julilili42/papers huggingface dataset:
Topography of the chorda tympani nerve and the tensor tympani muscle in carnivores provides a new synapomorphy for Herpestidae (Carnivora, Mammalia)
2009-12-16

Abstract The topographical relationship of the chorda tympani nerve (chorda tympani) to the tensor tympani muscle in the middle ear of carnivores provides new phylogenetic information. The examination of histological serial sections of 16 carnivore species representing most families revealed two distinct character states concerning the course of the chorda tympani: a hypotensoric state with the nerve running below the insertion tendon of the tensor tympani muscle, and an epitensoric state with the nerve running above the tendon. The shift from the plesiomorphic hypotensoric chorda tympani to the apomorphic epitensoric condition occurred once in carnivore phylogeny: Only in the herpestid species under study does the chorda tympani cross above the tensor tympani muscle. Therefore, we introduce the epitensoric pattern as a new synapomorphy for herpestids. Within the herpestids we find the following structural distinctions: Herpestes javanicus and Galerella sanguinea have a chorda tympani running in a sulcus directly above the insertion of the tensor tympani muscle, whereas in the eusocial herpestid species Suricata suricatta and Mungos mungo the chorda tympani lies far above the insertion of the muscle. J. Morphol. 2010. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Impact of Virtual Imaging Procedures on Treatment Strategies in Children With Hepatic Vascular Malformations
2009-12-17

ABSTRACT Objectives: Virtual imaging procedures have only rarely been analyzed in pediatric populations. We evaluated the role of CT‐based virtual surgery planning in pediatric patients experiencing hepatic vascular malformations (HVM). Methods: We analyzed 12 children with complex hepatic vascular malformations. All of the children received multislice CT scans with contrast medium followed by virtual 3‐dimensional reconstructions using the software assistants MeVis LiverAnalyzer and MeVis LiverExplorer. The impact on treatment planning and the correspondence to clinical findings was assessed. Results: Highest accuracies of virtual data were found in cases of intrahepatic portocaval shunt and persistent ductus venosus. Here, virtual data revealed congenital vascular conditions, which were not always seen using standard imaging diagnostics. In some patients with portalvenous thrombosis, virtual imaging provided important contributions to determining the feasibility of different shunt procedures. However, in some patients experiencing portalvenous thrombosis or liver diffuse hemangioma, virtual methods were not as accurate as standard diagnostic procedures. Nevertheless, these tools facilitated simultaneous and continuous illustrations of the different vascular systems. Conclusions: Virtual imaging and planning procedures had an important impact on treatment strategies and outcomes in children with HVM. Their use as standard diagnostic tools in selected cases of HVM should be considered.
Lifting business process diagrams to 2.5 dimensions
2009-12-17

In this work, we describe our visualization approach for business processes using 2.5 dimensional techniques (2.5D). The idea of 2.5D is to add the concept of layering to a two dimensional (2D) visualization. The layers are arranged in a three-dimensional display space. For the modeling of the business processes, we use the Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN). The benefit of connecting BPMN with a 2.5D visualization is not only to obtain a more abstract view on the business process models but also to develop layering criteria that eventually increase readability of the BPMN model compared to 2D. We present a 2.5D Navigator for BPMN models that offers different perspectives for visualization. Therefore we also develop BPMN specific perspectives. The 2.5D Navigator combines the 2.5D approach with perspectives and allows free navigation in the three dimensional display space. We also demonstrate our tool and libraries used for implementation of the visualizations. The underlying general framework for 2.5D visualizations is explored and presented in a fashion that it can easily be used for different applications. Finally, an evaluation of our navigation tool demonstrates that we can achieve satisfying and aesthetic displays of diagrams stating BPMN models in 2.5D-visualizations.
Acute Wernicke's encephalopathy with hyperechogenic corpora mammillaria in brain sonography
2009-12-17

A 50-year-old woman presented with an acute onset of nystagmus, ataxia and drowsiness as the classical triad of Wernicke’s encephalopathy (WE).1 Additionally, she developed psychotic symptoms and disorientation as a sign of coincidental Korsakoff’s syndrome. MRI revealed typical changes in the corpora mammillaria (CM) as well as in the periaqueductal grey (fig 1A) and periventricular zone, which showed regression over the following 2 months (fig 1B). The patient’s medical history included a gastrectomy for gastric cancer (5 months prior ...
Evidence of Compound-Dependent Hydrodynamic and Mechanical Transverse Dispersion by Multitracer Laboratory Experiments
2009-12-18

