gebhart/patrepeval huggingface dataset:
Efficacy of two cannabis‐based medicinal extracts for relief of central neuropathic pain from brachial plexus avulsion: results of a randomised controlled trial (2003)

Avulsion of nerve rootlets from the spinal cord following traction injuries to the brachial plexus frequently produces a highly characteristic pain syndrome. Constant spontaneous crushing and burning pain is felt in the distal part of the anaesthetic limb, frequently accompanied by shooting pain. It is not uncommon for the pain to persist for many years. The consistency of description between subjects coupled with the anatomical precision of the diagnosis provides a remarkable human model of central neuropathic pain. Opioids, anticonvulsants and tricyclic antidepressants are all used in the empirical management of this condition. They are partially effective at best and there is only anecdotal evidence to support their use. Many of our patients have given us spontaneous reports of the efficacy of ‘street’ cannabis. This has led us to test two cannabis-based whole plant medicinal extracts administered via oromucosal spray to patients with this condition. Forty-eight patients were enrolled. They all had at least one brachial plexus root avulsion for at least 18 months. They also had pain of at least 4 out of an 11-point box scale at the time of enrolment. The study was a randomised double-blind crossover trial consisting of three 2-week periods following a run-in period of 7–24 days. Patients continued on all previous stable medications including analgesics. During each 2-week period, subjects received in random order either placebo, delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) 25 mg.ml−1 or delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol 25 mg.ml−1 with cannabidiol (THC:CBD) 25 mg.ml−1, given as patient-activated oromucosal 100-μl sprays. Eleven-point box scales for pain and sleep, short form McGill, visual analogue scale, general health questionnaire-12, sleep disturbance and pain disability index were all recorded. Table 1 shows a summary of the results at week two of each of the study periods. Both the THC and THC:CBD extracts decreased pain and improved sleep. The effects were moderate although mostly statistically significant. Patients had not maximally titrated their doses at the end of the 2-week study periods. In addition, they remained on their pre-existing analgesic therapy throughout the study. A longer study period and use of cannabis-based medicinal extracts as the sole analgesic may well show a bigger analgesic effect. However, given the refractory nature of the pain in this patient group, this study shows that cannabis-based medicinal extracts represent a significant advance in treatment.
Studies on products of browning reaction. Antioxidative activities of products of browning reaction prepared from glucosamine. (1986)

グルコサミン塩酸塩を遊離形にし, 37℃インキュベーターで0日から30日間放置褐変した褐変グルコサミン (BGA) の抗酸化性, 還元力, 褐変度, アミノ糖の残存量, pH, 水分量, 全窒素量を, 放置0日から5日間は毎日, 以後5日間の間隔で30日間測定した。一方, 0, 15, 30日間放置褐変したBGAをセファデックスG-15で分画し, 抗酸化性, 還元力, 褐変度, pHについて測定して, 次のような結果を得た。1) 遊離グルコサミンは, 3日間放置後より白色粉末状から褐色ペースト状に急激な変化を示した。2) 最も強い抗酸化性は, 25日間と30日間放置褐変したBGAで認められた。3) BGAのリノール酸に対する抗酸化性は, 褐変度と深い関係を示した。4) 長く放置褐変したBGAは, 分子量が比較的高い領域の褐変生成物質と, 比較的低い領域の褐変生成物質に分画された。5) 長く放置褐変したBGAでは, 高分子の褐変生成物質のフラクションと, 低分子の褐変生成物質のフラクションの中間フラクションに抗酸化性を認めた。
Evaluating Run-Time Techniques for Leakage Power Reduction (2002)

While some leakage power reduction techniques require modification of process technology achieving savings at the fabrication stage, others are based on circuit-level optimizations and are applied at run-time. We focus our study on the latter kind and compare three techniques: input vector control, body bias control and power supply gating. We determine their limits and benefits, in terms of the potential leakage reduction, performance penalty and area and power overhead. The importance of the 'minimum idle time' parameter, as an additional evaluation tool, is emphasized, as well as the feasibility of achieving power supply gating at low levels of granularity. The obtained data supports the formulation of a comprehensive leakage reduction scheme, in which each technique is targeted for certain types of functional units and a given level of granularity depending on the incurred overhead cost and the obtainable savings.
Drug resistance in epilepsy: expression of drug resistance proteins in common causes of refractory epilepsy (2002)

