gebhart/patrepeval huggingface dataset:
Quality-of-service issues in high-speed networks (1993)

We are currently witnessing an increasing demand for new services such as video conferencing and broadcast television. The development and deployment of new technologies such as fiber optics and intelligent high-speed digital switches have made it feasible to provide these services in future high-speed networks (HSNs). These new services are, however, characterized by rather stringent quality-of-service (QOS) criteria such as bounds on end-to-end packet delay and loss. Providing guarantees on QOS for these new services in future HSNs poses a number of interesting and challenging problems. In this thesis, we address the problem of providing statistical QOS guarantees to applications in HSNs. QOS criteria for applications are typically specified on an end-to-end basis in the network. The first part of this thesis examines policies for mapping (allocating) the end-to-end requirement to nodal requirements. This mapping simplifies providing QOS guarantees as also connection admission algorithms. The allocation policy performance is gauged on the basis of the maximum supportable network load under that policy. We develop good insight into allocation policy performance with the aid of a novel nodal sensitivity measure. It is shown that for a QOS metric of interest, the loss probability, and network operating regimes of practical interest rather naive policies exhibit near optimal performance. However, for certain other QOS metrics and operating regimes, it is shown that the optimal policy significantly outperforms simple QOS allocation policies. In the second part of this thesis, we restrict our attention to an isolated node and focus on appropriate QOS criteria and mechanisms to guarantee these criteria at the nodal level. Two new QOS criteria, the customer-duration-based and interval-based criteria, are proposed for HSNs and their applications. Further, a new cumulative transient metric, the customer average, is proposed for queueing models of communication systems. The computation of the new metric is detailed for a class of simple queueing models. Further, it is shown how this new metric enables one to compute and guarantee the new proposed QOS criteria.
Dietary nitrate in man: friend or foe? (1999)

Based on the premise that dietary nitrate is detrimental to human health, increasingly stringent regulations are being instituted to lower nitrate levels in food and water. Not only does this pose a financial challenge to water boards and a threat to vegetable production in Northern Europe, but also may be eliminating an important non-immune mechanism for host defence. Until recently nitrate was perceived as a purely harmful dietary component which causes infantile methaemoglobinaemia, carcinogenesis and possibly even teratogenesis. Epidemiological studies have failed to substantiate this. It has been shown that dietary nitrate undergoes enterosalivary circulation. It is recirculated in the blood, concentrated by the salivary glands, secreted in the saliva and reduced to nitrite by facultative Gram-positive anaerobes (Staphylococcus sciuri and S. intermedius) on the tongue. Salivary nitrite is swallowed into the acidic stomach where it is reduced to large quantities of NO and other oxides of N and, conceivably, also contributes to the formation of systemic S-nitrosothiols. NO and solutions of acidified nitrite, mimicking gastric conditions, have been shown to have antimicrobial activity against a wide range of organisms. In particular, acidified nitrite is bactericidal for a variety of gastrointestinal pathogens such as Yersinia and Salmonella. NO is known to have vasodilator properties and to modulate platelet function, as are S-nitrosothiols. Thus, nitrate in the diet, which determines reactive nitrogen oxide species production in the stomach (McKnight et al. 1997), is emerging as an effective host defence against gastrointestinal pathogens, as a modulator of platelet activity and possibly even of gastrointestinal motility and microcirculation. Therefore dietary nitrate may have an important therapeutic role to play, not least in the immunocompromised and in refugees who are at particular risk of contracting gastroenteritides.
Therapeutic Potential of Interleukin-1 Receptor Antagonist in Inflammatory Bowel Disease. (1998)

The therapeutic role of interleukin (IL)-1 receptor antagonist, a potent inhibitor of IL-1, was investigated using peripheral blood mononuclear cells from patients with ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease. Administration of IL-1 receptor antagonist inhibited IL-1 beta-augmented IL-1 alpha and tumor necrosis factor-alpha production by mononuclear cells. Prednisolone caused a decrease in IL-1 receptor antagonist release, whereas sulfasalazine had no modulatory effect. Interestingly, IgG caused an increase in IL-1 receptor antagonist release. In conclusion, IL-1 receptor antagonist and related molecules may have therapeutic value.
ntelligent News Filtering (1996)

