gebhart/patrepeval huggingface dataset:
Purification of human erythropoietin to homogeneity by a rapid five- step procedure (1986)

Human urinary erythropoietin (Ep) has been purified using a simple five-step procedure to yield preparations with potencies of 80,000 U/mg in 25% yield. The five steps involve: (1) affinity chromatography on CM Affi-Gel Blue, (2) chromatofocusing, (3) wheat germ lectin (or hydroxylapatite) chromatography, (4) reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) using a phenyl column, and (5) preparative sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE). Ep activity was determined at each stage using a highly sensitive and specific in vitro assay that measures [3H]-thymidine incorporation into erythroid cells from spleens of phenylhydrazine-treated mice. The step 5 material was also tested with the in vivo polycythemic mouse assay procedure and was found to have a similar potency to that obtained in the [3H]-thymidine in vitro assay. SDS-PAGE analysis of the step 5 material revealed a single 38.5-kd band that comigrated with Ep bioactivity. Homogeneity was confirmed by amino acid sequence analysis. Starting with urine containing approximately 13 U/mg of protein, the cumulative degrees of purification achieved with each step were: step 1,25-fold; step 2, 75-fold; step 3, 300-fold; step 4, 1,500-fold; and step 5, 5,000-fold. Corresponding overall recoveries after each step were: greater than 100%, 70%, 45%, 30%, and 25%. These recoveries could be obtained when as little as 5,000 U of starting urinary Ep were processed because of the introduction of Tween 20 and SDS into buffers used at various stages of the purification procedure. In addition, a rapid method for determining Ep purity which involves reverse-phase HPLC of trypsinized 125I-labeled Ep is presented. This allows the establishment of purity with far less material than is required for amino acid sequencing.
New management of the pregnant patient to reduce the risk of transmitting herpes to the newborn (2005)

Growing understanding of the mechanisms and epidemiology of neonatal herpes simplex virus acquisition allows for the development of a new management of the pregnant patient, one that will reduce the risk of transmitting herpes to the newborn. Maternal herpes simplex virus infection, especially acquired during pregnancy, can result in transmission to the newborn. Infection of the CNS of the newborn results in death or significant neurodevelopmental impairment in most of these infected babies. Herpes simplex virus infection acquired prior to or during pregnancy has a physical and psychologic impact on the health of the mother. Newer, more sensitive and specific serology testing for herpes simplex virus in combination with antiviral pharmacotherapy is now recognized as an important option for reducing the risk of herpes simplex virus transmission from mother to newborn. This review discusses new information concerning the prevention, diagnosis and treatment options for the management of herpes simplex virus infection during pregnancy with a focus on the evolving role of prevention.
Site‐directed removal of N‐glycosylation sites in human gastric lipase (1999)

Human gastric lipase (HGL) is a highly glycosylated protein, as glycan chains account for about 15% of the molecular mass of the native HGL. Four potential N-glycosylation consensus sites (Asn15, 80, 252 and 308) can be identified from the HGL amino acid sequence. We studied the functional role of the individual N-linked oligosaccharide chains by removing one by one all the N-glycosylation sites, via Ala residue replacement by site-directed mutagenesis of Ser and Thr residues from the consensus sequences Asn-X-Ser/Thr. Mutagenized cDNA constructs were heterologously expressed in the baculovirus/insect cell system. Removal of oligosaccharides either at Asn15, 80 or 252 was found to have no significant influence on the enzymatic activity measured in vitro. However, the absence of glycosylation at Asn308, as well as a total deglycosylation, reduced the specific enzymatic activity of recombinant HGL (r-HGL), measured on short- and long-chain triglycerides, to about 50% of normal values. Furthermore, biosynthesis and secretion of r-HGL markedly dropped when all four potential glycosylation sites were mutated. The kinetics of the interfacial adsorption of r-HGL and the completely deglycosylated r-HGL (four-site mutant) were found to be identical when recording the changes with time of the surface pressure either at the air-water interface or in the presence of an egg phosphatidylcholine (PtdCho) monomolecular film spread at various initial surface pressures. This indicates that both recombinant HGLs are identical, as far as recognition of phospholipid film and adsorption on PtdCho are concerned. The N-glycosylation of HGL may contribute to the enzyme stability in the stomach, as under acidic conditions the degradation by pepsin of the unglycosylated r-HGL is increased.
Evaluation of Two Commercial Kits for the Detection of Genotypic Drug Resistance on a Panel of HIV Type 1 Subtypes A Through J (2001)

