gebhart/patrepeval huggingface dataset:
Poly(ε-caprolactone) Polyurethane and Its Shape-Memory Property (2005)

A series of segmented poly(epsilon-caprolactone) polyurethanes (PCLUs) were prepared from poly(epsilon-caprolactone) (PCL) diol, 2,4-toluene diisocyanate and ethylene glycol. The molecular weight (M(n)) of PCL was 500-10,000, and the soft-to-hard molar ratio was 1:2 to 1:6. Their shape-memory behaviors were investigated as a function of PCL molecular weight, PCLU composition, and thermal/mechanical history. When a deformation temperature 15-20 degrees C below T(m) was chosen, the lowest recovery temperature (LRT) was 15-18 degrees C below T(m), and the recovery ratio was 94-100% for tensile deformation of 300% and for compression of 2.7-fold. The reasons for this deformation-recovery procedure and the mechanism for this shape recovery below T(m) were discussed. The shape recovery was associated with the premelting of the crystals formed during the deformation and fixation, and, thus, it could be accomplished in the solid state. Its driving force was the inner stress stored in the deformed specimen during deformation and crystallization. Therefore, the LRT was a more practical temperature for shape-memory PCLU than T(m). It could be conveniently measured by means of thermal mechanical analysis. By adjusting the molecular weight of the PCL diol and the hard-to-soft ratio, the LRT of PCLU could be adjusted to the range of 37-42 degrees C, and reasonable rigidity could be retained after shape recovery, fulfilling the essential requirements of medical implantations.
Regulatable aptamers in medicine: focus on antithrombotic strategies (2004)

Proteins generally execute the key physiological activities required for normal growth and homeostasis. As such, many different classes of proteins, including proteases, kinases, cellular receptors and signalling proteins, represent attractive targets for diagnosis or therapy. Aptamers are small nucleic acid molecules that function as direct protein inhibitors, much like monoclonal antibodies. After a decade of intensive research, technology development and initial clinical evaluation, aptamers have now demonstrated broad potential as direct protein ligands and inhibitors, and thus represent an exciting class of compounds for the development of new therapeutic and diagnostic agents. This review will discuss the basic properties and isolation of aptamers, their use in animals and the clinic, and describe an exciting recent advance in the development of antidotes to certain aptamers, which will add a repertoire of new agents with regulatable activity for clinical use.
In vitrotreatment of monocytes with 8-methoxypsolaren and ultraviolet A light induces dendritic cells with a tolerogenic phenotype (2007)

Extracorporeal photopheresis (ECP) has been considered an efficient dendritic cell (DC) therapy, used for treating both T cell malignancy, as well as T cell-mediated diseases. During the ECP procedure leucocytes are exposed to photoactivable agent 8-methoxypsolaren (8-MOP) and ultraviolet (UV) A radiation (PUVA) prior to reinfusion. Despite its clinical efficacy the mechanism of action remains elusive. As it has been reported that ECP might promote the differentiation of monocytes into immature DCs, we investigated the effects of UVA light (2 J/cm(2)) and 8-MOP (100 ng/ml) on in vitro monocyte-to-DC differentiation from normal donors. DCs were generated from human purified CD14(+) cells. Because monocytes are killed by PUVA and taking into account that only 5-10% of circulating mononuclear cells are exposed to PUVA during the ECP procedure, we developed an assay in which 10% of PUVA-treated monocytes were co-cultured with untreated monocytes. We first demonstrate that the presence of 10% apoptotic cells and monocyte activation were not enough to induce monocyte differentiation into DCs. Adding cytokines to our culture system, we obtained immature DCs characterized by significantly higher phagocytic activity and human leucocyte antigen D-related (HLA-DR) expression. These DCs preserved the capacity to be activated by lipopolysaccharide, but showed a reduced capacity to induce allogeneic T cell proliferation when first co-cultured with 10% of PUVA-treated cells. Our experimental design provides a novel insight into the real action of 8-MOP and UVA light on dendritic cell biology, suggesting an additional mechanism by which 8-MOP and UVA light exposure may influence immune responses.
Nonlinear Picosecond-Pulse Propagation through Optical Fibers with Positive Group Velocity Dispersion (1981)

