1,721,007 research outputs found
Glucocorticoid metabolism and the Metabolic Syndrome: associations in an elderly cohort
No full textObjective: The phenotype of the Metabolic Syndrome (hypertension, insulin resistance and hyperlipidaemia) bears similarities to Cushing's Syndrome, in which the cause of these features is elevated cortisol production. We have investigated relationships between glucocorticoid production and features of the Metabolic Syndrome in a cohort of elderly subjects.Design: A cross-sectional analysis was carried out of a subset of a birthweight cohort from Sheffield.Methods: 92 men and 40 women (aged 69-75 y) representative of the original cohort were investigated. Features of the Metabolic Syndrome (blood pressure, BMI, waist hip ratio, fasting glucose, insulin and triglycerides) were recorded and urinary glucocorticoid metabolites were measured by gas chromatography mass spectrometry.Results: Total glucocorticoid metabolites were correlated with the overall phenotype of the Metabolic Syndrome (P = 0.002), whereas specific pathways of metabolism (activity of 11?-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenases and A-ring reductases) did not show significant associations. Specifically total glucocorticoid production increased with increasing systolic blood pressure (r = 0.21, P = 0.013), fasting glucose (r = 0.19, P = 0.02) and insulin (r = 0.23, P = 0.025). Glucocorticoid production was greater with increasing abdominal girth (r = 0.19, P = 0.033), but there was no association with enhanced metabolism via a specific pathway. Within this cohort, birthweight was not associated with total glucocorticoid metabolites. However, decreasing birthweight (P = 0.022), increasing obesity (P = 0.026) and increasing total glucocorticoid production (P = 0.009) were all independent predictors of fasting glucose.Conclusions: These data support the concept that cortisol production is enhanced in the Metabolic Syndrome, although they did not confirm the recent evidence that increased cortisol secretion is predicted by low birthweight.<br/
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
Is there a gender difference in the associations of birthweight and adult hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis activity?
No full textObjective: increased hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis activity in men of low birthweight may be an important link between early life and the adult metabolic syndrome. In animal models females are more sensitive than males to HPA axis programming, but whether gender influences susceptibility in humans is unknown. Design: birth cohort study. Methods: we studied 106 women aged 67–78 years, from Hertfordshire, UK, in whom birthweight was recorded. Negative feedback sensitivity was assessed by an overnight low-dose (0.25 mg) dexa-methasone suppression test, and adrenal sensitivity by a low-dose (1 µg) ACTH1 – 24 stimulation test. Cortisol and its metabolites were analysed in a 24 h urine collection. Data were compared with previously published identical measurements in 205 men aged 66–77 years from the same cohort. Results: in women, plasma cortisol levels after dexamethasone were lower (P < 0.0001) and peak cortisol following ACTH1 – 24 were higher (P < 0.0001) than in men, suggesting a more responsive HPA axis. As in men, women with lower birthweight had enhanced plasma cortisol responses to ACTH1 – 24 (P = 0.05 for trend) but no difference in plasma cortisol after dexamethasone or in urinary cortisol metabolite excretion. The strength of the association in women was not different from that in men; a 1 lb decrease in birthweight was associated with an incremental rise in cortisol of 12.6 nmol/l (95% confidence interval (CI) 1.4, 23.8) in men, P = 0.03, and 14.8 nmol/l (95% CI –0.4, 29.9) in women, P = 0.05 (P = 0.82 for birthweight x gender interaction). In a combined analysis of men and women adjusted for gender (n = 302), a 1 lb decrease in birthweight was associated with a 13.4 nmol/l (95% CI 4.5, 22.4) greater incremental rise in plasma cortisol, P = 0.003. Conclusions: associations between lower birthweight and increased HPA axis activity are similar in men and women, supporting the hypothesis that HPA axis activation is an important mechanism underlying programming of adult disease
Activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis in adults of low birthweight: similar increased activity in women and men
No full textVariations 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
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