Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Sitting and endothelial dysfunction: The role of shear stress

Summary Sedentary activity is a modifiable life-style behavior and a key component in the etiology of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ACVD). US adults and children spend more than half their waking time in sedentary pursuits. Sedentary activity has been shown to result in impaired insulin sensitivity, impaired metabolic function and attenuated endothelial function, which are classic markers of ACVD. Sedentary activity is defined as ‘sitting without otherwise being active. ’ This behavior promotes reduced muscular activity of the lower extremities which decreases leg blood flow, increases blood pooling in the calf, augments mean arterial pressure, and deforms arterial segments resulting in low mean shear stress (SS). SS activates distinct physiological mechanisms which have been proposed to be protective against ACVD; specifically through a SS-induced endothelium-derived nitric oxide mechanism. Reduced bioavailability of nitric oxide creates a pro-oxidant milieu resulting in increased oxidative stress. There is sufficient evidence which demonstrates that endothelial function is attenuated in the presence of oxidative stress. Sedentary activity results in low SS in the lower extremities which may result in increased oxidative stress and impaired endothelial function. This review furthers the use of sitting as model to study the effects of inactivity, discusses possible physiological mechanisms and suggests future directions.
Exploitation of the Internal Capital Market and the Avoidance of Outside Monitoring

Internal capital markets (ICMs) provide firms an alternative to costly external financing; however, they also provide an avenue to avoid the monitoring associated with issuing external capital. We argue that firms operating inefficient internal capital markets will avoid outside financing. Consistent with this view, conglomerates that cross-subsidize divisions or engage in value-destroying investment avoid external capital market oversight by refraining from issuing both debt and equity. We further show that firms issuing bonds while engaging in value-destroying investment experience yield spreads that are, on average, 46 basis points higher than those of other diversified firms. They similarly experience yield spreads that are 18 basis points higher when they issue syndicated loans. Value-destroying conglomerates also witness SEO announcement returns that are, on average, 1% more negative than firms operating more efficient internal capital markets.
Quality of life of caregivers of children and adolescents with speech and language disorders.

PURPOSE To investigate the quality of life of caregivers of children and adolescents presenting speech and language disorders from their own perspective. METHODS Two groups participated, adding up to 40 subjects. Group 1 was composed by 20 caregivers of 4 to 17 years-old children or adolescents with speech and language disorders, paired by age with the Control Group or 2 that included 20 caregivers of children or adolescents with no speech and language complaints. Data collection was done using: two open questions and the World Health Organization instrument, which was translated and adapted to Portuguese language - the World Health Organization Quality of Life Scale (WHOQOL-BREF). The results were submitted to statistical analysis and the open questions were qualitatively analyzed. RESULTS The language disorders distribution showed: stuttering (35%), non-neurological (35%), and neurological oral language disorders (30%). In the analysis of the WHOQOL-BREF scores, there were quality of life differences regarding the physical (1.1%), psychological (0.5%), and social relationships (1.8%) domains. Group 1 presented the most dissatisfying quality of life. Concerning the open questions, it presented good and reasonable characteristics and Group 2, good and very good. The clinical routine and children were mentioned as factors that hamper self-care in Group 1. CONCLUSIONS The lowest score of Group 1 in the WHOQOL-BREF was consistent with the open questions results, showing that aspects such as clinical attendance routine and comprehension difficulties influence caregivers' quality of life. The results corroborate that they should be assisted, since they are a group that deserves healthy actions directed to them.
Aryl Hydrocarbon Receptor-Dependent Retention of Nuclear HuR Suppresses Cigarette Smoke-Induced Cyclooxygenase-2 Expression Independent of DNA-Binding

The aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR), a ligand-activated transcription factor that responds to man-made environmental toxicants, has emerged as an endogenous regulator of cyclooxygenase-2 (Cox-2) by a mechanism that is poorly understood. In this study, we first used AhR-deficient (AhR−/−) primary pulmonary cells, together with pharmacological tools to inhibit new RNA synthesis, to show that the AhR is a prominent factor in the destabilization of Cox-2 mRNA. The destabilization of Cox-2 mRNA and subsequent suppression of cigarette smoke-induced COX-2 protein expression by the AhR was independent of its ability to bind the dioxin response element (DRE), thereby differentiating the DRE-driven toxicological AhR pathway from its anti-inflammatory abilities. We further describe that the AhR destabilizes Cox-2 mRNA by sequestering HuR within the nucleus. The role of HuR in AhR stabilization of Cox-2 mRNA was confirmed by knockdown of HuR, which resulted in rapid Cox-2 mRNA degradation. Finally, in the lungs of AhR−/− mice exposed to cigarette smoke, there was little Cox-2 mRNA despite robust COX-2 protein expression, a finding that correlates with almost exclusive cytoplasmic HuR within the lungs of AhR−/− mice. Therefore, we propose that the AhR plays an important role in suppressing the expression of inflammatory proteins, a function that extends beyond the ability of the AhR to respond to man-made toxicants. These findings open the possibility that a DRE-independent AhR pathway may be exploited therapeutically as an anti-inflammatory target.
Reactive Diffusion between Ag and Sn at Solid State Temperatures

The reactive diffusion at solid-state temperatures was experimentally studied for the binary Ag-Sn system. Sn/Ag/Sn diffusion couples were prepared by a diffusion bonding technique and then annealed at temperatures between T ¼ 433 and 473 K for various periods in an oil bath with silicone oil. After annealing, layers of the " (Ag3Sn) andcompounds were observed to form at the Sn/Ag interface. Furthermore, a thin layer alloyed with Sn was produced into the Ag specimen from the � /Ag interface owing to diffusion induced recrystallization (DIR). The thickness is about one order of magnitude greater for the " layer than for theand DIR layers. The total thickness l of the " andlayers is described as a function of the annealing time t by the equation l ¼ kðt=t0Þ n . Here, t0 is unit time, 1 s. The exponent n is 0.40, 0.38 and 0.36 at T ¼ 433, 453 and 473 K, respectively. If the reactive diffusion is controlled by the volume diffusion, n is equal to 0.5. However, n is actually smaller than 0.5 at all the annealing temperatures. This indicates that the grain boundary diffusion contributes to the reactive diffusion and the grain growth occurs at certain rates. As the annealing temperature decreases, the contribution of the grain boundary diffusion should be more remarkable, but the grain growth will become sluggish. This is the reason why the value of n increases with decreasing annealing temperature.
Glaucoma associated with the management of rhegmatogenous retinal detachment

Transient or permanent elevation of intraocular pressure (IOP) is a common complication following vitreoretinal surgery. Usually secondary glaucoma, which develops after scleral buckling procedures, or pars plana vitrectomy for repair of rhegmatogenous retinal detachment, is of multifactorial origin. It is essential, for appropriate management, to detect the cause of outflow obstruction. An exacerbation of preexisting open-angle glaucoma or a steroid-induced elevation of IOP should also be considered. Scleral buckling may be complicated by congestion and anterior rotation of the ciliary body resulting in secondary angle closure, which can usually resolve with medical therapy. The use of intravitreal gases may also induce secondary angle-closure with or without pupillary block. Aspiration of a quantity of the intraocular gas may be indicated. Secondary glaucoma can also develop after intravitreal injection of silicone oil due to pupillary block, inflammation, synechial angle closure, or migration of emulsified silicone oil in the anterior chamber and obstruction of the aqueous outflow pathway. In most eyes medical therapy is successful in controlling IOP; however, silicone oil removal with or without concurrent glaucoma surgery may also be required. Diode laser transscleral cyclophotocoagulation and glaucoma drainage devices constitute useful treatment modalities for long-term IOP control. Cooperation between vitreoretinal and glaucoma specialists is necessary to achieve successful management.
Association between physical activity, fiber intake, and other lifestyle variables and constipation in a study of women

