gebhart/patrepeval huggingface dataset:
Tetrahydrobiopterin Improves Endothelial Function in Patients with Coronary Artery Disease (2000)

Tetrahydrobiopterin (BH4) is an essential cofactor for nitric oxide synthase (NOS) and a scavenger of oxygen-derived free radicals. Decreased availability of BH4 leads, under in vitro conditions, to reduced nitric oxide (NO) production and increased superoxide formation. We studied the effect of exogenous BH4 on endothelial function of angiographically normal vessel segments in patients with coronary artery disease. Nineteen patients with coronary artery disease underwent quantitative coronary angiography with simultaneous coronary flow velocity measurements (Cardiometrics FloWire). Data were obtained in angiographically normal segments of the left coronary artery at baseline, after intracoronary (i.c.) administration of acetylcholine (Ach; 10(-4) M), after infusion of BH4 (10(-2) M), and after co-infusion of ACh and BH4. At the end of the study, 300 microg nitroglycerin (NTG) i.c. was administered to obtain maximal vasodilation. At each step, flow velocity was determined before and after 18 microg adenosine i.c. to assess coronary flow velocity reserve. In 15 patients, ACh induced coronary vasoconstriction of -18 +/- 3% (endothelial dysfunction; p < 0.0001 vs. baseline), and in four patients, vasodilation of +39 +/- 20%. In the 15 patients with endothelial dysfunction, BH4 alone did not influence vessel area but prevented vasoconstriction to ACh (+2 +/- 3%, NS, vs. baseline). Correspondingly, calculated volume flow showed the highest value after co-infusion of ACh and BH4. Coronary flow velocity reserve was comparable during the various infusion steps. BH4 prevents ACh-induced vasoconstriction of angiographically normal vessels in patients with coronary artery disease. Thus substitution of this cofactor of NOS may represent a new approach for the treatment of endothelial dysfunction.
Urinary excretion of podocytes in patients with diabetic nephropathy (2000)

Podocytes in the urine may be a useful marker of disease activity in diabetic nephropathy. Trandolapril may be effective for podocyte injury.
Regulatory T-cell Modulation Using Cyclophosphamide in Vaccine Approaches: A Current Perspective (2012)

Regulatory T cells (Treg) have become an important player in regulating anticancer immune responses. In fact, published studies describe a correlation between tumor-infiltrating Tregs and poor prognosis. Once called "suppressor T cells," these T cells evaded isolation because of a lack of known markers that distinguished them from other T cells. However, the biology of these T cells is currently a major focus of immunologic research. Markers have since been discovered that identify these T cells and provide insights into how these T cells are regulated. Despite these advances, much needs to be learned about the subsets of Tregs and their specific roles in regulating immune responses. In addition, specific agents that target Tregs are currently unavailable. Cyclophosphamide has emerged as a clinically feasible agent that can suppress Tregs and allow more effective induction of antitumor immune responses. This review focuses on the use of cyclophosphamide in targeting Tregs to augment cancer vaccine approaches. However, these principles can also be applied to other immunotherapy strategies.
Psikososyal boyutları ile bazı kriz olguları (1998)

Merkezi'ne başvuran bazı olgular
Intratumoral delivery of boronated epidermal growth factor for neutron capture therapy of brain tumors. (1997)

The gene for epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) is amplified or overexpressed in high-grade gliomas but is low or undetectable in normal brain. Recently, there has been increasing interest in using epidermal growth factor (EGF)-based bioconjugates as targeting agents for brain tumors. In the present study, we have investigated the potential use of boronated EGF as a delivery agent for boron neutron capture therapy, which is based on the capture reaction that occurs when 10B, a stable isotope, is irradiated with low-energy thermal neutrons. A fourth generation starburst dendrimer was boronated and linked to EGF using heterobifunctional reagents. Either wild-type or EGFR gene transduced C6 glioma cells (C6EGFR), which expressed 10(5)-10(6) receptor sites/cell, were stereotactically implanted into the right cerebral hemisphere of Fischer rats. Four weeks later, the rats received either i.v. or intratumoral (i.t.) injection of 131I-labeled boronated starburst dendrimer (BSD) or BSD-EGF. The biodistribution of 131I-BSD-EGF and 131I-BSD was studied by means of whole-body scintigraphy, autoradiography, and gamma scintillation counting. Following i.t. injection of 131I-BSD-EGF, 21.8% of the injected dose per gram tissue (% ID/g) was localized in C6EGFR tumors at 24 h and 16.3% at 48 h compared to 5 and 1.3% ID/g in C6 wild-type tumors, respectively, and 0.01 and 0.006% ID/g, respectively, for i.v. injected animals at the corresponding times. In contrast, following i.t. injection of BSD-EGF, only 0.01-0.1% ID/g was localized in the liver and spleen at 24 and 48 h compared to 5-12% ID/g following i.v. injection. Our data indicate that direct i.t. injection can selectively deliver BSD-EGF to EGFR-positive gliomas and suggest that intracerebral administration may be the most effective way for delivering EGF-based bioconjugates to EGFR-positive brain tumors.
T cells bearing V beta 6 T cell receptors in the cell-mediated immune response to Mycobacterium leprae. (1993)

