Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
University of Birmingham Caregiving alters immunity and stress hormones

Older caregivers of dementia patients have been studied as a model of chronic stress influencing psychological and physical well ‐ being and the function of the immune system. These immune decrements can relate to altered stress hormone levels, and caregivers show elevated or reduced cortisol compared to age ‐ matched controls as well as dysregulation in other cortisol indices. Recently, this field has developed to examine a range of immune outcomes and cortisol measures in younger caregivers too, as well as other potential underlying mechanisms including genetic variation, acute stress reactivity, and inflammation. Several interventions have also been trialled to reduce the negative physical impact of caregiving stress. This paper reviews the latest developments in the field and gives suggestions for future research.
Effects of structural nonlinearity on subsonic aeroelastic characteristics of an aircraft wing with control surface

The nonlinear aeroelastic characteristics of an aircraft wing with a control surface are investigated. A doublet-hybrid method is used for the calculation of subsonic unsteady aerodynamic forces and the minimum-state approximation is used for the approximation of aerodynamic forces. A free vibration analysis is performed using the ﬁnite element and the ﬁctitious mass methods. The structural nonlinearity in the control surface hinge is represented by both free-play and a bilinear nonlinearity. These nonlinearities are linearized using the describing function method. From the nonlinear ﬂutter analysis, various types of limit cycle oscillations and periodic motions are observed in a wide range of air speeds below the linear ﬂutter boundary. The effects of structural nonlinearities on aeroelastic characteristics are investigated.
to TCR Ligand Potency Within MHC Molecule or Antigenic Peptide Contribution of Individual Amino Acids

The TCR recognition of peptides bound to MHC class II molecules is highly ﬂexible in some T cells. Although progress has been made in understanding the interactions within the trimolecular complex, to what extent the individual components and their amino acid composition contribute to ligand recognition by individual T cells is not completely understood. We investigated how single amino acid residues inﬂuence Ag recognition of T cells by combining several experimental approaches. We deﬁned TCR motifs for CD4 1 T cells using peptide synthetic combinatorial libraries in the positional scanning format (PS-SCL) and single amino acid-modiﬁed peptide analogues. The similarity of the TCR motifs deﬁned by both methods and the identiﬁcation of stimulatory antigenic peptides by the PS-SCL approach argue for a contribution of each amino acid residue to the overall potency of the antigenic peptide ligand. In some instances, however, motifs are formed by adjacent amino acids, and their combined inﬂuence is superimposed on the overall contribution of each amino acid within the peptide epitope. In contrast to the ﬂexibility of the TCR to interact with different peptides, recognition was very sensitive toward modiﬁcations of the MHC-restriction element. Exchanges of just one amino acid of the MHC molecule drastically reduced the number of peptides recognized. The results indicate that a speciﬁc MHC molecule not only selects certain peptides, but also is crucial for setting an afﬁnity threshold for TCR recognition, which determines the ﬂexibility in peptide recognition for a given TCR. The Journal of Immunology, 2000, 164: 861–871. Autologous or allogeneic PBMC from different and matched for single HLA-DR alleles used. the of the MHC molecule for recognition, additional with HLA-DRB1*1503, MHC molecules were used. allogeneic stimulation by alleles other than those in question, each experiment was performed with PBMC from at least two different donors who expressed the desired MHC molecule but did not overlap in the others.
Electronic Interactions in Semiconductor Quantum Dots and Quantum Point Contacts