Epilepsy is resistant to drug treatment in about one-third of cases, but the mechanisms underlying this drug resistance are not understood. In cancer, drug resistance has been studied extensively. Amongst the various resistance mechanisms, overexpression of drug resistance proteins, such as multi-drug resistance gene-1 P-glycoprotein (MDR1) and multidrug resistance-associated protein 1 (MRP1), has been shown to correlate with cellular resistance to anticancer drugs. Previous studies in human epilepsy have shown that MDR1 and MRP1 may also be overexpressed in brain tissue from patients with refractory epilepsy; expression has been shown in glia and neurones, which do not normally express these proteins. We examined expression of MDR1 and MRP1 in refractory epilepsy from three common causes, dysembryoplastic neuroepithelial tumours (DNTs; eight cases), focal cortical dysplasia (FCD; 14 cases) and hippocampal sclerosis (HS; eight cases). Expression was studied immunohistochemically in lesional tissue from therapeutic resections and compared with expression in histologically normal adjacent tissue. With the most sensitive antibodies, in all eight DNT cases, reactive astrocytes within tumour nodules expressed MDR1 and MRP1. In five of eight HS cases, reactive astrocytes within the gliotic hippocampus expressed MDR1 and MRP1. Of 14 cases of FCD, MDR1 and MRP1 expression was noted in reactive astrocytes in all cases. In five FCD cases, MRP1 expression was also noted in dysplastic neurones. In FCD and DNTs, accentuation of reactivity was noted around lesional vessels. Immunoreactivity was always more frequent and intense in lesional reactive astrocytes than in glial fibrillary acidic protein-positive reactive astrocytes in adjacent histologically normal tissue. MDR1 is able to transport some antiepileptic drugs (AEDs), and MRP1 may also do so. The overexpression of these drug resistance proteins in tissue from patients with refractory epilepsy suggests one possible mechanism for drug resistance in patients with these pathologies. We propose that overexpressed resistance proteins lower the interstitial concentration of AEDs in the vicinity of the epileptogenic pathology and thereby render the epilepsy caused by these pathologies resistant to treatment with AEDs.
Modern analytical techniques in metabolomics analysis (2011)

Metabolomics is the comprehensive assessment of endogenous metabolites and attempts to systematically identify and quantify metabolites from a biological sample. Small-molecule metabolites have an important role in biological systems and represent attractive candidates to understand disease phenotypes. Metabolites represent a diverse group of low-molecular-weight structures including lipids, amino acids, peptides, nucleic acids, organic acids, vitamins, thiols and carbohydrates, which makes global analysis a difficult challenge. The recent rapid development of a range of analytical platforms, including GC, HPLC, UPLC, CE coupled to MS and NMR spectroscopy, could enable separation, detection, characterization and quantification of such metabolites and related metabolic pathways. Owing to the complexity of the metabolome and the diverse properties of metabolites, no single analytical platform can be applied to detect all metabolites in a biological sample. The combined use of modern instrumental analytical approaches has unravelled the ideal outcomes in metabolomics, and is beneficial to increase the coverage of detected metabolites that can not be achieved by single-analysis techniques. Integrated platforms have been frequently used to provide sensitive and reliable detection of thousands of metabolites in a biofluid sample. Continued development of these analytical platforms will accelerate widespread use and integration of metabolomics into systems biology. Here, the application of each hyphenated technique is discussed and its strengths and limitations are discussed with selected illustrative examples; furthermore, this review comprehensively highlights the role of integrated tools in metabolomic research.
Stents for Intracranial Aneurysms: The Beginning of a New Endovascular Era? (1998)

Wakhloo, Ajay K. MD, PhD; Lanzino, Giuseppe MD; Lieber, Baruch B. PhD; Hopkins, L. Nelson MD Author Information
Molecular cloning and sequence analysis of a chondroitin sulfate proteoglycan cDNA. (1985)

