nils-herrmann/clean_scirepeval huggingface dataset:
PU.1-Silenced Dendritic Cells Induce Mixed Chimerism and Alleviate Intestinal Transplant Rejection in Rats via a Th1 to Th2 Shift

Intestinal transplantation is an effective treatment for end-stage bowel failure; however, graft rejection and the toxicity associated with non-specific immunosuppression are major limitations of this procedure. Studies have shown that mixed chimerism can produce post-transplantation immune tolerance. Here, we demonstrate that in rat intestinal transplantation, PU.1-silenced dendritic cells (DCs) plus bone marrow (BM) cell transfusion results in mixed chimerism, and we investigate the mechanisms responsible for the effects of mixed chimerism rejection.  In a model of intestinal transplantation, male Brown Norway rats were the donors, and female Lewis rats were the recipients that were randomly divided into 4 groups: control, BM, BM-imDCs and BM-PU.1. The dynamic changes in graft morphology, rejection scoring and serum concentrations of Th1/Th2-related cytokines were investigated on postoperative days 0, 7, 14, 21, and 30.  The BM-PU.1 group had better graft health, milder pathologic injuries, and lower rejection grades compared with the other groups. The rates of mixed chimerism were significantly highest in the BM-PU.1 group and correlated with decreases in serum IL-2 and increases in serum IL-10.  Transfusion of PU.1-silenced DCs and BM cells induces stable mixed chimerism and has the potential to reduce pathologic injuries via a pro-Th2 shift in the Th1/Th2 balance.

Field of study: Biology, Chemistry
Migration to the Next Generation Optical Access Networks Using Hybrid WDM/TDM-PON

Due to the rapid growth of Internet and multimedia services, broadband fiber access technologies, such as Passive Optical Networks (PONs), come to the forefront of the research field. Network service providers mostly deploy Time Division Multiplexed (TDM)-PON everywhere in the world. In order to mitigate the future demand, researchers have investigated some next-generation PON systems, such as Wavelength Division Multiplexed (WDM)-PON and hybrid WDM/TDM-PONs. In this report, we propose the architecture of a self-restored hybrid WDM/TDM-PON. Due to the restorable capacity of the architecture, the availability of the PON system increases. Furthermore, the proposed architecture is a cost effective solution compared to the existing restorable PON architectures . Finally, we analyzed the power budget and signal quality of the proposed architecture , which proves the applicability of the proposed architecture to the access networks.

Field of study: Computer science
Influence Of Fe2O3 And MgO As Mineralizers For Tobermorite Synthesis

Tobermorite (Ca5Si6O16(OH)2.4H2O) crystallites with various morphologies have been successfully synthesized via a hydrothermal process at 175°C for 4 and 24 hours and assisted by Fe2O3 and MgO as mineralizers. X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Fourier infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) indicated that the mineralizers played a key role in the crystallization and morphology-controlled synthesis of tobermorite crystallites. Mg2+ increase crystallinity of tobermorite and change its morphology from platy-shape at 4 hours curing time to lamellar-shape at longer curing time. Fe3+ increases imperfection of tobermerite at short curing time, however it increases crystallinity at longer curing time and the morphology of tobermorite change magnificently from reticulated-shape to fiber-shape. FTIR proved that MgO and Fe2O3 increase silicate chains polymerization and increase the chain cross-linkage, which is consistent with tobermorite lamellar and fibers morphology that grow parallel to the b-axis (along the silicate chains). MgO and Fe2O3 can be used as valuable additives in tobermorite synthesis to tailor the crystal morphology for specific applications like heat insulations with high mechanical properties or used as filters for removal of heavy metal or organic materials from different industrial processes.

Field of study: Materials science
Pericarditis and inflammatory bowel disease.

Pericarditis is an uncommon but important complication of inflammatory bowel disease. Five new cases are described and the published literature on nine other cases is reviewed. The pericarditis occurred during an active phase of the colitis in all our cases and was associated with other extra-colonic manifestations of colitis in three. No other cause for the pericarditis was identified and in all five cases it responded promptly to the administration of corticosteroid drugs.

