julilili42/papers huggingface dataset:
Procarbazine and CCNU as Initial Treatment in Gliomatosis Cerebri
2008-01-01

&lt;i&gt;Background:&lt;/i&gt; Gliomatosis cerebri (GC) is a diffuse infiltrating glial tumor with involvement of at least 3 cerebral lobes. There are only few data on the efficacy of initial chemotherapy in patients with GC. &lt;i&gt;Patients and Methods:&lt;/i&gt; In 3 neurooncological centers, patients with newly diagnosed GC who had received procarbazine (60 mg/m&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt;, days 8–21/56) and CCNU (110 mg/m&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt;, day 1/56) chemotherapy (PC) as initial treatment were analyzed for progression-free survival, overall survival and toxicity. &lt;i&gt;Results:&lt;/i&gt; Twelve patients (median age 46 years, range 27–72) were analyzed. The median progression-free survival and the median overall survival were 16 and 37 months. Grade 3 or 4 hematotoxicity was observed in 3 of 12 patients (25%). &lt;i&gt;Conclusions:&lt;/i&gt; These data support the efficacy of PC chemotherapy in newly diagnosed GC. Initial PC chemotherapy should be considered as a treatment option and evaluated in larger clinical trials.
Surface Reconstruction from Fitted Shape Primitives.
2008-01-01

In this paper we address the problem of reconstructing a structurally simple surface representation from point datasets of scanned scenes as they occur for instance in city scanning projects. Such datasets generally suffer from all kinds of scanning artifacts including noise, outliers, holes and irregular/anisotropic sampling. Most common surface reconstruction methods fail due to these shortcomings. We present a robust and efficient method to compute local properties for each data point, use this information to detect simple primitive shapes in the data and describe a novel method to extract and optimize boundary curves on the primitive shapes. Employing the reconstructed boundary curves, we are able to extract a piecewise smooth surface mesh which is mandatory for many further processing applications including visualization. We show the effectiveness of our method with reconstructions of synthetic datasets as well as laserscanner-acquisitions of indoor and outdoor environments.
Safety Parameters for Indocyanine Green in Vitreoretinal Surgery
2008-01-01

Since the early nineties removal of the internal limiting membrane (ILM) has been shown to be an effective and safe treatment option for conditions that involve the vitreoretinal interface. Peeling of the barely visible ILM, however, represents a challenge and complete removal is difficult and not always obvious. Damage at the vitreoretinal interface or unsatisfactory peeling may therefore be the result of the genuine procedure. Introduction of indocyanine green (ICG) for ILM staining led to better visibility of the ILM and greatly facilitated this surgical maneuver making ILM peeling more controllable, easier and faster. Consequently, enthusiastic acceptance resulted in an uncritical use not supported by preclinical safety data. Soon thereafter some clinical reports raised concerns about potential cytotoxic effects related to the intravitreal use of ICG. The following chapter summarizes the results of in vitro, ex vivo, in vivo and clinical studies related to the use of ICG in vitreoretinal surgery. Critical appraisal of the methodical procedures and results leads to the nonnegligible fact that ICG has a cytotoxic effect enhanced by photoactivation. The results of several studies as well as our experimental workup, however, showed that ICG toxicity to the retinal pigment epithelium is dependent on the dye concentration, the osmolarity of the solvent solutions, as well as on the lengths of dye exposure time and of the vitrectomy endolight illumination time. With respect to the safety margins and profile, ICG is therefore a useful surgical tool that is still widely applied, but that may be replaced by more inert and as efficient vital dyes.
In Vitro Culture of Arabidopsis Embryos
2008-01-01

Embryogenesis of Arabidopsis thaliana follows a nearly invariant cell division pattern and provides an ideal system for studies of early plant development. However, experimental manipulation with embryogenesis is difficult, as the embryo develops deeply inside maternal tissues. Here, we present a method to culture zygotic Arabidopsis embryos in vitro. It enables culturing for prolonged periods of time from the first developmental stages on. The technique omits excision of the embryo by culturing the entire ovule, which facilitates the manual procedure. It allows pharmacological manipulation of embryo development and does not interfere with standard techniques for localizing gene expression and protein localization in the cultivated embryos.
New developments for endoscopic hollow organ closure in prospective of NOTES
2008-01-01

