1,720,955 research outputs found
Oral ethinylestradiol–levonorgestrel normalizes fructose-induced hepatic lipid accumulation and glycogen depletion in female rats
Get PDFThe 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
Dexamethasone causes defective glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase dependent antioxidant barrier through endoglin in pregnant and nonpregnant rats
Get PDFGlucocorticoid (GC) therapy has been associated with adverse cardiometabolic effects during pregnancy. Inflammation-mediated cardiac dysfunction, an independent risk factor for morbidity and mortality, has been linked to defective glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD)-dependent antioxidant defenses and increased endoglin expression. We therefore sought to investigate the effects of dexamethasone (DEX) on cardiac endoglin and G6PD-dependent antioxidant defense. Twenty-four rats were randomly assigned to non-pregnant [PRE(-)], DEX-exposed non-pregnant [PRE(-) +DEX], pregnant [PRE(+)] and DEX-exposed pregnant [PRE(+) +DEX] rats, respectively (n = 6/group). PRE(-) and PRE(+) rats received vehicle (po) while PRE(-) +DEX and PRE(+) +DEX groups were administered dexamethasone (0.2 mg/kg; po) between gestational days 14 to 19 respectively. Results showed that DEX caused increased cardiac pro-inflammatory markers (adenosine deaminase (ADA) activity, endoglin, vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (VCAM-1), tissue injury markers (LDH, GGT, AST, ALT and ALP), metabolic disturbances (elevated fasting plasma glucose, free fatty acid (FFA), lactate, cardiac FFA and lactate) and depressed G6PD-dependent antioxidant defenses (G6PD activity, reduced glutathione/oxidized glutathione ratio and nitric oxide) in pregnant and non-pregnant rats. The present study demonstrates that DEX led to increased cardiac endoglin and VCAM-1 that is accompanied by defective G6PD-dependent antioxidant defenses but not cardiac lipid accumulation in both pregnant and non-pregnant rats.The presentation of the authors' names and (or) special characters in the title of the pdf file of the accepted manuscript may differ slightly from what is displayed on the item page. The information in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript reflects the original submission by the author
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe 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 PDFWe 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
Oral hormonal therapy with ethinylestradiol/levonorgestrel improves insulin resistance, obesity and glycogen synthase kinase-3 independent of circulating mineralocorticoid in estrogen-deficient rats
Get PDFEstrogen deficiency has been associated with increased cardiovascular diseases (CVD) and recent clinical trials of standard formulations of hormonal therapies have not demonstrated consistent beneficial effects. Estrogen-progestin therapy has been used as exogenous estrogen to normalise depressed estrogen level during menopause. Ovariectomized rodents mimic estrogen-deficient state in that they develop cardiometabolic dysfunction, including insulin resistance (IR).We therefore hypothesized that hormonal therapy with combined oral contraceptive steroids, ethinylestradiol/levonorgestrel (EEL) improves IR, obesity and glycogen synthase kinase-3 (GSK-3) through reduction in circulating mineralocorticoid level in ovariectomized rats. Twelve week-old female Wistar rats were divided into four groups; sham-operated (SHM) and ovariectomized (OVX) rats treated with or without EEL (1.0µg ethinylestradiol and 5.0µg levonorgestrel) daily for 8 weeks. Results showed that OVX or SHM+EEL-treated rats had increased HOMA-IR, 1-h postload glucose, HOMA-β, triglycerides (TG), total cholesterol (TC), TC/HDL-cholesterol, TG/HDL-cholesterol, plasma insulin, GSK-3, corticosterone and aldosterone. On the other hand, OVX+EEL treatment ameliorated all these effects except aldosterone. Taken together, the results demonstrate that oral hormonal replacement with EEL improves IR, pancreatic β-cell function, suppresses GSK-3 and glucocorticoid independent of circulating aldosterone, suggesting a positive cardiometabolic effect of oral EEL therapy in estrogen-deficient state.The presentation of the authors' names and (or) special characters in the title of the pdf file of the accepted manuscript may differ slightly from what is displayed on the item page. The information in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript reflects the original submission by the author
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Get PDFWe 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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