We report the identification and DNA sequence of a chondroitin sulfate proteoglycan core protein cDNA. A cDNA clone, pPG1, was selected from a rat yolk sac tumor poly(A)+RNA-derived cDNA library by using synthetic oligonucleotides predicted from the NH2-terminal peptide sequence of the mature chondroitin sulfate proteoglycan. The resulting sequence analysis demonstrated that the 874-base-pair pPG1 clone contained the complete coding region of the mature proteoglycan core protein as well as 5' and 3' flanking sequences. The 104 amino acid proteoglycan core protein sequence reveals that the core protein is composed of three regions, the most striking of which is the central 49 amino acid region composed of alternating serine and glycine residues. This region clearly functions as the acceptor site for the attachment of chondroitin sulfate side chains. The serine-glycine repeat region is flanked by a 14 amino acid NH2-terminal region identical to the NH2-terminal sequence of the proteoglycan obtained by amino acid sequencing and a 41 amino acid COOH-terminal region. RNA transfer blot hybridizations of poly(A)+ mRNA from rat yolk sac tumor cells with nick-translated pPG1 reveal a single mRNA of approximately equal to 1300 nucleotides. The possibility of detecting mRNAs and genomic sequences for other proteoglycans with a serine-glycine repeat by using this cDNA clone is discussed.
IL-27 Enhances the Expression of TRAIL and TLR3 in Human Melanomas and Inhibits Their Tumor Growth in Cooperation with a TLR3 Agonist Poly(I:C) Partly in a TRAIL-Dependent Manner (2013)

Interleukin (IL)-27 is a member of the IL-6/IL-12 cytokine family and possesses potent antitumor activity, which is mediated by multiple mechanisms. Toll-like receptor (TLR)3 is the critical sensor of the innate immune system that serves to identify viral double-stranded RNA. TLR3 is frequently expressed by various types of malignant cells, and recent studies reported that a synthetic TLR3 agonist, polyinosinic-polycytidylic acid [poly(I:C)], induces antitumor effects on malignant cells. In the present study, we have explored the effect of IL-27 on human melanomas and uncovered a previously unknown mechanism. We found that IL-27 inhibits in vitro tumor growth of human melanomas and greatly enhances the expression of TNF-related apoptosis inducing ligand (TRAIL) in a dose-dependent manner. Neutralizing antibody against TRAIL partly but significantly blocked the IL-27-mediated inhibition of tumor growth. In addition, IL-27 and poly(I:C) cooperatively augmented TRAIL expression and inhibited tumor growth. The cooperative effect could be ascribed to the augmented expression of TLR3, but not retinoic acid-inducible gene-I or anti-melanoma differentiation-associated gene 5, by IL-27. The inhibition of tumor growth by the combination was also significantly abrogated by anti-TRAIL neutralizing antibody. Moreover, IL-27 and poly(I:C) cooperatively suppressed in vivo tumor growth of human melanoma in immunodeficient mice. Taken together, these results suggest that IL-27 enhances the expression of TRAIL and TLR3 in human melanomas and inhibits their tumor growth in cooperation with poly(I:C), partly in a TRAIL-dependent manner. Thus, IL-27 and the combination of IL-27 and poly(I:C) may be attractive candidates for cancer immunotherapy.
Efficient Sialylation on Azidododecyl Lactosides by Using B16 Melanoma Cells (2005)

Lactoside primers (dodecyl lactoside derivatives) resemble intermediates in the biosynthetic pathway of glycolipids and, therefore, act as substrates for cellular enzyme-catalyzed glycosylation. To establish the optimal condition for the bioproduction of a large amount of valuable materials containing GM3-type oligosaccharides, two kinds of lactoside primers having the azido group in different positions were synthesized and introduced into B16 melanoma cells. The saccharide chains of both primers were elongated by cells to give GM3-type oligosaccharide derivatives, which were released to the culture medium. The amount of glycosylated product from newly synthesized 2-azidododecyl beta-lactoside (primer II) was almost twice that from 12-azidododecyl beta-lactoside (primer I). The effects of seeded cell number, primer concentration, and length of incubation time on the glycosylation efficiency were also investigated. The results showed that the higher the seeded cell number, the larger the amount of sialylated products obtained. The optimum concentrations of primers I and II were found to be 200 and 100 microM, respectively. Above these concentrations, productivity and cell viability decreased. As regards the length of incubation time, the sialylated products increased linearly until 48 h, but productivity did not advance thereafter. These results represent the optimal conditions that are necessary for the mass production of GM3-type oligosaccharide using azidododecyl lactoside primers and B16 cells.
Intratumoral delivery of IL-18 naked DNA induces T-cell activation and Th1 response in a mouse hepatic cancer model (2007)