Mass transfer, mixing, and therefore reaction rates during transport of solutes in porous media strongly depend on dispersion and diffusion. In particular, transverse mixing is a significant mechanism controlling natural attenuation of contaminant plumes in groundwater. The aim of the present study is to gain a deeper understanding of vertical transverse dispersive mixing of reaction partners in saturated porous media. Multitracer laboratory experiments in a quasi two-dimensional tank filled with glass beads were conducted and transverse dispersion coefficients were determined from high-resolution vertical concentration profiles. We investigated the behavior of conservative tracers (i.e., fluorescein, dissolved oxygen, and bromide), with different aqueous diffusion coefficients, in a range of grain-related Peclet numbers between 1 and 562. The experimental results do not agree with the classical linear parametric model of hydrodynamic dispersion, in which the transverse component is approximated as the sum of pore diffusion and a compound-independent mechanical dispersion term. The outcome of the multitracer experiments clearly indicates a nonlinear relation between the dispersion coefficient and the average linear velocity. More importantly, we show that transverse mechanical dispersion depends on the diffusion coefficient of the compound, at least at the experimental bench-scale. This result has to be considered in reactive-transport models, because the typical assumption that two reactants with different aqueous diffusive properties are characterized by the same dispersive behavior does not hold anymore.
ChemInform Abstract: The Aminocoumarins: Biosynthesis and Biology
2009-12-18

Abstract ChemInform is a weekly Abstracting Service, delivering concise information at a glance that was extracted from about 100 leading journals. To access a ChemInform Abstract of an article which was published elsewhere, please select a “Full Text” option. The original article is trackable via the “References” option.
Production of the Bsa Lantibiotic by Community-Acquired Staphylococcus aureus Strains
2009-12-19

ABSTRACT Lantibiotics are antimicrobial peptides that have been the focus of much attention in recent years with a view to clinical, veterinary, and food applications. Although many lantibiotics are produced by food-grade bacteria or bacteria generally regarded as safe, some lantibiotics are produced by pathogens and, rather than contributing to food safety and/or health, add to the virulence potential of the producing strains. Indeed, genome sequencing has revealed the presence of genes apparently encoding a lantibiotic, designated Bsa (bacteriocin of Staphylococcus aureus ), among clinical isolates of S . aureus and those associated with community-acquired methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) infections in particular. Here, we establish for the first time, through a combination of reverse genetics, mass spectrometry, and mutagenesis, that these genes encode a functional lantibiotic. We also reveal that Bsa is identical to the previously identified bacteriocin staphylococcin Au-26, produced by an S. aureus strain of vaginal origin. Our examination of MRSA isolates that produce the Panton-Valentine leukocidin demonstrates that many community-acquired S. aureus strains, and representatives of ST8 and ST80 in particular, are producers of Bsa. While possession of Bsa immunity genes does not significantly enhance resistance to the related lantibiotic gallidermin, the broad antimicrobial spectrum of Bsa strongly indicates that production of this bacteriocin confers a competitive ecological advantage on community-acquired S. aureus .
Heterocyclic indazole derivatives as SGK1 inhibitors, WO2008138448
2009-12-20

Heterocyclic indazole derivatives are claimed in patent WO2008138448 as inhibitors of the serum- and glucocorticoid-inducible-kinase 1 (SGK1) and drugs for the pharmacological treatment of SGK1-related diseases, such as diabetes, obesity, metabolic syndrome, systemic and pulmonary hypertension, cardiac fibrosis, hypertrophy and insufficiency, arteriosclerosis, glomerulosclerosis, nephrosclerosis, nephritis, nephropathy, deranged electrolyte excretion, fibrosing and inflammatory disease (e.g., liver cirrhosis, lung fibrosis, rheumatism, arthrosis, Crohn s disease, chronic bronchitis, radiation fibrosis, sclerodermia, cystic fibrosis, scar formation and Alzheimer' disease), tumor growth, peptic ulcers and some disorders hitherto not conclusively shown to involve SGK1. Most of the claims are supported by the literature. SGK1 is ubiquitously expressed and its expression is stimulated by hyperglycemia, cell shrinkage, ischemia, glucocorticoids, mineralocorticoids and several inflammatory mediators including TGF-ss. SGK1 is activated by insulin and growth factors via the phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase pathway. SGK1 regulates ion channels (including ENaC, KCNE1/KCNQ1), carriers (including NCC, NHE3, SGLT1), Na(+)/K(+)-ATPase, enzymes (including glycogen-synthase-kinase-3) and transcription factors (including FOXO3a, ss-catenin, NF-kappaB). A gain-of-function SGK1 gene variant, carried by approximately 3 - 5% of Caucasians and approximately 10% of Africans, is associated with increased blood pressure, obesity and type 2 diabetes. In vitro and in vivo experiments suggested a critical role of SGK1 in renal fluid retention and hypertension, glucose-induced obesity, coagulation and increased matrix protein formation.
Fast and accurate frequency-dependent radiation transport for hydrodynamics simulations in massive star formation
2009-12-21

