Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Epidemiology and pathogenesis of heart failure with preserved ejection fraction.

Heart failure (HF) is a complex syndrome that affects approximately 6.5 million adults in the United States. About half of the 6.5 million adults with HF are estimated to be individuals with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF). It is a common cause for poor quality of life, increased health-care resource utilization, and early mortality. HF incidence has risen to epidemic proportions in the recent years. This review attempts to address the epidemiology and pathophysiology of HFpEF. The incidence of HFpEF increased from 48% to 57% from 2000 to 2007 with a slight decrease in 2010 to 52%. The temporal trends in heart failure show an overall stable incidence of HF over the last two decades with increasing incidence of HFpEF and decreasing HFrEF incidence. Many etiologies contribute to the development of HFpEF which makes the treatment very challenging. Pathophysiology of HFpEF is multifaceted stemming from several disease-specific aspects of inflammation and endothelial function, cardiomyocyte hypertrophy and fibrosis, ventricular-vascular uncoupling, pulmonary hypertension and chronotropic incompetence. Hence identifying the risk factors and etiologies is imperative to achieve optimal outcomes in this population. Newer insights into myocardial remodeling have led to an interesting finding of abnormal fibroblasts in HFpEF which are apoptosis resistant and initiate the development of an abnormal myocardial matrix resulting in initiation and progression of the disease. Upregulation of ROS has also been implicated in HFpEF. Further investigation could provide new avenues to target therapeutics specifically to stop initiation and progression of fibrosis.
Digest: Sexual conflict as a novel hypothesis for the evolution of gynodioecy *

Can sexual conflict over the length of male versus female maturity phases within hermaphroditic flowers promote the evolution of gynodioecy? Wang et al. found that hermaphroditic plants of Cyananthus delavayi exhibited a plastic response to a failure in pollen removal, which compromised seed production by reducing the duration of the female maturity phase to the benefit of the male phase. Sexual conflict over sex‐specific temporal maturity may bring about sufficient fertility differences between hermaphrodites and females to promote the evolution of gynodioecy.
Associations of Power Relations, Wife-Beating Attitudes, and Controlling Behavior of Husband With Domestic Violence Against Women in India: Insights From the National Family Health Survey–4

This study assesses the relationship of power relations, attitudes toward wife-beating, and controlling behavior of husband with violence against women in India using the recent National Family Health Survey (NFHS-4). In India, about 31% of ever-married women experienced domestic violence committed by their partner during 2015-16. Women’s decision-making power was associated with a decreased likelihood of spousal violence. However, the justification of wife-beating and controlling behavior of husband increased the risk of intimate partner violence. This study emphasizes the need for prioritizing girls’ education, enhancing women’s autonomy, prevention of child marriage, and promoting gender equality in society to address the problem of spousal violence.
No sustained effects of an intervention to prevent excessive GWG on offspring fat and lean mass at 54 weeks: Yet a greater head circumference persists

LIFT (Lifestyle Intervention for Two) trial found that intervening in women with overweight and obesity through promoting healthy diet and physical activity to control gestational weight gain (GWG) resulted in neonates with greater weight, lean mass and head circumference and similar fat mass at birth. Whether these neonate outcomes are sustained at 1‐year was the focus of this investigation.
The Discovery of Druggable Anti-aging Agents

Caloric restriction (CR) has been shown to extend the lifespan of many species. Research to identify compounds that imitate the results of CR has shown extensions of both lifespan and healthspan via different mechanisms. For example, mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR) inhibitors such as rapamycin affect nutrient-sensing pathways; phenols and flavonoids show antioxidant characteristics; aspirin has anti-inflammatory effects, while spermidine induces autophagy. Herein, we summarize research progress and proposed mechanisms for the most well-known compounds showing lifespan-extending potential for anti-aging characteristics.
Point-of-Care Ultrasound and Modernization of the Bedside Assessment.

