gebhart/patrepeval huggingface dataset:
Biology and potential clinical applications of flt3 ligand (1995)

The flt3 ligand is a member of a small family of growth factors that stimulate the proliferation of hematopoietic cells. Other members of this family include Steel factor (also known as mast cell growth factor, stem cell factor, and kit ligand) and colony-stimulating factor 1. These proteins function by binding to and activating unique tyrosine kinase receptors. Both flt3 ligand and Steel factor stimulate the proliferation of early progenitor or stem cells. Neither of these factors exhibits much biologic activity by itself, but each factor can synergize with a wide range of other colony-stimulating factors and interleukins. One major difference between the two factors appears to be their effect on mast cells, which Steel factor stimulates, but flt3 ligand does not. Although flt3 ligand and Steel factor each act on early hematopoietic cells, differences in their activities suggest that they are not redundant and are both required for normal hematopoiesis. There are a number of clinical settings in which the flt3 ligand may prove quite useful.
Monoclonal antibody and F(ab')2 fragment delivery to tumor in patients with glioma: comparison of intracarotid and intravenous administration. (1990)

Non-i.v. delivery of radiolabeled monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) has been shown to increase tumor uptake and decrease dose to normal tissues. In this study, we have examined the potential advantage of intracarotid (i.c.) versus i.v. administration for the delivery of an intact MAb and a F(ab')2 fragment to tumor in patients with gliomas. Three patients received 10-50 mg of 81C6 IgG2b, a MAb reactive with the glioma-associated extracellular matrix antigen tenascin, and three received 5-20 mg of the F(ab')2 fragment of Mel-14, which is reactive with gliomas and melanomas. Paired-injection protocols, in which one-half of the MAb was labeled with 131I and administered by i.c. injection, and one-half was labeled with 125I and simultaneously administered by i.v. injection, were used. For both 81C6 IgG2b and Mel-14 (Fab')2, no differences in blood clearance half-times or urinary excretion rates of radioiodine were observed between i.c.- and i.v.-administered activity. Analysis of biopsy samples revealed i.c.:i.v. uptake ratios of 1.02 +/- 0.04, 0.95 +/- 0.03, and 1.03 +/- 0.05 for the accumulation of 81C6 IgG2b in temporalis muscle, normal brain, and glioma, respectively. Similarly, the i.c.:i.v. uptake ratios for Mel-14 F(ab')2 in these tissues were 0.98 +/- 0.04 (SD), 1.00 +/- 0.05, and 1.04 +/- 0.05. When the differences in percentage of injected dose/g uptake after i.c. and i.v. administration were compared, no statistically significant advantage for i.c. delivery was seen (P = 0.22-0.61). These data indicate that i.c. administration of MAb 81C6 IgG2b and Mel-14 F(ab')2 fragments offers no delivery advantage to offset the small but finite risk involved in cannulation and injection of the internal carotid artery.
World Technology Usage Lags (2006)

We present evidence on the differences in the intensity with which ten major technologies are used in 185 countries across the world. We do so by calculating how many years ago these technologies were used in the U.S. at the same intensity as they are used in the countries in our sample. We denote these time lags as technology usage lags and compare them with lags in real GDP per capita. We find that (i) technology usage lags are large, often comparable to lags in real GDP per capita, (ii) usage lags are highly correlated with lags in per-capita income, and (iii) usage lags are highly correlated across technologies. The productivity differentials between the state of the art technologies that we consider and the ones they replace combined with the usage lags that we document, lead us to infer that technology usage disparities might account for a large part of cross-country TFP differentials.
Fractionation of protein, RNA, and plasmid DNA in centrifugal precipitation chromatography using cationic surfactant CTAB containing inorganic salts NaCl and NH4Cl (2004)

Centrifugal precipitation chromatography (CPC) is a separation system that mainly employs a moving concentration gradient of precipitating agent along a channel and solutes of interest undergo repetitive precipitation-dissolution, fractionate at different locations, and elute out from the channel according to their solubility in the precipitating agent solution. We report here for the first time the use of a CPC system for fractionation of protein, RNA, and plasmid DNA in clarified lysate produced from bacterial culture. The cationic surfactant cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) was initially used as a precipitating agent; however, all biomolecules showed no differential solubility in the moving concentration gradient of this surfactant and, as a result, no separation of protein, RNA, and plasmid DNA occurred. To overcome this problem, inorganic salts such as NaCl and NH(4)Cl were introduced into solution of CTAB. The protein and RNA were found to have higher solubility with the addition of these salts and separated from the plasmid DNA. Decreasing surface charge density of CTAB upon addition of NaCl and NH(4)Cl was believed to lead to lower surfactant complexation, and therefore caused differential solubility and fractionation of these biomolecules. Addition of CaCl(2) did not improve solubility and separation of RNA from plasmid DNA.
Biopsy Targeting Gliomas (2010)

