gebhart/patrepeval huggingface dataset:
Novel insulated gamma and lentis retroviral vectors towards safer genetic modification of stem cells (2009)

In otherwise successful gene therapy trials insertional mutagenesis has resulted in leukemia. The identification of new short synthetic genetic insulator elements (GIE) which would both prevent such activation effects and shield the transgene from silencing, is a main challenge. Previous attempts with e.g. b-globin HS4, have met with poor efficacy and genetic instability. We have investigated potential improvement with two new candidate synthetic GIEs in SIN-gamma and lentiviral vectors. With each constructs two internal promoters have been tested: either the strong Fr- MuLV-U3 or the housekeeping hPGK.We could identify a specific combination of insulator 2 repeats which translates into best functional activity, high titers and boundary effect in both gammaretro and lentivectors. In target cells a dramatic shift of expression is observed with an homogenous profile the level of which strictly depends on the promoter strength. These data remain stable in both HeLa cells over three months and cord blood HSCs for two months, irrespective of the multiplicity of infection (MOI). In comparison, control native and SIN vectors expression levels show heterogeneous, depend on the MOI and prove unstable. We have undertaken genotoxicity assessment in comparing integration patterns ingenuity in human target cells sampled over three months using high-throughput pyro-sequencing. Data will be presented. Further genotoxicity assessment will include in vivo studies. We have established insulated vectors which harbour both boundary and enhancer-blocking effect and show stable in prolonged in vitro culture conditions. Work performed with support of EC-DG research FP6-NoE, CLINIGENE: LSHB-CT-2006-018933
Two cases of dupilumab-associated conjunctivitis with high expression of IL-8 mRNA on the ocular surface: a case report (2022)

Abstract Background: Dupilumab-induced ocular surface disease (DIOSD) has been reported in patients with atopic dermatitis treated with dupilumab, and has been recognized as an adverse event of dupilumab. Our objective was to describe two cases of DIOSD with alterations in eotaxin-2 and interleukin (IL)-8 messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) expression on the ocular surface. Case presentation: In the ocular surface test, specimens were collected from the patient's ocular surface, and eotaxin-2 and IL-8 mRNA levels in the specimens were measured using real-time polymerase chain reaction. The clinical score of ocular surface findings was quantified using a 5-5-5 exacerbation grading scale for allergic conjunctivitis. The first case was of a 27-year-old man who developed DIOSD 3 months after starting treatment with dupilumab injection for atopic dermatitis. After 5 weeks of topical instillation of tacrolimus ophthalmic suspension, the clinical score of ocular surface findings improved and IL-8 and eotaxin-2 mRNA expression levels gradually decreased. The second patient was a 55-year-old man who developed DIOSD 11 weeks after the start of treatment with dupilumab injection for atopic dermatitis. Four weeks after starting ophthalmological treatment with tacrolimus ophthalmic suspension, his clinical scores on ocular surface findings improved and IL-8 mRNA expression levels decreased. The ocular surface test in this case revealed increased expression levels of IL-8 mRNA on the ocular surface at the onset of DIOSD, which decreased with the improvement of objective findings. Conclusions: DIOSD, which has been successfully treated with tacrolimus ophthalmic suspension, may involve IL-8-related inflammation in addition to type 2 inflammation.
Simultaneous Improvement of Efficiency and Stability of Organic Photovoltaic Cells by using a Cross‐Linkable Fullerene Derivative (2021)

Improving power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) and stability are two main tasks for organic photovoltaic (OPV) cells. In the past few years, although the PCE of the OPV cells has been considerably improved, the research on device stability is limited. Herein, a cross-linkable material, cross-linked [6,6]-phenyl-C61-butyric styryl dendron ester (c-PCBSD), is applied as an interfacial modification layer on the surface of zinc oxide and as the third component into the PBDB-TF:Y6-based OPV cells to enhance photovoltaic performance and long-term stability. The PCE of the OPV cells that underwent the two-step modification increased from 15.1 to 16.1%. In particular, such OPV cells exhibited much better stability under both thermal and air conditions because of the decreased number of interfacial defects and stable interfacial and active layer morphologies. The results demonstrated that the introduction of a cross-linkable fullerene derivative into the interfacial and active layers is a feasible method to improve the PCE and stability of OPV cells.
Cognitive Design Principles for Visualizations: Revealing and Instantiating (2003)

