gebhart/patrepeval huggingface dataset:
Immunogenicity and safety of different formulations of an adjuvanted glycoprotein D genital herpes vaccine in healthy adults (2013)

Herpes simplex virus (HSV) type 2 (HSV-2) is the main cause of genital and neonatal herpes and is highly prevalent worldwide. Previous phase I and II studies showed the immunogenicity and safety of the candidate prophylactic HSV-2 glycoprotein D-based subunit vaccine (gD2-AS04), containing aluminum hydroxide and 3-O-deacylated monophosphoryl lipid A (MPL) as adjuvant (AS04), in healthy adults. The primary objective of the study presented here was to compare the immunogenicity and safety of five different vaccine formulations: 3 different antigen doses [20, 40 or 80 μg of truncated glycoprotein D from HSV-2 strain (gD-2t)], different aluminum salts [AlPO₄ or Al(OH)₃], different preservatives or different volumes of vaccine (0.5 or 1 ml). One hundred and fifty healthy men and women aged 18-45 years, with negative serological markers for HSV-1 and HSV-2 infection, were vaccinated with one of 5 formulations of the gD2-AS04 candidate vaccine according to a 0-, 1-, 6-month schedule. No statistically significant difference was observed in humoral or cellular immune responses between different antigen doses or the different aluminum salts, preservatives or volumes of vaccine. The gD2-AS04 vaccine was well tolerated by study participants for the duration of the study period. Local symptoms were more frequently reported than general symptoms, with muscle stiffness and/or injection site redness being the most frequently reported. Overall, the incidence of adverse events was comparable in all groups. Based on these results the gD2-AS04 formulation, containing 20 μg of gD-2t, was selected for evaluation of prophylactic efficacy in further clinical trials.
Introductory Studies of Natural and Artificial Argillaceous Aggregates by Sound-Propagation and X-ray Diffraction Methods (1959)

Field evidence has shown wide variation in the velocities of sound waves in shales, the most abundant sedimentary-rock type. The sound velocity in and the bulk densities of a variety of natural and artificial aggregates were measured, and an attempt was made to show how mineral composition, particle orientation, and interparticle adhesion affect the velocity-density relationship. In natural samples minerals were identified by X-ray diffraction, and the degree of preferred orientation of the illite particles was measured by comparing the ratio of the intensities of the (002) to (110) lines obtained from irradiated sections cut parallel and perpendicular to the bedding. Sound-velocity measurements and X-ray results indicate that the bedding planes of flat-lying argillaceous sediments have circular symmetry for all stages of compaction and that the degree of preferred orientation parallel to the bedding plane of the basal planes of illite particles increases with increasing compaction. Large differences in sound velocities in similarly prepared drying illite and kaolinite aggregates are explained on the basis of their different fine-structure bonding. A tentative explanation is offered for the observed variation in sound velocity in pure and mixed aggregates with water content. The sound velocity in kaolinite-quartz sand mixtures apparently cannot be explained by any simple averaging of component properties but is probably intimately related to the differences in the adhesion between kaolinite particles themselves and kaolinite and sand particles. Other tentative conclusions are advanced which will require study of larger varieties of both natural and artificial aggregates for confirmation.
Differential scanning calorimetry of the epoxy cure reaction (1973)

Abstract From a review of the literature it is shown that kinetics from programmed heating rate experiments are often in serious disagreement with published isothermal data. In every case, including the present, the dynamic kinetic parameters measured on epoxies are significantly larger than the isothermal. Use of a dynamic rate equation provides good agreement between the two experiments. It is also shown that the Kissinger method is correct when applied to DSC of epoxies.
LC-MS-based method for the qualitative and quantitative analysis of complex lipid mixtures (2006)

