gebhart/patrepeval huggingface dataset:
Beyond serum creatinine: which tools to evaluate renal function in cirrhotic patients? (2018)

In cirrhotic patients, a high serum creatinine value is an independent mortality factor. Similarly, it is predictive of renal insufficiency after liver transplantation. In these cases, chronic kidney disease is also an independent mortality factor. A relevant evaluation of glomerular filtration rate is crucial, particularly in cases of end-stage liver disease or liver transplantation, and is key for the decision to undertake dual liver-kidney transplantation. Serum creatinine or creatinine-based equations are the most used tools in clinical practice but they significantly overestimate renal function. Equilibrium inulin renal clearance remains the gold standard but is time consuming and expensive. Cystatin C and cystatin C-based equations are less influenced by muscle mass or bilirubin value, but their dosage is not standardized and they are expensive. Pharmacological models using exogenous markers, new kidney biomarkers, Doppler coupled with ultrasounds, and kidney histology could be interesting tools but their indications need to be specified.
The Fabrication of Very Small Miniemulsion Latexes from <i>N</i>‐Stearoylglutamate and Lauryl Methacrylate: Evidence for Droplet Budding (2003)

Abstract A new, biodegradable surfactant with high efficiency, N ‐stearoyl‐di(sodium)glutamate (SDG), was used for miniemulsion polymerization of styrene and lauryl methacrylate (LMA). In the case of styrene, SDG produces latexes at least as small as those produced by sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), over a range of concentrations. In the case of LMA, a combination of SDG with an appropriate costabilizer allows one to obtain very small particles. With potassium persulfate (KPS) as initiator, the SDG/LMA system deviates significantly from the ideal miniemulsion, forming extremely small particles, which was speculatively attributed to a budding phenomenon. The new, biodegradable surfactant, N ‐stearoyl‐di(sodium)glutamate. magnified image The new, biodegradable surfactant, N ‐stearoyl‐di(sodium)glutamate.
Canonical sampling through velocity-rescaling (2008)

We present a new molecular dynamics algorithm for sampling the canonical distribution. In this approach the velocities of all the particles are rescaled by a properly chosen random factor. The algorithm is formally justified and it is shown that, in spite of its stochastic nature, a quantity can still be defined that remains constant during the evolution. In numerical applications this quantity can be used to measure the accuracy of the sampling. We illustrate the properties of this new method on Lennard-Jones and TIP4P water models in the solid and liquid phases. Its performance is excellent and largely independent on the thermostat parameter also with regard to the dynamic properties.
Elevation of the Extracellular Concentrations of Glutamate and Aspartate in Rat Hippocampus During Transient Cerebral Ischemia Monitored by Intracerebral Microdialysis (1984)

Rats were implanted with 0.3-mm-diameter dialysis tubing through the hippocampus and subsequently perfused with Ringer's solution at a flow rate of 2 microliter/min. Samples of the perfusate representing the extracellular fluid were collected over 5-min periods and subsequently analyzed for contents of the amino acids glutamate, aspartate, glutamine, taurine, alanine, and serine. Samples were collected before, during, and after a 10-min period of transient complete cerebral ischemia. The extracellular contents of glutamate and aspartate were increased, respectively, eight- and threefold during the ischemic period; the taurine concentration also was increased 2.6-fold. During the same period the extracellular content of glutamine was significantly decreased (to 68% of the control value), whereas the concentrations of alanine and serine did not change significantly during the ischemic period. The concentrations of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) were too low to be measured reliably. It is suggested that the large increase in the content of extracellular glutamate and aspartate in the hippocampus induced by the ischemia may be one of the causal factors in the damage to certain neurons observed after ischemia.
Unique Phase‐Separation Structures of Block‐Copolymer Nanoparticles (2005)

Block-copolymer nanoparticles with lamellar phase-separation structures (see Figure) have been prepared by a slow-precipitation process. Regular-sized polymer nanoparticles are formed after evaporation of a good solvent from a polymer solution containing a non-volatile poor solvent and a volatile good solvent.
Real-world vehicle emissions as measured by in situ analysis of exhaust plumes (2017)

