gebhart/patrepeval huggingface dataset:
CD40-CD40 Ligand Interaction between Dendritic Cells and CD8+ T Cells Is Needed to Stimulate Maximal T Cell Responses in the Absence of CD4+ T Cell Help (2007)

Stimulation of CD40 on APCs through CD40L expressed on helper CD4+ T cells activates and "licenses" the APCs to prime CD8+ T cell responses. Although other stimuli, such as TLR agonists, can also activate APCs, it is unclear to what extent they can replace the signals provided by CD40-CD40L interactions. In this study, we used an adoptive transfer system to re-examine the role of CD40 in the priming of naive CD8+ T cells. We find an approximately 50% reduction in expansion and cytokine production in TCR-transgenic T cells in the absence of CD40 on all APCs, and on dendritic cells in particular. Moreover, CD40-deficient and CD40L-deficient mice fail to develop endogenous CTL responses after immunization. Surprisingly, the role for CD40 and CD40L are observed even in the absence of CD4+ T cells; in this situation, the CD8+ T cell itself provides CD40L. Furthermore, we show that although TLR stimulation improves T cell responses, it cannot fully substitute for CD40. Altogether, these results reveal a direct and unique role for CD40L on CD8+ T cells interacting with CD40 on APCs that affects the magnitude and quality of CD8+ T cell responses.
Nonlinear ultrasonic phase-conjugate beams and their application in ultrasonic imaging (2004)

The latest results of experimental and theoretical research into phase conjugation of nonlinear ultrasonic beams are generalized, and prospects for the development of nonlinear ultrasonic imaging are outlined.
Management of the Solitary Thyroid Nodule (2008)

Thyroid nodules are common, with up to 8% of the adult population having palpable nodules. With the use of ultrasound, up to 10 times more nodules are likely to be detected. Increasing numbers of nodules are being detected serendipitously because of the rising use of imaging to investigate unrelated conditions. The primary aim in investigating a thyroid nodule is to exclude the possibility of malignancy, which occurs in about 5% of nodules. This begins with a thorough history, including previous exposure to radiation and any family history of thyroid cancer or other endocrine diseases. Clinical examination of the neck should focus on the thyroid nodule and the gland itself, but also the presence of any cervical lymphadenopathy. Biochemical assessment of the thyroid needs to be followed by thyroid ultrasound, which may demonstrate features that are associated with a higher chance of the nodule being malignant. Fine-needle aspiration biopsy is crucial in the investigation of a thyroid nodule. It provides highly accurate cytologic information about the nodule from which a definitive management plan can be formulated. The challenge remains in the management of nodules that fall under the "indeterminate" category. These may be subject to more surgical intervention than is required because histological examination is the only way in which a malignancy can be excluded. Surgery followed by radioactive iodine ablation is the mainstay of treatment for differentiated thyroid cancers, and the majority of patients can expect high cure rates.
Oxytocin receptor gene expression in the rat uterus during pregnancy and the estrous cycle and in response to gonadal steroid treatment (1995)

It is well established that uterine oxytocin receptors (OTRs) are strongly up-regulated immediately before parturition as well as in response to estrogen (E2) administration. Progesterone (P4), on the other hand, induces a rapid down-regulation. We recently cloned the rat OTR gene and characterized its expression in the rat uterus. In this study, we examined the regulation of OTR messenger RNA (mRNA) levels in rat uterus during pregnancy, the estrous cycle, and in response to gonadal steroid treatment. OTR mRNA levels increased more than 25-fold during gestation: 4.5-fold during the first 21 days and 6-fold within 24 h between day 21 and the onset of parturition. Uterine OTR mRNA levels fell rapidly by 85% within 24 h following parturition. By in situ hybridization, OTR mRNA was localized specifically to the longitudinal and circular layers of the myometrium but was not detected in the endometrium. During the estrous cycle, OTR mRNA levels increased 2-fold between metestrus and proestrus, whereas oxytocin (OT) binding rose more than 10-fold within this same interval. Treatment of ovariectomized rats with E2 lead to a significant increase in both OTR mRNA levels (4.4-fold) and OT binding (< 6-fold). Cotreatment with P4 strongly reduced OT binding by 75% (P < 0.01) but did not significantly affect the E2-induced rise in OTR mRNA (11% decrease, P > 0.1). Our data suggest that the increased expression of OT binding sites observed at the onset of labor and at proestrus is mediated, at least in part, by an E2-induced up-regulation of OTR gene expression. However, it also appears that OTR mRNA levels are not the sole determinants of uterine OT binding. Specifically, P4-mediated OTR down-regulation cannot be explained by an effect on OTR mRNA accumulation and may involve novel mechanisms acting at translational or posttranslational levels.
Wafer -level packaging and frequency trimming by localized mass deposition. (2002)