The creation of visualizations can be automated, informed by design principles derived from cognitive research. We describe a collaboration between psychology and computer science to uncover design principles for assembly instructions and instantiate them in algorithms. Participants assembled an object and then constructed diagrammatic instructions; those instructions were first rated and then tested. It was found that effective visualizations contain step-by-step action diagrams with 3-D views that best reveal the assembly actions. The design principles were incorporated into algorithms that generate assembly instructions from object models. The general techniques as well as the specific principles extend to other visual explanations.
The Relationship of Serum Macrophage Inhibitory Cytokine – 1 Levels with Gray Matter Volumes in Community-Dwelling Older Individuals (2015)

Using circulating inflammatory markers and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), recent studies have associated inflammation with brain volumetric measures. Macrophage Inhibitory Cytokine-1 (MIC-1/GDF15) is a divergent transforming growth factor - beta (TGF-β) superfamily cytokine. To uncover the underlying mechanisms of the previous finding of a negative association between MIC-1/GDF15 serum levels and cognition, the present study aimed to examine the relationship of circulating MIC-1/GDF15 levels with human brain gray matter (GM) volumes, in a community-dwelling sample aged 70-90 years over two years (Wave 1: n = 506, Wave 2: n = 327), of which the age-related brain atrophy had been previously well defined. T1-weighted MRI scans were obtained at both waves and analyzed using the FMRIB Software Library and FreeSurfer. The results showed significantly negative associations between MIC-1/GDF15 serum levels and both subcortical and cortical GM volumes. GM volumes of the whole brain, cortex, temporal lobe, thalamus and accumbens showed significant mediating effects on the associations between MIC-1/GDF15 serum levels and global cognition scores. Increases in MIC-1/GDF15 serum levels were associated with decreases in cortical and subcortical GM volume over two years. In conclusion, MIC-1/GDF15 serum levels were inversely associated with GM volumes both cross-sectionally and longitudinally.
Malaria parasite interactions with the human host. (2004)

The interaction between the malaria parasite and the human host involves a number of interactions that result in the parasite evading the human immune system. Since the stages of the malaria lifecycle are complex, this allows the use of various immune evasion strategies by the malaria parasite and has major implications in the development of a vaccine for malaria endemic areas. The present review highlights key host:parasite interactions. Plasmodia puts selection pressure on human gene frequencies, and studies into host genetic factors such as the Duffy blood group and sickle cell anaemia offer insight into the host- parasite relationship. In addition, parasite interactions with the different effector arms of the immune system can result in altered peptide ligand (APL) antagonism which alters the immune response from a pro- to an anti-inflammatory T cell response. Recent insights into the interaction between professional antigen presenting cells, dendritic cells (DCs), and malaria parasites is discussed in detail.
Introduction of Physical Transport Mechanisms into 2D Hybrid Hall Thruster Simulations (2006)

A limitation of many currently existing Hall thruster models is the need for an ad-hoc or experimentally-based electron cross fleld mobility. In this work, the potential ∞uctuations simulated using a radial-axial hybrid Hall thruster model are used to calculate a new electron mobility based only on simulated properties. A small amplitude perturbation model is used to compute number density and electron velocity ∞uctuations and to develop a linearized dispersion relation based on a two-stream instability. The simplifled dispersion relation is used to infer azimuthal wave behavior from the simulated axial properties. The correlation between the relative phase of the plasma density and electron velocity are used to compute anomalous contributions to axial and azimuthal current density. The computed Hall parameter based on this approach leads to improved agreement between simulation and experimental measurements of plasma properties. However, for the speciflc thruster modelled, the simulated perturbation quantities are not small as originally assumed. While this decreases the validity of the computed mobility, it shows that ∞uctuations likely play a signiflcant role in transport and emphasizes the need for a self-consistent non-linear model.
Over-expression of calpastatin aggravates cardiotoxicity induced by doxorubicin (2013)

