gebhart/patrepeval huggingface dataset:
γ-Zeins are essential for endosperm modification in quality protein maize (2010)

Essential amino acids like lysine and tryptophan are deficient in corn meal because of the abundance of zein storage proteins that lack these amino acids. A natural mutant, opaque 2 (o2) causes reduction of zeins, an increase of nonzein proteins, and as a consequence, a doubling of lysine levels. However, o2's soft inferior kernels precluded its commercial use. Breeders subsequently overcame kernel softness, selecting several quantitative loci (QTLs), called o2 modifiers, without losing the high-lysine trait. These maize lines are known as "quality protein maize" (QPM). One of the QTLs is linked to the 27-kDa gamma-zein locus on chromosome 7S. Moreover, QPM lines have 2- to 3-fold higher levels of the 27-kDa gamma-zein, but the physiological significance of this increase is not known. Because the 27- and 16-kDa gamma-zein genes are highly conserved in DNA sequence, we introduced a dominant RNAi transgene into a QPM line (CM105Mo2) to eliminate expression of them both. Elimination of gamma-zeins disrupts endosperm modification by o2 modifiers, indicating their hypostatic action to gamma-zeins. Abnormalities in protein body structure and their interaction with starch granules in the F1 with Mo2/+; o2/o2; gammaRNAi/+ genotype suggests that gamma-zeins are essential for restoring protein body density and starch grain interaction in QPM. To eliminate pleiotropic effects caused by o2, the 22-kDa alpha-zein, gamma-zein, and beta-zein RNAis were stacked, resulting in protein bodies forming as honeycomb-like structures. We are unique in presenting clear demonstration that gamma-zeins play a mechanistic role in QPM, providing a previously unexplored rationale for molecular breeding.
Circulating lethal toxin decreases the ability of neutrophils to respond toBacillus anthracis (2013)

Polymorphonuclear leucocytes (PMNs) play a protective role during Bacillus anthracis infection. However, B. anthracis is able to subvert the PMN response effectively as evidenced by the high mortality rates of anthrax. One major virulence factor produced by B. anthracis, lethal toxin (LT), is necessary for dissemination in the BSL2 model of mouse infection. While human and mouse PMNs kill vegetative B. anthracis, short in vitro half-lives of PMNs have made it difficult to determine how or if LT alters their bactericidal function. Additionally, the role of LT intoxication on PMN's ability to migrate to inflammatory signals remains controversial. LF concentrations in both serum and major organs were determined from mice infected with B. anthracis Sterne strain at defined stages of infection to guide subsequent administration of purified toxin. Bactericidal activity of PMNs assessed using ex vivo cell culture assays showed significant defects in killing B. anthracis. In vivo PMN recruitment to inflammatory stimuli was significantly impaired at 24 h as assessed by real-time analysis of light-producing PMNs within the mouse. The observations described above suggest that LT serves dual functions; it both attenuates accumulation of PMNs at sites of inflammation and impairs PMNs bactericidal activity against vegetative B. anthracis.
Guest Editorial: Introduction to Special Section on Smart Systems and Intelligent Networking Powered With Big Data Analytics (2020)

The papers in this special section focus on smart systems and intelligent networking that is powered with Big Data analytics. Smart systems, including Internet of Things (IoT), have emerged to address contemporary economic, societal, and environmental challenges, such as business and production automation, urban sustainability, climate change, healthcare, and globalization. They encompass different autonomous or collaborative systems with functions of sensing, actuation, and control for describing and analyzing a situation, and make decisions based on the available data in a predictive or adaptive manner. Intelligent networking enables these functions of smart systems by offering a global infrastructure for networked physical devices and everyday objects, which generates a gigantic amount of data, or big data. In addition, big data analytics is also employed in analyzing the big data so as to enable the networking to be intelligent and allow smart systems to perform astute, autonomous or collaborative actions. Nevertheless, the efficient and effective big data management and knowledge discovery of large-scale smart systems, big data analytics for intelligent networking, and networking technologies for big data (e.g., collection, processing, analysis and visualization) need more explorations.
Study on Vertical Crack Mechanism of Solder (2019)

