gebhart/patrepeval huggingface dataset:
A Pilot Clinical Trial of Oral Sodium 4-Phenylbutyrate (Buphenyl) in Δ F508-Homozygous Cystic Fibrosis Patients: Partial Restoration of Nasal Epithelial CFTR Function (1998)

Sodium 4-phenylbutyrate (Buphenyl, 4PBA) is a new FDA approved drug for management of urea cycle disorders. We have previously presented data suggesting that 4PBA, at clinically achievable concentrations, induces CFTR channel function on the plasma membrane of deltaF508-expressing cystic fibrosis (CF) airway epithelial cells in vitro (Rubenstein, R. C., and P. L. Zeitlin, 1997. J. Clin. Invest. 100:2457-2463). We hypothesized that 4PBA would induce epithelial CFTR function in vivo in individuals homozygous for deltaF508-CFTR. A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial in 18 deltaF508-homozygous patients with CF was performed with the maximum approved adult dose of 4PBA, 19 grams p.o. divided t.i.d., given for 1 wk. Nasal potential difference (NPD) response patterns and sweat chloride concentrations were determined before and after study drug treatment, and 4PBA and metabolites were assayed in plasma and urine at the end of study drug treatment. Subjects in the 4PBA group demonstrated small, but statistically significant improvements of the NPD response to perfusion of an isoproterenol/amiloride/chloride-free solution; this measure reflects epithelial CFTR function and is highly discriminatory between patients with and without CF. Subjects who had received 4PBA did not demonstrate significantly reduced sweat chloride concentrations or alterations in the amiloride-sensitive NPD. Side effects due to drug therapy were minimal and comparable in the two groups. These data are consistent with 4PBA therapy inducing CFTR function in the nasal epithelia of deltaF508-homozygous CF patients.
Potential Roles of Histones in Host Defense as Antimicrobial Agents (2008)

Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs), which are widely distributed in various organisms, comprise part of the host innate defense system to kill or damage bacterial and fungal pathogens. Amphibian skin is known to produce various AMPs, and is used as a source material in attempts to identify novel therapeutic AMPs. More than one hundred frog AMPs have been identified to date. In our previous study, we isolated histone H2B with antibacterial properties from the skin of the Schlegel's green tree frog Rhacophorus schlegelii. Although antimicrobial histone H2B has not been obtained from the skin of any species other than R. schlegelii, histones and histone-derived fragments with antimicrobial activities have been found in some specific cells of a diverse range of organisms from shrimps to humans. At least a portion of these fragments are known to be produced from "precursor histones" via specific cleavage by endogenous proteases. These antimicrobial histones and the fragments that act as physiological barriers of cells have a variety of antimicrobial actions and functions, including bacterial cell membrane permeabilization, penetration into the membrane followed by binding to bacterial DNA and/or RNA, binding to bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in the membrane, neutralizing the toxicity of bacterial LPS, and entrapping pathogens as a component of neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs). This review discusses the literature regarding the isolation, antimicrobial properties, and modes of action of antimicrobial histones and fragmented histones along with a brief introduction of typical amphibian skin AMPs.
A New PWM ZVS Full-Bridge Converter (2006)

A soft-switched full-bridge (FB) converter that features zero-voltage-switching (ZVS) of the bridge switches over a wide range of input voltage and output load is introduced. The proposed converter achieves ZVS with substantially reduced duty-cycle loss and circulating current. The control of the proposed converter can be implemented either with the phase-shift (PS) or pulse-width-modulated (PWM) technique. The performance of the proposed topology was verified on a 2-kW (48-V/40-A) experimental PWM FB converter prototype operating at 120 kHz from a 380-V dc input.
Aldehyde-Selective Wacker Oxidation in a Thiyl-Mediated Vinyl Group Transfer Route to Daunosamine (2007)

[reaction: see text] Asymmetric dihydroxylation, thiyl radical mediated transfer of a silicon-tethered vinyl group to a hydrazone and an unconventional aldehyde-selective Wacker oxidation are sequenced for an efficient synthesis of methyl N-trifluoroacetyl-L-daunosaminide in 32% overall yield from crotonaldehyde.
The Dolph–Chebyshev Window: A Simple Optimal Filter (1997)

