gebhart/patrepeval huggingface dataset:
A Comparison of the Aldosterone‐blocking Agents Eplerenone and Spironolactone (2008)

Improved understanding of the adverse pharmacological properties of aldosterone has prompted investigation of the clinical benefits of blocking aldosterone at the receptor level. This article reviews the pharmacology, clinical efficacy, and tolerability of the two available blocking agents, spironolactone and eplerenone. A Medline search identified clinical studies assessing spironolactone and eplerenone. Priority was given to large, well-controlled, clinical trials and comparative studies. Pharmacological differences between spironolactone and eplerenone include lower affinity of eplerenone for progesterone, androgen, and glucocorticoid receptors; more consistently demonstrated nongenomic properties for eplerenone; and the presence of long-acting metabolites for spironolactone. Both agents effectively treat hypertension and heart failure but comparisons are complicated by the deficiency of head-to-head trials and differences between patient populations. There are differences in the tolerability profiles; spironolactone is associated with dose-dependent sexual side effects. Both agents produce dose-dependent increases in potassium concentrations, although the effect with spironolactone appears to be greater when both agents are administered at recommended doses. Choice of a specific agent should be based on individual patient issues, such as the nature of heart failure and patient concerns about adverse events.
Impaired hippocampal plasticity in experimental chronic hydrocephalus (1988)

Schaffer collateral responses recorded from CA1 pyramidal cell layers in the hippocampus were analysed in kaolin-induced hydrocephalic rats. Other features of this rat model of chronic hydrocephalus were evaluated from measurements of the intracranial pressure, Na-fluorescein migration from the ventricle to the cerebral parenchyma, and behavioural changes. The results indicated that: (1) the conduction velocity of the Schaffer collaterals was unchanged; (2) the threshold to elicit population spikes was decreased; (3) the paired-pulse facilitation of EPSP tended to increase; (4) the paired-pulse inhibition of population spikes was unchanged; and (5) the long-term potentiation of population spikes was clearly attenuated in the hydrocephalic rats. The changes seen in the long-term potentiation were less pronounced in rats which underwent kaolin injection but did not develop hydrocephalus. The above findings suggest that disturbance in the postsynaptic integration processes, rather than axonal conduction or synaptic transmission, are more important for the production of the neurological deficits seen in chronic hydrocephalus. Electron microscopic observations supporting this inference are also briefly described.
Automatic filter selection using image quality assessment (2004)

We present a method for automatically selecting the best filter to treat poor quality printed documents using image quality assessment. We introduce five quality measures to obtain information about the quality of the images, and morphological filters to improve their quality. A training set of 370 images was used to develop the system. Experimental results on the test set show a significant improvement in the recognition rate from 73.24% using no filter at all to 93.09% after applying a filter that was automatically selected.
Stored program controlled telecommunication services (1990)

The author highlights some basic concepts developed under the Research and Development in Advanced Communications Technologies in Europe program that could be instrumental in providing future stored-program-controlled telecommunication services. The necessity of defining the instruction set for the stored program-controlled general-purpose telecommunication system is pointed out. The instruction set will allow a program to be written for each user service. Declarative (object-oriented) and functional (procedure- or operation-oriented) building blocks have been identified as service components and service control elements respectively. A further breakdown of both categories has been indicated. The possibility of creating user service definitions in a standardized and structured way concerns the process of creating an instance of a generic user service definition to yield the actual user service definition.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">></ETX>
Functional identification of AtFao3, a membrane bound long chain alcohol oxidase in <i>Arabidopsis thaliana</i> (2004)

The Arabidopsis thalina genome database was searched for homologues of the Candida cloacae fao1 gene which encodes a membrane bound, flavin-containing, hydrogen peroxide generating, long chain alcohol oxidase. This gene has not been isolated from plants or animals. Four putative candidates were found in the database but their function has not been proven. The cDNAs for two of them were cloned by RT-PCR from Arabidopis suspension culture and one of them [AtFAO3] was overexpressed in Escherichia coli and shown to functionally express long chain alcohol oxidase activity. The protein has been solubilised and retains biological activity thereby preparing the way for crystallographic studies. This is the first functional proof identifying a long chain alcohol oxidase in higher plants.
Experimental study on wireless multicast scalability using Merged Hybrid ARQ with staggered adaptive FEC (2008)