The closure of the gastrotomy in Natural Orifice Endoscopic Surgery (NOTES) is a prerequisite for transgastric endoscopic procedures in the abdominal cavity. Different techniques have been proposed and are under experimental or early clinical investigation. These include the use of conventional endoscopic clips, newly designed clips or T-BARS in different shapes or more complicated devices such as linear endoscopic staplers and septal occluders, originally used for the treatment of cardiac septal defects. We describe here a further alternative of endoscopic organ closure in NOTES, using the OTSC, a novel type of clip attached to the tip of the endoscope. The OTSC clip as a CE-marked device is widely used clinically for various endoscopic procedures, such as the treatment of gastrointestinal bleeding and iatrogenic defects of the digestive tract, e.g. colonic perforations after endoscopic interventions. Now an enlarged version of the OTSC clip can be applied for the closure of transluminal access to the abdominal cavity and is currently being evaluated for use in NOTES. In animal tests we could demonstrate the relatively easy achievement of a full thickness closure of the gastric wall after NOTES in the experimental model. The current data base on OTSC and on other techniques proposed for organ closure after NOTES does not yet allow determining clear advantages or disadvantages of the different options. We believe the hollow organ defect closure now represents the most important issue to decode whether or not we are going to proceed with NOTES. Ongoing surviving animal labs will give us indications on how to proceed.
DOCA and TGF-β Induce Early Growth Response Gene-1 (Egr-1) Expression
2008-01-01

Renal fibrosis is characterized by excessive accumulation of extracellular matrix proteins. Recent findings show that transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta) induces a rapid but transient expression of early growth response gene-1 (Egr-1) by skin fibroblasts. The present study aims to define the role of Egr-1 in mineralocorticoid-induced renal fibrosis. Therefore, we transiently transfected immortalized human renal fibroblasts (TK188) with recombinant Egr-1 and analysed the transcription of several pro-fibrotic genes (Coll1A1, Coll1A2, osteopontin, TIMP-1, and CTGF). We also examined Egr-1 expression and the regulation of pro-fibrotic genes in DOCA- (deoxycorticosterone acetate) and TGF-beta-treated renal fibroblasts. Finally, we compared Egr-1 gene expression in DOCA/high salt-induced fibrotic kidneys and untreated mice. Egr-1 transfection of TK188 fibroblasts induced the expression of TIMP-1 and osteopontin mRNA. Similar results were obtained after DOCA-activation of TK188 cells. Stimulation of TK188 with TGF-beta, but not with DOCA, resulted in elevated Coll1A1/Coll1A2 and CTGF levels. Co-stimulation with DOCA and TGF-beta was followed by enhanced Egr-1, Coll1A1, TIMP-1, and CTGF transcription. In conclusion, both DOCA and TGF-beta alone or in combination synergistically induced Egr-1 expression by human renal fibroblasts. DOCA induction of TIMP-1/osteopontin is Egr-1 dependent, whereas TGF-beta appears to induce Coll1A1 and CTGF by an Egr-1 independent pathway. In vivo analyses revealed significantly higher Egr-1 transcript levels in DOCA/high salt-induced fibrotic kidneys compared to untreated mice. Thus, we show for the first time that Egr-1 might participate in DOCA-induced renal fibrosis.
Onp-Harmonic Map Heat Flows for $1\\leqp<\\infty$ and Their Finite Element Approximations
2008-01-01

Motivated by emerging applications from imaging processing, this paper studies the heat flow of a generalized p-harmonic map into spheres for the whole spectrum, , in a unified framework. The existence of global weak solutions is established for the flow using the energy method together with a regularization and a penalization technique. In particular, a -solution concept is introduced and the existence of such a solution is proved for the 1-harmonic map heat flow. The main idea used to develop such a theory is to exploit the properties of measures of the forms and , which pair a divergence- , or a divergence-measure, tensor field and a -vector field . Based on these analytical results, a practical fully discrete finite element method is then proposed for approximating weak solutions of the p-harmonic map heat flow, and the convergence of the proposed numerical method is also established.
Efficient Labeling of Collinear Sites
2008-01-01