Both imaging techniques that depict microcirculation and techniques that visualize proliferation identify similar target areas.
Raspberry Ketone Protects Rats Fed High-Fat Diets Against Nonalcoholic Steatohepatitis (2012)

The protective effect of raspberry ketone against nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) was tested by using a high-fat diet-induced NASH model, and its mechanism was explored. Forty Sprague-Dawley rats with a 1:1 male to female ratio were randomly divided into five groups: the normal control (NC) group (n=8) fed normal diet for 8 weeks, the model control (MC) group (n=8) fed high-fat diet (82% standard diet, 8.3% yolk powder, 9.0% lard, 0.5% cholesterol, and 0.2% sodium taurocholate), and the raspberry ketone low-dose (0.5%) (RKL) group (n=8), the raspberry ketone middle-dose (1%) (RKM) group (n=8), and the raspberry ketone high-dose (2%) (RKH) group (n=8) fed high-fat diet for 4 weeks. After 8 weeks of experiment, all the rats were sacrificed, and blood lipid parameters (total cholesterol [TC], triglycerides [TG], high-density lipoprotein cholesterol [HDL-C], and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol [LDL-C]), liver function parameters (serum alanine aminotransferase [ALT], aspartate aminotransferase [AST], and alkaline phosphatase [ALP]), leptin (LEP), free fatty acid (FFA), tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α), blood glucose (GLU), and insulin (INS) with calculated INS resistance index (IRI) and INS-sensitive index (ISI) were measured in rats. Therefore, we determined the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR)-α activity in liver homogenate and the levels of low-density lipoprotein receptor (LDLR), high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), adiponection (APN), superoxide dismutase, and malondialdehyde (MDA). The liver tissues of rats in each group were imaged by electron microscopy with hematoxylin-eosin as the staining agent. The levels of TG, TC, LDL-C, ALT, AST, ALP, GLU, INS, IRI, FFA, LEP, TNF-α, MDA, and hs-CRP of MC rats were significantly increased (P<.05, P<.01). Therefore, the levels of HDL-C, ISI, PPAR-α, LDLR, and APN were significantly decreased (P<.05, P<.01). Compared with the MC group, each parameter in the RKL, RKM, and RKH groups was significantly improved (P<.05, P<.01). Thus raspberry ketone was an effective intervention for NASH in rats. It was believed that raspberry ketone had a dual effect of liver protection and fat reduction, and the mechanism was probably mediated by alleviation of fatty degeneration of liver cells, decreased liver inflammation, correction of dyslipidemia, reversal of LEP and INS resistance, and improved antioxidant capacity.
Control of a Thermoelectric Brain Cooler by Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Inference System (2008)

Abstract In this study, neuro-fuzzy control of a thermoelectric head cooler system (thermoelectric helmet) is developed for brain hypothermia applications. Hypothermia is a medical treatment method of protecting the brain, in which the temperature of the brain drops below the critical level for reducing oxygen consumption of tissues. The brain should be kept at a certain temperature by a suitable control for hypothermia applications. The temperature of the thermoelectric head cooler system changes according to the current intensity supplied. The control of the thermoelectric head cooler system was performed according to the initial membership functions, which was determined by an expert using fuzzy logic control. The system was modeled by an adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS). The data were then entered into the system and new membership functions were determined. By this way, learning ability of the artificial neural network and the abilities of fuzzy logic, such as decision making, were combined and a more effective solution was developed. The system software can be reprogrammed with the new membership functions.
Further comparisons between surface scattering theory and measurements (1984)

Get PDF Email Share Share with Facebook Tweet This Post on reddit Share with LinkedIn Add to CiteULike Add to Mendeley Add to BibSonomy Get Citation Copy Citation Text Yaujen Wang and William L. Wolfe, "Further comparisons between surface scattering theory and measurements," J. Opt. Soc. Am. A 1, 783-784 (1984) Export Citation BibTex Endnote (RIS) HTML Plain Text Citation alert Save article
The Impact of Obesity on Oxygen Desaturation during Sleep-disordered Breathing (2009)

