julilili42/papers huggingface dataset:
Hunting Ants in Mediterranean clay soils: Life history of Siagona europaea (Coleoptera, Carabidae)
2005-01-01

Abstract In southern Italy, Siagona europaea is common on clay soils and occurs up to the 38th parallel. Activity recordings have revealed that the beetles are strictly nocturnal. They are resistant to desiccation and prefer temperatures above 30 °C. Their flat body indicates adaptation to life in clay soils, which, in southern Italy, are deeply fissured from April to September. The behaviour of the beetles was observed in a transparent system of cavities consisting of plastic boxes connected by tubes. The beetles feed exclusively on ants that are caught by surprise attack outside their nests. Ants perceive the beetles as being hostile via chemical cues. Single ants then normally retreat, whereas groups of ants attack immediately. The beetles behave unaggressively against cospecifics and rest in groups of various numbers in flat soil crevices. Copulation takes place from the end of April onwards, whereas egg laying occurs from the end of May onwards. The females produce only a few eggs, which are unusually large, and shift them singly in narrow soil cracks. The larvae develop during the summer deep in the soil; they are blind and can be characterized as cave‐life forms by their extremely long cerci and antennae that have a whip‐like unsclerotized sticky distal part.
Posterior Fossa Tremor Induced by HIV-Associated Progressive Multifocal Leukoencephalopathy
2005-01-01

Introduction Movement disorders occur in 2–3% of patients with AIDS and are mostly caused by toxoplasmosis abscesses [1] . However, other rare etiologies such as progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML) or human immunodefi ciency virus (HIV)-associated dementia have been described [2, 3] . The diagnosis of PML is supported by typical MRI fi ndings and the detection of JC virus (JCV) DNA in the cerebrospinal fl uid (CSF) [4] . The lesions are mostly located in the parietal and occipital regions. Isolated infratentorial PML lesions have been reported, but they are a very rare fi nding in HIV-infected patients [5] . We report on an AIDS patient who presented with right-sided posterior fossa tremor in all probability due to an isolated infratentorial PML lesion.
In VitroExpansion of Human Nasoseptal Chondrocytes Reveals Distinct Expression Profiles of G1Cell Cycle Inhibitors for Replicative, Quiescent, and Senescent Culture Stages
2005-01-01

In vitro expansion of chondrocytes for tissue-engineering applications is limited by forms of growth arrest known as quiescence and replicative senescence. At the molecular level cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitors (CDKIs) are involved in mediating growth arrest in the G1 phase of the cell cycle. Using ribonuclease protection assays and immunocytochemical staining methods, we quantitatively analyzed expression profiles of G1 cell cycle inhibitors at the mRNA and protein levels. These inhibitors included the CDKIs of the CIP/KIP family (p21CIP1 p27KIP1, and p57KIP2) and the INK4 family (p15INK4b, p16INK4a, p18INK4c, and p19INK4d) as well as the retinoblastoma protein-family (pRb, p107, and p130) and the tumor suppressor p53. Analysis was carried out in proliferating, quiescent, and senescent states of primary cultures of adult human nasoseptal chondrocytes. The most pronounced effect (p < 0.0001) between cultures in proliferation and cultures in growth arrest was an increased expression of the CDKIs p57KIP2 and p15INK4b for quiescent growth arrest, and of p16INK4a, p15INK4b, and p57KIP2 for senescent growth arrest. Thus, these cell cycle inhibitors represent potential candidates for selective intervention to promote cellular multiplication of chondrocytes undergoing in vitro expansion for tissue-engineering applications. Possible methods of modulation include the targeted elimination of specifically identified cell cycle inhibitors by antisense technologies.
New Imaging Techniques of Fat, Muscle and Liver within the Context of Determining Insulin Sensitivity
2005-01-01

Body fat distribution and ectopic fat deposition are important determinants of insulin sensitivity. Fat deposition in muscle and the liver, in particular, has been found to impair insulin signalling in these insulin-sensitive tissues. Thus, exact quantification of fat content may help to distinguish between different sites of insulin resistance. Increased fat deposition in the visceral compartment compared with the subcutaneous depot also represents an important factor leading to insulin resistance. Recent data clearly showed that visceral fat is a strong determinant of liver fat content. Exact quantification of fat distribution by magnetic resonance imaging and magnetic resonance spectroscopy may help to define distinct ‘fat-distribution phenotypes’. This may allow a search for new candidate genes for type 2 diabetes mellitus and identify, at an early stage, individuals at risk for decline in insulin sensitivity.
Formation of novel anionic gold–tin cluster compounds
2005-01-01

