Search results for "Measure"
showing 10 items of 4687 documents
Progranulin overexpression in sensory neurons attenuates neuropathic pain in mice: Role of autophagy
2016
Peripheral or central nerve injury is a frequent cause of chronic pain and the mechanisms are not fully understood. Using newly generated transgenic mice we show that progranulin overexpression in sensory neurons attenuates neuropathic pain after sciatic nerve injury and accelerates nerve healing. A yeast-2-hybrid screen revealed putative interactions of progranulin with autophagy-related proteins, ATG12 and ATG4b. This was supported by colocalization and proteomic studies showing regulations of ATG13 and ATG4b and other members of the autophagy network, lysosomal proteins and proteins involved in endocytosis. The association of progranulin with the autophagic pathway was functionally confi…
A clinical review on megalencephaly: A large brain as a possible sign of cerebral impairment
2017
Megalencephaly and macrocephaly present with a head circumference measurement 2 standard deviations above the age-related mean. However, even if pathologic events resulting in both megalencephaly and macrocephaly may coexist, a distinction between these two entities is appropriate, as they represent clinical expression of different disorders with a different approach in clinical work-up, overall prognosis, and treatment. Megalencephaly defines an increased growth of cerebral structures related to dysfunctional anomalies during the various steps of brain development in the neuronal proliferation and/or migration phases or as a consequence of postnatal abnormal events. The disorders associate…
Genome-wide association studies for milk production traits in Valle del Belice sheep using repeated measures
2019
Genome-wide association studies (GWASes) have become a powerful tool for identifying genomic regions associated with important traits in livestock. Milk production traits in dairy sheep are measured at different time points during their life span. Using phenotypic data generated from longitudinal traits could improve the power of association studies but until now have received less attention in GWASes as a methodology and has not been implemented. The aim of this study was to carry out a GWAS for milk production traits in Valle del Belice sheep using repeated measures. After quality control, 469 ewes and 37 228 SNPs were retained for the analysis, and phenotypic data included 5586 test-day …
Psychometric properties of the Satisfaction with Job Life Scale in Portuguese workers: A systematic study based on the IRT and CFA modeling
2020
Job satisfaction is related to better physical and mental health, as well as to factors specifically related to work. In this context, the measurement of work satisfaction is important for organizations that profess an interest in engaged and satisfied workers. Therefore, this study aims to examine the psychometric properties of the Satisfaction with Job Life Scale (SWJLS) in Portuguese workers by combining the procedures of the Classical Test Theory (CTT) and the Item Response Theory (IRT). Specifically, internal structure of the scale was studied, its reliability (consistency), correlations with other measures of wellbeing (life satisfaction, loneliness, emotional wellbeing at work, and j…
Diagnostic accuracy of elastography and magnetic resonance imaging in patients with NAFLD: A systematic review and meta-analysis
2021
[Background and Aims] Vibration-controlled transient elastography (VCTE), point shear wave elastography (pSWE), 2-dimensional shear wave elastography (2DSWE), magnetic resonance elastography (MRE), and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) have been proposed as non-invasive tests for patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). This study evaluated their diagnostic accuracy for liver fibrosis and non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH).
Deciphering the functional role of spatial and temporal muscle synergies in whole-body movements
2018
AbstractVoluntary movement is hypothesized to rely on a limited number of muscle synergies, the recruitment of which translates task goals into effective muscle activity. In this study, we investigated how to analytically characterize the functional role of different types of muscle synergies in task performance. To this end, we recorded a comprehensive dataset of muscle activity during a variety of whole-body pointing movements. We decomposed the electromyographic (EMG) signals using a space-by-time modularity model which encompasses the main types of synergies. We then used a task decoding and information theoretic analysis to probe the role of each synergy by mapping it to specific task …
Use of deep learning methods to translate drug-induced gene expression changes from rat to human primary hepatocytes
2020
In clinical trials, animal and cell line models are often used to evaluate the potential toxic effects of a novel compound or candidate drug before progressing to human trials. However, relating the results of animal and in vitro model exposures to relevant clinical outcomes in the human in vivo system still proves challenging, relying on often putative orthologs. In recent years, multiple studies have demonstrated that the repeated dose rodent bioassay, the current gold standard in the field, lacks sufficient sensitivity and specificity in predicting toxic effects of pharmaceuticals in humans. In this study, we evaluate the potential of deep learning techniques to translate the pattern of …
Physical Activity and Nutrition INfluences In ageing (PANINI): consortium mission statement
2018
First paragraph: Current demographic trends indicate that by the year 2020, almost one in five of the European population will be aged 65 years or over. Although life expectancy is increasing by 2 years per decade, the period of life spent in good health is not keeping pace and most Europeans spend their last decade in poor health. Consequently, there is an urgent need to understand how lifestyle factors can influence age-related changes from gene to society level and how they may be integrated into a net effect of healthy ageing. It is also crucial to develop and validate interventions and health policies to ensure that more of our older adults have a healthy and active later life. This is…
Assessing data analysis performance in research contexts: An experiment on accuracy, efficiency, productivity and researchers’ satisfaction
2018
[EN] Any knowledge generation process involves raw data comprehension, evaluation and inferential reasoning. These practices, common to different disciplines, are known as data analysis, and represent the most important set of activities in research contexts. Researchers use data analysis software methods and tools for generating new knowledge in their daily data analysis. In recent years, data analysis software has been incorporating explicit references in modelling of cognitive processes, in order to improve the assistance offered in data analysis tasks. However, data analysis software commercial suites are still resisting this inclusion, and there is little empirical work done in knowing…
Prevalence and severity of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease by transient elastography: Genetic and metabolic risk factors in a general population.
2017
BACKGROUND & AIMS The worldwide spread of obesity is leading to a dramatic increase in the prevalence of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and its complications. We aimed to evaluate both prevalence and factors associated with NAFLD in a general population in a Mediterranean area. METHODS We considered 890 consecutive individuals included in the community-based ABCD (Alimentazione, Benessere Cardiovascolare e Diabete) study (ISRCTN15840340). Controlled attenuation parameter (CAP) and liver stiffness measurement (LSM) were measured with FibroScan. Participants were genotyped for PNPLA3 rs738409 and TM6SF2 rs58542926 variants. RESULTS The prevalence of NAFLD in the cohort was 48%. NAFL…