We compared the two commercially available sequencing kits for HIV-1 drug resistance testing, the ViroSeq Genotyping System (Applied Biosystems, Foster City, CA, U.S.A.) and the TRUGENE HIV-1 Genotyping Kit (Visible Genetics, Inc., Toronto, Ontario, Canada), with our in-house genotyping system. Fifteen viral isolates from African patients (6 treated and 9 untreated) covering a panel of HIV-1 subtypes A through J and 7 plasma samples from Belgian and African patients (2 treated and 5 untreated) were tested. All the samples could be amplified and sequenced by the three systems; however, for all systems, alternative amplification/sequencing primers had to be used for some samples belonging to subtype B as well as to other subtypes. The consensus sequence was partially derived from only one strand for the in-house system and for the ViroSeq Genotyping System. The TRUGENE HIV-1 Genotyping Kit scored the highest number of ambiguities, followed by the ViroSeq Genotyping System and the in-house system. For 11 samples, these differences in reporting mixtures affected 14 resistance-related positions, which altered the interpretation toward protease inhibitors for 2 samples when using version 1.2 RetroGram software (Virology Networks, Utrecht, The Netherlands). All three systems were able to sequence diluted samples with a viral load down to 10 3 or 10 4 RNA copies/ml. Our data therefore suggest that the performance of amplification and sequencing primers must be improved to allow fast and reliable resistance testing for all HIV-1 subtypes.
A human prolactin antagonist, hPRL-G129R, inhibits breast cancer cell proliferation through induction of apoptosis. (1999)

Human breast cancer is the predominant malignancy and the leading cause of cancer death in women from Western societies. The cause of breast cancer is still unknown. Recently, the association between human prolactin (hPRL) activity and breast cancer has been reemphasized. Biologically active hPRL has been found to be produced locally by breast cancer cells that contain high levels of PRL receptor. A high incidence of mammary tumor growth has also been found in transgenic mice overexpressing lactogenic hormones. More importantly, it has been demonstrated that the receptors for sex steroids and PRL are coexpressed and cross-regulated. In this study, we report that we have designed and produced a hPRL antagonist, hPRL-G129R. By using cell proliferation assays, we have demonstrated that: (a) hPRL and E2 exhibited an additive stimulatory effect on human breast cancer cell (T-47D) proliferation; (b) hPRL-G129R possessed an inhibitory effect on T-47D cell proliferation; and (c) when antiestrogen (4-OH-tamoxifen) and anti-PRL (hPRL-G129R) agents were added together, an additive inhibitory effect was observed. We further investigated the mechanism of the inhibitory effects of hPRL-G129R in four hPRLR positive breast cancer cell lines. We report that hPRL-G129R is able to induce apoptosis in all four cell lines in a dose-dependent manner as determined by the Terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP nick-end labeling assay. The apoptosis is induced within 2 h of treatment at a dose as low as 50 ng/ml. We hope that the hPRL antagonist could be used to improve the outcome of human breast cancer therapy in the near future.
SpsA, a novel pneumococcal surface protein with specific binding to secretory Immunoglobulin A and secretory component (1997)

