118,143 research outputs found
Interleukin-6: a marker of thyroid-destructive processes?
No full textIncreased serum interleukin-6 (IL-6) concentrations have recently been reported in patients with subacute thyroiditis and in some patients with amiodarone-induced thyrotoxicosis, possibly because of cytokine release from damaged thyroid cells. In this study, serum IL-6 levels were determined by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay method in 18 patients given percutaneous intranodular ethanol injection (PIEI) for autonomously functioning thyroid nodule, 12 patients treated with radioactive iodine (RAI) for Graves' disease or toxic adenoma, and 23 patients submitted to fine needle aspiration (FNA) for nonfunctioning thyroid nodules. Baseline serum IL-6 levels did not differ in the 3 groups. PIEI was followed by a dramatic increase in median IL-6 values from 42 fmol/L (range, < 25 to 84) to 381 fmol/L (range, 61-9870; P < 0.0001); the peak value was attained as little as 10 min after injection. RAI was also followed by a significant (P < 0.0001) increase in IL-6 from 52 fmol/L (range, < 25 to 84) to 189 fmol/L (range, 119-1417 fmol/L); the increase after RAI was lower than that after PIEI (P < 0.05), and the peak value was attained later (after 24 h). FNA was also followed by a slight, but significant, increase in the serum IL-6 concentration from 21 fmol/L (range, < 25 to 103) to 109 fmol/L (range, < 25 to 360; P < 0.0001 vs. baseline). The increase in IL-6 was correlated with the size of nodule or goiter (P < 0.0001), but not with the amount of injected ethanol or the dose of radioiodine delivered to the thyroid. Serum thyroglobulin also increased after PIEI, RAI, or FNA, but no significant correlation could be demonstrated with the increase in IL-6. The results of this study support the concept that in the absence of nonthyroidal illnesses, which are often associated with increased serum concentrations of the cytokine, IL-6 can be regarded as a useful marker of thyroid-destructive processes
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
No full textThe 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
Historia del emperador Carlos V, rey de España
No full textConvenio RAGO pé de imp. dos t. V-IX: La Ilustración, Est. Tipográfico-Literario-Universa
Influences of dissolved oxygen concentration on biocathodic microbial communities in microbial fuel cells
No full textDissolved oxygen (DO) at cathodic interface is a critical factor influencing microbial fuel cells (MFC) performance. In this work, three MFCs were operated with cathode under different DO conditions: i) air-breathing (A-MFC); ii) water-submerged (W-MFC) and iii) assisted by photosynthetic microorganisms (P-MFC). A plateau of maximum current was reached at 1.06 +/- 0.03 mA, 1.48 +/- 0.06 mA and 1.66 +/- 0.04 mA, increasing respectively for W-MFC, P-MFC and A-MFC. Electrochemical and microbiological tools (Illumina sequencing, confocal microscopy and biofilm cryosectioning) were used to explore anodic and cathodic biofilm in each MFC type. In all cases, biocathodes improved oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) as compared to abiotic condition and A-MFC was the best performing system. Photosynthetic cultures in the cathodic chamber supplied high DO level, up to 16 mg(O2) L-1, which sustained aerobic microbial community in P-MFC biocathode. Halomonas, Pseudomonas and other microaerophilic genera reached > 50% of the total OTUs. The presence of sulfur reducing bacteria (Desulfuromonas) and purple non-sulfur bacteria in A-MFC biocathode suggested that the recirculation of sulfur compounds could shuttle electrons to sustain the reduction of oxygen as final electron acceptor. The low DO concentration limited the cathode in W-MFC A model of two different possible microbial mechanisms is proposed which can drive predominantly cathodic ORR
Square Dancing with the Stars to Enhance Dynamic Hirschman Linkages?
No full textIn this Presidential Address, the author takes the reader on a reconnaissance of his life and time as a regional scientist. He points out scenery he found scintillating along the way, hoping that some may pick up the banner and chew on a few of the ideas for a while. He suggests a revisit to Albert O. Hirschman’s notion of key sectors and more empirical analysis related to Marcus Berliant’s and Masahisa Fujita’s notion of knowledge creation and transfer.Presidential Address, San Antonio, Texas, March 29, 2014 (53rd Meetings of the Southern Regional Science Association
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
No full textWe 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
Thyroid ultrasonography as a tool for detecting thyroid autoimmune disease and predicting thyroid disfunction in apparently healthy subjects
No full textIn order to establish its usefulness for the diagnosis and follow-up of thyroid autoimmune diseases, thyroid ultrasonography together with free T4 (FT4), free T3 (FT3), TSH, antibodies (Tg Ab) and thyroperoxidase antibodies (TPO Ab) were performed and re-evaluated during a 3-yr follow-up in 482 apparently healthy subjects, living in a borderline iodine-sufficient urban area. Thyroid dysfunction was found in 7 out of 12 (58.3%) subjects with circulating thyroid autoantibodies, who also had thyroid hypoechogenicity (2 had overt and 3 subclinical hypothyroidism at booking; 2 developed subclinical hypothyroidism during the follow-up), and in none of the 12 subjects with normal thyroid echostructure (chi2=7.26, p=0.007). Thyroid dysfunction was found in 4 out of 29 (13.7%) subjects with negative Tg and/or TPO Ab who also had thyroid hypoechogenicity (1 had Graves' disease at booking, 1 developed Graves' disease and 2 subclinical hypothyroidism during the follow-up), and in none of the 429 with normal thyroid echostructure (chi2=82.03, p<0.0001). Although positive TPO and/or Tg Ab were more frequent (24/482, 5%) in subjects with thyroid dysfunction (7/11) than in those who remained euthyroid during the study (17/471, chi2=69.66, p<0.0001), thyroid hypoechogenicity had a higher sensitivity than the positivity of thyroid autoantibody tests (100 vs 63.3%) for diagnosing or predicting thyroid dysfunction. In conclusion: 1) thyroid ultrasonography is a useful tool to detect thyroid autoimmune disease in apparently healthy subjects; 2) present and future thyroid dysfunction is more readily predicted by a hypoechogenic pattern at thyroid ultrasound than by the occurrence of serum thyroid autoantibodies
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