1,720,959 research outputs found

    Radioimmune western blotting in comparison with conventional western blotting, second and third generation ELISA assays for the serodiagnosis of HIV-1 infection.

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    Abstract We compared the performance of second and third generation ELISA assays to detect antibodies to HIV-1 virus with conventional Western blotting (WB) and radioimmune Western blotting (RIWB). Both sera from commercial seroconversion panels and serial dilutions of a serum for HIV-1 antibodies were tested with Murex HIV Recombinant, Vidas bioMérieux HIV 1/2 (2nd generation ELISA) Murex HIV 1-2 (3rd generation ELISA), as well as with WB and RIWB. In seroconversion panels all ELISA assays were positive for the same serum with the exception of the first serum of Panel D which was negative with both sample Murex assays and borderline with Vidas assay. This serum was negative with WB but evidenced antibodies to gp160 p66, p51, p24 HIV-1 proteins when assayed by RIWB. In only two cases did WB reveal antibodies to HIV-1 proteins before ELISA assays (Panel A and E); not only did RIWB show the same sensitivity as WB in the two last panels, but it also detected antibodies to HIV-1 proteins earlier than WB, ranging from a few days (Panel C) to approximately 12 weeks (Panel D). The results obtained by testing the dilutions of the serum positive for anti HIV-1 antibodies showed the following degrees of sensitivity: Murex HIV 1-2 (the most sensitive), Murex HIV Recombinant and Vidas bioMérieux HIV 1/2. Although WB was more sensitive than the ELISA assays and picked out antibodies to gp160, gp120 and p24 HIV proteins at 1/4000 serum dilution, the most sensitive test was RIWB which at 1/20,000 serum dilution enabled detection of antibodies to gp160, p66 and p24 HIV proteins. PMID: 7968651 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE

    The use of radioimmune western blotting to evaluate indeterminate western blotting results in blood donor HIV serodiagnosis

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    Abstract The serodiagnosis of HIV infection is sometimes puzzling due to questionable "indeterminate" results obtained by western blotting (wb), the confirmatory test used world-wide after a positive or borderline ELISA result. These situations cause anxiety in the person being tested and determine additional laboratory costs. We showed that radioimmune western blottting (riwb) an improved and sensitive modification of conventional wb, was able to resolve most "indeterminate" results in individuals who later fully seroconverted. We report in this paper the use of riwb in sera of 20 uninfected blood donors with an indeterminate wb continuing for at least 6 years, to verify the serological status in indeterminate not at risk individuals. Thirteen out of the 20 were indeterminate with conventional wb due to the presence of antibodies to p 24, two to p 17, two to p 55, two to p 51 and p 55 and one to p 24 and p 51 antibodies. The presence of all these bands was confirmed using riwb; moreover, in comparison with wb, the intensity of all bands was clearly enhanced. Despite the use of this highly sensitive method no new bands were found with riwb in indeterminate sera; negative results were obtained when sera borderline or positive with ELISA but negative with wb, were subjected to riwb. PMID: 9258947 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE

    Inhibition by prostaglandin PGA1 on the multiplication of influenza virus is a dose-dependent effect

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    Abstract Cyclopentenone prostaglandins (PGs), are strong inhibitors of the multiplicative cycle of a wide variety of enveloped RNA and DNA viruses. Their antiviral activity is generally associated with alterations in the synthesis or maturation of specific virus proteins. In this report, we describe the effect of cyclopentenone PGA1 on the replication of influenza A virus Ulster 73 in LLC-MK2 cells. PGA1 was found to inhibit viral replication in a dose-dependent fashion and virus particle yield was reduced at a PGA1 concentration, which did not suppress protein synthesis in mock-infected cells. The kinetic of late viral protein synthesis was delayed in PGA1-treated cells till 10 h post-infection; after that period, viral polypeptide synthesis appeared to be similar in PGA1-treated as well as untreated cells both infected by Ulster 73 virus. This finding suggests that PGA1 might interfere with one or more events in the viral multiplicative cycle such as protein synthesis and assembly, correct insertion of virus polypeptides into the cell membrane and, or maturation of Ulster 73 virion particles. In particular, inhibition of viral replication in LLC-MK2 cells by PGA1 is accompanied by the induction of a cellular polypeptide of 70K molecular weight. We identified this cell protein as a heat shock protein (HSP) related to the inducible isoform of HSP 70, a polypeptide of 72K molecular weight. Induction of this polypeptide by PGA1 was found to be dose-dependent and a substantial accumulation could be seen at a PGA1 concentration that did not inhibit cell protein synthesis in uninfected cells. HSP 70 synthesis started after the beginning of PGA1 treatment and remained at the same level for at least 10 h, leading us to hypothesize that the delay of production of late Ulster 73 proteins could be the consequence of HSP 70 synthesis. These results suggest that HSP 70 could play a role in the antiviral activity of cyclopentenone PGA1 in LLC-MK2 cells. PMID: 11311427 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE

    Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis

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    The 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

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    “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

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    We 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

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    We 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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