gebhart/patrepeval huggingface dataset:
Relationship of early childhood viral exposures to respiratory symptoms, onset of possible asthma and atopy in high risk children: The Canadian asthma primary prevention study (2007)

The contribution of respiratory viral infections to the onset of asthma and atopy is controversial. In "high risk" children (n = 455) born into asthmatic/atopic families, we determined the relationship of exposures to common respiratory viruses and concomitant respiratory symptoms, and to subsequent possible asthma and atopy at ages 1 and 2 years. Frozen nasal specimens, obtained when children were 2 weeks, 4, 8, and 12 months old, underwent reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) testing for parainfluenza virus (PIV), respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and picornavirus (rhinovirus/enterovirus). Odds ratios of viral RT-PCR results to respiratory symptoms ("cold," rhinitis, cough, wheezing) and to possible asthma or atopy at 1 and 2 years of age were calculated. Positive viral RT-PCR was associated with increased odds of "cold" and cough; PIV and picornavirus were associated with rhinitis, and RSV was associated with wheezing. PIV was associated with increased odds of atopy at 1 year of age in the control group; PIV and RSV were associated with possible asthma at 2 years of age. We conclude that in high-risk children, viral exposures documented by RT-PCR are associated with respiratory symptoms, and exposures to PIV and RSV during the first year of life are associated with the initial onset of possible asthma.
Functionalized CdSe quantum dots as selective silver ion chemodosimeter (2004)

CdSe quantum dots (QDs) have been prepared and modified with mercaptoacetic acid. They are water-soluble and biocompatible. To improve their fluorescence intensity and stability in water solution, bovine serum albumin (BSA) was absorbed onto their surface. Based on the quench of fluorescence signals of the functionalized CdSe QDs in the 543 nm wavelength and enhancement of them in the 570-700 nm wavelength range by Ag(I) ions at pH 5.0, a simple, rapid and specific method for Ag(I) determination was proposed. In comparison with single organic fluorophores, these nanoparticles are brighter, more stable against photobleaching, and do not suffer from blinking. Under the optimum conditions, the response is linearly proportional to the concentration of Ag(I) between 4.0 x 10(-7) and 1.5 x 10(-5) mol L(-1), and the limit of detection is 7.0 x 10(-8) mol L(-1). The mechanism of reaction is also discussed.
Emerging Approaches to Broaden Resistance of Soybean to Soybean Cyst Nematode as Supported by Gene Expression Studies (2009)

The major pest of soybean ( Glycine max ) is the soybean cyst nematode (SCN), Heterodera glycines . One population of SCN can evoke a resistant response while a second population can evoke a susceptible response from the same soybean cultivar. Recently, interactions between SCN and soybean roots
Human Papillomaviruses Modulate MicroRNA 145 Expression To Directly Control Genome Amplification (2013)

Human papillomaviruses (HPVs) modulate expression of host microRNAs. Our deep-sequencing analysis of organotypic raft cultures identified microRNA 145 (miR-145) as a differentiation-dependent microRNA that has functionally active target sequences in the HPV-31 E1 and E2 open reading frames. Overexpression of miR-145 in HPV-positive cells resulted in reduced genome amplification and late gene expression, along with decreased levels of cellular transcription factor KLF-4. Our studies show that HPV modulates miR-145 expression to control its own life cycle.
Blind estimation of multiple co-channel digital signals arriving at an antenna array (2002)

We propose a novel approach for separating and estimating multiple co-channel digital signals arriving at an antenna array. The spatial response of the antenna array is known imprecisely or unknown. We exploit the discrete-alphabet property of digital signals to simultaneously determine the array response and the bit sequence for each signal. Uniqueness of the estimates is established for signals with BPSK modulation format. This new approach as applicable to an unknown array geometry and propagation environment, which is particularly useful in digital mobile communications. Simulation results demonstrate its promising performance.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">></ETX>
Protoplasts in organelle research: Transfer and transformation of plastids (1992)