Power semiconductor modules are electronic devices which control electric power, and they are used in railway vehicles, electric vehicles, power plants. In existing modules, Pb-based solder was used for bonding of semiconductor chips, but in recent years, Pb-free bonding technology is demanded to meet RoHS regulation. Sn-based solder is one of the Pb-free bonding material. Vertical fracture has been observed in the Sn-based solder during power cycling test (PCT). This vertical fracture is a new fracture mode and the detailed mechanism is unclear. We conducted research aimed at clarifying this vertical failure mechanism and constructing life estimation formula based on the mechanism, and obtained the following conclusions. The mechanism of vertical fracture is that the voids are generated and grown on the grain boundary, and further that the tensile stress at low temperature accelerates the damage by promoting the connection between grain boundary voids. It was confirmed that the estimated life by the life estimation formula devised based on the mechanism agreed well with the verification test result. In PCT of short period and long period, the prospect of longer life of Sn-based solder than that of Pb-based solder was obtained.
Evaluation of total alloplastic temporo-mandibular joint replacement with two different types of prostheses: A three-year prospective study (2016)

The results of this three-year prospective study support the surgical placement of TMJ prostheses (stock prosthetic, and custom-made systems), and show that the approach is efficacious and safe, reduces pain, and improves maximum mouth opening movement, with few complications. As such, TMJR represents a viable technique and a stable long-term solution for cranio-mandibular reconstruction in patients with irreversible end-stage TMJ disease. Comparing stock and custom-made groups, no statistically significant differences were detected with respect to pain intensity reduction and maximum mouth opening improvement.
Determination of stability and control derivatives using computational fluid dynamics and automatic differentiation (1999)

With the recent interest in novel control effectors there is a need to determine the stability and control derivatives of new aircraft configurations early in the design process. These derivatives are central to most control law design methods and would allow the determination of closed-loop control performance of the vehicle. Early determination of the static and dynamic behavior of an aircraft may permit significant improvement in configuration weight, cost, stealth, and performance through multidisciplinary design. The classical method of determining static stability and control derivatives - constructing and testing wind tunnel models - is expensive and requires a long lead time for the resultant data. Wind tunnel tests are also limited to the preselected control effectors of the model. To overcome these shortcomings, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) solvers are augmented via automatic differentiation, to directly calculate the stability and control derivatives. The CFD forces and moments are differentiated with respect to angle of attack, angle of sideslip, and aircraft shape parameters to form these derivatives. A subset of static stability and control derivatives of a tailless aircraft concept have been computed by two differentiated inviscid CFD codes and verified for accuracy with central finite-difference approximations and favorable comparisons to a simulation database.
Different susceptibility of mice to immune-mediated cholangitis induced by immunization with carbonic anhydrase II. (1998)

Carbonic anhydrase II (CA-II), an enzyme that catalyzes hydration of carbon dioxide to bicarbonate and hydrogen ions, is located exclusively in cholangiocytes in the liver. Recently, patients with autoimmune cholangitis have been reported to have serum antibodies to CA-II. Moreover, active immunization of susceptible mice with CA-II results in inflammation of submandibular glands, where CA-II is also expressed. In the present study, we attempted to produce cholangitis by immunization with CA-II using two strains of mice with different potential susceptibilities. Balb/c and DBA/1J mice were immunized with a dose of human CA-II (100 microg) intraperitoneally every other week on three occasions. One week after the final immunization, mice were killed and blood and tissue samples harvested. Light and electron microscopic evaluation for inflammation was performed under coded identification. After immunization of Balb/c mice, numerous mononuclear cells, mostly CD4-positive T cells, appeared around bile ducts; lymphocyte invasion between cholangiocytes was also seen. Inflammation was not observed outside the liver. Morphologic evidence of cholangitis was observed in 8 (53.3%) of 15 Balb/c mice and in 3 (20%) of 15 DBA/1 J mice. In the control mice immunized with bovine serum albumin (BSA), cholangitis was observed in only 1 (6.7%) of 15 Balb/c mice and none of 15 DBA/1J mice. Balb/c mice immunized with CA-II had statistically significant cholangitis compared with those immunized with BSA (p < 0.01), whereas DBA/1J did not show a significant difference from controls. Balb/c mice immunized with CA-II showed specific antibody production after immunization, whereas DBA/1J mice immunized with CA-II had anti-CA-II antibody even in preimmune sera. Adoptive transfer of splenocytes from CA-II-immunized Balb/c mice resulted in cholangitis in two (66.7%) of three Balb/c recipients. These data strongly suggest that the cholangitis can be induced by CA-II immunization in susceptible strains of mice.
Immunomodulation and the quorum sensing molecule 3-oxo-C12-homoserine lactone: the importance of chemical scaffolding for probe development (2013)