OBJECTIVE:Because the risk factors for constipation in the general population are poorly defined, we examined the association between age, body mass index, and selected lifestyle and dietary factors with the prevalence of constipation in the Nurses’ Health Study.METHODS:A total of 62,036 women, aged 36–61 yr and free of cancer, responded to mailed questionnaires in 1980 and 1982, which assessed bowel movement frequency, dietary, and lifestyle factors. Constipation was defined as two or fewer bowel movements weekly.RESULTS:A total of 3327 women (5.4%) were classified as having constipation. Age and body mass index were inversely associated with constipation (p for trend < 0.0001). In multivariate analysis, women who reported daily physical activity had a lower prevalence of constipation (prevalence ratio [PR] = 0.56, 95% CI = 0.44–0.70). Women in the highest quintile of dietary fiber intake (median intake 20 g/day) were less likely to experience constipation (PR = 0.64, 95% CI = 0.57–0.73) than women in the lowest quintile (median intake 7 g/day). The PR for constipation for women who both reported daily physical activity and were in the highest quintile of fiber intake was 0.32 (95% CI = 0.20–0.54) compared with those with physical activity less than once weekly and those who were in the lowest quintile of fiber intake. Higher frequency of aspirin intake was associated with an increasing prevalence of constipation (PR = 1.38, 95% CI = 1.17–1.62). Current smoking and alcohol use were inversely associated with constipation.CONCLUSIONS:Our data suggest that moderate physical activity and increasing fiber intake are associated with substantial reduction in the prevalence of constipation in women.
Risk factors for cardiovascular disease

The most prevalent cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are atherosclerotic, affecting all arterial territories. Epidemiologic studies such as the Framingham and INTERHEART studies have firmly established the commonest or ‘traditional’ risk factors for CVD; namely, smoking, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, hypercholesterolaemia, and a family history of CVD. The ‘risk-factors approach’ to CVD looks at these factors, individually and in combination, in the causation of disease. The complex causation pathways involve interplay of individual factors, whether genetic or environmental. More recently, there has been increasing interest in ‘epigenetics’ or the way in which the environment interacts with genes in the process underlying CVD. This chapter presents an analysis of the traditional and novel risk factors for CVD.
Sea urchin spawning in benthic boundary layers: Are eggs fertilized before advecting
away from females?

Past work on fertilization in echinoids and other egg‐broadcasting, free‐spawning invertebrates suggests that these organisms might be extremely sperm limited in the field unless individuals spawn in close proximity and under nearly ideal flow conditions. However, virtually all previous experiments have used one or more techniques (surrogates for males and females, and short sampling duration) that bypassed two potentially important aspects of echinoid reproductive biology: the release of gametes in viscous fluids that cling to tests and spines, and extended longevity of eggs and undiluted sperm. We hypothesized that these attributes might interact with some flow regimes to facilitate time‐integrated fertilization. Consequently, we explored fertilization processes in sea urchins induced to spawn in a benthic boundary layer in a flow‐through flume, with a male 0.5 m upstream of a female. Our observations and data suggest that at free‐stream flow velocities of 2.5 and 8.5 cm s‐1, gametes were slowly and continually advected from the aboral surfaces of spawning animals. Eggs on the surface of the aboral mass were often fertilized before they ablated from the surface; many advected eggs were fertilized after being trapped in the vortex downstream of the female. Gamete advection and fertilization continued for several hours, with the actual time course depending on flow velocity. Fertilization levels declined only slightly with increasing flow velocity. These results suggest that fertilization in echinoderms and other free‐spawners with viscous, long‐lived gametes could be much less sperm‐limited than currently envisioned and have additional implications for population dynamics and selection on gamete characteristics.
Local and long-range interactions in the thermal unfolding transition of bovine pancreatic ribonuclease A.

