gebhart/patrepeval huggingface dataset:
Increases of intracellular magnesium promote glycodeoxycholate-induced apoptosis in rat hepatocytes. (1994)

Retention of bile salts by the hepatocyte contributes to liver injury during cholestasis. Although cell injury can occur by one of two mechanisms, necrosis versus apoptosis, information is lacking regarding apoptosis as a mechanism of cell death by bile salts. Our aim was to determine if the bile salt glycodeoxycholate (GDC) induces apoptosis in rat hepatocytes. Morphologic assessment included electron microscopy and quantitation of nuclear fragmentation by fluorescent microscopy. Biochemical studies included measurements of DNA fragmentation, in vitro endonuclease activity, cytosolic free Ca2+ (Cai2+), and cytosolic free Mg2+ (Mgi2+). Morphologic studies demonstrated typical features of apoptosis in GDC (50 microM) treated cells. The "ladder pattern" of DNA fragmentation was also present in DNA obtained from GDC-treated cells. In vitro endonuclease activity was 2.5-fold greater with Mg2+ than Ca2+. Although basal Cai2+ values did not change after addition of GDC, Mgi2+ increased twofold. Incubation of cells in an Mg(2+)-free medium prevented the rise in Mgi2+ and reduced nuclear and DNA fragmentation. In conclusion, GDC induces apoptosis in hepatocytes by a mechanism promoted by increases of Mgi2+ with stimulation of Mg(2+)-dependent endonucleases. These data suggest for the first time that changes of Mgi2+ may participate in the program of cellular events culminating in apoptosis.
Generative Modeling of Synthetic Eye-tracking Data: NLP-based Approach with Recurrent Neural Networks (2020)

Presented at 12th International Conference on Neural Computation Theory and Applications (NCTA)Authors:Mahmoud Elbattah, Jean-Luc Guérin, Romuald Carette, Federica Cilia, Gilles Dequen<b><i><br></i></b><b><i>Abstract</i></b>This study explores a Machine Learning-based approach for generating synthetic eye-tracking data. In this respect, a novel application of Recurrent Neural Networks is experimented. Our approach is based on learning the sequence patterns of eye-tracking data. The key idea is to represent eye-tracking records as textual strings, which describe the sequences of fixations and saccades. The study therefore could borrow methods from the Natural Language Processing (NLP) domain for transforming the raw eye-tracking data. The NLP-based transformation is utilised to convert the high-dimensional eye-tracking data into an amenable representation for learning. Furthermore, the generative modeling could be implemented as a task of text generation. Our empirical experiments support further exploration and development of such NLP-driven approaches for the purpose of producing synthetic eye-tracking datasets for a variety of potential applications.
Dosimetric evaluation of proton CT using a prototype proton CT scanner (2016)

These instructions provide guidelines for preparing manuscripts for submission to the Conference Record (CR) of the 2016 IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium and Medical Imaging Conference. If you are using Microsoft Word to prepare your manuscript, you should use this document as a template. Define all symbols used in the abstract. Do not cite references in the abstract. Do not delete the blank line immediately above the abstract; it sets the footnote at the bottom of this column. Proton computed tomography has been suggested as an imaging technique alternative to x-ray CT for proton therapy treatment planning and image guidance. Dose, image quality, and range prediction accuracy are closely related and the calculation of the dose delivered during a proton CT scan is crucial for characterizing a proton CT scanner. Here we report on the dosimetric evaluation of proton CT scanner using a prototype built by the pCT collaboration between Loma Linda University, the University of California Santa Cruz, and Baylor University. The Catphan CTP554 16 cm acrylic dose phantom, representing a human head, was used to measure the dose to water during a typical proton CT scan at the Northwestern Medicine Chicago Proton Center in Warrenville, Illinois. A Farmer ionization chamber was installed in two locations (centre and periphery of the phantom) and the accumulated charge was measured with the 35040 Advanced Therapy Dosimeter (Fluke Biomedical). The proton CT scanner was exposed to a uniform beam profile of 200 MeV protons on the uniform scanning clinical proton beam line. At a rate of 1 M protons sec it takes 7 minutes in order collect about 400 M protons during a continuous 360 deg rotation. The proton fluence at the level of upstream inner tracker planes during the 7 minutes of exposure was estimated to be 1.4 M protons/cm <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sup> . The dose to water was 1.46 mGy in the peripheral location and 1.48 mGy in the central location, demonstrating that it is practically uniform across the phantom. According to these results, we can conclude that, based on an initial dosimetric characterization of a prototype pCT scanner conducted on a clinical proton beam line, proton CT is a promising modality for low-dose image guidance and adaptive proton therapy.
Interruption of Escherichia coli Heat-stable Enterotoxin-induced Guanylyl Cyclase Signaling and Associated Chloride Current in Human Intestinal Cells by 2-Chloroadenosine (1997)