A straightforward procedure for the formation of mixed metal Au/Sn clusters is presented: reaction of the heteroborate [SnB11H11]2- with phosphine gold electrophiles gave the clusters [Bu3NH]3[{(Et3P)Au(SnB11H11)}3] and [Bu3MeN]4[{(dppm)Au2(SnB11H11)2}2], which were characterised by X-ray diffraction.
ZetaSAT - Boolean SATisfiability solving on Desktop Grids
2005-01-01

ZetaSAT is a research effort to enable efficient parallel Boolean satisfiability (SAT) solving on the Desktop Grid. ZetaSAT is based on the Desktop Grid platform Zeta-Grid. Our work particularly addresses specific issues arising when executing constraint satisfaction problems of the kind of SAT in Desktop Grids, like dynamic problem decomposition, load balancing, termination detection, and domain specific fault tolerance. We report on performance measurements indicating the usefulness of our approach.
Vision based Localization of Mobile Robots using Kernel approaches
2005-01-01

The aim of this article is to present the potential of Kernel Principal Component Analysis (Kernel PCA) in the field of vision based robot localization. Using Kernel PCA we can extract features from the visual scene of a mobile robot. The analysis is applied only to local features so as to guarantee better computational performance as well as translation invariance. Compared with the classical Principal Component Analysis (PCA), Kernel PCA results show superiority in localization and robustness in presence of noisy scenes. The key success of the kernel PCA is the use of fractional power polynomial kernels.
S-Adenosylhomocysteine Metabolism in Different Cell Lines: Effect of Hypoxia and Cell Density
2005-01-01

Our data clearly show that the cell lines are characterized by different MP and different behavior under hypoxia. That implies that a lower MP is not necessarily associated with impaired transmethylation activity and cellular function.
Effect of Sphingosine on Ca<sup>2+</sup> Entry and Mitochondrial Potential of Jurkat T Cells - Interaction with Bcl<sub>2</sub>
2005-01-01

Triggers of Jurkat T cell apoptosis include sphingosine and ceramide. Sphingosine and ceramide further inhibit capacitative Ca2+ entry (ICRAC), an effect leading to inactivation but not death of Jurkat T cells. Mitochondria are key organelles in the machinery leading to apoptosis and on the other hand have been shown to participate in the regulation of Ca2+ entry. The present experiments were performed to explore whether treatment of Jurkat T cells with sphingosine leads to apoptosis and reduced Ca2+ entry and whether those effects are sensitive to expression of the antiapoptotic protein Bcl2, localized in the outer mitochondrial membrane. Exposure of Jurkat T cells to 10 microM spingosine was according to DiOC6 fluorescence followed by mitochondrial depolarization and according to Fura-red/Fluo-3 fluorescence followed by decreased capacitative Ca2+ entry. Mitochondrial depolarization was significantly delayed in cells overexpressing wild type Bcl2 or Bcl2 targeted to the mitochondrial membrane, whereas no significant influence on mitochondrial depolarization was observed in cells expressing Bcl2 lacking the membrane targeting motif or Bcl2 targeted to the endoplasmatic reticulum. In contrast to mitochondrial potential, the blunting of capacitative Ca2+ entry following sphingosine treatment was not sensitive to mitochondrial Bcl2 expression. In conclusion sphingosine exposure leads to both, mitochondrial depolarization and inhibition of capacitative Ca2+ entry. Mitochondrial Bcl2 reverses the effect on mitochondria but not on Ca2+ entry and thus leads to dissociation of those two sequelae of sphingosine treatment.
Comparison of the Granulation Behavior of Three Different Excipients in a Laboratory Fluidized Bed Granulator Using Statistical Methods
2005-01-01

