gebhart/patrepeval huggingface dataset:
Chest wall and lung volume estimation by optical reflectance motion analysis (1996)

Estimation of chest wall motion by surface measurements only allows one-dimensional measurements of the chest wall. We have assessed on optical reflectance system (OR), which tracks reflective markers in three dimensions (3-D) for respiratory use. We used 86 (6-mm-diameter) hemispherical reflective markers arranged circumferentially on the chest wall in seven rows between the sternal notch and the anterior superior iliac crest in two normal standing subjects. We calculated the volume of the entire chest wall and compared inspired and expired volumes with volumes obtained by spirometry. Marker positions were recorded by four TV cameras; two were 4 m in front of and two were 4 m behind the subject. The TV signals were sampled at 100 Hz and combined with grid calibration parameters on a personal computer to obtain the 3-D coordinates of the markers. Chest wall surfaces were reconstructed by triangulation through the point data, and chest wall volume was calculated. During tidal breathing and vital capacity maneuvers and during CO2-stimulated hyperpnea, there was a very close correlation of the lung volumes (VL) estimated by spirometry [VL(SP)] and OR [VL(OR)]. Regression equations of VL(OR) (y) vs. VL(SP) (x, BTPS in liters) for the two subjects were given by y = 1.01x-0.01 (r = 0.996) and y = 0.96x + 0.03 (r = 0.997), and by y = 1.04x + 0.25 (r = 0.97) and y = 0.98x + 0.14 (r = 0.95) for the two maneuvers, respectively. We conclude spirometric volumes can be estimated very accurately and directly from chest wall surface markers, and we speculate that OR may be usefully applied to calculations of chest wall shape, regional volumes, and motion analysis.
Methylglyoxal resistance in <scp><i>B</i></scp><i>acillus subtilis</i>: contributions of bacillithiol‐dependent and independent pathways (2013)

Methylglyoxal (MG) is a toxic by-product of glycolysis that damages DNA and proteins ultimately leading to cell death. Protection from MG is often conferred by a glutathione-dependent glyoxalase pathway. However, glutathione is absent from the low-GC Gram-positive Firmicutes, such as Bacillus subtilis. The identification of bacillithiol (BSH) as the major low-molecular-weight thiol in the Firmicutes raises the possibility that BSH is involved in MG detoxification. Here, we demonstrate that MG can rapidly and specifically deplete BSH in cells, and we identify both BSH-dependent and BSH-independent MG resistance pathways. The BSH-dependent pathway utilizes glyoxalase I (GlxA, formerly YwbC) and glyoxalase II (GlxB, formerly YurT) to convert MG to d-lactate. The critical step in this pathway is the activation of the KhtSTU K(+) efflux pump by the S-lactoyl-BSH intermediate, which leads to cytoplasmic acidification. We show that cytoplasmic acidification is both necessary and sufficient for maximal protection from MG. Two additional MG detoxification pathways operate independent of BSH. The first involves three enzymes (YdeA, YraA and YfkM) which are predicted to be homologues of glyoxalase III that converts MG to d-lactate, and the second involves YhdN, previously shown to be a broad specificity aldo-keto reductase that converts MG to acetol.
Pseudomonas exotoxin A-epidermal growth factor (EGF) mutant chimeric protein as an indicator for identifying amino acid residues important in EGF-receptor interaction. (1992)

Epidermal growth factor (EGF) was fused to the carboxyl end of a modified pseudomonas exotoxin A that has its toxin binding domain deleted. This chimeric toxin designated as PE(delta Ia)-EGF kills A431 cells through the EGF receptor-mediated pathway. In this study, we used a random mutagenesis approach to make point mutations on EGF, followed by replacing the wild type EGF in PE(delta Ia)-EGF with these EGF mutants. We have constructed 14 different PE(delta Ia)-EGFmutants, and examined their EGF receptor binding activity as well as their cytotoxicity to A431 cells. Our results showed that individual mutations of Val19 to Glu and Val34 to Asp in the EGF domain of PE(delta Ia)-EGFmutants resulted in an increase in the binding affinity to EGF receptor and cytotoxicity to A431 cells. On the other hand, individual mutations of His16 to Asp and Gly18 to Ala in the EGF domain of PE(delta Ia)-EGFmutants lead to a decrease in the binding affinity to EGF receptor and cytotoxicity to A431 cells. In addition, mutations of any of the cysteine residues of EGF in PE(delta Ia)-EGFmutants resulted in the loss of their binding activity to EGF receptor and a corresponding loss of their cytotoxicity. This study indicates that the cytotoxicity of PE(delta Ia)-EGFmutant to EGF receptor-bearing cells may be used as an indicator to screen mutations of EGF important in EGF-receptor interactions.
The spiral-mode microstrip antenna-broad bandwidth and low profile (2002)