Diarrhea induced by Escherichia coli heat-stable enterotoxin (STa) is mediated by a receptor guanylyl cyclase cascade. The present study establishes that an intracellular nucleotide-dependent pathway disrupts toxin-induced cyclic GMP (cGMP) production and the associated chloride (Cl-) flux that underlie intestinal secretion. Incubation of Caco 2 human intestinal epithelial cells with the nucleoside analog 2-chloroadenosine (2ClAdo) resulted in a concentration- and time-dependent inhibition of toxin-induced cGMP production. Inhibition of cGMP production correlated with the metabolic conversion of 2ClAdo to 2-chloroadenosine triphosphate. The effect of 2ClAdo did not reflect activation of adenosine receptors, inhibition of adenosine deaminase, or modification of the binding or distribution of STa receptors. Guanylyl cyclase activity in membranes prepared from 2ClAdo-treated cells was inhibited, in contrast to membranes from cells not exposed to 2ClAdo, demonstrating that inhibition of guanylyl cyclase C (GCC) was mediated by a noncompetitive mechanism. Treatment of Caco 2 cells with 2ClAdo also prevented STa-induced Cl- current. Application of 8-bromo-cGMP, the cell-permeant analog of cGMP, to 2ClAdo-treated cells reconstituted the Cl- current, demonstrating that inhibition of Cl- flux reflected selective disruption of ligand stimulation of GCC rather than the chloride channel itself. Thus, the components required for adenine nucleotide inhibition of GCC signaling are present in intact mammalian cells, establishing the utility of this pathway to elucidate the mechanisms regulating ST-dependent guanylyl cyclase signaling and intestinal fluid homeostasis. In addition, these data suggest that the adenine nucleotide inhibitory pathway may be a novel target to develop antisecretory therapy for enterotoxigenic diarrhea.
Distributed Hybrid Kalman Temporal Differences for Reinforcement Learning (2020)

The paper focuses on development of model-free and distributed Reinforcement Learning (RL) algorithms for multi-agent networks. The goal is to learn optimal control policies directly from smart agents’ cooperative interactions among themselves and with the environment. In model-free RL methods with continuous state-space, typically, the value function needs to be approximated. In this regard, Deep Neural Networks (DNNs) provide an attractive modeling mechanism to approximate the value function using sample transitions. Direct utilization of DNN-based single-agent approaches, however, failed to fully overcome the complexities of the multi-agent scenarios. In different multi-agent cooperative scenarios, Kalman-based methodologies could be used as an efficient alternative. Such an approach, however, commonly requires a-priori information about the system (such as noise statistics) to perform efficiently. To address the aforementioned challenge, the paper proposes a Distributed Hybrid (multiple model) Kalman Temporal Difference framework (DH-KTD). The proposed DH-KT framework adapts the parameters of the localized filters in a distributed fashion using the observed states and rewards in an optimized fashion. Experimental results based on a multi-agent benchmark RL problem illustrate efficacy of the proposed framework.
Occurrence and characteristic of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus on pig farms in the Czech Republic (2012)

