gebhart/patrepeval huggingface dataset:
Erythropoietin both protects from and reverses experimental diabetic neuropathy (2004)

Erythropoietin (EPO) possesses generalized neuroprotective and neurotrophic actions. We tested the efficacy of recombinant human EPO (rhEPO) in preventing and reversing nerve dysfunction in streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetes in rats. Two days after STZ [60 mg/kg of body weight (b.w.), i.p.], diabetic animals were administered rhEPO (40 microg/kg of b.w.) three times weekly for 5 weeks either immediately (preventive) before or after a 5-week delay (therapeutic) after induction of hyperglycemia or at a lower dose (8 microg/kg of b.w. once per week) for 8 weeks (prolonged). Tail-nerve conduction velocities (NCV) was assessed at 5 and 11 weeks for the preventive and therapeutic schedule, respectively. Compared to nondiabetic rats, NCV was 20% lower after 5 weeks in the STZ group, and this decrease was attenuated 50% by rhEPO. Furthermore, the reduction of Na(+),K(+)-ATPase activity of diabetic nerves (by 55%) was limited to 24% in the rhEPO-treated group. In the therapeutic schedule, NCV was reduced by 50% after 11 weeks but by only 23% in the rhEPO-treated group. rhEPO treatment attenuated the decrease in compound muscle action potential in diabetic rats. In addition, rhEPO treatment was associated with a preservation of footpad cutaneous innervation, as assessed by protein gene product 9.5 immunostaining. Diabetic rats developed alterations in mechanical and thermal nociception, which were partially reversed by rhEPO given either in a preventative or therapeutic manner. These observations suggest that administration of rhEPO or its analogues may be useful in the treatment of diabetic neuropathy.
Synergistic Mixtures of Sethoxydim and Fluazifop on Annual Grass Weeds (1991)

Greenhouse and field experiments were conducted at the Lacombe Research Station to evaluate mixtures of sethoxydim and fluazifop on green foxtail, wild oat, wheat, and barley in canola. In both environments the two herbicides interacted on the grass species in a synergistic manner. Many of the observed responses to mixtures of sethoxydim and fluazifop were 100% greater than those expected assuming an additive interaction between the herbicides. Mixtures with at least 80 g ha -1 of sethoxydim and 80 g ha -1 of fluazifop controlled more than 90% of green foxtail, wild oat, wheat, and barley under field conditions. These experiments indicate that the sethoxydim/fluazifop mixture is both complementary and synergistic. The mixture may allow reduced herbicide application rates and therefore reduced herbicide costs and less potential for negative environmental impact.
The primary structure of the rat guanylyl cyclase A/atrial natriuretic peptide receptor gene (1990)

We have isolated and characterized three genomic clones and a genomic fragment amplified by the polymerase chain reaction that contain the rat guanylyl cyclase-A (GC-A)/atrial natriuretic peptide receptor gene. The gene spans about 17.5 kilobases and includes 22 exons and 21 introns. All of the exon-intron junction sequences coincide with the GT/AG consensus. GC-A consists of at least the following four distinguishable domains: extracellular ligand binding, transmembrane, kinase-like, and cyclase catalytic. Exon 7 encodes the putative transmembrane domain. The kinase-like and catalytic domains are encoded by exons 8-15 and 16-22, respectively. The 5' end of the transcript, estimated by primer extension and S1 mapping, is 370 nucleotides upstream of the methionine initiation codon. The initiator sequence (-3 to +5) of CACACTCC has two mismatches when compared with a consensus initiator sequence of CTCANTCT. The 5'-flanking region contains three potential Sp1-binding sites and an inverted CCAAT box, but no apparent TATA box. Three different and short interspersed, repetitive sequences are found within intervening sequences and within the 5'- and 3'-flanking regions of the gene (five rat identifier, two rat type 2 Alu equivalent, and seven Alu-like sequences). They fall between the four major domains suggestive that these may be sites for frequent recombination events. This first reported structure of a gene for a member of this new enzyme/receptor family should facilitate the search for new family members, as well as allow studies to progress on the mechanisms by which the gene is regulated.
Tin Oxide as a Cathode in Organic Light-Emitting Diodes (1998)

