1,720,958 research outputs found
Implications of mtDNA in human health and diseases
No full textThe maternally inherited autonomous organelles, mitochondria, are responsible for a myriad of functions within the cell. They may contain more than one copy of DNA and can themselves be present in multiple numbers within a cell. The integrity of the mitochondrial genome is affected by variations in DNA copy number or the presence of mutations. Compromising this integrity has been documented to result in disorders affecting various systems. Focusing on such trends could enhance knowledge essential for developing strategies to manage these disorders. Irregular patterns of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) copy number (CN) variation have been identified in various cancers. Reduced mtDNA CN has been associated with neurodegenerative disorders, cardiovascular diseases, and kidney disorders. Mutations in the mitochondrial respiratory chain complex have been linked to cardiomyopathy. High rates of mtDNA deletions have been found in aging patients and subjects with Parkinson’s disease. While sperm function appears to deteriorate with increased mtDNA CN, oogenesis involves a significant increase to enable the oocyte to achieve fertilization and further development. Prospective therapies to treat mitochondrial diseases may include approaches that aim to reduce the levels of mutant mtDNA below the disease-causing threshold, such as targeted removal of defective mitochondria. Mutations in mitochondrial DNA contribute to various diseases; some single substitutions appear to disrupt the normalcy of more than one organ, underscoring the importance of mitochondrial genome integrity. The presence of mutations and copy number variations may serve as diagnostic markers and also provide insight into prognosis
Standardization of Alternative Methods for Nanogenotoxicity Testing in Drosophila melanogaster Using Iron Nanoparticles: A Promising Link to Nanodosimetry
Get PDFThe remarkable advancement of nanotechnology has triggered enormous production of metal nanoparticles and nanomaterials for diverse applications in clinical diagnostics and biomedical research. Nanotechnology has facilitated understanding and analysing nanotoxicology in a holistic approach. Iron nanoparticles have been of special interest in recent research owing to their dynamic, paramagnetic, and catalytic properties. Research studies (in vitro model) have demonstrated the lack of toxicity in nanoiron. The present study design involves in vivo toxicity assessment of nanoiron at specific concentrations of 0.1 mM, 1 mM, 5 mM, and 10 mM in Drosophila. DNA fragmentation assay in exposed and F1 population showed first-line toxicity to flies. Viability and reproductive ability were assessed at 24-hour and 48-hour intervals and thus indicated no statistical significance between the exposed and control groups. The wing spot assay has expressed transparent lack of toxicity in the studied concentrations of nanoiron. Protein profiling has demonstrated that the protein profiles have been intact in the larvae which confirm lack of toxicity of nanoiron. This leads to concluding that nanoiron at the defined concentrations is neither genotoxic nor mutagenic
Functionalized Nanomaterials In Pancreatic Cancer Theranostics And Molecular Imaging
No full textAbstract Pancreatic cancer (PC) is one of the most fatal malignancies in the world. This lethality persists due to lack of effective and efficient treatment strategies. Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is an aggressive epithelial malignancy which has a high incidence rate and contributes to overall cancer fatalities. As of 2022, pancreatic cancer contributes to about 3 % of all cancers globally. Over the years, research has characterised germline predisposition, the origin cell, precursor lesions, genetic alterations, structural alterations, transcriptional changes, tumour heterogeneity, metastatic progression, and the tumour microenvironment, which has improved the understanding of PDAC carcinogenesis. By using molecular‐based target therapies, these fundamental advancements support primary prevention, screening, early detection, and treatment. The focus of this review is the use of targeted nanoparticles as an alternative to conventional pancreatic cancer treatment due to the various side effects of the latter. The principles of nanoparticle based cancer therapy is efficient targeting of tumour cells via enhanced permeability and retention (EPR) effects and decrease the chemotherapy side effects due to their non‐specificity. To increase the efficiency of existing therapies and modify target nanoparticles, several molecular markers of pancreatic cancer cells have been identified. Thus pancreatic cancer cells can be detected using appropriately functionalized nanoparticles with specific signalling molecules. Once cancer has been identified, these nanoparticles can kill the tumour by inducing hyperthermia, medication delivery, immunotherapy or gene therapy. As potent co‐delivery methods for adjuvants and tumor‐associated antigens; nanoparticles (NPs) have demonstrated significant promise as delivery vehicles in cancer therapy. This ensures the precise internalization of the functionalized nanoparticle and thus also activates the immune system effectively against tumor cells. This review also discusses the immunological factors behind the uptake of functionalized nanoparticles in cancer therapies. Theranostics, which combine imaging and therapeutic chemicals in a single nanocarrier, are the next generation of medicines. Pancreatic cancer treatment may be revolutionised by the development of a tailored nanocarrier with diagnostic, therapeutic, and imaging capabilities. It is extremely difficult to incorporate various therapeutic modalities into a single nanocarrier without compromising the individual functionalities. Surface modification of nanocarriers with antibodies or proteins will enable to attain multifunctionality which increases the efficiency of pancreatic cancer therapy
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe 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
Get PDF“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
Get PDFWe 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
Get PDFWe 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
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