Context: Radiative feedback plays a crucial role in the formation of massive\\nstars. The implementation of a fast and accurate description of the proceeding\\nthermodynamics in pre-stellar cores and evolving accretion disks is therefore a\\nmain effort in current hydrodynamics simulations.\\n Aims: We introduce our newly implemented three-dimensional frequency\\ndependent radiation transport algorithm for hydrodynamics simulations of\\nspatial configurations with a dominant central source.\\n Methods: The module combines the advantage of the speed of an approximate\\nFlux Limited Diffusion (FLD) solver with the high accuracy of a frequency\\ndependent first order ray-tracing routine.\\n Results: We prove the viability of the scheme in a standard radiation\\nbenchmark test compared to a full frequency dependent Monte-Carlo based\\nradiative transfer code. The setup includes a central star, a circumstellar\\nflared disk, as well as an envelope. The test is performed for different\\noptical depths. Considering the frequency dependence of the stellar\\nirradiation, the temperature distributions can be described precisely in the\\noptically thin, thick, and irradiated transition regions. Resulting radiative\\nforces onto dust grains are reproduced with high accuracy. The achievable\\nparallel speedup of the method imposes no restriction on further radiative\\n(magneto-) hydrodynamics simulations.\\n Conclusions: The proposed approximate radiation transport method enables\\nfrequency dependent radiation hydrodynamics studies of the evolution of\\npre-stellar cores and circumstellar accretion disks around an evolving massive\\nstar in a highly efficient and accurate manner.\\n
Localizing the VHE γ-ray source at the Galactic Centre
2009-12-21

The inner 10 pc of our Galaxy contains many counterpart candidates of the very high energy (VHE; &gt;100 GeV) γ-ray point source HESS J1745−290. Within the point spread function of the H.E.S.S. measurement, at least three objects are capable of accelerating particles to VHE and beyond and of providing the observed γ-ray flux. Previous attempts to address this source confusion were hampered by the fact that the projected distances between these objects were of the order of the error circle radius of the emission centroid (34 arcsec, dominated by the pointing uncertainty of the H.E.S.S. instrument). Here we present H.E.S.S. data of the Galactic Centre region, recorded with an improved control of the instrument pointing compared to H.E.S.S. standard pointing procedures. Stars observed during γ-ray observations by optical guiding cameras mounted on each H.E.S.S. telescope are used for off-line pointing calibration, thereby decreasing the systematic pointing uncertainties from 20 to 6 arcsec per axis. The position of HESS J1745−290 is obtained by fitting a multi-Gaussian profile to the background-subtracted γ-ray count map. A spatial comparison of the best-fitting position of HESS J1745−290 with the position and morphology of candidate counterparts is performed. The position is, within a total error circle radius of 13 arcsec, coincident with the position of the supermassive black hole Sgr A* and the recently discovered pulsar wind nebula candidate G359.95−0.04. It is significantly displaced from the centroid of the supernova remnant Sgr A East, excluding this object with high probability as the dominant source of the VHE γ-ray emission.
Retinal vascular events after intravitreal bevacizumab
2009-12-21