Silicon-glass anodic bonding, commonly used for MEMS packaging, offers many advantages. However, outgassing during the bonding process and vacuum degradation over time can significantly compromise device performance. This dissertation reports a packaging technique in which a cavity is created by anodic bonding and is subsequently vacuum-sealed by localized polysilicon chemical vapor deposition (CVD). The cavities are formed by bonding incomplete polysilicon rings, each with a heater located at the ring opening, on the silicon substrate to a glass wafer. Gas products generated during the bonding process are evacuated via ring openings, offering low and controlled cavity pressures at near ambient temperature. The cavities are sealed at 250mTorr in silane, gettering heaters located in the cavity further reduces the pressure by gettering the Si atoms. Quality factors (Qs) of &sim;2300 are obtained from the embedded resonators, suggesting cavity pressures less than 50mTorr have been achieved. This technique is applied to a capacitive barometric pressure sensor with integrated vacuum reference control. The sensor module is fabricated using a double-polysilicon dissolved-wafer process. The wafers are anodically bonded, thinned, and released in EDP. Localized CVD is used to seal the cavity and to react away residual gas trapped inside to create the desired reference pressure. The estimated cavity pressures are &sim;30mTorr, and these barometric pressure sensors are capable of resolving 25mTorr over a 300Torr dynamic range. The described packaging technique is also applied to a trimming module, which is designed to investigate the feasibility of post-packaging frequency trimming by localized CVD. The module contains a resonator for pressure sensing, a gettering heater for pressure control, and a cantilever resonator. Trimming heaters located on the boss of the cantilever resonator are activated for frequency trimming in silane-sealed cavities, followed by getter activation to consume any unused gas. Precise frequency trimming of comb resonators (&sim;0.2%) has been demonstration by mass deposition.
The epidemiology of varicella–zoster virus infections: the influence of varicella on the prevalence of herpes zoster (1992)

This paper uses mathematical models and data analysis to examine the epidemiological implications of possible immunologically mediated links between patterns of varicella and herpes-zoster incidence in human communities. A review of previously published reports does not clarify whether or not there is a relationship between the incidence of varicella and the incidence of zoster. However, new analysis of data collected by the Royal College of General Practitioners provides indirect evidence for the hypothesis that a high intensity of varicella transmission suppresses viral reactivation. The significance of this finding for proposed varicella vaccination campaigns is explored by a review of published data on the use of the vaccine. No significant difference is shown to exist between the risk of zoster caused by the vaccine and the wild virus. A mathematical model is then developed to take into consideration the influence of the prevalence of varicella on viral reactivation and the impact of vaccination with attenuated virus, which may be able to recrudesce. Under some conditions, mass application of such vaccines may have the impact of increasing zoster incidence. The results presented here indicate that, before starting any vaccination programme against varicella, its consequences need to be assessed in much more depth.
Enzymatic reduction of protein-bound methionine sulfoxide. (1981)

An enzyme that catalyzes the reduction of methionine sulfoxide residues in ribosomal protein L12 has been partially purified from Escherichia coli extracts. Methionine sulfoxide present in oxidize [Met]enkephalin is also reduced by the purified enzyme. The enzyme is different from a previously reported E. coli enzyme that catalyzes the reduction of methionine sulfoxide to methionine [Ejiri, S. I., Weissbach, H. & Brot, N. (1980) Anal. Biochem. 102, 393--398]. Extracts of rat tissues, Euglena gracilis, Tetrahymena pyriformis, HeLa cells, and spinach also can catalyze the reduction of methionine sulfoxide residues in protein.
Total nucleic acid analysis integrated on microfluidic devices (2007)

