julilili42/papers huggingface dataset:
Spinal cord injury‐induced lesional expression of the repulsive guidance molecule (RGM)
2005-03-01

Abstract The repulsive guidance molecule (RGM) is involved in the formation of the central nervous system (CNS) during development by modulating guidance of growing axons. However, a role of RGM in CNS injury remains to be established. We studied the expression of RGM in the spinal cord of rats with spinal cord injury (SCI). After SCI, RGM + cells accumulated in lesions and peri‐lesional areas. During the first days after SCI, RGM expression was confined to neurons, ballooned neurite fibers/retraction bulbs, smooth muscle/endothelial cells, and to leucocytes infiltrating the lesion. Lesional RGM expression was frequently confined to hypertrophic β‐APP + and RhoA + neurites/retraction bulbs. With maturation of the lesion, we observed RGM expression by components of the developing scar tissue (cicatrix), such as fibroblastoid cells, reactive astrocytes and in addition a pronounced extracellular RGM deposition resembling neo‐laminae. Frequent RGM + , RhoA + coexpression by lesional retraction bulbs represent first preliminary evidence of RGM to exert growth inhibitory effects by the second messenger system RhoA. To date, RGM is one of the most potent axonal growth inhibitors identified and present in axonal growth impediments (i) oligodendrocytes; (ii) the plexus choroideus and (iii) components of the developing scar.
Telomere length and hTERT expression in patients with acute myeloid leukemia correlates with chromosomal abnormalities.
2005-03-01

These findings suggest an important role of intense telomere loss in the development of genetic instability during the pathogenesis of AML. It is assumed that critical telomere shortening in AML blasts could lead to telomerase activation and therefore prevent blasts from replicative senescence, one possible mechanism for clonal selection and disease progression. Therefore, telomere length might serve as a prognostic marker for AML patients. These findings would have to be confirmed in large, prospective studies.
Effects of Imatinib on Monocyte-Derived Dendritic Cells Are Mediated by Inhibition of Nuclear Factor-κB and Akt Signaling Pathways
2005-03-01

Abstract Dendritic cells are the most powerful antigen-presenting cells playing a decisive role for the initiation and maintenance of primary immune responses. However, signaling pathways involved in the differentiation of these cells have not been fully determined. Imatinib is a novel tyrosine kinase inhibitor effective against Abl kinases, c-Kit, and platelet-derived growth factor receptor. Using this compound, we show that human monocyte-derived dendritic cells generated in the presence of therapeutic concentrations of imatinib show a reduced expression of CD1a, MHC class I and II, and costimulatory molecules as well as decreased secretion of chemokines and cytokines resulting in an impaired capacity of dendritic cells to elicit primary T-cell responses. Using Western blot analyses, we found that these effects are mediated by inhibition of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase/Akt pathways and a pronounced down-regulation of nuclear localized protein levels of nuclear factor-κB family members. Importantly, using blocking antibodies and tyrosine kinase inhibitors, we show that the inhibitory effects of imatinib on dendritic cell differentiation are not mediated via platelet-derived growth factor receptor and c-Kit. Taken together, our study reveals that imatinib inhibits dendritic cell differentiation and function via Akt and nuclear factor-κB signal transduction. Importantly, we show that imatinib can inhibit the function of normal, nonmalignant cells that may result in immunosuppression of these patients.
Are measures of hypomanic personality, impulsive nonconformity and rigidity predictors of bipolar symptoms?
2005-03-01

Objectives. It has been suggested that temperaments such as ‘hypomanic personality’ (HYP) have an explanatory role in affective disorders. Similarly, the impulsive nonconformity scale, originally designed to assess psychosis proneness, was recently found to augment the prediction of manic episodes. Conversely, research indicates that ‘rigidity’, a central feature of Typus Melancholicus (TMEL; ), may characterize the premorbid personality of depressives. Design. The present study combines these three scales to prospectively predict manic and depressive symptoms diagnosed 2 years later in a non‐college student population. Method. Structured clinical interviews for DSM‐IV were conducted with 114 individuals (60% female, mean age =19.9 years), 2 years after an initial screening. Results. It was found that none of the predictors predicted purely depressive symptoms. As expected, HYP emerged as the strongest predictor of (hypo‐)manic symptoms. Conclusions. While rigidity did not predict depression, people with a hypomanic temperament are at risk of developing symptoms of bipolar disorder, especially (hypo‐)manic ones. It is noteworthy that this was evident in our young sample, still in the earlier stages of the high‐risk period.
Psychiatric and Characterological Factors Relevant to Excess Mortality in a Long-Term Cohort of Prostitute Women
2005-03-01