A simple and robust LC-MS-based methodology for the investigation of lipid mixtures is described, and its application to the analysis of human lipoprotein-associated lipids is demonstrated. After an optional initial fractionation on Silica 60, normal-phase HPLC-MS on a YMC PVA-Sil column is used first for class separation, followed by reversed-phase LC-MS or LC-tandem mass spectrometry using an Atlantis dC18 capillary column, and/or nanospray MS, to fully characterize the individual lipids. The methodology is applied here for the analysis of human apolipoprotein B-associated lipids. This approach allows for the determination of even low percentages of lipids of each molecular species and showed clear differences between lipids associated with apolipoprotein B-100-LDL isolated from a normal individual and those associated with a truncated version, apolipoprotein B-67-containing lipoproteins, isolated from a homozygote patient with familial hypobetalipoproteinemia. The methods described should be easily adaptable to most modern MS instrumentation.
Theoretical Issues of Validity in the Measurement of Aided Speech Reception Threshold in Noise for Comparing Nonlinear Hearing Aid Systems (2016)

There can be no doubt that SRTn measurements, when used to compare nonlinear HA systems, in principle, suffer from threats to their internal and external/ecological validity. Interactions between HA nonlinearities and SNR, and interparticipant differences in inherent SNR requirements, can act to generate misleading results. In addition, SRTn may lie at an SNR outside the range for which the HA system is designed or expected to operate in. Although the extent of invalid conclusions in the literature is difficult to evaluate, examples of studies were nevertheless identified where the risk of each form of invalidity is significant. Reliable data on ecological SNRs is becoming available, so that ecological validity can be assessed. Methodological developments that can reduce the risk of invalid conclusions include variations on the SRTn measurement procedure itself, manipulations of stimulus or scoring conditions to place SRTn in an ecologically relevant range, and design and analysis approaches that take account of interparticipant differences.
Synthesis of Globular Precursors (2015)

o-Carborane (C2 B10 H12 ) was adapted to perform as the core of globular macromolecules, dendrons or dendrimers. To meet this objective, precisely defined substitution patterns of terminal olefin groups on the carborane framework were subjected to Heck cross-coupling reactions or hydroboration leading to hydroxyl terminated arms. These led to new terminal groups (chloro, bromo, and tosyl leaving groups, organic acid, and azide) that permitted ester production, click chemistry, and oxonium ring opening to be performed as examples of reactions that demonstrate the wide possibilities of the globular icosahedral carboranes to produce new dendritic or dendrimer-like structures. Polyanionic species were obtained in high yield through the ring-opening reaction of cyclic oxonium compound [3,3'-Co(8-C4 H8 O2 -1,2-C2 B9 H10 )(1',2'-C2 B9 H11 )] by using terminal hydroxyl groups as nucleophiles. These new polyanionic compounds that contain multiple metallacarborane clusters at their periphery may prove useful as new classes of compounds for boron neutron capture therapy with enhanced water solubility and as cores to make a new class of high-boron globular macromolecules.
Computer-based assessment of ventricular mechanical synchrony from magnetic resonance imaging (2015)

Cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) has revolutionized the care of a substantial portion of patients with advanced heart failure (HF). From current guideline (NYHA III or IV heart failure, left ventricular ejection fraction ≤35% and ECG QRS duration ≥ 120 ms), CRT improves clinical status in about 70% of those treated. Ideally, the ability to accurately predict likelihood of response will enhance the quality of treatment. This study aims to develop an automated method to assess left ventricular mechanical synchrony from magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), which has been considered as gold standard cardiac imaging for ventricular structure and function assessment. 26 healthy volunteers (age ranges from 24 years to 73 years) were prospectively recruited and underwent standard MRI scans. MRI images (e.g. 2-chamber, 3-chamber and 4-chamber views) were processed and atrioventricular junction (AVJ) motions were auto-tracked during cardiac cycle. The myocardial velocities Sm1 and Sm2 at systolic phase; Em and Am at early and late mitral filing phase, were derived respectively. The time to these measures (e.g., TSm1, TSm2, TEm and TAm) were determined and ventricular synchrony indices TSm1-SD-6, TSm2-SD-6, TEm-SD-6 and TAm-SD-6 (standard deviations of TSm1, TSm2, TEm and TAm for 6 AVJ points) were assessed and correlated with age. The computational time per dataset is approximately 5 minutes. One-way ANOVA analysis found that there were no significant differences in time to peak velocities in 6 segments. Second, linear regression analysis found that there were no significant correlation between TSm2-SD-6 and TAm-SD-6 with age, and fair positive correlation between TSm1-SD-6 and TEm-SD-6 with age. In this prospective study, noninvasive ventricular synchrony derived from typically acquired MRI images offers a novel method that may enable ventricular mechanical dyssynchrony assessment in heart failure.
Properties of single sodium channels translated by Xenopus oocytes after injection with messenger ribonucleic acid. (1987)

