gebhart/patrepeval huggingface dataset:
Multiagent self-organization for a taxi dispatch system (2009)

The taxi dispatch problem involves assigning taxis to callers waiting at different locations. A dispatch system currently in use by a major taxi company divides the city (in which the system operates) into regional dispatch areas. Each area has fixed designated adjacent areas hand-coded by human experts. When a local area does not have vacant cabs, the system chooses an adjacent area to search. However, such fixed, hand-coded adjacency of areas is not always a good indicator because it does not take into consideration frequent changes in traffic patterns and road structure. This causes dispatch officials to override the system by manually enforcing movement on taxis. In this dissertation, I apply a multiagent self-organization technique to this problem, dynamically modifying the adjacency of dispatch areas. We compare performance with actual data from, and a simulation of, an operational dispatch system. The proposed technique decreases the total waiting time by up to 25 % in comparison with the real system and increases taxi utilization by 20 % in comparison with results of the simulation without self-organization. Interestingly, we also discover that human intervention (by either the taxi-dispatch officials or the taxi drivers) to manually overcome the limitations of the existing dispatch system can be counterproductive when used with a self-organizing system.
Multiple sigma factor genes in Brevibacterium lactofermentum: characterization of sigA and sigB (1996)

Four rpoD hybridizing signals have been identified in the chromosome of Brevibacterium lactofermentum. Two rpoD-like genes, sigA and sigB, have been cloned and sequenced, and they encode principal sigma factors of the RNA polymerase. The deduced amino acid sequences of SigA and SigB showed very high similarities to those of Mycobacterium smegmatis MysA and MysB proteins, respectively, and also to those of HrdB proteins from different Streptomyces species. SigA and SigB maintain the conserved motifs of sigma 70-like principal sigma factors. sigB is closely linked to the dtxR gene (encoding a repressor of iron-regulated promoters homologous to the diphtheria toxin repressor from Corynebacterium diphtheriae.
Oxaliplatin in Combination with Infusional 5-Fluorouracil and Leucovorin Every 2 Weeks as First-Line Treatment in Patients with Advanced Colorectal Cancer: A Phase II Study (2001)

The bimonthly administration of L-OHP in association with LV-modulated bolus plus infusional 5-FU ('de Gramont' regimen) is a well-tolerated and effective front-line treatment for metastatic CRC.
Proteomics, Peptidomics, and Immunogenic Potential of Wheat Beer (Weissbier) (2015)

Wheat beer is a traditional light-colored top-fermenting beer brewed with at least 50% malted (e.g., German Weissbier) or unmalted (e.g., Belgian Witbier) wheat (Triticum aestivum) as an adjunct to barley (Hordeum vulgare) malt. For the first time, we explored the proteome of three Weissbier samples, using both 2D electrophoresis (2DE)-based and 2DE-free strategies. Overall, 58 different gene products arising from barley, wheat, and yeast (Saccharomyces spp.) were identified in the protein fraction of a representative Weissbier sample analyzed in detail. Analogous to all-barley-malt beers (BMB), barley and wheat Z-type serpins and nonspecific lipid transfer proteins dominated the proteome of Weissbier. Several α-amylase/trypsin inhibitors also survived the harsh brewing conditions. During brewing, hundreds of peptides are released into beer. By liquid chromatography-electrospray tandem mass spectrometry (LC-ESI MS/MS) analysis, we characterized 167 peptides belonging to 44 proteins, including gliadins, hordeins, and high- and low-molecular-weight glutenin subunits. Because of the interference from the overabundant yeast-derived peptides, we identified only a limited number of epitopes potentially triggering celiac disease. However, Weissbier samples contained 374, 372, and 382 ppm gliadin-equivalent peptides, as determined with the competitive G12 ELISA, which is roughly 10-fold higher than a lager BMB (41 ppm), thereby confirming that Weissbier is unsuited for celiacs. Western blot analysis demonstrated that Weissbier also contained large-sized prolamins immunoresponsive to antigliadin IgA antibodies from the pooled sera of celiac patients (n = 4).
Structural biochemistry. IV. 3β-Hydroxy-17β-(l-prolyl)amino-androst-5-ene (1967)