As the size of the Internet increases, the amount of data available to users has dramatically risen, resulting in an information overload for users. This work involved the creation of an intelligent information news filtering system named INFOS (Intelligent News Filtering Organizational System) to reduce the user's search burden by automatically eliminating Usenet news articles predicted to be irrelevant. These predictions are learned automatically by adapting an internal user model that is based upon features taken from articles and collaborative features derived from other users. The features are manipulated through keyword-based techniques and knowledge-based techniques to perform the actual filtering. Knowledge-based systems have the advantage of analyzing input text in detail, but at the cost of computational complexity and the difficulty of scaling up to large domains. In contrast, statistical and keyword approaches scale up readily but result in a shallower understanding of the input. A hybrid system integrating both approaches improves accuracy over keyword approaches, supports domain knowledge, and retains scalability. The system would be enhanced by more robust word disambiguation.
Combining and updating of local estimates and regional maps along sets of one-dimensional tracks (1982)

In this paper we consider the problem of combining and updating estimates that may have been generated in a distributed fashion or may represent estimates, generated at different times, of the same process sample path. The first of these cases has applications in decentralized estimation, while the second has applications in updating maps of spatially-distributed random quantities given measurements along several tracks. The method of solution for the second problem uses the result of the first, and the similarity in the formulation and solution of these problems emphasizes the conceptual similarity between many problems in decentralized control and in the analysis of random fields.
Discrepancy between the in vitro and in vivoeffects of murine mesenchymal stem cells on T-cell proliferation and collagen-induced arthritis (2010)

Whereas MSC inhibit anti-CD3-induced proliferation of T cells in vitro, an effect partially mediated by IFN-gamma, MSC do not influence in vivo T cell proliferation nor the disease course of CIA. Thus there is a clear discrepancy between the in vitro and in vivo effects of MSC on T cell proliferation and CIA.
A Localized Two-Bit/Cell Nanowire SONOS Memory Using Schottky Barrier Source-Side Injected Programming (2013)

A localized two-bit/cell silicon nanowire silicon-oxide-nitride-oxide-silicon memory is experimentally presented for the use in future multibit/cell or NOR Flash applications. Instead of conventional channel-hot-electron programming used in charge-trapping cells, the localized charge storages are performed using the Schottky barrier source-side electron programming. The selection of applying a drain or source voltage determines the injected location of storage bits during cell programming. The locally trapped charges decouple the conduction of electron current from the ambipolar hole current to generate an enlarged sensing window. The results of reliability and characterization tests confirm the localized storage cells preserve excellent low voltage, operation speed, cycling endurance, and thermal retention as the nonlocalized counterparts.
Simple activation for distributed objects (1995)

In order to support long-lived distributed objects, object activation is required. Activation allows an object to alternate between periods of activity, where the object implementation executes in a process; and periods of dormancy, where the object is on disk and utilizes no system resources. We describe an activation protocol for distributed object systems. The protocol features overall simplicity as well as applicability to several different activation models. We use the Modula-3 network object system as a base for our implementation; while we make no changes to the underlying network object subsystem, we suggest a minor modification that could be made to the marshalling of network objects to assist in lazy activation, our preferred activation model. 1 Introduction Distributed object systems are designed to support long-lived persistent objects. Given that these systems will be made up of many thousands (perhaps millions) of such objects, it would be unreasonable for object implem...
Actual total hospital costs of primary localized prostate cancer treatments analyzed by risk group. (2012)