We previously reported on the causes of death in a 30-year open cohort of 1,969 prostitute women. Excess mortality was mostly accounted for by homicide, suicide, drug and alcohol toxicity, and AIDS, with AIDS deaths occurring in prostitutes identified as injecting drug users. Presently, we examine observed mortality trends in light of the literature on personality and psychopathological characteristics reported for prostitute women, and with reports linking such personality characteristics to excess mortality. We observed consistency between the observed pattern of mortality in prostitute women and mortality that would be expected in a sample of persons at high risk for antisocial and borderline personality disorder.
Effects of mGlu1 and mGlu5 receptor antagonists on negatively reinforced learning
2005-03-01

Effects on aversive learning of the novel highly selective mGlu5 receptor antagonist [(2-methyl-1,3-thiazol-4-yl)ethynyl]pyridine (MTEP) and mGlu1 receptor antagonist (3-ethyl-2-methyl-quinolin-6-yl)-(4-methoxy-cyclohexyl)-methanone methanesulfonate (EMQMCM) were tested, after systemic administration, in the passive avoidance (PA) and fear potentiated startle (FPS) paradigms. Both MTEP at 10 mg/kg and EMQMCM at 5 and 10 mg/kg, given 30 min before training, impaired acquisition of the passive avoidance response (PAR). Co-administration of MTEP and EMQMCM at doses ineffective when administered alone, produced anterograde amnesia when given 30 min before the acquisition phase. Neither EMQMCM (5 mg/kg) nor MTEP (10 mg/kg) impaired retention of the PAR after direct post-training injections. EMQMCM (5 mg/kg), but not MTEP (10 mg/kg) blocked the PAR when given 30 min before testing. Pre-training administration of MTEP at doses of 2.5 and 5 mg/kg inhibited fear conditioning in the FPS when tested 24 h later. In contrast, EMQMCM was ineffective. Our findings suggest diverse involvement of mGlu1 and mGlu5 receptors in negatively reinforced learning.
Spinal cord injury induction of lesional expression of profibrotic and angiogenic connective tissue growth factor confined to reactive astrocytes, invading fibroblasts and endothelial cells
2005-03-01

Object. The glial scar composed of astrogliosis and extracellular matrix deposition represents a major impediment to axonal regeneration. The authors investigated the role of a novel profibrotic and angiogenic peptide connective tissue growth factor (CTGF [Hcs24/IGFBP-r2P]) in glial scar formation following spinal cord injury (SCI) in rats. Methods. The effects of SCI on CTGF expression during glial scar maturation 1 day to 1 month post-SCI were investigated using fluorescein-activated cell sorter (FACS) immunohistochemical analysis; these findings were compared with those obtained in sham-operated (control) spinal cords. The CTGF-positive cells accumulated at the spinal cord lesion site (p &lt; 0.0001) corresponding to areas of glial scar formation. In the perilesional rim, CTGF expression was confined to invading vimentin-positive, glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP)—negative fibroblastoid cells, endothelial and smooth-muscle cells of laminin-positive vessels, and GFAP-positive reactive astrocytes. The CTGF-positive astrocytes coexpressed the activation-associated intermediate filaments nestin, vimentin (&gt; 80%), and mesenchymal scar component fibronectin (50%). Conclusions. The restricted accumulation of CTGF-reactive astrocytes and CTGF-positive fibroblastoid cells lining the laminin-positive basal neolamina suggests participation of these cells in scar formation. In addition, perilesional upregulation of endothelial and smooth-muscle CTGF expression points to a role in blood—brain barrier function modulating edema-induced secondary damage.
An integrated sequence stratigraphic, palaeoenvironmental, and chronostratigraphic analysis of the Tangahoe Formation, southern Taranaki coast, with implications for mid‐Pliocene (c. 3.4–3.0 Ma) glacio‐eustatic sea‐level changes
2005-03-01