As a guide for chemical probe design, focused analogue synthetic studies were undertaken upon the lactone ring of 3-oxo-C(12)-homoserine lactone. We have concluded that hydrolytic instability of the heterocyclic ring is pivotal for its ability to modulate immune signaling and probe preparation was aligned with these findings.
High Performance Imaging through Occlusion via Energy Minimization-Based Optimal Camera Selection (2013)

Seeing an object in a cluttered scene with severe occlusion is a significantly challenging task for many computer vision applications. Although camera array synthetic aperture imaging has proven to be an effective way for occluded object imaging, its imaging quality is often significantly decreased by the shadows of the foreground occluder. To overcome this problem, some recent research has been presented to label the foreground occluder via object segmentation or 3D reconstruction. However, these methods usually fail in the case of complicated occluder or severe occlusion. In this paper, we present a novel optimal camera selection algorithm to handle the problem above. Firstly, in contrast to the traditional synthetic aperture photography methods, we formulate the occluded object imaging as a problem of visible light ray selection from the optimal camera view. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time to “mosaic” a high quality occluded object image via selecting multi-view optimal visible light rays from a camera array or a single moving camera. Secondly, a greedy optimization framework is presented to propagate the visibility information among various depth focus planes. Thirdly, a multiple label energy minimization formulation is designed in each plane to select the optimal camera view. The energy is estimated in the 3D synthetic aperture image volume and integrates the multiple view intensity consistency, previous visibility property and camera view smoothness, which is minimized via graph cuts. Finally, we compare this approach with the traditional synthetic aperture imaging algorithms on UCSD light field datasets and our own datasets captured in indoor and outdoor environment, and extensive experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness and superiority of our approach.
An RFID Distance Bounding Protocol (2006)

Radio-frequency identification tokens, such as contactless smartcards, are vulnerable to relay attacks if they are used for proximity authentication. Attackers can circumvent the limited range of the radio channel using transponders that forward exchanged signals over larger distances. Cryptographic distance-bounding protocols that measure accurately the round-trip delay of the radio signal provide a possible countermeasure. They infer an upper bound for the distance between the reader and the token from the fact that no information can propagate faster than at the speed of light. We propose a new distance-bounding protocol based on ultra-wideband pulse communication. Aimed at being implementable using only simple, asynchronous, low-power hardware in the token, it is particularly well suited for use in passive low-cost tokens, noisy environments and high-speed applications.
Effects of Differential Speed Rolling on Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of AZ31 Magnesium Alloy (2007)

A differential speed rolling (DSR) processing with a roll speed ratio of 1.167 was carried out on an AZ31 alloy for investigating the effects of DSR on microstructure, texture and mechanical properties. The DSR processed sheet showed unidirectional shear bands with a small grain size of 5.5 μm inclining to the rolling direction, and the basal plane tended to incline at about 15º from the rolling plane toward the rolling direction. Compared with the normal rolled sheet, the DSR processed sheets showed a lower proof stress and a larger elongation with an increase from 21% to 26% in the rolling direction. The proof stress increased and the elongation decreased with the angle between the tensile direction and the rolling direction.
Developments In High-Speed Vehicle Propulsion Systems (1996)

There have been impressive achievements in the last few years in the technologies associated with turboramjets and other combined cycle engines. These technologies, including their thermal management and integration with the vehicle, are the principal concerns of this volume. Drawing on the expertise of international engineers and researchers in the field of high-speed vehicle propulsion systems, these articles, written by experts from the United States, Russia, Germany, Japan, Belgium, and Israel, highlight developments in the industry.
Aspectos do ex-voto pictórico português (2006)

