SIRIS-Lab/unlabelled-sti-corpus huggingface dataset:
Purple sweet potato color inhibits endothelial premature senescence by blocking the NLRP3 inflammasome

Purple sweet potato color (PSPC), flavonoids isolated from purple sweet potato, has been well demonstrated for the pharmacological properties. In the present study, we attempt to explore whether the antisenescence was involved in PSPC-mediated protection against endothelium dysfunction in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and, if involved, what are the possible mechanisms. The results showed that atherogenesis and endothelial senescence in the thoracic aorta were promoted in mice with prediabetes; meanwhile, PSPC attenuated the deterioration of vascular vessel and inhibited the endothelial senescence. Diabetes mellitus is a documented high-risk factor for the development of atherosclerosis. Studies show that D-galactose (D-gal) promotes endothelial cell senescence in vitro. In our study, we have determined that PSPC could suppress the D-gal-induced premature senescence and the abnormal endothelial function, discovered in the early stages of atherosclerosis induced by T2DM. We have discovered that the PSPC down-regulates reactive oxygen species (ROS) accumulation and the NLRP3 inflammasome functions. Furthermore, the premature senescence induced by D-gal was inhibited after attenuation of ROS and deactivation of NLRP3 inflammasomes. However, once the NLRP3 inflammasomes are overactivated, PSPC could not restrain cell senescence. These data imply that the beneficial effects of PSPC on diabetes-induced endothelial dysfunction and senescence are mediated through ROS and NLRP3 signaling pathways, suggesting a potential target for the prevention of endothelial senescence-related cardiovascular diseases.
Carbon nanomembranes for energy storage applications

CNM Technologies (CNMT) has developed a highly permeable and selective composite membrane with a nanometre-thin carbon nanomembrane (CNM) as active layer, which is – in the FET-open project ITS-THIN – introduced into demanding water separation applications. CNMT plans in a joint venture with the Dutch SME BLUE-Tec (also partner in ITS-THIN) to introduce these membranes into the water filtration market. Recently, scientists at Friedrich-Schiller University Jena (FSU) showed in the framework of the Graphene FET-flagship a high proton and lithium ion permeance of CNMs. Combining these findings with the ability to produce large-area CNM-composite membranes, a fully new technology is emerging: the use of ultrathin CNMs as separator membranes or proton exchange membranes (PEM) in battery and fuel cell applications. Thinner membranes promise a faster and more selective ion transport resulting in smaller, more powerful, and more reliable energy storage devices. This new window of opportunity will be explored in this feasibility study. In case of a positive outcome, CNergy will result in a business and action plan, how to introduce CNMs into batteries and fuel cells.
BUILDING BLOCK FOR WALL STRUCTURES

The invention relates to a building block (1) for wall structures (2), wherein for the purpose of joining blocks with juxtaposed overlying and underlying blocks each block has a first horizontal bedding surface (3) which has a plurality of pegs (6) projecting out from its plane, and a second horizontal bedding surface which includes peg-receiving holes (5), wherein the blocks are affixed to one another by virtue of locking means acting between pegs (6) and holes (5), and wherein the locking means has the form of a snap locking means (7) which includes a toothed configuration (8) provided on each peg (6) and engaging a projection (9) on the wall of a respective hole (5) as the peg is inserted thereinto.
Risk-assessment of Lyme borreliosis and other tick-borne diseases at the foot of the mountains and in the Italian-Slovenian cross-border area: risk mapping. 

The need to gather information about ticks, and especially about Ixodes ricinus (lknown as the sheep tick or castor bean tick) and tick-borne diseases, such as Lyme borreliosis and TBE encephalitis, is particularly pressing owing to the healthcare emergency. This project aims at extending the territorial mapping in Slovenia (Sežana forest district), repeating controls in the previously examined areas of the Karst area around Trieste and studying some sample areas which represent the area at the foot of the mountains, where ticks are collected by means of the flagging technique. Research is carried out in order to draw up a map - by mining the sampling stations’ data - of the environments that are favourable to Ixodes ricinus. By crossing the habitat chart with the data about the registered clinical cases, the data concerning the rangers’ seropositivity, and the infectivity of the collected ticks, a risk map is produced showing the potential risk of tick-borne diseases transmission in the above-mentioned sample places. The tick-bite risk map can therefore be used for territorial prevention activity, in order to signal the most dangerous areas. the project envisages also meetings and information seminars on the territory.
Perfil epidemiológico de um centro especializado em oftalmologia em Fortaleza-CE