An alternative to indium tin oxide (ITO) as the cathode in organic light-emitting diodes (LEDs) is suggested: tin oxide. ITO can lead to problems of contamination of the polymer layer with indium, causing a reduction in radiant recombination and, in turn, diminished device brightness. The general consequences of the use of a semiconductor as the charge injection electrode material are analyzed, leading to the conclusion that the formation of an electron accumulation layer facilitates charge injection in the case of tin oxide.
Use of two 16S DNA targeted oligonucleotides as PCR primers for the specific detection of Salmonella in foods (1996)

A 16S DNA targeted polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method specific for the detection of Salmonella isolates with various serotypes was developed. The primers used for such a PCR method were 16SF1 and 16SIII. 16SF1 is the reverse and complementary strand of 16SI which has been shown to be able to hybridize with Salmonella and Citrobacter spp. 16III on the other hand, is able to hybridize with Klebsiella and Serratia spp. in addition to Salmonella. Although 16SF1 and 16SIII were not specific to Salmonella only, when they were used as PCR primers, only the Salmonella isolates could be specifically detected. The interference from Citrobacter, Klebsiella and Serratia spp. could be prevented. None of the other non-Salmonella isolates including strains of the family of Enterobacteriaceae closely related to Salmonella would generate the false-positive reaction. When this PCR system was used for the detection of Salmonella cells artificially contaminated in food samples, results obtained were satisfactory. A detection limit of N x 10(0) cells per assay could be obtained.
Cardiovascular and respiratory assessment following IV administration of nanoparticle albumin-bound 17AAG (nab-17AAG) in conscious cynomolgus monkeys (2008)

AACR Annual Meeting-- Apr 12-16, 2008; San Diego, CA

5746 

Background: Nab technology when applied to hydrophobic molecules, such as paclitaxel, leads to improved drug safety and efficacy as well as enhanced drug delivery compared to surfactant-based drug formulations. Nab-17AAG is a nanoparticle albumin-bound, injectable form of the hydrophobic Hsp90 inhibitor, 17-allylamino-17-demethoxygeldanamycin (17AAG), a geldanamycin analogue that showed some clinical anti-tumor activity with MTD at 450 mg/m2 for weekly dosing and 650 mg/m2 for every 3-week dosing. Due to previously reported cardiovascular toxicities with alternative formulations of 17AAG, we evaluated the in vivo cardiovascular and respiratory effects of nab-17AAG in monkeys. Methods: Based on a Latin Square design, telemetry-implanted, male cynomolgus monkeys (n = 4) were administered placebo (HSA, 600 mg/kg) or nab-17AAG IV at doses of 20, 40 and 55 mg/kg on day (d) 1, 8, 15 and 22. A range of hemodynamic and lead II-ECG variables were recorded from telemetry-data capture (Open A.R.T./PONEHMAH Physiological Platform) 2 hrs before (predose; PD) and 1, 2, 4, 8 and 14 hrs after administration of nab-17AAG. Blood gas samples were taken PD, 5 hrs after each scheduled dose, in addition to d7 and 21. Blood samples for hematology and serum chemistry were taken PD and d24. Treatment-related effects with telemetric and blood gas data were evaluated using statistical tests, rANOVA and ANCOVA respectively. Results: Following IV administration of nab-17AAG at doses of 20, 40, and 55 mg/kg, there were no test article-related effects observed on hemodynamics (SBP, DBP, MAP), mean HR, respiration rate, lead II-ECG variables (PR interval, QRS duration, RR interval and QT interval), or HR-corrected QTcB interval. No test article-related changes were observed in arterial blood gas parameters (PO2, PCO2, oxyhemoglobin, and HbO2 saturation) or body weights. Treatment-related emesis was observed both during administration and post-dosing. However, emesis was more frequently associated with the mid- and high-dose cohorts. Therefore, using a Latin Square, multiple-dosage regimen, the no-observed-adverse-effect level (NOAEL) for the telemetry parameters, (including lead II QT interval and HR-corrected QTcB interval) for nab-17AAG in conscious male cynomolgus monkeys was 55 mg/kg. Conclusions: The NOAEL for the telemetry parameters in conscious, male cynomolgus monkeys using a multiple-dosing, Latin Square-based regimen for nab-17AAG was 55 mg/kg. This value corresponds to a weekly nab-17AAG dose of 660 mg/m2 which is 44% higher than the reported MTD of 17-AAG (450 mg/m2). These data are strongly indicative of the cardiovascular and respiratory safety of nab-17AAG.
Notch signaling augments the canonical Wnt pathway to specify the size of the otic placode (2008)

