nils-herrmann/clean_scirepeval huggingface dataset:
Differential synthesis and release of IL‐18 and IL‐18 Binding Protein from human platelets and their implications for HIV infection

HighlightsPlatelets contain IL‐18 transcripts but no pre‐formed protein.They synthesize and release it de novo upon activation.They contain preformed IL‐18BP but not its transcripts.Fresh human platelet poor plasma (PRP) contains little IL‐18 in healthy individuals.Fresh PRP from HIV‐infected individual contain readily detectable IL‐18.  IL‐18 is a pro‐inflammatory cytokine belonging to the IL‐1 family and is produced in the body from macrophages, epithelial and dendritic cells, keratinocytes, adrenal cortex etc. The cytokine is produced as an inactive precursor that is cleaved inside cells into its mature form by activated caspase 1, which exists as an inactive precursor in human cells and requires assembly of an inflammasomes for its activation. We show here for the first time that human platelets contain transcripts for the IL‐18 gene. They synthesize the cytokine de novo, process and release it upon activation. The activation also results in the assembly of an inflammasome and activation of caspase‐1. Platelets also contain the IL‐18 antagonist, the IL‐18‐Binding Protein (IL‐18BP); however, it is not synthesized in them de novo, is present in pre‐made form and is released irrespective of platelet activation. IL‐18 and IL‐18BP co‐localize to &agr; granules inside platelets and are secreted out with different kinetics. Platelet activation contributes to plasma concentrations in healthy individuals, as their plasma samples contain abundant IL‐18, while their platelet‐poor plasma samples contain very little amounts of the cytokine. The plasma and PPP samples from these donors, however, contain comparable amounts of IL‐18BP. Unlike healthy individuals, the platelet‐poor plasma from HIV‐infected individuals contains significant amounts of IL‐18. Our findings have important implications for viral infections and other human diseases that are accompanied by platelet activation.

Field of study: Medicine
Calculation of AC loss in an HTS wind turbine generator

In order to achieve lower cost of energy the typical power rating of large wind turbine generators has steadily increased over recent years. However, with the mast-top weight of multi-megawatt generators exceeding 100 tonnes, installation becomes increasingly costly and difficult. Direct drive turbine designs can give significant weight and cost reductions. We have developed a design for a lightweight direct drive transverse flux generator with a rating of 2 MW. The design features a multi-pole permanent magnet rotor with a single global HTS stator coil of between 4 and 6 m diameter for each phase. As one consequence of this design approach, the HTS conductor is exposed to leakage field from the magnets and the self-field of the generated current. The magnitude of the loss associated with these time-varying fields is crucial to the viability of the HTS generator concept. The stator design seeks to minimize exposure of the HTS tape to alternating magnetic fields perpendicular to the face of the tape in order to reduce the AC loss in the stator coils to an acceptable level. For a coil operating at 50 Hz, the total AC loss is calculated as 15.1 W/m. Thus, AC losses within each of the three 6 m diameter HTS global coils of a 2 MW generator would be 285 W. The thermal load for the cryogenic system of the 2 MW generator is estimated to total 936 W, with the majority (90%) due to AC loss. Assuming a cryogenic specific power of 20, the energy required to cool the 2 MW generator represents less than 1% of total output.

Field of study: Physics
Bulk Nanostructured Polycrystalline p-Bi-Sb-Te Thermoelectrics Obtained by Mechanical Activation Method with Hot Pressing

Bulk nanostructured polycrystals are prospective thermoelectrics. Fabrication and examination of nanostructured polycrystalline p-Bi-Sb-Te are discussed. The influence of fabrication conditions and the composition of the material on sizes of nanograins was investigated experimentally. Basic physical properties of fabricated nanothermoelectrics including nanocomposites were also studied. Theoretical estimation of the influence of phonon scattering on nanograin boundaries in bulk nanostructured thermoelectrics is presented.

