gebhart/patrepeval huggingface dataset:
Downregulation of Wilms' tumor gene (wt1) during myelomonocytic differentiation in HL60 cells (1994)

The putative Wilms' tumor-suppressor gene (wt1) encodes a zinc finger DNA binding protein that functions as a transcription repressor. The wt1 gene expression corresponds to kidney development, suggesting a role for this gene in nephroblast differentiation. Here we show that wt1 mRNA expression was downregulated during terminal differentiation of promyelocytic HL60 cells. When HL60 cells were induced to differentiate to granulocytes by dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) or retinoic acid (RA), a marked downregulation in the levels of wt1 transcripts was found. The wt1 transcripts were also downregulated in HL60 cells during differentiation to monocytes by vitamin D3 or 12-o-tetradecanoyl- phorbol-13-acetate. Nuclear run-on transcription studies showed the transcriptional rate of wt1 gene was not significantly altered during DMSO-induced granulocytic differentiation, suggesting the downregulation was mostly caused by posttranscriptional modification. Importantly, wt1 transcripts were not significantly altered in K562 cells by treatments with DMSO or RA, which do not induce differentiation of K562 cells. These findings suggest that wt1 gene expression may be downregulated as a differentiation-linked event in HL60 cells.
A Randomized, Double-blind, Vehicle-Controlled Study to Assess 5% Imiquimod Cream for the Treatment of Multiple Actinic Keratoses (2002)

Application of 5% imiquimod cream for 12 weeks is an effective and well-tolerated treatment for AK.
Sequence‐Based Design of α/β‐Peptide Foldamers That Mimic BH3 Domains (2008)

Into the fold: Foldamers have emerged as versatile scaffolds for the design of functional macromolecules. A straightforward design principle based on primary sequence can be used to convert an α-peptide ligand derived from a natural protein-binding domain into an α/β-peptide with comparable binding affinity for protein targets bound by the α-peptide (see scheme). Supporting information for this article is available on the WWW under http://www.wiley-vch.de/contents/jc_2002/2008/z705315_s.pdf or from the author. Please note: The publisher is not responsible for the content or functionality of any supporting information supplied by the authors. Any queries (other than missing content) should be directed to the corresponding author for the article.
Marrow repopulating cells, but not CFU-S, establish long-term in vitro hemopoiesis on a marrow-derived stromal layer. (1990)

We have studied the ability of subpopulations of hemopoietic stem cells, obtained from murine bone marrow using elutriation and multiparameter sorting, to establish and maintain hemopoiesis following their deposition on irradiated stromal layers of long-term bone marrow cultures. Two fractions were obtained that differed in their mitochondrial activity as indicated by the retention of Rhodamine-123 dye. The Rhodamine-bright cell fraction, containing the majority of day-8 and day-12 spleen colony-forming units (CFU-S) and in vitro clonable progenitors, showed hemopoiesis only in the first weeks. In contrast, the Rhodamine-dull fraction, which was depleted for day-8 CFU-S and which contained the majority of cells with marrow-repopulating ability, maintained hemopoiesis for a prolonged time after an initial week of delay. These data fully support and extend previously published in vivo data, indicating that CFU-S have low capability to generate new CFU-S and granulocyte-macrophage colony-forming units (CFU-GM), and that cells responsible for long-term generation of hemopoietic precursors and for maintenance of hemopoiesis both in vivo and in vitro are the precursors of CFU-S and of in vitro clonable progenitor cells. In addition, the present findings form the basis for an in vitro assay for a primitive precursor of CFU-S, namely the marrow-repopulating cell.
Plasma brain natriuretic peptide level as a biochemical marker of morbidity and mortality in patients with asymptomatic or minimally symptomatic left ventricular dysfunction. Comparison with plasma angiotensin II and endothelin-1 (1999)