Excess body weight is an important predictor of the severity of blood oxygen desaturation during apnea and hypopnea events, potentially exacerbating the impact of sleep-disordered breathing in obese patients.
Analysis of Cell-Free Fetal DNA from Maternal Plasma and Serum Using a Conventional Multiplex PCR: Factors Influencing Success (2005)

Recent technology enables the use of cell-free fetal DNA in maternal plasma and serum for noninvasive prenatal genetic diagnosis. This study was designed to evaluate factors most likely to influence the success of a simple, cost efficient, reliable and replicable conventional PCR technique in the clinical routine of prenatal genetic diagnosis of selected cases. The results strongly suggest that DNA extraction and PCR cycle optimization are 2 major success-limiting steps and the maternal plasma is a better choice over serum for DNA extraction for such prenatal genetic diagnosis. In addition, the use of a ready-to-use PCR mixture containing heat-activated Taq polymerase significantly reduced the risk of nonspecific amplification and of primer dimerization formed at low temperatures during PCR setup and the initial PCR cycle eliminating false positive results and insufficient PCR amplification, respectively. Thus the ease, rapidity and effectiveness shown by the presented system requiring only optimization of routine PCR procedure and no additional sophisticated equipment could theoretically reduce the cost and number of invasive procedures required for prenatal diagnosis of X-linked recessive genetic disorders and of fetal RhD status.
Diuresis and reduced urinary osmolality in rats produced by small‐molecule UT‐A‐selective urea transport inhibitors (2014)

Urea transport (UT) proteins of the UT-A class are expressed in epithelial cells in kidney tubules, where they are required for the formation of a concentrated urine by countercurrent multiplication. Here, using a recently developed high-throughput assay to identify UT-A inhibitors, a screen of 50,000 synthetic small molecules identified UT-A inhibitors of aryl-thiazole, γ-sultambenzosulfonamide, aminocarbonitrile butene, and 4-isoxazolamide chemical classes. Structure-activity analysis identified compounds that inhibited UT-A selectively by a noncompetitive mechanism with IC50 down to ∼1 μM. Molecular modeling identified putative inhibitor binding sites on rat UT-A. To test compound efficacy in rats, formulations and administration procedures were established to give therapeutic inhibitor concentrations in blood and urine. We found that intravenous administration of an indole thiazole or a γ-sultambenzosulfonamide at 20 mg/kg increased urine output by 3-5-fold and reduced urine osmolality by ∼2-fold compared to vehicle control rats, even under conditions of maximum antidiuresis produced by 1-deamino-8-D-arginine vasopressin (DDAVP). The diuresis was reversible and showed urea > salt excretion. The results provide proof of concept for the diuretic action of UT-A-selective inhibitors. UT-A inhibitors are first in their class salt-sparing diuretics with potential clinical indications in volume-overload edemas and high-vasopressin-associated hyponatremias.
Preparation and characterization of a homobifunctional silicone rubber membrane grafted with acrylic acid via plasma-induced graft copolymerization (1996)

Polyacrylic acid (PAA) was grafted onto the surface of silicone rubber membrane (SR) by plasma-induced graft copolymerization (PIP). Ar-plasma was used to activate the surface of SR. Also, a determination was made of the influences of plasma treatment power, pressure, time, grafted copolymerization reaction time, and monomer concentration on polymerization yield. The surface properties of SR were measured by ATR-FTIR, ESCA, and SIMS. In those analyses, the elemental composition and different carbon bindings on the surface of SR were examined by ESCA with the amount of O1s/C1s being approximately 0.7 at 60 s by Ar-plasma treatment (60 W, 200 mtorr). The peroxide group introduced on SR was measured via 1,1-diphenyl-2-picryhydrazyl (DPPH). The optimum amount of peroxide groups was 6.85 × 10−8 mol/cm2 at 60 s of Ar-plasma treatment. The peroxide group (33D peak) was introduced onto the surface of SR by negative spectra of SIMS analysis after SR treatment by Ar-plasma. An increase was obtained in grafted polymerization yield with a region of 5 to 50% (v/v) of acrylic acid aqueous solution. Both sites of polyacrylic acid were detected after staining by toluidine blue O. That is, a homobifunctional membrane was developed via this surface modification method. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
ChemInform Abstract: Crystal Engineering Supported by the [Re6(μ3‐Se)8]2+ Core‐Containing Clusters (2010)

