nils-herrmann/clean_scirepeval huggingface dataset:
Plasma Retinol Concentration Is Mainly Driven by Transthyretin in Hemodialysis Patients.

Micronutrients deficiencies in hemodialysis patients are due to low dietary intakes and intradialytic losses for hydrophilic micronutrients. Conversely, lipophilic nondialyzable compounds might accumulate because of a lack of elimination through renal metabolism or dialysis. Other compounds have complex metabolism: their concentration is not explained by these phenomenons. The aim of this study was to report plasma concentrations of lipophilic micronutrients in hemodialysis patients and to analyze if these concentrations were predictive of mortality.



The design was monocentric observational longitudinal study.



A total of 123 hemodialysis patients included in this observational study.



Plasma concentration of lipophilic micronutrients retinol and its two co-transporters transthyretin and retinol-binding protein 4, tocopherol, and carotenoids (α-carotene and β-carotene, β-cryptoxanthin, lycopene, lutein, and zeaxanthin), and all factors associated with 1-year mortality.



Within the 123 patients of the study, median age (interquartile range) was 77.5 (69.5-84.5) years and 58.5% were male. Median retinol plasma concentration was 4.07 (2.65-5.51) μmol/L, and 91.9% of patient had high plasma retinol concentrations. In monovariate analysis, retinol levels were inversely correlated with mortality (hazard ratio = 0.57 [0.45-0.72]; P < .001). This effect remained significant after adjustment with several parameters. Nevertheless, the correlation between retinol and mortality disappeared as soon as transthyretin was added in the statistical model, suggesting an effect of transthyretin as confusing bias. Median tocopherol plasma concentration was 34.8 (28.3-42.9) μmol/L and 72.4% of patients had high plasma tocopherol concentration. Neither tocopherol plasma levels nor carotenoids concentrations were correlated with death in multivariate analysis.



In hemodialysis patients, the correlation between retinol plasma concentration and mortality represents the nutritional status but not a direct biological effect of retinol. Retinol is only a surrogate predictor of mortality. It might not represent vitamin A levels, but likely the transthyretin level. Plasma retinol levels should be interpreted cautiously in hemodialysis patients.

Field of study: Medicine
Regulation of actin and tubulin gene expression by thyroid hormone during rat brain development.

In the developing brain the active neurite outgrowth during the early phase of synaptogenesis is associated with a thyroid hormone dependent expression of tubulin and actin. In this study, the molecular mechanism of thyroid hormone (TH) action on actin and tubulin gene expression in the developing rat brain has been investigated by comparing the steady state levels of both mRNAs with their respective rates of transcription in cerebra from normal and hypothyroid animals. The developmental profile of actin as well as tubulin mRNAs in both normal and hypothyroid brains display a biphasic pattern, increasing progressively during the first week after birth and declining thereafter. However, hypothyroidism resulted in a significant reduction in the steady state levels of both mRNAs during the first postnatal week. During the second and third weeks, in contrast to their rapid decline in the normal controls, the corresponding decrease in the hypothyroid cerebra was retarded and prolonged resulting in their higher levels under TH-deficient condition. Kinetics of stimulation of actin and tubulin mRNAs in the 5-day hypothyroid cerebra following injection of the optimal dose of TH (200 micrograms T3/100 g body wt.) demonstrated elevation of both mRNAs within 1 h indicating a possible role of TH at the transcriptional level. In vitro transcription experiments by nuclear run off assay unambiguously confirmed that actin gene transcription is depressed in the hypothyroid cerebra compared to normal control. This reduced rate of transcription could be significantly induced in the hypothyroid cerebra by incubation of hypothyroid nuclei with T3 prior to transcription. In contrast, except for a reduced transcription in 5-day hypothyroid nuclei, no effect on tubulin gene transcription was evident at any other age. Moreover preincubation of hypothyroid nuclei from all three ages with T3 had no stimulatory effect on tubulin gene transcription. Analysis of age related changes in the rates of transcription of actin and tubulin genes with their corresponding steady state mRNA levels in normal and hypothyroid developing brain provides strong evidence that although additional modes of regulation may be operative, transcription represents an important level of control for thyroidal regulation of actin gene expression while tubulin gene expression is primarily regulated at post-transcriptional level.