e15164 Background: Radical prostatectomy (RP) and radiotherapy (RT) provide comparable HRQOL and oncologic outcomes of localized prostate cancer (PCa), yet no studies have evaluated their relative costs when investigated by risk group. We evaluated hospital costs associated with modern PCa therapies at a multidisciplinary program. Methods: Institutional billing data was queried for hospital patients from 2005 to 2009 with a primary admission for prostate cancer and primary procedure codes for RP, brachytherapy (BT), intensity modulated RT (IMRT) or combination treatment. All hospital costs related to the primary procedure were analyzed as assigned by the hospital. Costs were adjusted to 2009 USD and analyzed per patient and pretreatment D’Amico risk group. Results: 1969 localized PCa patients with a median age of 62 were identified with complete clinical information. There was a marked increase in the use of robotic-assisted laparoscopic prostatectomy (RALP) starting in 2007. The median total hospital costs for IMRT monotherapy ($16,673), BT+IMRT ($22,145) and RP+ adjuvant IMRT ($24,380) combination therapies were significantly higher than any other treatment type, although these patients had worse pathologic features. BT was the least expensive treatment with a total cost of $7,506, but was not routinely used as monotherapy for high-risk patients. The total cost of RALP ($7,676) was lower than open radical prostatectomy (RRP) ($8,991, p&lt;0.001) and similar to laparoscopic radical prostatectomy (LRP) ($7,769).These trendsremained consistent when stratified by risk group (Table). Conclusions: In a high volume setting, RALP and BT are the least expensive modalities for treating low and intermediate risk PCa. For high risk patients, all forms of RP and IMRT alone were less expensive than combination therapy. [Table: see text]
The mucus and mucins of the goblet cells and enterocytes provide the first defense line of the gastrointestinal tract and interact with the immune system (2014)

The gastrointestinal tract is covered by mucus that has different properties in the stomach, small intestine, and colon. The large highly glycosylated gel-forming mucins MUC2 and MUC5AC are the major components of the mucus in the intestine and stomach, respectively. In the small intestine, mucus limits the number of bacteria that can reach the epithelium and the Peyer's patches. In the large intestine, the inner mucus layer separates the commensal bacteria from the host epithelium. The outer colonic mucus layer is the natural habitat for the commensal bacteria. The intestinal goblet cells secrete not only the MUC2 mucin but also a number of typical mucus components: CLCA1, FCGBP, AGR2, ZG16, and TFF3. The goblet cells have recently been shown to have a novel gate-keeping role for the presentation of oral antigens to the immune system. Goblet cells deliver small intestinal luminal material to the lamina propria dendritic cells of the tolerogenic CD103(+) type. In addition to the gel-forming mucins, the transmembrane mucins MUC3, MUC12, and MUC17 form the enterocyte glycocalyx that can reach about a micrometer out from the brush border. The MUC17 mucin can shuttle from a surface to an intracellular vesicle localization, suggesting that enterocytes might control and report epithelial microbial challenge. There is communication not only from the epithelial cells to the immune system but also in the opposite direction. One example of this is IL10 that can affect and improve the properties of the inner colonic mucus layer. The mucus and epithelial cells of the gastrointestinal tract are the primary gate keepers and controllers of bacterial interactions with the host immune system, but our understanding of this relationship is still in its infancy.
Detection of Antibodies to Pasteurella multocida by capture enzyme immunoassay using a monoclonal antibody against P37 antigen (1997)

As infection with Pasteurella multocida is common in rabbits, an enzyme immunoassay (EIA) was developed for its detection. A murine immunoglobulin G monoclonal antibody was used to capture a 37-kDa polypeptide of P. multocida serotype A:12 in an EIA to detect antibodies to P. multocida. The 37-kDa antigen was selected since it was previously shown to be a major immunogen during P. multocida infection in rabbits. The sensitivity of the P37 EIA, determined with sera from 56 rabbits infected with P. multocida, was 98%. Specificity, evaluated with sera from 62 rabbits from colonies free of P. multocida, was 92%. Titration curves of sera from rabbits immunized with P. multocida serotype A:3 or A:12 coincided, indicating that the P37 EIA was equally efficient in detecting antibodies to the two major serotypes of the organism. Comparison of the P37 EIA with the current serodiagnostic test, a bacterial lysate EIA, revealed relatively good correlation (r = 0.68). However, specificity was greatly improved, as 34% of uninfected rabbits were falsely positive by the lysate EIA whereas only 3% of uninfected rabbits were falsely positive by the P37 EIA. The coefficient of variation for same-day tests was 10%, and that for interday tests was 15%, indicating good reproducibility. The greater sensitivity and specificity of the P37 EIA should significantly enhance diagnostic capability to identify rabbits infected with P. multocida.
Evaporation Rate of Graphite Liquid Marbles: Comparison with Water Droplets (2009)