Field of study: Materials science
The psychopathological characteristics of the family status of schizophrenia patients

Family and parenteral relations were investigated in 196 schizophrenic patients during 7-12 years. In was confirmed that lonely individuals prevailed among the schizophrenic patients. Psychopathological peculiarities of motivations of beginning, preservation and cessation of marriage were analysed. The distinctive signs of heterosexual activity of patients in marriage as well as their relations in such pairs as "mother-child", "father-child" were also recorded. It was established that with aggravation of psychopathological disturbances the differences from corresponding demographic indices in normal population became more pronounced and social disadaptation more expressed.

Field of study: Medicine, Psychology
Migración de fragmentos de catéteres percutáneos en paciente pediátrico

Los pacientes hemato-oncologicos pediatricos son una poblacion usualmente expuesta a cateteres percutaneos, debido a los tratamientos quimioterapeuticos de larga duracion. Entre las complicaciones raras se encuentra la migracion de fragmentos del cateter. A pesar de que se reportan diferentes tecnicas quirurgicas para remover los fragmentos, en algunas ocasiones el riesgo de remocion supera el beneficio del paciente. En este articulo se reporta el caso de una nina de 6 anos, con diagnostico de leucemia linfocitica aguda, en quien se produjo migracion de un fragmento del cateter percutaneo. La paciente curso asintomatica y se manejo conservadoramente. En la actualidad tiene 1 ano y 5 meses desde el diagnostico de la migracion del cateter y se encuentra sin clinica alguna.

Field of study: Mathematics
Locally Weighted Learning for Naive Bayes Classifier

As a consequence of the strong and usually violated conditional independence assumption (CIA) of naive Bayes (NB) classifier, the performance of NB becomes less and less favorable compared to sophisticated classifiers when the sample size increases. We learn from this phenomenon that when the size of the training data is large, we should either relax the assumption or apply NB to a "reduced" data set, say for example use NB as a local model. The latter approach trades the ignored information for the robustness to the model assumption. In this paper, we consider using NB as a model for locally weighted data. A special weighting function is designed so that if CIA holds for the unweighted data, it also holds for the weighted data. The new method is intuitive and capable of handling class imbalance. It is theoretically more sound than the locally weighted learners of naive Bayes that base classification only on the $k$ nearest neighbors. Empirical study shows that the new method with appropriate choice of parameter outperforms seven existing classifiers of similar nature.

Field of study: Computer science
A century of hydrological variability and trends in the Fraser River Basin

This study examines the 1911‐2010 variability and trends in annual streamflow at 139 sites across the Fraser River Basin (FRB) of British Columbia (BC), Canada. The Fraser River is the largest Canadian waterway flowing to the Pacific Ocean and is one of the world’s greatest salmon rivers. Our analyses reveal high runoff rates and low interannual variability in alpine and coastal rivers, and low runoff rates and high interannual variability in most streams in BC’s interior. The interannual variability in streamflow is also low in rivers such as the Adams, Chilko, Quesnel and Stuart where the principal salmon runs of the Fraser River occur. A trend analysis shows a spatially coherent signal with increasing interannual variability in streamflow across the FRB in recent decades, most notably in spring and summer. The upward trend in the coefficient of variation in annual runoff coincides with a period of near-normal annual runoff for the Fraser River at Hope. The interannual variability in streamflow is greater in regulated rather than natural systems; however, it is unclear whether it is predominantly flow regulation that leads to these observed differences. Environmental changes such as rising air temperatures, more frequent polarity changes in large-scale climate teleconnections such as El

Field of study: Environmental science
‘Because Family and Friends Got Easily Weary of Taking Care’: A New Perspective on the Specialization in the Elderly Care Sector in Early Modern Holland

This article investigates the causes of the remarkable growth in and specialization of elderly care institutions in the Netherlands during the early modern period, and relates these developments to a number of major changes in the household formation process, which had both a direct and an indirect impact on the need for elderly care in general and on the relationships between the elderly and next of kin (partners, children, and other family members). Some specific features of the specialization in care, such as the care provisions for couples, point towards an underlying change in these relationships, which may have resulted from a combination of factors such as neolocality, high marriage ages for both men and women, and, related to this, the small spousal age gap and large numbers of singles. In the typical nuclear household society of early modern Holland, even when children lived close enough and were financially capable to provide help, parents often still relied on extraâ€ familial elderly care provisions. This article also argues that this practice was embedded in a persistent moral culture accentuating independence, agency, selfâ€ help, investment in the younger generation, and community, instead of putting family responsibilities first.

