julilili42/papers huggingface dataset:
TLR2/TLR4-Independent Neutrophil Activation and Recruitment upon Endocytosis of Nucleosomes Reveals a New Pathway of Innate Immunity in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus
2006-12-01

Abstract The nucleosome is a major autoantigen in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE); it can be detected as a circulating complex in the serum, and nucleosomes have been suggested to play a key role in disease development. In the present study, we show for the first time that physiological concentrations of purified nucleosomes trigger innate immunity. The nucleosomes are endocytosed and induce the direct activation of human neutrophils (polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMN)) as revealed by CD11b/CD66b up-regulation, IL-8 secretion, and increased phagocytic activity. IL-8 is a neutrophil chemoattractant detected in high concentrations in the sera of patients, and IL-8 secretion might thus result in enhanced inflammation, as observed in lupus patients, via an amplification loop. Nucleosomes act as free complexes requiring no immune complex formation and independently of the presence of unmethylated CpG DNA motifs. Both normal and lupus neutrophils are sensitive to nucleosome-induced activation, and activation is not due to endotoxin or high-mobility group box 1 contamination. In mice, i.p. injection of purified nucleosomes induces neutrophil activation and recruitment in a TLR2/TLR4-independent manner. Importantly, neutrophils have been suggested to link innate and adaptive immunity. Thus, nucleosomes trigger a previously unknown pathway of innate immunity, which may partially explain why peripheral tolerance is broken in SLE patients.
Is German V-to-C Movement Really Semantically Motivated? Some Empirical Problems
2006-12-01

Abstract 1. The central issue for a linguistic theory of sentence types is to what extent their meanings (‘sentence moods’) can be compositionally derived from their form. T[ruckenbrodt]'s paper is a valiant, and altogether fascinating attempt to identify a specific contribution of the central formal feature of German sentence types – verb position viz. finite verb movement to C ( V-to-C ) – to these meanings. His central claim is that V-to-C is triggered by a context index in C containing crucial sentence mood elements that must be checked in order to yield the appropriate illocutionary interpretations of V-in-C root clauses. In short, according to T, German V-toC has a purely semantic viz. illocutionary motivation. It is this central claim that I will take issue with in the following.
WING MEASUREMENT VARIATIONS IN THE FIVE EUROPEAN HORSESHOE BAT SPECIES (CHIROPTERA: RHINOLOPHIDAE)
2006-12-01

Abstract Wing morphology is crucial for flight performance and foraging ecology in bats. We describe variations in 5 wing parameters within the 5 species of European horseshoe bats (genus Rhinolophus) based on data taken from 3,081 adult individuals. All 5 species belong to a single ecological guild. Measurements were taken from live bats in the field in southeastern Europe (Bulgaria, Greece, and Turkey), where all 5 species occur in sympatry. Examination of our data shows that the species and accordingly their wings differ substantially in size. Albeit grossly similar in form, we additionally found several size-independent differences in wing shape. For example, the smallest species, Rhinolophus hipposideros, and to a lesser extent also R. blasii, have extremely short hand wings, enabling highly maneuverable search flight close to vegetation. The largest species, R. ferrumequinum, and the 2nd largest one, R. mehelyi, have rather long hand wings, allowing fast and economic commuting flight over longer distances. We argue that both size and shape are likely to play a role for niche separation between species. We found both sexual and geographic variation within species. There was sexual dimorphism for most parameters, with females being larger than males. Populations of R. mehelyi in southeastern Europe had significant variation in wing measurements. This was not so for R. ferrumequinum and R. euryale. We give a discriminant function based on only 2 parameters that correctly assigned 98% of the 3,081 individuals to species. This function may prove useful for identification of museum specimens.
IN VITRO ACTIVITY OF FERROQUINE (SAR97193) IS INDEPENDENT OF CHLOROQUINE RESISTANCE IN PLASMODIUM FALCIPARUM
2006-12-01

