gebhart/patrepeval huggingface dataset:
Inhibition of human recombinant T‐type calcium channels by the endocannabinoid <i>N</i>‐arachidonoyl dopamine (2009)

N-arachidonoyl dopamine and NAGly increase the steady-state inactivation of Ca(V)3 channels, reducing the number of channels available to open during depolarization. These effects occur at NADA concentrations at or below to those affecting CB(1) and TRPV1 receptors. Together with anandamide, the arachidonoyl neurotransmitter amides, NADA and NAGly, represent a new family of endogenous T-type I(Ca) modulators.
Growth and Metabolic Characteristics of <i>Mycobacterium paratuberculosis</i> (1974)

The cultural characteristics of newly isolated strains of Mycobacterium paratuberculosis on a variety of media were studied. The mycobactin dependence ascribed to this species of Mycobacterium was found to be easily circumvented by incorporation of 1% ferric ammonium citrate in serum or egg yolk media, but the earliest and most abundant growth occurred on serum medium that contained mycobactin and sodium pyruvate. In the presence of ferric ammonium citrate, respiration did not decrease during 5 days; but in the presence of all other agents studied, respiration decreased after the first day.
David C. Sabiston, Jr. (2009)

From the Department of Surgery, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina. Reprints: Robert W. Anderson, MD, Department of Surgery, Duke University Medical Center, Medical Sciences Research Bldg., Research Drive, Rm. 433, Box 3704, Durham, NC 27710. E-mail: [email protected].
Gelation of aqueous solutions of diblock copolymers of ethylene oxide and <scp>D</scp>,<scp>L</scp>‐lactide (1997)

Abstract The thermally‐reversible gelation of aqueous solutions of diblock copolymers of ethylene oxide (E) and D , L ‐lactide (L), E 42 L 12 , E 38 L 16 , E 39 L 20 , E 41 L 26 , E 78 L 14 and E 77 L 26 , has been studied using gelation temperature measurements, polarised light microscopy and NMR spectroscopy. The solutions showed a high temperature gel‐sol boundary but no low temperature gel‐sol boundary. Polarised light microscopy showed that the gel phase was isotropic, and the dependence of sol‐gel temperature on concentration suggested that the micelles were prolate ellipsoidal, rather then spherical. NMR spectroscopy showed that below ca. 60°C, the L block in the micelle core become highly restricted. It is tentatively suggested that this is due to the L blocks forming an ordered structure, thus explaining the absence of a low temperature gel‐sol boundary.
Patient profile, indications, efficacy and safety of duodenal levodopa infusion in advanced Parkinson's disease (2009)

The studies of duodenal infusion of a levodopa on small groups of parkinsonian patients have reported beneficial effects on motor complications. However, little is known about the patient profile and indications for duodenal levodopa infusion. The purpose of this study is to exhaustively investigate the clinical characteristics of the population and indication, efficacy and tolerability of duodenal levodopa infusion in natural care settings. Of the 102 patients treated with duodenal levodopa infusion since 2003, 91 were enrolled in a multicentre retrospective study. The mean age was 72.7 years, with average disease duration of 17 years. Patients were at advanced stage: 91% had gait disorders, 65% had visual hallucinations, and 50% were demented (MMSE: 23). Duodenal levodopa infusion was the last line of treatment for motor complications in 98% of the patients, due to failure of or contraindication for apomorphine pump and neurosurgical treatments. Long-term treatment was observed by 73% of the population. Of these, >90% reported an improvement in motor fluctuations, quality of life, and autonomy. There were few severe adverse events. Technical problems were commonplace. Duodenal levodopa infusion seems to be an effective last-line therapy for motor complications in Parkinson's disease. Hence, technical improvements and earlier introduction should be considered.
Detection of human papillomavirus (HPV) DNA in human prostatic tissues by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) (1993)