Aims To evaluate the level of plasma brain natriuretic peptide as a predictor of morbidity and mortality in patients with asymptomatic or minimally symptomatic left ventricular dysfunction. Methods We measured plasma levels of atrial natriuretic peptide, brain natriuretic peptide, norepinephrine, angiotensin II, and endothelin-1 and monitored haemodynamic parameters in 290 consecutive patients with asymptomatic or minimally and newly symptomatic left ventricular dysfunction (functional classes I–II, mean left ventricular ejection fraction=37%). All patients were followed up for a median period of 812 days. The Cox proportional hazards model was used to assess the association of variables with mortality and morbidity. Results At the end of the follow-up, 24 patients had suffered cardiac death and 25 had been hospitalized for worsening heart failure during the follow-up period. Among 21 variables such as clinical characteristics, treatment, haemodynamics, and neurohumoral factors, high levels of plasma brain natriuretic peptide (P<0·0001), norepinephrine (P=0·042), left ventricular end-diastolic volume index (P=0·0035), and left ventricular end-diastolic pressure (P=0·033) were shown to be independent predictors of mortality and morbidity by stepwise multivariate analysis. Moreover, only a high level of plasma brain natriuretic peptide (P<0·0001) was shown to be an independent predictor of mortality in these patients. Conclusions These results indicate that a high plasma brain natriuretic peptide level provides information about mortality and morbidity in patients with asymptomatic or minimally symptomatic left ventricular dysfunction.
Ascorbic Acid Blocks the Growth Inhibitory Effect of Tumor Necrosis Factor-α on Endothelial Cells (2003)

Impaired endothelial cell proliferation has been proposed to be an early, critical defect contributing to the development of atherosclerosis. Recent studies show that high plasma tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha levels and low serum ascorbic acid (AA) levels correlate with atherosclerosis severity. Additionally, AA has been reported to have potential beneficial effects in preventing atherosclerosis. Based on these studies, we investigated the role of AA (< or =1mM) on TNF-alpha-mediated vascular endothelial cell growth inhibition in vitro. In accordance with previous reports, we found that TNF-alpha alone inhibited endothelial cell proliferation. Further studies revealed that AA alone enhanced endothelial cell proliferation and that AA blocked endothelial cell growth inhibition induced by TNF-alpha. By contrast, we observed no effect of AA on endothelial cell activation or nuclear entry of nuclear factor-kappaB in response to TNF-alpha. The protective effect of AA on endothelial cell proliferation was not simply the result of its antioxidant activity but did correlate with collagen IV expression by endothelial cells. AA pre-treatment of proliferating endothelial cells promoted retinoblastoma protein (Rb) phosphorylation and decreased p53 levels when compared to untreated cells. Furthermore, the addition of AA to TNF-alpha-treated proliferating endothelial cells blocked both the inhibition of retinoblastoma protein phosphorylation and enhanced p53 expression induced by TNF-alpha. Consistent with these results, we found that AA protects endothelial cells against TNF-alpha-induced apoptosis. These studies highlight the potential therapeutic role of AA in promoting endothelial cell proliferation during inflammatory conditions, such as atherosclerosis and cardiovascular disease.
The effect of oxygen tension on colony formation and cell proliferation of amniotic fluid cellsin vitro (1984)

The effects of reduced oxygen concentrations in the gas phase over the culture medium on colony formation and cell proliferation were investigated in high and low cell density primary and secondary cultures of amniotic fluid cells. Using two standard culture methods (25 cm2 plastic flasks and Leighton type tubes) a significantly reduced culture time was observed at high cell density for mass cultures by incubation within a low oxygen tension gas phase (2.5 per cent to 7.5 per cent O2) instead of conventional air (18 per cent O2). At low cell density colony formation was significantly enhanced in cultures grown at reduced oxygen tension. Using gas permeable membranes as support, lowering the oxygen tension from 7.5 per cent to 2.5 per cent yielded an increase in plating efficiency of cells from approximately 5 per cent to 25 per cent, whereas plating efficiency was less than 2 per cent for cells grown at ambient 18 per cent O2. It is suggested that low oxygen tension in the gas phase is an effective means of enhancing clonal growth in amniotic fluid cell cultures, thereby reducing both culture time and risk of culture failure.
Convergent force fields organized in the frog's spinal cord (1993)