In this paper we study the map labeling problem where the sites to be labeled are restricted to a line L. Previous models studied in the map labeling literature fail to produce label placements (i.e. place each label next to the site it describes) without label overlaps for certain instances of the problem with dense point sets. To address this problem, we propose a new approach according to which, given n sites each associated with an axis-parallel rectangular label, we aim to place the labels in distinct positions on the 'boundary' of L so that they do not overlap and do not obscure the site set, and to connect each label with its associated site through a leader such that no two leaders intersect. We evaluate our labeling model under two minimization criteria: (i) to- tal leader length and (ii) total number of leader bends. We show that both problems are NP-complete if the labels can be placed on both sides of L, while we present polynomial time algorithms for the case where the labels can be placed on only one side of L.
The molecular structure of selenium dibromide as determined by combined gas-phase electron diffraction–mass spectrometric experiments and quantum chemical calculations
2008-01-01

The vapour over solid SeBr(4) at 10 degrees C was investigated with a combined gas-phase electron diffraction/mass spectrometric (GED/MS) method. The composition of the vapour derived from the mass spectra (43% SeBr(2), 56.7% Br(2) and 0.3% Se(2)Br(2)) was in agreement with the composition obtained from the analysis of the simultaneously recorded GED intensities (41(3)% SeBr(2), 59(3)% Br(2)). The GED study results in the following geometric parameters (r(g), angle(g) values with total uncertainties): Se-Br = 2.306(5) A and Br-Se-Br = 101.6(6) degrees . Most quantum chemical approximations (B3LYP, MP2, CCSD and CCSD(T) with relativistic effective core potentials and cc-pVTZ as well as aug-cc-pVTZ basis sets for the outer shells) overestimate the Se-Br bond length by 0.01 to 0.03 A. All methods reproduce the bond angle correctly, except for the B3LYP method. Gas phase vibrational frequencies estimated from experimental vibrational amplitudes agree well with those measured by Raman spectroscopy in acetonitrile solutions. All computational methods overestimate vibrational frequencies, especially that for the symmetric stretch vibration, by about or 8 to 13%.
Suicidal Death of Erythrocytes Due to Selenium-Compounds
2008-01-01

Selenium is an essential element incorporated into selenoproteins. Selenium deficiency may predispose to immune deficiency, mood disorders, and cancer. On the other hand, excessive environmental exposure to selenite may cause a variety of disorders including anemia. At least in theory, the anemia could result from accelerated suicidal erythrocyte death or eryptosis, characterized by cell shrinkage and phosphatidylserine exposure at the erythrocyte surface. Eryptosis is triggered by an increase in the cytosolic Ca(2+) concentration and by ceramide. The present experiments explored, whether high concentrations of selenite stimulate eryptosis. According to Fluo3 fluorescence, selenite (>or=200 microg/l sodium selenite) within 48 hours significantly increased the cytosolic Ca(2+) concentration in human erythrocytes. According to binding of selective fluorescent antibodies, selenite (>or= 200 microg/l) significantly increased ceramide formation. Annexin V-binding demonstrated that selenite (>or=200 microg/l) significantly increased phosphatidylserine exposure of erythrocytes. Forward scatter analysis further revealed that selenite (>or=200 microg/l) significantly decreased cell volume. In contrast to selenite, selenate failed to trigger eryptosis. In conclusion, selenite triggers suicidal erythrocyte death at least partially by increasing the cytosolic Ca(2+) concentration and by stimulating the formation of ceramide. The present study discloses novel cellular effects of this essential nutrient.
Ciglitazone and 15d-PGJ2 Induced Suicidal Erythrocyte Death
2008-01-01

Side effects of peroxisome proliferator activated receptor gamma (PPARgamma) agonists such as ciglitazone include anemia, which in theory could be due to decreased formation or premature death of erythrocytes. A form of suicidal erythrocyte death is eryptosis, which is characterized by cell shrinkage and by breakdown of phosphatidylserine asymmetry leading to phosphatidylserine exposure at the cell surface. Phosphatidylserine-exposing erythrocytes are recognized by macrophages, engulfed, degraded and thus cleared from circulating blood. Triggers of eryptosis include increase in intracellular Ca(2+) concentration. The present study thus explored, whether the PPARgamma agonist ciglitazone or the natural PPARgamma ligand 15deoxy-delta12,14-prostaglandin J2 (15d-PGJ2) are capable to trigger eryptosis. Phosphatidylserine exposure was determined from annexin V binding and cell shrinkage from decrease of forward scatter of human erythrocytes in FACS analysis. Both, ciglitazone (>or= 5 microM) and 15d-PGJ2 (>or= 3 microM), within 24 hours increased phosphatidylserine exposure and at concentrations of 10 microM led to a significant loss of the cell volume. Ciglitazone further stimulated hemolysis, which, however, affected only a fraction of erythrocytes undergoing eryptosis. According to Fluo3 fluorescence of human erythrocytes, 10 microM ciglitazone or 15d-PGJ2 increased intracellular Ca(2+) activity. In conclusion, ciglitazone and 15d-PGJ2 trigger eryptosis at least in part by an increase in the cytosolic Ca(2+) concentration. The effect most likely contributes to the anemia observed following treatment with PPARgamma agonists.
Caffeine Inhibits Suicidal Erythrocyte Death
2008-01-01