Human papillomavirus (HPV) infections are strongly linked to the pathogenesis of uterine cervical neoplasms, and have been implicated in other cancers of the female genital tract. In contrast, the association of HPV with the cancers of the male urogenital tract is less evident, except in anal and penile cancers. However, recent studies reporting the prevalence of HPV infections in human prostate cancers (60-100% HPV 16 positive vs. no infection of HPV) have raised controversies regarding the prevalence of HPV in benign and neoplastic human prostate. We investigated the prevalence of HPV infections in prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia (PIN) and prostatic adenocarcinomas in 23 surgically resected prostates. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was used to amplify HPV 6b/11, 16, and 18 specific DNA sequences, using type specific HPV primers selected from the transforming gene E6-E7. The areas of PIN and cancer in 6 microns H&E stained tissue sections were identified, and respective areas of PIN and cancer were isolated from the adjacent serial sections and used for DNA amplification and HPV detection (Fig. 1). Our results demonstrated the presence of HPV 16 in three carcinomas (13%), using type specific primers in PCR amplified samples. We were not able to demonstrate the presence of other HPV types (HPV 6b/11 or HPV 18) in any of the samples using specific primers. Two of these prostates showed relatively strong positive signals by dot blot analysis, when hybridized with a 32P-labeled HPV 16 type specific oligonucleotide probe. One more sample showed weak positivity, when hybridized with a 32P-labeled HPV 16 type specific oligonucleotide probe. Subsequently, we have confirmed these results by Southern hybridization of the samples transferred to nylon membrane after agarose gel electrophoresis and detected by HPV 16 type specific oligonucleotide probe, using chemiluminescent assay. We, therefore, conclude that HPV infections of the prostate in general are not as common as has been previously claimed by other investigators.
Fast 2D Hand Tracking with Flocks of Features and Multi-Cue Integration (2005)

This paper introduces "Flocks of Features," a fast tracking method for non-rigid and highly articulated objects such as hands. It combines KLT features and a learned foreground color distribution to facilitate 2D position tracking from a monocular view. The tracker's benefits lie in its speed, its robustness against background noise, and its ability to track objects that undergo arbitrary rotations and vast and rapid deformations. We demonstrate tracker performance on hand tracking with a non-stationary camera in unconstrained indoor and outdoor environments. The tracker yields over threefold improvement over a CamShift tracker in terms of the number of frames tracked before the target was lost, and often more than one order of magnitude improvement in terms of the fractions of particular test sequences tracked successfully.
Na+/Ca2+ exchangers: three mammalian gene families control Ca2+ transport (2007)

Mammalian Na+/Ca2+ exchangers are members of three branches of a much larger family of transport proteins [the CaCA (Ca2+/cation antiporter) superfamily] whose main role is to provide control of Ca2+ flux across the plasma membranes or intracellular compartments. Since cytosolic levels of Ca2+ are much lower than those found extracellularly or in sequestered stores, the major function of Na+/Ca2+ exchangers is to extrude Ca2+ from the cytoplasm. The exchangers are, however, fully reversible and thus, under special conditions of subcellular localization and compartmentalized ion gradients, Na+/Ca2+ exchangers may allow Ca2+ entry and may play more specialized roles in Ca2+ movement between compartments. The NCX (Na+/Ca2+ exchanger) [SLC (solute carrier) 8] branch of Na+/Ca2+ exchangers comprises three members: NCX1 has been most extensively studied, and is broadly expressed with particular abundance in heart, brain and kidney, NCX2 is expressed in brain, and NCX3 is expressed in brain and skeletal muscle. The NCX proteins subserve a variety of roles, depending upon the site of expression. These include cardiac excitation-contraction coupling, neuronal signalling and Ca2+ reabsorption in the kidney. The NCKX (Na2+/Ca2+-K+ exchanger) (SLC24) branch of Na+/Ca2+ exchangers transport K+ and Ca2+ in exchange for Na+, and comprises five members: NCKX1 is expressed in retinal rod photoreceptors, NCKX2 is expressed in cone photoreceptors and in neurons throughout the brain, NCKX3 and NCKX4 are abundant in brain, but have a broader tissue distribution, and NCKX5 is expressed in skin, retinal epithelium and brain. The NCKX proteins probably play a particularly prominent role in regulating Ca2+ flux in environments which experience wide and frequent fluctuations in Na+ concentration. Until recently, the range of functions that NCKX proteins play was generally underappreciated. This situation is now changing rapidly as evidence emerges for roles including photoreceptor adaptation, synaptic plasticity and skin pigmentation. The CCX (Ca2+/cation exchanger) branch has only one mammalian member, NCKX6 or NCLX (Na+/Ca2+-Li+ exchanger), whose physiological function remains unclear, despite a broad pattern of expression.
Precise relative ego-positioning by stand-alone RTK-GPS (2016)

Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) applications for integral and cooperative vehicle safety as well as some Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADASs) benefit from highly accurate positioning. Shared position data between dynamic traffic objects via Inter-Vehicle Communication (IVC) are the backbone for deriving vehicle trajectories. These can be used for assessing a situation's criticality in vehicle safety. However, with conventional Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) measurements, e.g. using Global Positioning System (GPS), the required accuracy cannot be achieved. There are known Cooperative Positioning (CP) methods like Differential GNSS (DGNSS) and Real-Time Kinematic (RTK) for enhanced positioning. Augmentation data are typically transmitted by a wireless communication link like cellular mobile communication. However, there exist dead spots where no correction data are available. For this reason, we introduce in this paper a method for stand-alone RTK by using own stored observations. Thereby, precise relative ego-positioning is possible during correction data interruption. The buffer time is varied in experiment and the error distribution is analyzed.
Genetic Predisposition to an Impaired Metabolism of the Branched-Chain Amino Acids and Risk of Type 2 Diabetes: A Mendelian Randomisation Analysis (2016)

Evidence from this large-scale human genetic and metabolomic study is consistent with a causal role of BCAA metabolism in the aetiology of type 2 diabetes.
Perceptual evaluation of singing quality (2017)

A perceptually valid automatic singing evaluation score could serve as a complement to singing lessons, and make singing training more reachable to the masses. In this study, we adopt the idea behind PESQ (Perceptual Evaluation of Speech Quality) scoring metrics, and propose various perceptually relevant features to evaluate singing quality. We correlate the obtained singing quality score, which we term as Perceptual Evaluation of Singing Quality (PESnQ) score, with that given by music-expert human judges, and compare the results with the known baseline systems. It is shown that the proposed PESnQ has a correlation of 0.59 with human ratings, which is an improvement of ~ 96% over baseline systems.
Pervasive views (2005)

This work achieves full registration of scenes in a large area and creates visual indexes for visualization in a digital city. We explore effective mapping, indexing, and display of scenes so that an area becomes visible. Users can virtual navigate city on the Internet and achieve real guidance with a PDA. Extended images such as route panoramas, scene tunnels, panoramic views and spherical views are acquired in an urban area and associated with geospatial locations. A 3D LIDAR elevation map is used to generate a scanning plan based on visibility, image properties, and importance of scenes. Scanning scenes along streets and at spots of interest allows for compact and complete visual data collection. To access city information, visual indexes from scenes to spaces are created pervasively for flexible space exploration and transition. To visualize a space seamlessly in a large view frame and synchronize scenes with the virtual movement in the map, we stream image data on the Internet. An engine is developed for continuous space traversing, accessing spatial information, and transiting between spaces through visual links. A real urban area has been modeled to verify the effectiveness of such a system.
Joint spectral region buried land mine discrimination performance (2000)

Statistically significant sets of buried anti-tank mine and background electro-optic spectral signatures were collected and analyzed by the Veridian ERIM International team under the US Army's Night Vision and Electronic Sensors Directorate Hyperspectral Mine Detection Phenomenology FY98/99 Program as reported last year. Those analyses established predicted buried mine spectral discrimination performance in key practical sensor spectral regions using typical multispectral sensor bandwidths spanning 20 to 200 nm. This year, we report further analyses of selected sets of HMDP data that quantitatively predict performance for two specific cases of joint spectral regions. This work exhibits these initial results and compares the predicted buried mine spectral discrimination performance determined from the joint and the single spectral regions.
Adaptive Modulation and Coding for Underwater Acoustic OFDM (2014)

