1,720,981 research outputs found
Protein post translational modifications and diabetes. Pro-inflammatory cytokines reshape lysin acetylome of rat clonal β cells and human pancreatic islets.
Full text linkType I diabetes mellitus (T1DM) is characterized by insulin deficiency due to β cells death caused by inflammation and immune reaction. Pro-inflammatory cytokines play a key role in T1DM pathogenesis by activating the pro-apoptotic pathway. Cytokine-activated NF-κB and STAT1 signalling also leads to oxidative stress and triggers the antigen presentation pathway. Stressful stimuli and self-defence responses combined cause mitochondrial dysfunction and endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress, which progress to β cell functional impairments and death. Some molecular mechanisms involved in the progressive loss of functions are still unknown. In this contest, a study, which analyses proteomic changes of β cells upon cytokine prolonged exposure, can be useful.
The global effects of pro-inflammatory cytokines, IL-1β and INF-γ, on protein expression, Nε-acetylation, and thermal stability was studied using different proteomic approaches and β cell models (rat INS-1E cells and human pancreatic islets). At first, the impact of cytokines on β cell insulin secretion, survival and apoptosis activation was examined to confirm functional impairment. Differential expression proteomics showed that cytokines dysregulated the expression of many proteins, which are components of pathways involved in T1DM pathogenesis. The study of protein lysine acetylome highlighted 83 and 242 differentially modified proteins in human islets and INS-1E cells, respectively. Most proteins are related to metabolic, mitochondrial dysfunction, inflammation, and insulin secretion pathways. In INS-1E cells, an analysis of Proteome Integral Solubility Alteration (PISA) was also performed. This technique allowed to identify 504 proteins, which thermal stability was modified by cell exposure to cytokines. Many of these proteins participate to protein synthesis, protein trafficking, and antigen presentation or are directly involved in mediating cytokine effects. Overall, this multi-level proteomic analysis unveiled new potential players of cytokine-induced β cells dysfunction
Integrative neuro-cardiovascular dynamics in response to test anxiety: A brain-heart axis study
Full text linkTest anxiety (TA), a recognized form of social anxiety, is the most prominent cause of anxiety among students and, if left unmanaged, can escalate to psychiatric disorders. TA profoundly impacts both central and autonomic nervous systems, presenting as a dual manifestation of cognitive and autonomic components. While limited studies have explored the physiological underpinnings of TA, none have directly investigated the intricate interplay between the CNS and ANS in this context. In this study, we introduce a non-invasive, integrated neuro-cardiovascular approach to comprehensively characterize the physiological responses of 27 healthy subjects subjected to test anxiety induced via a simulated exam scenario. Our experimental findings highlight that an isolated analysis of electroencephalographic and heart rate variability data fails to capture the intricate information provided by a brain-heart axis assessment, which incorporates an analysis of the dynamic interaction between the brain and heart. With respect to resting state, the simulated examination induced a decrease in the neural control onto heartbeat dynamics at all frequencies, while the studying condition induced a decrease in the ascending heart-to-brain interplay at EEG oscillations up to 12Hz. This underscores the significance of adopting a multisystem perspective in understanding the complex and especially functional directional mechanisms underlying test anxiety
Modulation of test anxiety-induced salivary protein secretion by ovarian steroid hormones: a preliminary study
Full text linkIn women the menstrual cycle influences mood and anxiety. Aim of this study was to preliminarily investigate whether different ovarian steroid hormone levels may modulate the psychophysiological responses elicited by test anxiety. Specifically, we compared the secretion of anxiety-induced salivary proteins of healthy women in the early follicular (Pre-Ov group) (low ovarian steroid hormones levels) and mid-luteal (Post-Ov group) (medium/high ovarian steroid hormones levels) phase of the menstrual cycle, during the simulation of an oral examination. Saliva samples were collected before and after a relaxation period and at two post-simulation times and analyzed by two-dimensional electrophoresis and western blot. Proteins corresponding to spots differentially expressed in the two groups across the session were identified through mass spectrometry and most of them corresponded to acute stress and/or oral mucosa immunity biomarkers. The task induced an increase in alpha-amylase, carbonic anhydrase and cystatin S, and a decrease in immunoglobulin light/J chains in both groups. Analogous changes in these proteins have previously been linked to psychological or physical stress. However, specific spots corresponding, for example, to cystatins and 14-3-3 protein, changed exclusively in the Pre-Ov group, while prolactin-inducible protein, polymeric immunoglobulin receptor, fragments of alpha-amylase and immunoglobulins only in the Post-Ov group, indicating a potential modulation of their secretion by ovarian steroid hormones. Overall, the results provide preliminary evidence that ovarian steroid hormones may be a driving factor for differences in physiological responses induced by test anxiety. The results are promising, but further validation in a larger sample is needed
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
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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