1,720,967 research outputs found
Enhancing stem cell therapy efficacy through genetic modification
No full textRecent promising experimental results have suggested the
possibility of regenerating damaged myocardium using adult
bone marrow-derived stem cells. The biologic phenomenon
of tissue regeneration and its potential clinical application have captivated the enthusiasm of scientists and clinicians alike. However, the field of stem cell research is still in its infancy, and to date stem cell therapy has been hampered by many unaddressed biologic and technical problems. A complete understanding of the ideal approach in terms of choice of cell type, time, and method of delivery may take years of investigation
Therapeutic potential of endothelial progenitor cells in cardiovascular diseases
Get PDFEndothelial dysfunction and cell loss are prominent features in cardiovascular disease. Endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) originating from the bone marrow play a significant role in neovascularization of ischemic tissues and in re-endothelialization of injured blood vessels. Several studies have shown the therapeutic potential of EPC transplantation in rescue of tissue ischemia and in repair of blood vessels and bioengineering of prosthetic grafts. Recent small-scale trials have provided preliminary evidence of feasibility, safety, and efficacy in patients with myocardial and critical limb ischemia. However, several studies have shown that age and cardiovascular disease risk factors reduce the availability of circulating EPCs (CEPCs) and impair their function to varying degrees. In addition, the relative scarcity of CEPCs limits the ability to expand these cells in sufficient numbers for some therapeutic applications. Priority must be given to the development of strategies to enhance the number and improve the function of CEPCs. Furthermore, alternative sources of EPC such as chord blood need to be explored. Strategies for improvement of cell adhesion, survival, and prevention of cell senescence are also essential to ensure therapeutic viability. Genetic engineering of EPCs may be a useful approach to developing these cells into efficient therapeutic tools. In the clinical arena there is pressing need to standardize the protocols for isolation, culture, and therapeutic application of EPC. Large-scale multi-center randomized trials are required to evaluate the long-term safety and efficacy of EPC therapy. Despite these hurdles, the outlook for EPC-based therapy for cardiovascular disease is promising
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
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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