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    Central GPR109A Mediates Neuronal Oxidative Stress and Pressor Response in Conscious Rats

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    The primary goal of this study was to characterize the role of GPR109A in the rostral ventrolateral medulla (RVLM) in blood pressure (BP) regulation and to elucidate the mechanisms involved in the hypertensive response elicited by central GPR109A activation. The central hypothesis of this study was "central GPR109A activation causes neuronal oxidative stress and pressor response via local glutamate/prostaglandins release". The data provide the first evidence for GPR109A expression in the RVLM, the major cardiovascular regulatory nucleus of the brainstem, and in pheochromocytoma cell line (PC12 cells), used as surrogates of the RVLM neurons. GPR109A co-localization was evident in tyrosine hydroxylase (TH)-expressing neurons and in PC12 cells. The anti-hyperlipidemic drug, nicotinic acid (NA) a known GPR109A agonist that activate the receptor and Ca2+-dependently release prostaglandins (PGs), was used in the study. Our findings demonstrated that intra-RVLM activation of GPR109A receptors with NA produced a robust dose-dependent glutamate-like elevation in sympathetic tone and BP in normotensive conscious male Sprague Dawley (SD) rats. The pressor response was abolished by prior blockade of the NMDA glutamate receptor (NMDAR) using 2-amino-5-phosphonopentanoic acid (AP5) or the prostanoid EP3 receptor (EP3R) using N-[(5-Bromo-2-methoxyphenyl) sulfonyl]-3-[2-(2-naphthalenylmethyl)phenyl]-2-propenamide (L-798106). Further, the NA pressor response was exacerbated by a prior application of the glutamate uptake inhibitor, L-trans-Pyrrolidine-2,4-dicarboxylic acid (PDC). Ex vivo studies revealed that intra-RVLM GPR109A activation (NA; 20[mu]g) increased local prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) levels, enhanced RVLM ERK1/2 and nNOS phosphorylation and increased c-Fos immunoreactivity. Further, NA induced oxidative stress in the RVLM of NA-treated rats (increased ROS levels and NADPH oxidase activity and decreased catalase activity). Prior EP3R blockade (L-798106) abrogated the biochemical and the pressor response caused by intra-RVLM NA. NMDAR (AP5) or EP3R blockade similarly abolished NA-mediated pressor response, indicating the involvement of both glutamate and PGE2 in this effect. Selective inhibition of RVLM nNOS (N[omega]-propyl-L-arginine; NPLA) abolished the intra-RVLM NA-evoked pressor response. Further, NPLA abrogated the GPR109A-mediated increases in RVLM nNOS phosphorylation and c-Fos and ROS levels. Our in vitro (PC12) studies supported and extended the in-vivo findings as NA increased Ca2+, PGE2, L-glutamate and NO levels as well as ROS levels in cultured PC12 cells. The increase in L-glutamate level is likely mediated by PGE2/EP3R because L-798106 attenuated NA or PGE2-evoked L-glutamate release. The above-mentioned effects are mediated via GPR109A because the use of the inactive isomer, IsoNA failed to produce any hemodynamic or biochemical changes. Further, NA failed to increase Ca2+ or L-glutamate levels in PC12 cells following siRNA-evoked GPR109A knockdown. Collectively, these studies provide insight into identifying the role of central GPR109A activation in cardiovascular regulation in conscious animals and the potential mechanisms involved in this effect

    Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis

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    The 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

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    “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

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    We 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

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    We 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

    Author Index

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    koamabayili/VECTRON-author-checklist: VECTRON author checklist

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    We have done our best to complete the author checklist relating to the use of animals in the hut study. Note that the objective for the hut study was to evaluate the IRS treatment applications for residual efficacy against Anopheles mosquitoes, including the local An. coluzzii mosquito population. Cows were only used to attract mosquitoes into the huts and no tests were carried out directly on the cows. The author checklist is intended for use with studies where experiments are carried out on animals, which is why we have had such difficulty in completing this for the hut study, as many of the questions do not relate to how the cows were used

    Author Under Sail The Imagination of Jack London, 1893-1902

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    In Author Under Sail, Jay Williams offers the first complete literary biography of Jack London as a professional writer engaged in the labor of writing. It examines the authorial imagination in London's work, the use of imagination in both his fiction and nonfiction, and the ways he defined imagination in the creative process in his business dealings with his publishers, editors, and agents. In this first volume of a two-volume biography, Williams traverses the years 1893 to 1902, from London's "Story of a Typhoon" to The People of the Abyss. The Jack London who emerges in the pages of Author Under Sail is a writer whose partnership with publishers, most notably his productive alliance with George Brett of Macmillan, was one of the most formative in American literary history. London pioneered many author models during the heyday of realism and naturalism, blurring the boundaries of these popular genres by focusing on absorption and theatricality and the representation of the seen and unseen. London created an impassioned, sincere, and extremely personal realism unlike that of other American writers of the time. Author Under Sail is a literary tour de force that reveals the full range of London as writer, creative citizen, and entrepreneur at the same time it sheds light on the maverick side of machine-age literature.Intro -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Dedication -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- 1. Spirit Truth -- 2. From Absorption to Theatricality and Back Again -- 3. "I Will Build a New Present" -- 4. Sons as Authors -- 5. Fathers as Publishers -- 6. The Daughter as Author -- 7. Lovers as Authors -- 8. At Sea with the Family -- 9. Yellow News, Yellow Stories -- 10. The Return Home -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index -- About Jay WilliamsIn Author Under Sail, Jay Williams offers the first complete literary biography of Jack London as a professional writer engaged in the labor of writing. It examines the authorial imagination in London's work, the use of imagination in both his fiction and nonfiction, and the ways he defined imagination in the creative process in his business dealings with his publishers, editors, and agents. In this first volume of a two-volume biography, Williams traverses the years 1893 to 1902, from London's "Story of a Typhoon" to The People of the Abyss. The Jack London who emerges in the pages of Author Under Sail is a writer whose partnership with publishers, most notably his productive alliance with George Brett of Macmillan, was one of the most formative in American literary history. London pioneered many author models during the heyday of realism and naturalism, blurring the boundaries of these popular genres by focusing on absorption and theatricality and the representation of the seen and unseen. London created an impassioned, sincere, and extremely personal realism unlike that of other American writers of the time. Author Under Sail is a literary tour de force that reveals the full range of London as writer, creative citizen, and entrepreneur at the same time it sheds light on the maverick side of machine-age literature.Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, YYYY. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries
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