gebhart/patrepeval huggingface dataset:
Cardiac endothelial cells modulate contractility of rat heart in response to oxygen tension and coronary flow. (1993)

The aim of this study was to determine if endothelial cells in the heart release substances into the coronary perfusion medium that modify the contractility of myocardial cells. To assay the effects on the contractility of cardiac muscle of fluid that has passed through the coronary vasculature, a new method has been developed based on the cascade principle used to study vascular smooth muscle function. The coronary venous effluent from an isolated perfused working heart was collected periodically, and after reoxygenation it was used as the bathing medium for trabeculae isolated from the endocardial surface of another heart. The coronary venous effluent changed the contraction of the isolated trabeculae. The amplitude and the direction of the change depended on the degree of oxygen saturation of the coronary effluent before it was reoxygenated and the rate of coronary flow at the time the effluent was collected. The response of the trabecula to the coronary effluent was substantially altered by damaging the endocardial endothelium with a 1-second exposure to 0.5% Triton X-100 in Krebs' solution. It was completely eliminated by damaging endothelial cells in both the perfused heart producing the effluent and the trabecula on which the effluent was assayed. Therefore, endothelial cells are required for the presence of cardioactive substances in the coronary effluent. The production of a labile endothelium-derived upregulating (positively inotropic) factor and a more stable endothelium-derived downregulating (negatively inotropic) factor has been demonstrated and appears to account for all of the changes in myocardial contractility produced by the coronary effluent. Neither of the endothelium-derived substances demonstrated in the isolated perfused heart is nitric oxide or endothelin. The concentration of the endothelium-derived upregulating factor is sensitive to oxygen tension, whereas the concentration of the endothelium-derived downregulating factor is sensitive to the rate of coronary flow but not oxygen tension. The coronary effluent appears to contain substances that stimulate secretion by the endothelial cells (preendothelial factors) as well as substances that have been produced by the endothelial cells (endothelial factors). The results indicate that during the passage of perfusion medium through the coronary vasculature upregulating and downregulating factors are added to the perfusate in relative concentrations that depend at least in part on local tissue PO2 and the rate of coronary flow. In the intact heart, this mechanism could operate to maintain balance between energy supply and work performed.
Age, sex and vitamin status affect plasma level of homocysteine, but hyperhomocysteinaemia is possibly not an important risk factor for venous thrombophilia in Taiwanese Chinese (2002)

The biological effects of age, sex and vitamin status on plasma total homocysteine (tHcy), and association of hyperhomocysteinaemia with venous thromboembolism in Taiwanese Chinese individuals, were investigated. Eighty patients (16-85 years) with venous thrombophilia and 123 healthy subjects (15-85 years) without history of vascular thrombosis were studied for plasma levels of tHcy, folate and vitamin B12. A multivariate analysis in healthy subjects revealed that plasma tHcy levels tended to increase with age (P < 0.001) and with decreasing plasma levels of folate (P=0.001) or vitamin B12 (P < 0.029); men tended to have higher plasma tHcy levels than women (P=0.006). Thrombotic risk assessment in a case-control study demonstrated that neither plasma level of tHcy [odds ratio (OR), 1.07; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.96-1.18; P=0.210] nor hyperhomocysteinaemia (OR, 1.65; 95% CI, 0.50-5.49; P=0.415) was significantly associated with venous thrombophilia. The relationship between hyperhomocysteinaemia and recurrence of episode remained insignificant (P=0.560). We conclude that age, sex and vitamin status affect plasma tHcy but hyperhomocysteinaemia is possibly not an important risk factor for venous thrombophilia in Taiwanese Chinese.
Urine Markers as Possible Tools for Prostate Cancer Screening: Review of Performance Characteristics and Practicality (2006)

Larger studies with a prospective design are required to confirm promising findings regarding performance characteristics of some novel markers recently reported in mostly small studies. Future studies should also pay particular attention to the practicality of the markers under screening conditions.
An intracellular delivery vehicle for protein transduction of micro-dystrophin (2005)