This research was undertaken to distinguish between local and global unfolding in the reversible thermal denaturation of bovine pancreatic ribonclease A (RNase A). Local unfolding was monitored by steady-state and time-resolved fluorescence of nine mutants in each of which a single tryptophan was substituted for a wild-type residue. Global unfolding was monitored by far-UV circular dichroism and UV absorbance. All the mutants (except F8W and D38W) exhibited high specific enzymatic activity, and their far-UV CD spectra were very close to that of wild-type RNase A, indicating that the tryptophan substitutions did not affect the structure of any of the mutants (excluding K1W and Y92W) under folding conditions at 20 degrees C. Like wild-type RNase A, the various mutants exhibited reversible cooperative thermal unfolding transitions at pH 5, with transition temperatures 2.5-11 degrees C lower than that of the wild-type transition, as detected by far-UV CD or UV absorbance. Even at 80 degrees C, well above the cooperative transition of all the RNase A mutants, a considerable amount of secondary and tertiary structure was maintained. These studies suggest the following two-stage mechanism for the thermal unfolding transition of RNase A as the temperature is increased. First, at temperatures lower than those of the main cooperative transition, long-range interactions within the major hydrophobic core are weakened, e.g., those involving residues Phe-8 (in the N-terminal helix) and Lys-104 and Tyr-115 (in the C-terminal beta-hairpin motif). The structure of the chain-reversal loop (residues 91-95) relaxes in the same temperature range. Second, the subsequent higher-temperature cooperative unfolding transition is associated with a loss of secondary structure and additional changes in the tertiary contacts of the major hydrophobic core, e.g., those involving residues Tyr-73, Tyr-76, and Asp-38 on the other side of the molecule. The hydrophobic interactions of the C-terminal loop of the protein are enhanced by high temperature, and perhaps are responsible for the preservation of the local structural environment of Trp-124 at temperatures slightly above the major cooperative transition. The results shed new light on the thermal unfolding transitions, generally supporting the thermal unfolding hypothesis of Burgess and Scheraga, as modified by Matheson and Scheraga.
Tape Versus Suture in Arthroscopic Rotator Cuff Repair: Biomechanical Analysis and Assessment of Failure Rates at 6 Months

Background: Rotator cuff retears after surgical repair are associated with poorer subjective and objectives clinical outcomes than intact repairs. Purpose: The aims of this study were to (1) examine the biomechanical differences between rotator cuff repair using No. 2 suture and tape in an ovine model and (2) compare early clinical outcomes between patients who had rotator cuff repair with tape and patients who had repair with No. 2 suture. Study Design: Controlled laboratory study and cohort study; Level of evidence, 3. Methods: Biomechanical testing of footprint contact pressure and load to failure were conducted with 16 ovine shoulders using a tension band repair technique with 2 different types of sutures (No. 2 suture [FiberWire; Arthrex] and tape [FiberTape; Arthrex]) with the same knotless anchor system. A retrospective study of 150 consecutive patients (tape, n = 50; suture, n = 100) who underwent arthroscopic rotator cuff repair by a single surgeon with tear size larger than 1.5 × 1 cm was conducted. Ultrasound was used to evaluate the repair integrity at 6 months postsurgery. Results: Rotator cuff repair using tape had greater footprint contact pressure (mean ± standard error of the mean, 0.33 ± 0.03 vs 0.11 ± 0.3 MPa; P < .0001) compared with repair using No. 2 sutures at 0° abduction with a 30-N load applied across the repaired tendon. The ultimate failure load of the tape repair was greater than that for suture repair (217 ± 28 vs 144 ± 14 N; P < .05). The retear rate was similar between the tape (16%; 8/50) and suture groups (17%; 17/100). Conclusion: Rotator cuff repair with the wider tape compared with No. 2 suture did not affect the retear rate at 6 months postsurgery, despite having superior biomechanical properties.
Moving Object Localization Using Optical Flow for Pedestrian Detection from a Moving Vehicle