Acta Ophthalmol. 2010: 88: 730–735 Abstract. Purpose: To record retinal vascular events following intravitreal bevacizumab injection. Methods: Collaborative multi‐centre retrospective case series. Results: Eight patients were documented to have central retinal artery occlusion (four patients), branch retinal artery occlusion, capillary occlusion, central retinal vein occlusion and branch retinal vein occlusion (one patient each) within 0–55 days (median 2 weeks) of intravitreal bevacizumab. All patients had several ocular and systemic risk factors for retinal vascular events: elevated intraocular pressure on discharge (four patients), pre‐existent glaucoma (one patient), pre‐existent ischaemic retinal vascular disorder (four patients), systemic hypertension (five patients), diabetes mellitus (three patients), coronary artery disease (four patients), carotid disease (three patients), smoking (two patients) and migraine (one patient). Conclusion: The retinal vascular events may be associated with the underlying ocular disease under treatment or with the underlying systemic disease, may be related to an increased intraocular pressure post‐injection constraining further an already poor retinal perfusion, the vasoconstrictor effect of bevacizumab, or a combination of all three.
PKS 2005-489 at VHE: four years of monitoring with HESS and simultaneous multi-wavelength observations
2009-12-21

VHE observations of PKS 2005-489 were made with HESS from 2004 through 2007, together with three simultaneous multi-wavelength campaigns performed with XMM-Newton and RXTE in 2004 and 2005. A strong VHE signal, ~17sigma total, is detected during the four years of HESS observations (90.3 hrs live time). The integral flux above the average analysis threshold of 400 GeV is ~3% of the Crab and varies weakly on time-scales from days to years. At X-ray energies the flux is observed to vary by more than an order of magnitude between 2004 and 2005. Strong changes in the X-ray spectrum (DeltaGamma~0.7) are also observed, which appear to be mirrored in the VHE band. The SED of PKS 2005-489, constructed for the first time with contemporaneous data on both humps, shows significant evolution. The large flux variations in the X-ray band, coupled with weak or no variations in the VHE band and a similar spectral behavior, suggest the emergence of a new, separate, harder emission component in September 2005.
Wilson loop from a Dyson equation
2009-12-21

The Dyson equation proposed for planar temporal Wilson loops in the context\\nof supersymmetric gauge theories is critically analysed thereby exhibiting its\\ningredients and approximations involved. We reveal its limitations and identify\\nits range of applicability in non-supersymmetric gauge theories. In particular,\\nwe show that this equation is applicable only to strongly asymmetric planar\\nWilson loops (consisting of a long and a short pair of loop segments) and as a\\nconsequence the Wilsonian potential can be extracted only up to intermediate\\ndistances. By this equation the Wilson loop is exclusively determined by the\\ngluon propagator. We solve the Dyson equation in Coulomb gauge for the temporal\\nWilson loop with the instantaneous part of the gluon propagator and for the\\nspatial Wilson loop with the static gluon propagator obtained in the\\nHamiltonian approach to continuum Yang-Mills theory and on the lattice. In both\\ncases we find a linearly rising color potential.\\n
Lymphofollicular myocarditis: an unknown cause of terminal heart failure
2009-12-21

A 13-year-old girl was admitted in May 2007 to our hospital with severe heart failure (NYHA III), concomitant ventricular tachycardia, acute renal failure, and recurrent pleural effusions for further evaluation. The blood samples revealed thrombocytopenia (49 000 G/L) and lymphocytopenia (19%), and brain natrium peptide was increased to 2000 pg/mL. The electrocardiogram displayed unspecific repolarization abnormalities and echocardiographic evaluation revealed a dilated left ventricle with severely reduced contractility. Cardiac ...
Variable presence of KITD816V in clonal haematological non‐mast cell lineage diseases associated with systemic mastocytosis (SM–AHNMD)
2009-12-22

Abstract In a substantial number of patients with systemic mastocytosis (SM), an associated clonal haematological non‐mast cell lineage disease (AHNMD) is detectable. Although most of these patients display KIT mutations, especially KIT D816V , little is known about their exact frequency and their distribution in AHNMD subtypes. We examined 48 patients with SM–AHNMD for the presence of mutant KIT in the SM and AHNMD components of the disease. Mast cells and AHNMD cells were obtained from immunostained bone marrow sections by laser microdissection and examined by melting point analysis of nested‐PCR products. KIT D816V was found in AHNMD cells in the vast majority of patients with SM–chronic myelomonocytic leukaemia (CMML, 89%). Unexpectedly, KIT D816V was far less frequently detectable in AHNMD cells in patients with SM–myeloproliferative neoplasm (MPN, 20%) and SM–acute myeloid leukaemia (AML, 30%). None of the patients with lymphoproliferative AHNMDs displayed KIT codon 816 mutations in AHNMD cells (0/8). In FIP1L1/PDGFRA‐positive chronic eosinophilic leukaemia (CEL), neither the SM nor the CEL component of the disease exhibited the KIT mutation. Our findings demonstrate that KIT codon 816 mutations are variably present in AHNMD cells in patients with SM–AHNMD, depending on the subtype of AHNMD. The high frequency of KIT D816V in neoplastic mast cells and leukaemic myelomonocytic cells in SM–CMML may point to a common precursor in these patients, and may have implications for the biology of the disease and the development of KIT ‐targeting therapies. Copyright © 2009 Pathological Society of Great Britain and Ireland. Published by John Wiley &amp; Sons, Ltd.
Gene Variants of TCF7L2 Influence Weight Loss and Body Composition During Lifestyle Intervention in a Population at Risk for Type 2 Diabetes
2009-12-22

