1,721,001 research outputs found
Who has to undergo cancer genetic testing? A perspective
Full text linkGenetic testing is a medical tool employed to screen changes in genes linked to cancer and other genetic diseases. Genetic tests are available for breast, ovarian, colon, thyroid, and some other cancers and they represent the main tool for early identification of the “risk” subjects. The choice to undergo genetic testing by a healthy or affected cancer patient with family history of the cancer has to be the fruit of a careful and prudent assessment of the advantages and disadvantages discussed during oncogenetic counselling. The latter, in turn, in the case of a patient’s positive and informed choice, must constantly affiliate the genetic testing, in order to preserve the prediction and information role of the test as much as possible
Exploring a novel approach to COPD treatment: benralizumab effect in an ex vivo 3-D model
No full textBackground
Recent evidence supports the hypothesis that eosinophilic inflammation is a relevant component in the pathogenesis of COPD.
Objective
The current study aimed to assess the effects of Benralizumab, on ex vivo “COPD smoke-induced” bronchial mucosa equivalents.
Methods
Three-dimensional (3D) composite ex-vivo bronchial mucosa are used to study the mechanisms of repair, regeneration and differentiation within the epithelial-mesenchymal trophic unit (EMTU). After a one month incubation in growth medium and basal membrane extracts, epithelial cells differentiate into ciliated and mucous-producing cells, and mesenchymal cells into fibroblasts. This culture model is induced to express an inflammatory phenotype through exposure to cigarette smoke extracts. Eosinophils (Eos) are placed underneath the connective layers, whereas monocytes are activated and monocyte conditioned medium (MCM) is collected. The inflammatory cells established a cross-talk with resident cells by cytokine productions. The protocol included four experimental conditions: untreated control (K), Eos only (EO), Eos+MCM (EOMO), Eos+MCM+Benralizumab (EMB).
Results
Cytokine concentrations at basal and apical side were analysed. At basal side, IL (interleukin)-5 significantly increased after the addition of eosinophils and monocytes, and decreased after the introduction of Benralizumab to the culture (after 14 days of treatment, K group: 14.6±3.2pg/mL; EO group: 13.9±4.2 pg/mL; EOMO group: 35.7±5.9pg/mL; EMB group: 14.04±4 pg/mL, p<0.005). The reduction persisted for the subsequent 14 days. IL-6 and IL-15 concentration was high in EOMO groups while EMB groups had a reduction in both interleukins concentration.
Conclusion
The findings described lead to speculate on a potential action of benralizumab on alternative inflammatory targets
Tissue and circulating miRNAs as biomarkers in bicuspid aortic valve disease.
No full textRecent data suggested that bicuspid aortic valve (BAV) with left-right (L-R), right-non coronary (R-NC) and left-non coronary (L-NC) cusp fusion represents distinct pathological entities1. The rate of aortic enlargement varies according to the pattern of cusps fusion, with faster rates of aortic sinus and ascending aortic dilatation associated with the L-R compared to R-NC and L-NC morphology. In our study, we sought to investigate the histological fea-tures of aneurysms associated to different BAV phenotypes and we looked for specific mi-croRNAs (miRNA) as biomarkers of medial degeneration severity in order to optimize surgi-cal indication and prevent catastrophic complications such as rupture and dissection.
Aortic specimens were obtained from BAV patients treated surgically for the repair of tho-racic aortic aneurysm (TAA). Histopathological and immunohistochemical analyses were performed to assess the ascending aorta wall degeneration. Plasma was obtained from blood and in a second stage, the expression patterns of the miRNA candidates (miR-122, miR-130, miR-718, miR-486) were validated by RT-qPCR.
The morphological analyses showed severe medial degeneration in the aorta of BAV pa-tients with R-L phenotype, moderate medial degeneration in patients with R-NC phenotype and faint medial degeneration in patients with L-NC. The data obtained by RT-qPCR re-vealed that the expression of miR-122, miR-130, miR-718 and miR-486 are influenced by the morphology of the BAV and the severity of aortic wall degeneration. In particular, the down-regulation of miR-122, miR-130, miR-718 and the up-regulation of miR-486 were more sig-nificant in BAV patients with R-L phenotype and severe medial degeneration.
Morphologic and genetic features of TAA vary according to the pattern of BAV cusp fu-sion with severe medial cystic degeneration of the aortic wall associated with the L-R com-pared to R-NC and L-NC morphologies. Here, we proposed that miR-122, miR-130, miR-718, miR-486 can be considered new markers associated with severe medial degeneration in BAV patients with aortic dilatation. A significant dysregulation of these biomarkers might be associated with high risk of dissection and rupture
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
Robotic-Assisted Neck Dissection: Our Experience
Full text linkIntroduction Robotic neck dissection surgery allows less invasiveness to significantly improve the aesthetic impact even though it does not compromise the principles of radical cancer procedure. Objective The aim of our work is to describe our personal experience with robotic neck dissection surgery. Methods A retrospective study was conducted by analyzing 10 patients subjected to a robotic neck dissection surgery. In the period from August 2012 to December 2018, these patients have been treated exclusively with robotic lateral-cervical dissection. Five of them were subjected to robotic-assisted transaxillary neck dissection (RATAND) and the other 5 treated with robotic-assisted retroauricular neck dissection (RARAND), then the surgical results have been compared with 5 similar dissections performed by open neck dissection (OND). Results The average surgical time of RATAND was estimated in 166minutes, the average surgical time of RARAND was estimated in 153minutes and the average surgical time of OND was estimated in 48minutes. Both robotic techniques are valid from the oncological and aesthetic point of view, but in terms of surgical time, they are much longer than the open technique. Conclusions In terms of the post-operative decree, in our opinion, the retroauricular technique is more rapid for the purposes of recovery
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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