The skin lesions of leprosy provide a window into the immunoregulatory events involved in the human immune response to infection. T cells are thought to play a vital role in the pathogenesis of different forms of the disease. To identify predominant specific T cell subpopulations in leprosy lesions, the TCR-beta chain repertoire was simultaneously studied in skin biopsy specimens and PBMC from both immunologically resistant tuberculoid leprosy and susceptible lepromatous leprosy patients. This was accomplished by obtaining RNA from lesions and PBMC, synthesizing cDNA, and performing the polymerase chain reaction. We found that TCR gene subfamilies V beta 6.1 through V beta 6.4 (V beta 6.1-4) were strikingly overrepresented in lesions vs PBMC of seven of nine tuberculoid patients but only one of nine lepromatous patients. Similarly, V beta 6.5/6.8/6.9 subfamilies were predominant in four of nine tuberculoid patients, but none of the nine lepromatous patients. To explore the influence of the complementarity-determining region 3 (CDR3) in selection of T cells expressing V beta 6 TCR, we sequenced the V beta 6.1-4-C beta polymerase chain reaction products derived from the lesions and PBMC of two tuberculoid patients. From the analysis of deduced amino acid sequences, we found conserved amino acid residues and amino acid motifs in the CDR3 region of the lesion-derived sequences from each patient. Our data suggest that the nominal Ag select T cells bearing V beta 6 TCR in the cell-mediated immune response to Mycobacterium leprae.
Unique long terminal repeat U3 sequences distinguish exogenous jaagsiekte sheep retroviruses associated with ovine pulmonary carcinoma from endogenous loci in the sheep genome (1996)

Ovine pulmonary carcinoma (OPC) is a contagious lung cancer of sheep that is presumed to be caused by an exogenous retrovirus of sheep, jaagsiekte sheep retrovirus (JSRV). The sheep genome carries 15 to 20 copies of endogenous sheep retrovirus (ESRV) loci that hybridize to JSRV DNA probes. In order to clarity the etiologic roles of ESRV and an exogenous JSRV-like retrovirus (exJSRV) in OPC, we assessed sequence differences between ESRV and JSRV. Molecular characterization of six ESRV loci revealed restriction sites specific for JSRV. Nucleotide sequences of ESRVs from sheep of different breeds were similar to those of JSRV in structural genes but divergent in U3. Therefore, primers specific for the U3 sequences of exJSRV were designed for use in the PCR. Of 13 tumor DNAs tested by PCR with these exogenous-virus U3 primers, 8 produced DNA fragments that hybridized with the JSRV gag probe, but neither lung DNAs from healthy sheep nor DNAs from nontumor tissues of diseased sheep produced similar DNA fragments. exJSRV PCR products from tumor DNAs of sheep with OPC from three continents had restriction profiles similar to each other but different from those of ESRVs upon digestion with EcoRI, HindIII, NdeI, KpnI, and ScaI. These exjSRVs could be classified into two genotypes according to U3 sequences and restriction profiles. U3 sequences of exJSRV proviruses in tumors strongly resembled those of JSRV but differed from those of ESRVs, suggesting that exJSRVs, rather than ESRVs, are primarily associated with oncogenesis in OPC.
Characteristic of Reaction Time in Parallel Information Processing of Human Visual and Auditory System (2001)