Underwater acoustic channels are fast varying spatially and temporally according to environmental conditions. Adaptive modulation and coding (AMC) is appealing for underwater acoustic communications to improve the system efficiency by matching transmission parameters to channel variations. In this paper, we construct an AMC system with a finite number of transmission modes in the context of underwater orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM). We propose the effective signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) computed after channel estimation and channel decoding as a new performance metric for mode switching, which is shown to predict the system performance more consistently than the input SNR and the pilot SNR. Real-time AMC tests have been conducted in a recent sea experiment to maximize the transmission rate with a given transmission power.
HIF-2α maintains an undifferentiated state in neural crest-like human neuroblastoma tumor-initiating cells (2009)

High hypoxia-inducible factor-2alpha (HIF-2alpha) protein levels predict poor outcome in neuroblastoma, and hypoxia dedifferentiates cultured neuroblastoma cells toward a neural crest-like phenotype. Here, we identify HIF-2alpha as a marker of normoxic neural crest-like neuroblastoma tumor-initiating/stem cells (TICs) isolated from patient bone marrows. Knockdown of HIF-2alpha reduced VEGF expression and induced partial sympathetic neuronal differentiation when these TICs were grown in vitro under stem cell-promoting conditions. Xenograft tumors of HIF-2alpha-silenced cells were widely necrotic, poorly vascularized, and resembled the bulk of tumor cells in clinical neuroblastomas by expressing additional sympathetic neuronal markers, whereas control tumors were immature, well-vascularized, and stroma-rich. Thus, HIF-2alpha maintains an undifferentiated state of neuroblastoma TICs. Because low differentiation is associated with poor outcome and angiogenesis is crucial for tumor growth, HIF-2alpha is an attractive target for neuroblastoma therapy.
Fan Zhou＇s Landscape Painting (2013)

his early years, Fan Zhou learned painting under the mentorship of Shi Lu. While Shi Lu’s influences are still visible in Fan’s paintings today, the latter has deeper and more thorough understanding of landscape painting than the former. In that particular historical period, Shi Lu found no way to set himself free from the time and reality he was with. Luckily, however, Fan Zhou now is able to
The Rice Nucellin Gene Ortholog OsAsp1 Encodes an Active Aspartic Protease Without a Plant-specific Insert and is Strongly Expressed in Early Embryo (2005)

The barley nucellin gene was reported to be nucellus specific in its expression and was hypothesized to play a role in the programmed cell death of the nucellus as an aspartic protease. Here we provide direct evidence that the rice ortholog encodes an active aspartic protease, but we prefer the name aspartic protease1 (OsAsp1) to nucellin after a detailed analysis of its expression pattern in rice and barley. Northern blots, RT-PCR and RNA in situ hybridization showed that OsAsp1 is expressed most abundantly in zygotic embryos 1-2 d after fertilization. It is also expressed in pollen, nucellus, ovary wall, shoot and root meristem, coleoptiles of immature seeds, and somatic embryos. A parallel study in barley showed that the barley nucellin gene was expressed not only in the nucellus but also strongly in embryos. Recombinant protein proOsAsp1 expressed in the bacterium Escherichia coli refolded and autolysed at acidic pH 3.5 in vitro, and the mature peptide displayed protease activity. Nucellin has three close homologs in rice on chromosomes 11 and 12 and in Arabidopsis on chromosomes 1 and 4. They lack the plant-specific insert that distinguishes the typical plant aspartic protease from aspartic proteases of other organisms. They constitute a new class of aspartic protease that is present in both monocots and dicots but whose function remains to be explored further.
Repetitive sperm-induced Ca2+ transients in mouse oocytes are cell cycle dependent (1995)