Protoplasts, because they lack the wall of a typical higher plant cell, offer unique opportunities for experimental manipulation of their organellar constituents. Here, we report on modification of the organellar content of Nicotiana tabacum protoplasts by microfusion‐induced transfer of defined numbers of chloroplasts into albino recipient cells. A single chloroplast is found to be sufficient for establishing a new plastid population in the progeny of the recipient cell. The frequency of green or variegated regenerants is shown to be genotype dependent. It can be drastically increased by using selection pressure for the transferred organelle. We also report on transient expression of plastid specific reporter gene constructs in plastids after PEG‐mediated direct gene transfer into Nicotiana plumbaginifolia protoplasts. The expression is shown to be localized in the plastids by determining gene expression in isolated chloroplasts under conditins which completely remove cytoplasmic enzyme activity derived from a nuclear reporter gene construct. These data demonstrate for the first time that functional DNA, introduced into the cytoplasm by direct gene transfer, enters the organellar compartment and is expressed.
<title>Adaptive-neighborhood image processing</title> (1992)

A number of locally-adaptive, non-linear techniques for image enhancement have recently been developed. These methods typically involve convolution between the image and a rectangular, fixed-size, sliding window positioned over each pixel in the image whose coefficient are dependent on the image statistics under the sliding window. These nonlinear techniques, however, share a fundamental shortcoming that can reduce their utility: they are based on an assumption of stationarity of the image. This is, in general, not a good assumption, as image characteristics often change abruptly. Image segmentation can be used to break up an image into relative stationary regions so that different types of filters may be applied to statistically different regions of the image, however, this can result in unwarranted enhancement of edges between segmented regions. In this paper we present a new paradigm for image processing operations where unlike fixed-neighborhood methods, enhancement operations are based on the characteristics of an adaptive neighborhood determined individually for each pixel in the image. The adaptive neighborhood, just like the fixed neighborhood, surrounds the pixel to be enhanced, but the shape and area covered by the adaptive neighborhood are dependent on the local characteristics of the image rather than being arbitrarily defined. Images enhanced using adaptive neighborhoods are superior to those enhanced using fixed neighborhoods, as the adaptive-neighborhood image processing (ANIP) techniques tune themselves to the contextual details in the image. A major advantage in the adaptive-neighborhood techniques is that edges in the images are not degraded since the adaptive neighborhoods tend not to transcend real edges or boundaries in the image. We have, over the past decade, presented a series of articles describing various adaptive-neighborhood enhancement techniques in which neighborhoods are allowed to overlap. In our experience images enhanced using adaptive, overlapping neighborhoods are superior to those enhanced using fixed neighborhoods, as the adaptive-neighborhood techniques tune themselves to the contextual details in the image. In this paper, we provide an overall unifying viewpoint for this work, so that the use of adaptive-neighborhood image processing may be viewed as a new paradigm for image processing operations.
MR Neurography and Diffusion Tensor Imaging: Origin, History and Impact (2008)

Abstract Objective – Methods were invented that made it possible to image peripheral nerves in the body and to image neural tracts in the brain. Over a 15 year period, these techniques – MR Neurography and Diffusion Tensor Imaging – were then deployed in the clinical and research community and applied to about 50,000 patients. Within this group, about 5,000 patients having MR Neurography were carefully tracked on a prospective basis. Method – In the study group a uniform imaging methodology was applied and all images were reviewed and registered by referral source, clinical indication, efficacy of imaging and quality. Various classes of image findings were identified and subjected to a variety of small targeted prospective outcome studies. Those findings demonstrated to be clinically significant were then tracked in the larger clinical volume data set. Results – MR Neurography demonstrates mechanical distortion of nerves, hyperintensity consistent with nerve irritation, nerve swelling, discontinuity, relations of nerves to masses, and image features revealing distortion of nerve at entrapment points. These findings are often clinically relevant and warrant full consideration in the diagnostic process. They result in specific pathologic diagnoses that are comparable to electrodiagnostic testing in clinical efficacy. Conclusions – MR Neurography and DTI neural tract imaging have been validated as indispensable clinical diagnostic methods that provide reliable anatomical pathological information. There is no alternative diagnostic method in many situations. With the elapse of 15 years, tens of thousands of imaging studies, and hundreds of publications, these methods should no longer be considered experimental.
ADC architecture with direct binary output for digital controllers of high-frequency SMPS (2006)