The design and integration of microfluidic devices for on-chip amplification of nucleic acids from various biological samples has undergone extensive development. The actual benefit to the biological community is far from clear, with a growing, but limited, number of application successes in terms of a full on-chip integrated analysis. Several advances have been made, particularly with the integration of amplification and detection, where amplification is most often the polymerase chain reaction. Full integration including sample preparation remains a major obstacle for achieving a quantitative analysis. We review the recently described devices incorporating in vitro gene amplification and compare devices relative to each other and in terms of fully achieving a miniaturised total analysis system (micro-TAS).
A new cell‐permeable calpain inhibitor (2006)

The ubiquitous calpains, mu- and m-calpain, are implicated in a variety of vital (patho)physiological processes and therefore cell-permeable specific inhibitors represent important tools for defining the role of calpains in cells and animal models. A synthetic N-acetylated 27-mer peptide derived from exon B of the human calpastatin inhibitory domain 1 is known to be the most potent and selective reversible inhibitor of calpains. To improve the membrane permeability of this peptidic inhibitor, it was N-terminally extended with or disulfide-linked to the C-terminal 7-mer fragment of penetratin, a well-established vector for cell membrane translocation of bioactive compounds. Despite the shorter penetratin sequence, both constructs showed increased cell permeability and retained their full calpain inhibitory potency.
Carbon-13 nuclear magnetic resonance probe of active-site ionizations in human carbonic anhydrase B (1977)

Human carbonic anhydrase B (HCAB), prepared by a new affinity chromatography procedure, was carboxymethylated exclusively at NT of its active-site histidine-200 using 90% [1-13C]bromoacetate. The 13C nuclear magnetic resonance signal of the covalently attached carboxylate was easily detected over the natural abundance background due to the other carbonyl and carboxyl carbons of this 29 000 molecular weight zinc metalloenzyme. Its chemical shift proved very sensitive to the presence of inhibitors in the active site and to variations in pH. Two perturbing groups with pKa values of 6.0 and 9.2 were assigned to the modified histidine-200 itself and the zinc-bound water ligand, respectively, making use of 13C NMR titration data on Nr- and Nr-carboxymethyl-L-histidine model compounds. The results rule out histidine-200 as the critical group whose ionization controls the catalytic activity. They also strongly suggest an interaction of the carboxylate of the carboxymethyl group with either the zinc or its water ligand around pH 8, possibly explaining the basis for the major differences between HCAB and CmHCAB.
Molecular diagnostics for personal medicine using a nanopore (2010)

Semiconductor nanotechnology has created the ultimate analytical tool: a nanopore with single molecule sensitivity. This tool offers the intriguing possibility of high-throughput, low cost sequencing of DNA with the absolute minimum of material and preprocessing. The exquisite single molecule sensitivity obviates the need for costly and error-prone procedures like polymerase chain reaction amplification. Instead, nanopore sequencing relies on the electric signal that develops when a DNA molecule translocates through a pore in a membrane. If each base pair has a characteristic electrical signature, then ostensibly a pore could be used to analyze the sequence by reporting all of the signatures in a single read without resorting to multiple DNA copies. The potential for a long read length combined with high translocation velocity should make resequencing inexpensive and allow for haplotyping and methylation profiling in a chromosome.
Alcohol and Marijuana: Effects on Epilepsy and Use by Patients with Epilepsy (2001)

We review the safety of alcohol or marijuana use by patients with epilepsy. Alcohol intake in small amounts (one to two drinks per day) usually does not increase seizure frequency or significantly affect serum levels of antiepileptic drugs (AEDs). Adult patients with epilepsy should therefore be allowed to consume alcohol in limited amounts. However, exceptions may include patients with a history of alcohol or substance abuse, or those with a history of alcohol-related seizures. The most serious risk of seizures in connection with alcohol use is withdrawal. Alcohol withdrawal lowers the seizure threshold, an effect that may be related to alcohol dose, rapidity of withdrawal, and chronicity of exposure. Individuals who chronically abuse alcohol are at significantly increased risk of developing seizures, which can occur during withdrawal or intoxication. Alcohol abuse predisposes to medical and metabolic disorders that can lower the seizure threshold or cause symptoms that mimic seizures. Therefore, in evaluating a seizure in a patient who is inebriated or has abused alcohol, one must carefully investigate to determine the cause. Animal and human research on the effects of marijuana on seizure activity are inconclusive. There are currently insufficient data to determine whether occasional or chronic marijuana use influences seizure frequency. Some evidence suggests that marijuana and its active cannabinoids have antiepileptic effects, but these may be specific to partial or tonic-clonic seizures. In some animal models, marijuana or its constituents can lower the seizure threshold. Preliminary, uncontrolled clinical studies suggest that cannabidiol may have antiepileptic effects in humans. Marijuana use can transiently impair short-term memory, and like alcohol use, may increase noncompliance with AEDs. Marijuana use or withdrawal could potentially trigger seizures in susceptible patients.
Phenolic constituents from the rhizomes ofGastrodia elata (2007)