This paper presents a pedestrian detection method from a moving vehicle using optical flows and histogram of oriented gradients (HOG). A moving object is extracted from the relative motion by segmenting the region representing the same optical flows after compensating the egomotion of the camera. To obtain the optical flow, two consecutive images are divided into grid cells 14 × 14 pixels; then each cell is tracked in the current frame to find corresponding cell in the next frame. Using at least three corresponding cells, affine transformation is performed according to each corresponding cell in the consecutive images, so that conformed optical flows are extracted. The regions of moving object are detected as transformed objects, which are different from the previously registered background. Morphological process is applied to get the candidate human regions. In order to recognize the object, the HOG features are extracted on the candidate region and classified using linear support vector machine (SVM). The HOG feature vectors are used as input of linear SVM to classify the given input into pedestrian/nonpedestrian. The proposed method was tested in a moving vehicle and also confirmed through experiments using pedestrian dataset. It shows a significant improvement compared with original HOG using ETHZ pedestrian dataset.
The Effect of Specimen and Testing Variables on the Fracture of some Fibre Reinforced Epoxy Resins

The work of fracture of composite materials has often been measured without sufficient attention, for example, to specimen geometry and test conditions. In this work a range of testing techniques has been used to investigate how the measured work of fracture of unidirectionally- reinforced carbon fibre/epoxy composites, containing fibres of types 1 and 2, changes with various specimen and test variables. The measured work of fracture is seen to be independent of specimen width, and shows but slight dependence on notch root radius and test rate. More significant variations occur with orientation, specimen height and notch depth, however. Attempts are described to measure other fracture parameters which, for this class of materials, might prove to be of more value than the total work of fracture. In particular, an effort has been made to adapt the methods of Linear Elastic Fracture Mechanics, and some degree of success has been achieved in relating K 1 c , the critical stress intensity factor, measured by double edge notched plate techniques, and G 1 c , the critical strain energy release rate, with those measurements discussed previously.
GPR109A as an anti-inflammatory receptor in retinal pigment epithelial cells and its relevance to diabetic retinopathy.

PURPOSE Retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) expresses GPR109A, a receptor for the vitamin niacin and the ketone body β-hydroxybutyrate (β-HB). Because diabetes results in elevated levels of β-HB, here we studied expression of the receptor in diabetic retina. We also investigated its functional relevance in RPE. METHODS Retinal expression of GPR109A in diabetic mice and postmortem human eyes was evaluated by quantitative PCR (qPCR). ARPE-19 cells and primary wild-type and Gpr109a(-/-) mouse RPE cells were exposed to TNF-α in the presence or absence of niacin or β-HB, followed by analysis of IL-6 and Ccl2 expression via real-time qPCR and ELISA. RESULTS GPR109A expression was increased in diabetic mouse and human retina. TNF-α increased the expression and secretion of IL-6 and Ccl2 in ARPE-19 cells. Niacin and β-HB suppressed these effects, implicating GPR109A as the target responsible for mediation of the observed effects. Primary RPE cells from wild-type mice behaved similarly. In contrast, GPR109A ligands failed to suppress TNF-α-induced expression and secretion of IL-6 and Ccl2 in primary RPE cells from Gpr109a(-/-) mice, confirming that the observed anti-inflammatory effects were mediated specifically by Gpr109a. CONCLUSIONS GPR109A plays an anti-inflammatory role in RPE and its expression is upregulated in diabetes. Inflammation is a key causative factor in the pathogenesis of diabetic retinopathy. We speculate that the increased expression of GPR109A and elevation of its ligand β-HB in diabetes are mechanisms by which the tissue attempts to fight inflammation in this disease. Pharmacological activation of GPR109A may therefore have therapeutic potential in clinical management of diabetic retinopathy.
Optimization and Analysis of the Dual n/p-LDMOS Device

A scalable Dual n/p-LDMOS device with interesting RSP versus VBD performance for voltage applications in the range of 20-120 V is identified through proper optimization. Three designs have been proposed, based on different process implementations. The physical behavior of the device is reviewed and analyzed. The current expansion induced by the bipolar conductance in the drift region at high gate and drain biases is fully explained. The thermal behavior in a worst case condition is investigated, and the reduction in performance in terms of current and safe-operating area are reported. The switching performance is addressed, showing very good transient times in any analyzed load condition.