The Fv fragment of an antibody that selectively targets and penetrates skeletal muscle in vivo was produced as a fusion protein with a micro-dystrophin for use as a delivery vehicle to transport micro-dystrophin into muscle cells. Fv-micro-dystrophin was produced as a secreted protein by transient transfection of Fv-micro-dystrophin cDNA in COS-7 cells and as a non-secreted protein by permanent transfection in Pichia pastoris. Isolated Fv-micro-dystrophin was shown to be full-length by Western blot analysis. Fv-micro-dystrophin penetrated multiple cell lines in vitro, and it localized to the plasma membrane of a cell line with membrane beta-dystroglycan. In the absence of membrane beta-dystroglycan, it localized to the cytoplasm. Antibody-mediated transduction of micro-dystrophin into muscle cells is a potential therapy for dystrophin-deficient muscular dystrophies.
High-Performance Liquid Chromatography with Atmospheric Pressure Ionization Tandem Mass Spectrometry as a Tool in Quantitative Bioanalytical Chemistry (1996)

Quantitative bioanalytical chemistry has been revolutionized in the past five years by the development of Atmospheric Pressure Ionization Tandem Mass Spectrometry (API-MS/MS) as a detection technique for liquid chromatography. The power of the technique stems firstly from the high specificity of the MS/MS detector and secondly, from the ion source's compatibility with conventional liquid chromatography (LC) conditions. The freedom of interferences from endogenous biological substances enables assays for drugs in biological fluids to be developed in days rather than weeks. The ruggedness of LC with API-MS/MS permits batch processing with rapid sample throughput and sensitivities previously attainable only by radioimmunoassay or negative ion gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. The availability of such powerful assays is having a profound effect on the pharmaceutical industry's drug discovery and development activities.
Induction of Persistent Sodium Current by Exogenous and Endogenous Nitric Oxide (2000)

Most voltage-gated Na(+) channels inactivate almost completely at depolarized membrane potentials, but in some cells a residual Na(+) current is seen that is resistant to inactivation. This persistent Na(+) current can have a profound impact on the electrical behavior of excitable cells, and the regulation of this property could have important biological consequences. However, the biological signaling mechanisms that regulate the persistence of Na(+) channels are not well understood. This study showed that in nerve terminals and ventricular myocytes nitric oxide (NO) reduced the inactivation of Na(+) current. This effect was independent of cGMP, was blocked by N-ethylmaleimide, and could be elicited in cell-free outside-out patches. Thus, a reactive nitrogen species acts directly on the channel or closely associated protein. Persistent Na(+) current could also be induced by endogenous NO generated enzymatically by NO synthase (NOS). Application of ionomycin to raise the intracellular Ca(2+) concentration in myocytes activated NOS. The NO produced in response to ionomycin was detected with an NO-sensitive fluorescent dye. Persistent Na(+) current was enhanced by the same treatment, and NOS inhibitors abolished both the elevation of NO and the induction of persistent Na(+) current. These experiments show that NO is a potential endogenous regulator of persistent Na(+) current under physiological and pathophysiological conditions.
Social spending in Latin America : the story of the 1980s (1990)

This study traces public social sector expenditures for nine Latin American countries in the 1980s in order to determine how social services and social well-being have fared during the economic stringencies of the decade. The countries are Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Jamaica, and Venezuela. The sectors covered are health, education and social security. The study is drawn mostly from public expenditure/investment reviews done by the World Bank in the last two years. The study traces the magnitude of expenditures and examines whether there have been improvements in the efficiency or equity of the provision of social services sufficient to outweigh the reduction in expenditures. Social indicators are traced through the 1980s in an effort to discern the impact of changes in spending levels and patterns. In appendices, the social cost of adjustment literature is reviewed and the scope and role of public expenditure reviews in the Latin America and Caribbean Region of the World Bank are assessed. The study includes data for as much of the decade as possible. Unfortunately, data are scarce for the latter years, so the most detailed analysis is confined to the period 1980-85.
Protein tyrosine kinase expression during the estrous cycle and carcinogenesis of the mammary gland (1995)