Over-expression of calpastatin enhances doxorubicin-induced cardiac injuries through calpain inhibition and thus, calpains may protect cardiomyocytes against doxorubicin-induced cardiotoxicity.
Resolving the emission transition dipole moments of single doubly-excited seeded nanorods via heralded defocused imaging (2023)

Semiconductor nanocrystal emission polarization is a crucial probe of nanocrystal physics and an essential factor for nanocrystal-based technologies. While the transition dipole moment of the lowest excited state to ground state transition is well characterized, the dipole moment of higher multiexcitonic transitions is inaccessible via most spectroscopy techniques. Here, we realize direct characterization of the doubly-excited state relaxation transition dipole by heralded defocused imaging. Defocused imaging maps the dipole emission pattern onto a fast single-photon avalanche diode detector array, allowing the post-selection of photon pairs emitted from the biexciton-exciton emission cascade and resolving the differences in transition dipole moments. Type-I1/2 seeded nanorods exhibit higher anisotropy of the biexciton-to-exciton transition compared to the exciton-to-ground state transition. In contrast, type-II seeded nanorods display a reduction of biexciton emission anisotropy. These findings are rationalized in terms of an interplay between transient dynamics of the refractive index and the excitonic fine structure.
Cardiorenal Safety of OTC Analgesics (2018)

Over-the-counter analgesics are used globally for the relief of acute pain. Although effective, these agents can be associated with adverse effects that may limit their use in some people. In the early 2000s, observations from clinical trials of prescription-strength and supratherapeutic doses of nonselective and cyclooxygenase-2-selective nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) raised safety concerns regarding the risk of cardiovascular adverse effects with the use of these medications. Subsequently, the US Food and Drug Administration mandated additional study of the cardiovascular safety of NSAIDs for a more comprehensive understanding of their risk. As these data were being collected, and based on a comprehensive review of prescription data and the recommendations of the US Food and Drug Administration Advisory Committee, the warning labels of over-the-counter NSAIDs were updated to emphasize the potential cardiovascular risks of these agents. The recently reported "Prospective Randomized Evaluation of Celecoxib Integrated Safety versus Ibuprofen or Naproxen" (PRECISION) trial, in which participants with osteoarthritis or rheumatoid arthritis and underlying cardiovascular risk factors were treated with prescription-strength celecoxib, ibuprofen, or naproxen, revealed similar rates of cardiovascular events (death from cardiovascular causes including hemorrhagic death, nonfatal myocardial infarction, or nonfatal stroke) among the 3 treatment groups. Although informative, the cardiovascular safety findings derived from PRECISION cannot be extrapolated to the safety of the over-the-counter pain relievers ibuprofen and naproxen, given that the doses used were higher (mean [standard deviation]: ibuprofen, 2045 [246] mg; naproxen, 852 [103] mg) and the durations of use longer (∼20 months) than recommended with over-the-counter use of NSAIDs, which for ibuprofen is up to 10 days. This review discusses the cardiorenal safety of the most commonly used over-the-counter analgesics, ibuprofen, naproxen, and acetaminophen. Available data suggest that there is little cardiovascular risk when over-the-counter formulations of these agents are used as directed in their labels.
Melt-Process for the Preparation of Porous Composite Electrodes for Battery Application (2019)