We conducted a 60-day roadside measurement campaign on a busy street in Münster, Germany, during summer 2016. We used gas and particle concentration measurements with high temporal resolution (10 Hz) to quantify both the emission ratios of nitrogen oxides per carbon dioxide (NO <sub>x</sub> /CO<sub>2</sub>) for over 70,000 individual exhaust plumes as well as the emission ratios for size-resolved particle numbers per carbon dioxide (d(PN CO<sub>2</sub><sup>-1</sup>)/dlogD) for about 10,000 plumes. The real-world fleet passing by the measurement station consisted of passenger cars (85%), buses (5.9%), light duty commercial vehicles (5.7%), trucks (1.7%), and motorcycles (1.6%). The median measured NO <sub>x</sub> /CO<sub>2</sub> ratio was 3.33 g kg<sup>-1</sup>. The median measured PN/CO<sub>2</sub> emission ratio for particles with diameters between 0.03 and 10 μm was 5.6 × 10<sup>14</sup> kg<sup>-1</sup>. We compared our results with the Handbook Emission Factors for Road Transport (HBEFA) and the Euro 5 and Euro 6 emission standards by employing traffic counts, assuming the diesel-to-gasoline ratios of vehicles according to registration statistics, and estimating that stop-and-go traffic occurred 65% of the time. Using a conservative estimate, our median ratios exceeded the HBEFA data by more than 65% for NO <sub>x</sub> /CO and by a factor of about 100 for PN/CO<sub>2.</sub> Furthermore, our median NO <sub>x</sub> emission per kilometer travelled (NO <sub>x</sub> km<sup>-1</sup>) exceeded the Euro 5 emission limit for diesel cars by a factor of 3 and exceeded the Euro 6 limit by almost a factor of 7. Additionally, our median particle number emission (PN km<sup>-1</sup>) exceeded the Euro 5 and Euro 6 limits of diesel cars by a factor of almost 150. These results confirm the presumption that the emissions of a real-world traffic fleet comprehensively exceed the legal limits. Very likely, the widespread presence of defeat devices in vehicle emission control systems plays a major role in this discrepancy. This has a strong impact on the apparent inability of authorities to comply with the legal limits of the NO<sub>2</sub> concentrations in urban air.
High Performance CIGS Thin-Film Solar Cells: A Laboratory Perspective (2005)

We present a summary of our work on the preparation of CuInGaSe2 (CIGS) absorbers that has led to fabricating record-efficiency solar cells. The use of the three-stage process in conjunction with composition monitoring facilitates the fabrication of solar cells with efficiencies between 18% and 19.5% for absorber bandgap in the range of 1.1-1.2 eV. We describe our recent results in reducing absorber thickness and low-temperature deposition. Our preliminary results on absorbers grown from low-purity source materials show promise of reducing the cost of fabricating the absorber.
Genetically encoded fluorescent tags (2017)

Genetically encoded fluorescent tags are protein sequences that can be fused to a protein of interest to render it fluorescent. These tags have revolutionized cell biology by allowing nearly any protein to be imaged by light microscopy at submicrometer spatial resolution and subsecond time resolution in a live cell or organism. They can also be used to measure protein abundance in thousands to millions of cells using flow cytometry. Here I provide an introduction to the different genetic tags available, including both intrinsically fluorescent proteins and proteins that derive their fluorescence from binding of either endogenous or exogenous fluorophores. I discuss their optical and biological properties and guidelines for choosing appropriate tags for an experiment. Tools for tagging nucleic acid sequences and reporter molecules that detect the presence of different biomolecules are also briefly discussed.
Normal Embryonic and Germ Cell Development in Mice Lacking α1,3-Fucosyltransferase IX (Fut9) Which Show Disappearance of Stage-Specific Embryonic Antigen 1 (2004)

