gebhart/patrepeval huggingface dataset:
Receptive Properties of Mouse Sensory Neurons Innervating Hairy Skin (1997)

Using an in vitro nerve skin preparation and controlled mechanical or thermal stimuli, we analyzed the receptive properties of 277 mechanosensitive single primary afferents with myelinated (n = 251) or unmyelinated (n = 26) axons innervating the hairy skin in adult or 2-wk-old mice. Afferents were recorded from small filaments of either sural or saphenous nerves in an outbred mice strain or in the inbred Balb/c strain. On the basis of their receptive properties and conduction velocity, several receptor types could be distinguished. In adult animals (>6 wk old), 54% of the large myelinated fibers (Abeta, n = 83) showed rapidly adapting (RA) discharges to constant force stimuli and probably innervated hair follicles, whereas 46% displayed a slowly adapting (SA) response and probably innervated Merkel cells in touch domes. Among thin myelinated fibers (Adelta, n = 91), 34% were sensitive D hair receptors and 66% were high-threshold mechanoreceptors (AM fibers). Unmyelinated fibers had high mechanical thresholds and nociceptive functions. All receptor types had characteristic stimulus-response functions to suprathreshold force stimuli. Noxious heat stimuli (15-s ramp from 32 to 47 degrees C measured at the corium side of the skin) excited 26% (5 of 19) of AM fibers with a threshold of 42.5 +/- 1.4 degrees C (mean +/- SE) and an average discharge of 15.8 +/- 9.7 action potentials and 41% (7 of 17) C fibers with a mean threshold of 37.6 +/- 1.9 degrees C and an average discharge of 22.0 +/- 6.0 action potentials. Noxious cold stimuli activated 1 of 10 AM fibers and 3 of 10 C fibers. One of 10 C units responded to both heat and cold stimuli. All types of afferent fibers present in adult mice could readily be recognized in mice at postnatal day 14. However, fibers had reduced conduction velocities and the stimulus-response function to mechanical stimuli was more shallow in all fibers except for the D hairs. In juvenile mice, 22% of RA units also displayed an SA response at high stimulus intensities; these units were termed RA/SA units. We conclude that all types of cutaneous afferent fibers are already committed to their phenotype 2 wk after birth but undergo some maturation over the following weeks. This preparation has great potential for the study of transgenic mice with targeted mutations of genes that code factors that are involved in the specification of sensory neuron phenotypes.
Reliability importance of components in a complex system (2004)

Reliability importance indices are valuable in establishing direction and prioritization of actions related to an upgrading effort (reliability improvement) in system design, or suggesting the most efficient way to operate and maintain system status. Existing indices are calculated through analytical approaches, and application of these indices to complex repairable systems may be intractable. Complex repairable systems are being increasingly seen, and issues related to analytical system reliability and availability solutions are well known. To overcome this intractability, discrete event simulation, through the use of reliability block diagrams (RBD), is often used to obtain numerical system reliability characteristics. Traditional use of simulation results provides no easy way to compute reliability importance indices. To bridge this gap, several new reliability importance indices are proposed and defined in this paper. These indices can be directly calculated from the simulation results and their limiting values are traditional reliability importance indices. Examples are provided to illustrate the application of the proposed importance indices.
Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli TibA Glycoprotein Adheres to Human Intestine Epithelial Cells (2001)

Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) is capable of invading epithelial cell lines derived from the human ileum and colon. Two separate invasion loci (tia and tib) that direct noninvasive E. coli strains to adhere to and invade cultured human intestine epithelial cells have previously been isolated from the classical ETEC strain H10407. The tib locus directs the synthesis of TibA, a 104-kDa outer membrane glycoprotein. Synthesis of TibA is directly correlated with the adherence and invasion phenotypes of the tib locus, suggesting that this protein is an adhesin and invasin. Here we report the purification of TibA and characterization of its biological activity. TibA was purified by continuous-elution preparative sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Purified TibA was biotin labeled and then shown to bind to HCT8 human ileocecal epithelial cells in a specific and saturable manner. Unlabeled TibA competed with biotin-labeled TibA, suggesting the presence of a specific TibA receptor in HCT8 cells. These results show that TibA acts as an adhesin. Polyclonal anti-TibA antiserum inhibited invasion of ETEC strain H10407 and of recombinant E. coli bearing tib locus clones, suggesting that TibA also acts as an invasin. The ability of TibA to direct epithelial cell adhesion suggests a role for this protein in ETEC pathogenesis.
Low complexity I/Q imbalance and channel estimation techniques for MIMO OFDM systems (2013)