The synthesis of the title compound III was studied in detail and the following combination of methods was found reliable and convenient. The oxime derivative Ib of ketone la was reduced with sodium–ethanol to 3β-hydroxy-17β-amino-androst-5-ene. The configurational assignment for amine IIa was supported by the results of a comparison with the 17α-epimer and by a proton magnetic resonance study of both isomers. Selective reaction between amine IIa and carbobenzoxy-l-proline was achieved with Woodward's reagent K. Of several procedures explored for removing the carbobenzoxy protecting group from amide IIc, palladium-catalyzed hydrogenolysis proved quite satisfactory. Hydrogenolysis of carbamate IIb to yield prolyl amide III was realized without affecting the Δ 5 olefin system. A mass spectral study of amine III and the corresponding 5α-derivative IV confirmed the latter observation. A brief review of procedures for the synthesis of steroidal amines was also presented.
High resolution human leukocyte antigen (HLA) class I and class II allele typing in Mexican mestizo women with sporadic breast cancer: case-control study (2009)

Our results reveal the role of the MHC genes in the pathophysiology of breast cancer, suggesting that in the development of breast cancer exists a disorder of immune regulation. The triggering factor seems to be restricted to certain ethnic groups and certain geographical regions since the relevant MHC alleles are highly diverse. This is the first study in Mexican population where high resolutions HLA typing has been performed in order to try to establish an association with malignancy.
MIMO adaptive beamforming for nonseparable multipath clutter mitigation (2014)

The performance of ground-moving target indicator radars is often degraded in complex terrain by multipath spread-Doppler clutter. Multiple-input, multiple-output (MIMO) beamforming with limited training data has been previously proposed with separable transmit and receive weights appropriate for discrete multipath scenarios. In this paper, partially adaptive MIMO beamforming is presented for suppression of a nonseparable continuum of multipath clutter with limited training data. Simulation results for a forward-looking vehicle-mounted radar in a simplified urban environment are described.
Operation of mobile robots in a structured infrared environment (2002)

A micro robot has been built and integrated into a structured infrared positioning sensing system. In the position sensing system the operation area is divided into sectors to allow multiple robots to operate simultaneously. The robot monitors its position whilst in motion and makes its own logical decisions. It can autonomously decide for the next action to execute. It is also able to avoid both dynamic or static obstacles by either sensing at possible collision or by anticipating obstacles from its position and position of others by means of acting on a set of given prioritised instructions. Errors in the system have been discussed and recommendations are made.
Remote Ischemic Per-Conditioning (2011)

Background and Purpose— Remote ischemic preconditioning is a phenomenon by which a short period of sublethal ischemia to an organ protects against subsequent ischemia in another organ. We have recently demonstrated that remote ischemic conditioning by transient hind limb ischemia delivered during ischemia and before reperfusion can provide potent cardioprotection, a phenomenon we termed per-conditioning. This study evaluated whether remote ischemic per-conditioning may provide neuroprotection in a clinically relevant rat model of acute ischemic stroke. Methods— Remote ischemic conditioning by transient limb ischemia was used in a rat transient middle cerebral artery occlusion model of acute stroke. A total of 39 P60 rats were randomly allocated to receive preconditioning, per-conditioning, or sham conditioning. Cerebral ischemia was maintained for 120 minutes followed by reperfusion. The resulting infarct size at 24 hours was quantified using computerized image analysis of 2–3-5-triphenyl tetrazolium chloride-stained brain sections. Results— Compared with control, both pre- and per-conditioning significantly reduced brain infarct size with the more clinically relevant per-conditioning stimulus being superior to preconditioning. Conclusions— Remote per-conditioning by transient limb ischemia is a facile, clinically relevant stimulus that provides potent neuroprotection in a model of regional brain ischemia–reperfusion injury. Further studies are required to better understand the mechanisms and biology of this response before translation to randomized controlled trials of remote per-conditioning for acute ischemic stroke.
The use of surfactants in solvent extraction chemistry. (1986)