Objetivo: Contribuir para o arsenal literário oftalmológico, no que tange ao perfil ocular da população brasileira. Metodologia: Foi realizado um estudo descritivo e retrospectivo, através da análise de prontuários eletrônicos de pacientes atendidos em um hospital especializado em doenças oftalmológicas (Fundação Leiria de Andrade), abrangendo a população da região metropolitana de Fortaleza – Ceará – Brasil. A amostragem foi realizada de forma aleatória simples e estratificada por idade. Resultado: Dos 382 prontuários selecionados, foi obtido uma idade média de 36 anos e um desvio padrão de 19. Ademais, dentre as doenças mais prevalentes, estavam conjuntivite (51,2%), trauma (12,3%), calázio/hordéolo (7,9%), olho vermelho (6,8%) e blefarite (5,2%). Entre os casos de conjuntivite, a prevalência foi maior entre os meses de fevereiro e abril, que correspondem aos meses chuvosos no estado do Ceará. Conclusão: Os dados epidemiológicos obtidos mostraram uma busca elevada de atendimento oftalmológico pela população economicamente ativa e, principalmente, para doenças como a conjuntivite.
(A19_068_2015_0680006_1131) A19_068_2015_0680006

ENERGIA GEOTÉRMICA? UM RECURSO SUSTENTÁVEL DE ELETRICIDADE RENOVÁVEL E CALOR EM MUITAS APLICAÇÕES. NOS ÚLTIMOS 20 ANOS, A PRODUÇÃO GEOTÉRMICA ITALIANA, QUE SE CONCENTRA, ALIÁS, NA TOSCANA? MANTEVE-SE ESTÁVEL, REPRESENTANDO ATUALMENTE CERCA DE 1,64 % DA PROCURA NACIONAL DE ELETRICIDADE E CERCA DE 26 % DA TOSCANA. O POTENCIAL GEOTÉRMICO ITALIANO, INDUSTRIAL E COMERCIALMENTE VIÁVEL EM ITÁLIA? ESTIMADO A PARTIR DA REDE GEOTÉRMICA (AGRUPAMENTO DA INDÚSTRIA GEOTÉRMICA ITALIANA) EM CERCA DE 2 500 MW, QUE É ADICIONADO À IG? ATUALMENTE, É UTILIZADA PARA GERAR CERCA DE 10-12 % DAS NECESSIDADES NACIONAIS DE ELETRICIDADE, COM REPERCUSSÕES ECONÓMICAS E DE EMPREGO DE 8-10 MIL MILHÕES DE EUROS NOS PRÓXIMOS 20 ANOS. O DESENVOLVIMENTO DE PROJETOS NESTA ÁREA ABRANGE TANTO A PRODUÇÃO COMO A LIBERAÇÃO DE FLUIDOS GEOTÉRMICOS PRESENTES NA ALGUIDAR DO RESERVATÓRIO FRATURADO NO MOMENTO DO PROFUNDT? ENTRE 3 E 5 KM. PARA QUE TECNOLOGIAS SÃO UTILIZADAS?
CONDUCTING SILK-BASED ELECTRODES

Disclosed herein is an electrode material comprising: a non-woven silk-fibroin mesh substrate; glycerol; and a conductive polymeric material, wherein 40-65% of the silk-fibroin in the non-woven mesh substrate is in the form of β-sheets, and the electrode material is stretchable. Also disclosed herein is a method of forming said electrode material.
On the interpolation of calibration solutions obtained in radio interferometry