In previous studies of human information processing, the visual separate system and the auditory separate system have been frequently studied. However, human related characteristic between visual and auditory systems has not been investigated substantially. If the mechanisms of human visual and auditory parallel information processing are elucidated, the finding will contribute to improving technical systems. In our previous studies, human related characteristic between visual search and speech perception is studied. The results showed the mutual effect between visual information processing and auditory information processing in the visual and the auditory parallel information processing. However, to clarify the cause of many car accidents lies in the use of car-phone on driving, it is necessary to use the same kind of visual and auditory stimuli in psychological experiments. In this paper, characteristic of reaction time in parallel information processing of human visual and auditory system is measured by using the same kind of stimuli. The experimental results show the factors that influence the visual and the auditory reaction time are the difficulty of the visual and the auditory stimuli and the timing of the visual and the auditory inputs. The experimental results also suggest that one of the causes of car accidents (to use car-phone while driving) is that the human visual information processing is affected by the auditory information.
Depsidone synthesis. Part 16. Benzophenone–grisa-3′,5′-diene-2′,3-dione–depsidone interconversion: a new theory of depsidone biosynthesis (1981)

The synthesis of a number of grisa-3′,5′-diene-2′,3-diones by oxidative coupling of substituted 2,2′-dihydroxy-4-methoxybenzophenones is described. The rearrangement of these grisadienediones to depsidones under basic, acidic, and thermal conditions is described and the mechanisms of these reactions are discussed. It is proposed that depsidone biosynthesis involves the oxidative coupling of benzophenones to grisadienediones which then rearrange to depsidones.
Human Coronavirus 229E Infects Polarized Airway Epithelia from the Apical Surface (2000)

Gene transfer to differentiated airway epithelia with existing viral vectors is very inefficient when they are applied to the apical surface. This largely reflects the polarized distribution of receptors on the basolateral surface. To identify new receptor-ligand interactions that might be used to redirect vectors to the apical surface, we investigated the process of infection of airway epithelial cells by human coronavirus 229E (HCoV-229E), a common cause of respiratory tract infections. Using immunohistochemistry, we found the receptor for HCoV-229E (CD13 or aminopeptidase N) localized mainly to the apical surface of airway epithelia. When HCoV-229E was applied to the apical or basolateral surface of well-differentiated primary cultures of human airway epithelia, infection primarily occurred from the apical side. Similar results were noted when the virus was applied to cultured human tracheal explants. Newly synthesized virions were released mainly to the apical side. Thus, HCoV-229E preferentially infects human airway epithelia from the apical surface. The spike glycoprotein that mediates HCoV-229E binding and fusion to CD13 is a candidate for pseudotyping retroviral envelopes or modifying other viral vectors.
High-Dose Melphalan, Misonidazole, and Autologous Bone Marrow Transplantation for the Treatment of Metastatic Colorectal Carcinoma (1989)

To augment the antitumor effect of high-dose melphalan and determine pharmacokinetics we conducted a phase I trial of escalating doses of high-dose IV melphalan with the chemosensitizer misonidazole for patients with advanced colorectal carcinoma. Fourteen patients with modified Dukes D adenocarcinoma of the colorectum were treated with a single course of melphalan (40-60 mg/m2 i.v. bolus q.d. X 3 days) and misonidazole (1-3 g/m2 p.o. q.d. X 3 days) followed by autologous bone marrow transplantation. Toxicity consisted of severe myelosuppression, moderate nausea and vomiting, and mild mucositis and diarrhea. One patient developed unexplained renal tubular acidosis, and a diffuse encephalopathy occurred in another patient. Three patients died within the first 30 days after the start of treatment, two due to tumor progression and one due to sepsis and disseminated intravascular coagulation-induced intracerebral hemorrhage. Six of 14 patients achieved a partial response, and the median response duration was 4 months (range 3-10 months). Analysis of misonidazole serum concentrations showed similar pharmacokinetics to those previously reported, suggesting no significant drug interaction with intravenous melphalan. Mean peak serum concentrations ranged from 81.8 micrograms/ml to 115.2 micrograms/ml at the second and third misonidazole dose levels, which approximate those known to provide effective chemosensitization with melphalan in animal models. In this phase I study, we showed that maximally tolerated doses of intravenous melphalan can safely be combined with oral misonidazole. In view of the large volumes of oral misonidazole required at the highest dose level, subsequent studies to determine the maximally tolerated dose of misonidazole should employ the intravenous form.
Treatment of Recurrent Clostridium difficile Colitis With Lactobacillus GG (1995)