The susceptibility of the mammary epithelium to neoplastic transformation is linked to the exposure to estrogen during the estrous cycle. The effects of the estrous cycle on the mouse mammary gland have been investigated by analyzing 3H-thymidine incorporation, milk protein gene expression and DNA fragmentation. We found that the mammary epithelium undergoes limited proliferation, differentiation and apoptosis in a cycle-dependent manner. The estrous-responsive regulators of the mammary epithelium are unknown; however, considering the integral role of protein tyrosine kinases (PTKs) in the control of normal and malignant development, members of this family of enzymes are likely candidates for such regulatory molecules. Using a RT-PCR-based cloning strategy, we have undertaken a survey of PTKs expressed in the mammary gland at defined stages of development, with special emphasis on the estrous cycle. We identified 21 known and 4 novel PTKs. Their expression was analyzed throughout mammary gland development and in mammary neoplasias using a transgenic mouse model for invasive and non-invasive carcinogenesis. Most of the identified PTKs showed highest expression during the estrous cycle and were down-regulated during pregnancy and lactation. Deregulated expression was rarely observed in the non-invasive mammary tumors. In contrast, 10 of 19 PTKs expressed during the estrous cycle were also over-expressed in the invasive carcinomas, mostly involving members of the receptor family of PTKs.
Detection of KRAS Oncogene in Peripheral Blood as a Predictor of the Response to Cetuximab Plus Chemotherapy in Patients with Metastatic Colorectal Cancer (2009)

These findings provide evidence that detection of KRAS mutational status in CTCs, by gene expression array, has potential for clinical application in selecting metastatic colorectal cancer patients most likely to benefit from cetuximab therapy.
The Proximal Interferon-Stimulated Response Elements Are Essential for Interferon Responsiveness: A Promoter Analysis of the Antiviral MxA Gene (1998)

Interferon (IFN)-inducible human MxA protein mediates resistance against influenza and several other RNA viruses. The MxA gene is under the control of type I IFN and, in certain cell types, is also directly activated by viruses. Here we show that in human macrophages, MxA mRNA levels are upregulated by very low doses of IFN-alpha in a dose-dependent manner. A similar, albeit much weaker, dose-dependent induction was seen with IFN-gamma. The induction was rapid and independent of protein synthesis. Interleukin-6 (IL-6) or tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) did not influence MxA mRNA levels alone or in combination with IFNs, in spite of the presence of putative response elements of these cytokines in the MxA promoter. We show that the promoter of the MxA gene contains two functional IFN-stimulated response elements (ISRE) near the transcription start site and one homologous ISRE-like element, which is apparently nonfunctional, further upstream. The two proximal ISRE sites are essential for IFN-alpha-induced transcription and appear to be binding sites for IFN-stimulated gene factor 3 complex. In addition, EMSA and DNAse I footprinting analysis demonstrated that Spl binds with high affinity to a region encompassing nucleotides -25 and -50 and, thus, may provide means of interaction with the basal transcriptional machinery.
Neurotransplantation in Neurodegenerative Disease: A Survey of Relevant Issues in Developmental Neurobiology (2000)

Neural development and transplantation therapies in neurodegenerative disease share a particular feature. In both cases, undifferentiated neural precursor cells are required to differentiate into a range of neural cell types in a tissue-specific fashion. This similarity opens the possibility that the mechanisms that drive neural development play a similar role in CNS repair. In this chapter, two aspects of neural development are considered in terms of their relevance to CNS repair: the diversity of neural precursor cells and positional specification. We present evidence to suggest that neural stem cells have a degree of diversity that is beyond what might have been expected a priori. We also show that neural stem cells express genes that might encode a positional specification for these cells, and consider a number of hypotheses about the role of positional specification in CNS repair.
Migratory applications (1995)

