gebhart/patrepeval huggingface dataset:
Interaction of Thrombin with Sucrose Octasulfate (2011)

The serine protease thrombin plays multiple roles in many important physiological processes, especially coagulation, where it functions as both a pro- and anticoagulant. The polyanionic glycosaminoglycan heparin modulates thrombin's activity through binding at exosite II. Sucrose octasulfate (SOS) is often used as a surrogate for heparin, but it is not known whether it is an effective heparin mimic in its interaction with thrombin. We have characterized the interaction of SOS with thrombin in solution and determined a crystal structure of their complex. SOS binds thrombin with a K(d) of ~1.4 μM, comparable to that of the much larger polymeric heparin measured under the same conditions. Nonionic (hydrogen bonding) interactions make a larger contribution to thrombin binding of SOS than to heparin. SOS binding to exosite II inhibits thrombin's catalytic activity with high potency but with low efficacy. Analytical ultracentrifugation shows that bovine and human thrombins are monomers in solution in the presence of SOS, in contrast to their complexes with heparin, which are dimers. In the X-ray crystal structure, two molecules of SOS are bound nonequivalently to exosite II portions of a thrombin dimer, in contrast to the 1:2 stoichiometry of the heparin-thrombin complex, which has a different monomer association mode in the dimer. SOS and heparin binding to exosite II of thrombin differ on both chemical and structural levels and, perhaps most significantly, in thrombin inhibition. These differences may offer paths to the design of more potent exosite II binding, allosteric small molecules as modulators of thrombin function.
Botulinum toxin type A for upper limb spasticity after stroke (2009)

Spasticity is involuntary overactivity of muscles that occurs following upper motor neuron damage to the brain or spinal cord. Upper limb spasticity is common after stroke and can cause deformity, pain and reduced function. Botulinum toxin type A is a neurotoxin produced by the bacterium Clostridium botulinum that blocks the release of acetylcholine from cholinergic neurons. When given by intramuscular injection it causes temporary local paresis and has become an important component of focal spasticity treatment. Randomized controlled trials have shown that botulinum toxin type A can decrease upper limb spasticity and improve the ease of performing basic upper limb functional activities, such as cleaning the hand or dressing a sleeve. This article will review the pharmacology of botulinum toxin type A and its clinical efficacy when used to treat upper limb spasticity after stroke.
Engineering Light: Advances in Wavelength Conversion Materials for Energy and Environmental Technologies (2012)

Upconversion photoluminescence (UC) occurs in optical materials that are capable of absorbing low energy photons and emitting photons of higher energy and shorter wavelength, while downconversion (DC) materials may absorb one high energy photon and emit two of lower energy for quantum yields exceeding unity. These wavelength conversion processes allow us to transform electromagnetic radiation so it may be more effectively utilized by light-capturing devices and materials. Progress in designing more efficient organic and inorganic photochemical conversion systems has initiated a recent surge in attempts to apply these processes for practical uses, including enhancement of many energy and environmental technologies. In this review, we introduce important concepts in UC and DC materials and discuss the current status and challenges toward the application of wavelength conversion to solar cells, photocatalysis, and antimicrobial surfaces.
Towards optimal bit-rate control in video transcoding (2004)

A new low complexity transcoder for pre-encoded MPEG2 video is introduced. Based on the various architectures for video bit-rate reducer, we optimize the compression on the macro-block (MB) level and analyze the resulted quantization errors. We propose a low complexity rate-control algorithm accordingly. Finally, we examine coded video data in order to evaluate our model.
The Sso7d protein of <i>Sulfolobus solfataricus</i>: in vitro relationship among different activities (2002)