1. The properties of fast transient Na channels induced in the Xenopus laevis oocyte plasma membrane after injection of the oocyte with foreign messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) were investigated with the whole-cell voltage clamp and with the patch-clamp technique. 2. The time course of expression and the effect of the metabolic inhibitors actinomycin D and tunicamycin were studied. The rate of channel insertion reached a maximum only about 3 days after injection with mRNA and corresponded to the incorporation of 20 active channels/s, into a single oocyte. When applied intracellularly tunicamycin blocked the appearance of active channels nearly completely while actinomycin D added to the medium had no effect. 3. The whole-cell currents showed activation and inactivation properties reminiscent of skeletal muscle Na+ currents. The maximal peak current amplitude was 6 microA. Tetrodotoxin blocked the observed transient inward current. 50% inhibition was observed at 10 nM concentration. Veratridine depressed inactivation of the current and led to prolonged tail currents. 4. After removal of the surrounding layers of the oocyte tight seals were obtained with a patch-clamp electrode pushed on the surface membrane. Single-channel currents endogenous to the oocyte and Na+-channel currents induced by injected mRNA could be recorded. The single-channel slope conductance of the latter was 12-15 pS. Two different types of kinetic behaviour were evident from an analysis of single-channel currents and ensemble average currents. One type showed fast inactivation (tau less than 1 ms) and brief channel openings (less than 1 ms) whereas the second type was characterized by slower inactivation and a bursting behaviour. 5. When veratridine (75 microM) was present in the pipette solution the single-channel behaviour was modified in a complex manner. In addition to the channel openings with normal conductance a second open state was observed with a slope conductance of 3.5 pS. This second type of channel opening could still be recorded after return to the holding potential. Its final closure followed an exponential time course with a constant time constant of 0.5 s at -100 mV. These events probably underlie the tail currents in the whole-cell configuration. 6. The Xenopus oocyte represents a useful system for the study of the expression of channels induced by foreign mRNA, for the characterization of their single-channel behaviour and for the investigation of the action of pharmacologically active substances on these channels. This system may prove useful for the study of channels that are not accessible to patch-clamp experiments 'in situ'.
Maximum a Posteriori Adaptation of the Centroid Model for Speaker Verification (2008)

Maximum a posteriori adapted Gaussian mixture model (GMM-MAP) is widely used in speaker verification. GMMs have three sets of parameters to be adapted: means, covariances, and weights. However, practice has shown that it is sufficient to adapt the means only. Motivated by this, we formulate maximum a posteriori vector quantization (VQ-MAP) procedure which stores and adapts the mean vectors (centroids) only. Experiments on the NIST 2001 and NIST 2006 corpora indicate that VQ-MAP gives comparable accuracy with GMM-MAP with simpler implementation and faster adaptation.
Effects of Forest Harvesting on Warm-Season Low Flows in the Pacific Northwest: A Review (2020)

Paired-catchment studies conducted on small (< 10 km2) rain-dominated catchments revealed that forest harvesting resulted in a period of increased warm-season low flows ranging from less than five years to more than two decades, consistent with the results of stand-level studies and process considerations. Of the five paired-catchment studies in snow-dominated regions, none revealed a statistically significant change in warm-season low flows in the first decade following harvest, although two exhibited non-significant higher flows in August and September and one had lower flows. Two studies, one of rain-dominated catchments and one of snow-dominated catchments, found that summer low flows became more severe (i.e., lower) about two decades or so following harvest. These longer-term results indicate that indices such as equivalent clearcut area, as currently calculated using monotonic recovery curves, may not accurately reflect the nature of post-harvest changes in low flows. Studies focussed on medium to large catchments (tens to thousands of km2 in area) found either no statistically significant relations between warm-season low flows and forest disturbance, or inconsistent responses. Attempts to synthesize existing studies are hampered by the lack of a common low-flow metric among studies, as well as detailed information on post-harvest vegetation changes. Further fieldresearch and process-based modelling is required to help elucidate the underlying processes leading to the results from these paired-catchment studies and to enhance the ability to predict streamflow responses to forest harvesting, especially in the context of a changing climate. KEYWORDS: streamflow; forestry; low flows; fish habitat; hydrologic recovery
Innovative complete solution for health safety of children unintentionally forgotten in a car: a smart Arduino‐based system with user app for remote control (2020)