Field of study: Biology
Emissions from open burning of simulated military waste from forward operating bases.

Emissions from open burning of simulated military waste from forward operating bases (FOBs) were extensively characterized as an initial step in assessing potential inhalation exposure of FOB personnel and future disposal alternatives. Emissions from two different burning scenarios, so-called "burn piles/pits" and an air curtain burner/"burn box", were compared using simulated FOB waste from municipal and commercial sources. A comprehensive array of emissions was quantified, including CO(2), PM(2.5), volatile organic compounds (VOCs), polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), polychlorinated dibenzodioxins and -furans (PCDDs/PCDFs), polybrominated dibenzodioxins and -furans (PBDDs/PBDFs), and metals. In general, smoldering conditions in the burn box and the burn pile led to similar emissions. However, when the burn box underwent periodic waste charging to maintain sustained combustion, PM(2.5), VOCs, and PAH emissions dropped considerably compared to smoldering conditions and the overall burn pile results. The PCDD/PCDF and PBDD/PBDF emission factors for the burn piles were 50 times higher than those from the burn box likely due to the dominance of smoldering combustion in the burn piles.

Field of study: Environmental science
Time-resolved spectroscopy of irradiated n-GaAs

Gallium arsenide films were grown by the metallorganic chemical vapour deposition method and doped n-type with silicon to concentrations of 2/spl times/10/sup 15/ and 2/spl times/10/sup 16/ cm/sup -3/. The lifetime (/spl tau/) of the band-to-band recombination process was measured at 77 K using an optical time-resolved spectroscopy technique. The pre-irradiated values ranged from 350 to 550 ps. The samples were irradiated at room temperature with /sup 60/Co gamma rays, fission neutrons, 7 MeV electrons, protons (0.6 to 500 MeV), alpha particles, and lithium and oxygen ions. Degradation constants (K/sub /spl tau//) attributed to non-radiative processes generated by radiation-induced defects are reported. K/sub /spl tau// is compared to the previously published degradation constants associated with the photoluminescence intensity (K/sub PL/) in the continuous mode, and to the previously published introduction rate (b) of the silicon defect at the arsenic site (Si/sub As/) K/sub /spl tau//, K/sub PL/ and b(Si/sub As/) are compared to non-ionizing energy loss calculations and to the Rutherford scattering theory of the cross-section.

Field of study: Physics
On Establishing Heterogeneous Financial Conglomerates & Regulating by Law

Heterogeneous Financial Conglomerates is one of fresh organizational forms of financial development in modem times.Our country ought to put hand to establishing the Heterogeneous Financial Conglomerates.Chiefly starting from our country's actuality,the article talks about the actual way to establish the Heterogeneous Financial Conglomerates.Moreover,and proposes the measures on how to control and manage the Heterogeneous Financial Conglomerates, so as to insure their healthy development by means of law.

Field of study: Agricultural and Food sciences
Host rules: spatial stability of bacterial communities associated with marine sponges (Ircinia spp.) in the Western Mediterranean Sea.

Dispersal limitation and environmental selection are the main processes shaping free-living microbial communities, but host-related factors may also play a major role in structuring symbiotic communities. Here, we aimed to determine the effects of isolation-by-distance and host species on the spatial structure of sponge-associated bacterial communities using as a model the abundant demosponge genus Ircinia. We targeted three co-occurring Ircinia species and used terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP) analysis of 16S rRNA gene sequences to explore the differentiation of their bacterial communities across a scale of hundreds of kilometres in the Western Mediterranean Sea. Multivariate analysis and nonmetric multidimensional scaling plots of T-RFLP profiles showed that bacterial communities in Ircinia sponges were structured by host species and remained stable across sampling locations, despite geographic distances (80-800 km) and diverse local conditions. While significant differences among some locations were observed in Ircinia variabilis-derived communities, no correlation between geographic distance and community similarity was consistently detected for symbiotic bacteria in any host sponge species. Our results indicate that bacterial communities are mostly shaped by host species-specific factors and suggest that evolutionary processes acting on long-term symbiotic relationships have favored spatial stability of sponge-associated bacterial communities.