Field of study: Medicine
Novel immunosuppressive effect of FK506 by augmentation of T cell apoptosis

We have recently reported the accumulation of oligoclonal activated T cells in the spontaneously developed autoimmune pancreatitis in aly/aly mouse. In this study, we examined the effects of FK506 in this mouse model in preventing autoimmune pancreatitis and investigated its action on calcium signalling apoptosis of alymphoplasia (aly) lymphocytes in vitro. Mice were treated with FK506 from 8 to 25 weeks of age. At the age of 15 weeks, minimal mononuclear cell infiltration was observed in the pancreas in both the FK506 treated group and the control group. Furthermore, a marked cell infiltration associated with destruction of acini and partial fatty changes were observed in 25‐week‐old control mice. In contrast, FK506 treated mice showed almost no tissue destruction or mononuclear cell infiltration at the age of 25 weeks. Furthermore, at 15 weeks of age, most mononuclear cells in FK506‐treated mice were TUNEL positive, whereas only a few were positive in control mice. This augmentation of T cell apoptosis by FK506 was confirmed using naive splenocytes activated by PMA and ionomycin in vitro. Finally, a suppressive effect of FK506 on Bcl‐2 production but not on Bax production was confirmed by Western blotting. This unique effect of FK506 on the augmentation of T cell apoptosis is probably one of the mechanisms explaining its beneficial effect on aly autoimmune pancreatitis.

Field of study: Biology, Medicine
Tree and shrub diversity and abundance in fragmented littoral forest of southeastern Madagascar

In the coastal littoral forest of extreme southeastern Madagascar, westudied tree diameter at breast height (DBH) ≥ 10 cm in 20, 50× 50 m plots in each of four forest fragments, andunderstorywoody vegetation (DBH < 10 cm, ≥1 m tall) in60,10 × 10 m plots in three of the fragments. Oneforestfragment was located in the highly degraded Lokaro region, and three in the nearbySainte-Luce forest. Atotal of 3476 trees, representing 169 species in 55 families, were recorded inthe50 × 50 m plots, and 10282 understory stems, representing195 species in 54 families, were found in the 10 × 10m plots. For each tree, DBH was recorded. Mean tree diameter andpatterns of tree size class distribution did not differ among the four forestfragments. However, the fragments differed significantly in both tree andunderstory stem densities, species richness and diversity values, and familyrichness values, with the Lokaro fragment having the lowest values for allmeasures. Furthermore, floristic patterns, family importance values, and communitysimilarity measures revealed that the species composition at theLokaro fragment was very different from the Sainte-Luce fragments. Anthropogenicdisturbance appears most pronounced in the isolated Lokaro forest, where bioticresources are limited to this single fragment.

Field of study: Environmental science
Neural ODEs for Multi-State Survival Analysis

Survival models are a popular tool for the analysis of time to event data with applications in medicine, engineering, economics and many more. Advances like the Cox proportional hazard model have enabled researchers to better describe hazard rates for the occurrence of single fatal events, but are limited by modeling assumptions, like proportionality of hazard rates and linear effects. Moreover, common phenomena are often better described through multiple states, for example, the progress of a disease might be modeled as healthy, sick and dead instead of healthy and dead, where the competing nature of death and disease has to be taken into account. Also, individual characteristics can vary significantly between observational units, like patients, resulting in idiosyncratic hazard rates and different disease trajectories. These considerations require flexible modeling assumptions. Current standard models, however, are often ill-suited for such an analysis. To overcome these issues, we propose the use of neural ordinary differential equations as a flexible and general method for estimating multi-state survival models by directly solving the Kolmogorov forward equations. To quantify the uncertainty in the resulting individual cause-specific hazard rates, we further introduce a variational latent variable model. We show that our model exhibits state-of-the-art performance on popular survival data sets and demonstrate its efficacy in a multi-state setting.