Analyzed data for numerical prediction can be effectively initialized by means of a digital filter. Computation time is reduced by using an optimal filter. The construction of optimal filters involves the solution of a nonlinear minimization problem using an iterative procedure. In this paper a simple filter based on the Dolph-Chebyshev window, which has properties similar to those of an optimal filter, is described. It is shown to be optimal for an appropriate choice of parameters. It has an explicit analytical expression and is easily implemented. Its effectiveness is demonstrated by application to Richardson's forecast: the initial pressure tendency is reduced from 145 hPa per 6 h to 0.9 hPa per 6 h. Use of the filter is not restricted to initialization; it may also be applied as a weak constraint in four-dimensional data assimilation.
Aspects of early lymphoid commitment (2003)

In the past year, significant progress has been realized in understanding the molecular underpinnings of commitment to the lymphoid pathways of differentiation. Several new approaches of phenotypic identification have revealed early stages of lymphoid commitment, and recent new studies have provided additional information regarding the central role of Notch receptors and their ligands and modulators as important regulators of the T/B lineage decision. The identification of PU.1 as a transcriptional regulator of the interleukin-7 receptor has established one mechanism by which PU.1 regulates lymphoid development. Finally, two studies have provided insight into the mechanisms of thymic selection. Still to be resolved, however, is the question of whether the T lineage is specified in bone marrow or only after migration of multipotent progenitors to the thymus.
Materials Research Issues In Superconducting Levitation And Suspension As Applied To Magnetic Bearings (2005)

Current research issues associated with the improvement of high-temperature superconductor materials for magnetic-bearing applications are discussed. Major parameters of interest include magnetic pressure, magnetic stiffness, and damping. The understanding of and improvement in magnetic flux pinning within individual grains are seen as key to large improvements in the major parameters. The necessary material properties and routes to achieving those properties differ for those applications that require minimization of rotational losses versus those that require large magnetic pressures. Increased attention to characterization of the superconducting materials in terms of the bearing performance properties is desired, and chemical stability and mechanical strength of superconducting grains within a support matrix are recognized as vital success of commercial applications. 46 refs., 4 figs.
Terahertz spectral computed tomography (2009)

The novel technique of spectral THz computed tomography is demonstrated at an example of a small plastic figure. The data are reconstructed by conventional filtered back-projection. The reconstruction are discussed.
Translocations involving band 3q27 and Ig gene regions in non-Hodgkin's lymphoma [see comments] (1992)

We report a series of 20 non-Hodgkin's lymphomas (NHL) in which cytogenetic analysis showed a translocation involving band 3q27 and the site of one of the three Ig genes (14q32, 2p12, 22q11) in the neoplastic cells. These cases were found in a series of 319 patients with clonal chromosomal abnormalities studied over a 7-year period. Fourteen patients had diffuse lymphoma, mainly of large cell type and the remaining six were follicular lymphomas. All cases studied were of B-cell phenotype. A t(3;14)(q27;q32) was commonest, found in 15 patients (4.7%), with the two variant translocations, t(3;22)(q27;q11) and t(2;3)(p12;q27), being found in three and two patients, respectively. Additional chromosomal defects were present in most patients, but two patients had this type of translocation as the sole abnormality. These results indicate that translocations involving band 3q27 and Ig genes are not uncommon, and suggest that a novel oncogene, located at band 3q27, may be implicated in B-cell NHL.
Dihydrofolate reductase amplification and sensitization to methotrexate of methotrexate-resistant colon cancer cells (2009)