Lithium-ion batteries have become the dominant technology for electrochemical energy storage. They have been used in electronic portable devices for decades and now taking the lead in the transportation sector in electrical vehicles. As it has long been known, the release of CO 2 from combustion engine-powered constituted a significant proportion of our global emission of greenhouse gases. In order to reduce this proportion, efforts are being deployed to increase the market penetration of electric vehicles which puts a growing pressure on the production of lithium-ion batteries. As a result, this production is predicted to rapidly and sharply grow in the next few years. This fast development raises novel issues regarding the electrode production process and its impact on the environment. Currently, most of the electrode fabrication processes require organic solvent such as N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP), which is toxic and costly. It is therefore essential to find an alternative which is more sustainable that the solvent process yet that meets requirements of scalability, cost and productivity. In this context, we propose a new approach to electrodes fabrication process developed by our industrial partner Hutchinson (Patent US20130244098A1). It consists of a melt process which is well-known in the polymer industry to make composites. As such, our process does not require any solvent. In our study, we optimised the electrode formulation for power applications. In this presentation, we will report the different steps of the new melt process. The active materials and the conductive carbons used are the same as in the conventional wet process, but the binder needs to be chosen with care. Indeed, due to constraints in terms of temperature, shear forces and of the mixing process itself, the binder must be a heat-tolerant elastomer, to allow good mixing properties to the blend and flexibility to the resulting electrode. As an alternative to the most commonly-used binder, PVdF, a lower-cost commercial elastomer, Hydrogenated Nitrile Butadiene Rubber (HNBR), was used as the binder. To evaluate its compatibility and performance in lithium-ion battery composite electrodes, it was first compared to PVdF with the common wet process to make electrodes. After the validation of HNBR as a binder, it was used with the melt-process. Power testing and cycling performances of electrodes made with different active materials will be presented, showing the feasibility of electrodes and the versatility of the melt-process.
Superimposed Signaling Inspired Channel Estimation in Full-Duplex\n Systems (2015)

Residual self-interference (SI) cancellation in the digital baseband is an\nimportant problem in full-duplex (FD) communication systems. In this paper, we\npropose a new technique for estimating the SI and communication channels in a\nFD communication system, which is inspired from superimposed signalling. In our\nproposed technique, we add a constant real number to each constellation point\nof a conventional modulation constellation to yield asymmetric shifted\nmodulation constellations with respect to the origin. We show mathematically\nthat such constellations can be used for bandwidth efficient channel estimation\nwithout ambiguity. We propose an expectation maximization (EM) estimator for\nuse with the asymmetric shifted modulation constellations. We derive a\nclosed-form lower bound for the mean square error (MSE) of the channel\nestimation error, which allows us to find the minimum shift energy needed for\naccurate channel estimation in a given FD communication system. The simulation\nresults show that the proposed technique outperforms the data-aided channel\nestimation method, under the condition that the pilots use the same extra\nenergy as the shift, both in terms of MSE of channel estimation error and bit\nerror rate. The proposed technique is also robust to an increasing power of the\nSI signal.\n
Matter and Spirit in <i>The Seagull</i> (1998)

At the end of the most recent National Theatre production of The Seagull (1994) in London, the lights faded to leave a single spot tightly focussed on the outspread wings of a disconcertingly large, yet elegant, stuffed seagull. It was clear that, for the sake of theatrical closure, a symbol had landed. But the audience seemed distinctly unclear about how to react. It was embarrassed by the director's assumption that it could do something with this object, make it mean more, rescue it from a state of semiotic aporia. It was a fine specimen of something from within the bird family, but it might as well have been an albatross. It was a theatrical false note of deafening corniness, and yet it epitomized a much deeper, common failure in recent professional productions of the play.
High temperature and high power operation of mode stabilized GaInP/AlGaInP Strained MQW Lasers (2005)

We report, for the first time, on high temperature and high power operation (50mW up to 100/spl deg/C) of transverse-mode stabilized 677nm AlGalnP visible lasers employing compressive strained multiquantum well (MQW) active layer.
A Unified Formal Framework for Analyzing Functional and Speed-path Properties (2011)

We develop a formal tool for speed-path analysis and debug. We encode speed-path requirements in a formal hardware description language providing the semantics of both the functional behavior and timing constraints, and the disciplined use of an SMT solver to analyze speed-path requirements. We are applying our framework for speed-path analysis of several RTL designs from Opencores.
qHTSWaterfall: 3-dimensional visualization software for quantitative high-throughput screening (qHTS) data (2022)