As the number of mobile and airborne radio systems increases, their antennas compete for antenna space on the surface of the vehicle. One way to mitigate this problem is to use multifunction antennas, which requires very broadband antennas. A spiral mode microstrip (SMM) antenna is presented as a multifunction antenna. It has the rare combination of broad bandwidth and low profile and is efficient and amenable to diversity of pattern and polarization. It exhibits a gain bandwidth ratio of more than 6:1 and even larger pattern and impedance bandwidths.
Left-handed metamaterials: The fishnet structure and its variations (2007)

We investigate, both theoretically and experimentally, a left-handed metamaterial design composed of pairs of short slabs connected with continuous wires, operating in microwave frequency regime. The design was found to give left-handed behavior for a wide range of structure parameters, maintaining high impedance match with free space. We introduce a capacitor-inductor circuit description of the design and we show that this description can account for all the characteristics of its electromagnetic behavior, explaining also its superior performance.
HLA Class I Chromosomal Region, Genes, and Products: Facts and Questions (1994)

Among the various areas of recent investigation in the field of human MHC class I antigens, the following have been selected for discussion in this review: (1) classical HLA class I genes: are they ubiquitously expressed?, what are the special features of their polymorphism?, are HLA-C molecules functional?, (2) non-classical HLA class I gene products: how restricted is their tissue distribution?, do they exhibit a little polymorphism?, what is their function, if any? (3) non-HLA genes recently detected in the HLA class I chromosomal region: are some of them involved in immunological function and development?, (4) other novel coding sequences present, or possibly present, in the region: the hemochromatosis gene, grc region and associated tumor suppressor genes, housekeeping genes, human equivalent of the murine H-2M region and Ped gene; (5) transcriptional regulation: are there cis-regulatory elements, including locus control region(s). located elsewhere than in the promoters? are CpG methylation, gene imprinting, chromatin structure, DNA rearrangement also implicated? what are the transcription factors involved and how do they interact with each other? is there HLA class I locus-, allele-, or isoform-specific regulation? is class I gene expression dysregulated in human tumors? The answers to these questions are crucial for the development of the future directions for research.
Influence of air composition during egg storage on egg characteristics, embryonic development, hatchability, and chick quality (2010)

Egg storage beyond 7 d is associated with an increase in incubation duration and a decrease in hatchability and chick quality. Negative effects of prolonged egg storage may be caused by changes in the embryo, by changes in egg characteristics, or by both. An adjustment in storage air composition may reduce negative effects of prolonged egg storage because it may prevent changes in the embryo and in egg characteristics. An experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of high CO(2) concentrations or a low O(2) concentration in the storage air on egg characteristics, embryonic development, hatchability, and chick quality. Eggs were stored for 14 d in 4 different storage air compositions: normal air (control; 20.9% O(2), 0.05% CO(2), 78.1% N(2)), 0.74% CO(2) treatment (20.8% O(2), 0.74% CO(2), 77.5% N(2)), 1.5% CO(2) treatment (20.6% O(2), 1.5% CO(2), 77.0% N(2))(,) or 3.0% O(2) treatment (3.0% O(2), 0.04% CO(2), 96.0% N(2)). The storage temperature was 16 degrees C and the RH was 75%. Results showed that the change in albumen pH and albumen height between oviposition and the end of storage was less in the 0.74 and 1.5% CO(2) treatments than in the control and 3.0% O(2) treatments (P < 0.001 and P < 0.001, respectively). None of the treatments affected the stage of embryonic development on d 4 of incubation, hatchability, or chick quality on the day of hatch in terms of BW, chick length, and yolk-free body mass. Although high CO(2) concentrations in the storage air had a positive effect on albumen height and albumen pH, it is concluded that the storage air compositions, studied in the current study, do not affect embryonic development, hatchability, or chick quality when eggs are stored for 14 d at a storage temperature of 16 degrees C.
Performance measurements of 360° video streaming to head-mounted displays over live 4G cellular networks (2017)