W e live in an era of rapid technological advancement, and as newer diagnostic modalities have emerged, the traditional physical examination has become less central to the clinical assessment of patients. Point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS), ultrasound imaging acquired and interpreted by a treating clinician at the bedside, has emerged as a tool that can augment the diagnostic accuracy of the traditional bedside assessment. Emerging evidence shows that the accuracy of certain POCUS applications rivals and sometimes surpasses that of conventional imaging tests. Growing literature supports the notion that POCUS can expedite diagnosis as well as reduce the number of imaging tests, patient exposure to ionizing radiation, and overall costs. Recently, several low-cost handheld ultrasound devices that generate high-resolution images have entered the market and are being purchased directly by clinicians. Given the increasing availability of POCUS, we discuss its utility from the patient, clinician, and societal perspectives as well as the key barriers to its successful incorporation into graduate medical education.
The year in cardiovascular medicine 2020: valvular heart disease

Graphical Abstract Proposed framework for classifying coexisting mitral regurgitation and severe LV systolic dysfunction. This framework is based on ancillary analyses of randomized clinical trials and prospective validation is pending. ERO: effective regurgitant orifice. EDV: end-diastolic volume. TMVr: transcatheter mitral valve repair.
Limiting field strength and electron swarm coefficients of the CF3I–SF6 gas mixture

We have measured the electron drift velocity, longitudinal diffusion, and the effective ionization coefficients in the gaseous mixture of CF3I–SF6 over the density-normalized electric field intensity E/N, from 375 to 500 Td (1 Td = 10−17 V cm2). A pulsed Townsend technique was used. Overall, the gas mixture compositions were varied from 50 to 90% CF3I. We have found that the limiting field strength E/Nlim of the CF3I–SF6 mixture is superior to that of CF3I–N2, and always higher than that of SF6. Moreover, over the whole mixture range, the range of the limiting field strength for the CF3I–SF6 mixture is 360–437 Td, these limits corresponding for pure SF6 and CF3I, respectively.
Endoscopic and Upper Gastrointestinal Barium X-ray Radiography Images of Early-stage Autoimmune Gastritis: A Report of Two Cases

We herein report two patients with early-stage autoimmune gastritis who did not exhibit complete atrophy. Endoscopic examinations showed no manifestations of severe atrophic gastritis, but revealed a mosaic pattern with slight swelling of the areae gastricae restricted to the corpus in both patients. In the patient in case 2, upper gastrointestinal barium X-ray radiography revealed a slightly protruded irregular areae gastricae throughout the gastric body, except for in the antrum. Our findings emphasize the need for clinicians to recognize that autoimmune gastritis might be present in the absence of severe atrophic gastritis; this can aid in the identification of the early stages of autoimmune gastritis.
Exploring insights of syntaxin superfamily proteins from Entamoeba histolytica: a prospective simulation, protein‐protein interaction, and docking study

Entamoeba histolytica (Eh), a parasitic protozoan and the causative agent of invasive Amoebiasis, invade the host tissue through an effective secretory pathway. There are several lines of evidence suggesting that amoebic trophozoite pore‐forming complex amoebapore and a large class of proteases enzymes including rhomboid proteases, cysteine proteases, and metalloproteases are implicated in host tissue invasion. For successful delivery of these molecules/cargos, trophozoites heavily rely on sorting machinery from the endoplasmic reticulum, Golgi to plasma membrane. Although, sole secretion machinery in E. histolytica is not characterized yet. Therefore, here our aim is to understand the properties of key molecules N‐ethylmaleimide‐sensitive fusion protein attached to protein receptors (SNAREs) in E. histolytica. SNAREs proteins are an important component of the membrane‐trafficking machinery and have been associated in a range of processes including vesicle tethering, fusion as well as specificity of vesicular transport in all eukaryotic cells. SNARE proteins are architecturally simple, categorized by the presence of one copy of a homologous coiled‐coil forming motif. However, the structural information and protein‐protein interaction study of Eh‐associated syntaxin proteins are still not known. Here, we characterize the syntaxin 1 like molecule and VAMP from Eh through physiochemical profiling, modeling, atomistic simulation, protein‐protein interaction, and docking approaches on the proteins containing SNARE and synaptobrevin domain. The modeled structures and the critical residues recognized through protein interaction and docking study may provide better structural and functional insights into these proteins and may aid in the development of newer diagnostic assays.
Nanoscale cobalt oxides thin films obtained by CVD and sol-gel routes

