gebhart/patrepeval huggingface dataset:
Effect of non-β-lactam antibiotics on penicillin-binding protein synthesis of Enterococcus hirae ATCC 9790 (1991)

Fosfomycin, bacitracin and vancomycin in combination with penicillin exhibit a synergic effect against Enterococcus hirae ATCC 9790. This strain, when incubated in presence of the MIC of non-beta-lactam antibiotics, showed an alternated pattern of PBPs. Bacitracin and vancomycin caused a decrease in the density of all PBPs while fosfomycin only reduced that of PBP 6. It is suggested that the observed synergy is a consequence of the inhibition of PBP synthesis by antibiotics which act on the early stages of peptidoglycan synthesis prior to the formation of cross-links.
A Survey of the Types of Data Collected by Transition Teachers (2004)

We conducted a survey to determine the types and frequency of student performance, consumer satisfaction, and post-school outcome data collected by teachers in transition classrooms. A 29-item questionnaire was completed by 280 teachers identified by their principals as teaching the North Carolina Occupational Course-of-Study. Results indicated that the majority of teachers collected student skill performance and maintenance data on a regular basis, but most did not collect consumer satisfaction or post-school outcome data. Findings are discussed in terms of implications for practice and future research.
Mucoid Pseudomonas aeruginosa in cystic fibrosis: signal transduction and histone‐like elements in the regulation of bacterial virulence (1991)

The profuse production of the exopolysaccharide alginate results in mucoidy, a critical virulence factor expressed by Pseudomonas aeruginosa during chronic respiratory tract infections in cystic fibrosis. Studies of the regulation of this pathogenic determinant have unravelled at least two levels of control, including bacterial signal transduction systems and histone-like elements. Although only in its initial phase, an understanding of the dual control of mucoidy may help to illuminate adaptive processes that depend on the combination of these regulatory factors. Integration of specific signals transduced by the two-component systems with inputs generated by the general state of bacterial nucleoids may govern the expression of certain virulence determinants and provide a framework facilitating selection of phenotypes successful under particular environmental conditions and selective pressures.
Control-limited differential dynamic programming (2014)

Trajectory optimizers are a powerful class of methods for generating goal-directed robot motion. Differential Dynamic Programming (DDP) is an indirect method which optimizes only over the unconstrained control-space and is therefore fast enough to allow real-time control of a full humanoid robot on modern computers. Although indirect methods automatically take into account state constraints, control limits pose a difficulty. This is particularly problematic when an expensive robot is strong enough to break itself. In this paper, we demonstrate that simple heuristics used to enforce limits (clamping and penalizing) are not efficient in general. We then propose a generalization of DDP which accommodates box inequality constraints on the controls, without significantly sacrificing convergence quality or computational effort. We apply our algorithm to three simulated problems, including the 36-DoF HRP-2 robot. A movie of our results can be found here goo.gl/eeiMnn.
Ultra-wide-band signal generation using high-speed optical frequency-shift-keying technique (2005)

We proposed a novel technique for generation of micro- or millimeter-wave pulses using optical frequency-shift-keying (FSK) modulation. FSK signals were obtained by an integrated four optical phase modulators.
Controlled Hypotension With Adenosine or Sodium Nitroprusside During Cerebral Aneurysm Surgery (1990)