Watching 360° videos using Head-Mounted Display (HMD) allows users to only see a part of the whole 360° videos. With this feature, tiled videos become a potential solution for aggressively reducing the required bandwidth for 360° video streaming, turning it into a reality in cellular networks. In this paper, we design several experiments for quantifying the performance of tile-based 360° video streaming over a real cellular network on our campus. In particular, we empirically investigate the impacts of tile streaming over 4G networks, such as coding efficiency, bandwidth saving, and scalability. Our experiments lead to interesting findings, for example, (i) only streaming the tiles viewed by the viewer achieves bitrate reduction by up to 80% and (ii) the coding efficiency of 3×3 tiled videos may be higher than non-tiled videos at higher bitrates. We believe this work will stimulate more studies in the emerging area of mobile AR/VR (Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality) over 4G networks.
Practical low-cost visual communication using binary images for deaf sign language (2000)

Deaf sign language transmitted by video requires a temporal resolution of 8 to 10 frames/s for effective communication. Conventional videoconferencing applications, when operated over low bandwidth telephone lines, provide very low temporal resolution of pictures, of the order of less than a frame per second, resulting in jerky movement of objects. This paper presents a practical solution for sign language communication, offering adequate temporal resolution of images using moving binary sketches or cartoons, implemented on standard personal computer hardware with low-cost cameras and communicating over telephone lines. To extract cartoon points an efficient feature extraction algorithm adaptive to the global statistics of the image is proposed. To improve the subjective quality of the binary images, irreversible preprocessing techniques, such as isolated point removal and predictive filtering, are used. A simple, efficient and fast recursive temporal prefiltering scheme, using histograms of successive frames, reduces the additive and multiplicative noise from low-cost cameras. An efficient three-dimensional (3-D) compression scheme codes the binary sketches. Subjective tests performed on the system confirm that it can be used for sign language communication over telephone lines.
Prologue (2020)

Fewer than three hundred years ago there occurred the most fundamental reordering of human existence since the beginning of agriculture. How was this possible, involving as it did the disappearance of an entire and heavily defended way of life? The Industrial Revolution is a major field for economic and social historians. But explaining it requires us to understand a complex of developments across the early modern period connecting the sub-fields of environmental, economic, social, political, intellectual and cultural history, and to examine the unfolding of world-changing processes and events, including the large-scale migration of peoples....
Biophysical Properties of Camelid V<sub>HH</sub> Domains Compared to Those of Human V<sub>H</sub>3 Domains (2002)

Camelidae possess an unusual form of antibodies lacking the light chains. The variable domain of these heavy chain antibodies (V(HH)) is not paired, while the V(H) domain of all other antibodies forms a heterodimer with the variable domain of the light chain (V(L)), held together by a hydrophobic interface. Here, we analyzed the biophysical properties of four camelid V(HH) fragments (H14, AMD9, RN05, and CA05) and two human consensus V(H)3 domains with different CDR3 loops to gain insight into factors determining stability and aggregation of immunoglobulin domains. We show by denaturant-induced unfolding equilibria that the free energies of unfolding of V(HH) fragments are characterized by Delta G(N-U) values between 21.1 and 35.0 kJ/mol and thus lie in the upper range of values for V(H) fragments from murine and human antibodies. Nevertheless, the V(HH) fragments studied here did not reach the high values between 39.7 and 52.7 kJ/mol of the human consensus V(H)3 domains with which they share the highest degree of sequence similarity. Temperature-induced unfolding of the V(HH) fragments that were studied proved to be reversible, and the binding affinity after cooling was fully retained. The melting temperatures were determined to be between 60.1 and 66.7 degrees C. In contrast, the studied V(H)3 domains aggregated during temperature-induced denaturation at 63-65 degrees C. In summary, the camelid V(HH) fragments are characterized by a favorable but not unusually high stability. Their hallmark is the ability to reversibly melt without aggregation, probably mediated by the surface mutations characterizing the V(HH) domains, which allow them to regain binding activity after heat renaturation.
Synthesis of New Electrooptic Chromophores and Their Structure−Property Relationship (2004)

