1,720,957 research outputs found
Role of N-Carboxybutyl chitosan in the repair of the meniscus
No full textN-Carboxybutyl chitosan obtained from crustacean chitin was used to assist the spontaneous tissue repair of the meniscus, which is usually of extreme difficulty. Results indicate that this natural modified polysaccharide is well-tolerated at the articular synovial level. It also favors and stimulates the repair processes which do not take place spontaneously in the meniscus. N-Carboxybutyl chitosan, therefore, plays a role which helps in repairing meniscal lesions.
N-Carboxybutyl chitosan obtained from crustacean chitin was used to assist the spontaneous tissue repair of the meniscus, which is usually of extreme difficulty. Results indicate that this natural modified polysaccharide is well-tolerated at the articular synovial level. It also favors and stimulates the repair processes which do not take place spontaneously in the meniscus. N-Carboxybutyl chitosan, therefore, plays a role which helps in repairing meniscal lesions
A possible behavioural approach to obesity: links between visual cues in serving food and food consumption
No full textIn 1997 the World Health Organization defined obesity as a global epidemic disease and its incidence is endlessly increasing. The simplest causes of obesity are the decrease of physical activity and the increase of energy intake from food. Studies show that in the last 20 years energy expenditure has not changed, so our attention is focused on food consumption. Many environmental influences can play a role in food choice and intake. Taste and odour are the most intuitive elements playing a key role in this process, but visual cues have been demonstrated to be strictly associated with food acceptance and consumption. In fact, in most cases the first sensory contact with food is through the eyes. Meal appearance influences the expectation about taste and palatability. The food itself can be prepared to "manipulate" consumers' perception and assumption: colours, shape, size and number of food pieces are known to influence energy intake. Moreover, even the way of serving food is an instrument to vehicle the perception. Plate and bowl dimensions condition the judgment of the amount of food assumed: smaller dishes reduce energy intake due to an optical illusion called Delboeuf illusion. People consume more if drinking from taller glasses than from short wider ones; the same beverage drunk from a red glass is perceived sweeter than from a green glass. These are only few examples of the close links between visual cues in serving food and food consumption. We think that behavioural approach should be an easy and cheap intervention to prevent and treat obesity. The aim of this work is to design a table set and its layout and to represent it visually, according to the modern concept of the multisensory holistic approach to the meal, in order to reduce eaters energy intake though visual cues and flatware dispositio
Morphological study of the capsular organization around tissue expanders coated with N-carboxybutyl chitosan
No full textExpanders coated with N-carboxybutyl chitosan were inserted into surgical wounds in the dorsal skin of rabbits and the formation of capsular tissue was studied by scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. N-carboxybutyl chitosan, in the course of the capsular organization, favours and potentiates the correct proliferation and organization of the tissue, rather than sustaining reactive processes leading to scar formation. N-carboxybutyl chitosan stimulates physiologically the tissue repair process and favours angiogenesis, whilst depressing fibrogenesis to a certain extent. Applications are envisaged in the treatment of wounds and in plastic surgery
Altered inflammation, paraoxonase-1 activity and HDL physicochemical properties in obese humans with and without Prader-Willi syndrome
No full textSUMMARY
Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS) represents the most common form of genetic obesity. Several studies confirm that obesity is associated with inflammation, oxidative stress and impairment of antioxidant systems; however, no data are available concerning PWS subjects. We compared levels of plasma lipids and C-reactive protein (CRP) in 30 subjects of ‘normal’ weight (18.5–25 kg/m2), 15 PWS obese (>30 kg/m2) subjects and 13 body mass index (BMI)-matched obese subjects not affected by PWS. In all subjects, we evaluated the levels of lipid hydroperoxides and the activity of paraoxonase-1 (PON1), an enzyme involved in the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties exerted by high-density lipoproteins (HDLs). Furthermore, using the fluorescent molecule of Laurdan, we investigated the physicochemical properties of HDLs isolated from normal weight and obese individuals. Altogether, our results demonstrated, for the first time, higher levels of lipid hydroperoxides and a lower PON1 activity in plasma of obese individuals with PWS with respect to normal-weight controls. These alterations are related to CRP levels, with a lower PON1:CRP ratio in PWS compared with non-PWS obese subjects. The study of Laurdan fluorescence parameters showed significant modifications of physicochemical properties in HDLs from PWS individuals. Whatever the cause of obesity, the increase of adiposity is associated with inflammation, oxidative stress and alterations in HDL compositional and functional properties
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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