The inner ear derives from a patch of ectoderm defined by expression of the transcription factor Pax2. We recently showed that this Pax2(+) ectoderm gives rise not only to the otic placode but also to the surrounding cranial epidermis, and that Wnt signaling mediates this placode-epidermis fate decision. We now present evidence for reciprocal interactions between the Wnt and Notch signaling pathways during inner ear induction. Activation of Notch1 in Pax2(+) ectoderm expands the placodal epithelium at the expense of cranial epidermis, whereas loss of Notch1 leads to a reduction in the size of the otic placode. We show that Wnt signaling positively regulates Notch pathway genes such as Jag1, Notch1 and Hes1, and we have used transgenic Wnt reporter mice to show that Notch signaling can modulate the canonical Wnt pathway. Gain- and loss-of-function mutations in the Notch and Wnt pathways reveal that some aspects of otic placode development - such as Pax8 expression and the morphological thickening of the placode - can be regulated independently by either Notch or Wnt signals. Our results suggest that Wnt signaling specifies the size of the otic placode in two ways, by directly upregulating a subset of otic genes, and by positively regulating components of the Notch signaling pathway, which then act to augment Wnt signaling.
The use of hyaluronidase in the treatment of intravenous extravasation injuries. (1990)

Intravenous extravasation injuries are a major cause of morbidity in the pediatric population. A variety of commonly used drugs and intravenous fluids have been shown to cause injury, particularly when infants are infused subcutaneously. Optimal management of intravenous extravasations remains controversial. The enzyme hyaluronidase degrades hyaluronic acid, a constituent of the normal interstitial barrier; by degrading interstitial bonds, it can increase the distribution and absorption of locally injected substances. To test the hypothesis that hyaluronidase might prevent skin injury associated with extravasations, a reliable skin injury model in immature pigs was created using subcutaneous CaCl2 injections. Hyaluronidase, in a concentration of 150 U/mL injected subcutaneously in a circumferential fashion immediately following the injection of CaCl2, significantly reduced the area of necrosis (P less than .01). As a control for the diluent volume administered with the hyaluronidase injection, the effect of a circumferential injection of 1.0 mL normal saline was compared with a similar injection of 1.0 mL normal saline with 150 units of hyaluronidase. Again, the area of skin necrosis following injection with hyaluronidase was statistically smaller (P less than .01). We have created a reliable skin injury model using immature porcine skin, which resembles human skin. Our data using this model suggest that the use of hyaluronidase may decrease the morbidity associated with intravenous extravasation injuries.
A survey of respiratory syncytial virus and parainfluenza virus type 3 neutralising and immunoprecipitating antibodies in relation to paget disease (1985)

The aetiology of Paget disease of bone has not been established but certain features have suggested involvement of a parainfluenzalike virus. To seek further evidence of the possible role of paramyxoviruses in Paget disease we have surveyed the presence of neutralising and immunoprecipitating antibodies to both respiratory syncytial virus and parainfluenza virus type 3 in the sera of patients attending a bone disease clinic. These two viruses were implicated by the sporadic observation of viral antigen in individual nuclei of osteoclasts in Paget disease bone lesions. A total of 315 samples were obtained from 177 patients attending the clinic during 1 year. Thirty-six of the patients had confirmed Paget disease and the remainder other conditions. All sera possessed neutralising activity to both viruses. The mean titres for each virus were similar in patients with Paget disease and those with other conditions whether matched or not. In the case of respiratory syncytial virus the neutralising titres were distributed closer to the mean in the Paget group and showed little variation in repeat samples taken over periods of up to 1 year in contrast to the greater variability of the control group. The antigenic specificity of 20 age- and sex-matched sera from each group was examined by immunoprecipitation. No significant differences were observed between Paget and non-Paget patients. These results do not provide confirmation of involvement of either virus in Paget disease, but the serological data suggest that persistent infection with respiratory syncytial virus can occur.
Maternal morbidities affect tens of millions. (1994)

