1,720,955 research outputs found
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
Spilanthol-rich essential oil from Acmella oleracea and its nanoemulsion: anti-inflammatory strategy for the prevention of neurodegeneration
No full textNeurodegenerative diseases have grown as a major health and societal challenge nowadays. These diseases share common pathological features like accumulation of misfolded proteins, mitochondrial disfunction, excitotoxicity, oxidative stress and inflammation. In the last years, neuroinflammation, caused by over-acting microglia, has emerged as a key element of the pathogenesis of these diseases. Therefore, the modulation of pro- inflammatory molecules from microglia could be a promising strategy to counteract neurodegeneration. Acmella oleracea (L.) is a medicinal plant whose wide use as traditional remedy is linked to its pharmacological properties, such as anti-inflamma- tory, antioxidant, analgesic and hepatoprotective1. These effects have been mostly related to its main secondary metabolite the alkylamide spilanthol. In this study, we investigated the anti-in- flammatory activities of a spilanthol-rich essential oil from A. oleracea (AO) in BV-2 microglial cells. Cells were treated with AO, pure spilanthol(S) or a nanoemulsion (NE), (composed by AO, ethyl oleate, and polysorbate 80) for 24 h, then exposed to LPS. All the treatments significantly increased cell viability (MTT assay) in respect to cells only exposed to LPS. Interestingly, AO and NE also reduced ROS levels (DCFH-DA assay), while S had no effect on this parameter. To verify if this protec- tion could be ascribed to an anti-inflammatory mechanism, the expression of IL-1b and TNF-a, COX-2 and iNOS was evaluated by RT-PCR. Interestingly, all the treatments reduced the expression of these inflammatory mediators. These results suggest AO as a potential therapeutic agent in neurodegenerative diseases thanks to its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities. Of note, this work also evidences a promising application of NE as a new technological formulation to further increase the potential of this essential oil
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
Early life permethrin exposure leads to hypervitaminosis D, nitric oxide and catecholamines impairment
No full textThe aim of this study is to gain more knowledge on the impact of early life pesticide exposure on premature
aging.
The effect of a low dose of the insecticide permethrin administered to rats during early life (1/50 LD50,
from 6th to 21st day of life) was analyzed by measuring some metabolites in plasma and urine of 500-
day-old animals. Significant differences in early life treated rats compared to the control group were
found in the plasma levels of Ca++, Na+, 25-hydroxy-vitamin D, adrenaline, noradrenaline, nitric oxide,
cholesterol and urea while in urine only Na+ content was different.
These results add information on the impact of permethrin during the neonatal period, supporting the
evidence that early life environmental exposure to xenobiotics has long-term effects, inducing modifications
in adulthood that can be revealed by the analysis of some macroelements, metabolites and catecholamines
in plasma, when rats are 500 days old
Newly synthetized A2AAR antagonists as anti-inflammatory strategy in Parkinson's disease
No full textParkinson’s disease (PD) represents the second most common neurodegenerative disorder worldwide. So far, available treat- ments possess mere symptomatic action and severe long-term side effects, so the development of neuroprotective strategies is highly needed. It is now widely recognized that neuroinflammation is crucial in PD, especially in the disease progression. Therefore, pharmacological treatments able to modulate the pathological immune response may reveal effective in slowing disease progression. The microglial cells are the key component of the brain immune system and can be activated by adenosine through the interaction with A2AARs (A2A adenosine receptors). Indeed, the modulation of purinergic receptors has been associated with a slower degeneration of nigrostriatal dopaminergic cells in PD. Since previous findings demonstrating the ability of A2AAR antagonist 8-ethoxy-9-ethyladenine (ANR94) to protect nigrostriatal neurons from neuroinflammation in an animal model of PD (1), several ad hoc-designed A2AAR antagonists (ANR94 ana- logues) have been synthetized and tested in activated BV-2 microglial cells. To mimic neuroinflammation BV-2 cells were exposed to 100 ng/mL LPS or 0.5 mM MPP+ for 24 h. The potential anti-inflammatory activity of ANR94 analogues were evaluated by MTT assay and measuring the reactive oxygen spe- cies (ROS) levels by DCF-DA probe, while gene expression anal- yses of inflammatory cytokines such as TNFa, IL-1b and the pro-inflammatory enzymes iNOS and COX-2 were performed by RT-PCR. Interestingly, the newly synthetized compounds were more effective than the lead compound ANR94 in counteracting inflammatory damage suggesting their potential use as therapeu- tic agent to prevent/counteract PD. Of course, animal and clini- cal studies are needed to investigate their in vivo activity. This work was supported by MIUR-PRIN n. 20152HKF3Z and University of Camerino n. FPI000065. 1. Pinna A et al. (2005) Eur J Pharmacol 512, 157–164
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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