gebhart/patrepeval huggingface dataset:
Prostaglandin E2 modulates Na+,K+‐ATPase activity in rat hippocampus: implications for neurological diseases (2009)

Prostaglandin E(2) (PGE(2)) is quantitatively one of the major prostaglandins synthesized in mammalian brain, and there is evidence that it facilitates seizures and neuronal death. However, little is known about the molecular mechanisms involved in such excitatory effects. Na(+),K(+)-ATPase is a membrane protein which plays a key role in electrolyte homeostasis maintenance and, therefore, regulates neuronal excitability. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that PGE(2) decreases Na(+),K(+)-ATPase activity, in order to shed some light on the mechanisms underlying the excitatory action of PGE(2). Na(+),K(+)-ATPase activity was determined by assessing ouabain-sensitive ATP hydrolysis. We found that incubation of adult rat hippocampal slices with PGE(2) (0.1-10 microM) for 30 min decreased Na(+),K(+)-ATPase activity in a concentration-dependent manner. However, PGE(2) did not alter Na(+),K(+)-ATPase activity if added to hippocampal homogenates. The inhibitory effect of PGE(2) on Na(+),K(+)-ATPase activity was not related to a decrease in the total or plasma membrane immunocontent of the catalytic alpha subunit of Na(+),K(+)-ATPase. We found that the inhibitory effect of PGE(2) (1 microM) on Na(+),K(+)-ATPase activity was receptor-mediated, as incubation with selective antagonists for EP1 (SC-19220, 10 microM), EP3 (L-826266, 1 microM) or EP4 (L-161982, 1 microM) receptors prevented the PGE(2)-induced decrease of Na(+),K(+)-ATPase activity. On the other hand, incubation with the selective EP2 agonist (butaprost, 0.1-10 microM) increased enzyme activity per se in a concentration-dependent manner, but did not prevent the inhibitory effect of PGE(2). Incubation with a protein kinase A (PKA) inhibitor (H-89, 1 microM) and a protein kinase C (PKC) inhibitor (GF-109203X, 300 nM) also prevented PGE(2)-induced decrease of Na(+),K(+)-ATPase activity. Accordingly, PGE(2) increased phosphorylation of Ser943 at the alpha subunit, a critical residue for regulation of enzyme activity. Importantly, we also found that PGE(2) decreases Na(+),K(+)-ATPase activity in vivo. The results presented here imply Na(+),K(+)-ATPase as a target for PGE(2)-mediated signaling, which may underlie PGE(2)-induced increase of brain excitability.
Cover Picture: Staining of Fluid‐Catalytic‐Cracking Catalysts: Localising Brønsted Acidity within a Single Catalyst Particle (Chem. Eur. J. 4/2012) (2012)

A staining approach using the Brønsted acid catalyzed styrene oligomerization reaction has been applied to selectively visualize the zeolite domains within fluid-catalytic-cracking catalyst particles with confocal fluorescence microscopy. This catalyst material is industrially applied for the production of gasoline from oil fractions and its active ingredient is the zeolite component. Micron-sized zeolite domains (green) were found to be inhomogeneously distributed within the catalyst particles and their decrease in Brønsted acidity as a function of deactivation could be monitored in terms of a decrease in fluorescence intensity. For more details see the Full Paper by B. M. Weckhuysen et al. on page 1094 ff. We thank Agnieszka Ruppert for designing the figure. Nanoscale Biocoordination Polymers In their Concept article on page 1030 ff., Z. Tang and Y. Liu explore the fascinating world of nanoscale biocoordination polymers, with respect to their controlled design and possible applications. It can be anticipated that nanoscale biocoordination polymers will become a diverse and rapidly growing class of novel materials and potentially lead to a breakthrough in biological applications.1 Electron Transfer In their Full Paper on page 1084 ff., W. Nam, K. D. Karlin, S. Fukuzumi et al. describe the four-electron reduction of dioxygen by decamethylferrocene (Fc*) in acetone, which is efficiently catalyzed by a binuclear copper(II) complex or a mononuclear copper(II) complex in the presence of trifluoroacetic acid. Fast electron transfer from Fc* to these two complexes gives the corresponding CuI complexes, which react with dioxygen to give the η2:η2-peroxo dicopper(II) and bis-μ-oxo dicopper(III) intermediates, respectively. This study broadens the range of copper complexes known to be effective in O2 reduction chemistry.1 Green Choline-Derived Solvents In their Communication on page 1043 ff., F. Jérôme et al. report on a new generation of choline-derived ionic fluids ([Ch]OAc) that can dissolve and decrystallize microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) within only a few minutes. Within 5–10 min at 110 °C, these [Ch]OAc-based systems can dissolve approximately 2–6 wt % of MCC.1
Cell-cell communication in yeast using auxin biosynthesis and auxin responsive CRISPR transcription factors (2015)

