gebhart/patrepeval huggingface dataset:
Can our society afford mechanical hearts? (1992)

Congestive heart failure afflicts 4 million people in the United States, with 400,000 deaths annually. Very little can be done for individuals with this condition, which is increasing in prevalence. The only hope is the promise of intervention with permanent circulatory support systems. Can we as a society afford the $3.1 billion that would be required to support every patient needing such a system? This cost represents an increase of 1/2 of 1% of the $662 billion per year expended for medical care. Fortunately, circulatory support systems do not necessarily represent an expense, but rather an investment that has a reasonable payback period. An investment in an individual of $100,000 for the device and implantation cost, coupled with an ongoing maintenance cost of $4,000 per year, can return to society an income greater in value than the investment. The payback period is strongly dependent on the earning power of the individual, as well as the amount of medical attention or complications experienced. An individual with an annual salary of $40,000 per year becomes a positive financial force in our society and increases the gross national product (GNP) within 5 years. The same individual with extensive medical complications and intermittent loss of salary can extend the payback period by an additional 2 years. Circulatory support systems have the potential of increasing our GNP, leading to a higher standard of living for the populace.
Distinct Mechanisms of CD4+and CD8+T-Cell Activation and Bystander Apoptosis Induced by Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 Virions (2005)

ABSTRACT Apoptosis of uninfected bystander T cells contributes to T-cell depletion during human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) infection. HIV-1 envelope/receptor interactions and immune activation have been implicated as contributors to bystander apoptosis. To better understand the relationship between T-cell activation and bystander apoptosis during HIV-1 pathogenesis, we investigated the effects of the highly cytopathic CXCR4-tropic HIV-1 variant ELI6 on primary CD4 + and CD8 + T cells. Infection of primary T-cell cultures with ELI6 induced CD4 + T-cell depletion by direct cell lysis and bystander apoptosis. Exposure of primary CD4 + and CD8 + T cells to nonreplicating ELI6 virions induced bystander apoptosis through a Fas-independent mechanism. Bystander apoptosis of CD4 + T cells required direct contact with virions and Env/CXCR4 binding. In contrast, the apoptosis of CD8 + T cells was triggered by a soluble factor(s) secreted by CD4 + T cells. HIV-1 virions activated CD4 + and CD8 + T cells to express CD25 and HLA-DR and preferentially induced apoptosis in CD25 + HLA-DR + T cells in a CXCR4-dependent manner. Maximal levels of binding, activation, and apoptosis were induced by virions that incorporated MHC class II and B7-2 into the viral membrane. These results suggest that nonreplicating HIV-1 virions contribute to chronic immune activation and T-cell depletion during HIV-1 pathogenesis by activating CD4 + and CD8 + T cells, which then proceed to die via apoptosis. This mechanism may represent a viral immune evasion strategy to increase viral replication by activating target cells while killing immune effector cells that are not productively infected.
Recent trends in the impurity profile of pharmaceuticals (2010)

Various regulatory authorities such as the International Conference on Harmonization (ICH), the United States Food and Drug administration (FDA), and the Canadian Drug and Health Agency (CDHA) are emphasizing on the purity requirements and the identification of impurities in Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs). The various sources of impurity in pharmaceutical products are - reagents, heavy metals, ligands, catalysts, other materials like filter aids, charcoal, and the like, degraded end products obtained during \ after manufacturing of bulk drugs from hydrolysis, photolytic cleavage, oxidative degradation, decarboxylation, enantiomeric impurity, and so on. The different pharmacopoeias such as the British Pharmacopoeia, United State Pharmacopoeia, and Indian Pharmacopoeia are slowly incorporating limits to allowable levels of impurities present in APIs or formulations. Various methods are used to isolate and characterize impurities in pharmaceuticals, such as, capillary electrophoresis, electron paramagnetic resonance, gas-liquid chromatography, gravimetric analysis, high performance liquid chromatography, solid-phase extraction methods, liquid-liquid extraction method, Ultraviolet Spectrometry, infrared spectroscopy, supercritical fluid extraction column chromatography, mass spectrometry, Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, and RAMAN spectroscopy. Among all hyphenated techniques, the most exploited techniques for impurity profiling of drugs are Liquid Chromatography (LC)-Mass Spectroscopy (MS), LC-NMR, LC-NMR-MS, GC-MS, and LC-MS. This reveals the need and scope of impurity profiling of drugs in pharmaceutical research.
Low Impedance Walking Robots (2002)