Full polarimetric radio interferometric calibration is performed by estimating 2 by 2 Jones matrices representing instrumental and propagation effects. The solutions obtained in this way differ from the true solutions by a 2 by 2 unitary matrix ambiguity. This ambiguity is common to all stations for which a solution is obtained but it is different for solutions obtained at different time and frequency intervals. Therefore, straightforward interpolation of solutions obtained at different time and frequency intervals is not possible. In this paper, we propose to use the theory of quotient manifolds for obtaining correct interpolants that are immune to unitary matrix ambiguities.
Desirable Dense Neighbourhoods: An Environmental Psychological Approach for Understanding Community Resistance to Densification

AbstractThis article examines an environmental psychological approach to exploring the attitudes of urban residents towards what they consider to be a ‘desirable dense’ neighbourhood. Socio-cultural expectations of high-density developments are explored through an analysis of residents’ perceptions of what constitutes a desirable high-density environment. The article presents specific findings identifying influences on residents’ attitudes to urban densification derived from three case studies of designated transit-oriented development (TOD) areas located in the Perth Metropolitan Region. It was found that community resistance towards future higher-density developments is rooted in the current socio-cultural context of the area. Community resistance may be driven by the physical quality of developments (such as building heights, overshadowing), however, deeper concerns are allied to the uncertain social outcomes that are the product of new development. A dominant cultural characteristic such as a disincli...
Blunted autonomic response in cluster headache patients

Background Cluster headache (CH) is a disabling headache disorder with chronobiological features. The posterior hypothalamus is involved in CH pathophysiology and is a hub for autonomic control. We studied autonomic response to the head-up tilt table test (HUT) including heart rate variability (HRV) in CH patients and compared results to healthy controls. Methods and materials Twenty-seven episodic and chronic CH patients and an equal number of age-, sex- and BMI-matched controls were included. We analyzed responses to HUT in the time and frequency domain and by non-linear analysis. Results CH patients have normal cardiovascular responses compared to controls but increased blood pressure. In the frequency analysis CH patients had a smaller change in the normalized low- (LF) (2.89 vs. 13.38, p &lt; 0.05) and high-frequency (HF) (–2.86 vs. –13.38, p &lt; 0.05) components as well as the LF/HF ratio (0.81 vs. 2.62, p &lt; 0.05) in response to tilt. In the Poincaré plot, the change in ratio between long- and short-term variation was lower in patients (SD1/SD2, –0.05 vs. –0.17, p &lt; 0.05). Conclusions CH patients show decreased autonomic response to HUT compared to healthy controls. This can be interpreted as dysregulation in the posterior hypothalamus and supports a theory of central autonomic mechanisms involvement in CH.
Investigating whether a lack of marketing and managerial skills is the main cause of business failure in South Africa

The literature reveals that 40 per cent of new business ventures fail in their first year, 60 per cent in their second year, and 90 per cent in their first 10 years of existence. The research problem of this study is suggested by this high rate of business failure. This study investigates whether lack of marketing and managerial skills in business owners contributes to the high rate of business failure in South Africa.It is evident from the results that small business owners lack certain managerial skills, including financial, marketing and human-resource management skills, needed to operate their businesses successfully. The findings confirm that small business owners are in need of support services such as training, counselling, and financial assistance. They also show that small businesses are constrained not only by financial factors but also specifically by non-financial factors such as lack of education, inadequate managerial skills, poor access to markets, lack of information and unreliable infrastructure. The analysis also indicates that the managerial skills possessed by the respondents do not correlate with those that they preferably should have to run a successful business.The study concludes that a lack of marketing and managerial skills has a negative impact on the success, viability and development of small businesses. The challenge is to improve the managerial skills of small business owners, since the small business sector is widely considered to be the ideal site for the solving of South Africa’s unemployment problems and the rejuvenation of its stagnating economy.
A comparison of risperidone and buspirone for treatment of behavior disorders in children with phenylketonuria.

