37,800 research outputs found
Editorial: Dysmetabolism, obesity, and inflammation: Three prominent actors in the drama of major neuropsychiatric disorders
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Author, publisher and bookseller : a tripartite synergy in Nigerian book industry
No full textThis work is about the roles of Author, Publisher and Bookseller in Book development in
Nigeria. The paper started by delving into the history of Book Publishing in Nigeria after
which it proceeded by defining who an author, a publisher, and a bookseller is and
expatiated on the indispensable roles of these key actors in Nigerian Book Industry and in
the emerging Information Society. Furthermore, the various constraints to book
development were identified while the paper advised on how the Book Industry can be
further promoted in Nigeria. However, the paper concluded and made recommendations
on how the Book sector can help in enhancing scholarship in the country
The gendered nature of academic institutions: a gender-analysis of Italian Universities
No full textThe academic fields are highly gendered, with men being overrepresented in the highest academic positions, while women tend to occupy the lower and more precarious positions, which indicates the existence of an academic ‘glass ceiling’. Most Italian academic institutions have policies on gender equality and/or diversity, but a common problem is a lack of transparency and gender-disaggregated data. Information such as sex-disaggregated data is essential to carry out gender- equality analysis and to analyse important decision-making processes from a gender perspective. In this paper, we assess the gendered nature of Italian universities by investigating the structure of academic positions by gender at both public and private universities from 2011 to 2017, with the help of gender-disaggregated statistics. Furthermore, we also analyse the gender segregation patterns in the data by geographical area. We document the persistence of a gender gap in a typical Italian academic career. Indeed, the empirical investigation finds that in 2017, while the proportion of women academic staff was 40.2%, women made up only 37.5% of associate professors and 23% of full professors. The results indicate that gender segregation in Italian universities has been reduced over time but is far from eliminated. Despite positive changes achieved in recent years, the study reveals a prevailing vertical segregation in Italian universities, i.e., a significant under- representation of women in the higher ranks of academia
Exposure to the agricultural fungicide tebuconazole promotes Aspergillus fumigatus cross-resistance to clinical azoles. [Comini S. is the co-first author; Banche G. is the corresponding author; Cuffini A.M. is the co-corresponding author]
No full textResistance to clinical triazoles in Aspergillus fumigatus is a growing concern for individuals at high risk of Aspergillus infection. Two triazole resistance selection routes are currently being investigated: one occurring in triazole-treated patients in healthcare settings, and the second taking place in the environment due to the widespread use of agricultural triazoles. This study aimed to assess the ability of agricultural azoles to promote cross-resistance to clinical azoles in A. fumigatus. Five A. fumigatus isolates susceptible to clinical azoles were exposed to the triazole 14α-demethylase inhibitor, tebuconazole (TBC), and then antifungal susceptibility tests for voriconazole, itraconazole, posaconazole and isavuconazole were performed. Under TBC selection pressure, all A. fumigatus isolates exhibited resistance to clinical triazoles. However, only two displayed a multiresistant phenotype to clinical azoles. TBC exposure was also associated with delayed conidia formation and progressive absence of conidiation. Noteworthy, no TBC-exposed clones harbored TR34/L98H mutation, as judged by real-time PCR assays. The observation that TBC exposure promotes cross-resistance to clinical triazoles warrants careful and thorough assessment of the human health risk associated with agricultural azoles. The absence of TR34/L98H mutation in cross-resistant A. fumigatus isolates suggests that other cyp51A mutations may be involved in clinical azole cross-resistance
The relationship between corresponding authorship and author position
No full textAuthorship is a marker of scientific capital and prestige, and corresponding authorship is associated with higher scientific status. Several studies have examined the relationship between corresponding author and author order; however, these studies often focus on small datasets, covering a limited number of research fields or time period. This study presented an empirical analysis of corresponding authorship as indexed in two major bibliometric databases (WoS and Scopus).
We found that although the number of documents with reprint author has increased steadily over time, WoS indexed more papers with reprint author metadata than Scopus, while the number of documents with more than one reprint author is larger in Scopus than in WoS. Besides, there are significant differences in documents where only one database identifies a reprint author or the reprint author is not the same. Therefore, there is an important need of future research to further understand these differences in indexing strategies between these two databases.
In our analysis of corresponding author in WoS, we found that WoS started registering consistently reprint author metadata from 2005 onwards and more than one reprint author in 2016, including author email data. We also found that first authorship is the most common position of the corresponding author, although this is declining in favour of middle and last author as corresponding authors, especially in MED and NSE fields. The average of percentage of papers with no corresponding author remain steady over time (around 20%).
