1,721,082 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
High-Throughput NKCC Functional Assay in Adherent Epithelial Cells
No full textBackground: The kidney-specific isoform of the Na-K-2Cl cotransporter NKCC2 is involved in the Na+ reabsorption in the TAL cells and in the regulation of body fluid volume. In contrast, the isoform NKCC1 represents the major pathway for Cl- entry in endothelial cells, playing a crucial role in cell volume regulation and vascular tone. Indeed both NKCC isoforms are involved in the regulation of blood pressure and represent important potential drug targets for hypertension treatment. Accordingly a high-throughput screening for NKCC inhibitors is extremely useful in the development and characterization of new anti-hypertensive drugs. So far the high-throughput screening of NKCC transporters activity has been done by 86Rb+ influx assays.
Methods: We developed a Tallium (Tl+) based fluorescent influx assay that can accurately and rapidly measure NKCC transport activity in adherent epithelial cells in the high-throughput Flex station device (FLEXA). We assessed the feasibility of this assay in the renal epithelial LLC-PK1 cells stably transfected with a previously characterized chimeric NKCC2 construct (c-NKCC2).
Results: In the absence of Cl- in the assay buffer, Tl+ addition did not induce any increase in fluorescence. However a robust Tl+ influx was observed after Cl-addition in c-NKCC2 transfected cells but not in mock-transfected or in parental LLC-PK1 cells suggesting that the Tl+ influx is actually mediated by the c-NKCC2 cotransporter. The c-NKCC2-driven FLEXA signal displays a rapid linear increased phase within the first 20 s after Cl- addition followed by a slower increase and a plateau phase. The initial rate of Tl+-dependent Cl- influx observed in c-NKCC2 transfected cells is about 3-fold over the background signal in mock-transfected LLC-PK1 cells. The preincubation with furosemide prevented the Cl-dependent Tl+ influx confirming the specificity of the NKCC-mediated Tl+ influx.
Conclusions: We demonstrated that this assay is highly reproducible, offers high temporal resolution of NKCC-mediated ion flux profiles and, importantly, as a continuous assay, it offers improved sensitivity over endpoint NKCC functional assay.

High-throughput fluorescent-based NKCC functional assay in adherent epithelial cells.
No full textBackground: The kidney-specific NKCC cotransporter isoform NKCC2 is involved in the Na+ reabsorption in the Thich Ascending Limb (TAL) cells and in the regulation of body fluid volume. In contrast, the isoform NKCC1 represents the major pathway for Cl- entry in endothelial cells, playing a crucial role in cell volume regulation and vascular tone. Importantly, both NKCC isoforms are involved in the regulation of blood pressure and represent important potential drug targets for the treatment of hypertension. Results: Taking advantage of an existing Thallium (Tl+)-based kit, we set up a Tl+ influx-based fluorescent assay, that can accurately and rapidly measure NKCC transporter activity in adherent epithelial cells using the high-throughput Flex station device. We assessed the feasibility of this assay in the renal epithelial LLC-PK1 cells stably transfected with a previously characterized chimeric NKCC2 construct (c-NKCC2). We demonstrated that the assay is highly reproducible, offers high temporal resolution of NKCC-mediated ion flux profiles and, importantly, being a continuous assay, it offers improved sensitivity over previous endpoint NKCC functional assays. Conclusions: So far the screening of NKCC transporters activity has been done by 86Rb+ influx assays. Indeed, a fluorescence-based high-throughput screening method for testing NKCC inhibitors would be extremely useful in the development and characterization of new anti-hypertensive drugs
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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