An engineering framework for synthetic multicellular systems requires a programmable means of cell–cell communication. Such a communication system would enable complex behaviors, such as pattern formation, division of labor in synthetic microbial communities, and improved modularity in synthetic circuits. However, it remains challenging to build synthetic cellular communication systems in eukaryotes due to a lack of molecular modules that are orthogonal to the host machinery, easy to reconfigure, and scalable. Here, we present a novel cell-to-cell communication system in Saccharomyces cerevisiae (yeast) based on CRISPR transcription factors and the plant hormone auxin that exhibits several of these features. Specifically, we engineered a sender strain of yeast that converts indole-3-acetamide (IAM) into auxin via the enzyme iaaH from Agrobacterium tumefaciens. To sense auxin and regulate transcription in a receiver strain, we engineered a reconfigurable library of auxin-degradable CRISPR transcription fac...
C‐terminal region contributes to muscle acylphosphatase three‐dimensional structure stabilisation (1996)

Ser-Ala and Ser-Ala-Ser-Ala C-terminus elongated (delta+2 and delta+4, respectively) and two C-terminus deleted (delta-2 and delta-3) muscle acylphosphatase mutants were investigated to assess the catalytic and structural roles of the C-terminal region. The kinetic analysis of these mutants shows that the removal of two or three C-terminal residues reduces the catalytic activity to 7% and 4% of the value measured for the wild-type enzyme, respectively; instead, the elongation of the C-terminus does not significantly change the enzyme behaviour. 1H Nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy indicates that all mutants display a native-like fold though they appear less stable, particularly delta-2 and delta-3 mutants, as compared to the wild-type enzyme. Such destabilisation of the C-terminal modified mutants is further confirmed by urea inactivation experiments. The results here presented account for an involvement of the C-terminal region in the stabilisation of the three-dimensional structure of acylphosphatase, particularly at the active-site level. Moreover, a participation of the C-terminal carboxyl group to the catalytic mechanism can be excluded.
The spindle stage: A powerful optical tool (1988)

A single, reasonably homogeneous, nonopaque 30-to-300 μm crystal, mounted on a spindle stage and studied by immersion methods under a polarizing microscope, yields optical data frequently sufficient to identify and characterize a substance unequivocally. The data obtainable include (1) the orientation of the crystal's principal vibration axes and (2) its principal refractive indices, to within 0.0002 if desired, for light vibrating along these principal vibration axes. Spindle stages tend to be simple and relatively inexpensive, some costing less than $50. They permit rotation of the crystal about a single axis which is parallel to the microscope stage. This spindle or S-axis is thus perpendicular to the M-axis, namely the microscope stage's axis of rotation. A spindle stage excels when studying anisotropic crystals. It orients uniaxial crystals within minutes and biaxial crystals almost as quickly so that their principal refractive indices - ɛ and ω (uniaxial); α, β and γ (biaxial) - can be determined without significant error from crystal misorientation.
Mid-Career Change: Benefits and challenges of leaving industry for academia (2018)