Sediments of the mid-Pliocene (c. 3.4–3.0 Ma) Tangahoe Formation exposed in cliffs along the South Taranaki coastline of New Zealand comprise a 270 m thick, cyclothemic shallow-marine succession that has been gently warped into a north to south trending, low angle anticline. This study examines the sedimentologic, faunal, and petrographic characteristics of 10 Milankovitch-scale (6th order), shallow-marine depositional sequences exposed on the western limb of the anticline. The sequences are recognised on the basis of the cyclic vertical stacking of their constituent lithofacies, which are bound by sharp wave cut surfaces produced during transgressive shoreface erosion. Each sequence comprises three parts: (1) a 0.2–2 m thick, deepening upwards, basal suite of reworked bioclastic lag deposits (onlap shellbed) and/or an overlying matrix supported, molluscan shellbed of offshore shelf affinity (backlap shellbed); (2) a 5–20 m thick, gradually shoaling, aggradational siltstone succession; and (3) a 5–10 m thick, strongly progradational, well sorted “forced regressive” shoreline sandstone. The three-fold subdivision corresponds to transgressive, highstand, and regressive systems tracts (TSTs, HSTs, and RSTs) respectively, and represents deposition during a glacio-eustatic sea-level cycle. Lowstand systems tract sediments are not recorded because the outcrop is situated c. 100 km east of the contemporary shelf edge and was subaerially exposed at that time. Well developed, sharp- and gradational-based forced regressive sandstones contain a variety of storm-emplaced sedimentary structures, and represent the rapid and abrupt basinward translation of the shoreline on to a storm dominated, shallow shelf during eustatic sea-level fall. Increased supply of sediment from north-west South Island during “forced regression” is indicated from petrographic analyses of the heavy mineralogy of the sandstones. A chronology based on biostratigraphy and the correlation of a new magnetostratigraphy to the magnetic polarity timescale allows: (1) identification of the Mammoth (C2An.2r) and Kaena (C2An.1r) subchrons; (2) correlation of the coastal section to the Waipipian Stage; and (3) estimation of the age of the coastal section as 3.36–3.06 Ma. Qualitative assessment of foraminiferal census data and molluscan palaeoecology reveals cyclic changes in water depth from shelf to shoreline environments during the deposition of each sequence. Seven major cycles in water depth of between 20 and 50m have been correlated to individual 40 ka glacio-eustatic sea-level cycles on the marine oxygen isotope timescale. The coastal Tangahoe Formation provides a shallow-marine record of global glacio-eustasy prior to the development of significant ice sheets on Northern Hemisphere continents, and supports evidence from marine δ18O archives that changes in Antarctic ice volume were occurring during the Pliocene.
Two new Emsian (Early Devonian) U–Pb zircon ages from volcanic rocks of the Rhenish Massif (Germany): implications for the Devonian time scale
2005-03-01

So far, only few biostratigraphically well-constrained isotopic ages constitute the geochronological framework of the Devonian period. To expand this sparse dataset, two new U–Pb isotope dilution–thermal ionization mass spectrometry (ID-TIMS) zircon ages were obtained from volcanic rocks of the Rhenish Massif (Germany). These rocks are interbedded in Emsian (Lower Devonian) marine sedimentary successions that are well documented by index fossils. Given that the U–Pb zircon data represent primary crystallization and eruption ages, they provide an important contribution to the Devonian time scale. The older sample, a stratiform volcaniclastic layer (Hans-Platte) is collected from Bundenbach (Hunsrück), the type locality of the Lower Emsian Hunsrück Slate. A cluster of five coherent single-zircon analyses obtained from this layer yielded a weighted mean 206 Pb/ 238 U age of 407.7 ± 0.7 Ma, which is regarded as the time of eruption of the pyroclastic rock. Biostratigraphically, the layer can be assigned to the upper part of the Polygnathus excavatus conodont zone. The younger U–Pb age was obtained from the Global Stratotype Section and Stratigraphic Point section at Wetteldorf (Eifel), where the K-bentonite ‘Hercules I’ is intercalated 13 m below the Lower–Middle Devonian boundary in the uppermost part of the Polygnathus costatus patulus conodont zone. Some of the 19 single-zircon analyses obtained from this bentonite appear to document significant influences of inheritance. The 13 youngest points are, however, concordant and form an elongated cluster along concordia with 206 Pb/ 238 U ages between 392.2 and 407.7 Ma. Given the (risky) assumption that this age scattering is exclusively caused by varying amounts of inheritance, the youngest point of this cluster represents the analysis with the least or no inheritance. In this case, its 206 Pb/ 238 U age of 392.2 ± 1.5 Ma should approach the eruptional age of the bentonite. The ages presented here in combination with U–Pb ID-TIMS zircon and monazite ages from other workers allow a recalibration of the early Emsian to early Eifelian interval of the Devonian time scale. The result is a duration of the Emsian stage (excluding the basal Emsian P. kitabicus conodont zone) of more than 17.2 Ma and an Emsian–Eifelian (= Early–Middle Devonian) boundary age of 391.8 ± 0.4 Ma.
Virtual Endoscopy in Research and Clinical Practice
2005-03-01

