gebhart/patrepeval huggingface dataset:
Optimizing the tensile properties of polyvinyl alcohol hydrogel for the construction of a bioprosthetic heart valve stent (2002)

Although bioprosthetic heart valves offer the benefits of a natural opening and closing, better hemodynamics, and avoidance of life-long anticoagulant therapy, they nevertheless tend to fail in 10-15 years from tears and calcification. Several authors, including the present ones, have identified the rigid stent as a factor contributing to these failures. The ultimate solution is an artificial heart valve that has mechanical properties that allow it to move in conformity with the aortic root during the cardiac cycle, has superior hemodynamics, is nonthrombogenic, will last more than 20 years, and mitigates the need for anticoagulants. We have identified a polymer, polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) hydrogel, that has mechanical properties similar to soft tissue. The purpose of this research is to match the tensile properties of PVA to the porcine aortic root and to fabricate a stent prototype for a bioprosthetic heart valve with the use of the PVA hydrogel. Specimens of 15% w/w PVA were prepared by processing through 1-6 cycles of freezing (-20 degrees C) at 0.2 degrees C/min freeze rate and thawing (+20 degrees C) at different thawing rates (0.2 degrees C/min and 1 degrees C/min), for different holding times (1 and 6 h) at -20 degrees C. Subsequently tensile tests and stress-relaxation tests were conducted on the specimens. The different holding times at -20 degrees C demonstrated no difference in the result. The slower thawing rate improved the tensile properties but did not produce significant changes on the stress-relaxation properties. The nonlinear stress-strain curve for the PVA after the fourth freeze-thaw cycle matched the porcine aortic root within the physiological pressure range. The stress-relaxation curve for PVA also approximated the shape of the aortic root. The complex geometry of an artificial heart valve stent was successfully injection molded. These results, in combination with other preliminary findings for biocompatibility and fatigue behavior, suggest that PVA hydrogel is a promising biomaterial for implants, catheters, and artificial skin.
Human stanniocalcin-2 exhibits potent growth-suppressive properties in transgenic mice independently of growth hormone and IGFs (2004)

Stanniocalcin (STC)-2 was discovered by its primary amino acid sequence identity to the hormone STC-1. The function of STC-2 has not been examined; thus we generated two lines of transgenic mice overexpressing human (h)STC-2 to gain insight into its potential functions through identification of overt phenotypes. Analysis of mouse Stc2 gene expression indicates that, unlike Stc1, it is not highly expressed during development but exhibits overlapping expression with Stc1 in adult mice, with heart and skeletal muscle exhibiting highest steady-state levels of Stc2 mRNA. Constitutive overexpression of hSTC-2 resulted in pre- and postnatal growth restriction as early as embryonic day 12.5, progressing such that mature hSTC-2-transgenic mice are approximately 45% smaller than wild-type littermates. hSTC-2 overexpression is sometimes lethal; we observed 26-34% neonatal morbidity without obvious dysmorphology. hSTC-2-induced growth retardation is associated with developmental delay, most notably cranial suture formation. Organ allometry studies show that hSTC-2-induced dwarfism is associated with testicular organomegaly and a significant reduction in skeletal muscle mass likely contributing to the dwarf phenotype. hSTC-2-transgenic mice are also hyperphagic, but this does not result in obesity. Serum Ca2+ and PO4 were unchanged in hSTC-2-transgenic mice, although STC-1 can regulate intra- and extracellular Ca2+ in mammals. Interestingly, severe growth retardation induced by hSTC-2 is not associated with a decrease in GH or IGF expression. Consequently, similar to STC-1, STC-2 can act as a potent growth inhibitor and reduce intramembranous and endochondral bone development and skeletal muscle growth, implying that these tissues are specific physiological targets of stanniocalcins.
Empirical evaluation for finger input properties in multi-touch interaction (2009)

Current multi-touch interaction techniques typically only use the x-y coordinates of the human finger's contact with the screen. However, when fingers contact a touch-sensitive surface, they usually approach at an angle and cover a relatively large 2D area instead of a precise single point. In this paper, a Frustrated Total Internal Reflection (FTIR) based multi-touch device is used to collect the finger imprint data. We designed a series of experiments to explore human finger input properties and identified several useful properties such as contact area, contact shape and contact orientation which can be exploited to improve the performance of multi-touch selecting and pointing tasks. Based on the experimental results, we discuss some implications for the design of human finger input interfaces and propose several design prototypes which incorporate these implications. A set of raw data and several concrete recommendations which are useful for the research community are also presented.
Identification of a hexapeptide inhibitor of the human immunodeficiency virus integrase protein by using a combinatorial chemical library. (1995)