The predictions of the nonlinear Schr\"odinger equation have been tested by passing 5.5-psec optical pulses through a 70-m single-mode optical fiber. With use of a precise cross correlation technique based on pulse compression, dramatic reshaping of the input pulses into flat-topped, frequency-broadened, and positively chirped 20-psec output pulses with self-steepened fall times of less than 2 psec was observed. The observations are in good agreement with theory.
Reduction of susceptibility artifact in gradient‐echo imaging (1992)

A new technique with which susceptibility artifact in gradient-echo imaging can be reduced substantially by use of a tailored RF pulse is described. The proposed technique can ideally be applied to the case where high local magnetic field inhomogeneity is dominated by the susceptibility. The signal loss and void phenomena due to susceptibility in a voxel are studied and a correction method is also proposed. The description of the tailored RF pulse and its proposed application are given and experimental results obtained using a human volunteer with a 2.0-T KAIS NMR system are presented.
Decreased activity of cathepsins L+B and decreased invasive ability of PC3 prostate cancer cells (2003)

Cancer metastasis involves multiple factors, one of which is the production and secretion of matrix degrading proteases by the cancer cells. Many metastasizing cancer cells secrete the lysosomal proteases, cathepsins L and B, which implicates them in the metastatic process. Cathepsins L and B are regulated by endogenous cysteine proteinase inhibitors (CPI) known as cystatins. An imbalance between cathepsin L and/or B and cystatin expression/activity may be a characteristic of the metastatic phenotype. To determine whether cystatins can attenuate the invasive ability of PC3 prostate cancer cells, cells were transfected with a cDNA coding for chicken cystatin. Expression of chicken cystatin mRNA was determined by PCR analysis. Total cysteine proteinase inhibitory activity, cathepsins L + B activity, and invasion through a Matrigel matrix were assessed. Stably transfected cells expressed the chicken cystatin mRNA and exhibited a significant decrease in secreted cathepsin L + B activity and a small increase in secreted cysteine proteinase inhibitor activity. The ability of cystatin transfected cells to invade the reconstituted basement membrane, Matrigel, was attenuated compared to nontransfected cells or cells transfected with vector alone. We have demonstrated that the cysteine proteinases cathepsins L and B participate in the invasive ability of the PC3 prostate cancer cell line, and we discuss here the potential of using cysteine proteinase inhibitors such as the cystatins as anti-metastatic agents.
Polyamine effects on purine-purine-pyrimidine triple helix formation by phosphodiester and phosphorothioate oligodeoxyribonucleotides (1995)

Utilization of oligodeoxyribonucleotides to inhibit specific gene transcription in vivo (antigene strategy) requires the efficient formation of triple helices under physiological conditions. However, pyrimidine-motif triplexes are not favored at physiological pH, and physiological concentrations of potassium cations hamper purine-motif triplex formation. Here we investigated the effects of polyamines on promoting triplex formation by G/T-rich oligodeoxyribonucleotides containing either phosphodiester or a diastereomeric mixture of phosphorothioate linkages. Compared with Mg2+, equimolar concentrations of polyamines greatly facilitated purine-motif triplex formation with the following order of effectiveness: spermine > spermidine > putrescine. At low polyamine concentrations, phosphorothioate oligonucleotides were better at triplex formation than the corresponding phosphodiester oligonucleotides. Kinetic studies indicated that polyamines facilitated triplex formation by increasing the rate of oligonucleotide-duplex DNA association. However, triplex accumulation with either oligonucleotide was still low under physiological conditions (140 mM K+, 10 mM Mg2+, 1 mM spermine). The inhibitory effects of K+ could be partially overcome with high concentrations of Mg2+ or spermine, with phosphodiester oligonucleotides being better able to form triplexes than phosphorothioates under these conditions.
Survival rates in patients with primary malignant brain tumors stratified by patient age and tumor histological type: an analysis based on Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) data, 1973–1991 (1998)