In recent years, a negative trend of increasing prevalence of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) strains has been noted worldwide. In addition to their prevalence in humans, MRSA strains have also been detected in animals, both pets and food-producing animals, especially in pigs. At the same time, transmission of MRSA strains from animals to humans has been documented. This study brings results from the first nationwide survey on the prevalence of MRSA in herds of breeding pigs, carried out throughout the Czech Republic in accordance with the Commission Decision 2008/55/EC, including brief characteristics of isolates. In 2008, a total of 283 pooled samples (dust swabs from partitions between pens) from the holdings of breeding pigs were analyzed. In five cases, MRSA isolates were detected, with a prevalence of 1.8%. All the isolated strains belonged to a single sequence type ST398. It may be said that at present, the prevalence of MRSA on pig farms does not pose a significant general epidemiological risk for the human population.
ChemInform Abstract: A STUDY OF ANNEALING‐INDUCED LATTICE DEFECTS IN PHOSPHORUS‐DOPED CADMIUM TELLURIDE BY TRANSMISSION ELECTRON MICROSCOPY (1979)

Abstract Die Gitterstörstellen in P‐dotierten CdTe‐Einkristallen, die aus der Schmelze durch die horizontale Bridgman‐Methode gezogen wurden, werden elektronenmikroskopisch im Anschluß an verschiedene Wärmebehandlungen bei 700°C unter definierten Cd‐Partialdrücken für unterschiedliche P‐Dotierungsniveaus untersucht.
ChemInform Abstract: Diversity‐Oriented Synthesis of Biaryl‐Containing Medium Rings Using a One Bead/One Stock Solution Platform. (2002)

Abstract ChemInform is a weekly Abstracting Service, delivering concise information at a glance that was extracted from about 100 leading journals. To access a ChemInform Abstract of an article which was published elsewhere, please select a “Full Text” option. The original article is trackable via the “References” option.
Norgestimate inhibits staphylococcal biofilm formation and resensitizes methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus to β-lactam antibiotics (2017)

Formation of bacterial biofilms on medical devices can cause severe or fatal infectious diseases. In particular, biofilm-associated infections caused by methicillin-resistant <i>Staphylococcus aureus</i> are difficult to eradicate because the biofilm is strongly resistant to antibiotics and the host immune response. There is no effective treatment for biofilm-associated infectionss, except for surgical removal of contaminated medical devices followed by antibiotic therapy. Here we show that norgestimate, an acetylated progestin, effectively inhibits biofilm formation by staphylococcal strains, including methicillin-resistant <i>S. aureus</i>, without inhibiting their growth, decreasing the selective pressure for emergence of resistance. 17-Deacetyl norgestimate, a metabolite of norgestimate, shows much weaker inhibitory activity against staphylococcal biofilm formation, indicating that the acetyl group of norgestimate is important for its activity. Norgestimate inhibits staphylococcal biofilm formation by inhibiting production of polysaccharide intercellular adhesin and proteins in the extracellular matrix. Proteome analysis of <i>S</i>. <i>aureus</i> indicated that norgestimate represses the expression of the cell wall-anchored protein SasG, which promotes intercellular adhesion, and of the glycolytic enzyme enolase, which plays a secondary role in biofilm formation. Notably, norgestimate induces remarkable changes in cell wall morphology, characterized by increased thickness and abnormal rippled septa. Furthermore, norgestimate increases the expression level of penicillin binding protein 2 and resensitizes methicillin-resistant <i>S. aureus</i> to β-lactam antibiotics. These results suggest that norgestimate is a promising lead compound for the development of drugs to treat biofilm-associated infections, as well as for its ability to resensitize methicillin-resistant <i>S. aureus</i> to β-lactam antibiotics.
Recent applications of PMN-based electrostrictors (1983)

Abstract Some of device applications of the Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3-based electrostrictors are reviewed, including displacement transducers for controlling optical pathlength (sensitive AC interferometer, bistable optical device and deformable mirror), and mechanical position actuators (micro-angle adjusting device and servovalve flapper for controlling oil pressure).
Detection of Herpes Virus (KSHV) DNA Sequences in Brazilian Patients With AIDS-Associated Kaposi's sarcoma. (1997)