The granulation process and, subsequently, the tableting behavior of the resulting granules of alpha-lactose-monohydrate, dicalcium phosphate anhydrous, and potato starch were investigated using statistical designs. The three substances were chosen due to their differences in granulation and tableting behavior, such as water solubility, swelling, and compressional properties. Granulation process variables, namely the inlet air temperature, spray rate, binder concentration of granulating solution, and inlet air flow rate were investigated. A central composite design was applied to study the granulation of alpha-lactose-monohydrate. Granulations of dicalcium phosphate and potato starch were investigated using a 2(3) factorial design, in which the effects of the inlet air temperature, spray rate, and binder concentration were considered. To compare the granulation behavior of theses substances the particle size distribution, angle of repose, and yield of the granules were used as responses for the statistical designs. The granules were compressed into tablets and the tensile strength was used as an additional statistical response. Based on the process parameters, models were developed using multiple regression modeling for each examined response. These models were then used to optimize the granulation process that provides granules with a Sauter mean diameter of D32 between 300 and 500 microm, an angle of repose smaller than 36 degrees and a granule yield above 90%. Moreover, the values of the tensile strength of the tablets should be between 1.6 and 2.5 N/mm2. The intersections of the response surfaces of each examined substance were compared using contour plots. To achieve the largest "satisfactory zone," the granulations of milled alpha-lactose-monohydrate, dicalcium phosphate, or potato starch should be performed at low inlet air temperatures.
Toxicity Study of Erucylphosphocholine in a Rat Model
2005-01-01

ErPC can safely be injected into the vitreous of adult rats at a concentration of 10 microM without any retinal toxicity. Even a 10-fold increase in ErPC concentration leads only to a discrete cytoplasmic irregularity of the innermost retinal layers.
Autoimmune Retinopathy with RPE Hypersensitivity and ‘Negative ERG’ in X-Linked Hyper-IgM Syndrome
2005-01-01

The fundus appearance and electrophysiological function testing revealed indications of atypical retinal degeneration. However, the clinical course and the serological findings were consistent with those of ocular autoimmunity involving both antiretinal activity and RPE hypersensitivity. In this case, peripheral stem-cell transfusion with its associated chemotherapy failed to benefit the patient's vision; indications of autoimmunity appeared to increase following this treatment.
Glycoprotein IIb/IIIa inhibition reduces prothrombotic events under conditions of deep hypothermic circulatory arrest
2005-01-01

Summary Deep Hypothermic Circulatory Arrest (DHCA) is employed during thoracic aortic and congenital heart surgery, and can induce postoperative neurological damage probably caused by microthrombembolism. Hypothermia has been reported to induce platelet activation and aggregation. The platelet activation marker P-selectin mediates binding of platelets to leukocytes. Tirofiban and eptifibatide, short-acting inhibitors of the platelet fibrinogen receptor GP IIb/IIIa, have recently been shown to protect platelet function without increasing bleeding during heart surgery using cardiopulmonary bypass. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of tirofiban and eptifibatide on platelets and platelet-leukocyte interaction under DHCA conditions in vitro.Platelet aggregation, binding of the GP IIb/IIIa activation specific antibody PAC-1, P-selectin expression as well as monocyte and granulocyte content of aggregates were investigated in un-stimulated and ADP-stimulated samples using flow cytometry. Tirofiban and eptifibatide inhibited massive platelet aggregation and PAC-1 binding which were induced by DHCA conditions. P-selectin expression was inhibited by tirofiban but increased by eptifibatide at hypothermia. Platelet-bound leukocytes were present in all samples. Eptifibatide increased granulocyte content of aggregates at hypothermia in ADP-stimulated samples. We conclude that under conditions of DHCA both tirofiban and eptifibatide inhibit platelet aggregation but have different effects on platelet P-selectin expression and platelet-leukocyte interaction. Application of a short-acting and non-activating GP IIb/IIIa inhibitor should be considered during DHCA in vivo to prevent occlusion of the microvasculature and subsequent organ damage.
Image analysis systems for the detection of disseminated breast cancer cells on bone‐marrow cytospins
2005-01-01