Prior to joining University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown, Dr. Parks' worked for over seven years at the Alcoa Technical Center focusing on development and commercialization of sustainable wastewater treatment
Latanoprost uptake and release from commercial contact lenses (2019)

This study investigated the potential of delivering an anti-glaucoma drug using commercial silicone hydrogel (SiHy) contact lenses. The moderately hydrophobic drug latanoprost was rapidly loaded in 4 min by swelling contact lenses in a solution of the drug in n-propanol. A fraction of the drug was radiolabeled, thus allowing measurement of the uptake and subsequent release of drug into artificial tear fluid. Three questions were addressed: (1) how much drug can be loaded into each type of lens, (2) how fast is drug release, and (3) how are these values related to the contact lens chemistry. The results showed that much more latanoprost could be loaded into SiHy lenses than a conventional contact lens of poly(hydroxyethyl methacrylate). The drug uptake correlated with the amount of swelling in n-propanol, with Galyfilcon lenses having the greatest swelling and highest drug uptake. The drug release from the SiHy lenses occurred over days, whereas the conventional lens released nearly all drug in a burst over a few hours. To examine correlations between lens chemistry, drug chemistry and uptake, and solvent chemistry, the Hansen solubility parameters were calculated using estimates of contact lens chemistry. These results showed that drug uptake in SiHy lenses correlated with favorable solubility parameter interactions between the n-propanol and the lens material, but did not correlate with interactions between the drug and the lens materials.
Systems Security Engineering: Considerations for a Multidisciplinary Approach in the Engineering of Trustworthy Secure Systems (2016)

The Information Technology Laboratory (ITL) at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) promotes the U.S. economy and public welfare by providing technical leadership for the Nation's measurement and standards infrastructure.ITL develops tests, test methods, reference data, proof of concept implementations, and technical analyses to advance the development and productive use of information technology (IT).ITL's responsibilities include the development of
Electromagnetic Imaging of Damages in Fibered Layered Laminates via Equivalence Theory (2018)

Electromagnetic nondestructive testing of damaged multilayer fiber-reinforced laminates is of concern. Each layer involves periodically positioned circular cylindrical fibers embedded within a matrix medium. Missing, displaced, shrunk, expanded fibers as well as circular inclusions inside a fiber are modeled as properly designed equivalent sources inside the undamaged structure. Then, the location of damages is retrieved via simply searching for such equivalent sources. A sparsity-constrained solution as well as classical algorithms including truncated singular value decomposition, multiple signal classification, and basic matching pursuit are considered, and their pros and cons are illustrated by numerical results in various configurations.
Sintering Properties of BaTiO3 Green Sheets with High Packing Density (1987)

The sintering properties were discussed in two kinds of BaTiO 3 green sheets, in which packing densities were 48 vol% and 60.4 vol%, respectively. The sintering temperature reduced as the packing density increased ;and the number of internal void in the sintered body decreased considerably and its bending strength increased from 120 MPa to 150 MPa.
Development and validation of an automated radiomic CT signature for detecting COVID-19 (2020)

Abstract Background The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak has reached pandemic status. Drastic measures of social distancing are enforced in society and healthcare systems are being pushed to and over their limits. Objectives To develop a fully automatic framework to detect COVID-19 by applying AI to chest CT and evaluate validation performance. Methods In this retrospective multi-site study, a fully automated AI framework was developed to extract radiomics features from volumetric chest CT exams to learn the detection pattern of COVID-19 patients. We analysed the data from 181 RT-PCR confirmed COVID-19 patients as well as 1200 other non-COVID-19 control patients to build and assess the performance of the model. The datasets were collected from 2 different hospital sites of the CHU Liège, Belgium. Diagnostic performance was assessed by the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC), sensitivity and specificity. Results 1381 patients were included in this study. The average age was 64.4±15.8 and 63.8±14.4 years with a gender balance of 56% and 52% male in the COVID-19 and control group, respectively. The final curated dataset used for model construction and validation consisted of chest CT scans of 892 patients. The model sensitivity and specificity for detecting COVID-19 in the test set (training 80% and test 20% of patients) were 78.94% and 91.09%, respectively, with an AUC of 0.9398 (95% CI: 0.875–1). The negative predictive value of the algorithm was found to be larger than 97%. Conclusions Benchmarked against RT-PCR confirmed cases of COVID-19, our AI framework can accurately differentiate COVID-19 from routine clinical conditions in a fully automated fashion. Thus, providing rapid accurate diagnosis in patients suspected of COVID-19 infection, facilitating the timely implementation of isolation procedures and early intervention.
Clinical Predictors of Drug Nonresponse in Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (2005)

