gebhart/patrepeval huggingface dataset:
Randomised open controlled trial of colloidal bismuth subcitrate tablets and cimetidine in the treatment of duodenal ulcer. (1980)

In a study of 28 outpatients with endoscopically proven duodenal ulcers, 14 patients (with a total of 15 ulcers) were treated with bismuth tablets (colloidal bismuth subcitrate, De-Nol, Gist-Brocades NV) and 14 patients (14 ulcers) were treated with cimetidine (Smith, Kline, and French). Clinical and endoscopic assessments were made after four and six weeks' therapy. After four weeks, 10 of the bismuth treated ulcers (67%) and eight of the cimetidine treated ulcers (57%) were completely healed. After six weeks of therapy, complete healing was seen in 86% of both the bismuth treated and the cimetidine treated ulcers. Twenty of the 24 completely healed ulcer patients (10 of each group) cooperated in a three month follow-up study. Pain recurred in three patients of the bismuth group and four of the cimetidine group and they were examined endoscopically. A recurrent ulcer was found in one of the bismuth treated patients and in three of the cimetidine treated patients. These observations indicate that colloidal bismuth subcitrate was at least as effective as cimetidine in the healing of duodenal ulcer.
Applications of algebraic soft-decision decoding of Reed-Solomon codes (2006)

Efficient soft-decision decoding of Reed-Solomon (RS) codes is made possible by the Koetter-Vardy (KV) algorithm which consists of a front-end to the interpolation-based Guruswami-Sudan (GS) list decoding algorithm. This paper approaches the soft-decision KV algorithm from the point of view of a communications systems designer who wants to know what benefits the algorithm can give, and how the extra complexity introduced by soft decoding can be managed at the systems level. We show how to reduce the computational complexity and memory requirements of the soft-decision front-end. Applications to wireless communications over Rayleigh fading channels and magnetic recording channels are proposed. For a high-rate RS(255,239) code, 2-3 dB of soft-decision gain is possible over a Rayleigh fading channel using 16-quadrature amplitude modulation. For shorter codes and at lower rates, the gain can be as large as 9 dB. To lower the complexity of decoding on the systems level, the redecoding architecture is explored, which uses only the appropriate amount of complexity to decode each packet. An error-detection criterion based on the properties of the KV decoder is proposed for the redecoding architecture. Queueing analysis verifies the practicality of the redecoding architecture by showing that only a modestly sized RAM buffer is required
Letramento digital: reflexões sobre uma prática docente no estágio curricular supervisionado (2020)

O presente artigo é resultado de práticas docentes desenvolvidas no interior do Estágio Curricular Supervisionado do Curso de Pedagogia de uma universidade comunitária do Estado de Santa Catarina/SC. O campo de estágio, além de ser lócus de iniciação à docência, constituiu também unidade analítica de um estudo qualitativo, de natureza exploratória, realizado por estagiários/as do curso de Pedagogia da referida universidade. Os participantes do estudo foram estudantes do 5º ano do Ensino Fundamental de uma escola pública municipal do norte catarinense, bem como, suas professoras regentes. Os resultados preliminares indicam que o estágio enquanto disciplina curricular representa um eixo fundamental na constituição da docência, na medida em que configura um terreno fértil para a concretização da articulação teoria e prática. Destaca-se que nessa experiência, é possível identificar o potencial do uso das tecnologias digitais da informação e comunicação no contexto da sala de aula.
The Influence of Photoperiod on Body Weight Gain, Body Composition, Nutrient Intake and Hormone Secretion (1984)