Stage-specific embryonic antigen 1 (SSEA-1), an antigenic epitope defined as a Lewis x carbohydrate structure, is expressed during the 8-cell to blastocyst stages in mouse embryos and in primordial germ cells, undifferentiated embryonic stem cells, and embryonic carcinoma cells. For many years, SSEA-1 has been implicated in the development of mouse embryos as a functional carbohydrate epitope in cell-to-cell interaction during morula compaction. In a previous study, alpha 1,3-fucosyltransferase IX (Fut9) exhibited very strong activity for the synthesis of Lewis x compared to other alpha 1,3-fucosyltransferases in an in vitro substrate specificity assay. Fut4 and Fut9 transcripts were expressed in mouse embryos. The Fut9 transcript was detected in embryonic-day-13.5 gonads containing primordial germ cells, but the Fut4 transcript was not. In order to identify the role of SSEA-1 and determine the key enzyme for SSEA-1 synthesis in vivo, we have generated Fut9-deficient (Fut9(-/-)) mice. Fut9(-/-) mice develop normally, with no gross phenotypic abnormalities, and are fertile. Immunohistochemical analysis revealed an absence of SSEA-1 expression in early embryos and primordial germ cells of Fut9(-/-) mice. Therefore, we conclude that expression of the SSEA-1 epitope in the developing mouse embryo is not essential for embryogenesis in vivo.
ChemInform Abstract: Synthesis and Biological Activity of Some 3‐Heterocyclyl‐4‐hydroxy‐6‐ methyl‐2(1H)‐quinolones. (1995)

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.
Physicochemical Characteristics of Self-Assembled Nanoparticles Based on Glycol Chitosan Bearing 5β-Cholanic Acid (2003)

The self-aggregation behavior and microscopic characteristics of hydrophobically modified glycol chitosans (HGCs), prepared by covalent attachment of 5β-cholanic acid to glycol chitosan, were investigated by using 1H NMR, dynamic light scattering, fluorescence spectroscopy, and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The HGCs formed self-aggregates in an aqueous phase by intra- or intermolecular association between hydrophobic 5β-cholanic acids attached to glycol chitosan. The critical aggregation concentrations (cacs) of the HGCs were dependent on the degree of substitution (DS) of 5β-cholanic acid and were significantly lower than those of low molecular weight surfactants. The mean diameters of the self-aggregates decreased with the increase in the DS of 5β-cholanic acid because of the formation of compact hydrophobic inner cores. The TEM images demonstrated that the shape of the self-aggregates, on the basis of the HGCs, is spherical. The partition equilibrium constants (Kv) of pyrene, measured in the self-aggregate solutions of the HGCs, indicated that the increase in the DS enhances the hydrophobicity of inner core of self-aggregates. The aggregation number of 5β-cholanic acid per one hydrophobic microdomain, estimated by the fluorescence quenching method using cetylpyridinium chloride, increased with increasing the DS, which suggested that several HGC chains were needed to form one hydrophobic domain.
Cloning, sequencing and overexpression in Escherichia coli of the alginatelyase-encoding aly gene of Pseudomonas alginovora: identification of three classes of alginate lyases (1996)

A gene of Pseudomonas alginovora, called aly, has been cloned in Escherichia coli using a battery of PCR techniques and sequenced. It encodes a 210-amino-acid alginate lyase (EC 4.2.2.3), Aly, in the form of a 233-amino-acid precursor. P. alginovora Aly has been overproduced in E. coli with a His-tag sequence fused at the C-terminal end under conditions in which the formation of inclusion bodies is avoided. His-tagged P. alginovora Aly has the same enzymic properties as the wild-type enzyme and has the specificity of a mannuronate lyase. It can be purified in a one-step procedure by affinity chromatography on Ni(2+)-nitriloacetate resin. The yield is of 5 mg of enzyme per litre of culture. The amplification factor is 12.5 compared with the level of production by wild-type P. alginovora. The six alginate lyases of known primary structure fall into three distinct classes, one of which comprises the pair P. alginovora Aly and Klebsiella pneumoniae Aly.
In vivo evidence for an instructive role of fms-like tyrosine kinase-3 (FLT3) ligand in hematopoietic development (2014)