In this paper, the joint estimation techniques of in-phase and quadrature-phase (I/Q) imbalance and channel impulse response (CIR) are proposed for multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) systems over Rayleigh fading environments. A novel preamble-aided structure with orthogonal property is designed to cancel the image interference due to I/Q imbalance and channel effects. Simulation results confirm the proposed method with low computational complexity can accurately estimate the CIR and I/Q imbalance parameters and achieve better root mean square error (MSE) performance over RF impairment and multipath fading channel environments.
Targeted Apoptosis Activation with GrB/scFvMEL Modulates Melanoma Growth, Metastatic Spread, Chemosensitivity, and Radiosensitivity (2006)

GrB/scFvMEL, a fusion protein composed of human granzyme B (GrB) and the single-chain antibody scFvMEL, targets melanoma gp240 antigen and exerts impressive cytotoxic effects by inducing apoptosis. We evaluated the effects of GrB/scFvMEL on chemotherapy, radiation therapy, metastasis in vitro, and the growth of human melanoma A375 xenograft tumors in nude mice. GrB/scFvMEL showed synergistic cytotoxicity when coadministered with doxorubicin, vincristine or cisplatin, and additive effects, in combination with etoposide or cytarabine. Optimal cytotoxic effects were obtained when cells were treated first with GrB/scFvMEL followed by exposure to the agent (rather than the reverse). Pretreatment of A375 cells with GrB/scFvMEL significantly sensitized melanoma cells to ionizing radiation assessed using a clonogenic survival assay. Subtoxic doses of GrB/scFvMEL inhibited the invasion of A375 cells into Matrigel. GrB/scFvMEL (37.5 mg/kg) was administered intravenously to nude mice bearing A375 tumors. Saline-treated tumors increased 24-fold, whereas tumors treated with GrB/scFvMEL showed a significant tumor growth delay increasing four-fold. Tumor tissue displayed an increase in apoptotic nuclei compared to control. Thus, the targeted delivery of GrB to tumors may have a significant potential for cancer treatment. Targeted therapeutic agents specifically designed to impact cellular apoptotic pathways may represent a novel class of therapeutic agents.
Positive Selection of Apoptosis-resistant Cells Correlates with Activation of Dominant-Negative STAT5 (1998)

The STAT5 activation has important roles in cell differentiation, cell cycle control, and development. However, the potential implications of STAT5 in the control of apoptosis remain unexplored. To evaluate any possible link between the erythropoietin receptor (EpoR) JAK2/STAT5 transduction pathway and apoptosis, we have investigated apoptosis-resistant cells (ApoR) that arose from positive selection of the erythroid-committed Ba/F3EpoR cells triggered to apoptosis by ectopic expression of the HOX-B8 homeotic gene. We show that JAK2 is normally activated by Epo in both Ba/F3EpoR and ApoR cells. In contrast, both STAT5a and STAT5b isoforms are uniquely activated in a C-truncated form (86 kDa) only in ApoR cells. Analysis of ApoR and Ba/F3EpoR subclones confirmed that the switch to the truncated STAT5 isoform coincides with apoptosis survival and that ApoR do not derive from preexisting cells with a shortened STAT5. In addition, ApoR cells die in the absence of Epo. This indicates that resistance to apoptosis is not because of a general defect in the apoptotic pathway of ApoR cells. Furthermore, we show that the 86-kDa STAT5 protein presents a dominant-negative (DN) character. We hypothesize that the switch to a DN STAT5 may be part of a mechanism that allows ApoR cells to be selectively advantaged during apoptosis. In conclusion, we provide evidence for a functional correlation between a naturally occurring DN STAT5 and a biological response.
Plasmonic Interactions and Optical Forces between Au Bipyramidal Nanoparticle Dimers (2009)