Gene amplification is one of the most frequent manifestations of genomic instability in human tumors and plays an important role in tumor progression and acquisition of drug resistance. To better understand the factors involved in acquired resistance to cytotoxic drugs via gene amplification, we have analyzed the structure and dynamics of dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR) gene amplification in HT29 cells treated with methotrexate (MTX). Analysis of the DHFR gene amplification process shows that the amplicon exhibits a complex structure that is consistently reproduced in independent treatments. The cytogenetic manifestation of the amplification in advanced stages of the treatment may be in the form of double minutes or as a homogeneously stained region. To get insights into the mechanisms of resistance, we have also investigated the sensitization to MTX of MTX-resistant cells after drug withdrawal and reexposure to MTX. Passive loss of the DHFR amplicon by withdrawal of the drug results in MTX-sensitive cells exhibiting a substantial reduction of their capacity or even an incapacity to generate resistance when submitted to a second cycle of MTX treatment. On a second round of drug administration, the resistant cells generate a different amplicon structure, suggesting that the formation of the amplicon as in the first cycle of treatment is not feasible. These results indicate that DHFR gene amplification is a "wear and tear" process in HT29 cells and that MTX-resistant cells may become responsive to a second round of treatment if left untreated during a sufficient period of time.
Induction of Fas Ligand and Fas Antigen mRNA Expressions in Interferon-γ Transgenic Mouse Liver (1998)

The interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) transgenic mouse develops chronic hepatitis. In the present study, lymphoid cell infiltration and expression of the Fas system were studied in the transgenic mouse liver. Morphological analysis showed the infiltration of lymphoid cells at the portal area and necro-inflammation in the lobules. Furthermore, the infiltrating lymphoid cells were found to be present in the areas of piecemeal necrosis and the intralobular region. The polymerase chain reaction revealed induction of Fas antigen and Fas ligand mRNA expressions. The chronic hepatitis in this mouse reflects the profiles of human chronic hepatitis.
Lineage commitment in human hemopoiesis involves asymmetric cell division of multipotent progenitors and does not appear to be influenced by cytokines (1993)

Different models have been proposed to explain lineage commitment in hemopoiesis. Some suggest that lineage commitment occurs in a stochastic manner without the direct influence of extracellular factors; others postulate that cytokines determine whether multipotent cells will become erythroid or granulocyte/macrophage progenitors. In the present study, the patterns of proliferation and differentiation of individually sorted human cord blood-derived primitive hemopoietic cells (highly enriched for multipotent progenitors) were analyzed in a serum-free culture system supplemented with different cytokine combinations. In a first set of experiments, the response of individual cells to different cytokine combinations was compared, whereas in a second set of experiments, single cells were allowed to undergo one division after which the two daughter cells were physically separated and cultured in either the same or different cytokine combinations. Proliferation of progenitor cells was absolutely dependent on cytokines, and the combination of mast cell growth factor plus interleukin 6 was sufficient to induce mitosis. When cytokine combinations favoring erythropoiesis and/or myelopoiesis were added to the cultures, a more vigorous proliferative response of the sorted primitive progenitors was observed. Interestingly, the relative proportions of granulocyte/macrophage, erythroid, and multipotent progenitors remained more or less the same regardless of the cytokine combination used, indicating a permissive rather than an instructive role for cytokines in hemopoietic differentiation. Asymmetric cell divisions, defined as a division that yields two daughter cells with distinct functional properties, were observed in 3-17% of the progenitor cells capable of forming colonies under our experimental conditions. In the rest, symmetric divisions involving multipotent and lineage-committed progenitors were observed. The results of this study demonstrate that the asymmetric cell divisions that occur in the early stages of hemopoiesis at the level of multipotent progenitors cannot be skewed by the addition of specific cytokine combinations. These findings support the hypothesis that lineage commitment in hemopoiesis occurs in a stochastic manner by mechanisms that remain to be elucidated.
Characterization of Multicrystalline Silicon Wafers for Solar Cell Applications Sliced With a Fixed Abrasive Wire (2008)