The authors observed a pattern of declining survival rates in patients with increasing age of the patient at diagnosis for most histological groups and overall improvements in survival rates of patients across these time periods adjusting for age at diagnosis. There were improvements in 2- and 5-year survival rates over the three time periods for children and adults with medulloblastoma and for adults with astrocytoma and oligodendroglioma. Improvements in survival rates for pediatric patients with medulloblastoma have leveled off in the most recent time period, and gender differences in survival rates for patients with this tumor, which were present in the 1970s, have disappeared. Clinically significant improvements in survival rates were not apparent in patients aged 65 years and older. Changes in diagnostic and treatment procedures since the mid-1970s have resulted in improved survival rates for patients diagnosed as having medulloblastoma, oligodendroglioma, and astrocytoma, controlling for age at diagnosis. Glioblastoma multiforme continues to be the most intractable brain tumor.
Neonatal Fc receptor for IgG (FcRn) regulates cross-presentation of IgG immune complexes by CD8 − CD11b + dendritic cells (2011)

Cross-presentation of IgG-containing immune complexes (ICs) is an important means by which dendritic cells (DCs) activate CD8(+) T cells, yet it proceeds by an incompletely understood mechanism. We show that monocyte-derived CD8(-)CD11b(+) DCs require the neonatal Fc receptor for IgG (FcRn) to conduct cross-presentation of IgG ICs. Consequently, in the absence of FcRn, Fcγ receptor (FcγR)-mediated antigen uptake fails to initiate cross-presentation. FcRn is shown to regulate the intracellular sorting of IgG ICs to the proper destination for such cross-presentation to occur. We demonstrate that FcRn traps antigen and protects it from degradation within an acidic loading compartment in association with the rapid recruitment of key components of the phagosome-to-cytosol cross-presentation machinery. This unique mechanism thus enables cross-presentation to evolve from an atypically acidic loading compartment. FcRn-driven cross-presentation is further shown to control cross-priming of CD8(+) T-cell responses in vivo such that during chronic inflammation, FcRn deficiency results in inadequate induction of CD8(+) T cells. These studies thus demonstrate that cross-presentation in CD8(-)CD11b(+) DCs requires a two-step mechanism that involves FcγR-mediated internalization and FcRn-directed intracellular sorting of IgG ICs. Given the centrality of FcRn in controlling cross-presentation, these studies lay the foundation for a unique means to therapeutically manipulate CD8(+) T-cell responses.
Transcription of testicular angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) is initiated within the 12th intron of the somatic ACE gene. (1990)

Angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) is a zinc-containing dipeptidyl carboxypeptidase that catalyzes the conversion of angiotensin I to the potent vasoconstrictor angiotensin II. By analyzing cDNA and genomic DNA, we have constructed a consensus sequence encoding the testis isozyme of mouse ACE. Testis ACE cDNA contains 2,435 base pairs and encodes a protein of 732 amino acids. The N-terminal 66 amino acids are unique to the testis isozyme, while the remaining 666 are identical to the carboxyl half of mouse somatic ACE. The overall conservation of amino acid sequence between the testis isozymes of the mouse, rabbit, and human is 78 to 84%. The conservation of amino acids for the N-terminal domain uniquely expressed within the testis is 63 to 67% between these species. Primer extension and RNase protection experiments show that RNA transcription of the testis ACE isozyme begins 16 or 17 bases upstream from the translation start site. A sequence element resembling a TATA box is found 25 bases 5' of the transcription start site. To create its unique isozyme of ACE, the testis begins mRNA transcription in the middle of the exonic-intronic structure of somatic ACE, within a sequence treated as an intron by somatic tissues. Testis ACE is not the result of alternative RNA splicing but seems due to the start of transcription at a unique site within the ACE gene.
Reaction of Endotoxin and Surfactants I. Physical and Biological Properties of Endotoxin Treated with Sodium Deoxycholate (1966)

