1,720,964 research outputs found
The importance of autophagy in cardioprotection
No full textAutophagy is an intracellular lysosomal-mediated catabolic process in which senescent or damaged proteins and organelles are sequestered by double membrane-limited vesicles called autophagosomes, and then degraded by lysosomes. While the role of autophagy in different pathological states is context-dependent, it has been shown that during cardiac ischemia, autophagy is upregulated as a cardioprotective adaptation. We recently demonstrated that Rheb, a small GTP-binding protein that directly activates the complex 1 of the mechanistic target of rapamycin, is a critical regulator of autophagy during cardiac ischemia. We found that cardiac Rheb/mTORC1 signaling is activated in a deregulated manner during ischemia in obesity and metabolic syndrome. This uncontrolled activation of the Rheb/mTORC1 pathway leads to autophagy inhibition and to a reduction of myocardial tolerance to ischemia. This data further supports the relevance of autophagy as a fundamental protective mechanism during myocardial ischemia and suggests that reactivation of autophagy, in particular through the inhibition of Rheb/mTORC1 signaling may represent a promising therapeutic option to treat subjects with an acute myocardial infarction, particularly those affected by metabolic derangements. This review will deal with the biological significance of autophagy in cardioprotection
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
An overview of the inflammatory signalling mechanisms in the myocardium underlying the development of diabetic cardiomyopathy
No full textHeart failure is a highly morbid and mortal clinical condition that represents the last stage of most cardiovascular disorders. Diabetes is strongly associated with an increased incidence of heart failure and directly promotes cardiac hypertrophy, fibrosis, and apoptosis. These changes, in turn, contribute to the development of ventricular dysfunction. The clinical condition associated with the spectrum of cardiac abnormalities induced by diabetes is termed diabetic cardiomyopathy. Myocardial inflammation has recently emerged as a pathophysiological process contributing to cardiac hypertrophy, fibrosis, and dysfunction in cardiac diseases. Myocardial inflammation is also implicated in the development of diabetic cardiomyopathy. Several molecular mechanisms link diabetes to myocardial inflammation. The NF-κB signalling pathway and the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system are strongly activated in the diabetic heart, thereby promoting myocardial inflammation. Advanced glycation end-products and damage-associated molecular pattern molecules also represent strong triggers for inflammation. The mediators resulting from this inflammatory process modulate specific intracellular signalling mechanisms in cardiac cells that promote the development of diabetic cardiomyopathy. This review article will provide an overview of the signalling molecular mechanisms linking diabetic cardiomyopathy to myocardial inflammation
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
Functional role of Nox4 in autophagy
No full textAccumulating lines of evidence suggest that reactive oxygen species (ROS) may act as intracellular signaling molecules under cellular stress conditions, activating several molecular pathways. Autophagy, the intracellular mechanism by which cells digest and recycle unfolded proteins and dysfunctional organelles, is emerging as a major target of ROS and NADPH oxidase (Nox) enzymes, the major generators of ROS. While autophagy represents an important self-defense mechanism in promoting cell survival, it may be maladaptive in some conditions. In particular, in the cardiovascular system, moderate activation of autophagy has been shown to be protective, while excessive or insufficient activation of autophagy may be deleterious. Thus, modulating ROS-dependent autophagy may represent a novel strategy to keep autophagy within the therapeutic range. Among the Nox isoforms, Nox4 in particular plays a pivotal role in autophagy regulation. This appears to be due to its intracellular localization and its ability to produce hydrogen peroxide, a stable signaling molecule. In this chapter we review the studies relating to the functional role of Nox4 in autophagy, with particular emphasis on the heart and cardiovascular system
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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