Field of study: Biology, Environmental science
Kernel-based Inference of Functions over Graphs

The study of networks has witnessed an explosive growth over the past decades with several ground-breaking methods introduced. A particularly interesting—and prevalent in several fields of study—problem is that of inferring a function defined over the nodes of a network. This work presents a versatile kernel-based framework for tackling this inference problem that naturally subsumes and generalizes the reconstruction approaches put forth recently for the signal processing by the community studying graphs. Both the static and the dynamic settings are considered along with effective modeling approaches for addressing real-world problems. The analytical discussion herein is complemented with a set of numerical examples, which showcase the effectiveness of the presented techniques, as well as their merits related to state-of-the-art methods.

Field of study: Computer science
A Comparison between the 2D Real-valued and the Complex-valued Discrete Gabor Transforms

In this paper, we introduced the fast 2D real-valued discrete Gabor transform(RDGT) proposed in our previous work, and the relationship between the coefficients the 2D RDGT and the 2D complex-valued discrete Gabor transform (CDGT).To obtain a numeral comparison of the degree of image data decorrelation,we also performed an entropy computation of both transform coefficients under various effective window width conditions. The comparison results point out that the 2D RDGT is more suitable for image compression than the 2D CDGT.

Field of study: Computer science
COMPORTAMENTO DA FREQÜÊNCIA CARDÍACA E DA PERCEPÇÃO SUBJETIVA DURANTE O EXERCÍCIO REALIZADO EM INTENSIDADES RELATIVAS AO LIMIAR ANAERÓBIO - DOI: 10.4025/reveducfis.v19i3.6002

The objectives of the study were to describe the responses promoted by intensity of the effort on the heart rate (HR) and rating of perceived exertion (RPE) and compare them with the responses of the power output of anaerobic threshold (WAT). Seven subjects were submitted to a progressive exercise test until exhaustion to determine the anaerobic threshold. Subsequently, they exercised continuously during thirty minutes in intensities relative to the WAT. An one-way analysis of variance with repeated measures and Bonferroni post-hoc test were used to the comparisons among the power output of the maximal HR stable state (WMHRSS) and RPE (WMRPESS) with the same parameters of the WAT (p < 0.05). Both WMHRSS (51 ± 18 W) and WMRPESS (76 ± 37 W) were statically lower than WAT (129 ± 4 W). Thus, the use of HR and RPE to monitor intensity in exercises that have the duration typically applied in aerobic training is limited.

Field of study: Education
Evaluation of nuclear-reactor-produced iodine-123.

Iodine-123 has such great potential to nuclear medicine that all possible production methods should be considered. In this report an experimental study related to 123l production at a high-intensity fast flux reactor using the reaction 124Xe(n,2n)123Xe is considered. The conclusion is that 123l could be made in small quantities and the cost would be higher than the cyclotron methods presently used.

Field of study: Medicine, Physics
Biological properties of lemongrass: an overview.

The use of herbal preparations remained the main approach of folk medicine to the treatment of ailments and debilitating diseases. Initial intensive researches conducted on Lemongrass extracts (tea) may have showed conflicting evidences, however the resurgence in claims of folk medicine practitioners necessitated further inquiry into the efficacy of the tea. Lemongrass tea contains several biocompounds in its decoction, infusion and essential oil extracts. Anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-bacterial, anti-obesity, antinociceptive, anxiolytic and antihypertensive evidences of lemongrass tea were clearly elucidated to support initial pharmacological claims. Lemongrass tea was non-toxic, non-mutagenic and receives wide acceptance among alternative medicine practitioners in several developing countries. This review therefore presents previous research activities, technologies and information surrounding bioactivities of lemongrass tea. Areas of future researches which may elucidate mechanisms of the biological properties of lemongrass extracts were highlighted.

Field of study: Agricultural and Food sciences
Iron and Clay in Tropical Savanna Alluvium, Northern Colombia: A Contribution to The Origin of Red Beds