Increasing daily light exposure from 8 to 16 h increases average daily body weight gains of sheep and Holstein cattle but reduces gains of white-tailed doe fawns. Some of these effects on average daily gain in sheep are the result of increased gut fill and pelt weight. Increasing daily exposure to light increases feed intake when sheep or cattle are fed ad libitum. However, increased feed intake is not a prerequisite for the anabolic effects of long duration exposures to light because increased growth occurs in the animals given 16 h light:8 h dark (16L:8D) even when feed intake is restricted. The anabolic effects of increased duration photoperiods in sheep are independent of the gonads, whereas in cattle they are dependent on the gonads. Consistent increases in average daily gains of cattle in response to longer duration photoperiods have not always been achieved. The lack of consistency may be associated with sexual maturity or rate of fattening of the animal. For example, the stimulatory effects of 16L:8D photoperiods on live weight gain are not readily manifested in immature prepubertal heifers, but occur primarily during the peripubertal period. Short days are conducive to deposition of fat, which may account for the stimulatory effects of short days on live weight gain of white-tailed doe fawns and excessively fattened Holsteins. In contrast, long duration photoperiods stimulate protein accretion in cattle. The hormonal signals that mediate the anabolic effects of increasing exposure to light are not associated with change in insulin, thyroxine or growth hormone concentrations in the blood. Glucocorticoid concentrations in serum decrease with longer duration photoperiods which is consistent with an anabolic effect. Increasing daily light exposure to 16 h/d hastens the increase in concentrations of progesterone and testosterone in sera of peripubertal heifers and prepubertal bulls, respectively. Thus, change in secretion of reproductive hormones in the peripubertal period of cattle may be associated with the anabolic effects previously described and is consistent with gonad dependency. Prolactin concentrations in serum increase in sheep and cattle as duration of light exposure increases. But, there is no irrefutable proof that prolactin is responsible for the increased rates of gain or change in carcass composition associated with longer exposures to light. Thus, the hormonal mechanisms involved in photoperiod-induced alterations in growth remain to be established.
Drug testing in oral fluid. (2006)

Over the last decade there have been considerable developments in the use of oral fluid (saliva) for drug testing. Oral fluid can provide a quick and non-invasive specimen for drug testing. However, its collection may be thwarted by lack of available fluid due to a range of physiological factors, including drug use itself. Food and techniques designed to stimulate production of oral fluid can also affect the concentration of drugs. Current applications are mainly focused on drugs of abuse testing in employees at workplaces where drug use has safety implications, in drivers of vehicles at the roadside and in other situations where drug impairment is suspected. Testing has included alcohol (ethanol) and a range of clinical tests eg antibodies to HIV, therapeutic drugs and steroids. Its main application has been for testing for drugs of abuse such as the amphetamines, cocaine and metabolites, opioids such as morphine, methadone and heroin, and for cannabis. Oral fluid concentrations of basic drugs such as the amphetamines, cocaine and some opioids are similar or higher than those in plasma. Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the major species present from cannabis use, displays similar concentrations in oral fluid compared to blood in the elimination phase. However, there is significant local absorption of the drug in the oral cavity which increases the concentrations for a period after use of drug. Depot effects occur for other drugs introduced into the body that allow local absorption, such as smoking of tobacco (nicotine), cocaine, amphetamines, or use of sub-lingual buprenorphine. Screening techniques are usually an adaptation of those used in other specimens, with an emphasis on the parent drug since this is usually the dominant species present in oral fluid. Confirmatory techniques are largely based on mass spectrometry (MS) with an emphasis on Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (LC-MS), due to low sample volumes and the low detection limits required. Drug testing outside laboratory environments has become widespread and provides presumptive results within minutes of collection of specimens. This review focuses on the developments, particularly over the last 10 years, and outlines the roles and applications of testing for drugs in oral fluid, describes the difficulties associated with this form of testing and illustrates applications of oral fluid testing for specific drugs.
Computational fluid dynamics analysis of the vertical axis wind turbine blade with tubercle leading edge (2015)