Field of study: Economics, History
The Pulsatility of ACTH Secretion in the Rat Anterior Pituitary Cell Perifusion System

This study aimed to examine the physiological mechanism whereby the corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) and arginine vasopressin (AVP) exert their influence on adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) secretion in pituitary cells.  Anterior pituitary cells were harvested from male rats and placed in the perifusion system. Cells were perifused with serum-free medium for 6 hours before fraction collection. After 30-minute of baseline collection, perifusion media was changed to expose the cells to CRH with or without AVP. ACTH concentration in each fraction was measured using enzyme immunoassay chemiluminescent kit.  The lowest physiological concentration of CRH (10 pM) or AVP (10 pM) was not able to induce a marked increase in ACTH secretion. Higher concentration of CRH (30 pM) or AVP (100 pM) in the physiological range caused sustained elevation of ACTH secretion (P < 0.001), while the secretion remained at similar levels for up to 1 hour with continuous stimulation. Perifusion with 10 pM AVP and 10 pM or 30 pM CRH caused a 2.38-fold and 2.99-fold increase in pulsatile ACTH secretion in pituitary cells, respectively. The duration of pulsatility caused by perifusion with 10 pM AVP and 30 pM CRH was close to that observed under physiological condition.  By using the rat anterior pituitary cell perifusion system, we found that CRH and AVP potentiate the effect of each other on ACTH secretion, but AVP was a less potent agonist than CRH. The data suggest that CRH and AVP are essential for the pulsatility of ACTH, and AVP acts like a switch of the pulsatility.

Field of study: Biology, Chemistry
Comparative analysis of resonant phonon THz quantum cascade lasers

We present a comparative analysis of a set of GaAs-based THz quantum cascade lasers, based on longitudinal-optical phonon scattering depopulation, by using an ensemble Monte Carlo simulation, including both carrier-carrier and carrier-phonon scattering. The simulation shows that the parasitic injection into the states below the upper laser level limits the injection efficiency and thus the device performance at the lasing threshold. Additional detrimental effects playing an important role are identified. The simulation results are in reasonable agreement with the experimental findings.

Field of study: Physics
Hypoxic-ischaemic brain injury: imaging and neurophysiology abnormalities related to outcome.

The outcome for patients with hypoxic-ischaemic brain injury (HIBI) is often poor. It is important to establish an accurate prognosis as soon as possible after the insult to guide management. Clinical assessment is not reliable and ancillary investigations, particularly imaging and EEG, are needed to understand the severity of brain injury and the likely outcome.



We undertook a retrospective study of 39 patients on an intensive therapy unit (ITU) with HIBI who were referred for MRI. The patients were seen consecutively >57 months. HIBI was due to a variety of insults causing cardiac arrest, hypoperfusion or isolated hypoxia.



The outcome was poor, 29 patients died, 7 were left severely disabled and only 3 made a good recovery. Characteristic imaging changes were seen on MRI. These included extensive changes in the cortex and the deep grey matter present on diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) and T2-weighted imaging within 6 days of the insult. In other patients, different patterns of involvement of the cortex and basal ganglia occurred. There was no significant difference in the outcome or imaging appearances according to aetiology. A poor prognosis was consistently associated with a non- or poorly responsive EEG rhythm and the presence of periodic generalized phenomena with a very low-voltage background activity.