Adenosine, a potent vasodilator both in animals and in humans, has been used to produce controlled hypotension in patients, especially during cerebral aneurysm surgery. However, in animals adenosine by intrarenal infusion decreases renal blood flow (RBF), glomerular filtration rate (GFR), urine flow, and causes an inhibition of renin secretion. In this study we evaluated the effect of adenosine on RBF in patients (n = 15) scheduled for cerebral aneurysm surgery who had been anesthetized with a modified neurolept-anesthesia during controlled hyperventilation. Perioperative hypotension was achieved with infusion of adenosine (252.8 +/- 55.8 micrograms.kg-1.min-1) (n = 8) or sodium nitroprusside (2.5 +/- 0.8 micrograms.kg-1.min-1) (n = 7). Mean arterial pressure was lowered by 25%-30%, to approximately 60-70 mm Hg, in both groups. Glomerular filtration rate and RBF were measured using standard renal clearance methods for 51Cr-ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid and paraaminohippuric acid. Urine and blood samples were collected during normotension before and after a bolus dose of hypertonic mannitol, during hypotension, and during normotension after clipping of the aneurysm. Adenosine induced a marked decrease in GFR (-91%) and RBF (-92%), and a pronounced increase in renal vascular resistance. Sodium nitroprusside caused a significantly (P less than 0.01) less pronounced decrease in GFR (-24%) and RBF (-36%), but did not affect renal vascular resistance. After discontinuation of the hypotensive agents, GFR returned to baseline levels in both groups. Renal blood flow, however, increased above baseline after discontinuation of adenosine (+93%) but not after sodium nitroprusside. Sodium nitroprusside increased renin secretion, which was not seen with adenosine. Four patients in the adenosine group developed reversible atrioventricular conduction disturbances.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
The effect of climatic factors on Colletotrichum gloeosporioides, causal agent of mango anthracnose, in the Philippines (1991)

The epidemiology of the anthracnose pathogen of mango, Colletotrichum gloeosporioides, was studied over two growing seasons in the Philippines. This pathogen spreads within tree canopies as water‐borne conidia during rainfall, and causes symptoms on young flush leaves, flowers and fruit. Infection studies with leaves and fruit incubated at different temperatures and humidities led to the derivation of a logistic regression model of the percentage of conidia forming appressoria. This model was compared with a similarly derived model from work in Australia; it appeared that the Philippine isolates of C. gloeosporioides were adapted to the higher mean temperatures of the Philippines. Conidia were observed to germinate and form appressoria at relative humidities (RH) between 95 and 100%, even though free surface moisture was only visible at 100% RH. This model was used retrospectively to estimate infection levels in two field trials which had been established to compare pre‐ and post‐harvest practices in the control of the disease. Using this information to plan applications of a curative fungicide might have resulted in four fewer sprays in the first trial and one less in the second, compared with the standard protective spray programme employed.
Testing a model of pull production: a paradigm for manufacturing research using structural equation modeling (1999)

Abstract The measurement of unobservable (latent) variables has been a recent phenomenon in the manufacturing research area. Most available empirical research in manufacturing has been exploratory in nature and has borrowed its methods extensively from other fields such as psychology, sociology, and marketing. Traditional exploratory techniques have been used to provide preliminary scales and assess measurement properties. Manufacturing researchers have, however, overlooked the assessment of unidimensionality, an essential measurement property and a basic assumption of measurement theory. An explicit evaluation of unidimensionality can be accomplished with a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) of individual measures as specified by a multiple‐indicator measurement model. A paradigm for scale evaluation incorporating CFA for the assessment of unidimensionality is outlined here along with methodology to assess other measurement properties such as convergent validity, discriminant validity, composite reliability, and average variance extracted. A measurement model is tested first followed by a structural model of interest. The hypothesized structural model relates pull production with two of its antecedents, setup improvement and preventive maintenance practices. It further relates pull production to one of its consequences, delivery dependability. Responses from 244 firms are used to test the measurement and structural model.
NELL‐1 promotes cell adhesion and differentiation via integrinβ1 (2012)