OBJECTIVE The impact of the diabetes risk gene transcription factor 7-like 2 (TCF7L2) on body weight is unclear. As TCF7L2 is expressed in adipose tissue and involved in Wnt-dependent regulation of adipogenesis, we studied the impact of TCF7L2 variants on body composition and weight loss during lifestyle intervention. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS We genotyped 309 German subjects at increased risk for type 2 diabetes for single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) rs7903146, rs12255372, rs11196205, and rs7895340 in TCF7L2 and performed oral glucose tolerance tests before and after a 9-month lifestyle intervention. Fat distribution was quantified using whole-body magnetic resonance imaging/spectroscopy in a subgroup of 210 subjects. RESULTS After adjustment for confounding variables, we observed a negative impact of the type 2 diabetes allele of SNP rs7903146 on change in BMI (P = 0.0034) and on changes in nonvisceral (P = 0.0032) and visceral fat (P = 0.0165) during lifestyle intervention. An association of rs7903146 with lifestyle intervention-induced changes in insulin secretion, glucose concentrations, liver fat, or insulin sensitivity were not detected (all P &amp;gt; 0.2). Essentially the same results were obtained with SNP rs1255372. In contrast, we found no effects of SNPs rs11196205 and rs7895340 on change in BMI (all P ≥ 0.5). CONCLUSIONS Our data reveal that diabetes-associated alleles of TCF7L2 are associated with less weight loss in response to lifestyle intervention. Thus, diabetes-associated TCF7L2 gene variation predicts the success of lifestyle intervention in terms of weight loss and determines individual susceptibility toward environmental factors.
The New Binary Tungsten Iodide W15I47
2009-12-22

Abstract The new tungsten iodide W 15 I 47 was synthesized by reacting tungsten hexacarbonyl with iodine under elevated pressure and temperature conditions. The structure of W 15 I 47 was refined by single‐crystal X‐ray diffraction with the non‐centrosymmetric space group C 2 [ Z = 2, a = 4088.3(4) pm, b = 952.3(1) pm, c = 1198.5(2) pm, and β = 103.97(1)°]. The characteristic motif in the structure is the square pyramidal tungsten cluster that may be constructed from an octahedral [(W 6 I 8 i )I 6 a ] 2– cluster by removing one tungsten atom together with its outer iodide ligand to yield [(W 5 I 8 i )I 5 a ] n – . The formula W 15 I 47 represents three square pyramidal tungsten clusters with two of them being distinguishable in [(W 5 I 8 i )I a (I 3 ) 2 a (I 3 ) 2/2 a–a ][(W 5 I 8 i )I 2 a (I 3 ) 3/2 a–a ] 2 , by different numbers of iodide and tri‐iodide ligands at the cluster vertices.
Evaluation of Response in Malignant Tumors Treated With the Multitargeted Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitor Sorafenib: A Multitechnique Imaging Assessment
2009-12-22

Sorafenib reduces tumor perfusion and thereby induces necrosis and often hemorrhage. Malignant tumors treated with sorafenib undergo both morphologic and functional changes; however, the morphologic changes are less frequent and inadequate for early evaluation of response. Therefore, imaging tools accurately assessing hemorrhage and decrease in tumor perfusion with subsequent necrosis should be the mainstay in monitoring targeted therapy agents.
Toric Geometry
2009-12-22

Toric Geometry originated from investigations of torus actions on geometric and algebraic objects. It is addressed through algebraic geometry, symplectic geometry, equivariant topology, as well as the theory of convex polyhedra within discrete mathematics. In spite of using their own language these completely different disciplines often observe similar or even identical combinatorial phenomena. Thus toric geometry leads to a fascinating and fruitful interplay between these disciplines.