1,720,998 research outputs found
Aberrant expression of HLA-DR antigen on thyrocytes in Graves' disease: relevance for autoimmunity.
No full textCloning of candidate autoantigen carboxypeptidase H from a human islet library: sequence identity with human brain CPH
No full textDetection of thyroid growth immunoglobulins (TGI) by [3H]-thymidine incorporation in cultured rat thyroid follicles.
No full textIn vitro and in vivo reversal of thyroid epithelial polarity: its relevance for autoimmune thyroid disease.
No full textA method is described for culturing intact human thyroid follicles, based on the study of 40 thyroidectomy specimens from normal (n = 18) and diseased glands (n = 22). Reversal of the normal polarity of thyrocytes, whereby the microvilli move from the colloid edge to the vascular pole of the cells, occurs gradually when the amount of fetal calf serum (FCS) is changed from 0.5% to 10%. The translocation of thyroid 'microvillar' antigens, (surface expression of 'microsomal' and a separate surface antigen) from the follicular to the vascular pole of thyrocytes was assessed by indirect immunofluorescence with human sera containing microsomal antibodies, as well as by electron microscopy. In normal and diseased thyroid glands up to 80% of follicles became reversed after 5-10 days in high FCS and the microsomal/microvillar antigen persisted for about twice as long as in monolayer cultures. Spontaneous reversal of polarity was observed in six of eight glands from patients with Graves' thyrotoxicosis or toxic nodular goitre in freshly dispersed tissues or after 2 days in 0.5% FCS, unlike normal tissues where only a trace of reversal appeared after 7 days of culture under these conditions. It is postulated that polarity reversal may play a role in human thyroid autoimmunity as the normally secluded 'microvillar' antigens becomes transposed to the vascular pole of thyroid follicles where they are in direct contact with cytotoxic antibodies or sensitized immunocytes. This could initiate lesions in intact follicles. Inappropriate HLA-DR expression on thyrocytes, either stimulated by phytohaemagglutinin (PHA) or appearing spontaneously as an early marker of thyroiditis, did not correlate with reversal of polarity
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
Graves' disease TSHR-stimulating antibodies (TSAbs) induce the activation of immature thymocytes: a clue to the riddle of TSAbs generation?
No full textGraves' disease (GD) is an autoimmune thyroid disease defined by the production of stimulating autoantibodies to the thyroid-stimulating hormone receptor (TSHR) (TSAbs) that induce a sustained state of hyperthyroidism in patients. We previously demonstrated that TSHR, the target of this autoimmune response, is also a key susceptibility gene for GD, probably acting through thymic-dependent central tolerance. We also showed that TSHR is, unexpectedly, expressed in thymocytes. In this report, we confirm the expression of TSHR in thymocytes by protein immunoblotting and quantitative PCR, and show that expression is confined to maturing thymocytes. Using functional assays, we show that thymic TSHR is functional and that TSAbs can stimulate thymocytes through this receptor. This new activity of TSAbs on thymocytes may: 1) explain GD-associated thymic enlargement (hyperplasia), and 2) suggest the provocative hypothesis that the continuous stimulation of thymocytes by TSAbs could lead to a vicious cycle of iterative improvement of the affinity and stimulating capability of initially low-affinity antibacterial (e.g., Yersinia) Abs cross-reactive with TSHR, eventually leading to TSAbs. This may help to fill one of the gaps in our present understanding of unusual characteristics of TSAbs
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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