1,721,000 research outputs found
Impact of engineered food on tumor growth and chemoresistance in the frame of pancreatic cancer
Full text linkL’impatto della dieta (in particolare quella associate a cicli di restrizione calorica) sui benefici della salute sono stati già dimostrati. Questi includono il miglioramento delle malattie cardiovascolari, insulino resistenza, diabete, disordini immuni, rallentamento dei processi di invecchiamento ed in particolare il ridotto rischio per il cancro. Recenti studi in modelli animali ed in modelli in vitro hanno scoperto un nesso tra i cicli di restrizione calorica ed il ridotto rischio di cancro ed un migliorata efficacia della chemioterapia che è stata già descritta per alcuni tipi di cancro. L’obiettivo di questo progetto di ricerca è stato quello di elucidare il ruolo dei cicli di restrizione calorica nelle vie di segnale intracellulari coinvolti nei meccanismi di chemioresistenza del cancro del pancreas che è tra i cancri più aggressivi ed è classificato come la quarta causa di morte cancro-correlata al fine di implementare una formulazione nutrizionale che mimasse la restrizione calorica in grado di reversare la chemioresistenza o di inibire la crescita tumorale. Avvantaggiandoci di modelli animali xenograft e di linee cellulari del cancro del pancreas, mediante l’utilizzo di approcci biochimici e biomolecolari abbiamo inizialmente cercato di comprendere a fondo il ruolo dei cicli di restrizione calorica nella progressione del cancro del pancreas in un modello murino predisposto e poi elucidato i meccanismi molecolari coinvolti nella chemioresistenza. A doggi è di fondamentale importanza identificare i targets potenziali che posso essere utilizzati come predittori di malattia utili per la prevenzione, la prognosi ed il trattamento. I risultati di questo progetto saranno di aiuto per gli scienziati impegnati nell’identificazione di nuovi target terapeutici.The impact of nutrition (particularly associated with short term starvation (STS)) on major health benefits have been already demonstrated. These include amelioration of cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, insulin resistance, immune disorders, slowing of the aging process and in particular reduced risks of cancer. Recent studies in rodent and in in vitro models uncovered a potential link between STS and improved efficacy of chemotherapy which has already been demonstrated for some types of cancer. The broader objective of the research project developed during the PhD program was to elucidate the role of fasting (or short term starvation, STS) on the intracellular signaling events involved in the chemo-resistance of pancreatic cancer (PC) amidst the most aggressive types of cancer ranked as the fourth leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide, in order to implement a new diet formulation, mimicking calories restriction, in order to reverse chemoresistance or inhibit tumor growth. Taking advantage of in vivo xenograft mouse model for pancreatic cancer and in vitro PC cell lines, using biochemical and biomolecular approaches we first aimed to understand in depth the role of STS during the onset of pancreatic cancer in an ad hoc murine model and we then elucidate the molecular mechanisms involved in PC chemoresistance. It is important to systematically identify potential targets, which could serve as biomarkers for cancer prevention, prognosis and treatment. By elucidating the mechanisms involved in PC chemoresistance the results of this study will help scientists to identify new therapeutic targets
Targeting human equilibrative nucleoside analog transporter (hENT1) expression through modified low glycemic index diet in pancreatic cancer
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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
Hepatitis C virus, mitochondria and auto/mitophagy: Exploiting a host defense mechanism.
No full textHepatitis C virus (HCV) is the major reason for liver transplantation and the main cause of liver-related morbidity and mortality in a great number of countries. As for the other viruses, this pathogen interferes in more than one process and in more than one way with host cell biology. A mounting body of evidence points, in particular, toward the drastic alterations of mitochondrial physiology and functions that virus is able to induce, albeit the mechanisms have partly remained elusive. Role of the mitochondria in immunity and in quality control systems, as autophagy, as well as the strategies that HCV has evolved to evade and even to manipulate mitochondrial surveillance for its benefit, highlights the importance of deepening the mechanisms that modulate this virus-mitochondrion interaction, not only to intensify our knowledge of the HCV infection pathogenesis but also to design efficient antiviral strategies
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Exploitation of host clock gene machinery by hepatitis viruses B and C
No full textMany aspects of cellular physiology display circadian (approximately 24-h) rhythms. Dysfunction of the cir-cadian clock molecular circuitry is associated with human health derangements, including neurodegenera-tion, increased risk of cancer, cardiovascular diseases and the metabolic syndrome. Viruses triggering hepatitis depend tightly on the host cell synthesis machinery for their own replication, survival and spreading. Recent evidences support a link between the circadian clock circuitry and viruses' biological cycle within host cells. Currently, in vitro models for chronobiological studies of cells infected with viruses need to be implemented. The establishment of such in vitro models would be helpful to better understand the link between the clock gene machinery and viral replication/viral persistence in order to develop specifically targeted therapeutic regimens. Here we review the recent literature dealing with the interplay between hepatitis B and C viruses and clock genes. © 2013 Baishideng Publishing Group Co., Limited. All rights reserved
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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