O ex-voto, como objecto, que, colocado em ermidas, igrejas, capelas, etc., se oferece a Deus, à Virgem Maria ou a um santo, em cumprimento de um voto (do latim ex voto, “segundo promessa”), tem, em Portugal, uma das expressões mais quantiosas e ricas nas tábuas, painéis, quadros ou retábulos votivos, a que se atribui ainda a designação de “milagres” (por empréstimo sinedóquico da fórmula de abertura de grande parte destes artefactos, a qual, de resto, de todas aquela que certamente não é apenas do uso de especialistas, reenvia imediatamente para a práxis religiosa que se celebra e para o conteúdo diegético humano-religioso que ali se concentra). As narrativas pictóricas neles plasmadas, alusivas, na sua maioria, a moribundos e a naufrágios, a par das inscrições que os acompanham e prolongam, consubstanciam uma fenomenologia do corpo e da alma que importa conhecer, para o que é necessário convocar conhecimentos interdisciplinares (da semiologia, da estética, da literatura, da linguística, da etnologia, da sociologia, da religião...).
Contrast enhancement in dermoscopy images by maximizing a histogram bimodality measure (2009)

Dermoscopy is one of the major imaging modalities used in the diagnosis of melanoma and other pigmented skin lesions. Due to the difficulty and subjectivity of human interpretation, automated analysis of dermoscopy images has become an important research area. Border detection is typically the first step in this analysis yet is often limited by the quality of the images to be analyzed. In this paper, we present an effective method to enhance the contrast in dermoscopy images. Given an input RGB image, we determine the optimal weights to convert it to grayscale by maximizing a histogram bimodality measure. Experiments on a large set of images demonstrate that this adaptive optimization scheme increases the contrast between the lesion and the background skin, and leads to a more accurate separation of the two regions using Otsu's thresholding method.
ETA receptor antagonists inhibit intimal smooth muscle cell proliferation in human vessels (2002)

We have determined the ability of the endothelin (ET)(A) receptor antagonist, PD156707 (CI 1020), to inhibit intimal proliferation in human saphenous veins maintained in organ culture. After 28 days in culture, veins exposed to 1 microM PD156707 exhibited a significant reduction in intima to intima-plus-media ratio (I:I+M ratio) (0.14+/-0.02, n=15) and an increase in lumen area (3.1+/-0.8 mm(2)) compared with veins cultured without the antagonist (I:I+M, 0.29+/-0.02; lumen area, 2.5+/-0.7 mm(2); n=23) but were not significantly different from pre-cultured controls (I:I+M, 0.15+/-0.02; lumen area, 4.4+/-1.2 mm(2); n=17) (Dunn's test for non-parametric multiple comparisons: alpha<0.05). In organ bath experiments, ET-1 and 5-hydroxytryptamine constricted pre-cultured control vessels with pD(2) values (where pD(2) is defined as the negative logarithm of the molar EC(50) value of an agonist) of 8.9+/-0.4 and 7.0+/-0.4 (n=3) and E(max) (efficacy) values of 86+/-3% and 71+/-13% (compared with constriction induced by KCl) respectively. There was no difference in the responsiveness of veins cultured for 14 days to either agonist, indicating that the vessels maintained in organ culture remain viable. Crucially, vein segments cultured with 1 microM PD156707 (a concentration that antagonized ET-1 responses in pre-cultured control vessels) contracted to ET-1 with a potency comparable to that obtained in vessels cultured in the absence of the antagonist (pD(2)=8.9+/-0.4 and 8.0+/-0.6 respectively, n=3) confirming that PD156707 was not toxic to the tissue at the concentration used. In conclusion we have shown that the ET(A)-selective antagonist, PD156707, completely blocked intimal hyperplasia in human saphenous veins in organ culture, suggesting that ET(A) antagonists may be beneficial in preventing or delaying saphenous vein graft disease in patients receiving bypass grafts for coronary artery disease.
Another attack on A5/1 (2003)

A5/1 is a stream cipher used in the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) standard. Several time-memory tradeoff attacks against A5/1 have been proposed, most notably the attack by Biryukov, Shamir and Wagner (1978), which can break A5/1 in seconds using huge precomputation time and memory. This article presents a completely different attack on A5/1, based on ideas from correlation attacks. Whereas time-memory tradeoff attacks have a complexity which is exponential with the shift-register length, the complexity of the proposed attack is almost independent of the shift-register length. Our implementation of the suggested attack breaks A5/1 in a few minutes using 2-5 min of conversation plaintext.
Optimisation multi-critère pour véhicules autonomes en environnement dynamique (2018)