Abstract We assessed the accuracy of automated cell imaging systems when compared to manual evaluation of cytospin slides in determining the presence of cytokeratin‐positive, disseminated breast cancer cells in bone marrow aspirates. A total of 298 cytospin slides of bone marrow aspirates were first evaluated by individual screening by one expert immunocytologist. Subsequently, all 298 slides were evaluated by the Automated Cell Imaging System (ACIS) by ChromaVisionTM. Two separate analysis cycles were performed using ACIS. The results of the two ACIS analysis cycles were almost identical: in 293 out of 298 samples (98.3%), identical numbers of disseminated breast cancer cells were detected. In the remaining five samples (1.7%), the result of the two ACIS analysis cycles differed by only one tumor cell. By using the manual technique, 120 cytospin samples were found to be positive. ACIS was able to detect additional tumor cells in 64 cases. Not once did ACIS miss tumor cells when compared to the manual technique. Using ACIS, we were able to determine the bone marrow status of patients with nonmetastatic breast cancer faster, with greater accuracy, and with greater reproducibility than with the manual technique. J. Clin. Lab. Anal. 19:115–119, 2005. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Identification and Functional Characterization of the Muscarinic Receptor M3 in the Human Keratinocyte Cell Line HaCaT
2005-01-01

In the epidermis muscarinic cholinergic receptors are expressed in keratinocytes during normal differentiation and in regeneration of the skin. The muscarinic receptors were implicated to regulate proliferation, migration and differentiation of keratinocytes. Therefore, we characterized the muscarinic receptor in the spontaneously immortalized human keratinocyte cell line HaCaT and studied its role in cell migration. By RT-PCR, Western blot and immunocytochemistry we show that HaCaT cells express the M3 receptor subtype. This receptor was further characterized by fluorometric measurement of calcium mobilization in cell suspensions. After muscarinic stimulation a peak reaction of intracellular calcium mobilization occurred followed by a plateau phase of extracellular influx which was reversible by atropine. In dose-response curves the effective concentrations of carbachol and acetylcholine were determined as 40 and 1 μ&lt;i&gt;M&lt;/i&gt;, respectively. The migratory activity of HaCaT cells was studied with the phagokinetic track assay. Treatment with the muscarinic agonist carbachol had no effect on cell migration. However, carbachol diminished the EGF-induced increase in migratory activity by about 26%. Interestingly, EGF and carbachol had additive effects on calcium mobilization.
Therapy of hearing disorders - conservative procedures.
2005-01-01

A wide range of therapeutic strategies are available for the therapy of hearing disorders including pharmaceutical, acoustic, electrical, surgical, radiological, cognitive-behavioural and so-called "alternative" strategies. This review focuses on general conservative strategies and specific therapeutic approaches mainly for inner ear disorders, whereas surgical and device-based therapies including hearing aids and cochlear implants are described in other chapters in this volume.In addition to the systemic medication-based therapies for the treatment of hearing disorders, the rapidly growing field of local drug delivery to the inner ear as a promising therapeutic strategy is discussed on the background of unresolved issues. After description of non-drug-based therapeutic procedures, the conservative therapy of specific diseases and syndromes is reviewed.In general, there is a major discrepancy between promising animal studies up to regeneration and stem-cell transplantation, and uncontrolled experimental studies in humans on the one hand and the shortage of randomized controlled clinical trials with a high level of evidence on the other hand. Therefore, the review and comments on published clinical studies should assist the reader in making his/her own decision about the effectiveness of various, especially pharmaceutical treatments. From a critical analysis - particularly of the clinical studies presented - conclusions are drawn for the therapy of hearing disorders in the future.
Synthesis of new 2-ferrocenyl-5-fluoro-6-(4-substituted-1-piperazinyl)-1H-benzimidazoles of potential biological interest
2005-01-01

New substituted 2-ferrocenylbenzimidazole derivatives are prepared by the oxidation of corresponding Schiff's bases in situ, generated from corresponding 1,2-diamino-4-fluoro-5-(1-piperazinyl)benzenes and 2-ferrocenecarboxaldehyde using nitrobenzene.
Confinement versus Bose-Einstein condensation
2005-01-01