Ribi, E. (Rocky Mountain Laboratory, Hamilton, Mont.), R. L. Anacker, R. Brown, W. T. Haskins, B. Malmgren, K. C. Milner, and J. A. Rudbach. Reaction of endotoxin and surfactants. I. Physical and biological properties of endotoxin treated with sodium desoxycholate. J. Bacteriol. 92:1493-1509. 1966.-Endotoxins from three species of gram-negative bacteria were shown to be dissociated by the bile salt sodium deoxycholate (NaD) into nontoxic subunits with molecular weights of about 20,000. When the bile salt was removed by dialysis, the subunits reaggregated in an orderly manner to form a relatively uniform population of biologically active endotoxin particles with average molecular weights of 500,000 to 1,000,000. If a small amount of human plasma was added to the dissociated endotoxin before removal of the NaD, reassociation apparently did not occur and the preparation remained nonpyrogenic. However, the plasma protein could subsequently be removed from the endotoxin subunits, and reaggregation to the toxic form would then occur. The studies on the physical nature of endotoxin performed with biophysical solution techniques were supplemented and confirmed by direct examination of the endotoxin polymers by electron microscopy. The results of these studies were consonant with the theory that the biologically active endotoxic elements are composed of micellar aggregates of linear lipopolysaccharide subunits.
QT dispersion: an indication of arrhythmia risk in patients with long QT intervals. (1990)

Homogeneity of recovery time protects against arrhythmias whereas dispersion of recovery time is arrhythmogenic. A single surface electrocardiographic QT interval gives no information on recovery time dispersion but the difference between the maximum and minimum body surface QT interval may be relevant. This hypothesis was tested by measuring the dispersion of the corrected QT interval (QTc) in 10 patients with an arrhythmogenic long QT interval (Romano Ward and Jervell and Lange-Nielsen syndromes or drug arrhythmogenicity) and in 14 patients without arrhythmias in whom the QT interval was prolonged by sotalol. QTc dispersion was significantly greater in the arrhythmogenic QT group than in the sotalol QT group. In patients with prolonged QT intervals, QT dispersion distinguished between those with ventricular arrhythmias and those without. This supports the hypothesis that QT dispersion reflects spatial differences in myocardial recovery time. QT dispersion may be useful in the assessment of both arrhythmia risk and the efficacy of antiarrhythmic drugs.
Dynamic Taxi-Sharing Service Using Intelligent Transportation System Technologies (2007)

A practical and applicable taxi-sharing system based on the use of intelligent transportation system (ITS) technologies has been developed in Taipei City. This system is easy for members to use and inexpensive for the service provider to operate. This paper gives an overview of the taxi-sharing service, presents key algorithms for dynamic rideshare matching processes, describes the field trial operation of the system in Taipei Nei-Hu Science and Technology Park and discusses empirical results to provide valuable implications for better taxi-sharing service in the future.
3-D Shape Measurement Sensor for Specular Objects (1995)

In the case of constructing an inspection system such as extracting the defects of 3-D shape of parts, it is a necessary and indispensable factor that the non-contact shape measurement of an object is automated. However, it is very difficult to measure the shape of an object which has a mirror-like surface. Here, a three-dimensional shape measurement sensor capable of reliably measuring the shape of an object which has mirror-like surface has been developed. The spotlight scanning light-section method is employed in this sensor. The sensor is a compact instrument by which the position of light can scan the object. The output intensity of the light source is controlled according to the detected brightness of light.
Phytoene-forming activities in wild-type and transformed rice endosperm (1996)