Interparticle forces that can be driven by applied (optical) fields could lead to the formation of new particle arrangements when assembled in arrays. Furthermore, the potentially large interactions and large local fields associated with plasmon excitations in anisotropic nanoparticles can lead to enhanced nonlinear responses and applications for sensing. These and other applications would benefit from simulations of spectra and forces arising from plasmonic interactions. We present the results of rigorous three-dimensional, finite-difference, time-domain calculations of near- and far-field properties of pairs of Au bipyramidal nanoparticles in three different configurations: side-by-side, head-to-tail, and face-on. The absorption and scattering spectra depend strongly on the geometry as well as on the interparticle separation, as intuitively expected from a dipole coupling picture. Bipyramidal dimers in head-to-tail and face-on geometries exhibit an increasingly red-shifted (longitudinal) plasmon resonance with decreasing separation, whereas side-by-side dimers exhibit a blue shift. Large resonant field enhancements at the gap between particles in a head-to-tail configuration indicate the strong coupling of plasmonic modes. The Maxwell stress tensor formalism is employed to calculate the optical force one particle exerts on the other. Both significant attraction and weak repulsion can be obtained, depending on the relative arrangement of the particles. The force between bipyramids in the head-to-tail configuration can be greater than 10 times the force between pairs of Au nanospheres with the same volume. Experimental linear scattering spectra of particles trapped using the plasmon-resonance-based optical trapping method are found to be consistent with two particles trapped in the side-by-side configuration.
Escorting Ras (2012)

Ras proteins are best known to function on the plasma membrane to mediate growth factor signaling. Controlling the length of time that Ras proteins stay on the plasma membrane is an effective way to properly modulate the intensity and duration of growth factor signaling. It has been shown previously that H- and N-Ras proteins in the GTP-bound state can be ubiquitylated via a K-63 linkage, which leads to endosome internalization and results in a negative-feedback loop for efficient signal attenuation. In a more recent study, two new Ras effectors have been isolated, CHMP6 and VPS4A, which are components of the ESCRT-III complex, best known for mediating protein sorting in the endosomes. Surprisingly, these molecules are required for efficient Ras-induced transformation. They apparently do so by controlling recycling of components of the Ras pathway back to the plasma membrane, thus creating a positive-feedback loop to enhance growth factor signaling. These results suggest the fates of endosomal Ras proteins are complex and dynamic - they can be either stored and/or destroyed or recycled. Further work is needed to decipher how the fate of these endosomal Ras proteins is determined.
The simplified stochastic Fermi-Ulam model revisited (2009)

The description of Fermi acceleration developing in the phase-randomized simplified Fermi-Ulam model (SFUM) can be achieved in terms of a random walk taking place in momentum space. Within this framework the evolution of the probability density function of particle velocities is determined by the Fokker-Planck equation (FPE). However, the standard treatment in the literature leads to a result, which even though is in agreement with the numerical results, it is inconsistent with the transport coefficients used for the construction of the FPE. In this work we present a consistent scheme for the description of Fermi acceleration, resolving this contradiction.
Technetium-99m-HMPAO SPECT, CT and MRI in the evaluation of patients with chronic traumatic brain injury: a correlation with neuropsychological performance. (1994)

In evaluating chronic TBI patients, HMPAO SPECT, as a complement to CT or MRI, may play a useful role by demonstrating brain dysfunction in morphologically intact brain regions and providing objective evidence for some of the impaired NP performance.
Level of p75 receptor expression in sensory ganglia is modulated by NGF level in the target tissue (1998)

Neurotrophins play an essential role in sensory development by providing trophic support to neurons that innervate peripheral targets. Nerve growth factor (NGF), neurotrophin-3, neurotrophin-4, and brain-derived neurotrophin exert their survival effect by binding to two transmembrane receptor types: trk receptors, which exhibit binding specificity, and the p75NTR receptor, which binds all neurotrophins. To determine how target-derived neurotrophins affect sensory neuron development and function, we used transgenic mice that overexpress NGF in the skin to examine the impact of NGF overexpression on receptor expression. Previous studies of trk expression in trigeminal ganglia of adult NGF transgenics showed that the percentage of trkA neurons doubled and their number increased fivefold. The present study focused on the p75 receptor and shows that the percentage of neurons expressing p75NTR also increase in NGF ganglia, but only by 10%. This increase did not encompass the small, BS-IB-4 isolectin-positive cells as they remained p75 negative in transgenic ganglia. Interestingly, levels of trkA protein were not increased on a per-cell level, whereas levels of p75NTR increased nearly threefold. These results show that in sensory systems, target-derived NGF modulates the level of p75NTR receptor expression, and in so doing, may act to regulate the formation of functional receptor complexes and subsequent trophic action.
Study of bacterial defined consortium adapted to low phenanthrene bioavailability (2014)