Abstract High throughput screening (HTS) is widely used in drug discovery and chemical biology to identify and characterize agents having pharmacologic properties often by evaluation of large chemical libraries. Standard HTS data can be simply plotted as an x-y graph usually represented as % activity of a compound tested at a single concentration vs compound ID, whereas quantitative HTS (qHTS) data incorporates a third axis represented by concentration. By virtue of the additional data points arising from the compound titration and the incorporation of logistic fit parameters that define the concentration-response curve, such as EC50 and Hill slope, qHTS data has been challenging to display on a single graph. Here we provide a flexible solution to the rapid plotting of complete qHTS data sets to produce a 3-axis plot we call qHTS Waterfall Plots. The software described here can be generally applied to any 3-axis dataset and is available as both an R package and an R shiny application.
<i>Escherichia coli msbB</i> Gene as a Virulence Factor and a Therapeutic Target (1999)

A mutation in the msbB gene of Escherichia coli results in the synthesis of E. coli lipopolysaccharide (LPS) that lacks the myristic acid moiety of lipid A. Although such mutant E. coli cells and their purified LPS have a greatly reduced ability to stimulate human immune cells, a minor reduction in the mouse inflammatory response is observed. When the msbB mutation is transferred into a clinical isolate of E. coli, there is a significant loss in virulence, as assessed by lethality in BALB/c mice. When a cloned msbB gene is provided to functionally complement the msbB mutant, virulence returns, providing direct evidence that the msbB gene product is an important virulence factor in a murine model of E. coli pathogenicity. In the genetic background of the clinical E. coli isolate, the msbB mutation also results in filamentation of the cells at 37 degrees C but not at 30 degrees C, a reduction in the level of the K1 capsule, an increase in the level of complement C3 deposition, and an increase in both opsonic and nonopsonic phagocytosis of the msbB mutant, phenotypes that can help to explain the loss in virulence. The demonstration that the inhibition of msbB gene function reduces the virulence of E. coli in a mouse infection model warrants further investigation of the msbB gene product as a novel target for antibiotic therapy.
Synthesis of Thiol-capped Gold Nanoparticles with Organometallic Reagents as a New Class of Reducing Agent (2009)

Abstract The reaction of chloroauric(III) acid and dodecanethiol with THF solution of 2-propylmagnesium bromide furnishes thiol-capped gold nanoparticles. The obtained nanoparticles are spherical and exhibit average diameter of 5.5±0.61 nm. Synthesis of the nanoparticles are also carried out by using other Grignard reagents and organometallic reagents.
CTCF in parvalbumin-expressing neurons regulates motor, anxiety and social behavior and neuronal identity (2022)

CCCTC-binding factor (CTCF) is a regulator of chromatin organization and has direct effects on gene transcription. Mutations in CTCF have been identified in individuals with neurodevelopmental conditions. There are wide range of behaviors associated with these mutations, including intellectual disabilities, changes in temperament, and autism. Previous mice-model studies have identified roles for CTCF in excitatory neurons in specific behaviors, particularly in regards to learning and memory. However, the role of CTCF in inhibitory neurons is less well defined. In the current study, specific knockout of CTCF in parvalbumin-expressing neurons, a subset of inhibitory neurons, induced a specific behavioral phenotype, including locomotor abnormalities, anxiolytic behavior, and a decrease in social behavior. The anxiolytic and social abnormalities are detected before the onset of locomotor abnormalities. Immunohistochemical analysis revealed a disbalance in parvalbumin-expressing and somatostatin-expressing cells in these mice. Single nuclei RNA sequencing identified changes in gene expression in parvalbumin-expressing neurons that are specific to inhibitory neuronal identity and function. Electrophysiology analysis revealed an enhanced inhibitory tone in the hippocampal pyramidal neurons in knockout mice. These findings indicate that CTCF in parvalbumin-expressing neurons has a significant role in the overall phenotype of CTCF-associated neurodevelopmental deficits.