1,720,960 research outputs found
A short Mindfulness retreat can improve biological markers of stress and inflammation
Full text linkbjective: Mindfulness practice, a form of meditation, has shown benefit for psychological and physical health. In this study, we investigated the effect of an intensive period of Mindfulness practice on some biological mediators of stress and inflammation during a 3-day residential retreat. Methods: A total of 95 healthy individuals (aged 18–67) were recruited and randomized to a Mindfulness retreat arm or an active control arm. Before (t0) and after (t1) the intervention, all the participants were assessed for salivary cortisol levels and for a panel of pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines measured in saliva. Psychometric measures on stress, anxiety and awareness were carried out using PSS, STAI-Y and MAAS questionnaires, respectively. Results: As to the within-group differences, we observed a statistically significant decrease in perceived stress (β = − 8.85, p < 0.0001), and anxiety scores (β = − 12.39, p < 0.0001), while awareness increased (β = 15.26, p < 0.0001) between t0 to t1 in retreat participants. In the mindfulness intervention group, we also observed a statistically significant reduction in the levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-6 (β = − 0.94 p = 0.001) and IL-8 (β = − 176.40, p < 0.0001), and an increase in anti-inflammatory IL-10 (β = 0.89 p < 0.0001) levels at the end of the retreat. At t1 we observed a highly significant correlation between cortisol levels and both anxiety (r = 0.56, p < 0.0001) and perceived stress (r = 0.92, p < 0.0001) scores. Conclusions: Mindfulness retreat participants showed a significant reduction in perceived stress and anxiety levels, as well as an improved balance of some key mediators of inflammatory states. Our data provide evidence that a mindfulness retreat may be effective in improving physical and mental health. Future studies with larger numbers of subjects and follow-up periods may examine mindfulness practice as a non-pharmacological alternative to promote stress reduction and overall health and wellbeing. © 2021 Elsevier Lt
Animal models for anti-emphysema drug discovery
No full textIntroduction. Emphysema is characterized by an abnormal, permanent enlargement of airspaces accompanied by destruction of their walls. Up to now, there is no cure for emphysema and animal models may be important for new drug discovery.
Areas covered. Herein, the authors review animal models of emphysema since the protease-antiprotease hypothesis as well as the results obtained with compounds tested in these models. Of particular importance are animal models of cigarette smoke (CS) exposure, since CS is the most important risk factor of emphysema. The authors also analyze two approaches to drugs testing, i.e. the approach aimed at preventing emphysema and the one aimed at reversing it.
Expert opinion. It has been suggested that early and late interventions do not have the same protective effect and that late interventions are much more likely to reveal treatments beneficial in humans. However, this is not always the case and a compound which prevents emphysema when administered as an early intervention can also have the same protective effect when given as a late intervention. Furthermore, the fact that a compound detected by means of early intervention is now in clinical practice shows that early intervention studies can be predictive for efficacy in humans
F2-isoprostanes can mediate bleomycin-induced lung fibrosis
Full text linkF2-isoprostanes (F2-IsoPs) have been considered markers of oxidative stress in various pulmonary diseases, but
little is known about their possible role in pulmonary fibrosis. In this study, we have investigated the potential
key role of F2-IsoPs as markers and mediators of bleomycin (BLM)-induced pulmonary fibrosis in rats. During the
in vivo study, plasma F2-IsoPs showed a peak at 7 days and remained elevated for the entire experimental period.
Lung F2-IsoP content nearly tripled 7 days following the intratracheal instillation of BLM, and by 28 days, the
value increased about fivefold compared to the controls. Collagen deposition correlated with F2-IsoP content in
the lung. Furthermore, from day 21 onwards, lung sections from BLM-treated animals showed α-smooth muscle
actin (α-SMA) positive cells, which were mostly evident at 28 days. In vitro studies performed in rat lung fibroblasts
(RLF) demonstrated that either BLM or F2-IsoPs stimulated both cell proliferation and collagen
synthesis. Moreover, RLF treated with F2-IsoPs showed a significant increase of α-SMA expression compared to
control, indicating that F2-IsoPs can readily activate fibroblasts to myofibroblasts. Our data demonstrated that
F2-IsoPs can be mediators of key events for the onset and development of lung fibrosis, such as cell proliferation,
collagen synthesis and fibroblast activation. Immunocytochemistry analysis, inhibition and binding studies
demonstrated the presence of the thromboxane A2 receptor (TP receptor) on lung fibroblasts and suggested that
the observed effects may be elicited through the binding to this receptor. Our data added a new perspective on
the role of F2-IsoPs in lung fibrosis by providing evidence of a profibrotic role for these mediators in the pathogenesis
of pulmonary fibrosis
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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