Many patients with late-diagnosed phenylketonuria (PKU) suffer from severe behavior problems. This study compares the effects of buspirone and risperidone on reducing behavior disorders in these patients.In this crossover clinical trial study, patients with severe behavior disorders after medical examination were randomly divided into two groups of two 8-week crossover treatments with risperidone or buspirone. Patient behavioral disorders before and after treatment by each drug was rated by parents on the Nisonger Child Behavior Rating Form (NCBRF), and after treatment by each drug, were assessed by a physician through clinical global impression (CGI).Thirteen patients were able to complete the therapy period with these two medications. The most common psychiatric diagnoses were intellectual disability accompanied by pervasive developmental disorder NOS, and intellectual disability accompanied by autistic disorder. Risperidone was significantly effective in reducing the NCBRF subscales of hyperactivity disruptive/stereotypic, and conduct problems. Treatment by buspirone only significantly decreased the severity of hyperactivity, but other behavior aspects showed no significant differences. Assessment of the severity of behavior disorder after treatment by risperidone and buspirone showed significant differences in reducing hyperactivity and masochistic/stereotype.Although buspirone is effective in controlling hyperactivity in patients with PKU, it has no preference over risperidone. Therefore, it is recommended as an alternative to risperidone.
Electrospun nanofibers of a phosphorylated polymer—A bioinspired approach for bone graft applications

Biomaterials based on bioinspired mineralization are expected to offer osteoconductive and osteoinductive scaffolds for bone regeneration. An important role in the mediation of in vivo biomineralization process is played by highly anionic non-collagenous phosphoproteins (NCP) bound to the collagen matrix. Inspired by this fact, synthetic analogues of the NCPs like polyvinyl phosphonic acid which provide surface nucleation sites have been employed successfully for mineralization of hard tissues. In this study, electrospun nanofibrous scaffolds of partially phosphorylated polyvinyl alcohol (PPVA) are prepared and studied for matrix mineralization and maturation of human pre-osteoblasts like MG63 cells. Partial phosphorylation was found to affect many solution properties of PVA like increase in surface tension, conductivity and semi-crystalline intermolecular hydrogen bond formations narrowing down the electrospinning window for PPVA. In vitro mineralization under SBF treatment was uniform along the length of fibers on PPVA nanofibers. Further, MG63 cells showed increased adherence and proliferation on PPVA nanofibers and the expression of alkaline phosphatase activity and cell-matrix calcium levels were about two times higher than PVA nanofibers. The study established fabrication of electrospun nanofibers of a partially phosphorylated polymer, PVA resulting in improved osteoconduction and expression of early markers of osteoinduction in MG63 cells.
Dedication: Commemorative Issue in Honor of Professor Karlheinz Schwarz on the Occasion of His 80th Birthday

Karlheinz Schwarz was born in January 1941 in Vienna (Austria), and he married Christine Schwarz in 1969 [...]
Boats with revolutionary hull design for safer and more comfortable cruising.

Rafnar is an Icelandic Shipbuilding Company that has created Sure-Rider Boats, a revolutionary type of boats equipped with the OK Hull, a new hull design that dramatically reduces motion responses (MR) such as vibration and slamming during navigation. MR cause discomfort to crews and passengers right from the beginning of every sea journey, and often lead to injuries, especially in rough seas. This is a growing concern worldwide: 65% of high speed boats crews suffer at least 1 injury related to shocks/vibrations, the vulnerability of the crew and passengers being the main limitation for the use of high speed crafts. Sure-Rider Boats design substantially reduces vibrations and slamming and thus reduces crew fatigue and injuries that lead to days lost to hospitalization, sick leave, limited duty, and loss of physical conditioning time. Pleasure cruising becomes also more comfortable in Sure Riders, even in seas with up to several meters high waves. Finally, the drastically reduced motion reduces vessel’s mechanical fatigue and thereby the maintenance cost over its lifetime. Sure Riders safety and comfort make them ideal for a variety of ship uses: they are ideal as tough enduring Search & Rescue (SAR) and Coast Guard (CG) boats, but are also extremely comfortable and can be used as yachts or super yacht tenders, as well as for virtually any use since comfort and safety are key features any ship/boat owner demands. There is a huge market waiting for our Sure Riders, and we already have received numerous proofs of interest from important potential customers. We have so far developed three prototypes equipped with our unique OK Hull, with lengths ranging from 8,5 to 12 meters, and we want now to go ahead and take them to the market, as well as continue developing Sure Riders of different sizes and for different uses.
Forestry training

