1,720,956 research outputs found
Premenopausal advantages in postprandial lipid metabolism are lost in women with type 2 diabetes
No full textObjective: Women with type 2 diabetes appear to lose the protection against cardiovascular disease afforded by estrogens. We examined the effects of menopausal status on postprandial clearance of dietary fat in healthy and diabetic women.Research Design and Methods: Fasting subjects (premenopausal and postmenopausal control subjects, premenopausal and postmenopausal diabetic women, all n = 8) were given a meal containing the stable isotope 1,1,1-13C-tripalmitin, with blood and breath sampled for 6 and 24 h, respectively, in the postprandial period. Lower levels of 13C-palmitic acid (13C-PA) in the triglyceride fraction implies more efficient chylomicron clearance, lower levels of 13C-PA in the nonesterified fatty acid (NEFA) fraction implies improved dietary NEFA entrapment, and higher levels of 13CO2 in the breath denote more efficient of oxidation of dietary-derived lipid.Results: In diabetic women, there were no differences between the pre- and postmenopausal groups for any of these parameters. In contrast, premenopausal control subjects, compared with postmenopausal control subjects, had lower 13C-PA in the triglyceride fraction area under the curve (AUC) (premenopausal median [range] 25.2 [12.1–49.4 mmol/l] per 6 h, postmenopausal 48.5 [15.5–77.2 mmol/l] per 6 h; P < 0.01) and higher 13CO2 levels in the breath AUC (premenopausal 22.5 [18.0–31.5%] of administered dose, postmenopausal 17.2 [11.2–31.5%] of administered dose; P < 0.01) with no difference between groups in levels of 13C-PA in the NEFA fraction AUC.Conclusions: The premenopausal advantage in clearance of dietary lipid is not seen in premenopausal diabetic women. This is likely to promote an atherogenic lipoprotein profile and may contribute to the loss of cardiovascular disease protection seen in diabetic women
Percentage of body fat and plasma glucose predict plasma sialic acid concentration in type 2 diabetes mellitus
No full textCirculating sialic acid is an independent risk factor for cardiovascular disease and is higher in people with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Sialic acid is associated with body mass index, but it is uncertain whether body fat contributes to the higher levels of sialic acid in type 2 diabetes mellitus. Therefore, we have investigated whether the higher levels of sialic acid observed in type 2 diabetes mellitus persist when controlling for fatness. Fasting plasma samples were collected from 24 individuals with type 2 diabetes mellitus and 24 controls. Percentage of body fat was measured by bioelectrical impedance. Plasma sialic acid was quantified by an enzymatic method. Plasma sialic acid was higher in the group with type 2 diabetes mellitus than controls (602 +/- 14 vs 545 +/- 14 mg/L, P = .007). Percentage of body fat was associated with plasma sialic acid concentration in both the control group (r = 0.481, P = .020) and the group with type 2 diabetes mellitus (r = 0.527, P = .007). Fasting glucose was also associated with plasma sialic acid in the group with type 2 diabetes mellitus (r = 0.700, P < .001). Adjustment for percentage of body fat accounted for the higher levels of sialic acid in type 2 diabetes mellitus. Using linear regression, 54.3% of the variation of plasma sialic acid was explained by percentage of body fat and glucose concentrations in the whole group. Seventy-four percent of sialic acid variation was explained by the same model in type 2 diabetes mellitus. In conclusion, this is the first study to show that percentage of body fat predicts plasma sialic acid concentration and contributes toward higher levels of sialic acid in type 2 diabetes mellitu
Cushing's syndrome in women with polycystic ovaries and hyperandrogenism
No full textBACKGROUND: A 41-year-old woman presented to an endocrinology-gynecology clinic having been diagnosed 7 years earlier with polycystic ovarian syndrome on account of hirsutism, subfertility, greasy skin, acne and multiple ovarian cysts. Ovulation induction had led to a successful pregnancy. Subfertility recurred, however, and persisted alongside a new diagnosis of hypertension and progressive weight gain. Upon examination, the patient was hypertensive with facial plethora, rounded facies and violaceous abdominal striae. INVESTIGATIONS: Low-dose dexamethasone test, bedtime salivary and 24-h urinary free cortisol estimations, CT scan of the abdomen, and serum hormone and gonadotropin analyses. DIAGNOSIS: Cushing's syndrome due to a right adrenocortical adenoma. MANAGEMENT: The patient underwent laparoscopic right adrenalectomy, which led to resolution of all symptoms, signs and biochemical abnormalitie
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
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