Mature mouse oocytes are arrested at metaphase of the second meiotic division. Completion of meiosis and a block to polyspermy is caused by a series of repetitive Ca2+ transients triggered by the sperm at fertilization. These Ca2+ transients have been widely reported to last for a number of hours but when, or why, they cease is not known. Here we show that Ca2+ transients cease during entry into interphase, at the time when pronuclei are forming. In fertilized oocytes arrested at metaphase using colcemid, Ca2+ transients continued for as long as measurements were made, up to 18 hours after fertilization. Therefore sperm is able to induce Ca2+ transients during metaphase but not during interphase. In addition metaphase II oocytes, but not pronuclear stage 1-cell embryos showed highly repetitive Ca2+ oscillations in response to microinjection of inositol trisphosphate. This was explored further by treating in vitro maturing oocytes at metaphase I for 4-5 hours with cycloheximide, which induced nuclear progression to interphase (nucleus formation) and subsequent re-entry to metaphase (nuclear envelope breakdown). Fertilization of cycloheximide-treated oocytes revealed that continuous Ca2+ oscillations in response to sperm were observed after nuclear envelope breakdown but not during interphase. However interphase oocytes were able to generate Ca2+ transients in response to thimerosal. This data suggests that the ability of the sperm to trigger repetitive Ca2+ transients in oocytes is modulated in a cell cycle-dependent manner.
The VDJ repertoire expressed in human preB cells reflects the selection of <i>bona fide</i> heavy chains (1996)

In early steps of B cell differentiation, mu chains are transiently expressed in association with a surrogate light chain (psi L) composed of the lambda-like and VpreB monomorphic polypeptides, thus forming a putative preB receptor. Using a monoclonal anti-VpreB antibody, preB cells were isolated from two adult human bone marrow samples and their VDJ repertoire analyzed at the transcription level. All VH families were identified and further analysis focused on VH3 sequence analysis of 37 distinct VDJ cDNA clones. The VH3 genes expressed in the two bone marrow samples were also encountered in fetal liver and adult peripheral blood lymphocytes with a roughly similar contribution of 3.30, 3.23, 3.9 and 3.53. The characteristic features of the preB repertoire as compared to the activation B repertoire include the quasi absence of somatic mutations, limited N diversity and a shorter third complementarity-determining region (CDR3). It also significantly differs from the fetal repertoire, which makes higher usage of DQ52 and has CDR3 of even shorter lengths. The almost constant presence of glycine residues in the CDR3 and predominance of JH4 with a low level of DQ52 DH usage, suggest that preB cell clones are submitted to an initial selective pressure which should be antigen independent. The bona fide heavy chains would be merely selected for their ability to interact with the surrogate light chains, thus shaping the repertoire that will be co-expressed with immunoglobulin light chains in IgM molecules.
H.264/SVC ROI ENCODING WITH SPATIAL SCALABILITY (2008)

Abstract: This paper proposes two H.264/AVC compliant methods for encoding Regions-of-Interest (ROI) with spatial scalability and evaluates their respective rate-distortion-complexity performance. The base layer is kept unchanged and provides lower resolution images with roughly constant quality, without identification of the ROI. In the proposed methods there is no need to encode contour information because the ROI is implicitly defined in the upper layer of the spatial resolution in a transparent way by using different encoding parameters for the ROI and its complementary region. It is shown, that spatial scalability in ROI can be efficiently used to enhance specific regions of an image sequence in both spatial resolution and quality with low coding complexity. The proposed encoding scheme is suitable for remote surveillance, medical applications and entertainment, where higher resolution and higher quality ROI is a useful functionality for object/face recognition, selective encryption, detail analysis, etc. 1
Reversed Double Pole-Zero Cancellation Frequency Compensation Technique for Three-Stage Amplifiers (2006)

A novel frequency compensation technique for three-stage amplifiers is introduced. The proposed solution exploits two Miller capacitors, two resistors and an additional feedforward stage which can be implemented without entailing extra transistors. Design equations using the phase margin as design parameter are carried out. The technique is used to design, with a standard CMOS 0.35-mum process, a 2-V three-stage amplifier driving a 500-pF load capacitor. The amplifier dissipates only 70muA at DC and achieves a 1.2-MHz gain-bandwidth product, showing a significant improvement in (MHz-pF)/mA performance