Abstract ChemInform is a weekly Abstracting Service, delivering concise information at a glance that was extracted from about 100 leading journals. To access a ChemInform Abstract of an article which was published elsewhere, please select a “Full Text” option. The original article is trackable via the “References” option.
Enhancement of protein translocation across the membrane by specific mutations in the hydrophobic region of the signal peptide (1990)

The hydrophobic region of the signal peptide of the OmpA protein of the Escherichia coli outer membrane was extensively altered in its hydrophobicity and predicted secondary structure by site-specific mutagenesis. The mutated signal peptides were fused to nuclease A from Staphylococcus aureus, and the function of the signal peptide was examined by measuring the rate of processing of the signal peptide. Six of the 12 mutated signal peptides in the nuclease hybrid were processed faster than the wild-type. In particular, the processing of the mutated signal peptide in which the alanine residue at position 9 was substituted with a valine residue was enhanced almost twofold over the processing of the wild-type signal peptide. In addition, the production of nuclease A fused with this mutated signal peptide also increased twofold. However, these effects were not observed when the mutated signal peptide was fused to TEM beta-lactamase. Analysis of the present mutations suggests that both overall hydrophobicity and distinct structural requirements in the hydrophobic region have important roles in signal peptide function.
Comparison of the B-pentamers of heat-labile enterotoxin and verotoxin-1: two structures with remarkable similarity and dissimilarity (1993)

We have compared the B-subunit pentamers of Escherichia coli heat-labile enterotoxin (LT) and verotoxin-1 (VT-1). The B-subunits of these bacterial toxins of the AB5 class have virtually no sequence identity and differ considerably in size (69 amino acids in VT-1 versus 103 in LT). They share a number of functional properties: pentamer formation, association with an A-subunit, binding to carbohydrate-containing lipids, and interaction with membranes. The structures of these proteins are very similar in some respects and very different in others. They can be superimposed with an rms deviation of only 1.29 A on the main chain atoms of 52 amino acids (0.98 A on 47 C alpha). Seven out of eight secondary structure elements are retained in the two toxins; only the N-terminal helix of LT is absent in VT-1. A disulfide bridge, which is essential for pentamer formation, is found in both structures, but in slightly different locations. However, the VT-1 B-subunit is much shorter on one side of the toxin, where the proposed membrane binding site of both VT-1 and LT is located. The monomer-monomer interface in the pentamer is much larger in LT than in VT-1, making the LT pentamer more stable. The central pores have a different character, and the sugar binding sites are not conserved between the toxins. The evolutionary relationship of the toxins is discussed.
Targeting the JNK Pathway for Therapeutic Benefit in CNS Disease (2002)

The c-Jun N-terminal Kinase (JNK) pathway leading to c-Jun phosphorylation plays a causal role in apoptosis of isolated primary embryonic neurons and of multiple neuronal cell lines following a wide variety of stimuli. Activation of this pathway may also contribute to the neuronal atrophy and death that is associated with neurodegenerative pathological conditions including Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, Huntington's Diseases and stroke. Here, the data that providelinks between the activation of the JNK pathway and its potential to play an operative role in CNS disease are reviewed. Also included is the progress on development of inhibitors targeting the JNK pathway for therapeutic benefit.
Beneficial effects of Neotyphodium lolii on the growth and the water status in perennial ryegrass cultivated under nitrogen deficiency or drought stress (1997)