Microstimulation of the gray matter of the frog's spinal cord was used to elicit motor responses. Force responses were recorded with the frog's ankle clamped while EMG activity was monitored. The collections of force patterns elicited at different leg configurations were summarized as force fields. These force fields showed convergence to an equilibrium point. The equilibrium paths were calculated from the force fields with the leg clamped. These paths predicted free limb motion in 75% of trials. The force fields were separated into active and prestimulation resting responses. The active force field responses had a fixed position equilibrium. These active force fields were modulated in amplitude over time, although the balance and orientations of forces in the pattern remained fixed. The active fields grouped into a few classes. These included both convergent and parallel fields. The convergent force fields (CFFS) could be observed in deafferented preparations. Motoneuron (MN) activity underlying the force fields was marked using sulforhodamine. The marked activity covered several segments. Several simulations and MN stimulations show that topography, limb geometry, and random activation could not account for the results. It is likely that propriospinal interneurons distribute the activity that underlies the responses observed here. Experiments showed that CFFs that resemble those elicited by microstimulation also underlie natural behaviors. The full variety of fields revealed by microstimulation was larger than the repertoire elicited by cutaneous stimulation. It was concluded that fixed-pattern force fields elicited in the spinal cord may be viewed as movement primitives. These force fields could form building blocks for more complex behaviors.
18F-FEAU as a radiotracer for herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase gene expression: in-vitro comparison with other PET tracers (2005)

This study indicates that the high uptake rate of FEAU together with its high selectivity make this tracer an excellent candidate as a PET tracer for HSVtk gene expression.
A small pixel CMD image sensor (1991)

A charge modulation device (CMD) imager with pixel dimensions of 7.3 mu m(H)*7.6 mu m(V) was designed, fabricated, and examined. These pixel dimensions are suitable for an HDTV imager with a 1-in image format. The optical aperture ratio is 34%. The effective number of pixels in the imager is 660 horizontal and 492 vertical. The saturation signal current is 17 mu A/pixel at an exposure of 1 lx-s with good linearity of photoconversion characteristics. The peak of its spectral response occurs at a wavelength of 575 nm. The blooming suppression ratio of the CMD was measured to be -122 dB. The sensor produces a high-quality image with no degradation in spatial resolution and no image lag. These features show that the CMD imager is eminently suitable for a further high-resolution imager sensor.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>
Testosterone Delivery Systems for Women: Present Status and Future Promise (1998)

In women, testosterone (T) is increasingly recognized as a steroid with multiple non-reproductive effects. Testosterone deficiency in menopausal women is more common than appreciated, particularly in patients on hormone replacement or with surgical menopause. Replacement of T is an established therapy for male hypogonadism, and as a result innovative new delivery systems have evolved to optimize physiologic delivery. However, in women, modalities of T replacement remain underdeveloped and at present provide artificial and/or supraphysiologic androgen levels. This review discusses the androgen replacement modalities presently available for women, and those being developed for future use.
Increased Mortality Associated with Diabetic Foot Ulcer (1996)

The objective of this study was to evaluate the relationship between foot ulceration and short-term mortality in veterans of the American military services with diabetes mellitus. A total of 725 diabetic subjects participated in a prospective study of risk factors for lower extremity complications between 1990 and 1994. Mean follow-up was 691.8 days (+/-SD 339.9, range 28-1436 days). Subjects who died during follow-up (n = 72) had a similar mean duration of diabetes to those who survived (12.6 years vs 11.2), but their mean age was greater (65.9 years vs 63.2, p = 0.026). The relative risk (RR) of death was 2.39 (95% confidence interval (CI) 1.13 to 4.58) in the subjects who developed foot ulcer (n = 88) compared to those who did not. The risk of death for those with foot ulcer was 12.1 per 100 person-years of follow-up compared to 5.1 in those without foot ulcer. Cox regression analysis demonstrated a greater than two-fold increased risk of death in ulcerated subjects after adjustment for age; diabetes type, duration, and treatment; glycosylated hemoglobin level; history of lower extremity amputation; and cumulative pack years smoked. Higher ankle-arm index was significantly related to lower mortality risk, independent of foot ulcer occurrence. We conclude that foot ulcer and lower extremity vascular disease are related to a higher risk of death in diabetic subjects. The reasons for this excess mortality require further investigation.
Skin Cancers and Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma Among Users of Systemic Glucocorticoids: A Population-Based Cohort Study (2004)

