1,721,154 research outputs found
Interactions between peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gene polymorphism and birth length influence risk for type 2 diabetes
No full textType 2 diabetes has previously been shown to be associated with a small body size at birth, which is considered an indicator of the intrauterine environment. This inverse association has been observed between both birth weight and birth length (1,2). The peroxisome proliferator–activated receptor (PPAR) ?2 gene is associated with glucose and lipid metabolism and is therefore a major candidate gene for type 2 diabetes (3,4). We have previously reported that the effects of the Pro12Pro genotype of the PPAR ?2 gene on insulin
Dietary modification and genetic variability of atherosclerosis risk factors
Full text linkAbstractThe risk factors for atherosclerosis and coronary heart disease (CHD) are multiple and may interact with each other. Diet has a significant role among the main risk factors for atherosclerosis, as it regulates the levels of plasma lipids and lipoproteins, their oxidative modification or protection from oxidation, blood pressure, energy balance, and thrombogenesis. Nutrients can transfer their effects directly through plasma concentrations or modify the cell transduction or gene expression of important regulatory genes. The response to dietary modification varies between individuals. The plasma cholesterol response induced by dietary modification is at least partly regulated genetically and some of the variation is explained by other environmental factors.Apolipoprotein E (apo E) and apolipoprotein B (apo B) are the key regulatory proteins in cholesterol and lipoprotein metabolism. The genetic variation of apo E is associated with the plasma lipid levels and the CHD risk. The polymorphic variation of the apo B gene is also associated with increased plasma cholesterol and CHD risk. Obesity is associated with increased morbidity and mortality. Plasma lipid abnormalities, impaired glucose metabolism and increased blood pressure caused by obesity are the main reasons for increased CHD mortality among obese subjects.To study the magnitude of the response to dietary modification, genetically selected groups were investigated. Dietary modification had a significant impact on plasma total, LDL, and HDL cholesterol concentrations, and the individual response in plasma LDL cholesterol varied from 3 to 100%. The role of genetic variation in the apo E gene was not significant in the lipid response, but the blood pressure response was more distinct among subjects with the ε 4 allele than those with the ε 3 allele. The determination of apo B EcoRI and MspI gene polymorphisms revealed subjects with a greater response to diet, a finding which may have clinical importance in the future for the attempt to identify subjects for effective dietary counselling.The effect of caloric restriction on gene expression was studied in obese gallstone patients. Moderate weight reduction during caloric restriction was associated with reduced lipoprotein lipase gene expression, while the cholesteryl ester transfer protein gene expression remained unchanged. Some of the beneficial changes in plasma lipids and lipoproteins during and after weight reduction may be followed by altered transcription of their modifying genes.Meta-analysis is a modern and generally accepted method. Many clinical uncertainties can be solved by combining all the data available to a quantitative and objective analysis. However, the use of meta-analysis do not resolve the problem of the effect of publication bias.Academic Dissertation to be presented with the assent of the Faculty of Medicine, University of Oulu, for public discussion in Auditorium 10 of the University Hospital of Oulu, on May 31th, 2000, at 10 a.m.Abstract
The risk factors for atherosclerosis and coronary heart disease (CHD) are multiple and may interact with each other. Diet has a significant role among the main risk factors for atherosclerosis, as it regulates the levels of plasma lipids and lipoproteins, their oxidative modification or protection from oxidation, blood pressure, energy balance, and thrombogenesis. Nutrients can transfer their effects directly through plasma concentrations or modify the cell transduction or gene expression of important regulatory genes. The response to dietary modification varies between individuals. The plasma cholesterol response induced by dietary modification is at least partly regulated genetically and some of the variation is explained by other environmental factors.
Apolipoprotein E (apo E) and apolipoprotein B (apo B) are the key regulatory proteins in cholesterol and lipoprotein metabolism. The genetic variation of apo E is associated with the plasma lipid levels and the CHD risk. The polymorphic variation of the apo B gene is also associated with increased plasma cholesterol and CHD risk. Obesity is associated with increased morbidity and mortality. Plasma lipid abnormalities, impaired glucose metabolism and increased blood pressure caused by obesity are the main reasons for increased CHD mortality among obese subjects.
To study the magnitude of the response to dietary modification, genetically selected groups were investigated. Dietary modification had a significant impact on plasma total, LDL, and HDL cholesterol concentrations, and the individual response in plasma LDL cholesterol varied from 3 to 100%. The role of genetic variation in the apo E gene was not significant in the lipid response, but the blood pressure response was more distinct among subjects with the ε 4 allele than those with the ε 3 allele. The determination of apo B EcoRI and MspI gene polymorphisms revealed subjects with a greater response to diet, a finding which may have clinical importance in the future for the attempt to identify subjects for effective dietary counselling.
The effect of caloric restriction on gene expression was studied in obese gallstone patients. Moderate weight reduction during caloric restriction was associated with reduced lipoprotein lipase gene expression, while the cholesteryl ester transfer protein gene expression remained unchanged. Some of the beneficial changes in plasma lipids and lipoproteins during and after weight reduction may be followed by altered transcription of their modifying genes.
Meta-analysis is a modern and generally accepted method. Many clinical uncertainties can be solved by combining all the data available to a quantitative and objective analysis. However, the use of meta-analysis do not resolve the problem of the effect of publication bias
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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