In this retrospective study of patients with HIBI, MRI and EEG provided valuable information concerning prognosis.

Field of study: Medicine
Reliability and Validity of the Abusive Violence Scale

Because of the stressful nature of the war in Vietnam, many Americans continue to be affected by their service. One aspect of war service, which may be significantly linked to the formation of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, is the degree of personal experience with abusive violence. To develop a reliable and valid measure of this construct, construction of an Abusive Violence Scale was undertaken. In the current study, the Abusive Violence Scale showed internal consistency (Cronbach α = .81) and validity, as indicated by significant Pearson correlations with two measures of combat exposure and measures of the PTSD dimensions of intrusiveness and avoidance. Validity was further supported by factor analysis that yielded only one factor, abusive violence.

Field of study: Psychology
Regulation and selective expression of Ly-6A/E, a lymphocyte activation molecule, in the central nervous system.

The Ly-6 locus encodes a group of cell surface molecules found predominantly on lymphoid cells in the mouse. These proteins share several structural and functional characteristics with Thy-1, a molecule expressed in both lymphoid and neuronal tissue. Utilizing anti-Ly-6A/E monoclonal antibodies, the present results demonstrate in situ expression of these molecules in brain tissue. The findings also indicated that these molecules are not expressed during embryonic or neonatal stages of development. Moreover, although Ly-6b haplotype mice exhibited staining primary associated with vascular elements throughout the brain, Ly-6a mice exhibited staining predominantly associated with white matter limited to the hippocampal and midbrain regions. Although cultured glial and neuronal cells expressed marginally detectable levels of Ly-6A/E, the majority of GFAP+ cells in these cultures expressed high levels of Ly-6A/E following incubation with cytokines including rIFN-gamma. In addition, northern blot analysis of RNA from enriched astrocytic cultures corroborated the induction of Ly-6A/E expression. These findings have therefore established that Ly-6 is amongst those groups of genes expressed in both brain and lymphoid tissues.

Field of study: Biology
The role of sediment composition and behavior under dynamic loading conditions on slope failure initiation: a study of a subaqueous landslide in earthquake-prone South-Central Chile

Subaqueous slope failure mechanisms are still poorly understood partly because they are difficult to study due to the remote location of submarine landslides. Landslides in lakes are smaller in size and more readily accessible and therefore represent a good alternative to their marine counterparts. Lake Villarrica, located in South-Central Chile, experienced significant slope failure and serves here as an exemplary study area for subaqueous landslide initiation mechanisms in tectonically active settings. Coring and CPTU testing were undertaken with the MARUM free-fall CPTU deployed adjacent to the coring sites where all lithological units involved in the slope failure were sampled. Using geotechnical methods such as pseudo-static factor of safety analysis and cyclic triaxial testing, three types of soils (i.e., diatomaceous ooze, volcanic ash, and quick clay) were analyzed for their role in slope failure, and earthquake shaking was identified as the primary trigger mechanism. The investigated landslide consisted of two distinct phases. During the first phase, slope failure was initiated above a tephra layer. In the second phase, retrogression led to the shoreward extension of the slide scarp along a second failure plane located in a stratigraphically deeper, extremely sensitive lithology (i.e., quick clay). Results show that liquefaction of buried tephra layers was unlikely, but such layers might still have contributed to a reduction in shear strength along the contact area with the neighboring sediment. Furthermore, cyclic shaking-induced pore pressure in diatomaceous ooze may be similar to that in granular soils. We generally infer that failure mechanisms observed in this study are equally important for landslide initiation in submarine settings as diatomaceous ooze intercalated with volcanic ash may be abundantly present along active continental margins.

