julilili42/papers huggingface dataset:
Effect of biopassive and bioactive surface‐coatings on the hemocompatibility of membrane oxygenators
2006-07-18

Abstract Postoperative complications associated with cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) surgery and extracorporeal circulation (ECC) procedures are still a major clinical issue. Improving the hemocompatibility of blood contacting devices used for ECC procedures may ameliorate various postpump syndromes. In a simulated CPB model using human blood, we investigated the hemocompatibility, fibrinogen adsorption, and platelet receptor (GPIIb‐IIIa) binding capacity of surface‐modified membrane oxygenators (Jostra Quadrox). Three groups were compared: (i) biopassive protein coatings (SafeLine®), (ii) bioactive heparin coatings (BioLine®), and (iii) noncoated controls. During the 2 h recirculation period, plasma concentrations of activation markers for platelets (β‐thromboglobulin), inflammation (elastase), complement (C5a), and coagulation (prothrombin fragment 1+2, thrombin–antithrombin III) were lower in the groups with biopassive and bioactive coatings compared to the noncoated group ( p &lt; 0.01). These parameters did not significantly differ between the two surface‐coated groups, except for complement activation: C5a levels were higher in the biopassive group compared to the bioactive group ( p &lt; 0.01). Moreover, surface‐coated oxygenators showed less fibrinogen adsorption, GPIIb‐IIIa binding, and platelet/leukocyte adhesion ( p &lt; 0.01). We assume that fewer fibrinogen and platelet receptor molecules bound to the surface‐coated oxygenator surfaces results in fewer platelet adhesion and activation, which will significantly contribute to the improved hemocompatibility of the biopassive and bioactive oxygenators. Our results suggest that the application of bioactive oxygenators (BioLine®) during CPB surgery may reduce postoperative complications for the patient more effectively than biopassive oxygenators (SafeLine®). © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part B: Appl Biomater, 2007
Biosynthesis of the unusual 5,5-gem-dimethyl-deoxysugar noviose: investigation of the C-methyltransferase gene cloU
2006-07-18

The aminocoumarin antibiotic clorobiocin contains an unusual branched deoxysugar with a 5,5- gem -dimethyl structure. Inactivation of the putative C -methyltransferase gene cloU was carried out, which led to the loss of the axial methyl group at C-5 of this deoxysugar moiety. This result establishes the function of cloU , and at the same time it proves that the biosynthesis of the deoxysugar moiety of clorobiocin proceeds via a 3,5-epimerization of the dTDP-4-keto-6-deoxyglucose intermediate. The inactivation was carried out on a cosmid which contained the entire clorobiocin biosynthetic gene cluster. Expression of the modified cluster in a heterologous host led to the formation of desmethyl-clorobiocin and a structural isomer thereof. Both compounds were isolated on a preparative scale, their structures were elucidated by 1 H-NMR and mass spectroscopy and their antibacterial activity was assayed.
Local freedom in the gravitational field revisited
2006-07-19

Maartens {\\\\it et al.}\\\\@ gave a covariant characterization, in a 1+3 formalism based on a perfect fluid's velocity, of the parts of the first derivatives of the curvature tensor in general relativity which are ``locally free'', i.e. not pointwise determined by the fluid energy momentum and its derivative. The full decomposition of independent curvature derivative components given in earlier work on the spinor approach to the equivalence problem enables analogous general results to be stated for any order: the independent matter terms can also be characterized. Explicit relations between the two sets of results are obtained. The 24 Maartens {\\\\it et al.} locally free data are shown to correspond to the quantities in the spinor approach, and the fluid terms are similarly related to the remaining 16 independent quantities in the first derivatives of the curvature.
The small MbtH-like protein encoded by an internal gene of the balhimycin biosynthetic gene cluster is not required for glycopeptide production
2006-07-20

The balhimycin biosynthetic gene cluster of the glycopeptide producer Amycolatopsis balhimycina includes a gene (orf1) with unknown function. orf1 shows high similarity to the mbtH gene from Mycobacterium tuberculosis. In almost all nonribosomal peptide synthetase (NRPS) biosynthetic gene clusters, we could identify a small mbtH-like gene whose function in peptide biosynthesis is not known. The mbtH-like gene is always colocalized with the NRPS genes; however, it does not have a specific position in the gene cluster. In all glycopeptide biosynthetic gene clusters the orf1-like gene is always located downstream of the gene encoding the last module of the NRPS. We inactivated the orf1 gene in A. balhimycina by generating a deletion mutant. The balhimycin production is not affected in the orf1-deletion mutant and is indistinguishable from that of the wild type. For the first time, we show that the inactivation of an mbtH-like gene does not impair the biosynthesis of a nonribosomal peptide.
Current State on (B,C,N) Compounds of Calcium and Lanthanum
2006-07-20

