RESUMO
The autodependogram is a graphical device recently proposed in the literature to analyze autodependencies. It is defined computing the classical Pearson χ2-statistics of independence at various lags in order to point out the presence lag-depedencies. This paper proposes an improvement of this diagram obtained by substituting the χ2-statistics with an estimator of the Kullback-Leibler divergence between the bivariate density of two delayed variables and the product of their marginal distributions. A simulation study, on well-established time series models, shows that this new autodependogram is more powerful than the previous one. An application to a well-known financial time series is also shown.
RESUMO
Feline α1-acid glycoprotein (fAGP) modifies both its serum concentration and its glycan moiety during diseases. fAGP is hyposialylated in cats with feline infectious peritonitis (FIP), but not in clinically healthy cats or in cats with other diseases. This study was aimed to determine whether hyposialylated fAGP influences phagocytosis. A flow cytometric method based on ingestion of fluoresceinated bacteria and adapted to feline blood was used to assess phagocytosis of leukocytes incubated with 'non-pathological' fAGP (purified from sera with normal concentrations of AGP) and 'pathological' fAGP (purified from sera with >1.5mg/mL hyposialylated AGP). The flow cytometric method provided repeatable results for neutrophils (coefficients of variations, CVs <15%) but not for monocytes (CVs>20%) which had also a high individual variability. Compared with saline solution and with non-pathological fAGP, pathological fAGP significantly decreased phagocytosis in neutrophils and monocytes. This study demonstrated that hyposialylated fAGP down-regulates the phagocytic activity of feline neutrophils.