Without adopting encoder to convert "thermometer code" into binary code, analog-to-digital converter (ADC) architecture with direct binary code output is proposed for digital controllers of high-frequency switching mode power supply (SMPS). It can provide large conversion ranges with required precision and reduce ADC circuit complexity. The output can be compressed into a much shorter addressing character in logarithmic law and lead to reduction of memory size in the look-up table of the digital compensator
DNA Inversion in the Tail Fiber Gene Alters the Host Range Specificity of Carotovoricin Er, a Phage-Tail-Like Bacteriocin of Phytopathogenic <i>Erwinia carotovora</i> subsp. <i>carotovora</i> Er (2001)

Carotovoricin Er is a phage-tail-like bacteriocin produced by Erwinia carotovora subsp. carotovora strain Er, a causative agent for soft rot disease in plants. Here we studied binding and killing spectra of carotovoricin Er preparations for various strains of the bacterium (strains 645Ar, EC-2, N786, and P7) and found that the preparations contain two types of carotovoricin Er with different host specificities; carotovoricin Era possessing a tail fiber protein of 68 kDa killed strains 645Ar and EC-2, while carotovoricin Erb with a tail fiber protein of 76 kDa killed strains N786 and P7. The tail fiber proteins of 68 and 76 kDa had identical N-terminal amino acid sequences for at least 11 residues. A search of the carotovoricin Er region in the chromosome of strain Er indicated the occurrence of a DNA inversion system for the tail fiber protein consisting of (i) two 26-bp inverted repeats inside and downstream of the tail fiber gene that flank a 790-bp fragment and (ii) a putative DNA invertase gene with a 90-bp recombinational enhancer sequence. In fact, when a 1,400-bp region containing the 790-bp fragment was amplified by a PCR using the chromosomal DNA of strain Er as the template, both the forward and the reverse nucleotide sequences of the 790-bp fragment were detected. DNA inversion of the 790-bp fragment also occurred in Escherichia coli DH5alpha when two compatible plasmids carrying either the 790-bp fragment or the invertase gene were cotransformed into the bacterium. Furthermore, hybrid carotovoricin CGE possessing the tail fiber protein of 68 or 76 kDa exhibited a host range specificity corresponding to that of carotovoricin Era or Erb, respectively. Thus, a DNA inversion altered the C-terminal part of the tail fiber protein of carotovoricin Er, altering the host range specificity of the bacteriocin.
Automated Code Review for Fault Injection (2013)

The software quality relies, among others, on security. In the smartcards domain assumed throughout this paper, the focus is on security. Smartcards are embedded systems that contain sensitive information. Code review is one of the most efficient evaluation techniques applied to smartcards. It is used for the examination of the smartcard source code in order to find security weak points. Since the code review is expensive, time-consuming and error-prone when done manually, we developed an application that is performing this process automatically. According to our knowledge, this automation of the code review process for smartcards is an innovative approach. In this study, we use our application to identify the smartcard software vulnerabilities in order to further exploit them using fault injection. Fault injection is one of the most common attacks against smartcards. The developed application was evaluated and validated based on a test-suite composed of smartcard programs. The test-suite is composed of 12 smartcard programs that are based on defensive programming patterns against fault injection attacks. We were able to identify 15 vulnerability types in the test-suite. The success rate of the identified vulnerabilities from the test programs varies between 30% and 100%. As a result, we believe that the application will be a significant factor in evaluating the smartcard software.
Validation of a Disease-Specific Measure of Health-Related Quality of Life for Children with Cystic Fibrosis (2003)

Results demonstrated that the CFQ-Child is a reliable and valid measure of HRQOL for children with CF.
[Progress of clinical research in "tailor" chemotherapy for non-small-cell lung cancer.]. (2008)

