1,720,954 research outputs found
Influence of cytokine and ICAM-1 gene polymorphisms on susceptibility to chronic pancreatitis
No full textAims:
To test the hypothesis that single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) within genes (or their promoter regions) encoding cytokines, growth factors, and intercellular adhesion molecules modulate the risk of development of chronic pancreatitis (CP). Methods:
DNA was extracted from peripheral blood leucocytes or formalin fixed, paraffin wax embedded tissue from 53 patients with CP and 266 healthy controls. SNPs within the interleukin 1ß (IL-1ß), IL-6, IL-8, tumour necrosis factor (TNF) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) gene promoter regions and the transforming growth factor ß1 (TGFß1) and intercellular cell adhesion molecule 1 (ICAM-1) genes were genotyped by the amplification refractory mutation system polymerase chain reaction or 5' nuclease (Taqman®) techniques. Patient–control comparisons were made using 2 x 2 contingency tables and 2 analyses. Results:
A non-significant decrease in the frequency of the IL-8 –251 AA genotype and a non-significant increase in the frequency of the ICAM-1 +469 GA genotype was seen in patients compared with controls. No associations were identified between SNPs in the promoter regions of the IL-1ß, IL-6, or TNF proinflammatory cytokines genes or the TGFß1 and VEGF genes and susceptibility to CP. Conclusions:
This preliminary study suggests that genetic polymorphism within several cytokine genes is unlikely to influence susceptibility to CP, but the possible role of IL-8 and ICAM-1 polymorphisms in the development of this disease requires further investigation
Pancreaticoduodenectomy for peri-ampullary neoplasia leads to specific micronutrient deficiencies
No full textBackground/Aims: After pancreaticoduodenectomy ( PD) patients may be deficient in essential micronutrients. This study was designed to determine if this is a consequence of surgery. Methods: Long-term survivors (> 6 months) of PD for peri-ampullary neoplasia and healthy controls ( patients' spouse/partner) were enrolled in the study. Specific clinical parameters were recorded, serum micronutrient levels were measured and subjects completed 7-day food diaries. Results: Thirty-seven patients were studied, 25 with paired controls. All were well nourished, as defined by body mass index and food diary analysis. Patients with paired controls were representative of all patients studied. Patients had raised transferrin ( median 2.60 vs. 2.16 g/l, p = 0.001) and low ferritin levels (34.9 vs. 119.0 g/ l, p < 0.001) indicating relative iron deficiency. Patients also demonstrated lower levels of the anti-oxidants selenium (0.77 vs. 0.93 mu mol/l, p < 0.001) and vitamin E (23.2 vs. 35.7 mu mol/ l, p < 0.001) with 57% of patients having frank selenium deficiencies. Patients had lower levels of vitamin D than controls (15.7 vs. 19.6 mu mol/l, p = 0.001) and 30% of patients had a raised parathyroid hormone level, suggesting compensatory mechanisms operate to maintain normocalcaemia. Conclusions: Long-term survivors of PD are relatively deficient in several micronutrients compared to non-operated controls taking the same diet. We recommend that micronutrient status should be regularly checked in these patients and treated where necessary
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
Author-wise bibliometric analysis based on entropy.
No full textAuthor-wise bibliometric analysis based on entropy.</p
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