Our results suggest that direct plasmid DNA transfer of IL-18 with no accompanying reagents to augment transfection efficiency may be useful in tumor immunotherapy.
Analyses of brain tumor cell lines confirm a simple model of relationships among fluorescence in situ hybridization, DNA index, and comparative genomic hybridization (1997)

Several techniques are commonly used for genetic analysis of interphase nuclei. Flow cytometry assays the distribution of DNA content in populations of nuclei stained with a DNA-specific fluorochrome. Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) quantifies the number of copies of a specific DNA sequence in single nuclei. Comparative genomic hybridization (CGH) assesses the relative copy number of DNA sequences throughout a test genome by comparing the signal intensities of test and reference DNA samples hybridized to a template of normal metaphase chromosomes. In principle, there are specific relationship among data obtained from these measurements, and combined measurements should provide a more comprehensive view of the sample that is analyzed. We applied these three techniques to nine brain tumor cell lines and find that a model of CGH that includes unsuppressed repeat sequences describes the data well. We estimate that up to 35% of the fluorescence intensity in well-blocked CGH preparations may not represent unique sequences. Taking these factors into account, our results are, in general, mutually consistent, and highlight issues critical for interpreting CGH preparations.
Quantifying downflow through creek sediments using temperature time series: one-dimensional solution incorporating measured surface temperature (1995)

Several authors have addressed the question of identifying the location of and quantifying the volume of groundwater/surface water interaction. Utilizing measurement of temperature within the sediments has been suggested as a means of estimating water flux through the sediments. A qualitative version of this method has been applied to identifying locations of communication between a creek and groundwater based upon temperature time series measurements in the water column and the sediments. The discussion presented earlier is extended to a more general solution which allows for incorporation of measured surface temperature (rather than an assumed surface temperature). The mathematical formulation presented is targeted on the quantification of flux across the sediment for conditions of one-dimensional downflow with a constant flux over periods of days to weeks. This technique, based on the assumption that the temperature of the surface water is the primary thermal influence on sediment temperature, is shown to provide an estimate of fluid flux (volume of water per area per time) for flux rates above a critical threshold. The flux threshold depends on a number of factors including thermal diffusivity of the sediments and depth of burial of the temperature measuring device. Based on use of three simple forcing functions for temperature at the surface of the sediments, it is shown that the amplitude of the temperature response in the sediments to a change in temperature in the overlying water column decreases with increasing depth and decreasing flux. Further, the timing of the peak response in the sediments becomes increasingly delayed as depth increases and flux decreases. These observations, combined with consideration of the assumption of one-dimensional flow, lead to suggesting that field design be based on relatively shallow burial (e.g. 5–15 cm) of the device to measure sediment temperatures. Based on these observations, one of the data sets presented earlier is reanalyzed to derive flux estimates. It is shown that a reasonable fit is obtained with a downflow flux of less than 0.03 cm day−1. Independent measurement of hydraulic gradient and hydraulic conductivity provide a range of flux estimates for the same site (although measured in a different year) which are consistent with this value. Based on these results, it is argued that this technique is a reasonable screening tool for use in situations where relatively inexpensive, point estimates of water flux are required within losing reaches of a creek.
Technical Factors Involved in the Measurement of Circulating MicroRNA Biomarkers for the Detection of Colorectal Neoplasia (2014)

The measured levels of miRNAs in serum and plasma from same patients varied in the presence of hemolysis, and since hemolysis and other factors affected miRNA expression, it is important to consider these confounders while developing miRNA-based diagnostic assays.
Intracellular Uptake and Inhibition of Gene Expression by PNAs and PNA−Peptide Conjugates (2004)