Cytokines are essential regulators of hematopoiesis, acting in an instructive or permissive way. Fms-like tyrosine kinase 3 ligand (FLT3L) is an important cytokine for the development of several hematopoietic populations. Its receptor (FLT3) is expressed on both myeloid and lymphoid progenitors and deletion of either the receptor or its ligand leads to defective developmental potential of hematopoietic progenitors. In vivo administration of FLT3L promotes expansion of progenitors with combined myeloid and lymphoid potential. To investigate further the role of this cytokine in hematopoietic development, we generated transgenic mice expressing high levels of human FLT3L. These transgenic mice displayed a dramatic expansion of dendritic and myeloid cells, leading to splenomegaly and blood leukocytosis. Bone marrow myeloid and lymphoid progenitors were significantly increased in numbers but retained their developmental potential. Furthermore, the transgenic mice developed anemia together with a reduction in platelet numbers. FLT3L was shown to rapidly reduce the earliest erythroid progenitors when injected into wild-type mice, indicating a direct negative role of the cytokine on erythropoiesis. We conclude that FLT3L acts on multipotent progenitors in an instructive way, inducing their development into myeloid/lymphoid lineages while suppressing their megakaryocyte/erythrocyte potential.
Specification of Midbrain Dopamine Neurons from Primate Pluripotent Stem Cells (2012)

By sequentially applying sonic hedgehog (C25II) and CHIR99021 (GSK3β inhibitor) to induce the midbrain floor plate (FP) progenitors and fibroblast growth factor 8 (FGF8) to promote dopaminergic differentiation in a chemically defined medium, we have established a robust system for the generation of midbrain dopamine (DA) neurons from human and rhesus monkey embryonic stem cells and induced pluripotent stem cells (PSCs). We found that CHIR99021 specifies diencephalon to hind brain fates in a concentration-dependent manner and only a narrow concentration range of CHIR99021 at a particular window is necessary to induce the midbrain FP progenitors, expressing Corin, En1, FoxA2, and Lmx1a. FGF8 enhances the dopaminergic fate of the progenitors, thus generating DA neurons with midbrain characteristics, including expression of tyrosine hydroxylase, Lmx1a/b, FoxA2, FoxP1, Nurr1, and En1 as well as typical electrophysiological properties. More than half of these DA neurons expressed A9 DA neuron markers Girk2 and ALDH1a1. The new strategy will allow generation of enriched populations of functional midbrain DA neurons from both human and monkey PSCs for disease modeling, drug testing, and potential cell therapy.
Stability and generalization in structured prediction (2016)

Structured prediction models have been found to learn effectively from a few large examples-- sometimes even just one. Despite empirical evidence, canonical learning theory cannot guarantee generalization in this setting because the error bounds decrease as a function of the number of examples. We therefore propose new PAC-Bayesian generalization bounds for structured prediction that decrease as a function of both the number of examples and the size of each example. Our analysis hinges on the stability of joint inference and the smoothness of the data distribution. We apply our bounds to several common learning scenarios, including max-margin and soft-max training of Markov random fields. Under certain conditions, the resulting error bounds can be far more optimistic than previous results and can even guarantee generalization from a single large example.
Ghrelin Main Action on the Regulation of Growth Hormone Release Is Exerted at Hypothalamic Level (2003)

Ghrelin, a recently isolated hormone, seems to participate in the physiological regulation of GH secretion. Exogenously administered ghrelin stimulates GH discharge in all species so far tested including man, but whether this action is exerted at pituitary or alternatively at hypothalamic level is not known at present. To understand the point of ghrelin action a group of patients with organic lesion mainly in the hypothalamic area and matched controls were studied. Patients showed a severe GH deficiency after hypothalamic stimulation (ITT), but partial response after GHRH administration. Cases and controls were tested on three separate days by either ghrelin; GHRH; and ghrelin plus GHRH; always at 1 micro g/Kg iv. The mean GH peak after stimulation in the patients were: 0.4 +/- 0.1 micro g/L by ITT; 3.1 +/- 0.5 micro g/L after GHRH; 2.0 +/- 0.8 micro g/L after ghrelin; and 9.6 +/- 2.9 micro g/L after the combination of GHRH plus ghrelin. In the controls GHRH induced a GH peak of 21.2 +/- 7.5 micro g/L, and 75.1 +/- 16.0 micro g/L after ghrelin with a peak after GHRH + ghrelin of 103.5 +/- 26.4 micro g/L. These data indicate that when hypothalamic structures are not operative ghrelin, either alone or in combination with GHRH, is not able to significantly release GH. In addition to postulating a hypothalamic point of action for the ghrelin-induced GH secretion, these results suggests that ghrelin will not have significant clinical utility in patients with GH deficiency due to organic lesion.
Towards controlling larger quantum systems: from laser cooling to quantum computing (2000)