For both historical and technological reasons, most robots, including those meant to mimic animals or operate in natural environments,3 use actuators and control systems that have high (stiff) mechanical impedance. By contrast, most animals exhibit low (soft) impedance. While a robot's stiff joints may be programmed to closely imitate the recorded motion of an animal's soft joints, any unexpected position disturbances will generate reactive forces and torques much higher for the robot than for the animal. The dual of this is also true: while an animal will react to a force disturbance by significantly yielding position, a typical robot will greatly resist.These differences cause three deleterious effects for high impedance robots. First, the higher forces may cause damage to the robot or to its environment (which is particularly important if that environment includes people). Second, the robot must acquire very precise information about its position relative to the environment so as to minimize its velocity upon impact. Third, many of the self-stabilizing effects of natural dynamics are "shorted out"4 by the robot's high impedance, so that stabilization requires more effort from the control system.Over the past 5 yr, our laboratory has designed a series of walking robots based on "Series-Elastic Actuators" and "Virtual Model Control." Using these two techniques, we have been able to build low-impedance walking robots that are both safe and robust, that operate blindly without any model of upcoming terrain, and that add minimal control effort in parallel to their self-stabilizing passive dynamics. We have discovered that it is possible to achieve surprisingly effective ambulation from rather simple mechanisms and control systems. After describing the historical and technological motivations for our approach, this paper gives an overview of our methods and shows some of the results we have obtained.
Measurement of Polyethylene Wear in Metal-Backed Acetabular Cups (1995)

The new 3-dimensional technique was applied to the radiographs of 141 patients who had received Porous Coated Anatomic total hip prostheses. Values were obtained for the position of the acetabular cup, the 3-dimensional distance and direction of femoral head displacement, and the minimum volume of polyethylene debris produced. Mean age of the patients at the time of replacement was 61 years old; mean followup was 5.6 years (range, 4-7.2 years). Change in the position of the femoral head between initial and long-term followup films was assumed to represent polyethylene wear, and formulas were used to calculate the minimal volume of polyethylene debris produced. The overall rate of 3-dimensional femoral head displacement was 0.264 mm per year, almost twice that usually quoted in the current literature for 2-dimensional linear wear. A significant contribution to this value was made by anterior and posterior displacement. Two-dimensional femoral head displacement (measured in the plane of anteroposterior radiographs) on the same patients was 0.149 mm per year. The mean minimum volume of polyethylene debris produced after 5.6 years was 0.448 cm3 (range, 0.00-2.83 cm3), giving a mean rate of 0.079 cm3 polyethylene debris produced each year. Thirteen patients in this series had radiologic osteolysis and a significantly greater femoral head displacement and polyethylene volumetric wear than those with no osteolysis. Patients with a 32-mm femoral head diameter and a polyethylene linear < 1 cm thick had a significantly greater amount of polyethylene wear. This series gives previously unavailable data on 3-dimensional femoral head displacement and is the first report that correlates the minimum volume of polyethylene wear produced with radiologic osteolysis.
Electrode Area Effect on Breakdown Field Strength of Vacuum Gaps under Non-Uniform Field (2004)

This paper has discussed area effect on breakdown field strength in vacuum gaps under non-uniform field. To identify whether the common area effect can be found between uniform and non-uniform field gaps or not, 50 % breakdown field strength (E50) vs. electrode area more than 90 % of maximum fields strength on cathode (S90) was compared among four kinds of plate-plate gaps, three kinds of ring-plate gaps, and two kinds of sphere-plate gaps. As a result, E50 vs. S90 for plate-plate gaps shows different characteristics from the other kinds of gap arrangements when radial curvature of edge is large and gap length is short. We discussed the reason and how to conduct the insulation design for actual high voltage conductors, consist of some curved surfaces and plane surfaces.
Graduate Employment and Training in SMEs in Northern Ireland (2005)