We report the design, implementation and evaluation of Merged Hybrid ARQ with staggered FEC (MHARQ) system for video multicast over wireless LANs. MHARQ combines the advantages of receiver-driven staggered FEC and hybrid ARQ schemes to compensate the large dynamic range of WLAN channels and to achieve high reliability, scalability and wireless bandwidth efficiency for video multicast. The FEC packets generated by a cross-packet FEC code are divided into multiple streams according to the pre-configured overhead and are transmitted in different multiple IP multicast groups. Certain FEC streams are delayed from the original video stream. The receivers dynamically join/leave the FEC multicast groups based on the channel conditions. For efficient utilization of WLAN bandwidth, FEC data for a multicast group would not be transmitted by the APs in wireless networks if no receiver joins this group. The time shift between the video stream and the FEC streams introduces temporal diversity and compensates for the client join delay and handoff interruption. In addition, when delayed FEC packets are not enough to recover the lost packets, the receivers can send a hybrid ARQ request to the video server. We design a channel estimation algorithm for a receiver to dynamically determine the delayed FEC multicast groups to join and/or send ARQ NACK to request for retransmission. Using the ORBIT radio grid testbed, we have investigated the performance of the proposed MHARQ system with various numbers of users per AP and different number of APs per video server. It is demonstrated via real system implementation on ORBIT that MHARQ improves wireless bandwidth efficiency and scalability for reliable video multicast, compared with existing reliable multicast schemes.
Hedgehog signaling has a protective effect in glucocorticoid-induced mouse neonatal brain injury through an 11βHSD2-dependent mechanism (2009)

Glucocorticoids (GCs) are administered to human fetuses at risk of premature delivery and to infants with life-threatening respiratory and cardiac conditions. However, there are ongoing concerns about adverse effects of GC treatment on the developing human brain, although the precise molecular mechanisms underlying GC-induced brain injury are unclear. Here, we identified what we believe to be novel cross-antagonistic interactions of Sonic hedgehog (Shh) and GC signaling in proliferating mouse cerebellar granule neuron precursors (CGNPs). Chronic GC treatment (from P0 through P7) in mouse pups inhibited Shh-induced proliferation and upregulation of expression of N-myc, Gli1, and D-type cyclin protein in CGNPs. Conversely, acute GC treatment (on P7 only) caused transient apoptosis. Shh signaling antagonized these effects of GCs, in part by induction of 11beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 2 (11betaHSD2). Importantly, 11betaHSD2 antagonized the effects of the GCs corticosterone, hydrocortisone, and prednisolone, but not the synthetic GC dexamethasone. Our findings indicate that Shh signaling is protective in the setting of GC-induced mouse neonatal brain injury. Furthermore, they led us to propose that 11betaHSD2-sensitive GCs (e.g., hydrocortisone) should be used in preference to dexamethasone in neonatal human infants because of the potential for reduced neurotoxicity.
Pulsating water jet devices in debridement of combat wounds (1971)

International Abstracts of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery: Congenital Anomalies: Techniques and Instruments: PDF Only
Iron oxide particles as a catalyst in chemical oxidation of organic contaminants (1995)