Integration of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) DNA into the human genome requires the virus-encoded integrase (IN) protein, and therefore the IN protein is a suitable target for antiviral strategies. To find a potent HIV IN inhibitor, we screened a "synthetic peptide combinatorial library." We identified a hexapeptide with the sequence HCKFWW that inhibits IN-mediated 3'-processing and integration with an IC50 of 2 microM. The peptide is active on IN proteins from other retroviruses such as HIV-2, feline immunodeficiency virus, and Moloney murine leukemia virus, supporting the notion that a conserved region of IN is targeted. The hexapeptide was also tested in the disintegration reaction. This phosphoryl-transfer reaction can be carried out by the catalytic core of IN alone, and the peptide HCKFWW was found to inhibit this reaction, suggesting that the hexapeptide acts at or near the catalytic site of IN. Identification of an IN hexapeptide inhibitor provides proof of concept for the approach, and, moreover, this peptide may be useful for structure-function analysis of IN.
Intracellular trafficking of emerin, the Emery-Dreifuss muscular dystrophy protein (1999)

Emerin is an integral protein of the inner nuclear membrane that is mutated or not expressed in patients with Emery-Dreifuss muscular dystrophy. Confocal immunofluorescence microscopy studies of the intracellular targeting of truncated forms of emerin, some of which are found in patients with Emery-Dreifuss muscular dystrophy, show that the nucleoplasmic, amino-terminal domain is necessary and sufficient for nuclear retention. When this domain is fused to a transmembrane segment of an integral membrane protein of the ER/plasma membrane, the chimeric protein is localized in the inner nuclear membrane. The transmembrane segment of emerin is not targeted to the inner nuclear membrane. Fluorescence photobleaching experiments of emerin fused to green fluorescent protein demonstrate that the diffusional mobility (D) of emerin is decreased in the inner nuclear membrane (D=0.10+/-0.01 microm2/second) compared to the ER membrane (D=0.32+/-0.01 microm2/second). This is in agreement with a model where integral proteins reach the inner nuclear membrane by lateral diffusion and are retained there by association with nucleoplasmic components. Some overexpressed emerin-green fluorescent protein also reaches the plasma membrane of transfected cells, where its diffusion is similar to that in the inner nuclear membrane, suggesting that emerin may also associate with non-nuclear structures.
A Computational Fluid Dynamic Study of Hawkmoth Hovering (1998)

A computational fluid dynamic (CFD) modelling approach is used to study the unsteady aerodynamics of the flapping wing of a hovering hawkmoth. We use the geometry of a Manduca sexta-based robotic wing to define the shape of a three-dimensional 'virtual' wing model and 'hover' this wing, mimicking accurately the three-dimensional movements of the wing of a hovering hawkmoth. Our CFD analysis has established an overall understanding of the viscous and unsteady flow around the flapping wing and of the time course of instantaneous force production, which reveals that hovering flight is dominated by the unsteady aerodynamics of both the instantaneous dynamics and also the past history of the wing. <P> A coherent leading-edge vortex with axial flow was detected during translational motions of both the up- and downstrokes. The attached leading-edge vortex causes a negative pressure region and, hence, is responsible for enhancing lift production. The axial flow, which is derived from the spanwise pressure gradient, stabilises the vortex and gives it a characteristic spiral conical shape. <P> The leading-edge vortex created during previous translational motion remains attached during the rotational motions of pronation and supination. This vortex, however, is substantially deformed due to coupling between the translational and rotational motions, develops into a complex structure, and is eventually shed before the subsequent translational motion. <P> Estimation of the forces during one complete flapping cycle shows that lift is produced mainly during the downstroke and the latter half of the upstroke, with little force generated during pronation and supination. The stroke plane angle that satisfies the horizontal force balance of hovering is 23.6 degrees , which shows excellent agreement with observed angles of approximately 20-25 degrees . The time-averaged vertical force is 40 % greater than that needed to support the weight of the hawkmoth.
TPS-X-an automated graphical approach to TPS design (2003)

The authors describe an object-oriented graphical user interface TPS-X, which provides the test program set (TPS) designer with a development tool that is independent of the automated test equipment (ATE) and the programming language used by the ATE. The interface uses object-oriented symbols representing test objects and circuit topology to show the test strategy as opposed to using a specific language syntax. A TPS-X graphical test diagram and the resulting TPS may be transported from a software development system to and between various test stations. This method of TPS development also aids the TPS debug and maintenance effort by providing a simple visual description of the test strategy and a method of updating the description as opposed to studying source code to determine the strategy and where to make the necessary changes.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">></ETX>
Selective electro‐thermolysis in aesthetic medicine: A review (2004)