The both incidence and mortality of non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) have been obviously increasing in recent years, the chemotherapy is still one of the best systemic treatment with response rates of 20%-40% by different regimens. We still need more logical and more accuracy to use the agents against NSCLC if we try to improve the efficacy. Biological markers for predicting the efficacy based on different molecular characteristic of NSCLC is important. With the development of molecular biology in past years, we have realized the different expression of ERCC1, RRM1, Beta-tubulin, BRCA1 and Thymidylate synthetase(TS) may be related to the efficacy of different chemotherapeutic agents and prognosis in NSCLC. So it is possible for predicting results of chemotherapeutic agents with those different markers, "tailor" chemotherapy. This article is a clinical review in the fields.
An adaptive video sub-sampling technique for the conversion between high and low resolution (2002)

An adaptive sub-sampling technique is proposed for the conversion of high-resolution video to low-resolution video, which will eventually be converted back to high resolution. This technique can preserve high spatial frequency information by exploiting the temporal correlation of stationary regions without any extra storage or transmission bandwidth. Coding complexity can be reduced by a factor of four if the video is to be eventually displayed in high-resolution, with small degradation in visual quality and peak-signal-to noise ratio. Most of the edge information can be preserved when the low-resolution video is converted back to high-resolution video and significant improvement can be obtained compared with conventional methods.
Fresnel propagation and diffraction and paraxial wave equation (1982)

Examines the diffraction and the free propagation of an optical scalar field by means of the Fresnel approximation. In a unified way, deduces its properties from the differential equation of paraxial waves. By means of the variable separation method, one can obtain directly significant field distributions like: pseudoplane waves, pseudospherical waves and Gaussian beams. The following topics are also treated: the Fresnel diffraction integral, inverse propagation, the Fresnel transformations, some invariant properties for affinity transformations, and formulas which permit an evaluation, in every point of the field, of the distribution of the error connected to the Fresnel approximation.
Clinical utility and validation of emerging biochemical markers for mammary adenocarcinoma (1993)

The clinical utilities of the emerging biochemical markers for mammary adenocarcinoma CA 15-3, CA 549, CA M26, CA M29, and MCA (mucin-like carcinoma-associated antigen) were assessed by a formal rating according to six desirable marker characteristics. All five indicators similarly have good specificities but limited sensitivities. As a consequence, these markers mainly meet just two desirable criteria: their frequency and degree of expression reflect tumor burden and prognosis, and they may correlate with therapeutic results. The validation of these assay properties by clinical trials was evaluated by another rating system, designed to assess proband sample selection, restrictions on allowable observations, and choice of statistical descriptors. By these benchmarks, the estimates of the prior probabilities of test outcome (sensitivity and specificity) are reasonably definitive, but conclusive judgments about the posterior probabilities of test outcome ("predictive values") and about values and costs associated with testing are not possible. Three approaches to enhance the limited clinical utility of biochemical breast cancer markers are considered: shifts of the diagnostic decision threshold, marker panels, and sequential testing. However, none of these strategies improves the described performance characteristics.
Correction: Effects of various mouthpieces on respiratory physiology during steady-state exercise in college-aged subjects. (2016)

Protective mouthpieces have been used in a variety of sports to decrease the risk of orofacial injury. There are limited data to suggest that mouthpiece use during exercise may also provide an ergogenic effect. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of 3 different mouthpiece designs-boil-and-bite (BB) mouthpiece, ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) custom mandibular mouthpiece, and polypropylene (Poly) custom mandibular mouthpiece-on respiratory physiology parameters and compare them with results of a no-mouthpiece (NM) condition. Sixteen college-aged, recreationally fit subjects ran for 10 minutes in 4 separate trials; mouthpiece conditions were randomly assigned to each trial for all subjects. Respiratory and cardiorespiratory measures, including oxygen uptake, carbon dioxide exhalation, ventilation, heart rate, tidal volume, and respiratory rate (RR), were assessed throughout testing. A repeated-measures analysis of variance indicated that RR was significantly lower (P = 0.04) in the BB mouthpiece condition (27.92 breaths per minute [BPM]) than in the NM condition (30.63 BPM). In paired t tests between conditions, the RR demonstrated in the BB condition (27.92 BPM) was significantly lower (P = 0.04) than that of each other condition (NM, 30.63 BPM; EVA, 29.92 BPM; and Poly, 29.92 BPM). The outcomes of the present study demonstrate that the use of the BB mouthpiece decreased RR during exercise. The differences cited between conditions may be attributed to the design of the mouthpiece and its mandibular placement as well as the activity of the genioglossus muscle. However, future studies should assess these parameters to determine the plausibility of these theories.
Ballistic transport in semiconducting carbon nanotubes (2001)