This research addresses the use of ozone and hydrogen peroxide in the presence of iron oxide particles which provide a catalytic surface for conversion to hydroxyl free radical. N-butylchloride (BuCl) and monochlorobenzene (MCB) were oxidized using goethite as the catalyst. The effect of varying the dosage of hydrogen peroxide or ozone, the mass and the size of the geothite particles, the mixing speed, and the gas flow rate for ozonation was investigated. The effect of water quality in terms of pH, carbonate alkalinity and initial organic concentration on reaction rates was addressed as well. Experimental observations showed that varying the stirring speed in the reactor or the size of the iron oxide particles did not have any significant effect on the oxidation rates, indicating that the rate was controlled by the intrinsic reaction rates on iron oxide surfaces. The presence of hydrogen peroxide significantly increased the removal of BuCl, and higher dosages caused considerably higher removal. Results also demonstrated a strong dependence of BuCl removal on the iron oxide dosage. MCB adsorbed strongly on goethite, but was oxidized effectively by ozone. Hydrogen peroxide decomposed rapidly in the presence of goethite at a rate directly proportional to the rate of BuClmore » oxidation. These results indicate that the interaction of hydrogen peroxide with goethite particles leads to the formation of hydroxyl free radical, which is responsible for oxidation of BuCl. Similarly, ozone decomposed in the presence of goethite. The oxidation efficiency for hydrogen peroxide/goethite remained unaffected when the pH and the alkalinity were varied. Furthermore, the ozone/goethite system provided mineralization as measured by the removal of the total organic carbon. Hence, both of these oxidation processes promise to be effective in oxidation of organic compounds, and may not suffer from the limitations of other radical processes.« less
Production of isoprene by marine phytoplankton cultures (1994)

While release of isoprene from the terrestrial biosphere is well established and known to influence the tropospheric concentrations of a number of reactive species including ozone, very little is known of its production in the ocean and possible release to the marine boundary layer. Measurements reported here of low molecular weight trace gases produced by a series of laboratory phytoplankton have shown that isoprene is a major component. Though the results confirm that the oceans are a potential source of isoprene to the atmosphere, it is not possible to extrapolate release rates from laboratory studies to the very different conditions under which marine plants grow naturally.
Sox17 plays a substantial role in late-stage differentiation of the extraembryonic endoderm in vitro (2007)

Sox17 is a Sry-related HMG-box transcription factor developmentally expressed in both the definitive endoderm and extraembryonic endoderm (ExE). Although Sox17(-/-) mouse embryos have a defective definitive gut endoderm, their developing ExE is morphologically intact. Here, we aimed to investigate the role of Sox17 in ExE development by using an in vitro differentiation system of embryonic stem cells (ESCs). Although forced Sox17 expression in ESCs did not affect ExE commitment, it facilitated the differentiation of ESC-derived primitive endoderm cells into visceral and parietal endoderm cells. This event was inhibited by the forced expression of Nanog, a negative regulator of differentiation of ESCs into the ExE. Although Sox17(-/-) ESCs could differentiate into primitive endoderm cells, further differentiation was severely impaired. These results indicate a substantial involvement of Sox17 in the late stage of ExE differentiation in vitro. Furthermore, the expression of Sox7--another Sox factor, concomitantly expressed with Sox17 in the developing ExE--was suppressed during the in vitro differentiation of Sox17(-/-) ESCs, but it was maintained at a high level in the extraembryonic tissues of Sox17(-/-) embryos. These findings possibly explain the discrepancy between the ExE phenotype derived from Sox17(-/-) ESCs and that of Sox17(-/-) embryos.
Route classification using cellular handoff patterns (2011)

Understanding utilization of city roads is important for urban planners. In this paper, we show how to use handoff patterns from cellular phone networks to identify which routes people take through a city. Specifically, this paper makes three contributions. First, we show that cellular handoff patterns on a given route are stable across a range of conditions and propose a way to measure stability within and between routes using a variant of Earth Mover's Distance. Second, we present two accurate classification algorithms for matching cellular handoff patterns to routes: one requires test drives on the routes while the other uses signal strength data collected by high-resolution scanners. Finally, we present an application of our algorithms for measuring relative volumes of traffic on routes leading into and out of a specific city, and validate our methods using statistics published by a state transportation authority.
Varietal Differences in Physical Characteristics and Proximate Composition of Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) (2008)