The interaction of pathogenic bacteria with host serum and matrix proteins is a common strategy to enhance their virulence. Streptococcus pneumoniae colonizes the human upper respiratory tract in healthy individuals and is also able to cause invasive diseases. Here, we describe a novel pneumococcal surface protein, SpsA, capable of binding specifically to human secretory immunoglobulin A (SIgA). The dissociation constant of SIgA binding to SpsA was 9.3 x 10(-9) M. Free secretory component (SC) also binds to S. pneumoniae, whereas serum IgA does not, suggesting that pneumococcal binding to SIgA is mediated by the SC. To our knowledge, this is the first defined interaction of SC with a prokaryotic protein. The spsA gene encodes a polypeptide of 523 amino acids with a predicted molecular mass of 59 151 Da. The SIgA- or SC-binding domain is located in the N-terminal part of SpsA and exhibits no significant homology to any other proteins. The purified SIgA-binding domain of SpsA could completely inhibit the binding of SIgA to pneumococci. SpsA was expressed by 73% of the tested S. pneumoniae isolates and was substantially conserved between different serotypes. The interaction between S. pneumoniae and SC via SpsA represents a novel biological interaction that might increase virulence by the impairment of bacterial clearance.
Targeting hematologic malignancies with oncolytic vaccinia virus constructs (2013)

Meeting abstracts Oncolytic viruses are a promising approach for cancer therapy. Recent clinical trials proved the safety and anti-tumor activity of several oncolytic viruses in solid tumors. However, very little is known about the potential of the oncolytic viruses to target hematologic
Fast good features selection for wide area monitoring (2004)

Recently the surveillance of wide areas has pointed the interest of the research community. The use of active vision seems to be the most effective solutions for these needs. Against the better acquiring resolution there is the problem of the apparent motion inducted by the camera motion known as ego-motion. Feature based methods for ego-motion estimation are widely used in computer vision but they deal with feature recovery and with errors in feature tracking. In this paper, we propose a fast method to extract and select new features during camera motion. This is achieved by adopting a reference map containing well trackable features that is updated at each frame by introducing new good features related to regions appearing in the current image. A new procedure is applied to reject badly tracked features. The current frame and the background after compensation are processed by a change detection method in order to locate mobile objects. Results are presented in the context of a visual-based surveillance system for monitoring outdoor environments.
From soft to hard: the generation of functional and complex colloidal monolayers for nanolithography (2011)

Take polymer colloids—simple to make and ubiquitously available—let them self-assemble into a monolayer and you have, readily engineered, a sophisticated mask to create highly symmetric surface patterns with nanometre precision. Thirty years after its invention, this process, commonly referred to as colloidal lithography, is far from being old news and an ever-increasing range of scientists continues to use their creativity to come up with increasingly more complex surface patterns. As intriguing this technique is, the devil is in the details and it is far from trivial to achieve high order in a colloidal monolayer. This article reviews available crystallization techniques and discusses their scope and limitations in order to provide just the right method for your next experiment.
Dendritic cells are the principal cells in mouse spleen bearing immunogenic fragments of foreign proteins. (1990)

We monitored the APC function of cells taken from the spleen and peritoneal cavity of mice that had been given protein antigens via the intravenous or intraperitoneal routes. Using the mAb 33D1 and N418 to negatively and positively select dendritic cells, we obtained evidence that dendritic cells are the main cell type in spleen that carries the protein in a form that is immunogenic for antigen-specific T cells. In vivo pulsed macrophages were not immunogenic and did not appear capable of transferring peptide fragments to dendritic cells.
Effect of Sensory Substitution on Suture Manipulation Forces for Surgical Teleoperation (2004)

Bilateral telemanipulation, which applies haptic feedback to the operator, is not yet available in most commercial robot-assisted surgical systems. We have shown in previous work that the lack of haptic (force or tactile) feedback is detrimental in applications requiring fine suture manipulation. In this paper, we study the effect of substituting direct haptic feedback with visual and auditory cues. Using the da Vinci robot from Intuitive Surgical, we observed the difference between applied forces during a knot tying procedure for four different sensory feedback substitution scenarios: no feedback, auditory feedback, visual feedback, and a combination of auditory and visual feedback. Our results indicate that visual feedback, which provides continuous force information, would improve robot-assisted performance during complex surgical tasks such as knot tying with fine sutures. Discrete auditory feedback gives additional useful support to the surgeon.
Sequence and regulation of the uapA gene encoding a uric acid-xanthine permease in the fungus Aspergillus nidulans. (1993)