We report several detailed experiments on electron transport through Quantum Point Contacts (QPCs) and lateral Quantum Dots (QDs), created in a Single-Electron Transistor (SET). In the experiment for QPCs, we present a zero-bias peak (ZBP) in the differential conductance, G, which splits in an external magnetic field. The observed splitting closely matches the Zeeman energy and shows very little dependence on gate voltage, suggesting that the mechanism responsible for the formation of the peak involves electron spin. We also show that the mechanism that leads to the formation of the ZBP is different from the conventional Kondo effect found in QDs. [1] In the second experiment, we present transport measurements of a QD in a spin-flip cotunneling regime and a quantitative comparison of the data to the microscopic theory by Lehman and Loss. The differential conductance is measured in the presence of an in-plane Zeeman field. We focus on the ratio of the nonlinear G at bias voltages exceeding the Zeeman threshold to G for those below the threshold. The data show good quantitative agreement with the theory with no adjustable parameters. We also compare the theoretical results to the predictions of a phenomenological form used for the determination of a heterostructure g-factor and find good agreement between the two. In the third experiment, we report the magnetic splitting, ∆K , of a Kondo peak in G for a QD while tuning the Kondo temperature, TK , along two different paths in the parameter space: varying the dot-lead coupling at a constant dot energy, and vice versa. At a high magnetic field, B, the changes of ∆K with TK along the two paths have opposite signs, indicating that ∆K is not a universal function of TK . At low B, we observe a decrease in ∆K with TK along both paths, in agreement with theoretical predictions. Furthermore, we find ∆K/∆ < 1 at low B and ∆K/∆ > 1 at high B, where ∆ is the Zeeman energy of the bare spin, in the same system. [2] In the last experiment, we report the zero-bias differential conductance, of an SET in the Kondo regime as a function of temperature, T, and an in-plane magnetic field B. Scaled plots of both the T and B-dependent data show universal behavior. At moderate and high B, the magnetoconductance data show good agreement with renormalization group calculations in the spin-1/2 Kondo regime. At very low B, we observe a non-monotonic behavior, which may due to the presence of multiple orbital dot levels with similar energies. Further study is required to confirm this assumption.
Low-Dose High-Resolution Photon-Counting CT of the Lung: Radiation Dose and Image Quality in the Clinical Routine

This study aims to investigate the qualitative and quantitative image quality of low-dose high-resolution (LD-HR) lung CT scans acquired with the first clinical approved photon counting CT (PCCT) scanner. Furthermore, the radiation dose used by the PCCT is compared to a conventional CT scanner with an energy-integrating detector system (EID-CT). Twenty-nine patients who underwent a LD-HR chest CT scan with dual-source PCCT and had previously undergone a LD-HR chest CT with a standard EID-CT scanner were retrospectively included in this study. Images of the whole lung as well as enlarged image sections displaying a specific finding (lesion) were evaluated in terms of overall image quality, image sharpness and image noise by three senior radiologists using a 5-point Likert scale. The PCCT images were reconstructed with and without a quantum iterative reconstruction algorithm (PCCT QIR+/−). Noise and signal-to-noise (SNR) were measured and the effective radiation dose was calculated. Overall, image quality and image sharpness were rated best in PCCT (QIR+) images. A significant difference was seen particularly in image sections of PCCT (QIR+) images compared to EID-CT images (p < 0.005). Image noise of PCCT (QIR+) images was significantly lower compared to EID-CT images in image sections (p = 0.005). In contrast, noise was lowest on EID-CT images (p < 0.001). The PCCT used significantly less radiation dose compared to the EID-CT (p < 0.001). In conclusion, LD-HR PCCT scans of the lung provide better image quality while using significantly less radiation dose compared to EID-CT scans.
Numerical Study for Unsteady Aerodynamics of Multi-Dimensional Freely Falling Plates or Thin Coins

—This paper presents a multi-dimensional high-order gas-kinetic scheme on moving mesh to simulate unsteady flows of freely falling plates or thin coins. The two-dimensional scheme has previously been successfully implemented on freely falling plates, where the rich dynamical behavior, such as fluttering and tumbling motion, was analyzed and the quantitative comparison has been provided between the experimental measurement and numerical computation. In the past several years, a three-dimensional gas-kinetic scheme on moving grid has also been developed to compute fluid problems with moving boundaries. In this work in progress paper, both the modified grid velocity and high-order gas-kinetic scheme are developed to improve the above gas-kinetic method, which is applied for simulating three-dimensional freely falling thin disks.
Modeling and Design of Brushless Doubly-Fed Induction Machines