Patients treated with glucocorticoids may have an increased risk of skin cancer. Using data from the population-based North Jutland Prescription Database and the Danish Cancer Registry, we compared observed and expected numbers of cases of skin cancer and non-Hodgkin lymphoma among 59 043 individuals who received prescriptions for glucocorticoids, a common immunosuppressive therapy, during an 8-year period from January 1, 1989, through December 31, 1996. The overall risks for squamous cell carcinomas and basal cell carcinomas of the skin were increased, particularly among persons who had 15 or more prescriptions (standardized incidence ratio [SIR] for squamous cell carcinomas = 2.45, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.37 to 4.04; SIR for basal cell carcinomas = 1.52, 95% CI = 1.09 to 2.07). An elevated risk was also found for non-Hodgkin lymphoma among those with 10-14 prescriptions (SIR = 2.68, 95% CI = 1.16 to 5.29). Our data suggest that use of glucocorticoids may be a shared risk factor for certain skin cancers and lymphomas.
A frame-based probabilistic framework for spoken dialog management using dialog examples (2008)

This paper proposes a probabilistic framework for spoken dialog management using dialog examples. To overcome the complexity problems of the classic partially observable Markov decision processes (POMDPs) based dialog manager, we use a frame-based belief state representation that reduces the complexity of belief update. We also used dialog examples to maintain a reasonable number of system actions to reduce the complexity of the optimizing policy. We developed weather information and car navigation dialog system that employed a frame-based probabilistic framework. This framework enables people to develop a spoken dialog system using a probabilistic approach without complexity problem of POMDP.
Alpha adrenoceptor blockade in the treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia: past, present and future (1997)

The treatment of BPH by alpha blockade is built upon a sound anatomical, physiological and pharmacological rationale. The theory is borne out in clinical practice; alpha adrenoceptor antagonists have been shown in placebo-controlled studies to improve symptoms of BPH and increase urinary flow rate. In hypertensive patients, there is a clinically significant reduction in blood pressure, with little or no effect on the blood pressure of normotensive patients with BPH. The development of selective alpha-1 adrenoceptor antagonists with a gradual onset and long duration of action has improved the tolerability and makes this class of drug a valuable alternative to surgery in many cases. Further refinements in the selectivity of alpha-1 adrenoceptor antagonists may enable even better targeted alpha blockade for BPH in the future by specific antagonism of the alpha-1 A adrenoceptor, although this hypothesis has yet to be confirmed clinically.
Neurochemistry in the pathophysiology of autism. (2005)

Initially thought to be virtually free of negative effects, benzodiazepines are now known to carry risks of dependence, withdrawal, and negative side effects. Among the most controversial of these side effects are cognitive effects. Long-term treatment with benzodiazepines has been described as causing impairment in several cognitive domains, such as visuospatial ability, speed of processing, and verbal learning. Conversely, long-term benzodiazepine use has also been described as causing no chronic cognitive impairment, with any cognitive dysfunction in patients ascribed to sedation or inattention or considered temporary and associated with peak plasma levels. Complicating the issue are whether anxiety disorders themselves are associated with cognitive deficits and the extent to which patients are aware of their own cognitive problems. In an attempt to settle this debate, meta-analyses of peer-reviewed studies were conducted and found that cognitive dysfunction did in fact occur in patients treated long term with benzodiazepines, and although cognitive dysfunction improved after benzodiazepines were withdrawn, patients did not return to levels of functioning that matched benzodiazepine-free controls. Neuroimaging studies have found transient changes in the brain after benzodiazepine administration but no brain abnormalities in patients treated long term with benzodiazepines. Such findings suggest that patients should be advised of potential cognitive effects when treated long term with benzodiazepines, although they should also be informed that the impact of such effects may be insignificant in the daily functioning of most patients.
Sequence Variation within Botulinum Neurotoxin Serotypes Impacts Antibody Binding and Neutralization (2005)