Eryptosis, the suicidal death of erythrocytes, is characterized by cell shrinkage and by cell membrane scrambling with phosphatidylserine exposure at the erythrocyte surface. Eryptosis is triggered by several stress conditions including isotonic cell shrinkage (Cl(-) removal) and energy depletion (glucose removal). Both are effective through an increase in the cytosolic Ca(2+) concentration. Phosphatidylserine-exposing erythrocytes are cleared from circulating blood. Enhanced eryptosis thus leads to anemia. Accordingly, drugs interfering with eryptosis may prove useful in the treatment of anemia. The present study explored, whether caffeine interferes with eryptosis. Erythrocyte phosphatidylserine exposure was estimated from annexin V-binding, cell volume from forward scatter and cytosolic Ca(2+) activity from Fluo3 fluorescence. Under control conditions, eryptosis affected less than 5% of the erythrocytes and was not significantly modified by the presence of caffeine (50-500 microM). Glucose depletion (for 48 hours) significantly increased Fluo3 fluorescence and annexin V-binding and decreased forward scatter, effects partially reversed by caffeine (500 microM). Low Cl(-) solution (Cl(-) exchanged by gluconate for 48 hours) similarly increased annexin V-binding and decreased forward scatter, effects again reversed by caffeine (50-500 microM). In conclusion, caffeine inhibits Ca(2+) entry following glucose depletion and thus counteracts eryptosis during isotonic cell shrinkage and energy depletion.
Recombinant Allergens Promote Expression of Aminopeptidase-N (CD13) on Basophils in Allergic Patients
2008-01-01

IgE-dependent activation of basophils is associated with upregulation of several surface molecules. We recently identified the surface enzyme aminopeptidase N (CD13) as a novel activation antigen on human basophils. In the present study, we asked whether CD13 can be employed as a novel marker of allergen-induced activation of basophils in allergic individuals. Patients allergic to major allergens from grass pollen (Phl p 1, Phl p 5), birch pollen (Bet v 1), or house dust mites (Der p 2), were examined. Blood basophils were exposed to various concentrations of recombinant allergens for 15 minutes, and examined for expression of CD13 by multicolor flow cytometry. The allergen-induced upregulation of CD13 was compared with allergen-dependent increases in expression of CD63 and CD203c. Exposure to recombinant allergens resulted in an increase in expression of CD13 on basophils in all sensitized individuals, whereas no increase in CD13 was seen in healthy controls. The effects of the recombinant allergens on CD13-expression were dose- and time-dependent, were not observed in the absence of extracellular calcium, and were counteracted by preincubation of basophils with the PI3-kinase-targeting drugs staurosporin and LY294002. There was a good correlation between allergen-induced upregulation of CD13, CD63, and CD203c on basophils. In aggregate, our data show that recombinant allergens promote expression of CD13 on basophils in sensitized individuals. The functional significance and diagnostic implications of this observation remain to be determined.
PPARγ and Agonists against Cancer: Rational Design of Complementation Treatments
2008-01-01

