gebhart/patrepeval huggingface dataset:
Racial Differences in the Biochemical Effects of Stress in Pregnancy (2020)

Prenatal stress has been linked to preterm birth via inflammatory dysregulation. We conducted a cross-sectional study on female participants who delivered live, singleton infants at University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Magee Women's Hospital. Participants (<i>n</i> = 200) were stratified by cumulative risk scores using a combination of individual factors (maternal education, diabetes, hypertension, smoking, relationship status, obesity, depression) and neighborhood deprivation scores. We hypothesized that inflammatory cytokines levels differ by risk group and race. Multiplex analyses of IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, IL-13 and TNF-alpha were run. We found that Black birthing people had more risk factors for chronic stress and had lower levels of IL-6 compared to White birthing people. When stratified by risk group and race, low-risk Black birthing people had lower levels of IL-6 compared to low-risk White birthing people, and high-risk Black birthing people had lower levels of IL-8 compared to high-risk White birthing people. Higher area deprivation scores were associated with lower IL-6 levels. Our results suggest that the relationship between chronic stress and inflammatory cytokines is modified by race. We theorize that Black birthing people encounter repetitive stress due to racism and social disadvantage which may result in stress pathway desensitization and a blunted cytokine response to future stressors.
Synergistic effect of water-soluble species and relative humidity on morphological changes in aerosol particles in the Beijing megacity during severe pollution episodes (2019)

Abstract. Depolarization ratio (δ) of backscattered light is an applicable parameter for distinguishing the sphericity of particles in real time, which has been widely adopted by ground-based lidar observation systems. In this study, δ values of particles and chemical compositions in both PM2.5 (aerodynamic diameter less than 2.5 µm) and PM10 (aerodynamic diameter less than 10 µm) were concurrently measured on the basis of a bench-top optical particle counter with a polarization detection module (POPC) and a continuous dichotomous aerosol chemical speciation analyzer (ACSA-14) from November 2016 to February 2017 at an urban site in Beijing megacity. In general, measured δ values depended on both size and sphericity of the particles. During the observation period, mass concentrations of NO3- in PM2.5 (fNO3) were about an order of magnitude higher than that in PM2.5−10 (cNO3) with a mean fNO3∕cNO3 ratio of 14±10. A relatively low fNO3∕cNO3 ratio (∼5) was also observed under higher relative humidity conditions, mostly due to heterogeneous processes and particles in the coarse mode. We found that δ values of ambient particles in both PM2.5 and PM2.5−10 obviously decreased as mass concentration of water-soluble species increased at unfavorable meteorological conditions. This indicated that the morphology of particles was changed as a result of water-absorbing processes. The particles with optical size (Dp) of Dp = 5 µm were used to represent mineral dust particles, and its δ values (δDp=5) decreased by 50 % as the mass fraction of cNO3 increased from 2 % to 8 % and ambient relative humidity increased up to 80 %, suggesting that mineral dust particles were likely to be spherical during humid pollution episodes. During the observation, relative humidity inside the POPC measuring chamber was stable at 34±2 %, lower than the ambient condition. Its influence on the morphology was estimated to be limited and did not change our major conclusion. This study highlights the evident alteration of non-sphericity of mineral dust particles during their transport owing to a synergistic effect of both pollutant coatings and hygroscopic processes, which plays an important role in the evaluation of its environmental effect.
Nanostructural materials increase mineralization in bone cells and affect gene expression through miRNA regulation (2010)

We report that several nanomaterials induced enhanced mineralization (increased numbers and larger areas of mineral nests) in MC3T3-E1 bone cells, with the highest response being induced by silver nanoparticles (AgNPs). We demonstrate that AgNPs altered microRNA expression resulting in specific gene expression associated with bone formation. We suggest that the identified essential transcriptional factors and bone morphogenetic proteins play an important role in activation of the process of mineralization in bone cells exposed to AgNPs.
The challenges of peptidomics in complementing proteomics in a clinical context (2018)

Naturally occurring peptides, including growth factors, hormones, and neurotransmitters, represent an important class of biomolecules and have crucial roles in human physiology. The study of these peptides in clinical samples is therefore as relevant as ever. Compared to more routine proteomics applications in clinical research, peptidomics research questions are more challenging and have special requirements with regard to sample handling, experimental design, and bioinformatics. In this review, we describe the issues that confront peptidomics in a clinical context. After these hurdles are (partially) overcome, peptidomics will be ready for a successful translation into medical practice.
A computer-based methodology for matching polymer structures with required properties (1985)