Abstract Virtual endoscopy is among the most active topics in virtual medicine and medical imaging. It focuses on the virtual representation of minimally invasive procedures for training, planning and diagnosis without an actual invasive intervention. In the past few years, virtual endoscopy modes have been transferred from research systems in virtually every commercial medical imaging software, but with varying quality and flexibility. This report covers concepts used in current systems in research and products, and how they might be applied to daily practice in health care. Specifically, I will start with an introduction into virtual endoscopy and the related medical field. This will also include typical scenarios of virtual endoscopy applications as they appear in clinical practice. This part will be followed by a discussion of the technical issues of virtual endoscopy and how they are addressed in currently available systems. Among these issues are navigation through the respective body organ and the orientation aids for the users. In addition, I will highlight the different rendering techniques used and its impact on rendering speed and quality.
Synthesis of Axially Substituted Tetrapyrazinoporphyrazinato Metal Complexes for Optical Limiting and Study of Their Photophysical Properties
2005-03-01

The synthesis, characterization, and various photophysical properties of axially substituted tetrapyrazinotetraazaporphyrinatotitanium(IV) oxide (Pyz(4)TAPTiO) (1), tetrapyrazinotetraazaporphyrinatovanadium(IV) oxide (Pyz(4)TAPVO) (2), tetrapyrazinotetraazaporphyrinatozirconium(IV) dihydroxide [Pyz(4)TAPZr(OH)(2)] (3) are reported. Nonlinear optical (NLO) properties of Pyz(4)TAPs 1-3 have been evaluated at 532 nm with nanosecond pulses for optical limiting (OL). It is found that the introduction of nitrogen atoms in the condensed rings of the tetrapyrrolic macrocycles together with the presence of axial substituents lead to an improvement of the excited-state absorption properties in comparison to phthalocyanines (Pcs). In the linear optical regime Pyz(4)TAPs 1-3 display a blue shift (about 50-60 nm) of the main UV-vis absorption bands with respect to Pcs and exhibit orange-red fluorescence, which can be observed with the eye in the case of 1. Frontier electronic orbitals of a Pyz(4)TAP could be depicted from available experimental data and the results of density functional theory (DFT) calculations. In the solid state, Pyz(4)TAPTiO (1) displays photoconducting properties.
REAPPRAISAL OF GEIKIA LOCUSTICEPS (THERAPSIDA: DICYNODONTIA) FROM THE UPPER PERMIAN OF TANZANIA
2005-03-01

Abstract: The holotype and only known specimen of Geikia locusticeps (von Huene, 1942) from the Kawinga Formation (Tatarian) of Kingori, south-west Tanzania, is redescribed. It is compared to the type specimen of the Tanzanian geikiid Pelanomodon tuberosus von Huene, 1942. It is demonstrated that G. locusticeps is a juvenile specimen of P. tuberosus. Ontogenetic changes in the skull of this taxon are recorded. They mainly concern the degree of skull ornamentation, whereas the major osteological and proportional features remain remarkably constant. Pelanomodon tuberosus is referred to Geikia locusticeps as a junior subjective synonym. G. locusticeps is compared to Geikia elginensis and South African representatives of Pelanomodon. G. locusticeps is demonstrated to represent a valid species, one that is so far endemic to the Ruhuhu Basin of south-west Tanzania. The relevance of the orientation of the postorbital bone to Permian pristerodontian systematics is discussed, and a phylogenetic analysis and new diagnosis for the family Geikiidae are presented.
Surgical-Handling Properties of the Titanium Prosthesis in Ossiculoplasty
2005-03-01