The performance of a vertical axis wind turbine (VAWT) blade with NACA0015 airfoil section has been investigated using the commercial computational fluid dynamics software ANSYS FluentTM. The Semi Implicit Method for Pressure Linked Equations algorithm is chosen to solve the incompressible Navier-Stokes equations. The k-ω shear stress transport turbulence model was selected for the turbulence flow simulations. The simulation results of lift and drag coefficients between angles of attack of 0° and 40° were first validated with the experimental data in order to confirm the boundary layer distributions. The grid numbers and time step sizes were then examined to confirm the simulation accuracy. To exam the 3D effect, a 2.5D model was additionally developed and compared with 2D model. Finally, the predictions of thrust obtained from the blade with tubercle leading edge were compared with the ones from the straight blade. Overall, the thrusts of VAWT with modified turbine blades were lower than the ones with straight blade. The values of the thrust decreased with increasing amplitudes and decreasing wavelengths, mainly due to the structure of the vortices generated at the leading edge of the turbine blade.
Development and management of drug resistance to nucleoside/nucleotide analogues in patients with chronic hepatitis B (2013)

Currently,four nucleos(t)ide analogs (NAs) are approved by China's Food and Drug Administration to treat patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB).Unfortunately,hepatitis B virus (HBV) strains carrying mutations that confer drug resistance to these NAs are frequent,and the rate of CHB patients failing to respond to treatment is on the rise.Since drug-resistance is associated with liver disease progression,extensive research has been carried out to determine its underlying mechanisms.In this review,we discuss the molecular mechanisms of NA-resistance and their implications for patient management and development of effective HBV-targeted preventive strategies.

Key words: 
Hepatitis B, chronic;  Drug resistance;  Nucleoside and nucleotide analogs;  Management
Interest in Hollow-Fiber Perfusion Bioreactors Is Growing (2009)

level: intermediate P eople who regularly culture animal cells become so comfortable with standard techniques that novel approaches can seem contrived or even unnatural. However, the typical cycle of seeding cells at very low density in an excess of medium and harvesting (often quite aggressively) just before the point of medium exhaustion is quite an unphysiologic process. Popular culture systems often take cells that originally grew attached to a porous matrix at high densities, with little variability in nutrient and oxygen supply, and adapt them to low-density, styrene-bound or amorphous suspension cultures. Although these methods are well understood and convenient, classical batch-style twodimensional culture in T-flasks or three-dimensional suspension culture in shake-flasks and bioreactors really aren’t physiologically relevant models. A remarkable number of alternative culture approaches operating with such unusual mechanisms as rocking bags and depth filters have been introduced over recent years. These are often categorized by characteristics such as suspension/adherent or batch/continuous operation (1). However, most share two fundamental features: Cells are subjected to wide swings in nutrient, waste, and pH levels from seeding to harvest, and they are generally growing at highly cyclical but relatively low culture densities. Until recently, the negative consequences of those highly artificial protocols were not well appreciated. But increasing demands of modern drug development, regenerative medicine, and fundamental scientific investigation have inspired the development of alternative approaches. Perfusion culture now exists in a number of (often quite distinct) implementations (2). Hollow-fiber– based technologies in general are used in many applications, from tangentialf low filtration to prokaryotic biofilms in wastewater treatment. Here we consider only their use in the culture of animal cells, referring to this as hollow-fiber perfusion bioreactor (HFPB) technology. Table 1 introduces many of the growing applications of such systems along with the benefits they provide.
Physical Enhancement of Transdermal Drug Application: Is Delivery Technology Keeping up with Pharmaceutical Development? (2004)

Advances in molecular biology have given us a wide range of protein and peptide-based drugs that are unsuitable for oral delivery because of their high degree of first-pass metabolism. Though parenteral delivery is the obvious answer, for the successful development of commercial chronic and self-administration usage formulations it is not the ideal choice. Transdermal delivery is emerging as the biggest application target for these agents, however, the skin is extremely efficient at keeping out such large molecular weight compounds and therapeutic levels are never going to be realistically achieved by passive absorption. Physical enhancement mechanisms including: iontophoresis, electroporation, ultrasound, photomechanical waves, microneedles and jet-propelled particles are emerging as solutions to this topical delivery dilemma. Adding proteins and peptides to the list of other large molecular weight drugs with insufficient passive transdermal fluxes to be therapeutically useful, we have a collection of pharmacological agents waiting for efficient delivery methods to be introduced. This article reviews the current state of physical transdermal delivery technology, assesses the pros and cons of each technique and summarises the evidence-base of their drug delivery capabilities.
A hierarchical neural stereo matching approach for real-time obstacle detection using linear cameras (2004)