Field of study: Environmental science
Air shower universality in the energy range of 1014 to 1022 eV

Universality in the development of air showers initiated by photons and the nuclei of cosmic rays is studied over a wide range of energies (1014–1022 eV). The scaling invariance of the lateral distribution of electrons and the universal relationship between a cascade’s age and radial scaling parameter (the root-meansquare radius of the electron component) are found to remain valid up to ultimate high energies with allowance for the Landau-Pomeranchuk-Migdal effect and interaction with the geomagnetic field. Possible applications of universality for matching, reanalyzing, and verifying the validity of data from different experiments, and for reducing the effect of the nuclear interaction model’s uncertainty on estimates of the mass composition of primary cosmic rays, are discussed.

Field of study: Physics
Profile of circulating cytokines: impact of OSA, obesity and acute cardiovascular events.

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is inducing oxidative stress and consequently promotes systemic inflammation and cardiovascular morbidity. The respective impact of obesity, sleep apnea and acute cardiovascular events on the profile of inflammatory cytokines has not been extensively evaluated. We examined the profile of circulating cytokines in a case-control study comparing nonobese or obese patients with or without sleep apnea and with or without an acute cardiovascular event. Patients were assessed by sleep studies and inflammatory (hs-CRP, Leptin, RANTES, MCP1, IL6, IL8, TNF-α) and anti-inflammatory (adiponectin, IL1-Ra) cytokines profile. A cardiovascular phenotyping was performed including carotid intima-media thickness, pulse wave velocity and 24h blood pressure monitoring. In comparison with patients without sleep apnea or without comorbidities, patients with the combination of an acute cardiovascular event and pre-existing sleep apnea showed a higher burden of systemic inflammation with significant increase in serum levels of hs-CRP, IL1-Ra, IL-8, IL-6, TNF-α, Rantes and sICAM. Rantes and sICAM serum levels were independently associated with AHI after an acute cardiovascular event. Serum levels of different inflammatory markers were significantly increased in patients with the combination of sleep apnea and an acute cardiovascular event. Since these biomarkers could be associated with worsened cardiovascular outcome, diagnosing and treating associated sleep apnea is potentially important in patients after an acute cardiovascular event.

Field of study: Medicine
The Origins of a Peasant Land Market in England1

T lo a medieval social or economic historian study of the land resources of a group is an obvious first step towards understanding it. Because so many of the available documents are concerned with land, there is much to be said for approaching problems from this side. The case is strongest for the group closest to the land, the peasantry. By concentrating on changes in the distribution of peasant land, and the machinery by which this was effected, one may hope to advance knowledge even though our information about peasant landholding will never approach completeness. Something may also be learnt about peasant social mobility, since, for example, a relatively fluid land market may be expected to carry with it important social effects. This article studies some of the evidence for the working of a peasant land market in England from about I 200. It takes as its text the most interesting discussion of the idea to appear recently, that of Prof. Postan in his introduction to the Carte Nativorum, a fourteenth-century cartulary of peasant charters from Peterborough Abbey.2 It will examine his arguments in detail and will try to take them a little farther with the aid of some new evidence, mainly from legal sources. For a start, let us try to summarize Prof. Postan's position as accurately and as briefly as possible, and then state in advance the conclusions to which our reexamination appears to lead. Prof. Postan believes that the Carte ]fativorur3 are best regarded as local examples of new methods which many lords were beginning to use, at the end of the thirteenth and the beginning of the fourteenth centuries, to regulate the land transactions of their villein tenants. For various reasons lords had an interest to prevent, or at least control, peasant alienation of land, just as the peasants had an opposite interest to alienate. Hence the documentary evidence on which we depend to a large extent for our knowledge of the peasant land market in the later thirteenth century fails to show that this actually existed much earlier. The real reason for this new documentation is that lords felt that the time had come for stiffer control of peasant land transactions, their motives being mainly financial. The pressure on land resources pushed land values higher, creating a situation where lords had both the interest and the opportunity to take their share of the rise. The early emphasis may have been on short-term leases for years, and the change to outright sales may have roughly coincided with the lords' attempt to regain control over peasant alienations, with a consequent magnification of social effects. Prof. Postan, then, argues for a peasant land market over the whole country,

Field of study: Economics, History