This study has identified clinical predictors of nonresponse to SRIs. These predictors may have to be taken into consideration and assessed carefully when SRIs are prescribed to treat OCD. Future studies should aim at identifying treatment modalities that are effective in SRI nonresponders.
Rank-based Discriminative Feature Learning for Motor Imagery Classification in EEG signals (2021)

Existing deep feature learning methods usually compute semantic similarity on an embedding space over the average of the extracted features, relying on delicately selected samples for fast convergence. These deep learned features suffer from interand intra-class variations since they are spread across the feature space. In this paper, we present a rank-based feature learning method by exploiting the structured information among features for better separating non-linear data. By exploring Riemannian manifolds' geometric properties, the proposed approach models natural second-order statistics such as covariance and optimizes the dispersion using the distribution of Riemannian distances between a reference sample and neighbors and builds a ranked list according to the similarities. Experiments demonstrate significant improvement over state-of-the-art methods on three widely used EEG datasets in motor imagery task classification. Furthermore, the proposed method jointly enlarges the inter-class distances reduces the intra-class distances for learned features.
Fundamentals of Plasma-Material Interactions in Magnetic Fusion Devices (2019)

The interaction of plasmas and materials has a long history in the modification of condensed matter. Plasma-material interaction (PMI) can govern how low-temperature and high-temperature plasmas interact and modify materials surfaces. In magnetic fusion devices, PMI can also influence the operation of the fusion device. For example, incident energetic charged particle on fusion wall material surfaces can release target atoms via sputtering and can implant fuel particles in the lattice. Implanted energetic particles can mix fuel and influence recycling of fuel back to the plasma. Sputtered target atoms can become ionized in the magnetic sheath and re-deposit at the wall surface. The magnetic sheath will influence the energy and angular distribution of incident energetic particles and influence the implantation and release of fusion fuel.
Stimulation of the human intercellular adhesion molecule-1 promoter by interleukin-6 and interferon-gamma involves binding of distinct factors to a palindromic response element. (1994)

Intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) is a transmembrane glycoprotein that promotes adhesion in immunological and inflammatory reactions. ICAM-1 is expressed on cells of many lineages and is induced by interleukin-6 (IL-6) and interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma). Functional analysis of ICAM-1 promoter-luciferase constructs in HepG2 cells enabled us to identify a region between -110 and -37 mediating IL-6 and IFN-gamma responsiveness and containing a palindromic IL-6/IFN-gamma response element (pIRE). Site-directed mutagenesis of key nucleotides in the ICAM-1 pIRE abolished the effect of both IL-6 and IFN-gamma stimulation, while this pIRE element was sufficient to confer IL-6 and IFN-gamma responsiveness to a heterologous promoter. We further show by gel retardation analysis that distinct nuclear factors induced by both IL-6 or IFN-gamma specifically bind to this pIRE. Furthermore, treatment with IL-6 results in the formation of multiple complexes while IFN-gamma induces a single binding complex, both in HepG2 and monocytic U937 cells. Differentiation of U937 cells by exposure to 12-O-tetradecanoyl phorbol-13-acetate abolishes response to IL-6 but not IFN-gamma. Supershift data utilizing the ICAM-1 pIRE revealed that IFN-gamma and IL-6 both induce a factor antigenically related to IFN-gamma activation factor. We further provide data suggesting that IL-6 additionally activates an ICAM-1 pIRE binding factor related to the previously described acute-phase response factor in disparate cell types. We therefore conclude that the activation of these related nuclear factors by IL-6 and IFN-gamma is important in the regulation of ICAM-1 gene expression.
A Soluble C60 Graphite Segment (1998)