A general problem of bioremediation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) contaminated soil is that the degradation appears rather slow, due to the propensity of these nonpolar contaminants to adsorb strongly to organic matter.&#13;\nThe establishment of microniches of PAH degrading bacteria in an aged PAH contaminated soil represents a process strongly influenced by the manner in which the PAH are exposure in the soil and bacterial capability to develop physiological strategies to adapt to the PAH bioavailability. Due to the reduced bioavailability, the bioaugmentation strategy with cultures obtained by enrichment in solid phase systems, could be a promising strategy to apply in aged contaminated soils.&#13;\nApplying an enrichment method with the phenanthrene provided in a sorbed state, a degrading consortia was previously obtained. The predominant strains from the consortia were isolated and identified as belonging to Sphingobium, Acidovorax, Rhodococcus and Arthrobacter genera (strains C1, C2, C3 and C4, respectively) suggesting that the strains could develop different strategies to integrate the degrader consortium.&#13;\nBecause the successful of survival and establishment of a consortium in soil is probably higher than those obtained with the inoculation of only one strain, we focussed our study in understanding how a defined consortium built by these four strains could be more efficient in reducing sorbed phenanthene than pure cultures.&#13;\nThe Amberlite® XAD-2 preloaded with phenanthrene (10.8mg of phenanthrene g-1 XAD2) was used as solid model in batch system with mineral medium (10% p/v). Each strain and the defined consortium were inoculated in the solid model in batch system with phenanthrene as only carbon source. Systems without phenanthere were inoculated to evaluate the inespecific adsortion to the resin beads.&#13;\nThe biomass developed on the beads was monitoring by R2 agar count and FTIR spectroscopy (evaluating the increase in Amide I band at 1650cm-1) after 10 and 30 days of incubation at 28C.&#13;\nOnly the Arthrobacter sp. C4 strain growing as pure culture exceeded the 106 ufc/g of XAD2-Phen after 10d. Both by plate count and FTIR we could determine that, C1 and C4 biomass obtained in pure cultures were more abundant on XAD2 beads than XAD2-Phen, suggesting the strains could degrade the resin.&#13;\nWhen the four strains were inoculated together in XAD2-Phen, each strain rose to 107 CFU/g and remained this value after 30d. Both the high amount of carbohydrates observed for Acidovorax sp. C2 strain (1200-900cm-1 and 3500cm-1) and the significant production of lipids for Rhodococcus sp. C3 strain (3000-2800 cm-1) could be detected in the defined consortium. These results demonstrated that at least these two strains could establish and express their phenotypes during the consortium development.&#13;\nBoth FTIR spectroscopy and HPLC techniques allow the detection of phenanthrene by products accumulation along the pure cultures, which were reduced in the consortium.
A Novel Dengue Virus Inhibitor, BP13944, Discovered by High-Throughput Screening with Dengue Virus Replicon Cells Selects for Resistance in the Viral NS2B/NS3 Protease (2013)

