Quantifying the quality of peer reviewers through Zipf's law

This paper introduces a statistical and other analysis of peer reviewers in order to approach their "quality" through some quantification measure, thereby leading to some quality metrics. Peer reviewer reports for the Journal of the Serbian Chemical Society are examined. The text of each report has first to be adapted to word counting software in order to avoid jargon inducing confusion when searching for the word frequency: e.g. C must be distinguished, depending if it means Carbon or Celsius, etc. Thus, every report has to be carefully "rewritten". Thereafter, the quantity, variety and distribution of words are examined in each report and compared to the whole set. Two separate months, according when reports came in, are distinguished to observe any possible hidden spurious effects. Coherence is found. An empirical distribution is searched for through a Zipf-Pareto rank-size law. It is observed that peer review reports are very far from usual texts in this respect. Deviations from the usual (first) Zipf's law are discussed. A theoretical suggestion for the "best (or worst) report" and by extension "good (or bad) reviewer", within this context, is provided from an entropy argument, through the concept of "distance to average" behavior. Another entropy-based measure also allows to measure the journal reviews (whence reviewers) for further comparison with other journals through their own reviewer reports.Comment: 28 pages; 8 Tables; 9 Figures; 39 references; prepared for and to be published in Scientometric

Review times in peer review: quantitative analysis of editorial workflows

We examine selected aspects of peer review and suggest possible improvements. To this end, we analyse a dataset containing information about 300 papers submitted to the Biochemistry and Biotechnology section of the Journal of the Serbian Chemical Society. After separating the peer review process into stages that each review has to go through, we use a weighted directed graph to describe it in a probabilistic manner and test the impact of some modifications of the editorial policy on the efficiency of the whole process

Fibrinogen increases resveratrol solubility and prevents it from oxidation

The French paradox describes a lower incidence of cardiovascular problems despite a high intake of saturated fats. This phenomenon was associated with higher consumption of red wine, as it was later discovered that the presence of antioxidants, including resveratrol, have beneficial effects. We hypothesized that resveratrol may have a more direct role in protection from harmful oxidation, presumably through binding to important proteins of the blood coagulation process. Spectrofluorimetry demonstrated that resveratrol is capable of binding to fibrinogen, the main protein in the coagulation process, which is also important as a food additive. Various spectroscopic methods determined that binding does not cause fibrinogen unfolding or destabilization since protein melting temperature remains unchanged. A mutually protective effect against the free radical-induced oxidation of polyphenol and fibrinogen was found. The presence of fibrinogen caused only a negligible masking effect of the antioxidative abilities of resveratrol, measured by a reduction of hexacyanoferrate (III), while greatly increasing its solubility in an aqueous environment, thus increasing its potential bioavailability. Due to its interaction with fibrinogen, resveratrol may serve as an antioxidant at the site of injury. The antioxidative effect of resveratrol may also protect and thus keep the desired characteristics of fibrinogen during the application of this protein as a food additive

Molecular Mechanisms of Possible Action of Phenolic Compounds in COVID-19 Protection and Prevention

The worldwide outbreak of COVID-19 was caused by a pathogenic virus called Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2). Therapies against SARS-CoV-2 target the virus or human cells or the immune system. However, therapies based on specific antibodies, such as vaccines and monoclonal antibodies, may become inefficient enough when the virus changes its antigenicity due to mutations. Polyphenols are the major class of bioactive compounds in nature, exerting diverse health effects based on their direct antioxidant activity and their effects in the modulation of intracellular signaling. There are currently numerous clinical trials investigating the effects of polyphenols in prophylaxis and the treatment of COVID-19, from symptomatic, via moderate and severe COVID-19 treatment, to anti-fibrotic treatment in discharged COVID-19 patients. Antiviral activities of polyphenols and their impact on immune system modulation could serve as a solid basis for developing polyphenol-based natural approaches for preventing and treating COVID-19

Delineating the role of FANCA in glucose-stimulated insulin secretion in β cells through its protein interactome