This chapter contains sections titled: Introduction Problems and Pitfalls of some Calcium Compounds with (mixed) B,C,N Anions Borides of Calcium and Lanthanum The CaC2 Problem and Ca3Cl2C3 Calcium Nitride and Calcium Carbodiimides Calcium Nitridoborates A Comparison of Ca3(BN2)2 and Sr3(BN2)2 Structures Metal-nitridoborates Electronic Considerations Lanthanum Nitridoborates Compounds in Ca-B-N and La-B-N systems Nitridoborate Ions Structures of Lanthanum Nitridoborates Outlook Acknowledgments References
Bioprocesses under Practical Aspects – Multimedia Environmental Impact Assessment of In situ – Soil Remediation with Genetically Modified Microorganisms
2006-07-20

Bioremediation techniques are an option for the cleanup of contaminated sites in many cases. Requirements for an accepted implementation comprise a detailed and reliable risk analysis. For soils contaminated with poly chlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), a plant-microorganism system for in situ - bioremediation has been developed based on genetically modified microorganisms (GMOs). Chlorobenzoic acids (CBAs) are the metabolites of concern. To evaluate potential effects to human health and the environment, a multimedia environmental impact assessment has been carried out based on laboratory and lysimeter experiments. Low- and moderately chlorinated PCB congeners are readily metabolised by the studied bacterial strains. Although the produced CBAs are mobile compounds showing an increased tendency to distribute into different environmental matrices, a clear risk reducing potential can be seen. Very low gene transfer rates have been observed. Horizontal spreading of the GMOs and potential impacts on the microbial communities in soil is expected to be very low
Automaticity and Reestablishment of Executive Control—An fMRI Study
2006-07-21

Abstract The ability to exert control over automatic behavior is of particular importance as it allows us to interrupt our behavior when the automatic response is no longer adequate or even dangerous. However, despite the literature that exists on the effects of practice on brain activation, little is known about the neuroanatomy involved in reestablishing executive control over previously automatized behavior. We present a visual search task that enabled participants to automatize according to defined criteria within about 3 hr of practice and then required them to reassert control without changing the stimulus set. We found widespread cortical activation early in practice. Activation in all frontal areas and in the inferior parietal lobule decreased significantly with practice. Only selected prefrontal (Brodmann's areas [BAs] 9/46/8) and parietal areas (BAs 39/40) were specifically reactivated when executive control was required, underlining the crucial role of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in executive control to guide our behavior.
Long-Term CT Follow-Up in 40 Non-HIV Immunocompromised Patients with Invasive Pulmonary Aspergillosis: Kinetics of CT Morphology and Correlation with Clinical Findings and Outcome
2006-07-21

The kinetics of radiologic signs of IPA adheres to a distinctive pattern with initial rise in number and size, followed by a plateau phase of size and gradual reduction. Both time until complete radiologic remission and outcome are independent of initial or maximum lesion size and number yet strongly influenced by cavitation.
Optimal reduction of MCG in fetal MEG recordings
2006-07-21

Recording fetal magnetoencephalographic (fMEG) signals in-utero is a demanding task due to biological interference, especially maternal and fetal magnetocardiographic (MCG) signals. A method based on orthogonal projection of MCG signal space vectors (OP) was evaluated and compared with independent component analysis (ICA). The evaluation was based on MCG amplitude reduction and signal-to-noise ratio of fetal brain signals using exemplary datasets recorded during ongoing studies related to auditory evoked fields. The results indicate that the OP method is the preferable approach for attenuation of MCG and for preserving the fetal brain signals in fMEG recordings.
Percutaneous MR-Guided Radiofrequency Ablation of Recurrent Sacrococcygeal Chordomas
2006-07-21

Introducing MRI as a guidance technique ideally uses tumor-specific tissue characteristics, allows direct multiplanar reconstruction for precise needle positioning, and permits real-time monitoring and assessment of treatment-induced tissue signal changes to increase the safety of the procedure.
Electrostatic Switching of Biopolymer Layers. Insights from Combined Electrokinetics and Reflectometric Interference
2006-07-21