Distribution equilibria of some chelating reagents and their metal chelates have been studied between two phases (surfactant and aqueous phases) which were formed from a micellar solution of polyoxyethylene-4-nonylphenyl ether with on average 7.5 oxyethylene units (PONPE-7.5). On the basis of the distribution curves for the chelating reagents and the chelates as a function of pH, the partition constants of the reagents and the chelates were determined at 293 K and ionic strength of μ=0.1 (NaC1). The reagents were extracted not only in the uncharged form (HL) but also in the charged form probably as the type Na+L- and H2L+Cl-. Relatively large values of the partition constants for L- suggest that L-is extracted as an ionic associate with the Nay ion that is complexed with the ether oxygen of PONPE-7.5. The partition constant of the neutral chelates (KD2) depends on the kind of metal ions and is considerably smaller than those expected from the regular solution theory. These facts suggest that the chelates are incorporated into a hydrocarbon environment in the surfactant phase, whereas the reagents are distributed into the polyoxyethylene part of PONPE-7.5.
Effect of Hydrogen Peroxide Disinfection during Incubation of Chicken Eggs on Microbial Levels and Productivity (1999)

Hatchery sanitation has a significant impact on chick quality. The proper use of disinfectants is essential. Aerosol bacterial counts, egg moisture loss, hatchability, chick quality, and broiler productivity were measured in eggs exposed to hydrogen peroxide fogging and compared with eggs not exposed to disinfectant during the incubation period. Hydrogen peroxide was also evaluated in the presence of a severe challenge with Staphylococcus aureus-contaminated eggs. A significant reduction was found in aerosol bacterial counts within the hatcher when incubators were fogged with 3% hydrogen peroxide when compared with water-fogged machines even in the face of high bacterial challenge. Eggs exposed to hydrogen peroxide lost a significantly greater amount of moisture during incubation, but hatchability was not affected. The use of hydrogen peroxide as a hatchery sanitizer did not affect broiler livability, body weight, or feed conversion but did reduce the incidence of retained yolk sacs in 42-day-old chickens.
Long pentraxin 3 (PTX3) expression and release by neutrophils in vitro and in ulcerative colitis (2011)

Pentraxin 3 (PTX3) is the first identified long pentraxin, and it is rapidly produced and released by several cell types in response to proinflammatory signals. The aim of this study was to investigate the behavior of neutrophils to produce PTX3 protein in response to proinflammatory cytokine IL-8 in vitro, as well as identify the expression pattern of PTX3 in human ulcerative colitis lesions. Pentraxin 3 protein was found to be present following release upon IL-8 stimulation in cultured neutrophils together with lactoferrin(+)-specific granules localized in neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) formed by extruded DNA. Neutrophils in colonic mucosal tissue of patients with ulcerative colitis were the main cellular source of PTX3 protein, the expression of which is correlated well with the histological grades of inflammation. Immunofluorescence analysis against anti-lactoferrin antibody revealed the formation of NETs released from neutrophils within crypt abscess lesions, which were found to be activated through the expression of IL-8 receptor B (CXCR2). Of interest, neutrophils depleted of PTX3 protein were displayed, supporting the release of PTX3 from neutrophils in crypt abscess. We suspected that PTX3 protein may contribute to cell-mediated immune defense in inflamed colon tissue, and in particular in crypt abscess lesions, of patients with ulcerative colitis.
Generation of a fusion partner to sample the repertoire of splenic B cells destined for apoptosis. (1994)