Biller, J. A.; Katz, A. J.; Flores, A. F.; Buie, T. M.; Gorbach, S. L. Author Information
Prasugrel compared with high-dose clopidogrel in acute coronary syndrome (2009)

Compared with the approved dose regimen of clopidogrel (300-mg loading dose [LD], 75-mg maintenance dose [MD]), prasugrel has been demonstrated to reduce ischaemic events in patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). In ACS, antiplatelet effects of a prasugrel MD regimen have not been previously compared with either a higher clopidogrel MD or after switching from a higher clopidogrel LD. The objective of this study was to evaluate the antiplatelet effect of a prasugrel 10-mg MD versus a clopidogrel 150-mg MD in patients with ACS who had received a clopidogrel 900-mg LD. Patients with non-ST elevation ACS, treated with aspirin and a clopidogrel 900-mg LD, were randomised within 24 hours post-LD to receive a prasugrel 10-mg or clopidogrel 150-mg MD. After 14 days of the initial MD, subjects switched to the alternative treatment for 14 days. The primary endpoint compared maximum platelet aggregation (MPA, 20 microM adenosine diphosphate [ADP]) between prasugrel and clopidogrel MDs for both periods. Responder analyses between treatments were performed using several platelet-function methods. Of 56 randomised subjects, 37 underwent PCI. MPA was 26.2% for prasugrel 10 mg and 39.1% for clopidogrel 150 mg (p<0.001). The prasugrel MD regimen reduced MPA from the post-900-mg LD level (41.2% to 29.1%, p=0.003). Poor response ranged from 0% to 6% for prasugrel 10 mg and 4% to 34% for clopidogrel 150 mg. Thus, in ACS patients a prasugrel 10-mg MD regimen resulted in significantly greater platelet inhibition than clopidogrel at twice its approved MD or a 900-mg LD.
A real-time DNase assay (ReDA) based on PicoGreen(R) fluorescence (2003)

DNA nucleases (DNases) perform a wide variety of important cellular functions and are also very useful for research and in biotechnological applications. Due to the biological and technological importance of DNases and their use in a wide range of applications, DNase activity assays are essential. Traditional DNase assays employ radiolabeled DNA substrates and require separation of the products of the reaction from the unreacted substrate before quantification of enzyme activity. As a consequence, these methods are discontinuous. In this report, we describe a continuous DNase assay based on the differential fluorescence output of a DNA dye ligand called PicoGreen®. The assay was developed to characterize a processive dsDNA exonuclease, lambda exonuclease. The assay appears to have general utility as it is also suitable for measuring the DNA digestion activities of a processive helicase/nuclease, RecBCD, a distributive exonuclease, T7 gene 6 exonuclease, and an endonuclease, DNaseI. The benefits of, and limitations to, the method are discussed.
Immunolocalization of Surfactant Protein-D (SP-D) in Human Fetal, Newborn, and Adult Tissues (2002)

Immunoreactive surfactant protein-D (SP-D) was assessed in human fetal, newborn, and adult tissues. In the fetal lung, SP-D was detected on airway surfaces by 10 weeks' gestation, staining increasing in the distal airways, decreasing in the proximal conducting airways with advancing gestation. In lungs from near-term infants and adults, SP-D was detected in Type II cells, serous cells of tracheobronchial glands, and subsets of cells lining peripheral airways. Immunostaining was decreased or absent in areas of lungs of neonates after injury to Type II cells, infection, or hemorrhage and was decreased in collapsed or unseptated airways from older infants with bronchopulmonary dysplasia. SP-D was also detected in many organs at all ages. SP-D was readily detected in epithelial cells and luminal material in lacrimal glands, salivary glands, pancreas, bile ducts, renal tubules, esophageal muscle and glands, parietal cells of the stomach, crypts of Lieberkuhn, sebaceous and eccrine sweat glands, Von Ebner's glands, endocervical glands, seminal vesicles, adrenal cortex, myocardium, and anterior pituitary gland. SP-D is a widely distributed member of the "collectin" family of polypeptides secreted onto luminal surfaces by epithelial cells lining ducts of many organs, where it likely plays a role in innate host defense.
Twin related silicon crystals in Al–Si alloys and their growth mechanism (1995)