Structural integrity and functional characteristics of biomacromolecules are largely defined by electrostatic forces between ionized moieties, which are often altered at interfaces. Unraveling these changes requires access to charge state and structure of surface-confined biopolymers in aqueous environments. We therefore combined electrokinetic measurements of interfacial electrical potentials with the simultaneous determination of the optical layer thickness by reflectometric interference spectroscopy. Two examples are summarized to demonstrate the resulting options: The pH-switching of grafted poly(l-glutamic acid) layers caused by dissociation-dependent helix-coil transitions was studied; potential distribution and ion mobility within the grafted polyelectrolyte were unraveled using an new theoretical model for the charging of polyelectrolyte layers. The charge-driven modulation of biopolymers at interfaces was furthermore analyzed in the adsorption of fibronectin onto polymer substrates with varied charge density; the results permit us to reach a conclusion about the relevance of electrostatic matching for orientation and anchorage of the protein. Altogether, the introduced methodology was found suitable to follow the electrosurface characteristics of biomacromolecules in situ.
Staphyloxanthin Plays a Role in the Fitness of Staphylococcus aureus and Its Ability To Cope with Oxidative Stress
2006-07-22

ABSTRACT Staphyloxanthin is a membrane-bound carotenoid of Staphylococcus aureus . Here we studied the interaction of staphyloxanthin with reactive oxygen substances (ROS) and showed by comparative analysis of the wild type (WT) and an isogenic crtM mutant that the WT is more resistant to hydrogen peroxide, superoxide radical, hydroxyl radical, hypochloride, and neutrophil killing.
The Presence of Peptidoglycan O -Acetyltransferase in Various Staphylococcal Species Correlates with Lysozyme Resistance and Pathogenicity
2006-07-22

ABSTRACT Human-pathogenic bacteria that are able to cause persistent infections must have developed mechanisms to resist the immune defense system. Lysozyme, a cell wall-lytic enzyme, is one of the first defense compounds induced in serum and tissues after the onset of infection. Recently, we showed that Staphylococcus aureus is resistant to lysozyme by O acetylating its peptidoglycan (PG) by O -acetyltransferase (OatA). We asked the question of which staphylococcal species PG is O acetylated. We applied various methods, such as genome analysis, PCR, Southern blotting, lysozyme sensitivity assay, and verification of O acetylation of PG by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis. PCR analysis using S. aureus -derived oatA primers and Southern blotting did not yield reliable results with other staphylococcal species. Therefore, we used the HPLC-based assay to directly detect PG O acetylation. Our studies revealed that the muramic acid was O acetylated only in pathogenic, lysozyme-resistant staphylococci (e.g., S. aureus , S. epidermidis , S. lugdunensis , and others). All nonpathogenic species were lysozyme sensitive. They can be divided into sensitive species (e.g., S. carnosus , S. gallinarum , and S. xylosus ) and hypersensitive species (e.g., S. equorum , S. lentus , and S. arlettae ). In all lysozyme-sensitive species, the analyzed PG was de-O-acetylated. When we transformed the oatA gene from lysozyme-resistant S. aureus into S. carnosus , the corresponding transformants also became lysozyme resistant.
Proceedings of the Workshop on Multilingual Language Resources and Interoperability
2006-07-23

