aggressive and rapidly progressing with a poor prognosis in some patients. A significant challenge in UTUC is ensuring accurate and timely diagnosis, which is complicated by the non-specific nature of symptoms seen at the onset of disease. Moreover, there is a lack of biomarkers capable of identifying the early presence of the malignancy and guide-tailored medical treatment. However, the growing understanding of the molecular biology underlying UTUC has led to the discovery of promising new biomarkers. Among these biomarkers, there is a class of small non-coding RNA biomarkers known as microRNAs (miRNAs) that are particularly promising. In this review, we will analyze the main characteristics of UTUC and focus on microRNAs as possible novel tools that could enter clinical practice in order to optimize the current diagnostic and prognostic algorithm
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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