Nowadays, chloroquine-resistant malaria appears in almost all endemic regions. Ferroquine is a derivative of chloroquine and shows good activity in vitro and in animal models, but the development of cross-resistance is of concern. We tested in vitro susceptibilities of Plasmodium falciparum field isolates from Gabon to ferroquine, chloroquine, and artesunate. As expected, chloroquine resistance was present in all parasite isolates (median 50% inhibitory concentration = 113 nmol/L). Ferroquine (1.94 nmol/L) and artesunate (0.96 nmol/L) were highly active, and no significant correlation between any of the three drugs was observed. In contrast to our findings, previous studies showed an association between chloroquine and ferroquine activities. We could reproduce this association by using different initial parasitemias, but analysis of covariance revealed that initial parasitemia and not parasite strain was the critical determinant for the correlation between chloroquine and ferroquine activities. We conclude that ferroquine is highly active in chloroquine-resistant parasites, and we anticipate no enhanced selection for resistance against ferroquine in chloroquine-resistant parasites.
Design, Synthesis, and Biological Evaluation of Phenylamino-Substituted 6,11-Dihydro-dibenzo[b,e]oxepin-11-ones and Dibenzo[a,d]cycloheptan-5-ones:  Novel p38 MAP Kinase Inhibitors
2006-12-01

The pathogenesis of chronic inflammatory diseases is promoted by various pro-inflammatory cytokines. p38 MAP kinase seems to be a valid target as it controls proinflammatory cytokine levels on both transcriptional and translational levels. Starting from benzophenone-type inhibitors, a rigidisation strategy lead to 3-amino-6,11-dihydro-dibenzo[b,e]thiepin-11-one, phenylamino-substituted 6,11-dihydro-dibenzo[b,e]oxepin-11-ones, and dibenzo[a,d]cyclohepten-5-ones. Synthesis, p38 inhibition, and CYP-inhibition of selected compounds are described.
Observational manifestations of the change in the tilt of the accretion disk to the orbital plane in her X-1/HZ her with phase of its 35-day period
2006-12-01

We analyze and interpret the RXTE/ASM X-ray light curves for the close binary system Her X-1/HZ Her obtained from February 1996 to September 2004. Some of the features found previously in the averaged X-ray light curves are confirmed by the new RXTE/ASM data. In particular, the anomalous dips and post-eclipse recoveries in two successive orbits in the short-on state are clearly distinguishable and are stable features of the X-ray light curves. We argue that to account for these features, the tilt of the accretion disk to the orbital plane must be assumed to change with phase of the 35-day period. We present a numerical model that can reproduce the observed features of the light curves.
Effects of forearm bands on horseshoe bats (Chiroptera: Rhinolophidae)
2006-12-01

ABSTRACT We assessed effects of forearm bands on three species of horseshoe bats (Rhinolophus ferrumequinum, R. euryale and R. mehelyi) marked for studies on regional movements and colony structure in Northern Bulgaria. Overall, more than 85% of the 580 recaptured individuals showed no negative impact of the banding. We had to note, however, slight or severe injuries in 7.6 and 6.4% of the bats, respectively. Injury rates varied greatly according to species and ring sizes. The use of the smaller of two tested ring sizes caused major injury rates of more than 60% of the recaptured R. mehelyi. But even in R. ferrumequinum, for which we obtained the largest sample size, and for which the recommended ring size is well-established, carefully fitted forearm bands caused injuries in 9.3% of the recaptures, an injury rate that is much higher than in most vespertilionid bat species. The main reason for the sensitivity of the horseshoe bats to ringing was that the ring rubbed raw the bats' propatagium; the resulting injuries led to growing scars and infections. We compare published and unpublished injury rates of 28 bat species with our results and discuss the use of alternative marking methods. We suggest that banding of horseshoe bats should be limited to well defined projects and only used if the study populations are in a good preservation condition and long term effects of the marking method can be monitored.
Contribution of mass spectrometry-based proteomics to immunology
2006-12-01