There are also some country differences. Although first authorship is more likely to serve as corresponding author in most countries, there are exceptions such as South Korea, China or Taiwan, suggesting that different scientific cultures may also play a role in the choice of the corresponding author. Moreover, the percentages of articles with more than one corresponding author or “equal first authors” has risen over time. This might also point that funding incentives have implications on the raise of more than one corresponding author in publications, which open new research questions to be further investigated.
Given the value of bibliometric metadata for science policy, it is important to assess their strengths and weaknesses in order to guarantee the bibliometric relevance of the sources. This is particularly relevant nowadays, with more bibliometric databases being developed (e.g. Dimensions.ai or OpenAlex). How these databases operationalize specific metadata elements may differ substantially among them, and sometimes important metadata elements like the corresponding authors may even be overlooked (e.g. the current version of OpenAlex does not include corresponding author identification). It is therefore important to continue studying these differences among data sources and provide better evidence for researchers to choose those which better represent their ultimate goals
Ex-ante evaluation of tightening environmental policy: the case of mineral use in Dutch agriculture
No full textNon-point source pollution is notoriously difficult to asses. A relevant example is mineral emissions in the Netherlands. Since the mid 1980s the Dutch government has sought to reduce emissions through a wide variety of measures, the effect of which in turn is monitored using modeling techniques. This paper presents the current generation of mineral emission models from agriculture based on microsimulation of farms in combination with a spatial equilibrium model for the dispersion of manure from excess regions with high livestock intensities within the country to areas with low livestock intensities. The micro-simulation approach retains the richness in the heterogeneity of farm household decision making that are the core cause of the difficulty of assessing non-point source pollution, while using the best available data to track corresponding pollution. Using scenario analysis we are able to assess the possible effects of further tightening of agro-environmental policy.micro-simulation, spatial-equilibrium model, non-point source pollution, Environmental Economics and Policy,
Chiral tetranuclear and dinuclear copper(II) complexes for TEMPO-mediated aerobic oxidation of alcohols : are four metal centres better than two?
No full textThe one-pot reaction of 3,5-di-tert-butyl-2-hydroxybenzaldehyde, (R)-2-aminoglycinol and Cu(OAc)2·2H2O in a 1 : 1 : 1 ratio in the presence of triethylamine led to the isolation of X-ray quality crystals of the chiral complex (R)-1 in high yield. The single crystal structure of (R)-1 reveals a tetranuclear copper(II) complex that contains a {Cu4(μ-O)2(μ3-O)2N4O4} core. A reaction using (1S,2R)-2-amino-1,2-diphenylethanol as precursor under the same conditions generated the chiral complex (S,R)-2; its structure was determined by single crystal X-ray crystallography and was found to contain a {Cu2(μ-O)2N2O2} core. Both (R)-1 and (S,R)-2 have been used for catalytic aerobic oxidation of benzylic alcohols in combination with the TEMPO (2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidinyl-1-oxyl) radical. (R)-1 selectively catalyses the conversion of various aromatic primary alcohols to the corresponding aldehydes with high yields (99%) and TONs (770) in the air, while (S,R)-2 exhibits less promising catalytic performance under the same reaction conditions. The role of the cluster structures in (R)-1 and (S,R)-2 in controlling the reactivity towards aerobic oxidation reactions is discussed
The role of endocannabinoid signaling in the molecular mechanisms of neurodegeneration in Alzheimer's disease
No full textAlzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common form of progressive neurodegenerative disease characterized by cognitive impairment and mental disorders. The actual cause and cascade of events in the progression of this pathology is not fully determined. AD is multifaceted in nature and is linked to different multiple mechanisms in the brain. This aspect is related to the lack of efficacious therapies that could slow down or hinder the disease onset/progression. The ideal treatment for AD should be able to modulate the disease through multiple mechanisms rather than targeting a single dysregulated pathway. Recently, the endocannabinoid system emerged as a novel potential therapeutic target to treat AD. In fact, exogenous and endogenous cannabinoids seem to be able to modulate multiple processes in AD, although the mechanisms that are involved are not fully elucidated. This review provides an update of this area. In this review, we recapitulate the role of endocannabinoid signaling in AD and the probable mechanisms through which modulators of the endocannabinoid system provide their effects, thus highlighting how this target might provide more advantages over other therapeutic targets
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