A new slicing method using a newly developed fixed-abrasive wire saw was examined as a replacement for the conventional method of slicing silicon ingots using loose-abrasive. The fixed-abrasive wire has abrasive diamond grains fixed onto the surface of a wire core using resin. When an ingot was sliced using this wire saw at a speed 2.5-fold higher than that of the loose-abrasive method, we obtained better results: the thickness variation decreased by a factor of three, the occurrence of wire breakage was reduced, and sub-surface layer decreased by a factor of at least two. Therefore, it was demonstrated that the fixed-abrasive wire saw is effective for slicing silicon ingots.
Stimulation of butyrate production through the metabolic interaction among lactic acid bacteria, <i>Lactobacillus acidophilus</i>, and lactic acid‐utilizing bacteria, <i>Megasphaera elsdenii</i>, in porcine cecal digesta (2006)

ABSTRACT In this study, we examined the potential of Megasphaera elsdenii as a probiotic agent in combination with sodium gluconate. We also examined the combination of M. elsdenii with probiotic lactic acid bacteria (LAB), Lactobacillus acidophilus , to enhance butyrate production in the large intestine using a pig cecal in vitro model under the presence of sodium gluconate. Compared to the uninoculated control culture (with only diluted cecal digesta), the addition of M. elsdenii and LAB to the culture stimulated significantly the production of n‐butyrate (60% increase) and n‐valerate (50% increase) after 24 h incubation. n‐Butyrate is regarded as the most important short‐chain fatty acid in the large intestine because it stimulates the proliferation of epithelial cells, mucus release and water and mineral absorption. Therefore, lactate‐utilizing butyrate producers such as M. elsdenii play a significant role in supporting the health‐beneficial effects of lactogenic prebiotics and probiotics LAB. The potential of M. elsdenii as a probiotic was also suggested.
Field deformation in a curved single-mode fibre (1978)

Simple formulae are given for the field displacement caused by bending, the change in mode volume and for the mode coupling loss which arises at transitions between straight and curved sections of single-mode optical fibre. These formulae are in good agreement with other, more exact, theories.
Mendelian inheritance of familial prostate cancer. (1992)

Previous studies have demonstrated familial clustering of prostate cancer. To define the nature of this familial aggregation and to assess whether Mendelian inheritance can explain prostate cancer clustering, proportional hazards and segregation analyses were performed on 691 families ascertained through a single prostate cancer proband. The proportional hazards analyses revealed that two factors, early age at onset of disease in the proband and multiple affected family members, were important determinants of risk of prostate cancer in these families. Furthermore, segregation analyses revealed that this clustering can be best explained by autosomal dominant inheritance of a rare (q = 0.0030) high-risk allele leading to an early onset of prostate cancer. The estimated cumulative risk of prostate cancer for carriers revealed that the allele was highly penetrant: by age 85, 88% of carriers compared to only 5% of noncarriers are projected to be affected with prostate cancer. The best fitting autosomal dominant model further suggested that this inherited form of prostate cancer accounts for a significant proportion of early onset disease but overall is responsible for a small proportion of prostate cancer occurrence (9% by age 85). These data provide evidence that prostate cancer is inherited in Mendelian fashion in a subset of families and provide a foundation for gene mapping studies of heritable prostate cancer. Characterization of genes involved in inherited prostate cancer could provide important insight into the development of this disease in general.
Translational Control of Apolipoprotein B mRNA:  Regulation via Cis Elements in the 5‘ and 3‘ Untranslated Regions (2004)