B cells proliferate and diversify in germinal centers in response to antigen. Only a small percentage of these B cells will emerge to form the serum antibody response. Other B cells making lower affinity antibodies, acquiring nonsense mutations, or expressing autoreactivity as a result of somatic mutation undergo an apoptotic cell death and are not efficiently sampled in current analyses of B-cell hybridomas. We have demonstrated that expression of bcl-2 in the NSO myeloma fusion partner leads to a higher yield of viable hybridomas, with a selective increase in hybridomas from B cells that produce autoantibodies and are seldom recovered when spleen cells from non-autoimmune mice are fused to the conventional NSO cell line. Using this fusion partner, we have generated hybridomas from anti-DNA antibody-producing transgenic B cells that are anergic in vivo and destined for apoptosis. These studies provide a strategy to sample the repertoire of B cells that arise in vivo but are not selected to contribute to the expressed antibody response. Furthermore, they demonstrate that restricted expression of bcl-2 in B cells contributes to the maintenance of self-tolerance in secondary lymphoid organs.
Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Contributes to the Prostate Cancer-Induced Osteoblast Differentiation Mediated by Bone Morphogenetic Protein (2004)

Human prostate cancer has a high predisposition to metastasize to bone, resulting in the formation of osteoblastic metastases. The mechanism through which prostate cancer cells promote osteoblastic lesions is undefined. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) has been implicated as a mediator of osteoblast activity. In the present study, we examined if prostate cancer cells promote osteoblastic activity through VEGF. We found that LNCaP and C4-2B prostate cancer cell lines and primary tumor and metastatic prostate cancer tissues from patients expressed VEGF. Bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs), which are normally present in the bone environment, induced VEGF protein and mRNA expression in C4-2B cells. Furthermore, BMP-7 activated the VEGF promoter. Noggin, a BMP inhibitor, diminished VEGF protein expression and promoter activity in C4-2B cells. Conditioned media (CM) from C4-2B cells induced pro-osteoblastic activity (increased alkaline phosphatase, osteocalcin, and mineralization) in osteoblast cells. Both noggin alone and anti-VEGF antibody alone diminished C4-2B CM-induced pro-osteoblastic activity. Transfection of C4-2B cells with VEGF partially rescued the C4-2B CM-induced pro-osteoblastic activity from noggin inhibition. These observations indicate that BMPs promote osteosclerosis through VEGF in prostate cancer metastases. These results suggest a novel function for VEGF in skeletal metastases. Specifically, VEGF promotes osteoblastic lesion formation at prostate cancer bone metastatic sites.
Recent Advances in GLP‐1 Receptor Agonists for Use in Diabetes Mellitus (2017)

Preclinical Research Mimetics of Glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) represent a useful alternative or complementary treatment choice to insulin in the treatment of diabetes mellitus. The lack of hypoglycemia as a side effect when GLP-1 receptor agonists are used along with the tendency of these therapeutic agents to prevent or even reduce weight gain makes them valuable targets in therapy development. However, native GLP-1 and many of its early analogues have very short half-lives, requiring repeated treatment to maintain therapeutic levels. As all current treatments are injected subcutaneously, a large focus has been made on trying to extend the half-lives of GLP-1 analogues while retaining bioactivity. Most success in this regard has been achieved with the use of peptide-protein fusions, which are not as well suited for oral administration. However, recent work focused on the development of non-fusion peptides with increased half-lives that may be more appropriate for oral administration. This minireview discusses the structural characteristics of past and present analogues as well as the recent work conducted toward developing novel GLP-1 receptor agonists. Drug Dev Res 78 : 292-299, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
3D dynamic displacement-field measurement for structural health monitoring using inexpensive RGB-D based sensor (2017)