This study describes an innovative complete car control system against children abandonment in unattended vehicles. Even if systems of this kind are already available in the automotive market, other solutions are currently object of intense researches by several important Research and Development centres or under patent procedure. In this study, a description of the technologies already adopted in the currently used car control systems and in those that are in research and testing phase too is provided. Then, it will be introduced to the proposed control system, which enables to improve all the described systems by providing innovative technologies and functionalities. The proposed system implements a microwave motion sensor, two infrared sensors, a carbon dioxide sensor, a temperature/humidity sensor, a vocal detector and a micro‐camera. These acquisition devices are connected to a microcontroller board that is able to combine all acquired data for detecting the alarm scenario and consequently acting some warning procedures: alarm short message service transmission with vehicle Global Positioning System position, vehicle's horn activation and/or car windows lowering. Thanks to such a wide set of sensors, the system can correlate the acquired information in order to ensure a good detection capability in every condition in which it can operate.
Automatic Adaptive Gain for Magnetic Resonance Sensitivity Enhancement (2019)

The decaying nature of magnetic resonance (MR) signals results in a decreasing signal-to-quantization noise ratio (SQNR) over the acquisition time. Here we describe a method to enhance the SQNR, and thus the overall signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), by dynamically adapting the gain of the receiver before analog-to-digital conversion (ADC). This is in contrast to a standard experiment in which the gain is fixed for a single data acquisition and is thus adjusted only for the first points of the signal. The gain adjustment in our method is done automatically in a closed loop fashion by using the envelope of the MR signal as the control signal. Moreover, the method incorporates a robust mechanism that runs along with signal acquisition to monitor the gain modulation, enabling precise recovery of the signals. The automatic adaptive gain (AGAIN) method requires minimal additional hardware and is thus general and can be implemented in the signal path of any commercial spectrometer system. We demonstrate an SNR enhancement factor of 2.64 when applied to a custom spectrometer, while a factor of 1.4 was observed when applied to a commercial spectrometer.
Process integration technology for sub-30 ps ECL BiCMOS using heavily boron doped epitaxial contact (HYDEC) (2002)

This paper presents a newly developed ECL BiCMOS process integration technology to achieve a sub-30 ps self-aligned bipolar transistor and a 0.25 /spl mu/m p/sup +n/sup +/ dual gate CMOS, by adding 4 more masking steps to those of a CMOS process. A heavily boron doped epitaxial contact (HYDEC) technology is introduced to reduce bipolar base resistance without boron penetration from p/sup +/ gate of pMOS through the thin gate oxide. Using this technology, integration of these CMOS with bipolar process is successfully realized without compromising each device performance.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">></ETX>
Lack of telomerase RNA gene hTERC expression in alternative lengthening of telomeres cells is associated with methylation of the hTERC promoter. (2001)

The immortal phenotype of most human cancers is attributable to telomerase expression. However, a number of immortal cell lines and tumors achieve telomere maintenance in the absence of telomerase via alternative mechanisms known as ALT (alternative lengthening of telomeres). Here we show that the promoter of the telomerase RNA gene (hTERC) is methylated in three of five ALT cell lines and is associated with a total absence of hTERC expression in the three lines. Treatment with 5-azacytidine in combination with trichostatin A resulted in partial demethylation of the hTERC promoter and expression of the gene. Partial methylation was detected in tumors (5%) and in immortal cell lines (27%). Cell lines with partial methylation express hTERC. Only in ALT cell lines does there appear to be a strong correlation between hTERC promoter hypermethylation and lack of hTERC expression.
In vivo and in vitro evaluation of an Acetobacter xylinum synthesized microbial cellulose membrane intended for guided tissue repair (2009)

The microbial cellulose membrane evaluated was found to be nonresorbable, induced a mild inflammatory response and may prove useful as a scaffold for mesenchymal stem cells.
Median filters: Analysis for 2 dimensional recursively filtered signals (2005)