Gastrodia elata Bl. (Orchidaceae) is an important traditional medicinal plant as well as a famous foodstuff in China. In the present article, the HPLC chromatograms of different preparation processes were reported, and structures of nine phenolic compounds, isolated from Gastrodia elata, were assigned. The isolated compounds were identified as 1,3-bis(4-hydroxybenzyl)citrate (1), gastrodin (2), 4-hydroxybenzyl alcohol (3), 1-(4-beta-D-glucopyranosyloxybenzyl)citrate (4), 4-hydroxybenzaldehyde (5), parishin B (6), 4-hydroxybenzyl methyl ether (7), 4-hydroxybenzyl ethyl ether (8), and 4-(4'-hydroxybenzyl)phenol (9). Compounds 1 and 4, named as parishin D and E, were new. Their structures were elucidated on the basis of spectral analyses, including 2D NMR spectroscopy.
Elevated Levels of Circulating Adhesion Molecules in IDDM Patients and in Subjects at Risk for IDDM (1992)

Serum levels of recently discovered circulating forms of adhesion molecules, ICAM-1 and L-selectin, were found to be elevated in IDDM patients and in subjects at risk for developing IDDM compared with 100 normal, nondiabetic blood donors. Both adhesion molecules were determined by sandwich ELISA. Serum concentrations of either clCAM-1 or cL-selectin were > 2SD of normal mean in 10 of 14 recent-onset IDDM patients (P < 0.05). Serum levels of clCAM-1 and cL-selectin did not correlate. In first-degree relatives, elevated adhesion molecule levels were observed in the 6 ICA+ individuals and in the ICA- individuals all (n = 14) with a genetic risk of IDDM (sharing HLA-DR3 and/or-DR4 with the diabetic relative) but not in the HLA-DR3- and/or -DR4- relatives (n = 13). We conclude that elevated clCAM-1 and cL-selectin levels occur independently of ICA status and probably reflect ongoing immune processes in recent-onset IDDM patients and first-degree relatives at risk for IDDM.
Physiology of the CSF and Blood-Brain Barriers (1996)

Introduction Chemical Composition and Secretory Nature of the Fluid The Blood-Cerebrospinal Fluid Barrier The Blood-Brain Barrier Morphological Aspects of the Barriers The Secretion of the Cerebrospinal Fluid Blood-Brain-CSF Relations Special Aspects of the Blood-Brain Barrier Acid-Base Relations in the Central Nervous System The Return of the CSF to the Blood: The Drainage Mechanism Breakdown of the Barriers and the Cerebral Oedema The Proteins and Other Macromolecules of the CSF Ortogenetic Aspects of the Cerebrospinal System Comparative Physiology of the CSF and the Brain Barriers The Intracranial or CSF Pressure References Index
Gemcitabine Plusnab-Paclitaxel Is an Active Regimen in Patients With Advanced Pancreatic Cancer: A Phase I/II Trial (2011)

The regimen of nab-paclitaxel plus gemcitabine has tolerable adverse effects with substantial antitumor activity, warranting phase III evaluation.
The pyramid: a diagnostic and planning tool for good forest governance (2002)

The objective of The Pyramid: a diagnostic and planning tool for good forest governance is to offer a framework to stimulate participatory assessment and target-setting in forest governance at country level. Wielded by well-facilitated multi-stakeholder processes, the tool can help fill the 'forest governance gap' between assessing and accelerating field level progress in sustainable forest management (SFM), and international policy, assessment and reporting. By filling this gap, stakeholders' capabilities to deliver national governance that supports local forest governance - and potentially improves international forest governance - can be improved.
The Glycoprotein α-Subunit is Critical for Secretion and Stability of the Human Thyrotropin β-Subunit (1988)