The effect of the preparation procedure on the structure and properties of nanoscale systems constitutes an interesting starting point for the preparation of advanced materials for functional applications. In this work, cobalt oxides nanocrystalline thin films were synthesized by the Chemical Vapor Deposition and sol-gel routes. In the first case, a Co(II) β-diketonate was employed as source compound in an oxygen atmosphere, whereas the sol-gel films were obtained by dip-coating from alcoholic solutions of cobalt acetate. The films were deposited on glassy substrates (SiO 2 , Indium Tin Oxide) and subsequently annealed in different conditions in order to tailor their composition from CoO to Co 3 O 4 by a proper combination of the synthesis parameters and thermal treatments. The microstructure of the samples was studied by X-ray Diffraction (XRD) and optical absorption, while their surface and in-depth chemical composition was analyzed by X-ray Photoelectron (XPS) and (XE-AES) techniques. Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) was employed to analyze the surface morphology of the films. Particular emphasis was given to the influence of the preparation route on the system features by a comparison of the results obtained by the two synthetic approaches.
Binding energy of localized biexcitons in AlGaN-based quantum wells

The excitonic optical properties of Al0.60Ga0. 40N/Al0.70Ga0. 30N multiple quantum wells were studied by photoluminescence (PL) and PL excitation spectroscopies at room temperature. The binding energy of localized biexcitons in quantum wells was evaluated to be 136 meV on the basis of the energy separation between the exciton resonance and the two-photon biexciton resonance. This value was 2.4 times larger than the biexciton binding energy of 56 meV in an Al0.61Ga0. 39N ternary alloy epitaxial layer with almost the same aluminum composition as the quantum-well layers. This increase unambiguously resulted from the effect of quantum confinement on biexcitons.
Study of Cherry Stones as a Precursor in the Preparation of Low Cost Carbonaceous Adsorbent

Abstract A cherry stone-based activated carbon was electrochemically and chemically oxidized to enhance its adsorbent property for comparison with as-produced. The samples obtained were characterized by Boehm's titration, pH titration, zeta potential measurement, FT-IR, Brunauer–Emmet–Teller surface area, and pore size distribution. A significant increase in the concentration of surface functional groups was obtained from the oxidation of the samples due to the introduction of oxygen-containing functional groups, as confirmed by Boehm's titration, FT-IR, PZC, and IEP analyses. Activation methods significantly improved the amount of oxygen-containing surface functional groups that make the carbonaceous adsorbents more hydrophilic and acidic, decreasing the pH of their point of zero charge, and increasing their surface charge density. The activated carbon samples obtained were predominantly microporous, and their pore volumes decreased as a function of activation period and temperature. The surface chemistry development of carbons was correlated to increasing removal ability of heavy metals.
Alkanethiol Monolayers on Preoxidized Gold. Encapsulation of Gold Oxide under an Organic Monolayer

The adsorption of dodecyl mercaptan (DM) monolayers onto plasma preoxidized gold was studied. The degree of preoxidation was determined quantitatively using electrochemical stripping analysis. It is shown that (i) alkanethiols form oriented monolayers on gold oxide surfaces. (ii) The contact angles and ellipsometric parameters of DM monolayers on gold vary systematically with the degree of preoxidation of the evaporated gold substrate. (iii) The monolayer effectively isolates the oxide from its surrounding, thus preventing chemical and electrochemical reduction of the inherently unstable gold oxide. The existence of a layer of encapsulated gold oxide under the organic monolayer is verified by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and combined electrochemical-depth profiling measurements
The Effect of Hydrostatic Pressure on Physical Properties and Microstructure of Spruce and Cherry