We introduce a new genre of user interface applications that can migrate from one machine to another, taking their user interface and application contexts with them, and continue from where they left off, Such applications are not tied to one user or one machine, and can roam freely over the network, rendering service to a community of users, gathering human input and interacting with people. We envisage that this will support many new agent-based collaboration metaphors. The ability to migrate executing programs has applicability to mobile computing as well. Users can have their applicatiorta travel with them, as they move from one computing environment to another. We present an elegant programming model for creating migratory applications and describe an implementation.
Supersparse overlay sampling plans: an evaluation of methods and algorithms for optimizing overlay quality control and metrology tool throughput (1999)

Traditionally, overlay metrology has ben primarily used for quality control of developed wafers. The secondary roles of overlay metrology, stepper modeling and feedback control, have become more prominent in recent years. In particular, the design of overlay sampling plans is usually strongly influenced by the requirements imposed by stepper modeling. Previous research has shown that intrafield sampling plans must be symmetric and repeating in order to support stable feedback control. These constraints impact the tradeoff between overlay tool throughput and quality control by imposing a higher than necessary cost on measuring additional exposure fields for irregular errors. In this paper we examine the concept of using super sparse overlays among plans along with innovative analysis methods and algorithms for stepper modeling. Super sparse sampling plans are defined as where the field by field intrafield sampling is irregular and asymmetric. When compared to typical sampling plans, super sparse plans allow the overlay tool to examine a 2 to 4 times the number of fields on a wafer with the same number of total measurements. In order to support super sparse sampling, it is necessary to employ innovative algorithms, which are capable of performing stepper modeling without losing result integrity. In this paper we report on the relative performance of regular versus super spares sampling plans for quality control, stepper modeling and overlay tool throughput.
The TORC1/TORC2 inhibitor, Palomid 529, reduces tumor growth and sensitizes to docetaxel and cisplatin in aggressive and hormone-refractory prostate cancer cells (2011)

One of the major obstacles in the treatment of hormone-refractory prostate cancer (HRPC) is the development of chemo-resistant tumors. The aim of this study is to evaluate the role of Palomid 529 (P529), a novel TORC1/TORC2 inhibitor, in association with docetaxel (DTX) and cisplatin (CP). This work utilizes a wide panel of prostatic cancer cell lines with or without basal activation of Akt as well as two in vivo models of aggressive HRPC. The blockade of Akt/mTOR activity was associated to reduced cell proliferation and induction of apoptosis. Comparison of IC50 values calculated for PTEN-positive and PTEN-negative cell lines as well as the PTEN transfection in PC3 cells or PTEN silencing in DU145 cells revealed that absence of PTEN was indicative for a better activity of the drug. In addition, P529 synergized with DTX and CP. The strongest synergism was achieved when prostate cancer (PCa) cells were sequentially exposed to CP or DTX followed by treatment with P529. Treatment with P529 before the exposure to chemotherapeutic drugs resulted in a moderate synergism, whereas intermediated values of combination index were found when drugs were administered simultaneously. In vivo treatment of a combination of P529 with DTX or CP increased the percentage of complete responses and reduced the number of mice with tumor progression. Our results provide a rationale for combinatorial treatment using conventional chemotherapy and a Akt/mTOR inhibitor as promising therapeutic approach for the treatment of HRPC, a disease largely resistant to conventional therapies.
Apomixis--The Asexual Revolution (1996)

Apomixis is an asexual reproductive process in plants whereby seeds that are exact genetic replicas of the maternal genetic material are produced. Vielle Calzada, Crane, and Stelly argue that this process, if understood and harnessed, will revolutionize genetic engineering and seed production for agriculturally important crops.
Wheat leaf rust caused by Puccinia triticina (2008)