Median filtering is a nonlinear technique for smoothing signals. In this paper we find the output distribution of recursively median filtered two dimensional signals with additive impulsive noise. We study the edge jitter effect that recursive median filtering introduces. Finally some examples are included illustrating these results.
Growth and Morphology of Nd3+, Er3+ and Cr3+ doped YAl3(BO3)4 Single Crystals (1999)

Nd3+, Er3+ and Cr3+ doped large single crystals of YAl3(BO3)4 were grown by spontaneous crystallisation and by top-seeded solution growth (TSSG) from a K2Mo3O10 and B2O3 flux. The crystals were grown in orientation with cooling rate 2.4°C/day. The small crystals grown by spontaneous nucleation usually had simple needle shape, while the large crystals grown by TSSG method had either isometrical habit or tabular one. The results suggest that the extremely large pinacoid faces appearing in the case of YAB:Cr3+ growth are due to a high temperature gradient in the flux, and evaporation of the solution. The lattice structure of crystals checked by powder X-ray diffraction is isomorphous to YAB with space group R32. The dependence of crystal habits and growth conditions is discussed.
Comparative In Vitro Activities of ABT-773 against 362 Clinical Isolates of Anaerobic Bacteria (2001)

The activity of ABT-773, a novel ketolide antibiotic, against clinical isolates of anaerobic bacteria was determined and compared to the activities of other antimicrobial agents. MICs at which 90% of isolates were inhibited (MIC(90)s) were </=0.06 microg/ml for Actinomyces spp., Clostridium perfringens, Peptostreptococcus spp., Propionibacterium spp., and Porphyromonas spp. The MIC(50)s and MIC(90)s were </=0.06 and >32 microg/ml, respectively, for Eubacterium spp., Lactobacillus spp., Clostridium difficile, and Clostridium ramosum. The MIC(90) for Bilophila wadsworthia, Bacteroides ureolyticus, and Campylobacter gracilis was 1 microg/ml, and that for Prevotella bivia and other Prevotella spp. was 0.5 microg/ml. The MIC(90) for Fusobacterium nucleatum was 8 microg/ml, and that for Fusobacterium mortiferum and Fusobacterium varium was >32 microg/ml. The MIC(90)s for the Bacteroides fragilis group were as follows: for B. fragilis, 8 microg/ml; for Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron, Bacteroides ovatus, Bacteroides distasonis, and Bacteroides uniformis, >32 microg/ml; and for Bacteroides vulgatus, 4 microg/ml. Telithromycin MICs for the B. fragilis group were usually 1 to 2 dilutions higher than ABT-773 MICs. For all strains, ABT-773 was more active than erythromycin by 4 or more dilutions, and for some strains this drug was more active than clindamycin.
Sequence-specific intercalating agents: intercalation at specific sequences on duplex DNA via major groove recognition by oligonucleotide-intercalator conjugates. (1989)

An acridine derivative was covalently linked to the 5' end of a homopyrimidine oligonucleotide. Specific binding to a homopurine-homopyrimidine sequence of duplex DNA was demonstrated by spectroscopic studies (absorption and fluorescence) and by "footprinting" experiments with a copper phenanthroline chelate used as an artificial nuclease. A hypochromism and a red shift of the acridine absorption were observed. Triple-helix formation was also accompanied by a hypochromism in the ultraviolet range. The fluorescence of the acridine ring was quenched by a stacking interaction with a G.C base pair adjacent to the homopurine-homopyrimidine target sequence. The intercalating agent strongly stabilized the complex formed by the oligopyrimidine with its target duplex sequence. Cytosine methylation further increased the stability of the complexes. Footprinting studies revealed that the oligopyrimidine binds in a parallel orientation with respect to the homopurine-containing strand of the duplex. The intercalated acridine extended by 2 base pairs the region of the duplex protected by the oligopyrimidine against degradation by the nuclease activity of the copper phenanthroline chelate. Random intercalation of the acridine ring was lost due to the repulsive effect of the negatively charged oligonucleotide tail. Intercalation occurred only at those double-stranded sequences where the homopyrimidine oligonucleotide recognized the major groove of duplex DNA.