The nucleotide sequence of the uapA gene, coding for the uric acid-xanthine permease of Aspergillus nidulans, has been determined. The predicted uapA gene product comprises 595 amino acids (M(r) 63,365); it is a highly hydrophobic protein with 12-14 putative transmembrane segments and shows no striking similarity to any other membrane protein of either prokaryotes or eukaryotes, except for a short highly hydrophobic amino acid sequence conserved in a number of different permeases. The presence of an acidic, amphipathic region overlapping with the last hydrophobic segment of UAPA could also be of interest. The results presented suggest that the UAPA permease represents a new type of membrane protein, not described previously. The transcription of uapA is inducible by 2-thiouric acid, and it is highly repressible by ammonium. It is almost absolutely dependent on the presence of functional uaY and areA regulatory gene products. A specific mutation in the GATA binding zinc finger of the AREA protein nearly abolishes uapA transcription. The uap100 cis-acting, up-promoter, constitutive mutation is a duplication that comprises two GATA sites and suppresses weakly the AREA zinc finger mutation but does not alleviate the need for functional UAY and AREA proteins.
A Novel RET D898Y Germline Mutation in a Patient with Pheochromocytoma (2018)

Pheochromocytoma and paraganglioma are tumors of neuroectoderm origin. Up to 40% of patients with these tumors have germline mutations in known susceptibility genes. We report a novel <i>RET</i> germline mutation (exon 15; c.2692G>T (D898Y)) in a pheochromocytoma patient, as well as in her two asymptomatic sons and older sister. A 49-year-old female came to our clinic presenting with a right adrenal gland mass detected during a healthcare examination. Her mother and two sisters had previously undergone thyroidectomy for papillary thyroid carcinomas. The levels of vanillylmandelic acid and other catecholamines were elevated in 24-hour urine, and an imaging study revealed a right adrenal mass. She underwent laparoscopic adrenalectomy and the final pathologic diagnosis was pheochromocytoma. Mutation screening detected a <i>RET</i> p.D898Y mutation, both in the patient and in the patient's two sons and older sister. This is the first description of a <i>RET</i> D898Y mutation in a pheochromocytoma patient and her family. The mutation should be categorized as a variant of unknown significance because no RET gene related disorders were detected in this family. Long term follow-up will be required to determine the clinical significance of the <i>RET</i> D898Y mutation.
A Surface Topology and Motion Compensation System for Microsurgery Guidance and Intervention Based on Common-Path Optical Coherence Tomography (2009)

A surface topology and motion compensation system for microsurgery guidance and intervention is developed based on common-path optical coherence tomography. A 1-D erosion-based edge-searching method and autoregressive predictor are applied to A-scan data for real-time depth tracking. Images using the topology and motion compensation technique are obtained. In addition, the motion compensation properties are studied. The system can be easily integrated with microsurgery tools and can be used for various clinical applications.
Failure Mechanism and Improvement of the Elevated Temperature Cycling of LiMn[sub 2]O[sub 4] Compounds Through the Use of the LiAl[sub x]Mn[sub 2−x]O[sub 4−z]F[sub z] Solid Solution (2001)

Physiochemical and electrochemical means were used to characterize the failure mechanisms of the lithium manganese oxide based solid solutions utilized as positive electrodes for Li batteries. Resultant data supports a theory in which the 22 and failure mechanisms are one in the same. The poor performance is exacerbated during cycling due to a mechanism linked to the symbiotic relationship between physical destruction induced by a surface Jahn-Teller distortion and the classic failure mechanisms presented for the chemical failure of the spinel at elevated temperature storage. Based on these findings, a spinel, was fabricated which exhibits enhanced stability at elevated temprature. © 2001 Telcordia Technologies. All rights reserved.
Realizing packet-optical integration with SDN and OpenFlow 1.1 extensions (2012)