A methodology is presented in which a computer generates polymer structures and estimates their properties using empirical relationships. An optimization method is then employed to select the candidate polymers which best comply with a set of property specifications.
Design and stepwise user evaluation of an ergonomic 2 DOF arthroscopic cutter (2017)

The goal of this study was to determine the preferred handle design for two degrees of freedom steerable arthroscopic cutter by performing a two-step development approach. The expected usefulness and usability of control components of three entirely different handles were defined by an on-line survey with 101 students and the actual control by a standardised laboratory study with mock-up models by 16 students. The preferred handle design was integrated in a full functional prototype and optimized by 10 experts performing a meniscectomy on human cadaver knees. Students (survey 70% and task 91%) expected the same control behaviour as the experts (60%): steering a wheel to the right should evoke tip steering to the right regardless the orientation of the beak and moving a ring lever towards the handle’s centre point should evoke closure of the tip. Development of surgical instruments can benefit from expected control behavior based on daily life tools, but requires expert involvement for specific surgical tasks and context.
Analysis of noise suppression techniques using embedded capacitor on split power bus in multi-layer package (2004)

An embedded capacitor for noise suppression on a power bus is analyzed and compared with a discrete capacitor by full wave simulation from 40 MHz to 5 GHz. In this paper, the design methodology of the power bus is demonstrated by analyzing self and transfer impedance characteristic of the embedded capacitor.
An analysis of thickness-extensional trapped energy resonant device structures with rectangular electrodes in the piezoelectric thin film on silicon configuration (1983)

It has recently been shown that highly uniform thin layers can be etched in a small well-defined region of a silicon wafer and that good quality thin piezoelectric films such as zinc-oxide can be deposited along with the electrodes to form high frequency trapped energy resonant device structures. The accompanying analytical work has been for pure thickness vibrations only. In this work an analysis of essentially thickness-extensional trapped energy modes in the thin piezoelectric film on silicon composite structure is performed. It is shown that for small wavenumbers along the plate the dispersion equation is isotropic in the plane of the plate even though the silicon is severely anisotropic in that plane. From the resulting dispersion relation an asymptotic differential equation describing the mode shape along the surface of the composite plate vibrating in the vicinity of a thickness-extensional resonance is obtained along with the associated edge conditions. Since the mode is essentially thickness-extensional, trapping does not usually occur in the electroded regions for the fundamental mode of the flat composite plate. However, by appropriately thickening the silicon outside the electroded regions trapping in the electroded regions can be made to occur for the fundamental mode. Furthermore, in the case of zinc-oxide on silicon, trapping in the electroded regions can be made to occur for the fundamental mode of a flat plate simply by making the zinc-oxide sufficiently thicker than the etched silicon. The aforementioned asymptotic differential equation and edge conditions are applied in the analyses of the steady-state vibrations of trapped energy resonators and acoustically coupled two-pole resonator filters, both with rectangular electrodes. Lumped parameter representations of the admittance in the case of the single-pole device and admittance matrix in the case of the two-pole device, which are valid in the vicinity of resonances, are obtained. The analyses hold for the first few thickness-extensional modes and their accompanying lateral overtones.
Mounting of reference surface for a transmission sphere (2016)

The mounting design of a reference surface for a 6-in transmission sphere is presented in this paper. To achieve highprecision measurement in interferometry, the reference wavefront error should be controlled within peak-to-valley (PV) 0.1 &lambda; (&lambda;=0.6328 um) for subtraction in calibration. The reference wavefront error includes the system aberration error and the irregularity of the reference surface. When a transmission sphere is well aligned, the reference wavefront error is dominated by the reference surface. The mounting of the reference surface is imperative because the surface deformation of the reference surface after mounting needs to be lower than 0.1 &lambda;. Besides the mounting deformation, self-weight deformation is also considerable for large optics, such as 6-in reference surface in our study. Consequently, a semikinematic mounting is applied using three small contact areas to avoid over constraint. The transmission sphere in our study is vertically tested on QED aspheric stitching interferometer (ASI), and then the trefoil aberration is occurred. There are two methods to decrease surface deformation after mounting, including deformation correction using computer control optical surfacing (CCOS) and adding soft supporting between hard mounting. In this study, three soft supports are used to share the loads of three rigid supports and then to minimize surface deformation due to gravity. Mounting design and experiments are described in this paper. Finally, the reference wavefront error of the prototype is successfully restrained within 0.1 &lambda; in measurement.
Developmental history of the transient subplate zone in the visual and somatosensory cortex of the macaque monkey and human brain (1990)