The use of radiofrequency (RF) for selective electro-thermolysis has been found to produce a highly efficient thermal effect on biological tissue. Different from optical energy, RF energy is dependent on the electrical properties of the tissue rather than on concentration of chromophores in the skin for selective thermal destruction of targeted sites. Good results have been obtained with systems that use RF current alone for skin resurfacing, with efficacy comparable to laser resurfacing but with potentially more rapid healing. A related adverse effect is pain accompanying the procedure, due to a high depth of penetration. Another technology integrates RF energy together with optical energy (using lower energies of both forms of energies). These systems have shown efficacy in hair removal for all hair colors and skin types, as well as wrinkle reduction; and may reduce the risk of side effects associated with either RF or optical treatments alone. This article discusses the properties of electrical current in medicine and reviews the studies to date that have evaluated RF energy for dermatological applications.
Hepatocellular carcinomas promote tumor-associated macrophage M2-polarization via increased B7-H3 expression (2014)

B7 family members are aberrantly expressed on the human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cell surface, and induce local and systemic immunosuppression. Tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) are a significant immune cell subpopulation in HCC and may be induced to express co-inhibitory molecules including B7 homologue 3 (B7-H3). In the present study, 79.3% of the HCC tissue samples showed high expression of B7-H3 which was positively correlated with the number of TAMs in the evaluated cancer tissues. Furthermore, high levels of TAMs or B7-H3 were associated with a shorter survival time of the HCC patients. In vitro, B7-H3 expression was upregulated at both the mRNA and protein levels in phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA)-induced THP-1 cells cocultured with HepG2 cells in a Transwell system. In addition, B7-H3 promoted PMA-induced THP-1 cells to differentiate into the M2 phenotype, with evidence of increases in arginase 1 (Arg1), vascular endothelial cell growth factor (VEGF) and macrophage-derived chemokine (CCL22) mRNA following coculture with HepG2 cells. However, this phenomenon was abrogated through knockdown of B7-H3 by RNA interference or by blocking the signal transducer and activator of trans-cription 3 (STAT3) signaling pathway. Overall, these results suggest that the B7-H3-mediated STAT3 signaling pathway is an important mechanism for inducing M2-type polarization of TAMs, which accelerates HCC development. Our findings may support the development of novel therapeutic strategies for HCC patients through the skewing of the TAM phenotype by targeting the B7-H3 signaling pathway.
Let the children learn - celebrating learning in early childhood settings in Sydney (2011)

Over the last few months I had the privilege of visiting some early childhood settings in Australia. The experiences gained from those visits provided valuable insights into my reflections about what really matters in early childhood education.
Glutamic and aminoadipic semialdehydes are the main carbonyl products of metal-catalyzed oxidation of proteins (2000)

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), a peer reviewed journal of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) - an authoritative source of high-impact, original research that broadly spans the biological, physical, and social sciences.
R-MINI: An iterative approach for generating minimal rules from examples (1997)

Generating classification rules or decision trees from examples has been a subject of intense study in the pattern recognition community, the statistics community, and the machine-learning community of the artificial intelligence area. We pursue a point of view that minimality of rules is important, perhaps above all other considerations (biases) that come into play in generating rules. We present a new minimal rule-generation algorithm called R-MINI (Rule-MINI) that is an adaptation of a well-established heuristic-switching-function-minimization technique, MINI. The main mechanism that reduces the number of rules is repeated application of generalization and specialization operations to the rule set while maintaining completeness and consistency. R-MINI results on some benchmark cases are also presented.
Interaction of Two Multifunctional Proteins (2000)

The heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein (hnRNP) K, a component of the hnRNP particles, appears to be involved in several steps of regulation of gene expression. To gain insight into mechanisms of K protein action, we performed two-hybrid screens using full-length hnRNP K as a bait. Several novel protein partners were identified, including Y-box-binding protein (YB-1), splicing factors 9G8 and SRp20, DNA-methyltransferase, hnRNP L, and hnRNP U. In vitro binding studies and co-immunoprecipitation from cellular extracts provided evidence for direct interaction between hnRNP K and YB-1. Two distinct domains in YB-1 were responsible for binding to K protein. Each protein was able to transactivate transcription from a polypyrimidine-rich promoter; however, this effect was reduced when K and YB-1 proteins were coexpressed suggesting a functional interaction between these two proteins.
Anacetrapib, a Novel CETP Inhibitor: Pursuing a New Approach to Cardiovascular Risk Reduction (2011)

Cholesteryl ester transfer protein (CETP) inhibition is a promising experimental strategy to raise high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) and reduce cardiovascular risk. This review focuses on the highly selective and potent CE TP inhibitor anacetrapib and discusses the available preclinical and clinical information pertaining to it. We also describe strategies to target HDL-C, discuss the mechanism underlying CETP inhibition and its effects on lipid biology, and give an overview of other CETP inhibitors that are currently in development.
Adapting Multi-touch Systems to Capitalise on Different Display Shapes (2011)

