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Effects of dopaminergic pathways on human neutrophil
Get PDFThe existence of a bidirectional communication between the immune system and the central nervous system was postulated some years ago by different researchers. More recently some evidence supports the notion that immune system can be affected by dopamine (DA).
DA is a neurotransmitter of the central nervous system that exerts its effects through the activation of the five dopaminergic receptors (DR). DA can affect some functions of the cells of the immune system and this topic was widely investigated on the cells of adaptive immunity.
Therefore, we decided to focus our attention on the different cell populations of the innate immunity and to explore the data present in literature about the evidence of the existence of a dopaminergic regulation of these cells.
The first part of the thesis is a description of dopamine and of the dopaminergic system, with reference to interactions with the immune system, in particular the innate immunity. Moreover, in the last part of this first chapter are mentioned some diseases involving the innate immunity in which the role of dopaminergic pathway was postulated and in some case demonstrated.
The second chapter is devoted to the characterization from the physiological point of view of the other major actors of the work, neutrophils (PMN). Also in this case, at the end of the chapter there is a section dedicated to the relevance of PMN in diseases in which the immune component is relevant.
The third chapter represents the main results of my PhD project, based on the investigation of the role and relevance of the dopaminergic system in human neutrophils. The aim of this PhD research program was in fact, to characterize the presence of DR and if dopaminergic agent can affect some pivotal function of neutrophil in a receptor-dependent manner.
Finally, a last chapter resumed the other projects that I have followed during the three year of my PhD course. The two attached files represent the results of some of them, that were conclude and published
Dopaminergic Regulation of Innate Immunity: a Review
No full textDopamine (DA) is a neurotransmitter in the central nervous system as well as in peripheral tissues. Emerging evidence however points to DA also as a key transmitter between the nervous system and the immune system as well as a mediator produced and released by immune cells themselves. Dopaminergic pathways have received so far extensive attention in the adaptive branch of the immune system, where they play a role in health and disease such as multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, cancer, and Parkinsonâs disease. Comparatively little is known about DA and the innate immune response, although DA may affect innate immune system cells such as dendritic cells, macrophages, microglia, and neutrophils. The present review aims at providing a complete and exhaustive summary of currently available evidence about DA and innate immunity, and to become a reference for anyone potentially interested in the fields of immunology, neurosciences and pharmacology. A wide array of dopaminergic drugs is used in therapeutics for non-immune indications, such as Parkinsonâs disease, hyperprolactinemia, shock, hypertension, with a usually favorable therapeutic index, and they might be relatively easily repurposed for immune-mediated disease, thus leading to innovative treatments at low price, with benefit for patients as well as for the healthcare systems
Deterioration of people with Parkinson's symptoms during COVID-19 lockdown: results of a web-based survey in Northwestern Italy
No full textObjectivesCOVID-19 lockdowns were introduced to control the pandemic, however, they resulted in a global disruption of daily life and of individual and global health. Reduced accessibility of health services, unavailability of food and drugs, and mental health challenges had a huge impact on older people and on people living with disabling conditions such as Parkinson's disease (PD). We assessed whether and to what extent the more disabled and vulnerable people with Parkinson's (PwP) were affected by lockdowns.MethodWe analysed responses collected through a web-based survey of PwP according to their self-sufficiency [self-sufficient (SS); nearly self-sufficient (nSS); non-self-sufficient, cared for by family (NSS/F); non-self-sufficient, needs professional care (NSS/PC)].ResultsFears due to COVID-19 and difficulties with food supply were highest in NSS/F PwP. Difficulties with the supply of Parkinson's medication or other drugs were apparently not an issue, while problems accessing primary care physicians and neurologists were similar across all patient groups. On the contrary, difficulties with daily and motor activities were higher in NSS/F and NSS/PC PwP. PwP symptoms worsened in all groups, with NSS/F and NSS/PC participants experiencing the worst deterioration. Notably, the deterioration of PwP symptoms was specifically related to changes in daily and motor activities, with participants who reported less engagement in daily and motor activities experiencing the worst deterioration.ConclusionFindings strongly support the need for decision-makers and healthcare providers to carefully re-evaluate the risk-benefit ratio of limiting healthcare accessibility for PwP, since evidence shows that lockdown measures primarily impact the groups who are most fragile and vulnerable
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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