1,721,023 research outputs found
Circulating endothelial stem cells are not decreased in pulmonary emphysema or COPD
No full textPrevious studies have suggested a role for an increased apoptosis of the endothelial cells in the pulmonary capillaries of the alveolar septa in the pathogenesis of human pulmonary emphysema.1 In animal models, circulating endothelial stem cells, characterised by the concomitant expression of CD34+, CD133 and vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2 (VEGF-R2), may contribute to the repair of lung damage.2 However, it is unknown if a decrease in the blood of these stem cells may contribute to the pathogenesis of pulmonary emphysema in humans. The aim of our study was to investigate by flow cytometry the number of total (CD34+) and endothelial stem (triple positive for CD34+/CD133/VEGF-R2) cells in the peripheral venous blood of current and former smokers, of similar age, with or without pulmonary emphysema. Our study was approved by the local ethics committee of the University Hospital of Ferrara, and written informed consent was obtained from each participant in accordance with the principles outlined in the Declaration of Helsinki. All the recruited subjects were free from concomitant diseases or drugs able to interfere with the number of circulating stem cells. Venous blood samples from 37 subjects (mean age: 66.8±1.4, 25M/12F, mean 33.11±3.2 pack-years, 12 current and 25 ex-smokers) were obtained. All former smokers had stopped smoking for more than one year. Twenty-two subjects (59.5%) had chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), according to the criteria of the Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease guidelines3 (mean post-bronchodilator FEV1/FVC ratio=56.8%±2.7) whereas 39.5% (n=15) had normal lung function (FEV1/FVC ratio=77.1%±1.4). The presence and the severity of pulmonary emphysema was determined using high resolution computed tomography (HRCT) scans of the chest with density mask and the National Emphysema Treatment Trial Research Group score (0 to 4). 4 The mean HRCT score of our subjects was 1.7±0.4. Blood sampling and flow cytometry were performed as previously described.5 Briefly quantification of peripheral blood CD34+ cells was performed with double labelling, with FITC-anti-CD45 and phycoerythrin-anti-CD34 monoclonal antibodies (Becton Dickinson) on a FACSCalibur flow cytometer (Becton Dickinson) according to standardised procedures. Enumeration of endothelial stem cells was performed as CD34+ cells coexpressing CD133 and VEGF-2. It was performed on immunomagnetically purified peripheral blood CD34+ cells (Miltenyi Biotech) by triple labelling with peridinin chlorophyll protein-conjugated anti-CD34, phycoerythrin-conjugated anti-CD133 (Miltenyi Biotech), and unconjugated anti-VEGFR-2 (Santa Cruz Biotechnology), followed by FITC-conjugated swine anti-rabbit (Dako) as secondary reagent. We found a significant correlation between the absolute number of circulating CD34+ cells and the absolute number of circulating endothelial stem cells. Also there was a significant correlation between the percentage of circulating endothelial stem cells and the number of pack-years smoked. No significant correlation was found between total and endothelial stem cells number and HRCT score of pulmonary emphysema lung function data or smoking status (current vs ex smokers). These data indicate that the number of circulating endothelial stem cells is not related to the presence and/or severity of the pulmonary emphysema or the presence or absence of COPD
Optimal Management of Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia and Economic Constraints
No full textIn this article, we carry out an overview on the management options available for chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) patients and discuss possible treatment decisions, taking into account the issue of sustainability and availability. Targeted agents have shown to be superior compared with chemoimmunotherapy (CIT) in terms of progression-free survival in high-risk CLL. In the majority of studies, however, continuous treatment was compared with fixed-duration CIT and no overall survival or progression-free survival-2 (time from randomization to second progression or death) advantage could be documented. Meanwhile, a substantial financial burden on both patients and payers has raised issues about affordability and adherence to treatment. Therefore, value-based pricing of new drugs has been used to set up price negotiation policies in several countries, and fixed-duration therapy has shown to be less costly than continuous treatment. Thus, CIT continues to have a role in the treatment of CLL patients with a favorable genetic profile, that is, with a mutated IGHV gene profile and a wild-type TP53. Targeted treatment represents the preferred choice in patients with an unmutated IGHV gene configuration and/or a TP53 disruption, provided that adherence to treatment is guaranteed and bearing in mind that should costly drugs not be available for frontline treatment, new agents can be very effective as first salvage treatment
Flow cytometry evaluation of urokinase-type plasminogen activator receptor (UPA-R) in acute myeloid leukemia cells.
No full textThe aim of this study was to investigate by flow cytometry the expression of the UPA-R (Urokinase type plasminogen activator receptor-CD87) on the blastic population of AML and ALL patients in order to evaluate whether the presence of this molecule could be associated with peculiar clinical and biologic features of leukemic cells. Five different monoclonal antibodies (MoAbs) (clones: 3B10#; VIM5*; 109#; 68#; 100#) were used in order to detect the distinct forms of this cellular receptor. Cell reactivity varied significantly from case to case, also depending on the MoAb used for the flow cytometry analysis. In brief, 3B10# and VIM5* MoAbs were found to be positive in more than 90% of monocytes and neutrophils from healthy subjects, while the number of positive cells was decreased (60%) using the 109# MoAb. However, either 68# and 100# MoAbs recognised only a low number of blood monocytes and neutrophils (8-20%), while lymphocytes were unreactive with all the five UPA-R MoAbs. ALL cells were found to be CD87 negative in all cases. Blasts from AML showed a heterogeneous pattern of expression for the UPA-R MoAbs, being the reactivity strictly dependent on the MoAb used, and, to a higher extent, on the degree and type of maturation of the blastic cells. The number of blasts recognising 3B10# and VIM5* MoAbs was significantly higher than that reacting with the remaining MoAbs irrespective of the FAB subtype. Since proteolytic enzymes, like UPA, play a key role in the dissolution of the extracellular matrix, and in facilitating the cell egress from the bone marrow, it is conceivable that the expression of the UPA-R could contribute to the invasive properties and, possibly, metastatic potential of leukemic cells
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
koamabayili/VECTRON-author-checklist: VECTRON author checklist
No full textWe 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
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