Translational control of apolipoprotein B (apoB) mRNA has been previously documented; however, the molecular mechanisms that govern translation of apoB mRNA are unknown. We investigated the role of the untranslated regions (UTR) in the regulation of apoB mRNA translation first by analyzing apoB UTR sequences using M-fold, a program used to predict RNA secondary structure. M-fold analysis revealed hairpin-like elements within the 5'UTR and 3'UTR of apoB mRNA with potential to form stable secondary structure. Luciferase (LUC) reporter assays were conducted to assess the biological activity of the putative RNA motifs within the UTR sequences by transiently transfecting HepG2 cells with chimeric mRNAs containing the 5' and/or 3' apoB UTRs linked to a LUC reporter gene. We observed statistically significant increases in LUC activity for the 5'UTRpGL3 and 5'/3'UTRpGL3 constructs. LUC mRNA levels remained constant for all constructs, suggesting that increased LUC activity was likely posttranscriptional in nature. When RNA isolated from transfected cells was translated in vitro, parallel increases in translatable LUC activity were observed. We also examined the role of UTR sequences within the context of the apoB coding sequence, using constructs containing the N-terminal 15% of apoB (apoB15). We observed a 40% and 25% increase in total protein mass with the 5'UTR-apoB15 construct and the 5'UTR-apoB15-3'UTR, respectively, over the control construct with no apoB UTR, with only a slight stimulation observed for apoB15 3'UTR. Radiolabeling analysis of apoB15 synthetic rate showed a more striking 4.5-fold stimulation of protein synthesis by 5'UTR while addition of both UTRs caused a 3.1-fold stimulation over the control construct. Deletion mutant analysis revealed that the stimulatory effect of the 5'UTR on apoB mRNA translation may be dependent on specific hairpin elements formed within the 5'UTR secondary structure. Overall, our data suggest that putative 5'UTR motifs are important for optimal translation of the apoB message whereas the presence of the 3'UTR appears to attenuate wild-type expression. Potential cis-trans interactions of these motifs with putative RNA binding proteins/translational factors are likely to govern apoB mRNA translation and protein synthesis and may play an important role in dysregulation of atherogenic lipoprotein production in dyslipidemic states.
High efficient GaN-based laser diodes with tunnel junction (2013)

High-efficient GaN-based laser diodes (LDs) with tunnel junction are designed by replacing conventional p-type AlGaN cladding layers and p-type GaN contact with lower-resistant n-type AlGaN cladding layers and n-type GaN contact. In addition, the characteristics of the LDs with tunnel junction are numerically investigated by using the commercial software lastip. It is found that the performance of these LDs is greatly improved. As a comparison, the absorption loss and non-radiative recombination are greatly reduced. The threshold current and series resistance are decreased by 12% and 59%, respectively, and the slope efficiency is raised up by 22.3%. At an injection current of 120 mA, the output power and wall-plug-efficiency are increased by 34% and 79%, respectively.
Bone Marrow-Derived Cells Do Not Incorporate Into the Adult Growing Vasculature (2003)

Bone marrow-Derived cells have been proposed to form new vessels or at least incorporate into growing vessels in adult organisms under certain physiological and pathological conditions. We investigated whether bone marrow-Derived cells incorporate into vessels using mouse models of hindlimb ischemia (arteriogenesis and angiogenesis) and tumor growth. C57BL/6 wild-type mice were lethally irradiated and transplanted with bone marrow cells from littermates expressing enhanced green fluorescent protein (GFP). At least 6 weeks after bone marrow transplantation, the animals underwent unilateral femoral artery occlusions with or without pretreatment with vascular endothelial growth factor or were subcutaneously implanted with methylcholanthrene-induced fibrosarcoma (BFS-1) cells. Seven and 21 days after surgery, proximal hindlimb muscles with growing collateral arteries and ischemic gastrocnemius muscles as well as grown tumors and various organs were excised for histological analysis. We failed to colocalize GFP signals with endothelial or smooth muscle cell markers. Occasionally, the use of high-power laser scanning confocal microscopy uncovered false-positive results because of overlap of different fluorescent signals from adjacent cells. Nevertheless, we observed accumulations of GFP-positive cells around growing collateral arteries (3-fold increase versus nonoccluded side, P<0.001) and in ischemic distal hindlimbs. These cells were identified as fibroblasts, pericytes, and primarily leukocytes that stained positive for several growth factors and chemokines. Our findings suggest that in the adult organism, bone marrow-Derived cells do not promote vascular growth by incorporating into vessel walls but may function as supporting cells.
Chlamydia trachomatisgrowth inhibition and restoration of LDL-receptor level in HepG2 cells treated with mevastatin (2010)

C. trachomatis can efficiently propagate in hepatocytes affecting transcription rate of some liver-specific genes. Ongoing cholesterol synthesis is essential for chlamydial growth in hepatocytes. Inhibitors of cholesterol biosynthesis can supplement conventional strategy in the management of C. trachomatis infection.