Liquid marbles are liquid drops made completely nonwetting by encapsulating the drop with a hydrophobic powder. The absence of contact with the substrate avoids contamination problems and produces high marble displacement velocities. Liquid marbles behave as microreservoirs of liquids able to move without any leakage and are promising candidates to be applied in biomedical and genetic analysis where 2D microfluidics and lab-on-a-chip methods are used. The lifetime of a liquid marble depends on the chemical nature and particle size of the hydrophobic powder as well as the liquid used to form it. There is a need for chemically inert liquid marbles, which can be used over sufficiently long periods for industrial applications. In this work, we successfully synthesized graphite liquid marbles for the first time by encapsulating graphite micropowder on water droplets and determined their evaporation periods and useful lifetimes in constant relative humidity and temperature conditions in a closed chamber. The evaporation rates of graphite liquid marbles were compared with the rates of pure water droplets in the same conditions, and it was found that they had nearly twice the lifetime of pure water droplets. The use of chemically inert graphite particles having electrical conductivity and dry lubrication properties to form a liquid marble may be a starting point for their successful use in microfluidics, genetic analysis, antifouling, wear-free micromachine, electromechanical actuator, and valve applications.
The HIF-1α Hypoxia Response in Tumor-Infiltrating T Lymphocytes Induces Functional CD137 (4-1BB) for Immunotherapy (2012)

CD137 (4-1BB) is an important molecular target to augment antitumor immunity. Hypoxia in the tumor microenvironment as sensed by the HIF-1α system increases expression of CD137 on tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes that thereby become selectively responsive to the immunotherapeutic effects of anti-CD137 agonist monoclonal antibodies as those used in ongoing clinical trials.
An endothelial cell surface factor(s) induced in vitro by lipopolysaccharide, interleukin 1, and tumor necrosis factor-alpha increases neutrophil adherence by a CDw18-dependent mechanism. (1986)