Laser-cooling techniques offer novel opportunities in the generation and manipulation of entangled quantum states. Atoms trapped in infrared mesoscopic optical lattices are presented as attractive candidates for both the production of highly entangled states and quantum logic experiments. Recent experimental work on the realization of such a lattice, based on atoms trapped in the antinodes of an infrared standing wave near 10.6 /spl mu/m, is reviewed. This culminates in the individual lattice sites being resolved with an optical microscope. Finally, with the aim of achieving greater control over molecules, a matter-wave interferometer is proposed, in which the probability for absorption of photon momenta depends on the particle velocity, rather than on the absolute laser detuning from a particular optical transition. This scheme has prospects for the laser cooling of both atoms and molecules.
Soliton beam self-trapping applied to passive mode-locking of lasers (1987)

International audience
Photophysics and kinetics of naphthopyran derivatives, part 2: Analysis of diarylnaphthopyran kinetics. Degeneracy of the kinetic solution (2005)

Abstract The photocoloring and fading kinetics of the photochromic 3,3‐diphenyl‐3 H ‐naphtho[2,1‐ b ]pyran (NPY) have been analyzed using a kinetic treatment for three related species recently developed by us ( Int J Chem Kinet 2005, 37(3), 162). The concepts of identifiability and distinguishability are developed with respect to the elucidation of the NPY kinetics. We find that neither set of kinetic data on its own, nor the two data sets combined, allow the true mechanism to be distinguished. In addition, even for a chosen mechanism, there exist degenerate sets of parameters i.e. the solutions are also unidentifiable. A discussion of the limits and uniqueness of the results' interpretation is presented. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Chem Kinet 37: 717–727, 2005
Hypertriglyceridemia as a Result of Human apo <i>CII</i> Gene Expression in Transgenic Mice (1990)

Primary and secondary hypertriglyceridemia is common in the general population, but the biochemical basis for this disease is largely unknown. With the use of transgenic technology, two lines of mice were created that express the human apolipoprotein CIII gene. One of these mouse lines with 100 copies of the gene was found to express large amounts of the protein and to be severely hypertriglyceridemic. The other mouse line with one to two copies of the gene expressed low amounts of the protein, but nevertheless manifested mild hypertriglyceridemia. Thus, overexpression of apolipoprotein CIII can be a primary cause of hypertriglyceridemia in vivo and may provide one possible etiology for this common disorder in humans.
U.K. Controlled Trial of Intrapleural Streptokinase for Pleural Infection (2005)

The intrapleural administration of streptokinase does not improve mortality, the rate of surgery, or the length of the hospital stay among patients with pleural infection.
Research on critical factors of cw laser glazing of Fe-C-Si-B alloy (1996)

Bright layers covering 80 percent of the melt area have been achieved by laser glazing on Fe-C-Si-B eutectic matrix prealloyed by laser on nodular iron substrates, which are verified to be metallic glasses by TEM electron diffraction. It is demonstrated in the paper that epitaxial growth from the crystalline substrate in melt bottom is the universal phenomenon and critical factor during laser glazing. The principal condition for glass forming is the abrupt stop of the epitaxial growth during solidification, which is comprehensively dependent upon the eutectic composition, composition homogeneity, microstructure fineness, laser glazing power density and scanning velocity.