1,720,972 research outputs found
Backtranslation of EEG biomarkers of Alzheimer's disease from patients to mouse model
Full text linkThe present Ph.D. thesis has been mainly developed on the data of the project with the short name PharmaCog (2010-2015), granted by the European Framework Programme 7 with about 28 millions of Euro (i.e. Innovative Medicine Initiative, IMI, grant agreement n°115009; www.pharmacog.org). This project involved 15 academic institutions, 12 global pharmaceutical companies, and 5 small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs).
The PharmaCog project aimed at improving the pathway of drug discovery in Alzheimer’s disease (AD), based on a major interest of pharma companies, namely the validation of electrophysiological, neuroimaging, and blood biomarkers possibly sensitive to the effect of disease-modifying drugs reducing Ab42 in the brain in AD patients at the prodromal stage of amnesic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI). The core concept of the PharmaCog project was that the pathway of drug discovery in AD may be enhanced by (1) the validation of biomarkers derived from blood, EEG, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and positron emission tomography (PET) in patients with aMCI due to AD diagnosed by in-vivo measurement of Ab42 and phospho-tau in the brain and (2) the evaluation of the translational value of those human biomarkers in wild type (WT) mice and animal models of AD including transgenic mice with the mutation of PS1 and/or APP (i.e. PDAPP and TASTPM strains). Those genetic factors induce an abnormal accumulation of Ab42 in the brain and related cognitive deficits. The expected results may be (1) the identification of a matrix of biomarkers sensitive to the prodromal AD (aMCI cognitive status) and its progression in patients and (2) the selection of similar biomarkers related to AD neuropathology and cognitive deficits in PDAPP and TASTPM strains. These biomarkers were expected to be very useful in clinical trials testing the efficacy and neurobiological impact of new disease-modifying drugs against prodromal AD.
For the development of this Ph.D. thesis, the access to the experiments and the data of the PharmaCog project was allowed by Prof. Claudio Babiloni, leader of an Italian Unit (University of Foggia in 2010-2012 and Sapienza University of Rome in 2013-2015) of the PharmaCog Consortium and coordinator of study activities relative to biomarkers derived from electroencephalographic (EEG) signals recorded from human subjects and animals in that project. Specifically, Prof. Claudio Babiloni was in charge for the centralized qualification and analysis of EEG data recorded from aMCI patients (Work Package 5, WP5) and transgenic mouse models of AD such as PDAPP and TASTPM strains (WP6). The data of the present Ph.D. thesis mostly derived from the WP5 and WP6.
This document illustrating the Ph.D. thesis is structured in three main Sections:
▪ An Introductive part illustrating concisely the AD neuropathology, the mouse models of AD used in this thesis, and basic concepts of EEG techniques useful to understand the present study results;
▪ An Experimental part describing the result of the four research studies led in the framework of this Ph.D. project. Two of these studies were published in international journals registered in ISI/PubMed with impact factor, while the other two are being currently under minor revisions in those journals;
▪ A Conclusion section
Early diagnosis and treatment in a child with foodborne botulism
No full textIntroduction Foodborne botulism is a neuroparalytic disease caused by ingestion of food contaminated with botulinum toxins. Despite rare the mortality rate is high if untreated. Diagnosis of botulism is still a challenge for clinician, due to the variability of clinical manifestations and disease course. We report on a child with type B botulin intoxication who was early diagnosed and treated underlining that clinical suspicion is crucial to start prompt treatment. Case presentation An 11-year-old boy presented with bilateral ptosis and mydriasis, dry mouth, difficulty in swallowing, dysphonia, urine retention and constipation. Clear sensorium and no fever were observed. Immediately the suspicion of botulism was risen and botulinum antitoxin was administered. 3 days later serum and rectal samples tested positive for Clostridium botulinum. The patient completely recovered when discharged from hospital. Discussion Foodborne botulism is still possible in developed countries. The confirmation test of botulism requires some days. To avoid long delays between intoxication and diagnosis prompt clinical suspicion is thus crucial. The outcome depends on rapid implementation of appropriate management with intensive respiratory care and antitoxin administration
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
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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