Despite the wide variety of ossiculoplasty techniques that are available, success rates are limited. Current use indicates that surgeons prefer ceramic, autograft bone, and plastic pore prostheses. During the past decade, titanium prostheses have been used with great promise. Although their use is not widespread, satisfaction rates are high. An earlier study of ossiculoplasty showed that titanium prostheses were effective in reducing conductive hearing loss. To date, the surgical-handling attributes of titanium middle ear prostheses have not been assessed. We report the results of our survey of 32 otologic surgeons who used the open Tubingen titanium prosthesis for primary and revision ossiculoplasty during tympanoplasty in 400 patients at 12 academic and nonacademic otolaryngology clinics, most of them in Germany. Because the audiometric efficacy of titanium prostheses has been previously reported, our primary outcomes measures included ease of use with respect to the amount of time required to prepare the implants for placement and the surgeons ‘overall impression of the intraoperative handling characteristics of the implants, taking into consideration factors such as positioning, length adjustment, visibility, and the stability of the coupling. Surgeons also compared the properties of the titanium implant with those of gold, ceramic, and autograft implants that they had used in the past. Based on the results of 383 of the 400 ossiculoplasties, our survey revealed that the titanium implant was significantly superior to the others in all measured respects.
TEMPORALLY LOCALISED FACTS AND THE PROBLEM OF INTRINSIC CHANGE
2005-03-01

Hugh Mellor has proposed what appears to be a new solution to the problem of intrinsic change (Mellor 1998). Assuming endurantism and a B-theoretic, nonpresentist view of time, facts are supposed to have only enduring things and atemporal properties (or relations) as constituents, but no times. The having of properties and relations is not relativised to times. Instead, the whole of a fact is conceived of as temporally localised. It will be argued that this interesting and novel proposal does not succeed as an account of change in the intrinsic properties of things. The basic difficulty is that the view still leads into contradiction, since it makes it incomprehensible how one and the same thing can have both a property and some incompatible property. The having of these incompatible properties is treated as two facts. But to add that these facts have certain temporal locations is of no help for avoiding the contradiction.
Thermostability and Ca2+Binding Properties of Wild Type and Heterologously Expressed PsbO Protein from Cyanobacterial Photosystem II
2005-03-01

Oxygenic photosynthesis takes place in the thylakoid membrane of cyanobacteria, algae, and higher plants. Initially light is absorbed by an oligomeric pigment-protein complex designated as photosystem II (PSII), which catalyzes light-induced water cleavage under release of molecular oxygen for the biosphere on our planet. The membrane-extrinsic manganese stabilizing protein (PsbO) is associated on the lumenal side of the thylakoids close to the redox-active (Mn)(4)Ca cluster at the catalytically active site of PSII. Recombinant PsbO from the thermophilic cyanobacterium Thermosynechococcus elongatus was expressed in Escherichia coli and spectroscopically characterized. The secondary structure of recombinant PsbO (recPsbO) was analyzed in the absence and presence of Ca(2+) using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and circular dichroism spectropolarimetry (CD). No significant structural changes could be observed when the PSII subunit was titrated with Ca(2+) in vitro. These findings are compared with data for spinach PsbO. Our results are discussed in the light of the recent 3D-structural analysis of the oxygen-evolving PSII and structural/thermodynamic differences between the two homologous proteins from thermophilic cyanobacteria and plants.
Zur Strukturchemie von 2-Methylenimidazolinen [1]
2005-03-01

The 2-methylenimidazolines ImC(CN) 2 (6a - c, Im = 1,3-dialkyl-4,5-dimethylimidazol-2-ylidene) are prepared by the reaction of the imidazolium salts [ImBr]Br (5) and malodinitrile while ImC{C(O)Ph} 2 (7) is obtained from ImCH 2 (2) and benzoic fluoride. Both the structural data of 6b, 6c, and 7 and the 13 C NMR data demonstrate the influence of steric and electronic effects on the charge separation and the nonplanar arrangement of the substituents attached at the carbon atoms of the central olefinic bond