1,720,953 research outputs found

    Oral ethinylestradiol–levonorgestrel normalizes fructose-induced hepatic lipid accumulation and glycogen depletion in female rats

    Get PDF
    The present study investigated the effects of oral ethinylestradiol–levonorgestrel (EEL) on hepatic lipid and glycogen contents during high fructose (HF) intake, and determined whether pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase-4 (PDK-4) and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) activity were involved in HF and (or) EEL-induced hepatic dysmetabolism. Female Wistar rats weighing 140–160 g were divided into groups. The control, EEL, HF, and EEL+HF groups received water (vehicle, p.o.), 1.0 μg ethinylestradiol plus 5.0 μg levonorgestrel (p.o.), fructose (10% w/v), and EEL plus HF, respectively, on a daily basis for 8 weeks. Results revealed that treatment with EEL or HF led to insulin resistance, hyperinsulinemia, increased hepatic uric acid production and triglyceride content, reduced glycogen content, and reduced production of plasma or hepatic glutathione- and G6PD-dependent antioxidants. HF but not EEL also increased fasting glucose and hepatic PDK-4. Nonetheless, these alterations were attenuated by EEL in HF-treated rats. Our results demonstrate that hepatic lipid accumulation and glycogen depletion induced by HF is accompanied by increased PDK-4 and defective G6PD activity. The findings also suggest that EEL would attenuate hepatic lipid accumulation and glycogen depletion by suppression of PDK-4 and enhancement of a G6PD-dependent antioxidant barrier.The accepted manuscript in pdf format is listed with the files at the bottom of this page. The presentation of the authors' names and (or) special characters in the title of the manuscript may differ slightly between what is listed on this page and what is listed in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript; that in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript is what was submitted by the author

    Preventive effects of L-glutamine on gestational fructose-induced cardiac hypertrophy: Involvement of pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase-4

    Get PDF
    Gestational fructose exposure has detrimental health consequences on both the maternal and fetus or offspring in the early or later life, contributing to epidemic rise in cardiometabolic syndrome including cardiac events. l-Glutamine has been shown to mitigate cardiac metabolic stress. However, the effect of l-glutamine on cardiac hypertrophy induced by gestational fructose exposure is not known. We therefore hypothesized that l-glutamine would prevent gestational fructose-induced cardiac hypertrophy, possibly by suppression of pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase-4 (PDK-4). Pregnant Wistar rats were allotted into the control, l-glutamine, gestational fructose exposure, and gestational fructose exposure plus l-glutamine groups (6 rats in each group). The groups received distilled water (vehicle, per os), 1 g/kg body weight l-glutamine (per os), 10% fructose (w/v) and 10% fructose (w/v) plus 1 g/kg l-glutamine (per os), respectively, daily for 19 days. Data from this study showed that gestational fructose-enriched drink caused cardiac hypertrophy with correspondent body weight gain, glucose dysregulation, increased cardiac PDK-4, triglyceride, glycogen, lactate, and uric acid production. On the other hand, defective glutathione-dependent antioxidant barrier was also observed in pregnant rats taking fructose-enriched drink. However, the gestational fructose-induced cardiac hypertrophy and its correlates were attenuated by l-glutamine. The present results demonstrate that gestational fructose-enriched drink induces cardiac hypertrophy that is accompanied by increased PDK-4. The findings also suggest that the inhibitory effect of l-glutamine on PDK-4 prevents the development of cardiac hypertrophy, thereby implying that PDK-4 may be a potential novel therapeutic intervention for cardiac hypertrophy especially in pregnancy.The accepted manuscript in pdf format is listed with the files at the bottom of this page. The presentation of the authors' names and (or) special characters in the title of the manuscript may differ slightly between what is listed on this page and what is listed in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript; that in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript is what was submitted by the author

    Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis

    Get PDF
    The 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

    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

    Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis

    Get PDF
    We 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

    Get PDF
    We 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

    Author Index

    No full text
    Nao informado

    koamabayili/VECTRON-author-checklist: VECTRON author checklist

    No full text
    We 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
    corecore