Along the flanks of Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, northern Colombia, tropical savanna uplands with reddish to reddish-brown soils yield brown alluvium which contains relatively abundant grains of fresh iron-bearing minerals: magnetite, amphibole, and biotite, with subordinate chlorite and ilmenite. They constitute about 4.5 weight percent of bulk samples and 8.8 weight percent of sand-silt fractions. In older terrace deposits bleached biotite is common, amphibole is rare, and some magnetite has been oxidized to specular hematite. Clay minerals consist of varying amounts of montmorillonite, illite, mixed-layer clay, kaolinite, and chlorite. Amorphous to very disordered aluminosihcate constitutes 10 to 26 percent of the clay fraction. Total iron makes up 3.1 to 7.6 percent of bulk samples which is considerably higher than that in Sonoran Desert alluvium (0.7 to 4.7 percent), and its upper range exceeds that in many ancient red beds. With few exceptions most of the total iron is in the clay fractions and about 75 percent of that is combined in clay minerals. Total iron in clay fractions averages about 6.6 percent: 5.5 to 8.0 percent in alluvium in transit, 4.8 to 9.0 percent in flood-plain sediments, and 3.0 to 5.8 percent in older terrace deposits. Free (extractable) iron in brown pigment constitutes 0.7 to 3.2 percent of clay fractions and averages about 0.75 percent of bulk samples. This is about twice that in bulk samples of Sonoran Desert alluvium (0.38 percent mean) and it is more than that in many ancient red beds (0.67 percent mean). According to these data there is enough free brown hydrated ferric oxide in tropical savanna alluvium to produce hematite pigment in a red bed simply by post-depositional dehydration and crystallization in an oxidizing environment of burial.

Field of study: Geology
Ab-initio No-Core Shell Model With Many-Body Forces

Working in the framework of the ab-initio no-core shell model, we derive two-body effective interactions microscopically for specific harmonic-oscillator basis spaces from the realistic Argonne V8' nucleon-nucleon potential. However, our two-body effective interaction is only the dominant part of the A-body (A >= 3) effective interaction, which also contains three-, four- and, in general, up to A-body components. We model these multi-body components as a simple two-parameter, basis-space-dependent interaction. We then investigate the coupling needed to provide accurate descriptions of selected nuclear observables. We successfully model the multi-body interaction as a zero-range two-body operator times the number operator Nsps that measures the harmonic-oscillator quanta of the spectator nucleons.

Field of study: Physics
A Comprehensive Analysis of the Effect of SIRT1 Variation on the Risk of Schizophrenia and Depressive Symptoms

Depressive symptoms could be considered a mutual manifestation of major depressive disorder and schizophrenia. Rs3758391 is a functional locus of Sirtuin (SIRT1) involving depression etiology. In this study, we hypothesized that the SIRT1 SNP rs3758391 might be a hazard for schizophrenia pathogenesis, especially related to the appearance of depressive symptoms. We recruited 723 healthy controls and 715 schizophrenia patients, the occurrence of psychotic and depressive symptoms was evaluated by Calgary Depression Scale (CDSS) and PANSS. Meanwhile, qt-PCR was used to detect the mRNA levels of SIRT1 in peripheral blood of 197 olanzapine monotherapy schizophrenia patients. 45.6% of schizophrenia patients had depressive symptoms. In the patient group, mRNA levels of patients with depressive symptoms were significantly lower than those without depressive symptoms (P < 0.01). CDSS scores of schizophrenia patients with different rs3758391 genotypes were significantly different (P < 0.01). Post hoc comparisons indicated that the CDSS scores of rs3758391 C/C and C/T carriers were higher than those of T/T carriers (Ps < 0.01). In the occipital cortex, our eQTL analysis showed that there was a clear correlation between rs3758391 and the SIRT1 mRNA levels. Our preliminary findings provide suggestive evidence that SIRT1 makes schizophrenia patients more prone to depressive symptoms. This SNP might be a biomarker of depression in schizophrenia.

Field of study: Biology
A Collective Fear of the Collective: Implications for Selves and Theories of Selves

Drawing on recent analyses of the self in many cultures, the authors suggest that the cultural ideal of independence of the self from the collective has dominated European-American social psychological theorizing. As a consequence, the existence of considerable interdependence between the self and the collective has been relatively neglected in current conceptual analysis. The authors (a) argue that a group's cultural ideal of the relation between the self and the collective is pervasive because it is rooted in institutions, practices, and scripts, not just in ideas and values; (b) show how a given cultural ideal whether it is independence or interdependence, can shape the individual's experience and expression of the self; and (c) discuss how a comparative approach may enrich and expand current theory and research on the interdependence between the self and the collective.