Various separate studies indicate maternal morbidity is more common than had been believed. A Safe Motherhood Survey was conducted in 1993 in the Philippines among 9000 women, as part of efforts to study women's language and perceptions about pregnancy and symptoms of morbidity. In El Salvador, interviews were conducted among 2000 women on morbidity issues. Preliminary results from a Family Health International (FHI) five-country survey of 16,000 women revealed that 7 out of every 10 women reported a health problem related to maternity or chronic conditions stemming from pregnancy or childbirth. Conditions ranged from obstructed labor, complications from unsafe abortions, and bacterial infections, to anemia, hemorrhage, and eclampsia. The quality of care determines whether the health problems are life threatening. Less serious morbidity cases involve fatigue or back pain, which is exacerbated by poor nutrition and hard physical labor. Other reproductive morbidities are sexually transmitted diseases, side effects from contraceptives, and general gynecological problems. The FHI results from Ghana, Indonesia, and Egypt showed 240-300 morbidities for every maternal death; maternal mortality worldwide is estimated at 500,000 annually. A study of fistula (an injury during labor to the vagina and bladder that results in urinary or fecal incontinence) found that Nigerian community norms and limited access to emergency health care were factors. The women reported costs, poor roads, and transportation problems. A study in Ethiopia found that, in an Addis Ababa hospital between 1983-88, 600 fistulas were repaired every year, of which almost 66% occurred at first delivery. A study in Cairo in 1988 found that nearly 6 out of every 10 women reported a prolapsed uterus. Women in the studies were able to talk openly and willingly about their problems, when concepts and language were appropriate and interviewers were trained. A small study in India confirmed the correlation between reported symptoms and clinical conditions. Philippine pretests found that women's memories of morbidity were accurate for up to 4 years.
Development and Evaluation of Serotype- and Group-Specific Fluorogenic Reverse Transcriptase PCR (TaqMan) Assays for Dengue Virus (2001)

Five fluorogenic probe hydrolysis (TaqMan) reverse transcriptase PCR (RT-PCR) assays were developed for serotypes 1 to 4 and group-specific detection of dengue virus. Serotype- and group-specific oligonucleotide primers and fluorogenic probes were designed against conserved regions of the dengue virus genome. The RT-PCR assay is a rapid single-tube method consisting of a 30-min RT step linked to a 45-cycle PCR at 95 and 60 degrees C that generates a fluorogenic signal in positive samples. Assays were initially evaluated against cell culture-derived dengue stock viruses and then with 67 dengue viremic human sera received from Peru, Indonesia, and Taiwan. The TaqMan assays were compared to virus isolation using C6/36 cells followed by an immunofluorescence assay using serotype-specific monoclonal antibodies. Viral titers in sera were determined by plaque assay in Vero cells. The serotype-specific TaqMan RT-PCR assay detected 62 of 67 confirmed dengue virus-positive samples, for a sensitivity of 92.5%, while the group-specific assay detected 66 of 67 confirmed dengue virus-positive samples, for a sensitivity of 98.5%. The TaqMan RT-PCR assays have a specificity of 100% based on the serotype concordance of all assays compared to cell culture isolation and negative results obtained when 21 normal human sera and plasma samples were tested. Our results demonstrate that the dengue virus TaqMan RT-PCR assays may be utilized as rapid, sensitive, and specific screening and serotyping tools for epidemiological studies of dengue virus infections.
Diet, alcohol, smoking and cancer of the upper aerodigestive tract: A prospective study among Hawaii Japanese men (1995)

