1,721,065 research outputs found
Synthesis of a benzoxazinthione derivative of tanaproget and pharmacological evaluation for PET imaging of PR expression
No full textAbstract Background The histological evaluation of estrogen receptor (ER) and progesterone receptor (PR) expression in breast cancer lesions from biopsy tissue can stratify patients to receive endocrine therapy. Furthermore, PR expression can predict response to selective estrogen receptor modulators (SERMs). Current immunohistochemical approaches to PR detection are limited by sampling error associated with biopsy and lack of standardised protocols; positron emission tomography (PET) using receptor targeted radiopharmaceuticals to provide quantitative, whole-body imaging may overcome these limitations. PR expression has been successfully imaged with PET in the clinical setting, however investigation into new radioligands with improved pharmacokinetics and metabolic stability is desirable. Results We report the synthesis of a focused library of non-steroidal PR ligands evaluated for use as PET radioligands. A lead candidate ([ 18 F]2) with low nanomolar activity was selected and radiolabelled with a radiochemical yield of 2.29 ± 2.31% (decay-corrected), radiochemical purity (RCP) > 95% and a molar activity of 2.5 ± 1.6 GBq/μmol. Cell uptake studies showed a significant and specific accumulation of [ 18 F]2 in T47D (PR++) breast cancer cell compared to MDA-MB-231 (PR-) control; however, in vivo evaluation was confounded by rapid defluorination of the radioligand. In vitro metabolite analysis of 2 in MLM confirmed defluorination and oxidative metabolism of the thiocarbamate to oxocarbamate moiety by mass spectrometry. Conclusions A route to access [ 18 F]2 was developed to allow in vitro and in vivo evaluation, albeit with low radiochemical yield and modest molar activity. [ 18 F]2 demonstrated selective uptake in PR++ T47D cells which could be blocked in a dose dependent manner with progesterone. However, [ 18 F]2 showed poor in vivo metabolic stability with rapid defluorination within the time frame of the imaging protocol
Effect of acute total sleep deprivation on plasma melatonin, cortisol and metabolite rhythms in females
Get PDFDisruption to sleep and circadian rhythms can impact on metabolism. The study aimed to investigate the effect of acute sleep deprivation on plasma melatonin, cortisol and metabolites, to increase understanding of the metabolic pathways involved in sleep/wake regulation processes. Twelve healthy young female subjects remained in controlled laboratory conditions for ~92 h with respect to posture, meals and environment light (18:00‐23:00 h and 07:00‐09:00 h <8 lux; 23:00‐07:00 h 0 lux (sleep opportunity) or <8 lux (continuous wakefulness); 09:00‐18:00 h ~ 90 lux). Regular blood samples were collected for 70 h for plasma melatonin and cortisol, and targeted liquid chromatography‐mass spectrometry metabolomics. Timepoints between 00:00 and 06:00 h for day 1 (baseline sleep), day 2 (sleep deprivation) and day 3 (recovery sleep) were analysed. Cosinor analysis and MetaCycle analysis were performed for detection of rhythmicity. Night time melatonin levels were significantly increased during sleep deprivation and returned to baseline levels during recovery sleep. No significant differences were observed in cortisol levels. Of 130 plasma metabolites quantified, 41 metabolites were significantly altered across the study nights, with the majority decreasing during sleep deprivation, most notably phosphatidylcholines. In cosinor analysis, 58 metabolites maintained their rhythmicity across the study days, with the majority showing a phase advance during acute sleep deprivation. This observation differs to that previously reported for males. Our study is the first of metabolic profiling in females during sleep deprivation and recovery sleep, and offers a novel view of human sleep/wake regulation and sex differences
Peritumoral Delivery of Docetaxel‐TIPS Microparticles for Prostate Cancer Adjuvant Therapy
Get PDFRecurrence of prostate cancer after radical prostatectomy is a consequence of incomplete tumor resection. Systemic chemotherapy after surgery is associated with significant toxicity. Improved delivery methods for toxic drugs capable of targeting positive resection margins can reduce tumor recurrence and avoid their known toxicity. This study evaluates the effectiveness and toxicity of docetaxel (DTX) release from highly porous biodegradable microparticles intended for delivery into the tissue cavity created during radical prostatectomy to target residual tumor cells. The microparticles, composed of poly(dl‐lactide‐co‐glycolide) (PLGA), are processed using thermally induced phase separation (TIPS) and loaded with DTX via antisolvent precipitation. Sustained drug release and effective toxicity in vitro are observed against PC3 human prostate cells. Peritumoral injection in a PC3 xenograft tumor model results in tumor growth inhibition equivalent to that achieved with intravenous delivery of DTX. Unlike intravenous delivery of DTX, implantation of DTX‐TIPS microparticles is not accompanied by toxicity or elevated systemic levels of DTX in organ tissues or plasma. DTX‐TIPS microparticles provide localized and sustained release of nontoxic therapeutic amounts of DTX. This may offer novel therapeutic strategies for improving management of patients with clinically localized high‐risk disease requiring radical prostatectomy and other solid cancers at high risk of positive resection margins
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
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