NELL-1 (Nel-like molecule-1) is a secreted osteogenic growth factor first identified in human craniosynostosis (CS) patients. NELL-1 protein has been observed to promote bone and cartilage differentiation and to suppress adipogenesis in both in vitro and in vivo models. Despite these findings, the cell surface receptors of NELL-1 have remained unknown. In this study, we observed for the first time that NELL-1 promotes cell adherence in multiple cell lines, including ST2, C3H10T1/2, M2-10B4, ATDC5, and MC3T3 cells. Additionally, we found that NELL-1 binds to extracellular Integrinβ1 and induces cell focal adhesion. By utilizing siRNA methods, we determined that NELL-1 cell surface binding and enhanced cell attachment were dependent on Integrinβ1 expression. Finally, we observed that pre-coating of culture dishes or PLGA (polylactic-co-glycolic acid) scaffold with NELL-1 resulted in a significant increase in both cell attachment and osteogenic differentiation. Our results identify for the first time a cell surface target of NELL-1, Integrinβ1, and elucidate new functions of NELL-1 in promoting cell adherence and osteogenic differentiation.
Construction of a Helper Cell Line for Avian Reticuloendotheliosis Virus Cloning Vectors (1983)

We wished to construct cell lines that supply the gene products of gag, pol, and env for the growth of replication-defective reticuloendotheliosis retrovirus vectors without production of the helper virus. To do this, first we located by S1 mapping the donor and acceptor splice sites of reticuloendotheliosis virus strain A. The donor splice site is ca. 850 base pairs from the 5' end of proviral DNA. It is close to or overlaps the encapsidation sequences for viral RNA. The splice acceptor site is ca. 5.6 kilobase pairs from the 5' end of proviral DNA. Therefore, the encapsidation sequences and the donor splice site were removed from viral DNA to give expression of the gag and pol genes without virus production. The promoter in the long terminal repeat was fused to a site near the first ATG codon of the env gene, thereby deleting the encapsidation sequences and the gag and pol genes to give expression of the env gene without virus production. The permissive canine cell line D17 was transfected with the two modified viral DNAs. Two cell clones that contain both modified viral DNAs support the production of replication-defective spleen necrosis virus-thymidine kinase recombinant retrovirus vectors without the production of helper virus. To prevent recombination, the vector contains deletions that overlap with deletions in the integrated helper virus DNAs. This helper cell-vector system will be useful to derive infectious recombinant virus stocks of high titer (over 10(5) thymidine kinase transforming units per ml) which are able to infect avian, rat, and dog cells without the aid of helper virus.
Expression of genes involved in phycocyanin biosynthesis following recovery of Synechococcus PCC 6301 from nitrogen starvation, and the effect of gabaculine on cpc Ba transcript levels (1996)

The effect of the tetrapyrrole biosynthesis inhibitor gabaculine on the expression of specific genes involved in phycocyanin biosynthesis was investigated in cultures of Synechococcus PCC6301 in nitrogen chlorosis, and during recovery to nitrogen sufficiency. Patterns of transcription of the cpc BA (phycocyanin subunits), hemL (glutamate semialdehyde aminotransferase) and hemB (aminolaevulinate dehydratase) genes were visualised by Northern blotting and gene product formation for cpcBA, hemL and the gene for glu tRNA synthetase were monitored by Western blotting. Inhibition of phycobilin biosynthesis by gabaculine greatly decreased production of phycocyanin protein and of cpcBA transcript, indicating a tight coordination of apoprotein biosynthesis with chromophore supply at the level of transcription. Different patterns of response were observed with the other genes at the level of transcript formation or gene product synthesis.
Effect of Tachycardia Heart Failure on the Restitution of Left Ventricular Function in Closed-Chest Dogs (1995)