In the robotic domain, stereo vision is a popular technique for extracting 3-D depth information of a scene seen by two or more video cameras. The key problem is the matching task, which consists of identifying correspondences between features extracted from two stereo images. This paper presents a hierarchical neural approach for matching edges extracted from stereo linear images. The principle of the proposed method is to perform edge stereo matching at different levels with a neural network based procedure. At each level, the process starts by selecting edges with respect to their gradient magnitude. The selected edges are then matched in order to obtain reference pairs from which the remaining edges will be matched in the next level. In each level, the matching task is formulated as an optimization problem where an objective function, representing the constraints on the solution, is minimized thanks to a Hopfield neural network. To demonstrate its effectiveness, the hierarchical neural stereo matching method is evaluated for real-time obstacle detection in front of a moving vehicle.
Crystal and quasicrystal structures in Al-Mn-Si alloys (1985)

We show that the \ensuremath{\alpha}-(AlMnSi) crystal structure is closely (and systematically) related to that of the icosahedral Al-Mn-Si alloys. Using a modification of the ``projection'' method of generating icosahedral structures from six-dimensional lattices, we find a simple description of the \ensuremath{\alpha}-(AlMnSi) structure. This structure, and (we conjecture) the icosahedral one, can also be described as a packing of 54-atom icosahedral clusters.
Application of Genetic and Gradient Descent Algorithms to Wavefront Compensation for the Deep-Space Optical Communications Receiver (2005)

Present adaptive optics systems use a wavefront sensor to detect phase errors in the incoming wavefront. Knowledge of these phase errors then is used to correct the incoming wavefront, reducing image distortion. However, these systems require that a portion of the incoming light be diverted to the wavefront sensor and away from the main receiver’s focal plane, which results in a loss of signal power in the receiver in optical communication applications. Accordingly, it is desirable to develop a system that relies entirely on the focal-plane intensity distribution as opposed to a separate wavefront sensor in order to detect and correct wavefront errors. Two common stochastic optimization techniques—genetic algorithms and gradient descent algorithms—are evaluated in this article. 2 Although these algorithms are promising, further work is necessary to enable them to be used in practical adaptive optics systems due to their slow convergence speeds relative to the rate of change in the atmosphere.
<i>In vitro</i> activation of NAD‐dependent alcohol dehydrogenases by Nudix hydrolases is more widespread than assumed (2014)

In the Gram-positive methylotroph Bacillus methanolicus, methanol oxidation is catalyzed by an NAD-dependent methanol dehydrogenase (Mdh) that belongs to the type III alcohol dehydrogenase (Adh) family. It was previously shown that the in vitro activity of B. methanolicus Mdh is increased by the endogenous activator protein Act, a Nudix hydrolase. Here we show that this feature is not unique, but more widespread among type III Adhs in combination with Act or other Act-like Nudix hydrolases. In addition, we studied the effect of site directed mutations in the predicted active site of Mdh and two other type III Adhs with regard to activity and activation by Act.
Institutional development for sustainable groundwater management — an Arabian perspective (2002)