PPAR γ is a member of the ligand‐activated nuclear receptor superfamily: its ligands act as insulin sensitizers and some are approved for the treatment of metabolic disorders in humans. PPAR γ has pleiotropic effects on survival and proliferation of multiple cell types, including cancer cells, and is now subject of intensive preclinical cancer research. Studies of the recent decade highlighted PPAR γ role as a potential modulator of angiogenesis in vitro and in vivo. These observations provide an additional facet to the PPAR γ image as potential anticancer drug. Currently PPAR γ is regarded as an important target for the therapies against angiogenesis‐dependent pathological states including cancer and vascular complications of diabetes. Some of the studies, however, identify pro‐angiogenic and tumor‐promoting effects of PPAR γ and its ligands pointing out the need for further studies. Below, we summarize current knowledge of PPAR γ regulatory mechanisms and molecular targets, and discuss ways to maximize the beneficial activity of the PPAR γ agonists.
Stimulation of Erythrocyte Cell Membrane Scrambling by Methyldopa
2008-01-01

Methyldopa is used for treatment of hypertension in pregnancy. Side effects of methyldopa include anemia, which could result from decreased formation or accelerated death of circulating erythrocytes. Several drugs cause anemia by triggering of suicidal erythrocyte death or eryptosis, which is characterized by cell shrinkage and cell membrane scrambling, the latter leading to phosphatidylserine exposure at the erythrocyte surface. Stimulators of erythrocyte membrane scrambling include increased cytosolic Ca&lt;sup&gt;2+&lt;/sup&gt; concentration ([Ca&lt;sup&gt;2+&lt;/sup&gt;]&lt;sub&gt;i&lt;/sub&gt;) and ceramide. Phosphatidylserine-exposing cells are rapidly cleared from circulating blood. The present study explored whether eryptosis could be triggered by methyldopa. Erythrocytes from healthy volunteers were exposed to methyldopa, and phosphatidylserine exposure (annexin A5 binding), cell volume (forward scatter), [Ca&lt;sup&gt;2+&lt;/sup&gt;]&lt;sub&gt;i&lt;/sub&gt; (Fluo3-dependent fluorescence), and ceramide formation (anti-ceramide-fluorescein isothiocyanate antibody) were determined by flow cytometry. Methyldopa (6 μg/ml) did not increase [Ca&lt;sup&gt;2+&lt;/sup&gt;]&lt;sub&gt;i&lt;/sub&gt; but led to stimulation of ceramide formation resulting in significant phosphatidylserine exposure and, at higher concentrations, to cell shrinkage. Methyldopa further decreased the GSH/GSSG ratio, pointing to oxidative stress. The scavenger N-acetyl-&lt;i&gt;L&lt;/i&gt;-cysteine significantly blunted methyldopa-induced eryptosis. Clearance of erythrocytes from circulating blood was significantly accelerated by treatment with methyldopa. The present observations disclose a novel action of methyldopa, which may well contribute to drug-induced anemia.
S-Adenosylhomocysteine Hydrolase Overexpression in HEK-293 Cells: Effect on Intracellular Adenosine Levels, Cell Viability, and DNA Methylation
2008-01-01

Taken together, these data show that 2-5-fold enhanced AdoHcyase activity is well tolerated by the cell, while greatly enhanced AdoHcyase activity results in adenosine-induced apoptosis. The fact that enhanced AdoHcyase activity does not increase transmethylation activity suggests that AdoHcyase activity under physiological conditions is not rate limiting for efficient transmethylation.
Lack of Tff3 Peptide Results in Hearing Impairment and Accelerated Presbyacusis
2008-01-01

Tff peptides are secreted mainly by the gastrointestinal epithelial cells and their primary role is maintaining normal structure and function of mucous epithelia. Ongoing studies on their expression pattern have disclosed other sites of their synthesis thus revealing additional physiological functions in the organism. Here we present new data about Tff3 expression in the cochlea of the rodent inner ear. On the basis of RT-PCR we describe the presence of Tff3 transcripts in both, a mouse cDNA library isolated from whole cochleae from postnatal days 3-15 (P3-P15), and also in cochlear tissue. By using a riboprobe for the fragment containing exon 1, 2 and 3 of Tff3, in situ hybridization, localized Tff3 signals in neurons of spiral ganglion and vestibular organ. We did not observe any abnormalities in the middle ear of Tff3 knock-out mice, neither did histological examination of the inner ear indicate any gross morphological changes in the cochlea. However, ABR (auditory evoked brain stem responses) audiograms revealed that the Tff3 knock-out animals show an accelerated presbyacusis and a hearing loss of about 15 dB at low frequencies increasing to 25 dB loss at higher frequencies. These findings suggest that Tff3 could play a role in neurosensory signaling. Further studies are needed to clarify this new function in the auditory system.