1,720,986 research outputs found
Synergistic healing: harnessing snail mucus enriched with carob extract for anti‐inflammatory and antioxidant therapy in ulcerative colitis
No full textBackground: Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), including ulcerative colitis, are characterized by chronic inflammation and oxidative stress, necessitating novel therapeutic approaches. This study explores the therapeutic potential of snail mucus derived from snails fed different concentrations of carob (SSCS) and compares its efficacy to aqueous carob extracts (AECS). Both SSCS and AECS are rich in bioactive compounds with potential anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and tissue-regenerative effects. Results: Snail mucus was found to be rich in collagen and allantoin, which are crucial for tissue repair and cell regeneration, whereas carob extracts contained high levels of phenolics, tannins and flavonoids, contributing to their antioxidant properties. In a rat model of acetic acid-induced ulcerative colitis, pretreatment with SSCS, AECS or sulfasalazine significantly alleviated colonic damage. The SSCS30% group exhibited the strongest protective effects, comparable to sulfasalazine, in reducing mucosal injury, inflammation and immune activation. Biochemical analyses demonstrated that SSCS30% effectively decreased systemic inflammation markers (CRP), pancreatic stress indicators (amylase) and liver enzyme levels (AST, ALT, ALP), while enhancing antioxidant defenses and preserving colonic sulfhydryl content. Conclusion: These findings underscore the therapeutic potential of snail mucus, particularly from snails fed a 30% carob-enriched diet, as a promising natural therapy for IBD. Its potent anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and tissue-regenerative properties suggest that the use of SSCS30% could serve as an innovative approach for managing ulcerative colitis and other inflammatory disorders. These findings suggest that carob-enriched snail mucus could serve as a complementary therapy for ulcerative colitis patients, though clinical validation remains necessary. While these preclinical results are promising, further clinical studies are needed to validate the therapeutic potential of this natural combination in human ulcerative colitis. © 2025 Society of Chemical Industry
Aqueous extract of Eruca Sativa protects human spermatozoa from mitochondrial failure due to bisphenol A exposure
No full textProtective effect of essential oil of Foeniculum vulgare Mill. against bleomycin-induced pulmonary fibrosis and oxidative stress in rat
No full textBackground: Wild fennel (Foeniculum vulgare Mill.) is a very common plant used in traditional medicine to treat
several diseases. In recent years, scientific research proved its biological properties. However, the protective
effect of fennel against bleomycin-induced pulmonary fibrosis (BLM-IPF) is not yet study.
Purpose: Fennel essential oil (FEO) composition was characterized and its protective effect was assessed.
Methods: GC–MS was employed to determine the chemical composition of fennel essential oil. The antioxidant
activity was evaluated using TAC, DPPH, RAP and ABTS assays. After inducing fibrosis by bleomycin, several
biological assays were used to evaluate the protective effect [proteins content, malondialdehyde MD, thiol group,
superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT)].
Results: FEO was rich in estragole (77.55 %), fenchone (9.23 %), and limonene (9.23 %), and phenolic compounds
and showed a significant antioxidant potential. The effects on BLM-IPF were revealed by disruption and
alteration of oxidative stress biomarkers in lung, liver and kidney. Treatment of rats with FEO improved
abnormal fluctuations in protein and thiol levels, decreased oxidative stress in terms of MDA and also restored
the response of the antioxidant system, measured in terms of SOD and CAT, in lung, liver and kidney. The
biological activity was recorded in a dose response manner. The potential of FEO in limiting the progress of the
histopathologic effects of BLM-IPF was confirmed by microscopic histological observations, with a reduction of
the fibrosis score and the inflammatory index in the FEO treated lung tissue.
Conclusion: These results, proved that FEO could attenuate BLM-induced PF, thus suggesting that the latter could
serve as a potential therapeutic approach for PF
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe 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
Get PDF“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
Get PDFWe 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
Get PDFWe 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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