The rapid increase of wind power in the power grid results in high grid connection requirements for wind turbines. Moreover, the reliability of wind turbines becomes more and more important, especially in offshore applications. One potential solution for these demands is the wind turbine drive-train based on the brushless doubly-fed induction machine (DFIM). This machine type has no brushes or slip-rings on the rotor side which provides an attractive alternative to the DFIM which is commonly employed in the current market. However, the brushless DFIM has not yet been commercialized. Therefore, the primary objective of this thesis focuses on ‘modeling and design of brushless DFIM, to advance the development of this machine type for wind turbine applications’. A computationally efficient FE model is proposed to evaluate the performance of the brushless DFIM. An efficient, flexible and accurate optimization approach is then developed by combining the computationally efficient FE model with the NSGA-II multi-objective optimization algorithm. Compared with normal induction machines, the brushless DFIM is expected to have more severe noise, vibrations and lower power quality due to many undesired space-harmonics. The 2D multi-slice FE model is applied to investigate whether skewing rotor slots is useful to overcome these drawbacks of brushless DFIMs. Based on the study of the space- and time-harmonics in brushless DFIMs, a computationally efficient method is proposed to investigate the effects of skew at the initial design stage. Sixteen constructions are evaluated to gain more design guidelines for nested-loop rotors. The complicated space- and time-harmonics, the influence of the rotor skew and the influence of the nested-loop configurations are studied and validated by carrying out measurements on a small-scale prototype with four different rotors. The 3D magneto-static FE model is applied to investigate the axial flux due to the skewed slots which is neglected in the 2D multi-slice FE model. Finally, all the modeling methods and the design guidelines are brought together to optimize the design of a 3.2MW brushless DFIM. The results show that the design is improved from the active material cost and the efficiency of the machine points of view by increasing the magnetic loading of the brushless DFIMs. However, the brushless DFIM does not show advantages compared with normal DFIGs and PM generators from the efficiency and the shear stress points of view. However, considering the additional advantages of maintenance and reliability, the brushless DFIMs may provide a feasible application for wind turbine drive-trains.
Regulation of TGF- b -mediated endothelial-mesenchymaltransitionbymicroRNA-27

Multiple microRNAs (miRNAs) regulate epithelial-mesenchymal transition and endothelial-mesenchymal transition (EndMT). Here we report that microRNA-27b (miR-27b) positively regulates transforming growth factor- b (TGF- b )-induced EndMT of MS-1 mouse pancreatic microvascular endothelial cells. TGF- b induced miR-23b/24-1/27b expression, and inhibition of miR-27 suppressed TGF- b -mediated induction of mesenchymal genes. Genome-wide miRNA target analysis revealed that miR-27 targets Elk1, which acts as a competitive inhibitor of myocardin-related transcription factor-serum response factor signalling and as a myogenic repressor. miR-27b was also found to regulate several semaphorin receptors including Neuropilin 2, Plexin A2 and Plexin D1. These results suggest important roles of miR-27 in TGF-
Life satisfaction among upper secondary school students in Norway: associations with school stress, academic and social self-efficacy and school satisfaction

Purpose : This study assesses the degree to which school stress, academic self-efficacy, social self-efficacy and school satisfaction are associated with overall life satisfaction in upper secondary school in Norway, and the degree to which school stress, academic self-efficacy, social self-efficacy and school satisfaction are associated with each other. Method : Cross-sectional study of 1,031 students from upper secondary schools in Norway. Baseline data from the Dream School Project was collected during spring 2014. Correlation analysis was used to assess the association between the variables, and hierarchical multiple regression analysis was used to evaluate the association between school stress, academic self-efficacy, social self-efficacy, school satisfaction and life satisfaction, controlled for age, gender, grades, study program and family wealth. Results : School stress was negatively associated with life satisfaction, to a small degree, while academic self-efficacy, social self-efficacy and school satisfaction were positively associated with life satisfaction to a medium-strong degree. School stress on one hand was negatively associated to school satisfaction and academic self-efficacy on the other hand. School satisfaction was associated with social self-efficacy to a small degree, while medium strong degree to academic self-efficacy. Together, school stress, academic self-efficacy, social self-efficacy, school satisfaction, study programme and family wealth explained 35 % of the variance in life satisfaction, whereas social self-efficacy explained most of the variance, supporting the importance of social and academic mastery experiences in upper secondary school. Girls, and students from families not economically well off, had the highest scores in school stress, compared to boys and students economically better off.
Validation of Non-Invasive Preimplantation Genetic Screening Using a Routine IVF Laboratory Workflow