Background Cardiac mechanical restitution and relaxation restitution are thought to be physiological correlates of the recovery kinetics of Ca 2+ release mechanisms and sequestration capacity of the sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR). Since congestive heart failure is characterized by abnormal intracellular Ca 2+ handling, we sought to delineate changes in mechanical and relaxation restitution produced by heart failure. Methods and Results Six dogs instrumented with left ventricular (LV) micromanometers and piezoelectric dimension crystals were studied under control conditions and after tachycardia heart failure (THF) produced by rapid LV pacing for 3 to 4 weeks. After priming at a basic cycle length of 375 ms, test pulses were delivered at graded extrasystolic intervals (ESIs). Mechanical response was assessed from single-beat elastance. Relaxation was assessed from the time constant of isovolumic relaxation (tau), the average rate of pressure fall during isovolumic relaxation (R avg ), and peak negative dP/dt, the first derivative of LV pressure. Normalized mechanical and relaxation responses plotted against ESI produced monoexponential curves of mechanical and relaxation restitution. THF depressed baseline contractile and relaxation parameters compared with control (end-systolic elastance, 4.7±0.4 versus 7.1±0.5 mm Hg/mL, P &lt;.005; tau, 34.8±2.2 versus 26.7±1.2 ms, P &lt;.05; all values mean±SEM). THF slowed mechanical restitution and delayed development of peak contractile response, with the time constant of mechanical restitution increasing from 61.8±6.9 to 100.2±9.6 ms, P &lt;.01. THF abolished the biphasic behavior of relaxation restitution, and this relation was approximated by a single monoexponential function. There was no difference in the time constants of the first phase of relaxation restitution at control and after THF (TC R1 , normalized 1/R avg , 44.3±5.6 versus 42.0±8.5 ms, P =NS; TC R1 , normalized (dP/dt min ) −1 , 42.2±6.3 versus 36.7±4.3 ms, P =NS). Conclusions These results indicate that THF alters the recovery kinetics of SR Ca 2+ release to a significantly greater extent than those of SR Ca 2+ sequestration and that the abnormal time course of Ca 2+ availability to the myofilaments is the rate-limiting step in the recovery of cardiac function after a depolarization.
Surface-wave-enabled darkfield aperture for background suppression during weak signal detection (2010)

Sensitive optical signal detection can often be confounded by the presence of a significant background, and, as such, predetection background suppression is substantively important for weak signal detection. In this paper, we present a novel optical structure design, termed surface-wave-enabled darkfield aperture (SWEDA), which can be directly incorporated onto optical sensors to accomplish predetection background suppression. This SWEDA structure consists of a central hole and a set of groove pattern that channels incident light to the central hole via surface plasmon wave and surface-scattered wave coupling. We show that the surface wave component can mutually cancel the direct transmission component, resulting in near-zero net transmission under uniform normal incidence illumination. Here, we report the implementation of two SWEDA structures. The first structure, circular-groove-based SWEDA, is able to provide polarization-independent suppression of uniform illumination with a suppression factor of 1230. The second structure, linear-groove-based SWEDA, is able to provide a suppression factor of 5080 for transverse-magnetic wave and can serve as a highly compact (5.5 micrometer length) polarization sensor (the measured transmission ratio of two orthogonal polarizations is 6100). Because the exact destructive interference balance is highly delicate and can be easily disrupted by the nonuniformity of the localized light field or light field deviation from normal incidence, the SWEDA can therefore be used to suppress a bright background and allow for sensitive darkfield sensing and imaging (observed image contrast enhancement of 27 dB for the first SWEDA).
A new function for odorant receptors (2010)

Myofibers with an abnormal branching cytoarchitecture are commonly found in various neuromuscular diseases as well as after severe muscle injury. These aberrant myofibers are fragile and muscles containing a high percentage of these myofibers are weaker and more prone to injury. To date the mechanisms and molecules regulating myofiber branching have been obscure. Recent work analyzing the role of mouse odorant receptor 23 (MOR23) in muscle regeneration revealed that MOR23 is necessary for proper skeletal muscle regeneration in mice as loss of MOR23 leads to increased myofiber branching. Further studies demonstrated that MOR23 expression is induced when muscle cells were extensively fusing and plays an important role in controlling cell migration and adhesion. These data demonstrate a novel role for an odorant receptor in tissue repair and identify the first molecule with a functional role in myofiber branching.
The role of plasma D‐dimer concentration in the exclusion of pulmonary embolism (1996)

D-dimer ELISA assays may have a role in the exclusion of pulmonary embolism in symptomatic outpatients, where the application may reduce angiography by 30% and costs by 10%.
Noise adaptive speech recognition in time-varying noise based on sequential kullback proximal algorithm (2002)