Dans les dernières années, la recherche sur les véhicules autonomes a connu un essor sans précédent. De plus, elle vient s'ajouter à un effort permanent des constructeurs pour diminuer la consommation (...)
Isolated Lumbar Extension Resistance Exercise in Limited Range of Motion for Patients with Lumbar Radiculopathy and Disk Herniation—Clinical Outcome and Influencing Factors (2021)

(1) Background: Reconditioning of the paraspinal lumbar extensor muscles by isolated lumbar extension resistance exercises (ILEX) has shown good clinical results for patients with chronic unspecific low back pain. However, the clinical value and safety for patients with specific spine pathologies is unclear. In this study, clinical outcome and influencing factors were retrospectively analyzed for patients with lumbar disk herniation (LDH) and radiculopathy. (2) Methods: 189 consecutive patients (123 men and 66 women; mean age, 36 years) with clinically diagnosed LDH and relative indications for surgery started a 9-week rehabilitation program (2x/week) including ILEX in limited range of motion (ROM) adjusted to patients' symptoms. Patients diagnosed with advanced levels of spine degeneration were excluded. Pain/radiculopathy (PR), influence on mental health (IOMH), satisfaction rates were measured via Numeric Rating Scales (NRS, 0-10), and overall clinical outcome was stated in % (100% = full recovery). Isometric extension strength was tested before and after the program. (3) Results: 168 patients (88.9%) completed the program. For 162 out of 168 patients (96.4%) there was a significant reduction of clinical symptoms, whereas 6 patients reported no changes in symptoms. Scores (mean) for symptom intensity decreased from 4.2 (±1.5) to 1.9 (±1.5) (<i>p</i> < 0.001), the impact on mental health decreased from 5.9 (±2.3) to 2.4 (±2.0) (<i>p</i> < 0.001). There was a (weak) correlation between lower scores for PR and IOMH before the study and better clinical outcomes; PR also weakly correlated with satisfaction. Other factors such as age, strength increase, level/location and number of LDH did not have a significant impact on the clinical results. (4) Conclusion: The results indicate that ILEX in limited ROM can be an effective treatment for the majority of patients with LDH. For patients with high pain levels, the results are less consistent, and surgery may be considered.
Supplementary Text from Common <i>TDP1</i> Polymorphisms in Relation to Survival among Small Cell Lung Cancer Patients: A Multicenter Study from the International Lung Cancer Consortium (2023)

&lt;p&gt;Description of the participant studies&lt;/p&gt;
Reshaping of the refractive index profile of a liquid crystal waveguide by means of an external electric field (2003)

Graded index planar waveguides have been realized by using a nematic liquid crystal in a distorted hybrid configuration. The application of external electric fields enables to modify the orientation of the local molecular axis and hence to reshape in an easy and controlled way the refractive index profile. The waveguide, characterized for various electric field strengths by means of m-lines spectroscopy, behaves in good agreement with what expected from a simple model based on the dielectric, optical and elastic properties of the liquid crystal.
Das erste Wasser‐abhängige flüssige Clathrat: Nachweis einer C‐H … π(Heteroaren) … H‐C‐Wechselwirkung im Festkörper durch Röntgenstrukturanalyse (1994)

Luft‐ und hydrolysebeständig ist die Cyanoborat‐Wirtverbindung 1 , die mit Furan je nach Wassergehalt ein flüssiges oder ein festes Clathrat bildet. Die Röntgenstruktur analyse des festen Clathrats zeigt, daß im Kristall neuartige C‐H… π(Heteroaren)… H‐C‐Wechselwirkungen sowie CN…H‐C(P)‐Anion‐Kation‐Wechselwirkungen vorliegen. magnified image
Evaluation of inhaler technique and achievement and maintenance of mastery of budesonide/formoterol Spiromax® compared with budesonide/formoterol Turbuhaler® in adult patients with asthma: the Easy Low Instruction Over Time (ELIOT) study (2018)

EudraCT 2013-004630-14 (registration date 23 January 2014); NCT02570425 .