1,720,958 research outputs found
Platelet interactions with a-thrombin and serotonin
Full text linkThe aim of the first part of this thesis was to study platelets from people with essential thrombocytosis. Platelets from ET patients present several abnormalities. We focused on the abnormalities related with serotonin, in particular we wanted :
1) to determine the sub-cellular distribution of the neurotransmitter
2) to evaluate 5-HT transport in platelets either untreated or pre-incubated with reserpine, a known inhibitor of serotonin transport inside the dense granules
3) to establish whether the decreased accumulation of serotonin in pathological platelets was due to a decreased number of dense granules
4) to investigate the efficiency of the dense granules to accumulate basic amines;
5) to determine the amounts of ATP and Ca2+ contained in the dense granules
6) to evaluate the role of tyrosine kinases in the tranport of serotonin in platelets of MPDs subjects.
7) to analyze the serotonin-induced platelet activation (cytosolic [Ca2+] increase).
The second part of this thesis performed at the Scripps Research Institute (La Jolla, CA) in the laboratory directed by prof. Z.M. Ruggeri was to precisely define the functional role of tyrosine sulfation in the a-thrombin binding to GpIba, a receptor present in platelets, that play a pivotal role in haemostasis and thrombosis
Regulation of serotonin transport in human platelets by tyrosine kinase Syk
No full textSerotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine, 5-HT) is a neurotransmitter involved in the regulation of numerous neuro-physiological processes. The circulating level of 5-HT is regulated by the membrane transporter SERT present both in the presynaptic nerve terminals and blood platelets. 5-HT transport is a process tightly regulated by a variety of factors including protein phosphorylation. Aim of this study was to ascertain if also the SERT Tyr-phosphorylation mediated by Syk-kinase concurs to the regulation of SERT activity. Indeed we found that 5-HT uptake decreased upon platelet exposure to piceatannol or Syk-inhibitor II, two structurally unrelated inhibitors of the tyrosine-kinase Syk. Tyr-phosphorylation of anti-SERT-immuno-stained proteins in membrane extracts and in anti-SERT-immuno-precipitates, decreased upon platelet treatment with piceatannol, in parallel with a reduction of Syk-activity. Syk was immuno-revealed in the anti-SERT immuno-precipitates, which displayed a piceatannol-sensitive kinase activity towards SERT itself and the Syk-substrate α-sinuclein. Syk inhibitors also caused a decrease of the monensin-induced 5-HT-efflux from platelets and of imipramine binding to them. It is concluded that, in addition to the phosphorylation of SERT mediated by various other kinases, also that catalyzed by Syk might play an important role in the 5-HT transport, likely favoring the transporter conformation exposing the neurotransmitter binding sites
Serotonin (5-HT) transport in human platelets is modulated by Src-catalysed Tyr-phosphorylation of the plasma membrane transporter SERT
No full textBACKGROUND/AIM: platelets possess tightly regulated systems for serotonin (5-HT) transport. This study analysed whether the 5-HT transport mediated by the plasma-membrane transporter SERT is regulated by its Tyr-phosphorylation.
METHODS: 5-HT transport was determined by filtration techniques, while immunoblotting procedures were adopted for detecting the Tyr-phosphorylation of SERT in human platelet fractions.
RESULTS: 5-HT accumulation in platelets pre-treated with reserpine, which prevents the neurotransmitter transport into the dense granules, decreased upon cellular exposure to PP2 and SU6656, two structurally unrelated inhibitors of Src-kinases. By contrast, the protein Tyr-phosphatase inhibitor pervanadate increased the 5-HT accumulation. Anti-SERT immunostaining of the platelet fractions showed a major band displaying an apparent molecular mass of 50 kappaDa, indicating that, during the analytical procedure, SERT underwent proteolysis, which was counteracted by addition of 4 M urea in the cellular disrupting medium. The Tyr-phosphorylation degree of SERT immunoprecipitated from membrane extracts decreased by platelet treatment with SU6656 or PP2, and enhanced upon pervanadate treatment. The anti-SERT immunoprecipitates displayed anti-Src immunostaining and in vitro kinase activity towards a Src-specific peptide-substrate. Platelet treatment with PP2 or SU6656 also caused a decrease in the imipramine binding to platelets. It was concluded that the Src-mediated SERT Tyr-phosphorylation regulates the 5-HT transport by affecting the neurotransmitter binding sites
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
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
Inhibitory effect by new monocyclic 4-alkyliden-beta-lactam compounds on human platelet activation
No full textIn the present study some new beta-lactam compounds were screened for their ability to inhibit human platelet activation. In particular four compounds differing in the group on the nitrogen atom of the azetidinone ring were investigated. A beta-lactam having an ethyl 2-carboxyethanoate N-bound group was demonstrated to inhibit, in the micromolar range, both the Ca(2+) release from endoplasmic reticulum, induced either by thrombin or by the ATPase inhibitor thapsigargin, and the Ca(2+) entry in platelets driven by emptying the endoplasmic reticulum. The compound also inhibited the platelet aggregation induced by a variety of physiological agonists including ADP, collagen, thrombin and thrombin mimetic peptide TRAP. The beta-lactam reduced the phosphorylation of pleckstrin (apparent MW 47 kDa), elicited by thrombin but not by the protein kinase C activator phorbol ester. Accordingly it did not significantly affect the aggregation evoked by phorbol ester or Ca(2+) ionophore. It was concluded that the beta-lactam likely exerts its anti-platelet-activating action by hampering the agonist induced cellular Ca(2+) movements. The beta-lactam concentration, which significantly inhibited platelet activation, only negligibly affected the cellular viability. Even if it is still premature to draw definitive conclusions, the present results suggest that this new compound might constitute a tool of potential clinical interest and the starting-point for the synthesis of new more beneficial anti-thrombotic compounds
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