The physiological role of the nonspecific DNA-binding protein Sso7d from the crenarchaeon Sulfolobus solfataricus is unknown. In vitro studies have shown that Sso7d promotes annealing of complementary DNA strands (Guagliardi et al. 1997), induces negative supercoiling (Lopez-Garcia et al. 1998), and chaperones the disassembly and renaturation of protein aggregates in an ATP hydrolysis-dependent manner (Guagliardi et al. 2000). In this study, we examined the relationships among the binding of Sso7d to double-stranded DNA, its interaction with protein aggregates, and its ATPase activity. Experiments with 1-anilinonaphthalene-8-sulfonic acid as probe demonstrated that exposed hydrophobic surfaces in Sso7d are responsible for interactions with protein aggregates and double-stranded DNA, whereas the site of ATPase activity has a non-hydrophobic character. The interactions of Sso7d with double-stranded DNA and with protein aggregates are mutually exclusive events, suggesting that the disassembly activity and the DNA-related activities of Sso7d may be competitive in vivo. In contrast, the hydrolysis of ATP by Sso7d is independent of the binding of Sso7d to double-stranded DNA or protein aggregates.
A Practical Method for Optical Resolution of Racemic Alcohols or Esters via Lipase-Catalyzed Transformation and Sulfation (2000)

Abstract Optically active esters were conveniently obtained from the corresponding racemic alcohols or esters by lipase-catalyzed transformation, followed by sulfation. Sulfation by sulfurtrioxide pyridine complex enabled facile isolation of optically active esters by extraction instead of laborious column chromatography. The method would be especially advantageous on a large scale.
Optical studies of heat-treated Si-doped GaAs bulk crystals (1991)

The effect of heat treatments on optical properties of Si-doped GaAs was investigated. Special care was taken to avoid the evaporation of As during heat treatment. Several kinds of photoluminescence peaks were found to be developed, depending on the Si concentration of the crystal and the temperature of the heat treatment. In crystals of high concentrations of Si a broad photoluminescence peak centered at about 1040 nm in wavelength was observed. The intensity and position of the peak were found to depend on the temperature of the heat treatment for a crystal in which the Si concentration was higher than 3.8×1018 atoms/cm3. The change in the peak position was accompanied by the changes in the optical absorptions related to SiGa-SiAs and SiAs-VGa pairs and also by the change in the concentration of free electrons. The characteristics of the observations were well interpreted with the idea that the photoluminescence peak was related to clusters of Si atoms and that clustering of Si atoms took place during heat treatment. Such clustering of Si atoms did not take place appreciably in a crystal of a Si concentration lower than 3.0×1018 atoms/cm3. The origins of other photoluminescence peaks related to shallow levels were identified, while those related to deep levels are not known at the present moment.
Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition in Cancer: Parallels Between Normal Development and Tumor Progression (2010)

From the earliest stages of embryonic development, cells of epithelial and mesenchymal origin contribute to the structure and function of developing organs. However, these phenotypes are not always permanent, and instead, under the appropriate conditions, epithelial and mesenchymal cells convert between these two phenotypes. These processes, termed Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition (EMT), or the reverse Mesenchymal-Epithelial Transition (MET), are required for complex body patterning and morphogenesis. In addition, epithelial plasticity and the acquisition of invasive properties without the full commitment to a mesenchymal phenotype are critical in development, particularly during branching morphogenesis in the mammary gland. Recent work in cancer has identified an analogous plasticity of cellular phenotypes whereby epithelial cancer cells acquire mesenchymal features that permit escape from the primary tumor. Because local invasion is thought to be a necessary first step in metastatic dissemination, EMT and epithelial plasticity are hypothesized to contribute to tumor progression. Similarities between developmental and oncogenic EMT have led to the identification of common contributing pathways, suggesting that the reactivation of developmental pathways in breast and other cancers contributes to tumor progression. For example, developmental EMT regulators including Snail/Slug, Twist, Six1, and Cripto, along with developmental signaling pathways including TGF-beta and Wnt/beta-catenin, are misexpressed in breast cancer and correlate with poor clinical outcomes. This review focuses on the parallels between epithelial plasticity/EMT in the mammary gland and other organs during development, and on a selection of developmental EMT regulators that are misexpressed specifically during breast cancer.
Chromium Hydrides and Dihydrogen Complexes in Solid Neon, Argon, and Hydrogen:  Matrix Infrared Spectra and Quantum Chemical Calculations (2003)