Peptide nucleic acids (PNAs) offer a distinct option for silencing gene expression in mammalian cells. However, the full value of PNAs has not been realized, and the rules governing the recognition of cellular targets by PNAs remain obscure. Here we examine the uptake of PNAs and PNA-peptide conjugates by immortal and primary human cells and compare peptide-mediated and DNA/lipid-mediated delivery strategies. We find that both peptide-mediated and lipid-mediated delivery strategies promote entry of PNA and PNA-peptide conjugates into cells. Confocal microscopy reveals a punctate distribution of PNA and PNA-peptide conjugates regardless of the delivery strategy used. Peptide D(AAKK)(4) and a peptide containing a nuclear localization sequence (NLS) promote the spontaneous delivery of antisense PNAs into cultured cells. The PNA-D(AAKK)(4) conjugate inhibits expression of human caveolin 1 (hCav-1) in both HeLa and primary endothelial cells. DNA/lipid-mediated delivery requires less PNA, while peptide-mediated delivery is simpler and is less toxic to primary cells. The ability of PNA-peptide conjugates to enter primary and immortal human cells and inhibit gene expression supports the use of PNAs as antisense agents for investigating the roles of proteins in cells. Both DNA/lipid-mediated and peptide-mediated delivery strategies are efficient, but the compartmentalized localization of PNAs suggests that improving the cellular distribution may lead to increased efficacy.
Automatic view recognition in echocardiogram videos using parts-based representation (2004)

Indexing echocardiogram videos at different levels of structure is essential for providing efficient access to their content for browsing and retrieval purposes. We present a novel approach for the automatic identification of the views of the heart from the content of the echocardiogram videos. In this approach the structure of the heart is represented by the constellation of its parts (chambers) under the different views. The statistical variations of the parts in the constellation and their spatial relationships are modeled using Markov random field models. A discriminative method is then used for view recognition, which fuses the assessments of a test image, by all the view-models. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first work addressing the analysis of the echocardiogram videos for the purpose of indexing their content. The method presented could be used for multiple-object recognition when their parts represent the objects and there are structural similarities between them.
CELL‐WALL FORMATION DURING THE CELL CYCLE OF PORPHYRIDIUM SP. (RHODOPHYTA) (1999)

The cell wall of the red microalgae Porphyridium sp. (UTEX 637) comprises a complex amorphous polysaccharide (6–7 × 10 6 Da). The polysaccharide is made up of xylose, glucose, and galactose as the main sugars, as well as some minor sugars, protein, sulfate, and glucuronic acid, the latter two conferring a negative charge on the polysaccharide. In this study, we used synchronized cultures as one of the ways of unraveling the mechanism of biosynthesis of this complex polysaccharide by following cell‐wall formation during the cell cycle. Synchronization of Porphyridium sp. was achieved with an alternating light:dark regime of 12:12 h LD and dilution of the culture at the end of the cycle. Under these conditions, cell duplication occurred between the 12th and 14th hours of the cycle. The following order of building toward formation of the final polysaccharide appeared to take place: Intermediate polysaccharides with molecular masses ranging from 0.5 × 10 6 to 2 × 10 6 Da appeared in succession during hours 2–6 of the cycle, and the full‐sized polysaccharide was detected by the 8th hour. At the beginning of the cycle, xylose was the predominant sugar. Sulfur peaked at hours 2–4; glucose, galactose, and glucuronic acid at hours 8–12; and the minor sugars at hours 12–14. Upon incubation of low molecular mass polymer (0.5 × 10 6 Da) collected from the 4th hour with cellular crude extract from cells of the 6th hour of the cycle, two intermediates were formed (0.8 × 10 6 Da and 2 × 10 6 Da). We suggest that the 0.5 × 10 6 Da polymer intermediate, which is composed mainly of xylose, is the first polymer secreted into the medium, where it is further polymerized enzymatically to produce the 2 × 10 6 Da polymer via an intermediate 0.8 × 10 6 Da polymer. Later, the full‐size polysaccharide is produced.
Accurate quantitation of the low number of white cells in white cell‐depleted blood components (1989)

A simple method of accurate quantification of low concentrations of white cells (WBCs) in WBC‐depleted blood components was developed by using propidium iodide (PI) to stain the nuclei of WBCs. The method was validated by correlating the PI‐determined WBC concentrations with those determined with Coulter S‐plus IV counter in units of packed red cells (PRBCs) or random‐donor platelets (RDPs). The correlations were linear and had coefficients of 0.99. The sensitivity of PI staining permitted the detection of concentrations of WBCs as low as 1 cell per μL of RDPs or 11 cells per μL of PRBCs. Therefore, PI staining will be useful in investigating the role of transfused WBC‐depleted blood components in the prevention of primary alloimmunization to HLA antigens, as well in evaluating various new procedures with high efficiency in depleting WBCs from blood components.