To explore the possible involvement of herpes virus (KSHV) in AIDS-associated Kaposi's sarcoma (KS) in 7 patients in Brazil, we analyzed 7 AIDS-KS lesions. Using PCR, we found KSHV specific sequences in 3 cases and by using nested PCR, we identified sequences in each of the 7 cases. Direct sequencing on nested-PCR products showed a certain degree of variability in relation to classic KSHV sequences, and identified alterations similar to those described in some endemic cases from Africa and in AIDS-associated KS specimens from North America. This mixed pattern of KSHV sequences observed in AIDS-associated KS from Brazil may reflect the geographic origin of the samples, consistent with the environmental and epidemiological backgrounds of people in this country. It is apparent that, just as in other countries in the world, Kaposi's sarcoma in HIV patients is related to herpes virus infection.
An autonomic delivery framework for HTTP Adaptive Streaming in multicast-enabled multimedia access networks (2012)

The consumption of multimedia services over HTTP-based delivery mechanisms has recently gained popularity due to their increased flexibility and reliability. Traditional broadcast TV channels are now offered over the Internet, in order to support Live TV for a broad range of consumer devices. Moreover, service providers can greatly benefit from offering external live content (e.g., YouTube, Hulu) in a managed way. Recently, HTTP Adaptive Streaming (HAS) techniques have been proposed in which video clients dynamically adapt their requested video quality level based on the current network and device state. Unlike linear TV, traditional HTTP- and HAS-based video streaming services depend on unicast sessions, leading to a network traffic load proportional to the number of multimedia consumers. In this paper we propose a novel HAS-based video delivery architecture, which features intelligent multicasting and caching in order to decrease the required bandwidth considerably in a Live TV scenario. Furthermore we discuss the autonomic selection of multicasted content to support Video on Demand (VoD) sessions. Experiments were conducted on a large scale and realistic emulation environment and compared with a traditional HAS-based media delivery setup using only unicast connections.
A synthetic biochemistry system for the in vitro production of isoprene from glycolysis intermediates (2014)

The high yields required for the economical production of chemicals and fuels using microbes can be difficult to achieve due to the complexities of cellular metabolism. An alternative to performing biochemical transformations in microbes is to build biochemical pathways in vitro, an approach we call synthetic biochemistry. Here we test whether the full mevalonate pathway can be reconstituted in vitro and used to produce the commodity chemical isoprene. We construct an in vitro synthetic biochemical pathway that uses the carbon and ATP produced from the glycolysis intermediate phosphoenolpyruvate to run the mevalonate pathway. The system involves 12 enzymes to perform the complex transformation, while providing and balancing the ATP, NADPH, and acetyl-CoA cofactors. The optimized system produces isoprene from phosphoenolpyruvate in ∼100% molar yield. Thus, by inserting the isoprene pathway into previously developed glycolysis modules it may be possible to produce isoprene and other acetyl-CoA derived isoprenoids from glucose in vitro.
Cooling performance of ceramic magnetic regenerator material used in a GM cryocooler (2002)

A ceramic magnetic regenerator material GAP (GdAlO3) has been developed for cryocoolers below 4 K region. A new fabrication method has achieved Vickers hardness of ∼900, relative density of 99.5% to that of the single crystal, and smooth surface on the spherical particles in diameters between 133 μm and 500 μm. The cooling tests with a GM cycle cryocooler have been done for 4He and 3He as working fluids individually. The 2nd regenerator constitution was adjusted by partially replacing the HoCu2 with the GAP. The cooling capacity increases up to 30% around 3.4 K and the minimum temperature reached 2.2 K for the 4He test. 3He operation with the GM cycle was investigated to provide temperatures below 2 K without the superfluid transition appearing with 4He. The test results showed a remarkable improvement on the cooling characteristics; the cooling capacity increased 1.8 times at 2.0 K and 2.4 times at 1.8 K, compared to those without the GAP. The minimum temperature without heat load was lowered from 1.67 K to 1.57 K at the cycle speed of 60 rpm.
Structural Evolution of Alkoxide Silica Gels to Glass: Effect of Catalyst pH (1993)