We report on electronic transport in devices consisting of individual semiconducting singled-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) grown by a chemical vapor deposition technique and contacted by metal electrodes. Low-temperature electronic transport at negative gate bias indicates the SWNTs act as single quantum dots with a length on order of the electrode spacing, indicating that the mean free path is greater than the contact spacing (∼1 μm). Upon increasing gate bias, an intermediate multiple quantum dot regime is observed, followed by a gapped region at positive gate bias. At room temperature and zero gate bias a mean free path of 700 nm is determined using electrostatic force microscopy to probe the local potential in the SWNT.
Development of an on-line mastitis detection system within an integrated knowledge-based system for dairy farm management support. (1994)

Some aspects of automated clinical mastitis detection and diagnosis are discussed. Knowledge representation techniques for the different steps in the diagnostic process are presented. The main focus of this paper is on automated early detection, based on data that are automatically collected in the milking parlour. Principal component analysis, logistic regression and back-propagation neural networks were used in the analysis of the automatically collected data. The 3 techniques did not differ greatly in performance. All the techniques performed better when data from milking with observed clinical signs were used, compared with data from milking before clinical symptoms were noticed. Healthy quarters were mostly correctly classified by all techniques. It seems unlikely that all clinical mastitis cases can be detected at milking before visible clinical signs occur.
Synthesis of Effective Kinetic Inhibitors for Natural Gas Hydrates (2011)

Six novel polymer-based kinetic hydrate inhibitors (KHIs) were synthesized and characterized. Their performance in inhibiting both tetrahydrofuran (THF) hydrate and the synthetic gas hydrate formation was examined using two different instruments: a ball-stop apparatus and a high-pressure automatic lag time apparatus (HP-ALTA). Performance was benchmarked against two commercially available KHIs, Gaffix VC-713 and Luvicap EG, under the same working conditions. The test results from the ball-stop rig demonstrated that the new KHIs were as effective as Gaffix VC-713 and Luvicap EG in preventing the formation of THF hydrates in 3.5 wt % NaCl solutions. For the synthetic gases, most new polymers outperformed the reference KHIs at a concentration of 0.05 wt %. Polymers containing a pendant THF functional group in the side chains showed a substantial 12–16 °C decrease in the hydrate formation temperature of the gas water mixtures relative to those containing the same amount of Gaffix VC-713 or Luvicap EG. The trend of the inhibition performance of the polymers was different in THF from that measured for gas mixtures. Small amounts of ethanol added to the hydrate formation mixtures were also shown to have an effect. Investigation of the inhibition mechanism associated with these new polymers is under way.
Expanded therapeutic potential in activity space of next-generation 5-nitroimidazole antimicrobials with broad structural diversity (2013)

Significance Drugs against disease-causing microbes are among the major achievements of modern medicine, but many microbes show a tenacious ability to develop resistance, so they are no longer killed by available drugs. We show here for an important class of these drugs, represented by the common drug metronidazole, that broad modifications of the basic drug structure can improve drug activities against several clinically important microbes and unexpectedly overcome different forms of resistance. Several of these new drugs cure infections in animal models and are safe in initial toxicity evaluations. These findings provide reasons to develop this class of drugs as human medicines in the ongoing fight against disease-causing microbes.