Forest are present on ALCOTRA’s territory, represent a big environmental resource and economy to manage in a sustainable way. For this, it’s necessary to invest in professional formation, to allow private operators to work in safety and efficacity, but also to respect environmental values which are represented by the forest. The main objective of INFORMA PLUS project is based on the professionalization of operators and industries, the creation of a learning path to bring closer student of their future job, create a group of cross-border qualified instructors.
Uncaria: uncertainty estimation in cardiac image analysis

Cardiovascular diseases account for nearly 45% of all deaths in Europe, with a yearly cost to the EU economy of €210 billions. The emergence of a new generation of deep neural networks (DNNs), powered by higher computing capabilities and the availability of large amounts of data, has enabled unprecedented predictive accuracy, bringing the promise of improving risk assessment and early diagnosis to the field of computational cardiac image understanding. Unfortunately, clinical translation of these tools has not been effectively accomplished yet. A key reason is the black-box nature of these models: through the observation of large-scale annotated data, DNNs can build rich, complex decision boundaries in the image space, but the sequence of mathematical operations leading to such decisions is not readily interpretable by humans.

The goal of this project is to open this black-box in a specific direction: building in these models the ability of understanding when they deliver a prediction with a well-founded confidence degree, and when a prediction is reached based only on local statistical regularities of training data and may not be reliable. Current models largely lack this ability, and this undermines their potential for clinical adoption. This project revolves around a fundamental idea: redefining the conventional way of training DNNs so that they can not only produce accurate diagnostic predictions but also model their own errors and have an awareness of them.

This proposal involves the transfer of the candidate to a worldwide renowned computer vision group, with a secondment in a top-tier medical research institution, followed by a returning stage in one of the most prestigious biomedical image analysis research groups within Europe. The proposed workplan is designed to train the candidate in both cutting-edge computer vision and clinical knowledge in the outgoing stage, maximizing potential for knowledge transfer to the European host during the incoming phase.
BFKL equation for the adjoint representation of the gauge group in the next-to-leading approximation at <mml:math altimg="si1.gif" overflow="scroll" xmlns:xocs="http://www.elsevier.com/xml/xocs/dtd" xmlns:xs="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns="http://www.elsevier.com/xml/ja/dtd" xmlns:ja="http://www.elsevier.com/xml/ja/dtd" xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:tb="http://www.elsevier.com/xml/common/table/dtd" xmlns:sb="http://www.elsevier.com/xml/common/struct-bib/dtd" xmlns:ce="http://www.elsevier.com/xml/common/dtd" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xmlns:cals="http://www.elsevier.com/xml/common/cals/dtd"><mml:mi>N</mml:mi><mml:mo>=</mml:mo><mml:mn>4</mml:mn></mml:math> SUSY

We calculate the eigenvalues of the next-to-leading kernel for the BFKL equation in the adjoint representation of the gauge group $SU(N_c)$ in the N=4 supersymmetric Yang-Mills model. These eigenvalues are used to obtain the high energy behavior of the remainder function for the 6-point scattering amplitude with the maximal helicity violation in the kinematical regions containing the Mandelstam cut contribution. The leading and next-to-leading singularities of the corresponding collinear anomalous dimension are calculated in all orders of perturbation theory. We compare our result with the known collinear limit and with the recently suggested ansatz for the remainder function in three loops and obtain the full agreement providing that the numerical parameters in this anzatz are chosen in an appropriate way.
Defence Diplomacy: Battling for the Heart of the Pacific

As the Pacific region has become more strategically contested, regional powers
have intensified their use of defence diplomacy. As a result, the number and scale
of military Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) deployments,
exercises and cooperative security ventures being undertaken in the South Pacific
have dramatically increased. Yet despite the assumption that defence diplomacy
has furthered the political objectives of initiating states and benefitted Pacific
Island Countries (PICs), few studies have examined the reality of these claims. This
lack of research is concerning, particularly considering the long term impacts these
activities may have on regional development, stability and security in the South
Pacific. In this paper, we evaluate defence diplomacy in the South Pacific.
Comparative case studies were undertaken on Australia, China and New Zealand,
as these countries have recently expanded their defence presence in the region.