Several new high μβ chromophores have been synthesized. These chromophores were intentionally designed to study structure−property relationships. The synthetic strategy that was followed has been described in our previous publications. Chromophore photostability was investigated from a structural point of view. Contact and corona poling of the chromophores have also been accomplished with a 70 pm/V r33 being achieved at λ = 1550 nm. The same chromophores were also studied in two different polymer host systems to compare their dependence of the electrooptic coefficient and stability on the matrix material.
Skip-GANomaly: Skip Connected and Adversarially Trained Encoder-Decoder Anomaly Detection (2019)

Despite inherent ill-definition, anomaly detection is a research endeavour of great interest within machine learning and visual scene understanding alike. Most commonly, anomaly detection is considered as the detection of outliers within a given data distribution based on some measure of normality. The most significant challenge in real-world anomaly detection problems is that available data is highly imbalanced towards normality (i.e. non-anomalous) and contains at most a sub-set of all possible anomalous samples - hence limiting the use of well-established supervised learning methods. By contrast, we introduce an unsupervised anomaly detection model, trained only on the normal (non-anomalous, plentiful) samples in order to learn the normality distribution of the domain, and hence detect abnormality based on deviation from this model. Our proposed approach employs an encoder-decoder convolutional neural network with skip connections to thoroughly capture the multi-scale distribution of the normal data distribution in image space. Furthermore, utilizing an adversarial training scheme for this chosen architecture provides superior reconstruction both within image space and a lower-dimensional embedding vector space encoding. Minimizing the reconstruction error metric within both the image and hidden vector spaces during training aids the model to learn the distribution of normality as required. Higher reconstruction metrics during subsequent test and deployment are thus indicative of a deviation from this normal distribution, hence indicative of an anomaly. Experimentation over established anomaly detection benchmarks and challenging real-world datasets, within the context of X-ray security screening, shows the unique promise of such a proposed approach.
Fluorogenic Substrates as Detectors of Caspase Activity During Natural Killer Cell-Induced Apoptosis (2003)

Natural killer (NK) cells mediate target cell lysis by two independent pathways, one involving exocytosis of preformed granules (which contain perforin and granzymes A and B), the other requiring ligation of CD95 on target cells with CD95 (APO-1/Fas) ligand on the effector cell (, , ). Both processes lead to target cell apoptosis and lysis (). Perforin and granzymes A (and B) have been implicated as main contributors to membrane and/or nuclear disintegration of target cells by the secretory pathway (), whereas granzyme B and CD95 induce early DNA fragmentation by activation of multiple cysteine proteases of the caspase cascade, including caspase-8 (FLICE) () and caspase-3 (CPP32) (). The exact mechanisms governing NK-induced death are far more complicated than delineated herein, and the in vivo relevance of their different components require further study. The roles of KIR and class I major histocompatibility complex (MHC) in the effector/target interaction are described in other chapters of this book. Caspases (Cysteine-Aspart-ases) are key effector molecules involved in programmed cell death (PCD), although some of them can also participate in other physiological processes such as activation of proinflammatory cytokines. Since the discovery of the prototype death protease Ced-3 in Caenorhabditis elegans () more than 15 mammalian and invertebrate caspases have been described ().
New Access to 1-Deoxynojirimycin Derivatives via Azide−Alkene Cycloaddition (2008)

The synthesis of 1-deoxynojirimycin (DNJ) derivatives is described from D-glucono-delta-lactone. The DNJ derivatives were obtained via a sequence that included a stereoselective intramolecular Huisgen reaction, decomposition to an aziridine, and its subsequent reaction with a nucleophile. Minimization of allylic strain in the transition state accounts for the stereoselectivity of the cycloaddition reaction.
Direct, Regioselective <i>N</i>-Alkylation of 1,3-Azoles (2015)