The deconfinement phase transition at high baryon densities and low\\ntemperatures evades a direct investigation by means of lattice gauge\\ncalculations. In order to make this regime of QCD accessible by computer\\nsimulations, two proposal are made: (i) A Lattice Effective Theory (LET) is\\ndesigned which incorporates gluon and diquark fields. The deconfinement\\ntransition takes place when the diquark fields undergo Bose-Einstein\\ncondensation. (ii) Rather than using eigenstates of the particle number\\noperator, I propose to perform simulations for a fixed expectation value of the\\nbaryonic Noether current. This approach changes the view onto the finite\\ndensity regime, but evades the sign and overlap problems. The latter proposal\\nis exemplified for the LET: Although the transition from the confinement to the\\ncondensate phase is first order in the coupling constant space at zero baryon\\ndensities, the transition at finite densities appears to be a crossover.\\n
Production from Muschelkalk carbonates (Triassic, NE Netherlands): unique play or overlooked opportunity?
2005-01-01

The Triassic Muschelkalk carbonates are a unique play in NW Europe, producing hydrocarbons onshore The Netherlands. This paper aims at a comprehensive description of these relatively unknown reservoirs and speculates on additional play potential outside of the current production areas. The Muschelkalk Formation consists of partially porous Lower and Upper Muschelkalk carbonates separated by tight Middle Muschelkalk evaporites. The 100 m thick Lower Muschelkalk holds 1.9 BCM gas in the De Wijk Field. The reservoir is a limestone–dolomite–marl succession producing from several decimetres thick calcisilitic dolo-mudstones encased in tight lime-mudstones. The reservoir shows a stratified architecture composed of 16 cycles with thin but laterally continuous porous units. Good reservoir quality facies are concentrated in the upper third of these cycles. Porosities vary from 6 to 27%, (average 12%) and permeabilities range from 0.01 to 32 mD (average 0.06 mD). The reservoir rocks represent inner ramp sediments of a storm-dominated epeiric ramp. The 50 m thick Upper Muschelkalk contains 0.8 BCM gas in the Coevorden Muschelkalk Field. The reservoir consists of several decimetres thick peloidal-oolitic dolo-grain to packstones of good permeability interbedded with lower permeability dolo-mudstones to wackestones. Porosity varies from 5 to 29% (average 15%) and permeability ranges from 0.01 to 57 mD (average 1 mD). The permeable dolo-grainstones occur chiefly around peak transgression and early regression of the Upper Muschelkalk. The producing Upper Muschelkalk deposits represent the inner ramp section of a storm-dominated homoclinal ramp. Numerous gas shows in the Lower and Upper Muschelkalk, scattered over the onshore territory of The Netherlands, suggest possible missed pay and upside potential. The highest reservoir potential occurs in grainy dolomitic inner ramp deposits. These are likely to be located close to the existing fields in the NE Netherlands. Additionally, currently unrecognized potential could be present in southern Germany and eastern Poland.
Representations of Recursively Enumerable Array Languages by Contextual Array Grammars
2005-01-01

The main result proved in this paper shows that the natural embedding of any recursively enumerable one-dimensional array language in the two-dimensional space can be characterized by the projection of a two-dimensional array language generated by a contextual array grammar working in the t-mode and with norm one. Moreover, we show that any recursively enumerable one - dimensional array language can even be characterized by the projection of a two-dimensional array language generated by a contextual array grammar working in the t-mode where in the selectors of the contextual array productions only the ability to distinguish between blank and non-blank positions is necessary; in that case, the norm of the two-dimensional contextual array grammar working in the -mode cannot be bounded.
Effects of Combined Endothelin and Angiotensin II Antagonism on Growth Factor-Induced Proliferation of Vascular Smooth Muscle Cells Isolated from Uremic Rats
2005-01-01

In contrast to an increased response after trandolapril monotherapy, combined treatment of SNX with an ETA receptor antagonist and trandolapril reduced growth-factor-induced VSMC proliferation in vitro. Further investigations in uremic patients have to clarify whether the combination of endothelin receptor antagonists and ACE inhibitors inhibits atherogenesis.
High Throughput Synthesis of Pyrazolopyrimidines via Copper-catalysed Cyclization and X-Ray Study
2005-01-01

A rapid and easy high-yielding synthesis of pyrazolopyrimidinones in the presensce of copper chloride is described.To fully confirm the structure of a Viagra ® intermediate, the X-Ray structure of 5-(2-ethoxyphenyl)-1-methyl-3propyl-1,6-dihydropyrazolo [4,3-d]pyrimidin-7-one (2a) was determined.