1,720,965 research outputs found
It takes two to tango: how a dysregulation of the innate immunity, coupled with Candida virulence, triggers VVC onset
Full text linkVulvovaginal candidiasis (VVC) is a symptomatic inflammation of the vagina mainly caused by C. albicans. Other species, such as C. parapsilosis, C. glabrata, C. tropicalis and C. krusei, are mainly associated to the recurrent form of the disease (RVVC), although with a lower frequency.
In its yeast form, C. albicans is tolerated by the vaginal epithelium, but switching to the invasive hyphal form, co-regulated with the expression of genes encoding virulence factors such as Sap and candidalysin, allows for tissue damage. Vaginal epithelial cells play an important role by impairing C. albicans tissue invasion through several mechanisms such as epithelial shedding, secretion of mucin and strong interepithelial cell connections. However, morphotype switching coupled to increasing of the fungal burden can overcome the tolerance threshold and trigger an intense inflammatory response.
Pathological inflammation is believed to be facilitated by an altered vaginal microbiome, i.e., Lactobacillus dysbiosis. Notwithstanding the damage caused by the fungus itself, the host response to the fungus plays an important role in the onset of VVC, exacerbating fungal-mediated damage. This response can be triggered by host PRR-fungal PAMP interaction and other more complex mechanisms (i.e., Sap-mediated NLRP3 activation and candidalysin), ultimately leading to strong neutrophil recruitment. However, recruited neutrophils appear to be ineffective at reducing fungal burden and invasion; therefore, they seem to contribute more to the symptoms associated with vaginitis than to protection against the disease. Recently, two aspects of the vulvovaginal environment have been found to associate with VVC and induce neutrophil anergy in vitro: perinuclear anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies (pANCA) and heparan sulfate. Interestingly, CAGTA antibodies have also been found with higher frequency in VVC as compared to asymptomatic colonized women. This review highlights and discusses recent advances on understanding the VVC pathogenesis mechanisms as well as the role of host defenses during the disease
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
Comparative analysis of commensal and pathogenic vulvovaginal clinical isolates of Candida albicans: hyphal morphology, molecular genetics and phylogenetic relationships
No full textIntroduction. Vulvovaginal candidiasis (VVC) is a common disorder affecting approximately 75% of women of childbearing age at least once during their life and it is caused primarily by Candida albicans. However, C. albicans is also a normal harmless commensal of the vaginal mucosa, hence a long-standing question is how the fungus switches from commensal state to a virulent pathogen. Studies performed in a murine vaginitis model suggest that host inflammatory processes drive the onset of symptomatic infection. Accordingly, our recent work on clinical samples from colonized and symptomatic women revealed different propensity to form hyphae. In addition, β-glucan, a fungal cell wall pro-inflammatory polysaccharide, was largely masked from immune recognition during vaginitis and enhanced β-glucan availability was only found in hyphae from symptomatic patients with a concomitant massive neutrophil infiltration. Materials and Methods. To further investigate any association between fungal virulence traits and VVC outcome, the following parameters were analyzed on commensal and clinically relevant isolates: MLST analysis, sequencing of the gene encoding the candidalysin toxin and percentage of hyphal fragments. Results. The results obtained so far suggest that none of these fungus-related parameters allow to discriminate between commensal and clinically relevant isolates. Discussion and Conclusions. Taken together, our preliminary data indicate that host-intrinsic mechanisms, rather than the fungus’ intrinsic virulence traits, may play a key role in the occurrence of VVC
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
Author-wise bibliometric analysis based on entropy.
No full textAuthor-wise bibliometric analysis based on entropy.</p
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