Antigen processing forwards various information about the cellular status and the proteome to the cell surface for scrutiny by the cellular immune system. Thus the repertoire of major histocompatibility complex (MHC)-bound peptides and the MHC ligandome, indirectly mirrors the proteome in order to make alterations instantly detectable and, if necessary, to oppose them. Mass spectrometry is the core technology for analysis of both proteome and MHC ligandome and has evoked several strategies to gain qualitative and quantitative insight into the MHC-presented peptide repertoire. After immunoaffinity purification of detergent-solubilized peptide-MHC complexes followed by acid elution of peptides, liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry is applied to determine individual peptide sequences and, thus, allow qualitative characterization of the MHC-bound repertoire. Differential quantification based on stable isotope labeling enables the relative comparison of two samples, such as diseased and healthy tissue. Targeted searches for certain natural ligands, such as the 'predict-calibrate-detect' strategy, include motif-based epitope prediction and calibration with reference peptides. Thus, various approaches are now available for exposing and understanding the intricacies of the MHC ligand repertoire. Analysis of differences in the MHC ligandome under distinct conditions contributes to our understanding of basic cellular processes, but also enables the formulation of immunodiagnostic or immunotherapeutic strategies.
BN++ – A Biological Information System
2006-12-01

Summary Recent years have seen an explosive growth in the amount of biochemical data available. Numerous databases have been established and are being used as an essential resource by biologists around the world. The sheer amount and heterogeneity of these data poses a major challenge: data integration and, based thereupon, the integrative analysis of these data. We present BN++, the biochemical network library, a powerful software package for integrating, analyzing, and visualizing biochemical data in the context of networks. BN++ is based on a comprehensive and extensible object model (BioCore), which has been implemented as a C++ framework, a Java class library, and a relational database. The C++ framework is used to efficiently import, integrate, and analyze the data, which is stored in a data warehouse. The Java-based viewer (BiNA) provides a powerful platform-independent visualization of the data using sophisticated graph layout algorithms. Currently, the data warehouse imports and integrates data from about a dozen important databases including, among others, sequence data, metabolic and regulatory networks, and protein interaction data. We illustrate the usefulness of BN++ with a few select example applications. Availability: BN++ is open source software available from our website at www.bnplusplus.org.
Drug evaluation: lexatumumab, an intravenous human agonistic mAb targeting TRAIL receptor 2.
2006-12-01

Human Genome Sciences Inc, under license from Cambridge Antibody Technology Ltd, is developing lexatumumab, an intravenous human agonistic mAb to TNF-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) receptor 2, for the potential treatment of cancer. Phase II clinical trials of lexatumumab are underway.
Echolocation signals of the plecotine bat, Plecotus macrobullaris Kuzyakin, 1965
2006-12-01

ABSTRACT Plecotus macrobullaris was recorded in an alpine region in Switzerland. Like other species of the genus Plecotus, P. macrobullaris emitted multiharmonic, downward frequency-modulated signals consisting mostly of the 1st and the lower part of the 2nd harmonic. Signal structure depended on the distance to the background. The shortest signals (0.8 ms) were recorded close to the background. The first harmonic began at about 46 kHz and ended around 23 kHz. Signals were emitted in groups. The longest signals (up to 7.3 ms) were recorded above a meadow, far from background targets. These signals, which were more shallowly modulated, started at about 42 kHz and ended around 15 kHz. They occasionally lacked the 2nd harmonic and were often emitted only every 2nd or 3rd wing beat cycle. In short signals of up to 4 ms, the 1st and 2nd harmonic did not overlap, whereas overlap was prominent in longer signals. Although P. macrobullaris is genetically more closely related to P. auritus, its signal structure is closer to that of P. austriacus. Taking further evidence from morphological data, signal structure, and flight behaviour into account, we conclude that P. macrobullaris occupies a similar niche in mountainous areas as P. austriacus does in the lowland.
From Collaboration to Resistance: Politics, Experience, and Memory of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars in Southern Germany
2006-12-01

Travelers strolling through Stuttgart's Old Town who pause before Württemberg's royal residence can hardly fail to notice the Victory Column. Thirty meters high, it towers over the square and proclaims Crown Prince Wilhelm's victories against the armies of Napoleon in 1814. Erected in 1841, the Victory Column marked the Silver Jubilee of Wilhelm's reign, by that time a much-loved regent. Eight years earlier, at the twentieth anniversary of the Battle of Leipzig, the Bavarian king Ludwig I dedicated a memorial to the dead of the Russian Campaign. Evidently cast from the metal of French cannons, the massive obelisk dominates a crossroads in Munich—roads named after victorious battles fought during the Wars of Liberation. With their military campaigns engraved in stone, the two monarchies, Württemberg and Bavaria, demonstrated their zealous opposition to the French Emperor.
Amphotericin B in the Therapy of Candida glabrata Endophthalmitis After Penetrating Keratoplasty
2006-12-01