Reactions of chromium atoms with molecular hydrogen are investigated through matrix-isolation infrared spectroscopy of products and complexes. Laser-ablated chromium atoms react with molecular hydrogen upon condensation in excess neon and argon and in pure hydrogen. The reaction products, CrH, (H2)CrH, CrH2, (H2)CrH2, and (H2)2CrH2 are identified by isotopic substitution (D2, HD, and H2+D2) and comparison with DFT (density functional theory) and MP2 calculations of vibrational fundamentals. The (H2)CrH complex with lower energy than CrH3 is trapped and no band is observed for CrH3. Reactions with H2 and D2 mixtures and with HD give different relative yields of the same mixed isotopic bands, which shows that exchange of dihydride and dihydrogen complex positions occurs in the energized [CrH4]* intermediate in the formation of (H2)CrH2. The major bands at 1529.5 cm-1 for H2 and 1112.2 cm-1 for D2 in neon and at 1521.3 cm-1 in pure hydrogen and 1106.9 cm-1 in pure deuterium are due to (H2)2CrH2 and (D2)2CrD2, respectively, which is the most stable form for chromium hexahydride.
Deploying secure multi-party computation for financial data analysis. (2011)

In this paper we describe a secure system for jointly collecting and analyzing financial data for a consortium of ICT companies. To guarantee each participant’s privacy, we use secret sharing and secure multi-party computation (MPC) techniques. While MPC has been used to solve real-life problems beforehand, this is the first time where the actual MPC computation on real data was done over the internet with computing nodes spread geographically apart. We describe the system architecture, security considerations and implementation details. We also present the user feedback analysis revealing that secure multi-party computation techniques give sufficient assurance for data donors to submit their sensitive information, and act as a critical enabling feature for privacy-preserving data mining.
Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme: Clinical Applications and Laboratory Investigations on Serum and Other Biological Fluids (1991)

Angiotensin I-converting enzyme (ACE) is a peptidyldipeptide hydrolase that is located mainly on the luminal surface of vascular endothelial cells but also in cells derived from the monocyte-macrophage system. Physiologically, ACE is a key enzyme in the renin-angiotensin system, converting angiotensin I into the potent vasopressor angiotensin II and also inactivating the vasodilator bradykinin. Increased serum ACE activity (SACE) has been reported in pathologies involving a stimulation of the monocytic cell line, primarily granulomatous diseases. Sarcoidosis is the most frequent and the better studied of these diseases; high SACE is not only a well-established marker for the diagnosis but is also a useful tool for following its course and evaluating the effect of therapy. SACE can also be increased in nonsarcoidotic pulmonary granulomatous diseases such as silicosis and asbestosis, in extrathoracic granulomatous pathologies such as Gauchers disease and leprosis, and, to a lesser extent, in nongranulomatous disorders such as hyperthyroidism or cholestasis. On the other hand, monitoring sarcoidosis obviates the measurement of ACE activity in other biological fluids, e.g., broncho-alveolar and cerebrospinal fluids, in the search of a locoregional dissemination or dis-simulation of the disease. Decreased SACE has been reported in vascular pathologies involving an endothelial abnormality, e.g., deep vein thrombosis, and in endothelium dysfunctions related to the toxicity of chemo- and radiotherapy used in cancers, leukemias, and hematopoietic or organ transplantations. SACE is also of interest for monitoring arterial hypertension treated with specific synthetic ACE inhibitors. These various reasons for determining ACE activity have led to the development of numerous methods. The most widely used is the spectrophotometric assay using hippuryl-histidyl-leucine as substrate. Fluorimetric and radiochemical assays using both classic and novel substrates have been proposed, but they are time consuming, require special apparatus, and are not suited to automation. Kinetic spectrophotometry of furylacryloyl-phenylalanyl-glycyl-glycine hydrolysis is now used extensively because it is easy to automatize. Efforts are now required to standardize one or more of these assays. Indeed, "normal" plasma values differ not only according to the substrate, but also to the method of determination and to sex and age.
Phenolics in selected European hardwood species by liquid chromatography–electrospray ionisation mass spectrometry (2001)

