1,720,964 research outputs found
Correlation of serum aminotransferases with HCV-RNA levels and histological findings in patients with chronic hepatitis C: the role of AST in the evaluation of disease progression
A case report of pityriasis lichenoides in a patient with chronic hepatitis C.
The authors describe a case of chronic hepatitis C associated with pityriasis
lichenoides. The association and evolution during antiviral treatment of these
two diseases in this patient point to a possible pathogenetic link between
chronic C virus infection and pityriasis lichenoides
Undetectable phospho-STAT1 in peripheral blood mononuclear cells from patients with chronic hepatitis C who do not respond to interferon-alpha therapy
SUMMARY. The a-defensin genes promoter regions contain a putative nuclear factors of activated T cells (NFAT)-binding site and it is known that hepatitis C virus (HCV) core protein activates the interleukin (IL)-2 gene transcription through the NFAT pathway. The aims of this study were to investigate if HCV affects the a-defensin expression in peripheral human mononuclear cells (PBMCs) and to evaluate the existence of a correlation between a-defensins and liver damage in patients with chronic hepatitis C. Ninety patients with chronic hepatitis C, 30 with chronic hepatitis B and 25 healthy controls were enrolled. a-Defensins were identified and quantified in PBMCs by mass spectrometry, enzymelinked immunosorbent assay, antibacterial activity and mRNA levels. PBMCs from three patients and controls were stimulated with HCV core protein, hepatitis B virus core antigen and the a-defensin mRNAs level was quantified. We found that HCV core protein activates in vitro the a-defensin transcription. a-Defensin levels in patients with chronic hepatitis C (mean ± SD 1⁄4 1.103 ± 0.765 ng/106 cells), chronic hepatitis B (0.53 ± 0.15) and healthy controls (0.217 ± 0.09) resulted significantly different (P < 0.001). In patients with chronic hepatitis C, the a-defensin levels and antibacterial activity correlate with the liver fibrosis. Our data suggest that HCV induces a-defensin expression. The high linear correlation of a-defensin levels with advancing fibrosis makes the measure of these peptides a reliable marker to evaluate fibrosis stage. Keywords: a-defensin, chronic hepatitis, hepatitis C vir
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
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
A case of myiasis in man due to Wohlfahrtia magnifica (Schiner) recorded near Rome.
n this report the case of a 14-year-old Italian boy is described in whom scratching wounds of the scalp were invaded by maggots of the dipterous Wohlfahrtia magnifica (Schiner)
Variations on the Author
“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
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
Selective induction of human alpha-defensins in PBMC from patients with acute C hepatitis.
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