1,720,977 research outputs found
Assessing bioflavonoids as regulators of NF-κB activity and inflammatory gene expression in mammalian cells
No full textInflammation is a multifactorial response that is of fundamental importance
in the maintenance of cellular homeostasis when the organism is challenged by
noxious agents (e.g., bacteria, viruses, parasites) or by tissue mechanical injury.
Inflammatory processes are associated with a dramatic rise in the number of polymorphonuclear
leukocytes and monocytes in the affected tissue and the subsequent
release of various molecules such as prostaglandins and cytokines. Under
ideal conditions, inflammation results in the complete recovery of the integrity
of the affected tissue. However, if the response of the triggering stimulus is not
subjected to a tight regulation, a condition known as chronic inflammation can
be established. Indeed, a chronic inflammatory-like environment characterizes the
pathogenesis of various diseases, such as atheriosclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis,and Crohn's disease, and is thought to be among the causative factor of more than
30% of human cancer.1
The transcription factor NF-KB, in cooperation with others, has been suggested
to coordinate the expression of genes encoding proteins that are involved
in inflammatory processes. In particular, NF-KB contributes to the production of
interleukin (IL)-I, IL-6, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-et, lymphotoxin, GM-CSF,
and interferon (IFN)-~. Furthermore, some of these cytokines, e.g., IL-1 and TNFa,
activate NF-KB themselves, thus initiating an autoregulatory feedback loop. 2
NF-KB activation by various stimuli occurs on its dissociation from the inhibitory
protein I-KB and its subsequent nuclear translocation. Several lines of evidence,
including the inhibition by various antioxidants, suggest that NF-KB activity is
subject to redox regulation. 3 Because of the pivotal role in inflammatory response
a significant effort has focused on developing therapeutic agents that regulate NFKB
activity
Effect of benzoyl peroxide on antioxidant status, NF-kappaB activity and interleukin-1alpha gene expression in human keratinocytes.
No full textBenzoyl peroxide (BP) is used as a topical treatment for acne. Besides its anti-bacterial activity, the exact molecular mechanisms underlying its mode of action are not fully understood. In the current study, the effects of BP on cell viability, antioxidant status and, IL-1 and IL-8 gene expression were investigated in HaCaT keratinocytes. Keratinocytes incubated for 24 h with BP exhibited a dose-dependent cytotoxicity at concentrations above 250 microM. Furthermore, in the presence of 300 microM BP about 50% of the cellular vitamin E was depleted within the first 30 min. The intracellular ratio of oxidized to reduced glutathione (GSSG/GSH) was increased significantly starting 6 h after BP treatments indicating that BP reacts rapidly with targets in the cell membrane and more slowly with those in the cytosol. NF-kappaB transactivation was not significantly affected by BP. However, BP treatment of HaCaT keratinocytes resulted in a dose-dependent increase in IL-1alpha gene expression whereas no changes in IL-8 mRNA levels were observed. These results demonstrate that BP induces an inflammatory reaction mediated by oxidative stress by a pathway independent of the redox-sensitive transcription factor NF-kappaB
Libanio tra attualità e tradizione. L’orazione IX
No full textLibanius’ speech IX reveals the persistence in Libanius of the interest in the religious dimension, free from the polemical tones adopted elsewhere. A global cosmic perspective pervades the speech. The Kalendae Ianuarie festival, marking the beginning of the new year, was a parenthesis of joy and carefreeness for all the inhabitants of the empire, regardless of their religious beliefs. The relevance of this anniversary as a vehicle of imperial ideology for the unity of the empire could explain Theodosius’ rescript of 389 to the praefectus Urbis Romae Albinus on the legal calendar of Rome, which, including not only Easter, but also the Kalendae, would have surprised Libanius himself first. This Libanius' late speech, thus, can also be read as the rhetorical reaction to the Christian debate against the Kalendae, through the enkomion of the peculiar characters of the anniversary, in which everyone, pagans and Christians, ‘mingled’, sharing drunkenness and transgression, in a kind of festive κοινή
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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