USDA Cereal Disease Laboratory: http://www.ars.usda.gov/mwa/cdl.
Role of the parCBA Operon of the Broad-Host-Range Plasmid RK2 in Stable Plasmid Maintenance (1998)

The par region of the stably maintained broad-host-range plasmid RK2 is organized as two divergent operons, parCBA and parDE, and a cis-acting site. parDE encodes a postsegregational killing system, and parCBA encodes a resolvase (ParA), a nuclease (ParB), and a protein of unknown function (ParC). The present study was undertaken to further delineate the role of the parCBA region in the stable maintenance of RK2 by first introducing precise deletions in the three genes and then assessing the abilities of the different constructs to stabilize RK2 in three strains of Escherichia coli and two strains of Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The intact parCBA operon was effective in stabilizing a conjugation-defective RK2 derivative in E. coli MC1061K and RR1 but was relatively ineffective in E. coli MV10Deltalac. In the two strains in which the parCBA operon was effective, deletions in parB, parC, or both parB and parC caused an approximately twofold reduction in the stabilizing ability of the operon, while a deletion in the parA gene resulted in a much greater loss of parCBA activity. For P. aeruginosa PAO1161Rifr, the parCBA operon provided little if any plasmid stability, but for P. aeruginosa PAC452Rifr, the RK2 plasmid was stabilized to a substantial extent by parCBA. With this latter strain, parA and res alone were sufficient for stabilization. The cer resolvase system of plasmid ColE1 and the loxP/Cre system of plasmid P1 were tested in comparison with the parCBA operon. We found that, not unlike what was previously observed with MC1061K, cer failed to stabilize the RK2 plasmid with par deletions in strain MV10Deltalac, but this multimer resolution system was effective in stabilizing the plasmid in strain RR1. The loxP/Cre system, on the other hand, was very effective in stabilizing the plasmid in all three E. coli strains. These observations indicate that the parA gene, along with its res site, exhibits a significant level of plasmid stabilization in the absence of the parC and parB genes but that in at least one E. coli strain, all three genes are required for maximum stabilization. It cannot be determined from these results whether or not the stabilization effects seen with parCBA or the cer and loxP/Cre systems are strictly due to a reduction in the level of RK2 dimers and an increase in the number of plasmid monomer units or if these systems play a role in a more complex process of plasmid stabilization that requires as an essential step the resolution of plasmid dimers.
Two-dimensional electrophoresis of proteins as a tool in the metabolic engineering of cell cycle regulation (1996)

Metabolic engineering of cell cycle regulation addresses important biotechnological problems about serum removal from animal cell culture systems. Chinese hamster ovary cells stimulated to grow by fetal calf serum, insulin, or basic fibroblast growth factor were studied by two-dimensional electrophoresis (2DE) and the resulting protein expression patterns were analyzed. Detailed 2DE protocols are provided and at least 24 gene products are identified which may play an important role in growth factor signaling. Moreover, a correlation between the expression of three proteins (cyclin D1, cyclin E, and E2F-1) and mitogenic strength was found.
Polyphosphate is a cofactor for the activation of factor XI by thrombin (2011)

Factor XI deficiency is associated with a bleeding diathesis, but factor XII deficiency is not, indicating that, in normal hemostasis, factor XI must be activated in vivo by a protease other than factor XIIa. Several groups have identified thrombin as the most likely activator of factor XI, although this reaction is slow in solution. Although certain nonphysiologic anionic polymers and surfaces have been shown to enhance factor XI activation by thrombin, the physiologic cofactor for this reaction is uncertain. Activated platelets secrete the highly anionic polymer polyphosphate, and our previous studies have shown that polyphosphate has potent procoagulant activity. We now report that polyphosphate potently accelerates factor XI activation by α-thrombin, β-thrombin, and factor XIa and that these reactions are supported by polyphosphate polymers of the size secreted by activated human platelets. We therefore propose that polyphosphate is a natural cofactor for factor XI activation in plasma that may help explain the role of factor XI in hemostasis and thrombosis.