Field of study: Psychology
Functional Implications of Cross-Linked Actin Networks in Trabecular Meshwork Cells

The Trabecular meshwork (TM) is the tissue responsible for outflow resistance and therefore intraocular pressure. TM cells contain a contractile apparatus that is composed of actin stress fibres which run parallel to the axis of the cell and are responsible for facilitating contraction. Cross-Linked Actin Networks (CLANs) are polygonal arrangements of actin that form a geodesic network found predominantly in TM cells both in situ and in vitro. The aim of this work is to determine the functional significance of CLANs in TM cells and to assess the effect of mechanical stretch stimulation on the induction (or not) of CLANs.  We used collagen gel contraction models to demonstrate functional impairment of cells when induced to express CLANs in situ. Cyclic mechanical stretch was used to stimulate cells and measure CLANs  CLANs inhibited contraction and cyclic mechanical stretch induced CLANs. Furthermore, we also demonstrated that using shape alone we could predict the appearance of CLANs using a simple light microscopy technique.  Taken together we have now shown, for the first time, a functional deficit In TM cells with CLANs Furthermore that shape alone can predict the appearance of CLAN containing cells. CLANs can now be linked to a functional effect and may underlie the appearance of CLANs with the pathology of primary open angle glaucoma (POAG).

Field of study: Biology, Chemistry
[Inhibition of guinea pig sperm capacitation, the acrosome reaction and sperm-egg fusion by dl-propranolol in vitro].

dl-Propranolol (Pro), known to have spermicidal effect, was evaluated for its ability to influence capacitation, the acrosome reaction (AR) and fertilization of guinea pig spermatozoa at non-spermicidal dose levels. A concentration-dependent decrease in AR and the whiplashed motility occurred in Pro as low as 0.05 mmol/L. Pro 1.0 mmol/L completely abolished AR, followed by the loss of sperm capacity to penetrate into zona-free hamster egg. Pro exerted its inhibitory effect of AR primarily by restraining the capacitation stage of sperm but at Pro 0.5 mmol/L by blocking both capacitation and AR stages. % of AR of sperm preincubated with ionophore A-23187 0.2 mumol/L was significantly higher than that of the control, but markedly lower at Pro greater than or equal to mmol/L, implying that Pro prevented sperm Ca2+ influx. Prenylamine was also found to inhibit AR potentially and enhance the action of Pro against ionophore A-23187. Furthermore, Pro inhibition of the fertilizing ability of preincubated spermatozoa was antagonized by cAMP. Pro 0.5 mmol/L even caused the egg vesiculation. The reversibility of the action depends on the dose and time of sperm exposure to Pro. These findings suggest that the inhibitory effects of Pro on guinea pig sperm capacitation, the acrosome reaction and fertilization may be the mechanisms for its antifertility action.

Field of study: Biology, Chemistry, Medicine
Breather-type soliton and two-soliton solutions for modified Korteweg-de Vries equation

In this Letter, different kinds of solutions including breather-type soliton and two-soliton solutions, are obtained for the modified Korteweg-de Vries (M-KdV) equation by using bilinear form, the extended homoclinic test approach and dependent variable transformations. Moreover,we point out that the author did not obtain so-called periodic two-soliton solutions in W. Long (in press) .

Field of study: Mathematics
Bartolommeo Goggio: A Feminist in Renaissance Ferrara

R EADERS in late medieval and early modem Europe had access to a lively and extensive literature on the nature of women. Philosophers, theologians, poets, physicians, and antiquarians of all kinds and degrees sought to describe and classify, analyze and dissect, justify or vilify the "second sex."1 As with other intense debates in those times, writers called upon the ancient sources of scientia and sapientia-factual knowledge and moral truth-to witness and buttress their arguments. The range of authorities was immense, both in time and substance, offering the diverse views of Aristotle and Augustine, of Ovid and Jerome, of Genesis and the Song of Solomon. One could go on, but these polarities suffice to make the point that ancient history, literature and legend, whether "pagan" or Christian, provided an arsenal of argument and example to misogynist and anti-misogynist alike. By the beginning of the fifteenth century, one can discern a stock of commonplace arguments used by detractors and defenders of women. These arguments are addressed to a handful of recurrent topics, such as the inferior circumstances of the creation of woman; her role in original sin; her sexuality; her deficiency in the moral virtues of

Field of study: History