The phenols in beech (Fagus sylvatica), birch (Betula pendula) and ash (Fraxinus excelsior) wood dusts were compared using a mass spectrometer fitted with an electrospray ionisation interface with liquid chromatographic separation. Hardwood dust is a carcinogen, and an analysis of the polyphenol profile is a useful method for identifying the dust source in workplace air. The mass spectrometer was operated in both the negative and positive ion modes. Phenolic compounds were identified by comparing mass spectra and retention times from liquid chromatography with those for standard compounds and data in the literature. The phenol contents of the studied wood species varied considerably, and only a few common compounds were found in them.
Cryosurgery re-visited for the removal and destruction of brain, spinal and orbital tumours (1992)

Advances in neuroimaging and cryosurgical techniques have prompted us to re-evaluate the potential of cryosurgical techniques for the removal and the destruction of various neoplasms. We have used cryosurgical instrumentation to remove tumours in the brain, spine and orbit in 71 patients without complications. Cryosurgery was used to facilitate removal and extraction in 64 and to destroy residual neoplasms when removal was incomplete in 7. Intraoperative real time ultrasonic imaging permitted precise delimitation of tumours from surrounding tissues and allowed monitoring during the production of cryosurgical lesions thus permitting heretofore unavailable visualization of the production of cryogenic lesions in the central nervous system. New cryosurgical instrumentation was used to produce lesions up to three times larger than similar sized probes previously available. Our results reconfirm that cryosurgery facilitates the removal of tumours in the brain, spinal cord and orbit, reduces blood loss in vascular tumours, and is effective in ablating residual neoplasms involving the superior sagittal sinus, torcula and parasagittal areas. A Doppler flowmeter proved useful for monitoring sagittal sinus blood flow during the production of cryosurgical ablation of residual tumour attached to the walls of the sagittal sinus. Recent advances in ultrasonic and neuroimaging coupled with stereotactic techniques and improvements in cryosurgical instrumentation may prove useful in the future percutaneous destruction of selective intracranial neoplasms.
OASIS 2: online application for survival analysis 2 with features for the analysis of maximal lifespan and healthspan in aging research (2016)

Online application for survival analysis (OASIS) has served as a popular and convenient platform for the statistical analysis of various survival data, particularly in the field of aging research. With the recent advances in the fields of aging research that deal with complex survival data, we noticed a need for updates to the current version of OASIS. Here, we report OASIS 2 (http://sbi.postech.ac.kr/oasis2), which provides extended statistical tools for survival data and an enhanced user interface. In particular, OASIS 2 enables the statistical comparison of maximal lifespans, which is potentially useful for determining key factors that limit the lifespan of a population. Furthermore, OASIS 2 provides statistical and graphical tools that compare values in different conditions and times. That feature is useful for comparing age-associated changes in physiological activities, which can be used as indicators of "healthspan." We believe that OASIS 2 will serve as a standard platform for survival analysis with advanced and user-friendly statistical tools for experimental biologists in the field of aging research.
Ultraslow Li Diffusion in Spinel‐Type Structured Li<sub>4</sub>Ti<sub>5</sub>O<sub>12</sub> — A Comparison of Results from Solid State NMR and Impedance Spectroscopy. (2007)

Abstract ChemInform is a weekly Abstracting Service, delivering concise information at a glance that was extracted from about 200 leading journals. To access a ChemInform Abstract, please click on HTML or PDF.
Particle-based non-Newtonian fluid animation for melting objects (2006)