&mdash; Three perennial ryegrass clones infected and uninfected with Neotyphodium lolii (formerly Acremonium lolii) were studied to determine the impact of this endophytic fungus on plant growth and physiology under stress con- ditions. Plants were grown under controlled environmental conditions for 10 weeks and were subjected to: i) no stress (12 mM of N; no limiting water supply); ii) N deficiency; or iii) drought stress. In the absence of stress, infected and non-infected plants of all clones showed similar growth rates. Under N deficiency (2.33 mM), infected plants had 27% more tillers and 15% less dead leaves than uninfected plants, and they maintained their photosynthetic level. During drought stress (0.7 MPa), the osmotic potential of the infected plants was 13% lower than that of uninfected plants and their tiller number was 10% greater than that of non-infected plants at the end of the drought stress period. Thus, in the three clones studied, the infection results in increased tolerance of host plants to abiotic stress especially as a result of better tillering. ryegrass = Lolium perenne / endophyte / drought stress / N deficiency / Neotyphodium lolii Rsum &mdash; Effets positifs de Neotyphodium lolii sur la croissance et l'tat hydrique de plants de ray-grass anglais soumis une carence en azote ou un stress hydrique. Ce travail a t effectu sur trois clones de ray-grass anglais infects ou non par Neotyphodium lolii (antrieurement Acremonium lolii), afin de dterminer l'impact de ce champignon endophyte sur la croissance et la physiologie des plantes soumises des conditions stressantes. Les plantes sont cultives pendant 10 semaines sous environnement control dans diffrentes conditions : i) aucun stress (12 mM de N ; apport en eau non limitant) ; ii) carence en azote ; ou iii) stress hydrique. En l'absence de stress, les plantes saines et endophytes, des trois gnotypes tudis, prsentent une croissance et un dveloppement identiques. En conditions de carence en azote (2,33 mM), les plantes endophytes prsentent un tallage plus important de 25 % et un nombre de feuilles mortes plus faible de 15 % par rapport aux plantes non endophytes. De plus, les plantes infectes maintien- nent leur activit photosynthtique. Pendant le stress hydrique (0,7 MPa), le potentiel osmotique des plantes endophytes est infrieur de 13 % par rapport celui mesur chez les plantes non endophytes et elles prsentent galement un tallage suprieur de 10 % en fin de stress. Dans le matriel tudi, l'infection permet une meilleure croissance des plantes cultives en conditions de carence en azote ou de stress hydrique en particulier grce un meilleur tallage.
Towards a FAST-CARS anthrax detector: CARS generation in a DPA surrogate molecule (2003)

Abstract Coherent anti-Stokes Raman spectroscopy (CARS) has been investigated as a detection method for the identification of dipicolinic acid (DPA), a marker molecule for bacterial spores of anthrax. The laser dye molecule DCM was used as a surrogate molecule for DPA. In preliminary experiments, a molecular sensitivity was achieved in DCM that is projected to be sufficient to detect the DPA in bacterial spore clumps as small as 5.5 μm in diameter, small enough to be of interest in practical detection scenarios.
Using $K^0π^-\toπ^-$ transitions to compute $K\to(ππ)_{I=0}$ decay amplitudes at NLO in the chiral expansion (2007)

It is proposed to compute matrix elements for the (unphysical) $K^0π^-\to π^-$ transition to determine the next-to-leading order low energy constants of the weak chiral Lagrangian. This allows us to evaluate $K\to(ππ)_{I=0}$ decay amplitudes at this level of precision. This approach has several significant advantages over the use of $K\toππ$ transitions, most notably the elimination of s-channel disconnected diagrams and the use of fewer inversions.
Native display of complete foreign protein domains on the surface of hepatitis B virus capsids (1999)

The nucleocapsid of hepatitis B virus (HBV), or HBcAg, is a highly symmetric structure formed by multiple dimers of a single core protein that contains potent T helper epitopes in its 183-aa sequence. Both factors make HBcAg an unusually strong immunogen and an attractive candidate as a carrier for foreign epitopes. The immunodominant c/e1 epitope on the capsid has been suggested as a superior location to convey high immunogenicity to a heterologous sequence. Because of its central position, however, any c/e1 insert disrupts the core protein's primary sequence; hence, only peptides, or rather small protein fragments seemed to be compatible with particle formation. According to recent structural data, the epitope is located at the tips of prominent surface spikes formed by the very stable dimer interfaces. We therefore reasoned that much larger inserts might be tolerated, provided the individual parts of a corresponding fusion protein could fold independently. Using the green fluorescent protein (GFP) as a model insert, we show that the chimeric protein efficiently forms fluorescent particles; hence, all of its structurally important parts must be properly folded. We also demonstrate that the GFP domains are surface-exposed and that the chimeric particles elicit a potent humoral response against native GFP. Hence, proteins of at least up to 238 aa can be natively displayed on the surface of HBV core particles. Such chimeras may not only be useful as vaccines but may also open the way for high resolution structural analyses of nonassembling proteins by electron microscopy.