1,720,974 research outputs found
Microglia in the neurohypophysis associate with and endocytose terminal portions of neurosecretory neurons
No full textThe rat neurohypophysis contains a population of microglial cells, the majority of which occupy a pericapillary position in the resting gland. The microglia are immunocytochemically identifiable by the presence of macrophage-associated antigens and resemble microglia of the CNS. Morphometry at light and electron microscopic levels reveals that such cells constitute approximately 19% of the intrinsic cell population, excluding the endothelial cells. Two other populations of neurohypophysial glial cells, parenchymatous pituicytes and fibrous pituicytes, do not express macrophage-associated antigens. The microglia have long processes which surround and, in some cases, engulf apparently viable portions of the magnocellular neurosecretory nerve terminals. A sequence of stages of selective endocytosis and degradation of the engulfed nerve terminals can be visualized within pericapillary microglia. Some phagosomes and secondary lysosomes contain morphologically intact neurosecretory granules; others contain partially destroyed neurosecretory granules or amorphous material all of which are identifiable as originating from the magnocellular neurosecretory terminals by their immunoreactivity for oxytocinor vasopressin-neurophysin. This finding indicates a novel role for the microglial cells in remodelling terminal arborizations of neurosecretory neurons and in processing or degrading hormones and peptides they contain. Because of their close and selective associations with other cellular elements of the neurohypophysis, any substances produced by microglia also have the potential to influence hormone secretion, pituicyte proliferation and neurohypophysial vasculature.</p
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
Immunocytochemistry of amino-acids in the rodent pituitary using extremely specific, very high titre antisera
No full textThe compartmental interrelationships of the metabolically related amino‐acids glutamate, GABA and glutamine and the metabolically unrelated amino‐acids taurine and glycine in the rodent pituitary, were investigated by light microscopic immunocytochemistry using highly specific antisera. Glutamate‐like immunoreactivity was abundant in astrocytes in the posterior pituitary. Glutamine immunoreactivity was present only at low levels in the posterior pituitary, but was abundant in astrocytes within the intermediate lobe. Other glia‐like ceils in the anterior pituitary were also glutamine‐immunoreactive. GABA immunoreactivity was abundant in the intermediate lobe but absent from anterior and posterior lobes. The GABA immunoreactivity mainly took the form of small punctata, the majority of which were in intimate apposition to the glutamine‐immunoreactive glia. Strong taurine immunoreactivity was present in astrocytes in the posterior pituitary but only weak labelling was present in intermediate and anterior lobes of the pituitary. Specific glycine immunoreactivity was not detected in the pituitary. These results suggest that glutamate‐immunoreactive astrocytes in the posterior pituitary, unlike glia in loci such as the retina, do not convert much, if any, of their glutamate content into glutamine (or if they do, it is rapidly further metabolized to another compound), whereas those astrocytes in the intermediate lobe do contain glutamine. The spatial association of GABAergic fibres with glutamine‐positive astrocytes raises the possibility that astrocytes in the intermediate lobe receive a GABAergic innervation. Glutamate, glutamine and taurine (or their metabolites) may have roles as neuroactive substances regulating pituitary secretion
Taurine, amino acid transmitters, and related molecules in the retina of the Australian lungfish Neoceratodus forsteri: a light-microscopic immunocytochemical and electron-microscopic study
No full textThe morphology of the retina of the Australian lungfish Neoceratodus forsteri was investigated by means of light- and electron microscopy, whilst immunocytochemical studies were performed to determine the cellular distributions of the major amino acid neurotransmitters and other amino acids. The distributions of glycine and GABA were similar to those previously described for teleost, amphibian and mammalian retinae. Labelling was abundant in amacrine cells, whilst GABA was also present in one layer of horizontal cells and some bipolar cells. Taurine was present in both rods and cones, but, unlike the mammalian or avian retina, was absent from other cellular structures, including glial elements. Unexpectedly, the photoreceptor terminals lacked an apparent content of the excitatory amino acid transmitter glutamate. The glutamate that was present in the rods and cones occupied a crescentic arc corresponding to the location of glycogen-rich paraboloids. Asparagine was also present in rods, albeit in the modified mitochondria that formed the elipsoids of the rod inner segments. Arginine, the precursor for formation of nitric oxide, was present in glial cells, and in the paraboloids of both rods and cones
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
Neuropeptide accretions in the endoplasmic reticulum of oxytocinergic neurons in cats, monkeys and rabbits: A widespread phenomenon
No full textLight microscopic observations using Nomarski optics on the aldehyde-fixed hypothalamus of normal adult cats, monkeys and rabbits revealed the presence of cells in the supraoptic, paraventricular and periventricular nuclei which possessed yellow birefringent inclusions. Immunogold labelling showed that in each species the cells displayed oxytocin-like immunoreactivity, both in electron-dense inclusions within some (but not all) cisterns of rough endoplasmic reticulum and in secretory granules. The cells in cats and rabbits were in all respects indistinguishable from the homologous 'birefringent' cells previously described in rats, but in monkeys, cells frequently contained additional inclusions in cisterns of rough endoplasmic reticulum which did not display oxytocin or vasopressin-like immunoreactivity, even after trypsin, pepsin or chymotrypsin treatment of sections. Observations on cats and rabbits using fluorescence microscopy revealed that the birefringent cells possessed bright autofluorescence which facilitated the identification of more cells than were seen using Nomarski optics alone. Autofluorescence was abolished when sections were mounted in glycerol, or when exposed to light for protracted periods of time. Attempts to label for monoamines in these cells were not successful, suggesting that the fluorescence is not due to aldehyde-induced amine fluorescence. It is not clear why neuropeptides are retained in some rough endoplasmic reticulum cisterns. It is possible that these birefringent cells contain a peptide, or peptides, which are abnormal in some manner, or which may be other members of the oxytocin gene family. Alternatively, the processing of neuropeptides to permit their export to the Golgi apparatus may be deficient. Acetylcholinesterase (AChE) histochemistry revealed that, unlike other oxytocin neurons, cells with intracellular accretions lacked detectable acetyl cholinesterase. As AChE is a known peptidase, it may be involved in regulating peptide export from the rough endoplasmic reticulum
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