Abstract: Twenty-eight varieties of cowpea seeds from Nigeria and USA origins showed significant variation in physical characteristics and proximate composition. Seed size dimensions namely; seed length, width and thickness had range values of 6-10mm, 4-7mm and 3-5mm, respectively. Seed hydration index had values between 95-137; 100- seed weight ranged between 11-26g and seed hardness recorded values between 6-8 kgf. Discriminant analysis of results showed that seed weight was the most important variable accounting for 93% of the variance in the physical properties. Ash content ranged between 3-4%, crude protein, crude fat, moisture and total carbohydrate contents had range values of 20-27, 0.6-1, 9-12 and 57 –62%,respectively. The total mineral content as represented by the ash values had the highest contribution of 71%, to differences in proximate composition. While protein and carbohydrate content accounted for 25 % of variance in proximate composition. The results showed wide variation in the physical and chemical properties of the cowpea seeds, suggesting possible variation in suitability of seeds for various end-use products. The physical and chemical variables identified as the most discriminating may find application as indices for selection of cowpea varieties for processing into different products. Key words: Physical Characteristics Proximate Composition Cowpea Variety INTRODUCTION while little or non get into industrial processing [1].
Sensors and signals: a coactivator/corepressor/epigenetic code for integrating signal-dependent programs of transcriptional response (2006)

A decade of intensive investigation of coactivators and corepressors required for regulated actions of DNA-binding transcription factors has revealed a network of sequentially exchanged cofactor complexes that execute a series of enzymatic modifications required for regulated gene expression. These coregulator complexes possess "sensing" activities required for interpretation of multiple signaling pathways. In this review, we examine recent progress in understanding the functional consequences of "molecular sensor" and "molecular adaptor" actions of corepressor/coactivator complexes in integrating signal-dependent programs of transcriptional responses at the molecular level. This strategy imposes a temporal order for modifying programs of transcriptional regulation in response to the cellular milieu, which is used to mediate developmental/homeostatic and pathological events.
<title>Lippman photographs recorded in DuPont color photopolymer material</title> (1997)

At the end of the last century, Gabriel Lippmann was experimenting with color photography. His photographic color recording technique, Lippmann photography, produced very beautiful photographs and the fact that the colors are preserved in the early Lippmann photographs indicates something about their archival properties. Recent progress in color reflection holography has made it possible to take a new look at this one hundred year old photographic technique. Today, high-resolution panchromatic recording materials suitable for Lippmann photography are on the market. In particular, the color photopolymers from DuPont have been investigated for modern Lippmann photography. Since the color photographs contain no dyes or pigments their archival stability may be high. In addition, a Lippmann photograph is difficult to copy which makes it a unique color photographic recording. Both of these features must attract a photographer interested in creating beautiful art photographs. Security application is another potential field for Lippmann photographs as well as optical filters. The dry processing of the photopolymer material is an important advantage. Another advantage is that no expensive equipment, such as lasers, is needed to explore this photographic recording technique; only a modified camera is required.
Prediction Based Proactive Thermal Virtual Machine Scheduling in Green Clouds (2014)

Cloud computing has rapidly emerged as a widely accepted computing paradigm, but the research on Cloud computing is still at an early stage. Cloud computing provides many advanced features but it still has some shortcomings such as relatively high operating cost and environmental hazards like increasing carbon footprints. These hazards can be reduced up to some extent by efficient scheduling of Cloud resources. Working temperature on which a machine is currently running can be taken as a criterion for Virtual Machine (VM) scheduling. This paper proposes a new proactive technique that considers current and maximum threshold temperature of Server Machines (SMs) before making scheduling decisions with the help of a temperature predictor, so that maximum temperature is never reached. Different workload scenarios have been taken into consideration. The results obtained show that the proposed system is better than existing systems of VM scheduling, which does not consider current temperature of nodes before making scheduling decisions. Thus, a reduction in need of cooling systems for a Cloud environment has been obtained and validated.
A review of clinical and microbiological outcomes following treatment of infections involving multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii with tigecycline (2009)

While tigecycline retains excellent in vitro activity against MRAB, its clinical efficacy remains uncertain. A prospective study, including the use of tigecycline in combination with other antimicrobial agents, should be undertaken to define its role in the treatment of MRAB.
Purification and characterization of rat skeletal muscle fructose-6-phosphate,2-kinase:fructose-2,6-bisphosphatase (1989)