The advent of inexpensive digital cameras with depth sensing capabilities (RGB-D cameras) has opened the door to numerous useful applications that need quantitative measures of dynamic fields whose simultaneous time history quantification (at many points as dictated by the resolution of the camera) provides capabilities that were previously accessible only through expensive sensors (e.g., laser scanners). This paper presents a comprehensive experimental and computational study to evaluate the performance envelope of a representative RGB-D sensor (the first generation of Kinect sensor) with the aim of assessing its suitability for the class of problems encountered in the structural dynamics field, where reasonably accurate information of evolving displacement fields (as opposed to few discrete locations) that have simultaneous dynamic planar translational motion with significant rotational (torsional) components. This study investigated the influence of key system parameters of concern in selecting an appropriate sensor for such structural dynamic applications, such as amplitude range, spectral content of the dynamic displacements, location and orientation of sensors relative to target structure, fusing of measurements from multiple sensors, sensor noise effects, rolling-shutter effects, etc. The calibration results show that if the observed displacement field generates discrete (pixel) sensor measurements with sufficient resolution (observed displacements more than 10 mm) beyond the sensor noise floor, then the subject sensors can typically provide reasonable accuracy for transnational motion (about 5%) when the frequency range of the evolving field is within about 10 Hz. However, the expected error for torsional measurements is around 6% for static motion and 10% for dynamic rotation for measurements greater than 5°.
A management and visualization framework for reconfigurable WDM optical networks (2000)

As the phenomenal advance in optical WDM networking technologies continues, optical WDM network equipment has been deployed not only in backbone networks, but also in regional, metropolitan, and access networks. It is widely believed that a major component of the next-generation Internet will be an IP-based optical network employing WDM. WDM wavelength routing and signaling have become an active research field, and dynamic and adaptive wavelength routing and assignment algorithms have been proposed. However, there is less work on reporting network control and management system implementation efforts over testbed WDM networks. This article presents a network management and visualization framework aimed at guiding the development of management applications for reconfigurable WDM optical networks. A layered framework architecture including element and network management and visualization is provided, and an object-based information model representing the WDM network is introduced. Functional components on reconfiguration, software agent, and network visualization services are presented, and important issues related to optical lightpath generation are discussed. A network visualization service also provides WDM control and management APIs to applications and access networks such as an IP network management system. To illustrate the usage of the framework, we share our experience in implementing the MONET network control and management system, and present network visualization views obtained from the MONET WDM network to highlight the framework features.
Retinoic Acid Stimulates α-CAMKII Gene Expression in PC12 Cells at a Distinct Transcription Initiation Site (1996)

The promoter region of the alpha-subunit of the calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II (alpha-CaMKII) gene was inserted into a beta-galactosidase (beta-gal) reporter plasmid, and beta-gal activities were examined in neuroblastoma (NB2a) and pheochromocytoma (PC12) cells after transient or stable transfections. The alpha-CaMKII promoter was 12- to 45-fold more active in NB2a compared with PC12 cells after transient or stable transfections. All-trans retinoic acid (RA) stimulated reporter gene expression at both protein and mRNA levels in transfected PC12 cells. RA increased the level of endogenous alpha-CaMKII mRNA in untransfected PC12 cells by 4.4-fold. The transcription initiation site(s) (TIS) of the alpha-CaMKII gene in PC12 cells and rat brain was examined by RNase protection assays (RPA) and reverse transcriptase PCRs. The TIS for the alpha-CaMKII/beta-gal reporter gene in transfected PC12 cells was indistinguishable from the TIS+1 in rat hippocampus. In contrast, the only detectable TIS for the alpha-CaMKII gene in untransfected PC12 cells was located near the ATG translation start codon, 147 nucleotides 3' to TIS+1 in hippocampus. This unusual TIS was also the predominant TIS in rat cerebellum. These results suggest that the alpha-CaMKII promoter may contain sequences that respond directly or indirectly to RA. In addition, the unusual TIS of the alpha-CaMKII gene in PC12 cells and rat cerebellum may contribute to the very low expression of this gene compared with that in hippocampus.
Dapsone motor neuropathy‐An axonal disease (1976)

Dapsone produces a potentially reversible toxic neuropathy, with its primary effect on the soma and axons of motor neurons as opposed to myelin. There is very little evidence to suggest involvement of sensory axons in most cases; if present, it would appear minimal. A "dying back" of motor axons is postulated to produce the clinical features of primarily distal weakness and wasting. Recovery appears to occur via axon regeneration and peripheral sprouting. The sporadic occurrence of this neuropathy may be due to slow acetylation of dapsone in some patients.