Using the UK Labour Force Survey, this paper considers whether graduate employment is more important in the small and medium-size enterprise (SME) sector in Northern Ireland than in other regions of the UK. The authors disaggregate their analysis by gender, occupation and industry to provide a detailed breakdown. The issue of whether graduates are more or less likely to receive on-the-job training is also considered, both by comparison with non-graduates (matched by industry and occupation groups) and graduates in other UK regions. Finally, given that company size, firm location, industry and occupation groups are all related to the proportion of graduates employed in the labour market, the authors use a multivariate approach to disentangle the extent to which there are differences associated with graduate employment in the Northern Ireland SME sector (having controlled for other factors). The policy implications of their findings for graduate employment are then considered.
Assay of circulating 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D involving a novel single-cartridge extraction and purification procedure. (1986)

By use of a single-cartridge system, 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D [1,25(OH)2D] is extracted and purified from a plasma or serum sample. Proteins are removed and 1,25(OH)2D is liberated from the sample with acetonitrile. The acetonitrile extract is applied to the nonpolar octadecylsilanol silica cartridge, in which 1,25(OH)2D is retained while polar compounds are eluted. Then by "phase-switching" on the same cartridge, 1,25(OH)2D is sufficiently resolved from other vitamin D metabolites and extraneous lipophilic compounds to allow its quantification by radioreceptor assay according to an established procedure. Mean (and SD) values for 1,25(OH)2D in serum of 29 normal, 27 chronic renal failure, and nine pregnant subjects were 28.2 (11.3), 10.9 (5.2), and 47.3 (12.9) ng/L, respectively. Results compared well with those of an established radioreceptor procedure. This procedure offers the advantage of a single rapid purification step not involving "high-performance" liquid chromatography or evaporation, under nitrogen, of polar solvents such as acetonitrile or methanol.
Life with CO or CO 2 and H 2 as a source of carbon and energy (1991)

An account is presented of the recent discovery of a pathway of growth by bacteria in which CO or CO2 and H2 are sources of carbon and energy. The Calvin cycle and subsequently other cycles were discovered in the 1950s, and in each the initial reaction of CO2 involved adding CO2 to an organic compound formed during the cyclic pathway (for example, CO2 and ribulose diphosphate). Studies were initiated in the 1950s with the thermophylic anaerobic organism Clostridium thermoaceticum, which Barker and Kamen had found fixed CO2 in both carbons of acetate during fermentation of glucose. The pathway of acetyl-CoA biosynthesis differs from all others in that two CO2 are combined with coenzyme A (CoASH) forming acetyl CoA, which then serves as the source of carbon for growth. This mechanism is designated the acetyl CoA pathway and some have called it the Wood pathway. A unique feature is the role of the enzyme carbon monoxide dehydrogenase (CODH), which catalyzes the conversion of CoASH, CO, and a methyl group to acetyl CoA, the final step of the pathway. The pathway involves the reduction of CO2 to formate, which then combines with tetrahydrofolate (THF) to form formyl THF. It in turn is reduced to CH3-THF. The methyl is then transferred to the cobalt on a corrinoid-containing enzyme. From there the methyl is transferred to CODH, and CO and CoASH bind with the enzyme at separate sites. Acetyl CoA is then synthesized. CODH would more properly be called carbon monoxide dehydrogenase-acetyl CoA synthase as it catalyzes oxidation of CO to CO2 and the synthesis of acetyl CoA. The solution of the mechanism of this pathway required more than 30 years, in part because the intermediate compounds are bound to enzymes, the enzymes are extremely sensitive to O2 and must be isolated under strictly anerobic conditions, and the role of a corrinoid and CODH was unprecedented. It is now apparent that this pathway occurs (perhaps with some modification) in many bacteria including the methane and sulfur bacteria. In some humans this pathway is catalyzed by the bacteria of the gut and acetate is produced rather than methane; it is calculated that 2.3 x 10(6) metric tons of acetate are formed daily from CO2. A similar synthesis occurs in the hind gut of termites. It is becoming apparent that the acetyl CoA pathway plays a significant role in the carbon cycle.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
Effect of Sodium Bicarbonate and Oils on the Control of Powdery Mildew and Black Spot of Roses (1992)