The botulinum neurotoxins (BoNTs) are category A biothreat agents which have been the focus of intensive efforts to develop vaccines and antibody-based prophylaxis and treatment. Such approaches must take into account the extensive BoNT sequence variability; the seven BoNT serotypes differ by up to 70% at the amino acid level. Here, we have analyzed 49 complete published sequences of BoNTs and show that all toxins also exhibit variability within serotypes ranging between 2.6 and 31.6%. To determine the impact of such sequence differences on immune recognition, we studied the binding and neutralization capacity of six BoNT serotype A (BoNT/A) monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) to BoNT/A1 and BoNT/A2, which differ by 10% at the amino acid level. While all six MAbs bound BoNT/A1 with high affinity, three of the six MAbs showed a marked reduction in binding affinity of 500- to more than 1,000-fold to BoNT/A2 toxin. Binding results predicted in vivo toxin neutralization; MAbs or MAb combinations that potently neutralized A1 toxin but did not bind A2 toxin had minimal neutralizing capacity for A2 toxin. This was most striking for a combination of three binding domain MAbs which together neutralized >40,000 mouse 50% lethal doses (LD(50)s) of A1 toxin but less than 500 LD(50)s of A2 toxin. Combining three MAbs which bound both A1 and A2 toxins potently neutralized both toxins. We conclude that sequence variability exists within all toxin serotypes, and this impacts monoclonal antibody binding and neutralization. Such subtype sequence variability must be accounted for when generating and evaluating diagnostic and therapeutic antibodies.
Evidence-Based Secondary Transition Practices for Enhancing School Completion (2009)

Approximately 28% of students with disabilities do not complete high school (National Longitudinal Transition Study-2, 2005). This increases the likelihood that these students will experience low wages, high rates of incarceration, and limited access to postsecondary education. This article reviews evidence-based secondary transition practices that show promise for enhancing school completion of students with disabilities. For conceptual purposes, the article uses and describes evidence using the Taxonomy for Transition Programming (Kohler, 1996) which includes (a) student focused-planning, (b) student development, (c) interagency collaboration, (d) family involvement, and (e) program structures. Suggestions for practice and future research are provided.
Switchable reflector in the Panamanian tortoise beetleCharidotella egregia(Chrysomelidae: Cassidinae) (2007)

The tortoise beetle Charidotella egregia is able to modify the structural color of its cuticle reversibly, when disturbed by stressful external events. After field observations, measurements of the optical properties in the two main stable color states and scanning electron microscope and transmission electron microscope investigations, a physical mechanism is proposed to explain the color switching of this insect. It is shown that the gold coloration displayed by animals at rest arises from a chirped multilayer reflector maintained in a perfect coherent state by the presence of humidity in the porous patches within each layer, while the red color displayed by disturbed animals results from the destruction of this reflector by the expulsion of the liquid from the porous patches, turning the multilayer into a translucent slab that leaves an unobstructed view of the deeper-lying, pigmented red substrate. This mechanism not only explains the change of hue but also the change of scattering mode from specular to diffuse. Quantitative modeling is developed in support of this analysis.
A new electric field controlled reflective optical storage effect in mixed liquid crystal systems (1969)

A new electric field controlled reflective optical storage effect has been discovered in mixed nematic-cholesteric liquid crystal systems. Ion motion produced by a dc electric field is used to emulsify the initially transparent mixture and give it a milky white appearance. This state remains after the dc signal is removed. The material can be returned to its initial state by applying an audio-frequency signal. The reflective contrast ratio of 7 to 1, flat construction, low voltage and power writing capability, and storage with continuous readout requiring no maintaining power make the new effect seem attractive for indicator-type applications using solid state addressing circuitry.