Summary The effect of hydrostatic pressure on the density, the ultrasonic velocities and the microstructure of spruce and cherry wood has been studied. Generally speaking, under hydrostatic pressure wood becomes less heterogeneous and less anisotropic than natural wood. In spruce, crushing and buckling of the thin-walled cells in the earlywood takes place. This also has the effect of disrupting the medullary rays, which assume a zig-zag path through the structure. Cherry has a much more homogeneous structure, and the main effect of the hydrostatic pressure is compaction of the vessels by buckling of the walls. The fibres are scarcely affected by the treatment. The width of the earlywood zone decreased after the application of pressure by 26% in spruce, and by 11% in cherry. The average density was increased by the hydrostatic pressure by 26% for spruce and by 46% for cherry. The densitometric profile of spruce demonstrates significant changes following the pressure treatment, with the minimum density DMin increasing and the maximum density DMax decreasing. For cherry, the densitometric profile is shifted rather uniformly towards higher densities, and the annual ring profile is spatially slightly compacted but otherwise similar to that of untreated wood. The anisotropy of wood (expressed by the ratio of acoustic invariants) decreased by 56% for spruce and by 33% for cherry. The structural damage in spruce is predominantly found in the radial (R) direction, and this corresponds to a reduction of 73% in the velocity of the longitudinal ultrasonic waves in the radial direction, VRR. In cherry, the structural damage is mainly in the transverse, T direction. The velocity of the longitudinal ultrasonic waves in the transverse direction, VTT is reduced by 44%. The medullary rays in cherry seem to be the most important anatomical feature influencing the propagation of ultrasonic waves.
Bionanofabrication of ordered nanoparticle arrays: Effect of particle properties and adsorption conditions

Arrays of Au nanoparticles were created using the inherent repeating patterns of bacterial S-layer proteins. Bacterial self-assembling S-layer protein lattices display a highly repetitive surface structure that makes them particularly suitable as biotemplates to fabricate metallic/semiconducting nanostructures and arrays. One interesting S-layer for nanoparticle templating is the hexagonally packed intermediate (HPI) layer of Deinococcus radiodurans . This S-layer, displaying hexagonal (p6) symmetry, is comprised of a hexameric protein core unit with a central pore, surrounded by six relatively large openings (“vertex points”). In this work, the influences of particle properties and adsorption conditions on the formation of ordered arrays of 5-nm Au nanoparticles using HPI S-layers were investigated. Using transmission electron microscopy (TEM), it was found that the templating of citrate-capped Au nanoparticles on HPI layers under low ionic strength conditions resulted in hexagonal-packed ordered arrays with 18-nm interparticle spacings that corresponded with the pore-to-pore distance of the S-layer. Interestingly, nanoparticle binding occurs at the vertex points on the HPI layer and, due to repulsion forces, adsorption tends to be favored at every second vertex point. Upon increasing the ionic strength, ordered packing is still observed. However, because interparticle repulsions are less prominent, adsorption of nanoparticles occurs in virtually every available vertex point, resulting in the formation of a honeycomb-like pattern of nanoparticles extending throughout the HPI monolayer sheet. Combined with the results of additional investigations using either uncharged hydroxy-terminated particles or positively charged ferritin molecules, the experimental data suggest that the creation of ordered arrays through biotemplating of Au nanoparticles onto HPI S-layers depends on the electrostatic interactions between individual nanoparticles as well as the interaction with the HPI layer.
Selective oxidation of ethanol in the liquid phase over Au/TiO2

