Gaps between Open Science activities and actual recognition systems: Insights from an international survey.

There are global movements aiming to promote reform of the traditional research evaluation and reward systems. However, a comprehensive picture of the existing best practices and efforts across various institutions to integrate Open Science into these frameworks remains underdeveloped and not fully known. The aim of this study was to identify perceptions and expectations of various research communities worldwide regarding how Open Science activities are (or should be) formally recognised and rewarded.

Managing linguistic obstacles in multidisciplinary, multinational, and multilingual research projects.

Environmental challenges are rarely confined to national, disciplinary, or linguistic domains. Convergent solutions require international collaboration and equitable access to new technologies and practices. The ability of international, multidisciplinary and multilingual research teams to work effectively can be challenging.

Assessing How Social Exposures Are Integrated in Exposome Research: A Scoping Review.

Background: Exposome research aims to describe and understand the extent to which all the exposures in human environments may affect our health over the lifetime. However, the way in which humans interact with their environment is socially patterned. Failing to account for social factors in research exploring the exposome may underestimate the magnitude of the effect of exposures or mask inequalities in the distribution of both exposures and outcomes.

How to responsibly acknowledge research work in the era of big data and biobanks: ethical aspects of the Bioresource Research Impact Factor (BRIF).

Currently, a great deal of biomedical research in fields such as epidemiology, clinical trials and genetics is reliant on vast amounts of biological and phenotypic information collected and assembled in biobanks. While many resources are being invested to ensure that comprehensive and well-organised biobanks are able to provide increased access to, and sharing of biomedical samples and information, many barriers and challenges remain to such responsible and extensive sharing. Germane to the discussion herein is the barrier to collecting and sharing bioresources related to the lack of proper recognition of researchers and clinicians who developed the bioresource.

Biobankers: Treat the Poison of Invisibility with CoBRA, a Systematic Way of Citing Bioresources in Journal Articles.

Even though an increasing portion of biomedical research today relies on the use of bioresources, at present biobankers are not able to trace this use in scientific literature and measure its impact with a variety of citation metrics. The "BRIF (Bioresource Research Impact Factor) and journal editors" subgroup was created precisely with the aim to study this issue and to build a standardized system to cite bioresources in journal articles. This report aims at presenting a guideline for Citation of BioResources in journal Articles (CoBRA).

Developing a guideline to standardize the citation of bioresources in journal articles (CoBRA).

Background: Many biomedical publications refer to data obtained from collections of biosamples. Sharing such bioresources (biological samples, data, and databases) is paramount for the present governance of research. Recognition of the effort involved in generating, maintaining, and sharing high quality bioresources is poorly organized, which does not encourage sharing.

Measuring the contribution of tumor biobanks to research in oncology: surrogate indicators and bibliographic output.

The number of biobanks, in particular hospital-integrated tumor biobanks (HITB), is increasing all around the world. This is the consequence of an increase in the need for human biological resources for scientific projects and more specifically, for translational and clinical research. The robustness and reproducibility of the results obtained depend greatly on the quality of the biospecimens and the associated clinical data.

Open data sharing in the context of bioresources.

Recently many international initiatives have been developed to improve access to scientific information and to promote open data sharing. In the complex field of bioresources, the BRIF (Bioresource Research Impact Factor) project aims to create suitable methods to recognise and measure the use and impact of biological resources in scientific/academic work, in order to maximize access by researchers to collections of biological materials and attached databases, and to recognize efforts involved in their maintenance. The lack of a proper recognition of scientific contribution is in fact a major obstacle which impedes bioresource sharing.

Early loss of bone mineral density is correlated with a gain of fat mass in patients starting a protease inhibitor containing regimen: the prospective Lipotrip study.

Background: HIV-infected patients starting antiretroviral treatment (ART) experience deep and early disorders in fat and bone metabolism, leading to concomitant changes in fat mass and bone mineral density.

Methods: We conducted a prospective study in treatment-naive HIV-infected patients randomized to receive two nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors in combination with either a protease inhibitor (PI) or a non-nucleosidic reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NNRTI), to evaluate early changes in body composition, bone mineral density and metabolic markers as differentially induced by antiretroviral therapies. We measured changes in markers of carbohydrate, of fat and bone metabolism, and, using dual-emission X-ray absorptiometry (DXA), body composition and bone mineral density (BMD).

Quantifying the use of bioresources for promoting their sharing in scientific research.

An increasing portion of biomedical research relies on the use of biobanks and databases. Sharing of such resources is essential for optimizing knowledge production. A major obstacle for sharing bioresources is the lack of recognition for the efforts involved in establishing, maintaining and sharing them, due to, in particular, the absence of adequate tools.

The embodiment of adverse childhood experiences and cancer development: potential biological mechanisms and pathways across the life course.

Objectives: To explore current evidence of the physiological embedding of stress to discuss whether adverse childhood experiences (ACE) causing chronic or acute stress responses may alter fundamental biological functions.

Methods: A non-systematic review of the literature was carried out using keyword searches in Pubmed and the web of science from May to October 2011. In reference to the literature identified, we examine the potential biological pathways potentially linking exposure to ACE and cancer development and progression in adulthood.

Shift work and metabolic syndrome: respective impacts of job strain, physical activity, and dietary rhythms.

The impact of shift work on cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors and metabolic syndrome are not yet completely understood. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the impact of shift work on metabolic syndrome according to two different definitions in a population of strictly rotating shift workers (3x8 h) compared to paired counterparts working only day hours, and to study whether shift work itself is a determinant of metabolic syndrome after taking into account a large panel of confusing factors. We conducted a cross-sectional study comparing 98 strictly rotating shift workers to 100 regular day-workers (all subjects had a long experience of their working rhythms) within the same petrochemical plant.

Proliferation and wound healing of vascular cells trigger the generation of extracellular reactive oxygen species and LDL oxidation.

Cell proliferation of vascular cells is a key feature in vascular biology, wound healing, and pathophysiological processes such as atherosclerosis and restenosis. In atherosclerotic intima, cell proliferation colocalizes with oxidized LDL that indicate a local oxidative stress. This study aims to investigate whether cell proliferation is causally related with extracellular ROS generation and subsequent LDL oxidation.

Secreted apolipoprotein E reduces macrophage-mediated LDL oxidation in an isoform-dependent way.

As an inflammatory cell, the macrophage produces various oxidizing agents, such as free radical species. These can modify LDL as a secondary effect and doing so may favor atherogenic processes. Any molecule able to counteract these reactions would be of much benefit, especially if secreted by the macrophage itself at the lesion site.

Hepatic lipase: structure/function relationship, synthesis, and regulation.

Hepatic lipase (HL) is a lipolytic enzyme, synthesized by hepatocytes and found localized at the surface of liver sinusoid capillaries. In humans, the enzyme is mostly bound onto heparan-sulfate proteoglycans at the surface of hepatocytes and also of sinusoid endothelial cells. HL shares a number of functional domains with lipoprotein lipase and with other members of the lipase gene family.