1,720,959 research outputs found

    Pseudohyperaldosteronism from liquorice-containing laxatives

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    Four cases of pseudohyperaldosteronism due to chronic ingestion of liquorice-containing laxatives are described. All patients had hypertension and hypokalemia with suppression of plasma renin activity and aldosterone; the diagnosis was based only on retrospective grounds. In patients with hypokalemia and hypertension a possibility of such a cause must be excluded to avoid unnecessary diagnostic procedures

    Dexamethasone suppression test: corticosteroid receptors regulation in mononuclear leukocytes of young and aged subjects.

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    The dexamethasone suppression test (DST) is considered an indicator of the function of the adrenal pituitary axis. The effect of the steroid is mediated by its binding to corticosteroid receptors. We previously suggested that the measurement of corticosteroid receptors in lymphocytes is an index of an analogous pattern in brain. In the present study, corticosteroid Type I and Type II receptors in mononuclear leukocytes were measured in 10 elderly subjects and in 9 young adults, before and after overnight DST (1 mg). Receptors were measured by radioreceptor assay. In all the subjects, dexamethasone was able to suppress plasma cortisol. The number of Type I and Type II receptors before the test was lower in elderly subjects than in adults. In the control group, dexamethasone produced a significant depression of Type I receptors (from 267 +/- 72 to 169 +/- 71 receptors per cell), which can be interpreted as a primary involvement of Type I receptors in the response to dexamethasone; Type II receptors decreased in half the subjects (from 2849 +/- 703 to 2345 +/- 569 receptors per cell). In elderly healthy subjects, Type II receptors were also significantly decreased (from 1796 +/- 671 to 720 +/- 345). We suggest that in young subjects Type II receptors are initially up-regulated by dexamethasone, and then down-regulated, while in aged subjects an up-regulation cannot be achieved, as suggested by the higher values of plasma cortisol usually found in aging subjects

    Regulation of aldosterone receptors in hypertension.

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    Mean mineralocorticoid receptor number in mononuclear leukocytes of patients with increased plasma aldosterone (Conn's syndrome, nephrovascular hypertension, preeclampsia) is lower than in controls and this reduction could be the consequence of a down-regulation of the receptor. A similar pattern is evident also in situations of excess of other mineralocorticoids (Cushing's syndrome, chronic licorice ingestion). In essential hypertension 20% of cases have reduced number of mineralocorticoid receptors in mononuclear leukocytes without increase of aldosterone and normal serum potassium. We postulate that in some cases with essential hypertension the reduction of mineralocorticoid receptors is an index of mineralocorticoid excess due to mineralocorticoids other than aldosterone

    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

    Corticosteroid receptors and aging.

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    We have measured plasma aldosterone, plasma cortisol, and glucocorticoid and mineralocorticoid receptors in mononuclear leukocytes in 54 healthy aged subjects (60-97 years old) and in a group of 21 controls (21-50 years old). In addition all parameters and age were plotted for correlation. Plasma cortisol was significantly higher in the aged group (346 +/- 140 nmol/l) than in controls (260 +/- 120). Mean plasma aldosterone was not different in the two groups. Both Type I and II receptors in mononuclear leukocytes were lower in the aged group than in controls (Type I 198 +/- 96 and 272 +/- 97 receptors per cell; Type II 1738 +/- 801 and 3339 +/- 918 receptors per cell). A direct correlation was found between cortisol and age and between Type I and II receptors in aged subjects, and between cortisol and Type I receptors, and cortisol and Type II receptors in controls. When all subjects are plotted together, a direct correlation was observed between cortisol and age and between Type I and II receptors, and an inverse correlation between age and Type I and age and Type II receptors. We conclude that the parallel reduction of both Type I and II receptors with age is not due to prior cortisol increase, but the increase of plasma cortisol can be considered the result of age-dependent involution of these receptors

    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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