The cytological organization and the timetable of emergence and dissolution of the transient subplate zone subjacent to the developing visual and somatosensory cortex were studied in a series of human and monkey fetal brains. Cerebral walls processed with Nissl, Golgi, electron-microscopic, and histochemical methods show that this zone consists of migratory and postmigratory neurons, growth cones, loosely arranged axons, dendrites, synapses, and glial cells. In both species the subplate zone becomes visible at the beginning of the mid-third of gestation as a cell-poor/fiber-rich layer situated between the intermediate zone and the developing cortical plate. The subplate zone appears earlier in the somatosensory than in the visual area and reaches maximal width at the beginning of the last third of gestation in both regions. At the peak of its size the ratio between the width of the subplate zone and cortical plate in the somatosensory cortex is 2:1 in monkey and 4:1 in man while in the occipital lobe these structures have about equal width in both species. The dissolution of the subplate zone begins during the last third of gestation with degeneration of some subplate neurons and the relocation of fiber terminals into the cortex. The subplate zone disappears faster in the visual than in the somatosensory area. The present results together with our previous findings support the hypothesis that the subplate zone may serve as a "waiting" compartment for transient cellular interactions and a substrate for competition, segregation, and growth of afferents originated sequentially from the brain stem, basal forebrain, thalamus, and from the ipsi- and contralateral cerebral hemisphere. After a variable and partially overlapping time period, these fibers enter the cortical plate while the subplate zone disappears leaving only a vestige of cells scattered throughout the subcortical white matter. A comparison between species indicates that the size and duration of the subplate zone increases during mammalian evolution and culminates in human fetuses concomitantly with an enlargement of cortico-cortical fiber systems. The regional difference in the size, pattern, and resolution of the subplate zone correlates also with the pattern of cerebral convolutions. Our findings indicate that, contrary to prevailing notions, the subplate may not be a vestige of the phylogenetically old network but a transient embryonic structure that expanded during evolution to subserve the increasing number of its connections.
Systemically administered anti-TNF therapy ameliorates functional outcomes after focal cerebral ischemia (2014)

Our data suggest that XPro1595 and etanercept improve functional outcome after focal cerebral ischemia by altering the peripheral immune response, changing blood and spleen cell populations and decreasing granulocyte infiltration into the brain. Blocking solTNF, using XPro1595, was just as efficient as blocking both solTNF and tmTNF using etanercept. Our findings may have implications for future treatments with anti-TNF drugs in TNF-dependent diseases.
A Method to Derive Metric Thresholds for Software Product Lines (2015)

A software product line (SPL) is a set of software systems that share a common and variable set of components (features). Software metrics provide basic means to quantify several quality aspects of SPL components. However, the effectiveness of the SPL measurement process is directly dependent on the definition of reliable thresholds. If thresholds are not properly defined, it is difficult to actually know whether a given metric value indicates a potential problem in the component implementation. There are several methods to derive thresholds for software metrics. However, there is little understanding about their appropriateness for the context of SPLs. This paper aims to propose a method to derive thresholds in the SPL context. Our method is evaluated in terms of recall and precision using two code smells (God Class and Lazy Class) detection strategies. The evaluation of our method is performed based on a benchmark of 33 SPLs and the results were compared with a method (baseline) with the same purpose used in the context of SPLs (not proposed). The results show that our method has better recall when compared with baseline.
Aldosterone (Mineralocorticoid) Equivalent to Prednisolone (Glucocorticoid) in Reversing Hearing Loss in MRL/MpJ‐Faslpr Autoimmune Mice (2000)

Restoration of hearing with steroid treatment is due to increased sodium transport to re-establish cochlear ionic balances. Aldosterone therapy may offer advantages over prednisone for long-term management of not only autoimmune hearing loss, but also other forms of nonimmune-related deafness for which steroids are currently prescribed.
A study of prostane in the treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia (2001)