Field of study: Computer science
Success Attributions and More: Multidimensional Extensions of the Sexual Attribution Bias to Failure Attributions, Social Emotions, and the Desire for Social Interaction

According to the recently discovered sexual attribution bias (SAB), young adults attribute the success of same-aged, same-sex attractive stimulus persons in a more derogative way than the success of less attractive same-sex persons, whereas this pattern is reversed for members of the opposite sex. Because this bias has so far only been investigated with respect to attributions in success scenarios, two studies examined its potential transferability to other psychological variables and settings: Study 1 (N = 419) demonstrated analogous biases for emotions and the desire for social interaction, and Study 2 (N = 509) revealed that the SAB can also be extended to failure scenarios.

Field of study: Psychology
The Role of Children’s Media Use in Teacher-Child Relationship, Classroom Adjustment and Performance When Transit to Primary School

Early transition from preschool to primary school is an important predictor that gives a lot of insight into the later years of formal schooling.In this process,teacher-child relationship is a determining factor on social and academic success when children make an attempt to adjust to the school environment.The major purpose of the study was to examine the teacher-child relationship in children’s media use with a focus on the teacher-child interaction,classroom adjustment and performance.Correlation and regression analyses were used to identify these variables.Participants were 250 children(N=250,121 girls,129 boys) across the first year of primary school. 250 families as well as the teachers of children were surveyed on the children’s media use and teacher-child relationship.Correlation analyses indicated that the quality of teacher-child relationship was linked to children’ media use.Key findings suggest that the longer the media is used by a child, the less likely he/she is to interact with the teacher.What’s more,the more the teacher assigns assignments through the mobile phone or tablet, the less child admires the teacher,which as well could reduce the class satisfaction via teacher-child interaction in sequence.Additionally,this study also indicates that media assignments by teachers is a new risk factor of negative relationship via teacher-child interaction.  children’s media use,transit to primary school,teacher-child relationship,classroom adjustment and performance DOI: 10.7176/JEP/11-6-01 Publication date: February 29 th 2020

Field of study: Education
Assessing economic impacts of China's water pollution mitigation measures through a dynamic computable general equilibrium analysis

In this letter, we apply an extended environmental dynamic computable general equilibrium model to assess the economic consequences of implementing a total emission control policy. On the basis of emission levels in 2007, we simulate different emission reduction scenarios, ranging from 20 to 50% emission reduction, up to the year 2020. The results indicate that a modest total emission reduction target in 2020 can be achieved at low macroeconomic cost. As the stringency of policy targets increases, the macroeconomic cost will increase at a rate faster than linear. Implementation of a tradable emission permit system can counterbalance the economic costs affecting the gross domestic product and welfare. We also find that a stringent environmental policy can lead to an important shift in production, consumption and trade patterns from dirty sectors to relatively clean sectors

Field of study: Environmental science
Calculation of the polarization of the recoil proton in πN-scattering near the inelastic threshold

The polarization of the recoil proton in πN-scattering has been calculated as a function of the scattering angle at the energies 150, 170, 190 MeV. It is shown that this polarization depends sensitively on the πN-scattering phase-shiftP11. Slight changes of the other phase-shifts do not affect the polarization to the same extent. New measurements of the differential cross-section and of the polarization in the process π−+p→π−+p are suggested. They would allow for a new precise phase-shift analysis, which could possibly determine the sign of theP11-phase at the inelastic threshold. This sign is important in connection with the bound-state picture of the nucleon.