Fructose-6-phosphate,2-kinase:fructose-2,6-bis-phosphatase from rat skeletal muscle has been purified to homogeneity, and its structure and kinetic properties have been determined. The Mr of the native enzyme was 100,000 and the subunit Mr was 54,000. The apparent Km values of fructose-6-P,2-kinase for Fru-6-P and ATP were 56 and 48 microM, respectively. The apparent Km value for Fru-2,6-P2 of fructose-2,6-bis-phosphatase was 0.4 microM, and the Ki for Fru-6-P was 12.5 microM. The enzyme was bifunctional, and the phosphatase activity was 2.5 times higher than the kinase activity. The enzyme was not phosphorylated by cAMP-dependent protein kinase. The amino acid composition of the skeletal muscle enzyme was similar to that of the rat liver enzyme, and the carboxyl terminus sequence (His-Tyr) was the same as that of the liver enzyme. The tryptic peptides generated from the liver and skeletal muscle enzymes were identical except for two peptides. A peptide corresponding to nucleotides 14-28 of the rat liver enzyme was not detected in the skeletal muscle enzyme. A peptide whose amino acid sequence was Thr-Ala-Ser-Ile-Pro-Gln-Phe-Thr-Asn-Ser-Pro-Thr-Met-Val-Ile-Met-Val-Gly-Leu-Pro - Ala-Arg was also isolated. This peptide was the same as that of rat liver enzyme (nucleotides 31-52) containing the phosphorylation site except in the muscle enzyme two amino terminus amino acids, Gly-Ser(P), have been altered to Thr-Ala. Thus, the rat skeletal muscle enzyme is very similar in structure to the rat liver enzyme except for the lack of possibly one peptide and the lack of a phosphorylation site by the substitution of the target Ser with Ala.
Influence of Vine Vigor on Grape (<i>Vitis vinifera</i> L. Cv. Pinot Noir) Anthocyanins. 2. Anthocyanins and Pigmented Polymers in Wine (2007)

The relationships between grapevine (Vitis vinifera) vigor variation and resulting wine anthocyanin concentration and composition and pigmented polymer formation were investigated. The study was conducted in a commercial vineyard consisting of the same clone, rootstock, age, and vineyard management practices. Vine vigor parameters were used to designate vigor zones within two vineyard sites (A and B) to produce research wines (2003 and 2004) and conduct a model extraction experiment (2004 only) to investigate the vine-fruit-wine continuum. Wines and model extracts were analyzed by HPLC and UV-vis spectrophotometry. For the model extractions, there were no differences between sites for pomace weight, whereas juice volume was higher for site A. This was not related to a larger berry size. Site A had a higher anthocyanin concentration (milligrams per liter) in the model extracts than site B specifically for the medium- and low-vigor zones. For anthocyanin composition in the model extraction, site B had a greater proportion of malvidin-3-O-glucoside and less of the remaining anthocyanin glucosides (delphinidin, cyanidin, petunidin, and peonidin) compared to site A. In the wines, there was a vintage effect, with the 2003 wines having a higher anthocyanin concentration (milligrams per liter) than the 2004 wines. This appears to have been primarily due to a greater accumulation of anthocyanins in the fruit. In general, the medium-vigor zone wines had higher anthocyanin concentrations than either the high- or low-vigor zone wines. There was also vintage variation related to anthocyanin composition, with the 2003 wines having a higher proportion of delphinidin and petunidin glucosides and lower malvidin-3-O-glucoside compared to 2004. In both years, there were higher proportions of delphinidin and petunidin glucosides in wines made from low-vigor-zone fruit. Wines made from low-vigor zones showed a greater propensity to form vitisin A as well as pigmented polymers. Low-vigor-zone wines had a approximately 2-fold increase in pigmented polymer concentration (milligrams per liter) over high-vigor-zones wines. There was a strong positive relationship between pigmented polymer concentration, bisulfite bleaching resistant pigments, proanthocyanidin concentration, and color density in wines. Overall, differences found in the wines magnified variation in the fruit.