In the case presented here, topical and intracameral application of amphotericin B was sufficient and safe in the therapy for C. glabrata endophthalmitis after penetrating keratoplasty. Although typically the intraocular infection is first noticed within the first 2 weeks, a hyperacute onset has to be considered.
Multi-Offset Vertical Radar Profiling for Subsurface Reflection Imaging
2006-12-01

The vertical radar profiling (VRP) technique uses surface-to-borehole acquisition geometries comparable to vertical seismic profiling (VSP). Major differences between the two methods do arise due to the fundamentally differing nature of the velocity-depth gradients and transmitter∕receiver directivities. Largely for this reason, VRP studies have so far essentially been limited to the reconstruction of velocity-depth profiles by inverting direct arrival times from single-offset VRP surveys. In this study, we investigate the potential to produce high-resolution subsurface reflection images from multi-offset VRP data. Two synthetic data sets are used to evaluate a processing strategy suitably adapted from VSP processing. Despite the fundamental differences between VRP and VSP data, we found that our processing approach is capable of reconstructing subsurface structures of comparable complexity to those routinely imaged by VSP data. Finally, we apply our processing flow to two multi-offset VRP data sets recorded at a well constrained hydrogeophysical test site in SW-Germany. The inferred VRP images are compared with high-quality surface georadar reflection images and lithological logs available at the borehole locations. We find that the VRP images are in good agreement with the surface georadar data and reliably detect the major lithological boundaries. Due to the significantly shorter ray-paths, the depth penetration of the VRP data is, however, considerably higher than that of the surface georadar data. VRP reflection images thus provide an effective means for the depth-calibration and extension of conventional surface georadar data in the vicinity of boreholes.
Exploiting Indifference for Customization of Partial Order Skylines
2006-12-01

Unlike numerical preferences, preferences on attribute values do not show an inherent total order, but skyline computation has to rely on partial orderings explicitly stated by the user. In such orders many object values are incomparable, hence skylines sizes become unpractical. However, the Pareto semantics can be modified to benefit from indifferences: skyline result sizes can be essentially reduced by allowing the user to declare some incomparable values as equally desirable. A major problem of adding such equivalences is that they may result in intransitivity of the aggregated Pareto order and thus efficient query processing is hampered. In this paper we analyze how far the strict Pareto semantics can be relaxed while always retaining transitivity of the induced Pareto aggregation. Extensive practical tests show that skyline sizes can indeed be reduced about two orders of magnitude when using the maximum possible relaxation still guaranteeing the consistency with all user preferences
Progressive bicytopenia due to persistent parvovirus B19 infection after immunochemotherapy with fludarabine/cyclophosphamide and rituximab for relapsed B cell lymphoma.
2006-12-01

Human parvovirus B 19 is known as a virus causing erythema infectiosum, arthropathy, transient aplastic crisis and intrauterine fetal death. Healthy hosts are able to clear the virus within weeks after infection. There are a few reports available in the literature regarding immunocompromised renal transplant recipients with persistent infection without seroconversion. Herein, we describe a 56-year old woman with a relapse of grade II follicular lymphoma who received a combined immunochemotherapy of rituximab, fludarabine and cyclophosphamide and subsequently developed a persistent parvovirus B19 infection. In the absence of serum immunoglobulin antibodies, PCR analysis of peripheral blood and bone marrow aspirate were positive for parvovirus B19. Treatment with IVIG treatment resulted in normalization of peripheral blood counts within 7 weeks.
Lycian tombs in the Kibyratis and the extent of Lycian culture
2006-12-01

Abstract With six rock-cut tombs of Lycian type, the region south of the city of Kibyra (in the southern part of Burdur province) is the northernmost area of their distribution. Five of these are published here for the first time. Comparison with tombs in Lycia proper suggests a date in the fourth century BC. On the basis of this date and of similar tombs found in the region of Oinoanda and in the Elmalı plain, it is argued that the existence of this type of rock-cut tomb in what was part of ancient Milyas testifies to the political and cultural expansion of Lycia under ‘king’ Perikle in the 370s BC.
Cross-listed stocks as an information vehicle of speculation: Evidence from European cross-listings in the early 1870s
2006-12-01