A clinical trial was conducted in a study group of 70 males diagnosed with symptomatic benign prostatic hypertrophy (BPH) (synonym of benign prostatic hyperplasia). They were administered Prostane, a herbal formulation, at a dose of two tablets a day for 1 year and monitored every 4 months during the study period. Analysis of the results showed an improvement in the symptom score of the American Urological Association symptom index rating. There was total relief in pain and haematuria in all the patients (100%); dribbling of urine decreased in 67%, dysuria in 50%, urgency in 60% and hesitancy in 40%. Blood urea levels were within the normal range in 70% of the patients and in the range 31-40 mg/dL in the remaining patients of the study group. Serum prostate specific antigen levels returned to normal in 56% of patients and were in the range 4.1-5.0 ng/mL in 25% of patients. There was a decrease in prostate specific antigen values which were >6 ng/mL in 9 patients at the commencement of the trial. Uroflowmetry studies showed that the peak flow increased from 12.6 to 30.7 s (p<0.001) and the void volume from 60.72 to 660 mL (p<0.001), the latent period reduced from 12.78 s to 2.61 s; the flow time from 57.01 s to 20.17 s and the residual volume from 620 mL to 20 mL (p<0.001). From these results, it is evident that Prostane was effective in alleviating symptoms, reducing prostate specific antigen values and normalizing uroflow dynamics in patients with benign prostatic hypertrophy.
Impedance spectroscopy of Zinc Oxide nanoparticles in dielectrophoresis biotechnology (2014)

This study investigates nanowires using Dielectrophoresis (DEP) in non-aqueous suspension of Zinc Oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles dispersed in N,N-DIMENTHYLFORMAMIDE (DMF). The self assembly of nanowires in DEP impedance spectroscopy can be determined. In this work, dielectrophoretic measurements of inorganic have been used to estimate the permittivity and conductivity characteristic of the nanowires. As in aqueous such as salt solution has been dominating the transport of ZnO, which are the wire growth threshold, depend on applied voltage. While DEP assembly of nanowires depend on applied frequency, the applications of dielectrophoretic collection are measured using impedance spectroscopy.
Sequential Encryption for Multiple Implantable Medical Devices (2021)

Wireless communication became an essential tool for modern Implantable Medical Devices (IMDs) for information exchange. In spite of the many advantages wireless technology has, it puts the patients health in serious danger if no proper security mechanism is deployed. We aim to secure these devices while taking into consideration the limitations these small devices suffer from. IMDs have resources that are relatively simple and sometimes require surgery to be altered. Consequently, common security mechanisms cannot be simply implemented in fear of consuming all the resources dedicated to healthcare needs. A certain balance between security and efficiency must be sought in each IMD architecture. In this work, we propose a sequential and secure encrypted communication scheme for patients with multiple IMDs. We present a model that delivers the information generated by all IMDs in one packet to the final receiver. This information will be encrypted sequentially going from one IMD to the next. This scheme eliminates the need for single IMD authentications with the receiver. Instead of each IMD communicating independently with the same receiver, each device will send its information to a different IMD in a single communication action. Performing this way, the scheme would exploit the inherent properties of the entropy of the physiological signals to randomize the exchanged messages. The scheme succeeded in NIST tests with high rates around 95%. This relieves the IMDs from the need for the encryption in addition to a recovery rate of 100% for the proposed architecture. At the end, the final message will be attack- resistant with length <; 1Kb in short handling time in order of 100 ms.
Effects of Macro-Environmental Factors: Running a Micro distillery in the Czech Republic (2013)

The paper deals with the wider-environmental factors for operation and achieving prosperity of a micro distillery.These factors can be broken down into economic, political, social, technical, and technological factors.Operation of a micro distillery is then affected by all of them.The most important factors, however, can be seen in the political and economic factors.Legislative factors are crucial as they are the source of the reduced rate of the consumption tax.In terms of prices, this lower rate gives micro distilleries a great advantage over large fruit distillery plants.However, at the same time, the legislative area generates a number of challenging requirements that micro distilleries have to observe.The economic factors in the Czech Republic have not been developing favorably in recent years.This negative trend may have a positive impact on the demand for services of micro distilleries.
Long noncoding RNA LINC00978 promotes cancer growth and acts as a diagnostic biomarker in gastric cancer (2017)

LINC00978 promotes gastric cancer progression and may serve as a potential biomarker for GC.
A placebo‐controlled trial of exenatide twice‐daily added to thiazolidinediones alone or in combination with metformin (2010)

Exenatide added to TZDs alone or in combination with metformin significantly improved glycaemic control as determined by significant improvement in HbA(1c) without associated hypoglycaemia.