Embryo selection is needed to optimize the chances of pregnancy in assisted reproduction technology. This study aimed to validate non-invasive preimplantation genetic testing for aneuploidy (niPGT-A) using a routine IVF laboratory workflow. Can niPGT-A combined with time-lapse morphokinetics provide a better embryo-selection strategy? A total of 118 spent culture mediums (SCMs) from 32 couples were collected. A total of 40 SCMs and 40 corresponding trophectoderm (TE) biopsy samples (n = 29) or arrested embryos (n = 11) were assessed for concordance. All embryos were cultured to the blastocyst stage (day 5 or 6) in a single-embryo culture time-lapse incubator. The modified multiple annealing and looping-based amplification cycle (MALBAC) single-cell whole genome amplification method was used to amplify cell-free DNA (cfDNA) from the SCM, which was then sequenced on the Illumina MiSeq system. The majority of insemination methods were conventional IVF. Low cfDNA concentrations were noted in this study. The amplification niPGT-A and conventional PGT-A was 67.7%. Based on this study, performing niPGT-A without altering the daily laboratory procedures cannot provide a precise diagnosis. However, niPGT-A can be applied in clinical IVF, enabling the addition of blastocysts with a better prediction of euploidy for transfer.
Diagnosis and Prediction of Endometrial Carcinoma Using Machine Learning and Artificial Neural Networks Based on Public Databases

Endometrial carcinoma (EC), a common female reproductive system malignant tumor, affects thousands of people with high morbidity and mortality worldwide. This study was aimed at developing a prediction model for the diagnosis of EC in the general population. First, we obtained datasets GSE63678, GSE106191, and GSE115810 from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database, dataset GSE17025 from the GEO database, and the RNA sequence of EC from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database to constitute the training, test, and validation groups, respectively. Subsequently, the 96 most significantly differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified and analyzed for function and pathway enrichment in the training group. Next, we acquired the disease-specific genes by random forest and established an artificial neural network for the diagnosis. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were utilized to identify the signature across the three groups. Finally, immune infiltration was analyzed to reveal tumor-immune microenvironment (TIME) alterations in EC. The top 96 DEGs (77 down-regulated and 19 up-regulated genes) were primarily enriched in the interleukin-17 signaling pathway, protein digestion and absorption, and transcriptional misregulation in cancer. Subsequently, 14 characterizing genes of EC were identified by random forest. In the training, test, and validation groups, the artificial neural network was constructed with high diagnostic accuracies of 0.882, 0.864, and 0.839, respectively, and areas under the ROC curve (AUCs) of 0.928, 0.921, and 0.782, respectively. Finally, resting and activated mast cells were found to have increased in TIME. We constructed an artificial diagnostic model with excellent reliability for EC and uncovered variations in the immunological ecosystem of EC through integrated bioinformatics approaches, which might be potential diagnostic targets for EC.
The Protective Anticancer Effect of Natural Lycopene Supercritical CO2 Watermelon Extracts in Adenocarcinoma Lung Cancer Cells

Carotenoids may have different effects on cancer and its progression. The safety of carotenoid supplements was evaluated in vitro on human non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) adenocarcinoma A549 cells by the administration of three different oleoresins containing lycopene and other lipophilic phytochemicals, such as tocochromanols. The oleoresins, obtained by the supercritical CO2 green extraction technology from watermelon (Lyc W), gấc(Lyc G) and tomato (Lyc T) and chlatrated in α-cyclodextrins, were tested in comparison to synthetic lycopene (Lyc S), by cell cycle, Annexin V-FITC/PI, clonogenic test, Mytosox, intracellular ROS, Western Blot for NF-kB and RT-PCR and ELISA for IL-8. The extracts administered at the same lycopene concentration (10 µM) showed conflicting behaviors: Lyc W, with the highest lycopene/tocochromanols ratio, significantly increased cell apoptosis, mitochondrial stress, intracellular ROS, NF-kB and IL-8 expression and significantly decreased cell proliferation, whereas Lyc G and Lyc T significantly increased only cell proliferation. Lyc S treatment was ineffective. The highest amount of lycopene in Lyc W was able to counteract and revert the cell survival effect of tocochromanols supporting the importance of evaluating the lycopene bio-availability and the real effect of antioxidant tocochromanols’ supplementation which may not only have no anticancer benefits but may even increase cancer aggressivity.
Thymocyte Differentiation during Discrete Stages of Postnatal Analysis of Transcription Factor Expression