Structural and energetic changes of alkoxide silica during densification were followed in situ using photoacoustic Fourier‐transform infrared spectroscopy (PAS‐FTIR), transposed temperature drop calorimetry, and drop solution calorimetry. Acid‐catalyzed silica gels contained higher concentrations of adsorbed water, silanol groups, and unreacted alkoxy groups than did the base‐catalyzed gels/precipitates. The surface species in acid‐catalyzed gels were removed easily, allowing this material to be densified at 800°C. The densified material was both structurally and energetically equivalent to fused silica glass. Base‐catalyzed gels had fewer silanol groups in the green state, but free silanol groups emerged during drying at 500°C. The base‐catalyzed gels did not densify below 1000°C, maintaining a high surface area of 100 m 2 /g. Base‐catalyzed alkoxide gels comprised strained ring structures; their IR spectra were similar to those of fumed silica, but they were energetically much less stable.
Superimposed Frame Synchronization Optimization for Finite Blocklength Regime (2018)

Considering a short frame length, which is typical in Ultra-Reliable Low-Latency and massive Machine Type Communications, a trade-off exists between improving the performance of frame synchronization (FS) and improving the performance of information throughput. In this paper, we consider the case of continuous transmission over AWGN channels where the synchronization sequence is superimposed to the data symbols, as opposed to being added as a frame header. The advantage of this superposition is that the synchronization length is as long as the frame length. On the other hand, its power has to be traded-off not to degrade the code performance. We first provide the analysis of FS error probability using an approximation of the probability distribution of the overall received signal. Numerical evaluations show the tightness of our analytic results. Then we optimize the fraction of power allocated to the superimposed synchronization sequence in order to maximize the probability of receiving a frame without synchronization errors nor decoding errors. Comparison of the theoretical model predictions to a practical setup show very close optimal power allocation policies.
Suitable for All Ages: Using Reviews to Determine Appropriateness of Products (2017)

Product reviews provide insights in to real user experiences which can benefit others when making their purchasing decisions. Text-mining and NLP may be used to extract features and content that could influence a new user. Additionally, recommender systems and filtering interfaces rely on manufacturer reported data in order to support user preferences. In many instances this data may be absent or inaccurate. In this paper we focus on age related features mentioned in user reviews of baby and child related products in order to recommend the appropriate age range of a product. We demonstrate that manufacturer related information is frequently absent and when manufacturer specifications are available, we find they may not reflect real user experiences which could assist a buyer in their decision making process. As a result, we present a simple user interface to allow users assess the age appropriateness of the product.
Single sideband optical signal generation and chromatic dispersion compensation using digital filters (2004)

It is shown that signal processing for single sideband signal generation and electronic chromatic dispersion compensation can be implemented using low complexity digital filters. Effective compensation for the dispersion of up to 1700 km of standard fibre at 10 Gbit/s with 6-bit 20 GSa/s digital sampling was demonstrated.
Serum anti-dextran antibodies in IgA nephropathy. (1995)

Abnormally high humoral responses have been described in IgA nephropathy (IgAN), towards antigens commonly involved in infectious events or food intolerance. Here we report a comparative analysis of humoral responses to a common environmental antigen, dextran B 512, present both in nonpathogenic microorganisms and normal diet. Dextran-specific IgG, IgA and IgM were assayed using an ELISA method in serum samples from 121 patients with IgAN, 40 controls and 32 patients with biopsy-proven renal diseases different from IgAN. Among the latter, 17 were transplant recipients. Anti-dextran IgG antibodies were found significantly (p < 0.05) more frequently and at higher levels in IgAN patients than in patients with other renal diseases. Anti-dextran IgA were at significantly (p < 0.05) higher levels in IgAN patients than in controls or untransplanted NIgAN patients. However, similarly elevated levels of anti-dextran IgA were found in IgAN patients and transplanted patients with other renal diseases. These data confirm that IgA and IgG responses towards common antigens are elevated in IgAN, possibly as a consequence of the pathogenesis of this disease rather than because of renal impairment. Moreover, since the same degree of dysregulation was noted in the control group of transplanted patients whose initial diagnosis was not IgAN, these data favour the hypothesis of a global dysregulation of the IgA system in IgAN, yielding enhanced humoral immune responses to possible pathogens and diet antigens.