This paper discusses the benefits of applying software defined networking (SDN) to circuit based transport networks. It first establishes the need for SDN in the context of transport networks. This paper argues that the use of SDN in the transport layers could be the enabler for both packet-optical integration and improved transport network applications. Then, this paper proposes extensions to OpenFlow 1.1 to achieve control of switches in multi-technology transport layers. The approach presented in this paper is simple, yet it distinguishes itself from similar work by its friendliness with respect to the current transport layer control plane based on generalized multiprotocol label switching (GMPLS). This is important as it will enable an easier and gradual injection of SDN into existing transport networks. This paper is completed with a few use case applications of SDN in transport networks.
Default-mode network dysfunction and cognitive impairment in progressive MS (2010)

These results suggest that a dysfunction of the anterior components of the default-mode network may be among the factors responsible for the accumulation of cognitive deficits in patients with progressive multiple sclerosis.
Inhibition of focal adhesion kinase (FAK) signaling in focal adhesions decreases cell motility and proliferation. (1996)

It has been proposed that the focal adhesion kinase (FAK) mediates focal adhesion formation through tyrosine phosphorylation during cell adhesion. We investigated the role of FAK in focal adhesion structure and function. Loading cells with a glutathione-S-transferase fusion protein (GST-Cterm) containing the FAK focal adhesion targeting sequence, but not the kinase domain, decreased the association of endogenous FAK with focal adhesions. This displacement of endogenous FAK in both BALB/c 3T3 cells and human umbilical vein endothelial cells loaded with GST-Cterm decreased focal adhesion phosphotyrosine content. Neither cell type, however, exhibited a reduction in focal adhesions after GST-Cterm loading. These results indicate that FAK mediates adhesion-associated tyrosine phosphorylation, but not the formation of focal adhesions. We then examined the effect of inhibiting FAK function on other adhesion-dependent cell behavior. Cells microinjected with GST-Cterm exhibited decreased migration. In addition, cells injected with GST-Cterm had decreased DNA synthesis compared with control-injected or noninjected cells. These findings suggest that FAK functions in the regulation of cell migration and cell proliferation.
IGF-I Treatment Reduces Hyperphagia, Obesity, and Hypertension in Metabolic Disorders Induced by Fetal Programming (2001)

The discovery of a link between in utero experience and later metabolic and cardiovascular disease is one of the most important advances in epidemiology research of recent years. There is increasing evidence that alterations in the fetal environment may have long-term consequences on cardiovascular, metabolic, and endocrine pathophysiology in adult life. This process has been termed programming, and we have shown that undernutrition of the mother during gestation leads to programming of hyperphagia, obesity, hypertension, hyperinsulinemia, and hyperleptinemia in the offspring. Using this model of maternal undernutrition throughout pregnancy combined with postnatal hypercaloric nutrition of the offspring, we examined the effects of IGF-I therapy. Virgin Wistar rats (age 75 +/- 5 d, n = 20 per group) were time mated and randomly assigned to receive food either ad libitum or 30% of ad libitum intake (UN) throughout pregnancy. At weaning, female offspring were assigned to one of two diets (control or hypercaloric [30% fat]). Systolic blood pressure was measured at day 175 and following infusion with 3 microg/g per day recombinant human IGF-1 (rh-IGF-I) by minipump for 14 d. Before treatment, UN offspring were hyperinsulinemic, hyperleptinemic, hyperphagic, obese, and hypertensive on both diets, compared with ad libitum offspring and this was exacerbated by hypercaloric nutrition. IGF-I treatment increased body weight in all treated animals. However, systolic blood pressure, food intake, retroperitoneal and gonadal fat pad weights, and plasma leptin and insulin concentrations were markedly reduced with IGF-I treatment. IGF-I treatment resulted in a 3- to 5-fold increase in 38--44 kDa and 28--30 kDa IGF binding proteins, although in UN animals, there was an impaired and differential up-regulation of these insulin-like growth factor binding proteins following IGF-I treatment. The 24-kDa IGF binding protein representing IGF binding protein-4 was down-regulated in all IGF-I-treated animals, but the decrease was more marked in UN animals. Our data suggest that IGF-I treatment alleviates hyperphagia, obesity, hyperinsulinemia, hyperleptinemia, and hypertension in rats programmed to develop the metabolic syndrome X.