A cohort study of upper aerodigestive tract cancer was conducted among 7,995 Japanese-American men who were interviewed and examined from 1965 to 1968. Information was collected about smoking history and alcohol and dietary intake. After 24 years, 92 incident cases with histological confirmation of diagnosis were identified. Current cigarette smokers at time of examination had a 3-fold risk for upper aerodigestive tract cancer compared with never-smokers. A dose-response relationship was present with increasing amount and duration of cigarette use. Consumption of beer, wine, spirits and total alcohol was strongly associated with increased risk. Of 23 food and beverage categories, only candy/jelly/soda pop consumption had a statistically significant inverse trend. Frequent consumption of fruit was also inversely associated with this cancer. In contrast, the risk tended to be positively associated with consumption of rice, seaweed, tofu or tsukudani (a mixed dish of fish, sugar, soy sauce and seaweed), but the dose-response relationship was not statistically significant. For nutrient intake, increased calcium and fat intake decreased the risk for this cancer.
Fragile X Syndrome, Autism and Autistic Features (1997)

The relationship between fragile X syndrome and autism is reviewed. Results from a semi-structured questionnaire survey of development and behaviour in boys with fragile X syndrome, Down's syndrome and learning disability of unknown aetiology are presented. A behavioural profile characteristic of many boys with fragile X syndrome was identified which distinguished them from both other groups. Fragile X boys did not show more autism than boys with idiopathic learning disability but they did have a common autistic-like profile of communicatory and stereotypic disturbances, most notably delayed echolalia, repetitive speech and hand flapping. Boys with idiopathic learning disability showed difficulties more in areas of social functioning. Boys with Down's syndrome were characterized by fewer difficulties in social functioning and ritualistic/stereotypic tendencies but this might have been explained by subject ascertainment bias. Behavioural items distinguishing boys with fragile X significantly from both other groups retained their significance even when individuals with autism were excluded from statistical analysis. The findings provide further support for the notion of a behavioural phenotype in boys with fragile X syndrome.
Ex Vivo-Expanded CD4+CD25+ Immunoregulatory T Cells Prevent Graft-versus-Host-Disease by Inhibiting Activation/Differentiation of Pathogenic T Cells (2006)

CD4+CD25+ immunoregulatory T cells (Tregs) can be administered to inhibit graft-vs-host disease (GVHD) while preserving graft-vs-leukemia activity after allogeneic bone marrow transplantation in mice. Preclinical studies suggest that it is necessary to infuse as many Tregs as conventional donor T cells to achieve a clinical effect on GVHD. Thus, it would be necessary to expand Tregs ex vivo before transplantation. Two strategies have been proposed: expansion of Tregs stimulated by anti-CD3/CD28-coated microbeads for polyclonal activation or by host-type allogeneic APCs for selecting Tregs specific for host Ags. In this study, we describe the mechanisms by which ex vivo-expanded Tregs act on donor T cells to prevent GVHD in mice. We demonstrate that expanded Tregs strongly inhibited the division, expansion, and differentiation of donor T cells, with a more pronounced effect with Tregs specific for host Ags. These latter cells permit the efficient and durable control of GVHD and favor immune reconstitution.
Deep Counterfactual Regret Minimization (2018)

Counterfactual Regret Minimization (CFR) is the leading framework for solving large imperfect-information games. It converges to an equilibrium by iteratively traversing the game tree. In order to deal with extremely large games, abstraction is typically applied before running CFR. The abstracted game is solved with tabular CFR, and its solution is mapped back to the full game. This process can be problematic because aspects of abstraction are often manual and domain specific, abstraction algorithms may miss important strategic nuances of the game, and there is a chicken-and-egg problem because determining a good abstraction requires knowledge of the equilibrium of the game. This paper introduces Deep Counterfactual Regret Minimization, a form of CFR that obviates the need for abstraction by instead using deep neural networks to approximate the behavior of CFR in the full game. We show that Deep CFR is principled and achieves strong performance in large poker games. This is the first non-tabular variant of CFR to be successful in large games.
Helicobacter pylori in patients can be killed by visible light (2005)

Blue light phototherapy may represent a novel approach to eradication of H. pylori, particularly, in patients who have failed standard antibiotic treatment.