This study deals with the price building process of cross-listed stocks on the most important European stock exchanges in the 1870s. By applying a vector error correction approach we look for cointegration relationships. Obviously, there was already a high degree of cross-border integration. Furthermore, we observe the uncommon phenomenon that it was not the home market Vienna but the foreign market Berlin which was the dominant one in the price-building process. An explanation could be the intense speculation during the 1870s in Berlin. Therefore, cross-listed stocks worked as a vehicle for spreading the ongoing speculation from Berlin to other places.
Phase 2 Trial of the Continuous IV Administration of Interferon‐β in Patients With Disseminated Malignant Melanoma
2006-12-01

Background: Interferons have been reported to significantly contribute to tumor suppression via both induction of p53 gene expression and inhibition of angiogenesis. Objective: The assessment of treatment toxicity and antitumoral effectiveness of continuous IV administration of interferon‐β based on an overall evaluation of laboratory, radiographic, and clinical parameters observed during the trial. Methods: The authors treated patients with advanced malignant melanoma with continuous IV infusions of 1 × 10 6 IU interferon‐β daily ( 0.6 × 10 6 IU interferon‐β/m 2 daily). Results: Continuous IV administration of interferon‐β had no significant effect on overall patient outcome. Interferon side effects were not a reason for treatment discontinuation in any of the patients observed during this trial. Conclusions: Continuous IV interferon‐β had no significant effect on overall patient outcome in a group of patients with advanced malignant melanoma. To our knowledge, this is the first report on the continuous IV administration of interferon‐β in patients with advanced malignant melanoma.
Status of the Germanium Detector Array (GERDA) in the search of neutrinoless ββ decays of 76Ge at LNGS
2006-12-01

The Germanium Detector Array (GERDA) in the search for neutrinoless ββ decays of 76Ge at LNGS will operate bare germanium diodes enriched in 76Ge in an (optional active) cryogenic fluid shield to investigate neutrinoless ββ decay with a sensitivity of T 1/2 > 2 × 1026 yr after an exposure of 100 kg yr. Recent progress includes the installation of the first underground infrastructures at Gran Sasso, the completion of the enrichment of 37.5 kg of germanium material for detector construction, prototyping of low-mass detector support and contacts, and front-end and DAQ electronics, as well as the preparation for construction of the cryogenic vessel and water tank.
Tissue Engineering peripherer Nerven
2006-12-01

The results demonstrated that only in the case of cellular filled tubes (syngenic Schwann cells) did regeneration occur across the 20 mm gap. This regeneration was comparable to that induced after autologous grafting. Across a 40 mm gap the autologous graft demonstrated the best results.
Design and validation of execution schemes for dynamically reconfigurable architectures
2006-12-01

Mapping applications onto reconfigurable architectures can be done in many different ways. The features of the target architecture constrain the way an application can be mapped and executed significantly. Execution schemes are generated as an intermediate format in our approach to application mapping and constitute a useful level to compare features of different architectures. In this paper, we present execution schemes that take advantage of fast reconfiguration and results from mapping execution schemes to a commercial architecture
Occlusion‐Driven Scene Sorting for Efficient Culling
2006-12-01

Abstract Image space occlusion culling is a powerful approach to reduce the rendering load of large polygonal models. However, occlusion culling is not for free; it trades overhead costs with the rendering costs of the possibly occluded geometry. Meanwhile, occlusion queries based on image space occlusion culling are supported on modern graphics hardware. However, a significant consumption of fillrate bandwidth and latency costs are associated with these queries. In this paper, we propose new techniques to reduce redundant occlusion queries. Our approach uses several "Occupancy Maps" to organize scene traversal. The respective information is accumulated efficiently by hardware‐supported asynchronous occlusion queries. To avoid redundant requests, we arrange these multiple occlusion queries according to the information of the Occupancy Maps. Our presented technique is conservative and benefits from a partial depth order of the geometry.