AbstractThe relationships between the morphologies and growth mechanisms of primary silicon crystals were studied using a hot etching technique to observe growth steps across polished cross-sections. The most frequent morphologies of primary silicon observed were octahedral and starlike. Octahedral crystals are most often bifurcated across a central twin plane to form spinel twins. Their faceted growth isfacilitated by dislocations emerging from the faceted surfaces which nucleate successive atomic planes that spread across the facet surface. Alternatively, accelerated corner growth (skeletal growth) can also nucleate the atomic planes. Starlike crystals usually exhibit five branches in a twin relationship, radiating from a centre. Evidence is presented that each branch can grow as afaceted octahedron, although initial growth may occur by the twin plane re-entrant edge (TPRE) mechanism. This mechanism is the accepted growth mode of a third morphology, plate like growth, which has been described previously. There is a great variety of other morphologies, mostly irregular, described in the literature. Most can be explained as either clusters of octahedral crystals or as the results of skeletal growth.Under relatively extreme conditions, skeletal growth can lead to hollow hopper crystals or pseudodendrites.MST/2086
Hypoxia/ischemia activate processing of Amyloid Precursor Protein: impact of vascular dysfunction in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease (2016)

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is associated with deficiencies in cerebrovascular functions, e.g. reduced cerebral blood flow and capillary amyloid angiopathy, both of which are evident during the early phase of AD, thus local hypoxia/ischemia could augment the pathogenesis of AD. There is abundant literature revealing that exposures to hypoxia/ischemia increase the amyloidogenic processing of amyloid-β precursor protein (APP) leading to the accumulation of amyloid-β peptides in brain. This hypoxia-induced response has been attributed to a significant increase in the activities of β- and γ-secretases, whereas α-secretase activity decreases in hypoxia. Recent studies have indicated that hypoxia-inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α) stimulates the transcription of the β-secretase 1 (BACE1) gene through the hypoxia-response element in the BACE1 promoter. Moreover, HIF-1α protein can directly interact with the γ-secretase complex and increase its activity in a non-transcriptional manner. Hypoxia/ischemia also trigger endoplasmic reticulum stress and impair autophagy in brain, which consequently can stimulate the expression of presenilin 1 (PS1) and activate γ-secretase. Subsequently, PS1 protein can stabilize HIF-1α protein and in addition, APP intracellular domain peptide is able to induce the expression of HIF-1α. The activation of β- and γ-secretases is an evolutionarily conserved hypoxia response, e.g. it is also present in zebrafish. Given that β- and γ-secretases have many substrates in addition to APP, one could postulate that AD pathology is a byproduct of the rescue process mediated by these two aspartyl proteinases under hypoxic/ischemic conditions. We will review the recent evidence indicating that vascular dysfunctions can provoke AD pathology by activating β- and γ-secretases.
Structure-function studies of an engineered scaffold protein derived from stefin A. I: Development of the SQM variant (2010)

Non-antibody scaffold proteins are used for a range of applications, especially the assessment of protein-protein interactions within human cells. The search for a versatile, robust and biologically neutral scaffold previously led us to design STM (stefin A triple mutant), a scaffold derived from the intracellular protease inhibitor stefin A. Here, we describe five new STM-based scaffold proteins that contain modifications designed to further improve the versatility of our scaffold. In a step-by-step approach, we introduced restriction sites in the STM open reading frame that generated new peptide insertion sites in loop 1, loop 2 and the N-terminus of the scaffold protein. A second restriction site in 'loop 2' allows substitution of the native loop 2 sequence with alternative oligopeptides. None of the amino acid changes interfered significantly with the folding of the STM variants as assessed by circular dichroism spectroscopy. Of the five scaffold variants tested, one (stefin A quadruple mutant, SQM) was chosen as a versatile, stable scaffold. The insertion of epitope tags at varying positions showed that inserts into loop 1, attempted here for the first time, were generally well tolerated. However, N-terminal insertions of epitope tags in SQM had a detrimental effect on protein expression.