This article 'Phytoene-forming activities in wild-type and transformed rice endosperm' appeared in the International Rice Research Notes series, created by the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) to expedite communication among scientists concerned with the development of improved technology for rice and rice-based systems. The series is a mechanism to help scientists keep each other informed of current rice research findings. The concise scientific notes are meant to encourage rice scientists to communicate with one another to obtain details on the research reported.
An Architecture for IP Address Allocation with CIDR (1993)

have no defined hierarchical relationship, administrators would not be
able to assign IP addresses within the domains out of some common
prefix for the purpose of data abstraction. The result would be flat
inter-domain routing; all routing domains would need explicit
knowledge of all other routing domains that they route to. This can
work well in small and medium sized internets, up to a size somewhat
larger than the current Internet. However, this does not scale to very
large internets. For example, we expect growth in the future to an
Internet which has tens or hundreds of thousands of routing domains in
North America alone. This requires a greater degree of the
reachability information abstraction beyond that which can be achieved
at the `routing domain' level. In the Internet, however, it should
be possible to exploit the existing hierarchical routing structure
interconnections, as discussed in Section 5. Thus, there is the
opportunity for a group of routing domains each to be assigned an
address prefix from a shorter prefix assigned to another routing
domain whose function is to interconnect the group of routing domains.
Each member of the group of routing domains now `owns' its
(somewhat longer) prefix, from which it assigns its addresses. The
most straightforward case of this occurs when there is a set of
routing domains which are all attached only to a single service
provider domain (e.g. regional network), and which use that provider
for all external (inter-domain) traffic. A small prefix may be
assigned to the provider, which then assigns slightly longer prefixes
(based on the provider's prefix) to each of the routing domains
that it interconnects. This allows the provider, when informing other
routing domains of the addresses that it can reach, to abbreviate the
reachability information for a large number of routing domains as a
single prefix. This approach therefore can allow a great deal of
hierarchical abbreviation of routing information, and thereby can
 ...
miR‐34a is an intracellular and exosomal predictive biomarker for response to docetaxel with clinical relevance to prostate cancer progression (2014)

This study supports the extracellular environment as an important source of minimally invasive predictive biomarkers representing their cellular origin. Using miR-34a as example, we showed that biomarkers identified in this manner may also hold functional relevance.
Pharmacological treatment of acute agitation associated with psychotic and bipolar disorder: a systematic review and meta-analysis (2016)

Because of limitations of available research, firm conclusions could not be drawn regarding the efficacy and safety of any identified intervention. Based on our results, there is no evidence that one drug is more effective or preferred over any other and treatment decisions could be made based on individual patient needs or costs. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Identification of Human Mannose Binding Lectin (MBL) Recognition Sites for Novel Inhibitory Antibodies (2002)

Mannose binding lectin (MBL) binding initiates activation of the lectin complement pathway. Recent studies from our laboratory have demonstrated that MBL-dependent complement activation mediates cellular injury following oxidative stress in vivo and in vitro. A panel of novel inhibitory monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) against MBL (e.g., MAb 3F8, 2A9, and hMBL1.2) has been developed that inhibit MBL binding and lectin pathway activation. Here, we further characterized the interactions of these MAbs and their Fab fragments to MBL. Whole MAbs or their Fab fragments bound to MBL with relatively high affinity. Fab fragments of 3F8 were functionally effective in inhibiting MBL-dependent complement activation, however, steric hindrance of MAb 2A9 was essential for inhibition of MBL-dependent complement activation. We identified the hinge region, and residues EDCVLLL within the carbohydrate recognition domain of MBL as the recognition sites for MAb 3F8 and 2A9, respectively. The interaction of MAbs (e.g., 3F8 and 2A9) to MBL was dependent on the conformation of their recognition sites. These findings demonstrate that MBL binding can be inhibited by at least two separate and independent mechanisms.
Increasing network resilience through edge diversity in NEBULA (2012)

The primary focus of the NEBULA Future Internet Architecture is to provide resilient networking for the emerging cloud computing model. One of the attractions of cloud computing is its support for online services and data storage by thin clients such as mobile devices. This paper describes two components of NEBULA's edge network technology, Serval and CRYSTAL. Serval provides a new layer 3.5 service abstraction that naturally supports mobility, multi-homing, and multi-path transport, while CRYSTAL is a new virtualization scheme for software radios that makes it easier to expose greater network diversity at the network edge.