Powdery mildew, caused by Sphaerotheca pannosa var. rosae, and black spot,caused by Diplocarpon rosae, were significantly controlled by weekly sprays of 0.063 M aqueous solution of sodium bicarbonate plus 1.0% (v/v) Sunspray ultrafine spray oil on Rosa spp. Control of powdery mildew was evaluated on cultivars Bridal Pink, Gold Rush, Lavande, Prive, Samantha, Sonia, and Royalty in greenhouse experiments, and control of black spot was evaluated on cultivars Mr. Lincoln and Pascale in field experiments (...)
Treatment of Alzheimer's Disease (1999)

Alzheimer's disease, which is characterized by progressive loss of memory and cognitive function, affects 15 million people worldwide. The incidence increases steadily from 0.5 percent per year at the age of 65 years to nearly 8 percent per year after the age of 85 years.1 Because survival for a decade is common, the prevalence increases from 3 percent at the age of 65 years to 47 percent after the age of 85 years.2 Mutations in the gene for the amyloid precursor protein and the genes for presenilin 1 and 2 cause rare, dominantly inherited forms of the disease occurring before . . .
Multiple sensitivity of chorda tympani fibres of the rat and hamster to gustatory and thermal stimuli (1968)

1. Impulse discharges in single chorda tympani fibres of rats and hamsters in response to gustatory stimuli representing the four basic qualities of taste as well as to cooling and warming of the tongue were recorded.2. In both rats and hamsters many fibres responded to more than one kind of gustatory stimulus as well as to thermal ones. The thermal sensitivity of these fibres was found to be about -0.5 impulses/sec. degrees C for cooling and 0.5 impulses/sec. degrees C for warming.3. Statistical calculations of the frequency of responses of chorda tympani fibres to single gustatory stimuli or combinations of stimuli were made, assuming that responsiveness to any one stimulus is independent of that to other stimuli. Evidence for relatively specific sensitivity to a particular stimulus or a particular combination of stimuli was obtained in the rat and the hamster.4. Across-fibre correlation coefficients between the amounts of responses to a pair of stimuli were calculated. In both the rat and the hamster, significant positive correlations were obtained with HCl, quinine and cooling. In addition, a positive correlation between sucrose and warming and a negative correlation between sucrose and NaCl were obtained in the hamster. The results are discussed in relation to the interaction of gustatory and thermal sensations of the human tongue.
Segelstimpel fün fan in Lidlumer likebroer (1997)

The critical care nurse is frequently challenged to clear respiratory secretions for patients with thick, copious mucous and a weak cough. The traditional interventions nurses use are chest physiotherapy, incentive spirometry, and "blind" endotracheal suctioning to facilitate the removal of secretions, but these are sometimes ineffective and cause complications. Nurses who identify patients needing a more effective way to remove secretions can request consideration of a new method, suctioning through a minitracheostomy.
Mechanics of wafer bonding: Effect of clamping (2003)

A mechanics-based model is developed to examine the effects of clamping during wafer bonding processes. The model provides closed-form expressions that relate the initial geometry and elastic properties of the wafers to the final shape of the bonded pair and the strain energy release rate at the interface for two different clamping configurations. The results demonstrate that the curvature of bonded pairs may be controlled through the use of specific clamping arrangements during the bonding process. Furthermore, it is demonstrated that the strain energy release rate depends on the clamping configuration and that using applied loads usually leads to an undesirable increase in the strain energy release rate. The results are discussed in detail and implications for process development and bonding tool design are highlighted.
Purification, composition, and activity of two bactenecins, antibacterial peptides of bovine neutrophils (1989)

Extracts of granules of bovine neutrophils are known to exhibit a marked antibacterial activity in vitro. By a simple, two-step chromatographic procedure, we have resolved two peptide components of the antibacterial system. They were named Bac-5 and Bac-7 from the general term bactenecin and had molecular masses of about 5 and 7 kilodaltons, respectively. Over 45 and 20% of the amino acid residues in the two bactenecins are proline and arginine, respectively. The remaining amino acids are mainly hydrophobic (isoleucine, leucine, and phenylalanine). Both Bac-5 and Bac-7 efficiently kill Escherichia coli, Salmonella typhimurium, and Klebsiella pneumoniae. They also arrest the growth of Enterobacter cloacae (MICs, 25 to 200 micrograms/ml) but not of Proteus vulgaris, Staphylococcus aureus, and Streptococcus agalactiae (MIC, greater than 200 micrograms/ml). Finally, Bac-7 but not Bac-5 has MICs of less than or equal to 200 micrograms/ml for Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus epidermidis. From the comparison between the efficient bactericidal concentrations in vitro and the estimated content of bactenecins in neutrophils (125 ng of Bac-5 and Bac-7 each per 10(6) cells), it is reasonable to conclude that the two cationic peptides may exert a major role in host defense against at least some microorganisms.
The kinetics of formation and dissociation of the ferrous tris-dipyridyl ion (1950)