We examined the role of the neutrophil membrane antigen complex designated CDw18 (LFA-1/Mac-1/p150, 95) in human peripheral blood neutrophil adherence to cultured human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HEC) pretreated with lipopolysaccharide (LPS), interleukin 1 (IL 1), or recombinant tumor necrosis factor-alpha (rTNF-alpha). Pretreatment of HEC with LPS produced a dose-and time-dependent increase in subsequent neutrophil adherence (7 +/- 1% adherence to untreated HEC vs 38 +/- 3% adherence to HEC pretreated for 4 hr with LPS 150 ng/ml; mean +/- SE of 22 experiments: p less than 0.001). This effect was observed in primary and passaged HEC, but not in bovine aortic endothelial cells or human dermal fibroblasts. The LPS-induced activity appeared to be associated with the HEC surface, since it was not removed by washing and was not detected in the supernatant medium. Inhibition of RNA or protein synthesis during pretreatment of HEC with LPS prevented induction of the adherence-promoting activity. Pretreatment of HEC with IL 1 and rTNF-alpha produced a similar protein synthesis-dependent increase in neutrophil adherence to HEC. Coincubation of neutrophils with murine monoclonal antibody (MoAb) 60.3, an antibody directed to the CDw18 complex, produced a 70 +/- 4% inhibition of neutrophil adherence to LPS-pretreated HEC, 59 +/- 5% inhibition of adherence to IL 1-pretreated HEC, and 65 +/- 11% inhibition of adherence to rTNF-alpha-pretreated HEC (means +/- SE of 18, seven, and five experiments, respectively). Notably, MoAb 60.3 did not completely inhibit neutrophil adherence to pretreated HEC, although it completely inhibited adherence to untreated HEC when neutrophils were activated directly with phorbol ester. Similarly, the adherence of neutrophils from a patient with an inherited deficiency of the CDw18 complex to LPS-, IL 1-, and rTNF-alpha-pretreated HEC was markedly reduced compared with normal neutrophils (5 to 11% adherence with CDw18-deficient neutrophils vs 43 to 54% adherence with normal neutrophils), but adherence to pretreated HEC was still significantly greater than adherence to HEC that were not pretreated (2% adherence). We conclude that LPS, IL 1, and rTNF-alpha induce synthesis of an endothelial cell-surface factor(s) that promotes neutrophil adherence primarily by a mechanism involving the CDw18 complex. It thus appears that the CDw18 complex is important for augmented neutrophil adherence to endothelium in vitro whether the is stimulated directly by inflammatory mediators or indirectly by endothelial-dependent mechanisms.
Defective Mismatch Repair As a Predictive Marker for Lack of Efficacy of Fluorouracil-Based Adjuvant Therapy in Colon Cancer (2010)

Patient stratification by MMR status may provide a more tailored approach to colon cancer adjuvant therapy. These data support MMR status assessment for patients being considered for FU therapy alone and consideration of MMR status in treatment decision making.
Particle Deformation and Concentration Polarization in Electroosmotic Transport of Hydrogels through Pores (2013)

In this article, we report detection of deformable, hydrogel particles by the resistive-pulse technique using single pores in a polymer film. The hydrogels pass through the pores by electroosmosis and cause formation of a characteristic shape of resistive pulses indicating the particles underwent dehydration and deformation. These effects were explained via a non-homogeneous pressure distribution along the pore axis modeled by the coupled Poisson-Nernst-Planck and Navier-Stokes equations. The local pressure drops are induced by the electroosmotic fluid flow. Our experiments also revealed the importance of concentration polarization in the detection of hydrogels. Due to the negative charges as well as branched, low-density structure of the hydrogel particles, the concentration of ions in the particles is significantly higher than in the bulk. As a result, when an electric field is applied across the membrane, a depletion zone can be created in the vicinity of the particle observed as a transient drop of the current. Our experiments using pores with openings between 200 and 1600 nm indicated the concentration polarization dominated the hydrogels' detection of pores wider than 450 nm. The results are of importance for all studies that involve transport of molecules, particles, and cells through pores with charged walls. The developed inhomogeneous pressure distribution can potentially influence the shape of the transported species. The concentration polarization changes the interpretation of the resistive pulses; the observed current change does not necessarily reflect only the particle size but also the size of the depletion zone that is formed in the particle vicinity.
CMfinder—a covariance model based RNA motif finding algorithm (2005)

CMfinder is a new tool to predict RNA motifs in unaligned sequences. It is an expectation maximization algorithm using covariance models for motif description, featuring novel integration of multiple techniques for effective search of motif space, and a Bayesian framework that blends mutual information-based and folding energy-based approaches to predict structure in a principled way. Extensive tests show that our method works well on datasets with either low or high sequence similarity, is robust to inclusion of lengthy extraneous flanking sequence and/or completely unrelated sequences, and is reasonably fast and scalable. In testing on 19 known ncRNA families, including some difficult cases with poor sequence conservation and large indels, our method demonstrates excellent average per-base-pair accuracy--79% compared with at most 60% for alternative methods. More importantly, the resulting probabilistic model can be directly used for homology search, allowing iterative refinement of structural models based on additional homologs. We have used this approach to obtain highly accurate covariance models of known RNA motifs based on small numbers of related sequences, which identified homologs in deeply-diverged species.