TSH is a member of a family of heterodimeric glycoprotein hormones which have a common alpha-subunit but differ in their hormone-specific beta-subunit. To study the posttranslational processing and assembly of human TSH, eukaryotic expression vectors were constructed that contained either the human TSH beta gene only or both the TSH beta and alpha-genes. These vectors were transfected into Chinese hamster ovary cells and stable cell lines synthesizing TSH beta or TSH dimer were isolated. The kinetics of secretion of TSH beta and the rate of assembly of TSH dimer were compared to the known secretion and assembly of human LH and human CG. In the absence of the alpha-subunit, CG beta is secreted efficiently, but TSH and LH beta-subunits are slowly degraded intracellularly (t1/2 approximately equal to 6 h) and less than 10% is secreted into the medium. In the presence of the alpha-subunit CG beta was also secreted efficiently as dimer but only 50% of the LH beta appeared in the medium as LH dimer. However, unlike LH beta, the alpha-subunit efficiently combines with TSH beta since greater than 95% was secreted as TSH dimer. Thus, the determinants for human TSH beta secretion and assembly are unique from the other human glycoprotein hormone beta-subunits.
Hyperpoints and Fine Vocabularies for Large-Scale Location Recognition (2015)

Structure-based localization is the task of finding the absolute pose of a given query image w.r.t. a pre-computed 3D model. While this is almost trivial at small scale, special care must be taken as the size of the 3D model grows, because straight-forward descriptor matching becomes ineffective due to the large memory footprint of the model, as well as the strictness of the ratio test in 3D. Recently, several authors have tried to overcome these problems, either by a smart compression of the 3D model or by clever sampling strategies for geometric verification. Here we explore an orthogonal strategy, which uses all the 3D points and standard sampling, but performs feature matching implicitly, by quantization into a fine vocabulary. We show that although this matching is ambiguous and gives rise to 3D hyperpoints when matching each 2D query feature in isolation, a simple voting strategy, which enforces the fact that the selected 3D points shall be co-visible, can reliably find a locally unique 2D-3D point assignment. Experiments on two large-scale datasets demonstrate that our method achieves state-of-the-art performance, while the memory footprint is greatly reduced, since only visual word labels but no 3D point descriptors need to be stored.
A General and Stereoselective Route to α- or β-Galactosphingolipids via a Common Four-Carbon Building Block (2007)

A general synthetic strategy toward alpha- or beta-galactosylceramides and their analogues from 3-azido-2-O-benzyl-1-O-(4-methoxybenzyl)butane-1,2,4-triol is described. The key steps for the installation of the main lipid chain are either a diasteroselective alkynylation reaction yielding the 4R stereocenter of phytosphingosine or a Wittig olefination generating the trans double bond of sphingosine. The methodology allows the preparation of different glycolipids with variations in the structure of the sphingoid base. In particular, three alpha-GalCer-related compounds have been synthesized and evaluated for their ability to activate CD1d-restricted T-cells.
Therapeutic vaccines for prostate cancer. (2010)

Although androgen deprivation is the standard of care for advanced prostate cancer, patients with metastatic disease eventually progress to a castration-resistant state. The available options for secondary therapy are hormonal therapy and chemotherapy. Significant potential remains for the development of alternative approaches, which can improve survival with early treatment but do not cause the toxicities associated with chemotherapy. The field of immunotherapy for prostate cancer has recently made significant progress, and data from several clinical trials demonstrating the efficacy of this type of therapy have been reported. These reports include data from randomized controlled trials with sipuleucel-T (Dendreon Corp) and with PROSTVAC-VF-TRICOM (NCI/BN ImmunoTherapeutics Inc), both of which resulted in improvements in overall survival in patients with advanced prostate cancer. Although these results are encouraging, there are many unresolved questions regarding immunotherapy, including the best clinical setting for immunotherapy, the definition of relevant clinical and immunological endpoints, and the potential combination of immunotherapies with other treatments. This review discusses the most promising recent developments in vaccine therapy for prostate cancer, as well as the challenges remaining to be addressed.