Field of study: Physics
Cosmogenic radionuclides from fiord landscapes support differential erosion by overriding ice sheets

The interpretation of differentially weathered mountainous areas along the fringes of Pleistocene ice sheets is fundamental for determining ice-sheet behavior and thickness during the last glaciation. Two existing interpretations are either that highly weathered uplands remained as nunataks while freshly eroded troughs held outlet glaciers during the last glaciation or that uplands and lowlands were equally covered by ice, but that it was differentially erosive as a function of its spatially variable basal thermal regime. Cosmogenic radionuclide measurements from 33 bedrock samples and 27 upland erratics from differentially weathered fi ord landscapes on northeastern Baffi n Island shed light on Laurentide Ice Sheet (LIS) dynamics and thickness. Tors on weathered upland surfaces have minimum 10 Be ages between ca. 50 and ca. 170 ka (n = 12), whereas the majority of erratics perched in the uplands range from ca. 10 to ca. 13 ka (n = 14), indicating that the whole landscape was glaciated during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). Glacially sculpted bedrock (n = 7) near sea level refl ects the age of deglaciation, and increasing amounts of isotopic inheritance in highelevation sculpted bedrock (n = 3), higher elevation intermediately weathered bedrock (n = 11), and highest elevation intensely weathered bedrock refl ect the weakening of erosive power as the ice sheet transitioned from fi ords to interfi ord plateaus. Cold-based glaciation of uplands was contemporaneous with warm-based glaciation in fi ords, suggesting the presence of ice streams. 26 Al and 10 Be concentrations measured in 10 bedrock samples indicate that tors have experienced a complex history of alternating periods of exposure, burial, and limited glacial erosion. The paired isotope data reveal a minimum duration of burial of 80‐500 k.y., presumably by cold-based ice, and indicate that the tors have an age of at least 150‐580 ka. These data, together with other reconstructions of ice streams in the eastern Canadian Arctic, suggest that ice streams were a large infl uence on northeastern LIS dynamics throughout the late Quaternary. Thus, the northeastern LIS was sensitively tied with North Atlantic thermohaline circulation and abrupt climate change.

Field of study: Geology
Plasma deposition and properties of composite metal/polymer and metal/hard carbon films

- The growing interest in novel materials has promoted the investigation of two-component composite materials formed by small metal inclusions incorporated in an organic insulating medium. In this paper the recent knowledge of composite thin films composed of metal grains dispersed in the matrix of a plasma deposited polymer or a hard carbon is reviewed. The most important deposition techniques are presented and the relation between the deposition processes, the film microstructure and resulting film properties (especially optical and electrical) are discussed. The film characteristics are illustrated by the latest results from our laboratory.

Field of study: Chemistry
Uninstructed human responding: sensitivity to ratio and interval contingencies.

College students' presses on a telegraph key were occasionally reinforced by light onsets in the presence of which button presses (consummatory responses) produced points later exchangeable for money. One student's key presses were reinforced according to a variable-ratio schedule; key presses of another student in a separate room were reinforced according to a variable-interval schedule yoked to the interreinforcement intervals produced by the first student. Instructions described the operation of the reinforcement button, but did not mention the telegraph key; instead, key pressing was established by shaping. Performances were comparable to those of infrahuman organisms: variable-ratio key-pressing rates were higher than yoked variable-interval rates. With some yoked pairs, schedule effects occurred so rapidly that rate reversals produced by schedule reversals were demonstrable within one session. But sensitivity to these contingencies was not reliably obtained with other pairs for whom an experimenter demonstrated key pressing or for whom the reinforcer included automatic point deliveries instead of points produced by button presses. A second experiment with uninstructed responding demonstrated sensitivity to fixed-interval contingencies. These findings clarify prior failures to demonstrate human sensitivity to schedule contingencies: human responding is maximally sensitive to these contingencies when instructions are minimized and the reinforcer requires a consummatory response.

Field of study: Biology, Psychology
L-tryptophan uptake by segment-specific membrane vesicles from the proximal tubule of rabbit kidney.