Regioselective N-alkylation of 1,3-azoles is a valuable transformation. Organomagnesium reagents were discovered to be competent bases to affect regioselective alkylation of various 1,3-azoles. Counterintuitively, substitution selectively occurred at the more sterically hindered nitrogen atom. Numerous examples are provided, on varying 1,3-azole scaffolds, with yields ranging from 25 to 95%.
Electrophilic aromatic substitution. Part 36. Kinetics of aromatic nitrations in solutions of dinitrogen pentaoxide and of nitronium salts in nitric acid (1990)

Kinetics of nitration of some aromatic substrates in nitric acid solutions containing dinitrogen pentaoxide or nitronium salt have been compared. Nitronium trifluoromethanesulphonate was the salt preferred for reasons of stability and solubility. In most cases rate coefficients for nitration in dinitrogen pentaoxide solutions were similar to those in nitronium salt solutions of the same estimated nitronium ion concentration; normal nitronium ion nitration is indicated. Previously recognised rate enhancements at high concentrations are largely medium effects. With 1,2,4-trichloro-5-nitrobenzene there is evidence for the intrusion of an extra mechanism for reaction in highly concentrated solutions of dinitrogen pentaoxide. Other substrates studied were 1,2-dichloro-4-nitrobenzene, 1,3-dimethyl-4,6-dinitrobenzene, 2-nitrobenzoic acid, 3-nitrobenzoic acid, 2-chloro-3-nitrobenzoic acid, and 4-chloro-3-nitrobenzoic acid. Relative reactivities among the benzoic acids are discussed.
BCL2 expression predicts survival in patients receiving synchronous chemoradiotherapy in advanced transitional cell carcinoma of the bladder. (2003)

It has been reported previously that BCL2 expression predicted a poor response to neo adjuvant chemotherapy but had no prognostic significance in patients receiving radiotherapy alone. We therefore investigated its role in patients receiving synchronous chemoradiotherapy as treatment for advanced bladder cancer. We examined expression of BCL2 and P53 by immunohistochemical analysis using archival tissue samples taken from patients included in the phase I/II trial of synchronous chemoradiotherapy for advanced transitional cell carcinoma (TCC) of the bladder. Data were collected on 24 patients who presented with invasive bladder cancer to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital between March 1998 and January 2001. Eleven patients had died at the time of analysis, with median follow-up of 34 months for the 13 surviving patients. Median survival for patients with strongly BCL2 positive tumours was 12.8 months while, for BCL2 weak or negative patients, the median is yet to be reached (p=0.03). The hazard ratio was 3.37 in favour of BCL2 negative tumours having longer survival. This study shows that over-expression of BCL2 in patients receiving synchronous chemoradiotherapy is an independent indicator of poor survival in muscle invasive TCC of the bladder.
Gene therapy for the treatment of cystic fibrosis (2012)

Gene therapy is being developed as a novel treatment for cystic fibrosis (CF), a condition that has hitherto been widely-researched yet for which no treatment exists that halts the progression of lung disease. Gene therapy involves the transfer of correct copies of cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) DNA to the epithelial cells in the airways. The cloning of the CFTR gene in 1989 led to proof-of-principle studies of CFTR gene transfer in vitro and in animal models. The earliest clinical trials in CF patients were conducted in 1993 and used viral and non-viral gene transfer agents in both the nasal and bronchial airway epithelium. To date, studies have focused largely on molecular or bioelectric (chloride secretion) outcome measures, many demonstrating evidence of CFTR expression, but few have attempted to achieve clinical efficacy. As CF is a lifelong disease, turnover of the airway epithelium necessitates repeat administration. To date, this has been difficult to achieve with viral gene transfer agents due to host recognition leading to loss of expression. The UK Cystic Fibrosis Gene Therapy Consortium (Imperial College London, University of Edinburgh and University of Oxford) is currently working on a large and ambitious program to establish the clinical benefits of CF gene therapy. Wave 1, which has reached the clinic, uses a non-viral vector. A single-dose safety trial is nearing completion and a multi-dose clinical trial is shortly due to start; this will be powered for clinically-relevant changes. Wave 2, more futuristically, will look at the potential of lentiviruses, which have long-lasting expression. This review will summarize the current status of translational research in CF gene therapy.