The use of multi-touch interaction has become more widespread. With this increase of use, the change in input technique has prompted developers to reconsider other elements of typical computer design such as the shape of the display. There is an emerging need for software to be capable of functioning correctly with different display shapes. This research asked: âWhat must be considered when designing multi-touch software for use on different shaped displays?â The results of two structured literature surveys highlighted the lack of support for multi-touch software to utilise more than one display shape. From a prototype system, observations on the issues of using different display shapes were made. An evaluation framework to judge potential solutions to these issues in multi-touch software was produced and employed. Solutions highlighted as being suitable were implemented into existing multi-touch software. A structured evaluation was then used to determine the success of the design and implementation of the solutions. The hypothesis\nof the evaluation stated that the implemented solutions would allow the applications to be used with a range of different display shapes in such a way that did not leave visual content items unfit for purpose. The majority of the results conformed to this hypothesis despite minor deviations from the designs of solutions being discovered in the implementation. This work highlights how developers, when producing multi-touch software intended for more than one display shape, must consider the issue of visual content\nitems being occluded. Developers must produce, or identify, solutions to resolve this issue which conform to the criteria outlined in this research. This research shows that it is possible for multi-touch software to be made display shape independent.
Selective hypersensitivity to granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor by juvenile chronic myeloid leukemia hematopoietic progenitors (1991)

Juvenile chronic myelogenous leukemia (JCML) is a good model for the study of myeloproliferation because JCML hematopoietic progenitor cells grow in vitro at very low cell densities without the addition of exogenous stimulus. Previous studies have demonstrated that this proliferation is dependent on granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF), and that removal of monocytes from the cell population before culture eliminates this "spontaneous" myeloproliferation, suggesting a paracrine role of monocyte stimulation. However, subsequent studies have shown that increased GM-CSF production from the JCML monocytes is not a consistent finding and therefore not a plausible sole mechanism. In examining hematopoietic growth factor dose-response curves, both JCML GM and erythroid nonadherent progenitor cell populations displayed a marked and selective hypersensitivity to GM-CSF. Responses to interleukin-3 and G-CSF were identical to control dose-response curves. This is the first demonstration of a myeloid leukemia in which hypersensitivity to a specific growth factor appears to be involved in the pathogenesis of the disease.
Prototyping an ATM adaptation layer in a multimedia terminal (1993)

Abstract This paper describes the implementation of a prototype ATM adaptation layer (AAL) within the kernels of two machines running Sun Operating System 4.1.1. The implementation is achieved by using the STREAMS paradigm and an Ethernet link between the two machines as a surrogate optical fibre link. The flexibility of the STREAMS facility for building layered protocols, and the real‐time performance limitations of the STREAMS scheduling system are identified. STREAMS is shown to be no less susceptible to naïve buffer utilization than earlier paradigms. It is necessary to minimize message passing and copying of data to achieve high throughput. This study has clarified several key issues in the functional design of AALs.
Temperature management in multiprocessor SoCs using online learning (2008)

In deep submicron circuits, thermal hot spots and high temperature gradients increase the cooling costs, and degrade reliability and performance. In this paper, we propose a low-cost temperature management strategy for multicore systems to reduce the adverse effects of hot spots and temperature variations. Our technique utilizes online learning to select the best policy for the current workload characteristics among a given set of expert policies. We achieve 20% and 60% average decrease in the frequency of hot spots and thermal cycles respectively in comparison to the best performing expert, and reduce the spatial gradients to below 5%.
Rate-distortion optimized distributed packet scheduling of multiple video streams over shared communication resources (2006)

We consider the problem of distributed packet selection and scheduling for multiple video streams sharing a communication channel. An optimization framework is proposed, which enables the multiple senders to coordinate their packet transmission schedules, such that the average quality over all video clients is maximized. The framework relies on rate-distortion information that is used to characterize a video packet. This information consists of two quantities: the size of the packet in bits, and its importance for the reconstruction quality of the corresponding stream. A distributed streaming strategy then allows for trading off rate and distortion, not only within a single video stream, but also across different streams. Each of the senders allocates to its own video packets a share of the available bandwidth on the channel in proportion to their importance. We evaluate the performance of the distributed packet scheduling algorithm for two canonical problems in streaming media, namely adaptation to available bandwidth and adaptation to packet loss through prioritized packet retransmissions. Simulation results demonstrate that, for the difficult case of scheduling nonscalably encoded video streams, our framework is very efficient in terms of video quality, both over all streams jointly and also over the individual videos. Compared to a conventional streaming system that does not consider the relative importance of the video packets, the gains in performance range up to 6 dB for the scenario of bandwidth adaptation, and even up to 10 dB for the scenario of random packet loss adaptation.