1,721,063 research outputs found
Visual composition of complex queries on an integrative genomic and proteomic data warehouse
No full textBiomedical questions are usually complex and regard several different life science aspects. Numerous valuable and he- terogeneous data are increasingly available to answer such questions. Yet, they are dispersedly stored and difficult to be queried comprehensively. We created a Genomic and Proteomic Data Warehouse (GPDW) that integrates data provided by some of the main bioinformatics databases. It adopts a modular integrated data schema and several metadata to de- scribe the integrated data, their sources and their location in the GPDW. Here, we present the Web application that we developed to enable any user to easily compose queries, although complex, on all data integrated in the GPDW. It is publicly available at http://www.bioinformatics.dei.polimi.it/GPKB/. Through a visual interface, the user is only re- quired to select the types of data to be included in the query and the conditions on their values to be retrieved. Then, the Web application leverages the metadata and modular schema of the GPDW to automatically compose an efficient SQL query, run it on the GPDW and show the extracted requested data, enriched with links to external data sources. Per- formed tests demonstrated efficiency and usability of the developed Web application, and showed its and GPDW re- levance in supporting answering biomedical questions, also difficult
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
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
Nitric Oxide/Cyclic GMP-Dependent Calcium Signalling Mediates IL-6- and TNF-α-Induced Expression of Glial Fibrillary Acid Protein
Full text linkAstrocyte activation is characterized by hypertrophy with increased glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), whose expression may involve pro-inflammatory cytokines. In this study, the effects of pro-inflammatory IL-6 and TNF-α and anti-inflammatory cytokines IL-4 and IL-10 on nitric oxide (NO)/cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP) signalling, intracellular calcium concentration ([Ca2+]i) and GFAP expression were investigated. In human glioblastoma astrocytoma U-373 MG cells, IL-6 and TNF-α, but not IL-4 or IL-10, increased iNOS, cGMP, [Ca2+]i and GFAP expression. The inhibitors of iNOS (1400 W), soluble guanylyl cyclase (ODQ) and IP3 receptors (ryanodine and 2-APB) reversed the increase in cGMP or [Ca2+]i, respectively, and prevented GFAP expression. In rat striatal slices, IL-6 and TNF-α, at variance with IL-4 and IL-10, promoted a concentration-dependent increase in Ca2+ efflux, an effect prevented by 1400 W, ODQ and RY/2APB. These data were confirmed by in vivo studies, where IL-6, TNF-α or the NO donor DETA/NO injected in the striatum of anaesthetised rats increased cGMP levels and increased GFAP expression. The present findings point to NO/cGMP-dependent calcium signalling as part of the mechanism mediating IL-6- and TNF-α-induced GFAP expression. As this process plays a fundamental role in driving neurotoxicity, targeting NO/cGMP-dependent calcium signalling may constitute a new approach for therapeutic interventions in neurological disorders
Effects of St John's wort and its active constituents, hypericin and hyperforin, on isolated rat urinary bladder
No full textObjectives To investigate the effect of St John's wort (SJW) and its active constituents hypericin and hyperforin on detrusor smooth muscle contractility and their possible neuroprotective role against ischaemic-like conditions, which could arise during overactive bladder disease. Methods In whole bladders, intrinsic nerves underwent electrical field stimulation (EFS). The effect of drugs on the contractile response and its recovery in reperfusion phase (R) was monitored at different concentrations during 1 or 2 h of anoxia-glucopenia (A-G) and the first 30 min of R. The effects of the drugs were also investigated on rat detrusor muscle strips contracted with carbachol, KCl and electrically. Key Findings SJW has spasmolytic activity, which increases with increasing concentration and it worsens the damage induced by A-G/R on rat urinary bladder. Hypericin and hyperforin had no effect during ischemic-like conditions but they both exert a dual modulation of rat detrusor strips contraction. At high micromolar concentrations they showed a relaxing effect, but at submicromolar range hypericin increased the plasma membrane depolarisation and hyperforin showed a stimulatory effect on the cholinergic system. Conclusions The results of our study showed that SJW and its constituents could modulate urinary bladder contractility and even worsen A-G/R injury
Effects of St John's wort and its active constituents, hypericin and hyperforin, on isolated rat urinary bladder.
No full textRole of changes in tumor vasculature in mouse models of human gliomas: immunohistochemical and SEM-corrosion casting study.
No full textOn the modification of the cosmic microwave background anisotropy spectrum from canonical quantum gravity
No full textWe evaluate the modifications to the cosmic microwave background anisotropy spectrum that result
from a semiclassical expansion of the Wheeler-DeWitt equation. Recently, such an investigation in the
case of a real scalar field coupled to gravity has led to the prediction that the power at large scales is
suppressed. We make here a more general analysis and show that there is an ambiguity in the choice of
solution to the equations describing the quantum gravitational effects. Whereas one of the two solutions
describes a suppression of power, the other one describes an enhancement.We investigate possible criteria
for an appropriate choice of solution. The absolute value of the correction term is in both cases of the same
order and currently not observable. We also obtain detailed formulas for arbitrary values of a complex
parameter occurring in the general solution of the nonlinear equations of the model.We finally discuss the
modification of the spectral index connected with the power spectrum and comment on the possibility of a
quantum-gravity induced unitarity violation
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