This paper presents a new visually realistic animation technique for objects that melt and flow. It simulates viscoplastic properties of materials such as metal, plastic, wax, polymer and lava. The technique consists in modeling the object by the transition of a non-Newtonian fluid with high viscosity to a liquid of low viscosity. During the melting, the viscosity is formulated using the general Newtonian fluids model, whose properties depend on the local temperature. The phase transition is then driven by the heat equation. The fluid simulation framework uses a variation of the Lagrangian method called smoothed particle hydrodynamics. This paper also includes several schemes that improve the efficiency and the numerical stability of the equations
Realtime On-Road Vehicle Detection with Optical Flows and Haar-Like Feature Detectors (2012)

An autonomous vehicle is a demanding application for our daily life. Such vehicle requires to detect other vehicles on the road. Given the sequences of images, the algorithms need to find other vehicles in realtime. There two types of on-road vehicles, traveling in the same direction or traveling in the opposite direction. Due to the distinct features of two types of vehicles, different approaches are necessary to detect vehicles in different directions. Here, we use ‘optical flow‘ to detect vehicles in the opposite direction because the coming traffics shows salient motions. We use ‘Haar-like feature detection‘ for vehicles in the same direction because the traffics represent relatively stable shape (car rear) and little motion. We verify the detected region with estimating 3D geometry. If the detector fail to find the vehicles, we interpolate the region from the previous frames. Then, the detected vehicles are projected into the 3D space. Our system detects vehicles with high accuracy in realtime for 11 frames/sec.
Simple control strategy for balancing the DC-link voltage of neutral-point-clamped inverter at low modulation index (2004)

A simple control strategy is proposed based on the discontinuous PWM (DPWM) to balance the DC-link voltage of three-level neutral-point-clamped (NPC) inverter at low modulation index. It introduces new DPWM methods and one of them is applied to balancing the DC-link voltage. The current flowing into the neutral point of DC-link capacitors causes the fluctuation of neutral point potential in the NPC inverter. The proposed DPWM method changes the path and duration time of the neutral point current, which makes the overall variation of it zero during the sampling time of the reference voltage vector. Therefore, using the proposed strategy, the neutral point potential of DC-link capacitors can be balanced fairly well and its ripple is also reduced significantly. Moreover, compared with conventional methods that have to perform the complicated calculation, the proposed strategy has been very simple. The proposed DPWM method has been verified by experiment.
Double-blind, randomized, controlled trial of fish oil supplements in prevention of recurrence of stenosis after coronary angioplasty. (1992)

This trial documented the protective effect of fish oil supplements on the recurrence of coronary stenosis 6 months after PTCA. The study results suggest that a dietary intervention could be useful in preventing restenosis.
Reducing Pesticide Drift by Considering Propeller Rotation Effects From Aerial Application Near Buffer Zones (2013)

<p>Off-target drift of chemical from agricultural spraying can damage sensitive crops, destroy beneficial insects, and intrude on human and domestic animal habitats, threatening environmental quality. Reduction of drift from aerial application can be facilitated at the edge of a field by offsetting spray ½ or 1 boom width from the field edge or by switching off one boom. For single boom application (and especially when spraying in a cross wind), there is some question whether off-target drift of sprayed crop protection agent is influenced by which boom is spraying and if direction of propeller rotation has any effect. An experiment was conducted to determine the effect of propeller wash rotation on aerial spray drift from turbine-powered aircraft. Spray samplers were placed at three sample lines to collect drift fallout and air-entrained particles 104, 134, 195, and 317 meters downwind, perpendicular to the flight path. An aqueous mixture of malathion was applied from the aircraft through fifty hollow cone nozzles. Five total replications were conducted over two days. Each replication had four treatment combinations of actively spraying boom and airplane direction. Results showed that neither active boom nor boom location (upwind or downwind) was statistically significant for either sampling method at the 0.05 level. Blocking the study to account for weather differences increased statistical precision. Thus when analysis was limited to the second day of testing, propeller wash direction was significant at the 0.10 level for the fallout sheets (P = 0.0773), and at the 0.05 level for high volume (Hi-Vol) air samplers (P = 0.0200). Higher concentrations occurred when propeller wash spiraled downwind. Based on results of this study, recommendations for pilots spraying with a single boom near a boundary is to spray so that propeller wash rotation occurs upwind.</p>