J. H. Baxendale and P. George, Trans. Faraday Soc., 1950, 46, 736 DOI: 10.1039/TF9504600736
Starch metabolism in tubers of transgenic potato (Solanum tuberosum) with increased ADPglucose pyrophosphorylase (1996)

The aim of this work was to use tubers from transgenic lines of potato (Solanum tuberosum) containing increased amounts of ADPglucose pyrophosphorylase to study the role of this enzyme in the control of starch synthesis. A 4-5-fold increase in activity of the enzyme, achieved by transformation with the Escherichia coli ADPglucose pyrophosphorylase gene glgC-16, had no detectable effect on the starch content of developing or mature tubers. No significant effects were found on the contents of ADPglucose, UDPglucose, glucose 1-phosphate, glucose 6-phosphate, PP1, ATP and ADP. Flux from [U-14C]sucrose, supplied to tubers still attached to the plant, to starch increased roughly in proportion to the increase in ADPglucose pyrophosphorylase activity. These measurements of flux gave a response coefficient close to 1 for the activity of the pyrophosphorylase in respect of starch synthesis. Pulse-chase experiments with [U-14C]sucrose showed that the increased flux into starch in the transformed tubers was accompanied by an increased rate of starch turnover. Further experiments suggested that the increased turnover was associated with an increase in the capacity of the tubers to degrade starch.
Removal of mismatched bases from synthetic genes by enzymatic mismatch cleavage (2005)

The success of long polynucleotide de novo synthesis is largely dependent on the quality and purity of the oligonucleotides used. Generally, the primary product of any synthesis reaction is directly cloned, and clones with correct products have to be identified. In this study, a novel strategy has been established for removing undesired sequence variants from primary gene synthesis products. Single base-pair mismatches, insertions and deletions were cleaved with specific endonucleases. Three different enzymes--T7 endonuclease I, T4 endonuclease VII and Escherichia coli endonuclease V--have been tested. As a model, a synthetic polynucleotide encoding the bacterial chloramphenicol-acetyltransferase (cat) was synthesized using different methods for one step polynucleotide synthesis based on ligation of oligonucleotides. The influence of enzymatic mismatch cleavage (EMC) as an error correction step on the frequency of correct products was analyzed by functional cloning of the synthetic cat and comparing the error rate with that of untreated products. Significant reduction of all mutation types was observed. Statistical analysis revealed that the T4 and E.coli endonucleases reduced the occurrence of mutations in cloned synthetic gene products. The EMC treatment was successful especially in the removal of deletions and insertions from the primary ligation products.
Small RNA Duplexes Function as Mobile Silencing Signals Between Plant Cells (2010)

In the plant RNA interference (RNAi) pathway, 21-nucleotide duplexes of small interfering RNA (siRNA) are processed from longer double-stranded RNA precursors by the RNaseIII Dicer-like 4 (DCL4). Single-stranded siRNAs then guide Argonaute 1 (AGO1) to execute posttranscriptional silencing of complementary target RNAs. RNAi is not cell-autonomous in higher plants, but the nature of the mobile nucleic acid(s) signal remains unknown. Using cell-specific rescue of DCL4 function and cell-specific inhibition of RNAi movement, we genetically establish that exogenous and endogenous siRNAs, as opposed to their precursor molecules, act as mobile silencing signals between plant cells. We further demonstrate physical movement of mechanically delivered, labeled siRNA duplexes that functionally recapitulate transgenic RNAi spread. Cell-to-cell movement is unlikely to involve AGO1-bound siRNA single strands, but instead likely involves siRNA duplexes.
Hypoxic induction of vascular endothelial growth factor is markedly decreased in diabetic individuals who do not develop retinopathy. (2000)

This study suggests that 1 mechanism for the absence of DR in patients with long-standing diabetes is a decreased hypoxic induction of VEGF.