At the limits of analytical investigation one finds the nanodimensional C<sub>60</sub> graphite segment 1, which, thanks to its long-chain alkyl substituents, is soluble. Monolayers of 1 on graphite can be characterized by scanning tunneling microscopy.
A Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy Study of the Passive Film Produced during Aqueous Acidic Phenol Electro‐oxidation (1992)

In this work Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy was used to analyze samples of the passivating film produced on the anode during phenol electrolysis. Work by other researchers with p‐tertbutyl‐phenol was extended to the acidic region where the main product was found to be a 1,2,4 substituted ether‐linked polymer. The films produced by the oxidation of p‐cresol, o,o'‐biphenol, and phenol were also studied. As the monomers became less sterically hindered polymerization was found to occur more through direct carbon‐carbon coupling of the aromatic rings as opposed to ether linkages. Because the carbon‐carbon coupled monomers retain their hydroxyl groups, and so remain reactive, there is a tendency to form completely reacted 1,2,4,6 substituted structures resulting in highly branched and cross‐linked products. Some quinone‐type structures were also observed in the film spectra. The films were also found to easily fluoresce indicating significant delocalization of electrons within the films.
Development of rear surface passivated Cu(In,Ga)Se2 thin film solar cells with nano-sized local rear point contacts (2013)

For the first time, a novel rear contacting structure for copper indium gallium (di)selenide (CIGS) thin film solar cells is discussed theoretically, developed in an industrially viable way, and demonstrated in tangible devices. The proposed cell design reduces back contacting area by combining a rear surface passivation layer and nano-sized local point contacts. Atomic layer deposition (ALD) of Al2O3 is used to passivate the CIGS surface and the formation of nano-sphere shaped precipitates in chemical bath deposition (CBD) of CdS to generate point contact openings. The Al2O3 rear surface passivated CIGS solar cells with nano-sized local rear point contacts show a significant improvement in open circuit voltage (VOC) compared to unpassivated reference cells. Comparing the passivated devices to solar cell capacitance simulator (SCAPS) modeling indicates that this increase is attributed to a decrease in rear surface recombination of a few orders.
Effects of keratinocyte growth factor in the squamous epithelium of the upper aerodigestive tract of normal and irradiated mice (1999)

These data show that KGF reverses epithelial atrophy in mouse oral cavity caused by irradiation and suggest that KGF may be useful for the treatment of mucositis of the upper aerodigestive tract of patients treated with aggressive regimens of radiation therapy.
Phenotypic drug profiling in droplet microfluidics for better targeting of drug-resistant tumors (2015)

Acquired drug resistance is a key factor in the failure of chemotherapy. Due to intratumoral heterogeneity, cancer cells depict variations in intracellular drug uptake and efflux at the single cell level, which may not be detectable in bulk assays. In this study we present a droplet microfluidics-based approach to assess the dynamics of drug uptake, efflux and cytotoxicity in drug-sensitive and drug-resistant breast cancer cells. An integrated droplet generation and docking microarray was utilized to encapsulate single cells as well as homotypic cell aggregates. Drug-sensitive cells showed greater death in the presence or absence of Doxorubicin (Dox) compared to the drug-resistant cells. We observed heterogeneous Dox uptake in individual drug-sensitive cells while the drug-resistant cells showed uniformly low uptake and retention. Dox-resistant cells were classified into distinct subsets based on their efflux properties. Cells that showed longer retention of extracellular reagents also demonstrated maximal death. We further observed homotypic fusion of both cell types in droplets, which resulted in increased cell survival in the presence of high doses of Dox. Our results establish the applicability of this microfluidic platform for quantitative drug screening in single cells and multicellular interactions.