Dengue virus (DENV) causes disease globally, resulting in an estimated 25 to 100 million new infections per year. No effective DENV vaccine is available, and the current treatment is only supportive. Thus, there is an urgent need to develop therapeutic agents to cure this epidemic disease. In the present study, we identified a potential small-molecule inhibitor, BP13944, via high-throughput screening (HTS) of 60,000 compounds using a stable cell line harboring an efficient luciferase replicon of DENV serotype 2 (DENV-2). BP13944 reduced the expression of the DENV replicon reporter in cells, showing a 50% effective concentration (EC50) of 1.03 ± 0.09 μM. Without detectable cytotoxicity, the compound inhibited replication or viral RNA synthesis in all four serotypes of DENV but not in Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV). Sequencing analyses of several individual clones derived from BP13944-resistant RNAs purified from cells harboring the DENV-2 replicon revealed a consensus amino acid substitution (E66G) in the region of the NS3 protease domain. Introduction of E66G into the DENV replicon, an infectious DENV cDNA clone, and recombinant NS2B/NS3 protease constructs conferred 15.2-, 17.2-, and 3.1-fold resistance to BP13944, respectively. Our results identify an effective small-molecule inhibitor, BP13944, which likely targets the DENV NS3 protease. BP13944 could be considered part of a more effective treatment regime for inhibiting DENV in the future.
Instability of the Proportional Fair Scheduling Algorithm for HDR (2004)

In this letter, we study the Proportional Fair scheduler that has been proposed for scheduling in the high data rate (HDR) wireless data system. We consider a single basestation transmitting to a set of mobile users. In each time slot, the scheduler has to decide on a mobile to which it will transmit data. The decision is based on information that the basestation receives about the time-varying channels between itself and the mobiles. We focus on deciding whether or not Proportional Fair is stable in a situation with finite queues and a data arrival process. That is, we wish to decide if Proportional Fair keeps all queues bounded whenever this is feasible. There are, in fact, multiple versions of Proportional Fair, depending on how it treats small queues. In this letter, we consider six different versions and show that all are unstable for one simple example.
Segmentation of the pectoral muscle edge on mammograms by tunable parametric edge detection (2001)

Mammograms are used to screen for breast cancer and computerized analysis of these images can aid radiologists in detecting the disease. Any computerized method to analyze digitized mammograms must first partition the image into its visually and anatomically distinct regions. The pectoral muscle appears on mediolateral oblique views of mammograms and needs to be identified and segmented out before further analysis. This paper presents an algorithm for segmenting the edge of the pectoral muscle. A modification of the conventional edge detection paradigm gives rise to families of tunable parametric edge detectors, one of which has been used to extract the pectoral edge simply, controllably and reliably from mammograms.
Do Inflammatory Bowel Disease Therapies Cause Cancer? (2013)

Immunomodulators and biological agents are effective for the treatment of ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease; however, there is concern that these therapies may be associated with an increased risk of malignancy. MEDLINE, Cochrane Library, and Web of Science were searched for articles regarding these medications and their associations with hematologic malignancies and solid tumors in inflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs) and transplant, rheumatology, dermatology, and neurology patient populations. There is evidence that use of thiopurines and anti-tumor necrosis factor (TNF) agents is associated with an increased risk of lymphoma, particularly non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in patients with IBD. Hepatosplenic T-cell lymphoma, although rare, also occurs with increased frequency in patients treated with thiopurines and anti-TNF medications, and young male patients with Crohn's disease appear to be at greatest risk. Furthermore, thiopurines and anti-TNF agents are associated with elevated rates of nonmelanoma skin cancer in non-IBD and IBD patients, and anti-TNF agents may also increase the risk of melanoma. Rates of abnormal cervical cytology may be elevated by the use of immunosuppressive agents in female patients with IBD. There is little evidence that exposure to the therapeutic agents prescribed for IBD increases the risk of any other solid tumors or hematologic malignancies in non-IBD or IBD patients. Although the use of immunomodulators and anti-TNF agents can promote certain types of lymphoma and skin cancer, patients and clinicians should be aware that the absolute rates of these malignancies remain low, and these risks should be weighed carefully against the substantial benefits offered by these therapies.
A novel CMOS-compatible inkjet head (2002)

We propose a new CMOS-compatible fabrication process for miniaturised monolithic thermal inkjet heads. The ink channels are formed by sacrificial removal of metal wires in a standard CMOS process. This simplifies the processing and enables close spacing of the channels. It also allows for easy integration of nozzle and electronics. A demonstrator fabricated using a commercially available CMOS process followed by straightforward postprocessing is presented as well as specially made CMOS compatible structures. Typical dimensions of the channels are 10 /spl mu/m wide, 0.5-1.5 /spl mu/m thick, and 300-600 /spl mu/m long.