The selective oxidation of aqueous ethanol solutions with air over two commercial 1.5 and 1 wt% Au/TiO2 catalysts was investigated in six stirred mini‐autoclaves operated in parallel. The catalysts were characterised by various techniques including elemental analysis, N2 physisorption, X‐ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Temperature, pressure, ethanol concentration, catalyst concentration and reaction time were varied in the batch experiments to study the reaction kinetics. It was possible to confirm the generally accepted mechanism of primary alcohol oxidation, in which acetaldehyde is a primary product of the oxidation that quickly undergoes further transformation to acetic acid. In presence of both acetic acid and ethanol the formation of ethyl acetate takes place until equilibrium conditions are reached. The high yields of acetic acid can be rationalised by the inhibited total oxidation of acetic acid under the applied reaction conditions. Improper storage of the gold catalysts in air exposed to light was found to lead to an irreversible change of the performance, which cannot be restored by means of recalcination. Sintering and blocking of surface sites by deposits were ruled out as possible causes for the deactivation.
Experimental Assessment of Rates of Nitrate Removal by River Bed Sediments

Concentrations OF Chloride, nitrate-N, sulphate, sodium, ammoniacal-N and potassium were monitored for six days in 20 riverine sediment-water flow tank experiments. Only nitrate-N and ammonical-N showed consistent patterns over a period of time. Nitrate-removal rates ranged from −15 mg N/m2.d (coarse material) to +49 mg N/m2.d (fine sediment) when the initial concentration of nitrate-N was 2 mg/1. An increase in initial concentration to 11 mg/1 produced corresponding removal rates of 67–241 mg N/m2.d. Likely removal mechanisms are discussed. The results suggest management possibilities for stream bed ecosystems and raw water impoundments with respect to nitrogen cycling.
Band‐structure and optical‐transition parameters of wurtzite MgO, ZnO, and CdO from quasiparticle calculations

We use Hedin's GW framework to compute quasiparticle bands for group‐II monoxides in wurtzite (wz) structure. Modern hybrid density functional theory is applied to compute the starting electronic structure for the solution of the quasiparticle equation. We derive band parameters and effective masses for the three uppermost valence bands as well as the lowest conduction band including spin–orbit coupling. Optical transition matrix elements and exciton binding energies are also calculated. In addition to the prediction of parameters for wz‐MgO and wz‐CdO we discuss the chemical trend.
Near-infrared Intersubband Transitions in InGaAs/AlAs Quantum Wells on GaAs Substrate

We report intersubband transitions in InGaAs/AlAs quantum wells on GaAs substrate. The intersubband-transition wavelength and absorption coefficient are investigated as functions of sample structure and growth conditions. It is shown that a decrease in well width leads to a shorter transition wavelength but a reduction in the absorption coefficient. The reduction in the absorption coefficient can be recovered by increasing the In composition of the well and by suppressing the segregation of In during growth. With these optimizations, a very short intersubband-transition wavelength of 1.9 µm is achieved.
An Approach to Imprint Irganox 1076: Potential Application to the Specific Migration Test in Olive Oil

Irganox 1076 is a hindered phenolic antioxi- dant commonly added to polyolefins, whose migration from the plastic packaging into the food is regulated by European legislation. The work herein reports on an initial approach to obtain a molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) for Irganox 1076, a previously nonimprinted target. In a subsequent step, the application of the molecularly imprinted solid-phase extraction (MISPE) to the fatty sim- ulant olive oil is tested to get its determination free of interferences using high-performance liquid chromatogra- phy with PDA detector. The influence of five variables, namely porogen, functional monomer, crosslinker, initia- tor, and initiation method was investigated through the synthesis of miniMIPs. The best results were obtained using methacrylic acid and ethylene glycol dimethacrylate in tetrahydrofuran under UV radiation with 2,2 0 -azobis-(2- methylpropionitrile). The application of MISPE to olive oil showed the potential of the imprinted polymer to clean up complex matrices. V C 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 119: 2866-2874, 2011