We present a noise adaptive speech recognition approach, where time-varying noise parameter estimation and Viterbi process are combined together. The Viterbi process provides approximated joint likelihood of active partial paths and observation sequence given the noise parameter sequence estimated till previous frame. The joint likelihood after normalization provides approximation to the posterior probabilities of state sequences for an EM-type recursive process based on sequential Kullback proximal algorithm to estimate the current noise parameter. The combined process can easily be applied to perform continuous speech recognition in presence of non-stationary noise. Experiments were conducted in simulated and real non-stationary noises. Results showed that the noise adaptive system provides significant improvements in word accuracy as compared to the baseline system (without noise compensation) and the normal noise compensation system (which assumes the noise to be stationary).
South Asian chronic lymphocytic leukaemia patients have more rapid disease progression in comparison to White patients (2008)

Ethnicity has a major impact on the prevalence of chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) and may also influence disease phenotype. We compared the clinical features of Southern Asian and White CLL patients managed within one UK region. Asians required treatment almost twice as often as Whites (HR, 1.94) and had a shorter time to first treatment (P = 0.0063). This difference remained significant after adjusting for stage, lymphocyte doubling time and IGHV status (P = 0.026). CLL was diagnosed at younger ages in Asians and racial-specific variations in IGHV usage were demonstrated. Our findings indicate that Southern Asian race has a negative impact on CLL phenotype.
Toward Superhydrophobic and Durable Coatings: Effect of Needle vs Crater Surface Architecture (2014)

Practical application of sol-gel derived superhydrophobic films is limited by the fragility of "needlelike" surface roughness. An efficient one step procedure is developed to prepare robust thin films with "craterlike" surface roughness from a methyltrimethoxysilane matrix and polymer sphere templates. The films could be readily spray coated to produce roughened surface textures, which are governed by template concentration and geometry. The effect of this on the wettability and robustness of thin films was examined in detail, revealing a rapid trade-off between the two characteristics due to variations in coating porosity.
Baculovirus and insect cell gene expression: review of baculovirus biotechnology. (1995)

The BEVS continues to evolve as a powerful, flexible tool for molecular biology, protein function, and biomedical research. Future developments offer the promise of replacement of hazardous chemical insecticides with environmentally safe biopesticides, construction of baculovirus vectors which encode genes for specific post-translational modifications, and establishment of efficient, stably transformed insect cell lines. FDA approval of BEVS-produced products offer the prospect of new biopharmaceuticals, in particular human therapeutics and vaccines, to improve human health and increase the quality of life for millions of people.
Model predictive controller tuning via eigenvalue placement (2008)

This paper presents an analytical study of the effect of model predictive control (MPC) tunable parameters over a wide range, on the closed-loop performance quantified in terms of the location(s) of closed-loop eigenvalue(s) of a large set of widely common, single-input single-output, linear plants whose constraints are inactive. Symbolic manipulation capabilities of MATHEMATICA are used to obtain analytical expressions describing the dependence of closed-loop eigenvalues on the tunable parameters. This work is first to investigate how MPC tuning-parameters affect the location of the eigenvalues of the closed-loop system of a plant in the discrete-time setting. It is to provide theoretical basis/justification for many of the existing qualitative MPC tuning rules and propose new tuning guidelines for MPC. For example, as the prediction horizon is increased while other tunable parameters remain constant, a subset of the closed-loop eigenvalues (poles) move non-monotonically towards the open-loop eigenvalues (poles) of the plant. If a prediction horizon much longer than the reference-trajectory time-constant is used, the value of reference-trajectory time-constant has little effect on the closed- loop performance. As the weights on the magnitude or the rate of change of the manipulated input are increased, the closed- loop eigenvalues move towards the open-loop eigenvalues. As the control horizon is increased from one, the dominant eigenvalue of the closed-loop system initially moves towards the origin and then away from the origin to a location that does not change with a further increase in the control horizon.