Hyperinsulinemia affects 72% of Fanconi anemia (FA) patients and an additional 25% experience lowered glucose tolerance or frank diabetes. The underlying molecular mechanisms contributing to the dysfunction of FA pancreas β cells is unknown. Therefore, we sought to evaluate the functional role of FANCA, the most commonly mutated gene in FA, in glucosestimulated insulin secretion (GSIS). This study reveals that FANCA or FANCB knockdown impairs GSIS in human pancreas β cell line EndoC-βH3. To identify potential pathways by which FANCA might regulate GSIS, we employed a proteomics approach to identify FANCA protein interactions in EndoC-βH3 differentially regulated in response to elevated glucose levels. Glucose-dependent changes in the FANCA interaction network were observed, including increased association with other FA family proteins, suggesting an activation of the DNA damage response in response to elevated glucose levels. Reactive oxygen species increase in response to glucose stimulation and are necessary for GSIS in EndoC-βH3 cells. Glucose-induced activation of the DNA damage response was also observed as an increase in the DNA damage foci marker γ-H2AX and dependent upon the presence of reactive oxygen species. These results illuminate the role of FANCA in GSIS and its protein interactions regulated by glucose stimulation that may explain the prevalence of β cell-specific endocrinopathies in FA patients

Priority criteria in peer review of scientific articles

Number of researchers, journals and articles has significantly increased in the last few years and peer review is still the most reliable instrument to sort out innovative, valuable, scientifically sound information from the pool of submitted results. Editors and publishers join their efforts to improve peer review process and to be able to do so properly, they need "field information" from contributors. Editorial board of the Journal of the Serbian Chemical Society performed its own survey to find out what reviewers recognize as priority criteria in manuscript evaluation and whether the professional background (title, number of years in research or experience in reviewing) influences these criteria. Most reviewers declared that they consider peer review as an essential component of the scientific professionalism. Scientific contribution and originality were the most important criteria in the evaluation of papers. Most reviewers preferred to see conclusions completely supported by experimental data, without additional speculations. Although there were no large differences between early stage and experienced researchers, early stage researchers and less experienced reviewers used grade 5 (indicating the highest priority) much more often in their evaluation of priority criteria than experienced researchers and/or reviewers, suggesting possible evolution of tolerance with experience

Lectin-induced alterations of the interaction of insulin and insulin-like growth factor 1 receptors with their ligands

Tesis (Ingeniero Industrial y de Sistemas)--Universidad de Piura. Facultad de Ingeniería. Programa Académico de Ingeniería Industrial y de Sistemas, 2003.Los objetivos logrados con esta tesis son: medición de la percepción común de los trabajadores sobre la estructura, sistemas, participación, etc. y elaboración de un plan de acción para una mejor gestión de la institución. Inicialmente se visitó la institución para conocer su cultura y políticas de trabajo a través de entrevistas personales con uno o dos trabajadores de cada área. Esta información fue procesada y se elaboró un plan de acción que busca la mejora continua de la institución. Según resultados: eficacia, atractividad y unidad, en conjunto dentro de la institución, se encuentran en un buen nivel. El factor objeto ha destacado sobre los demás, es decir, los trabajadores tienen conocimiento de las funciones que deben desempeñar y perciben una buena labor de capacitación. A pesar de esto, es de vital importancia elaborar un plan de capacitación y desarrollo para cada trabajador

Desorption of 137Cs+ from mosses

Mosses are biomonitors that accumulate large amounts of various pollutants, including radionuclides. In this work we investigated the possibility of 137Cs extraction from mosses, as well as the significance of species specificity on the efficiency of 137Cs desorption. Salt and acid solutions were used as extraction media. It was shown that a 5 % solution of both ammonium oxalate and phosphoric acid was able to desorb 81.8 % of 137Cs+ from Homalothecium sericeum, which was 39.9 % more than desorption from water. At the same time, most of the desorbed 137Cs+ was incorporated in crystals that precipitated from the solution. An interspecies difference in respect to 137Cs+ desorption was noticed