1. The mechanism of the renal transport of L-tryptophan by basolateral and luminal membrane vesicles prepared from either the pars convoluta or the pars recta of the rabbit proximal tubule was studied. The uptake of L-tryptophan by basolateral membrane vesicles from the pars convoluta was found to be an Na(+)-dependent transport event. The Na(+)-conditional influx of the amino acid was stimulated in the presence of an inwardly directed H+ gradient. Lowering the pH without an H+ gradient had no effect, indicating that L-tryptophan is co-transported with H+. 3. On the other hand, no transient accumulation of L-tryptophan was observed in the presence or absence of Na+ in basolateral membrane vesicles from the pars recta. 4. In luminal membrane vesicles from the pars recta, the transient Na(+)-dependent accumulation of L-tryptophan occurred via a dual transport system. In addition, an inwardly directed H+ gradient could drive the uphill transport of L-tryptophan into these vesicles in both the presence and the absence of an Na+ gradient. 5. By contrast, the uptake of L-tryptophan by luminal membrane vesicles from the pars convoluta was a strictly Na(+)-dependent and electrogenic transport process, mediated by a single transport component. 6. Investigation of the coupling ratio in luminal membrane vesicles suggested that 1 Na+:1 L-tryptophan are co-transported in the pars convoluta. In the pars recta, examination of the stoichiometry indicated that approx. 1 H+ and 2 Na+ (high affinity) or 1 Na+ (low affinity) are involved in the uptake of L-tryptophan.

Field of study: Biology, Computer science
Prevalence of the −295 T‐to‐C promoter polymorphism of the interleukin (IL)‐16 gene in periodontitis

Interleukin (IL)‐16 is involved in the regulation of the expression of several proinflammatory cytokines, i.e. tumour necrosis factor (TNF)α and interleukin (IL)‐1β. The present study aimed to determine the prevalence of the −295 promoter polymorphism of the interleukin (IL)‐16 gene in periodontal disease. A total of 123 patients with periodontal disease and 122 healthy controls were genotyped for the −295 IL‐16 promoter polymorphism. Genotyping has been performed by PCR and restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis. The frequencies of alleles and genotypes as well of haplotypes within both study groups were compared using the Pearson χ2 test at a level  of  significance  of  5% (P < 0·05).  The  distribution  of  genotypes  for  the −295 IL‐16 gene polymorphism showed no significant difference between periodontitis patients and healthy control subjects (P = 0·886). Also stratification analysis according to the disease severity revealed no significant difference regarding the genotype distribution among both study groups. Herein the IL‐16 −295 gene polymorphism was not associated with chronic periodontitis.

Field of study: Biology, Medicine
A surface of degree $24$ with $1440$ singularities of type $D\_4$.

Using the invariant algebra of the reflection group denoted by $G\_{32}$ in Shephard-Todd classification, we construct three irreducible surfaces in $P^3$ with many singularities: one of them has degree $24$ and contains $1440$ quotient singularities of type $D\_4$.

Field of study: Mathematics
Long-term behavioral effects in a rat model of prolonged postnatal morphine exposure.

Prolonged morphine treatment in neonatal pediatric populations is associated with a high incidence of opioid tolerance and dependence. Despite the clinical relevance of this problem, our knowledge of long-term consequences is sparse. The main objective of this study was to investigate whether prolonged morphine administration in a neonatal rat is associated with long-term behavioral changes in adulthood. Newborn animals received either morphine (10 mg/kg) or equal volume of saline subcutaneously twice daily for the first 2 weeks of life. Morphine-treated animals underwent 10 days of morphine weaning to reduce the potential for observable physical signs of withdrawal. Animals were subjected to nonstressful testing (locomotor activity recording and a novel-object recognition test) at a young age (Postnatal Days [PDs] 27-31) or later in adulthood (PDs 55-56), as well as stressful testing (calibrated forceps test, hot plate test, and forced swim test) only in adulthood. Analysis revealed that prolonged neonatal morphine exposure resulted in decreased thermal but not mechanical threshold. Importantly, no differences were found for total locomotor activity (proxy of drug reward/reinforcement behavior), individual forced swim test behaviors (proxy of affective processing), or novel-object recognition test. Performance on the novel-object recognition test was compromised in the morphine-treated group at the young age, but the effect disappeared in adulthood. These novel results provide insight into the long-term consequences of opioid treatment during an early developmental period and suggest long-term neuroplastic differences in sensory processing related to thermal stimuli.

Field of study: Biology, Psychology