Postnatal T lymphocyte differentiation in the thymus is a multistage process involving serial waves of lineage speciﬁcation, proliferative expansion, and survival/cell death decisions. Although these are believed to originate from signals derived from various thymic stromal cells, the ultimate consequence of these signals is to induce the transcriptional changes that are deﬁnitive of each step. To help to characterize this process, high density microarrays were used to analyze transcription factor gene expression in RNA derived from progenitors at each stage of T lymphopoietic differentiation, and the results were validated by a number of appropriate methods. We ﬁnd a large number of transcription factors to be expressed in developing T lymphocytes, including many with known roles in the control of differentiation, proliferation, or cell survival/death decisions in other cell types. Some of these are expressed throughout the developmental process, whereas others change substantially at speciﬁc developmental transitions. The latter are particularly interesting, because stage-speciﬁc changes make it increasingly likely that the corresponding transcription factors may be involved in stage-speciﬁc processes. Overall, the data presented here represent a large resource for gene discovery and for conﬁrmation of results obtained through other methods. The Journal of Immunology, 2004, 173: 1094–1102.
Progressive Atherosclerosis and Incident Cardiovascular Disease Heme Oxygenase-1 Gene Promoter Microsatellite Polymorphism Is Associated With

[2.39, 12.42]; P <0.0001), enhanced atherosclerosis progression (median difference in atherosclerosis score [interquartile range], 2.1 [0.8, 5.6] versus 0.0 [0.0, 2.2] mm; P =0.0012), and a trend toward higher levels of oxidized phospholipids on apolipoprotein B-100 (median oxidized phospholipids/apolipoprotein B level [interquartile range], 11364 [4160, 18330] versus 4844 [3174, 12284] relative light units; P =0.0554). Increased cardiovascular disease risk in those homozygous for ≥ 32 repeats was also detected in a pooled analysis of 7848 participants of the Bruneck, SAPHIR, and KORA prospective studies (hazard ratio [95% confidence interval], 3.26 [1.50, 7.33]; P =0.0043). Conclusions — This study found a strong association between the HO-1 variable number tandem repeat polymorphism and cardiovascular disease risk confined to subjects with a high number of repeats on both HO-1 alleles and provides evidence for accelerated atherogenesis and decreased antioxidant defense in this vascular high-risk group. ( Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol . 2015;35:00-00.) Heme oxygenase-1 is a key antioxidant and cytoprotective enzyme, and a repeat length polymorphism in its gene promoter region impacts its expression. We found that this polymorphism is associated with cardiovascular risk such that subjects with high repeat lengths on both heme oxygenase-1 alleles suffer a substantially elevated risk. Moreover, we found evidence that oxidative stress and atherosclerosis at least partly mediate this risk elevation. The prospective population-based framework of the Bruneck Study with its high-quality data assessment allowed, for the first time, an investigation of this association both longitudinally and in the general population. This work may delimit a previously underappreciated cardiovascular high-risk group that merits particular preventive attention.
Angola: comparação entre diferentes agregados monetários Currency substitution and inflation forecast in Angola: comparison of alternative monetary aggregates

The main purpose of this paper is to identify a stable money demand function for Angola. Using monthly data from 2012:01 until 2019:01, we run a Vector Error Correction model, for the long-run relationships experimenting with different monetary aggregates. Then, an Auto Regressive Distributed Lag model is used to access the forecasting power of the corresponding excess liquidities regarding the inflation rate. The results indicate that there is currency substitution in Angola, but instability of money demand can be overcome by using broader monetary aggregates that include foreign currency deposits.