Abstract In the Arabian Peninsula, hydrogeological and engineering solutions have failed to solve the severe and worsening problem of unsustainable groundwater abstraction, which threatens rural environments and livelihoods. Conventional western fiscal and regulatory measures to reduce abstractions seem to be impracticable in the present institutional and social contexts. In the region, groundwater rights without volume limitations are distributed mostly among numerous private well owners, and individual interests predominate over a communal imperative for aquifer sustainability. The solution may lie more in modifying the institutional context than in attempting to introduce official controls. This would involve the decentralization of water resources management to a basin or aquifer level and the development of local users associations. Water users associations could improve users’ understanding of local hydrological limitations, promote conservation among irrigators, and cooperatively develop sustainable strategies and rules, which might ultimately include tradable rights and quotas. Government subsidies and incentives are necessary. Essential components of this participatory approach are strong leadership at national and local levels, the active engagement and leadership of Islamic institutions, and the use of modern communication methods.
Regulation of Akt/PKB activity, cellular growth, and apoptosis in prostate carcinoma cells by MMAC/PTEN. (1999)

Understanding the functional roles of the molecular alterations that are involved in the oncogenesis of prostate cancer, the second most frequent cause of cancer-related deaths among men in the United States is the focus of numerous investigations. To examine the possible significance of alterations associated with the tumor suppressor gene, MMAC/PTEN, in prostate carcinoma, the biological and biochemical effects of MMAC/PTEN expression were examined in LNCaP cells, which are devoid of a functional gene product. Acute expression of MMAC/PTEN via an adenoviral construct resulted in a dose-dependent and specific inhibition of Akt/PKB activation, consistent with the phosphatidylinositol phosphatase activity of MMAC/PTEN. MMAC/PTEN expression induced apoptosis in LNCaP cells, although to a lesser extent than that observed with p53 via an adenoviral construct. However, MMAC/PTEN expression produced a growth inhibition that was significantly greater than that achieved with p53. Overexpression of Bcl-2 in LNCaP cells blocked MMAC/PTEN- and p53-induced apoptosis but not the growth-suppressive effects of MMAC/ PTEN, suggesting that the growth regulatory effects of MMAC/PTEN involve multiple pathways. These studies further implicate the loss of MMAC/PTEN as a significant event in prostate cancer and suggest that reintroduction of MMAC/PTEN into deficient prostate cancer cells may have therapeutic implications.
Novel maximum power point tracking with classical cascaded voltage and current loops for photovoltaic systems (2011)

Almost all of the Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) methods for photovoltaic (PV) systems are based on searching algorithms. Searching algorithms require relatively complex control schemes and reduce the speed and accuracy of the MPPT method. This paper proposes a novel MPPT method which aims to circumvent traditional searching algorithms thus increasing the speed and accuracy of the response to varying irradiation levels. The method will be validated through MATLAB-SIMULINK simulations. (5 pages)
The receptor-binding domain of the viral spike protein is an immunodominant and highly specific target of antibodies in SARS-CoV-2 patients (2020)

The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) that first emerged in late 2019 is responsible for a pandemic of severe respiratory illness. People infected with this highly contagious virus can present with clinically inapparent, mild, or severe disease. Currently, the virus infection in individuals and at the population level is being monitored by PCR testing of symptomatic patients for the presence of viral RNA. There is an urgent need for SARS-CoV-2 serologic tests to identify all infected individuals, irrespective of clinical symptoms, to conduct surveillance and implement strategies to contain spread. As the receptor binding domain (RBD) of the spike protein is poorly conserved between SARS-CoVs and other pathogenic human coronaviruses, the RBD represents a promising antigen for detecting CoV-specific antibodies in people. Here we use a large panel of human sera (63 SARS-CoV-2 patients and 71 control subjects) and hyperimmune sera from animals exposed to zoonotic CoVs to evaluate RBD's performance as an antigen for reliable detection of SARS-CoV-2-specific antibodies. By day 9 after the onset of symptoms, the recombinant SARS-CoV-2 RBD antigen was highly sensitive (98%) and specific (100%) for antibodies induced by SARS-CoVs. We observed a strong correlation between levels of RBD binding antibodies and SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibodies in patients. Our results, which reveal the early kinetics of SARS-CoV-2 antibody responses, support using the RBD antigen in serological diagnostic assays and RBD-specific antibody levels as a correlate of SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibodies in people.