In an ever-expanding information society, many language processing systems are now facing the challenge. Language resources, such as dictionaries, thesauri and wordnets, ontologies etc., as well as annotated corpora play an important role for the development, deployment, maintenance and exploitation of language processing systems. Much work on architectures for multilingual language resources, on recommendations of best practice for creating, representing, maintaining and upscaling such resources has been done in the 1990s, but since then, most efforts in this field have had less visibility. On the other hand, much research and development work has been done on techniques for acquisition of language data, on upper ontologies, on resource standardisation, and, last but not least, on the Semantic Web. One of the aims of this workshop it to provide an up-to-date view on issues relating to multilingual language resources and interoperability, in terms of language description, of technology and of applications. The development and management of multilingual language resources is a long-term activity in which collaboration among researchers is essential. We hope that this workshop will gather many researchers involved in such developments and will give them the opportunity to discuss, exchange, compare their approaches and strengthen their collaborations in the field. The impressive overall quality of the submissions (22) made the selection process quite difficult but we would like to acknowledge the dedication of our program committee who provided many useful comments to all papers. During the reviewing process we took the decision to accept only 9 papers (about 41%) in order to allow for more discussions during the workshop. The papers address a broad range of issues related with language resources for multilingual NLP applications, covering lexicons for general and specialised language, parallel corpora, and the acquisition of data from corpora. In particular, questions of lexical modelling and of standards for lexical resources, as well as approaches to interoperability and resource sharing in a distributed infrastructure are in focus. As multiwords are an important part of any practically usable lexical resource, two papers have been selected which deal with questions of the representation and the corpus-based acquisition of multiword items (here: collocations), from a multilingual perspective. Finally, techniques for detecting parallel texts (here: English/Japanese) and a new view on the Bible as a truly multi-lingual resource for cross-linguistic information retrieval will be discussed as examples of approaches to get access to new sources of data for the creation of language resources. Thus, the workshop covers central aspects of resource-related research; it is structured in a way to go upstream from lexicon standardisation and sharing, over lexical modelling to the identification and the use of corpora as a source of lexical data.
Tension gash‐like back‐arc basin opening and its control on subduction rollback inferred from Tertiary faulting in Sardinia
2006-07-24

The Tertiary reactivation of the Paleozoic basement in NE Sardinia is shown to reflect transtensional back‐arc tectonics, related to the western Mediterranean subduction rollback. During the Algéro‐Provençal basin opening, the left‐lateral Nuoro Fault, which is the prevailing structure in central Sardinia, operated as radial transfer between the west Sardinian rift and northern Tyrrhenian basin. Subsequently, it contributed to a tension gash‐like opening of the southern Tyrrhenian basin as conjugate fault to a right‐lateral fault set in SE Sardinia. Resulting antithetic rotations with respect to the arc are revealed by reoriented dikes in the basement. The tension gash‐like opening of the southern Tyrrhenian basin determined the gulf shape of the east Sardinian margin and the arc shape of its Calabrian counterpart. This structural control on the southern Tyrrhenian rollback scenario suggests that tension gash‐like opening of back‐arc basins represents an intrinsic aspect of subduction rollback.
The Probability of Obtaining Two Statistically Different Test Scores as a Test Index
2006-07-24

A new test index is defined as the probability of obtaining two randomly selected test scores (PDTS) as statistically different. After giving a concept definition of the test index, two simulation studies are presented. The first analyzes the influence of the distribution of test scores, test reliability, and sample size on PDTS within classical test theory. The second simulation manipulates the number of items and their locations over the latent continuum for a one-parameter logistic model. In addition, comparisons of both applications on the same data are made. The discussion focuses on advantages of applying PDTS for dimensional constructs in classical test theory and item response theory, as well as the disadvantages of making no assumptions about the test score distribution. The simulation studies provide the initial findings about the PDTS under several given empirical conditions. The discussion emphasizes why and when it is useful to consider PDTS in a test description.
THE PROVENANCE OF IRON ARTEFACTS FROM MANCHING: A MULTI‐TECHNIQUE APPROACH*
2006-07-25

Iron finds from the Celtic oppidum of Manching in southern Bavaria (Germany) are analysed in view of their possible provenance. The exceptional size and the location of Manching are usually attributed to the presence of abundant iron ores in its vicinity. After a review of previous approaches for source determination of iron artefacts, we introduce lead isotope analysis as a new approach. However, only by combining the trace element patterns of slag inclusions and iron metal with lead isotope ratios in the metal is it possible to distinguish various iron ore formations near Manching. As a result, it turns out that, indeed, the most obvious ones—namely, bog ores near the Danube—constituted the main resources for iron production at Manching. It was even possible to select one occurrence as the most likely ore source.
Dual Actions of Enflurane on Postsynaptic Currents Abolished by the γ-Aminobutyric Acid Type A Receptor β3(N265M) Point Mutation
2006-07-25

Background At concentrations close to 1 minimum alveolar concentration (MAC)-immobility, volatile anesthetics display blocking and prolonging effects on gamma-aminobutyric acid type A receptor-mediated postsynaptic currents. It has been proposed that distinct molecular mechanisms underlie these dual actions. The authors investigated whether the blocking or the prolonging effect of enflurane is altered by a point mutation (N265M) in the beta3 subunit of the gamma-aminobutyric acid type A receptor. Furthermore, the role of the beta3 subunit in producing the depressant actions of enflurane on neocortical neurons was elucidated. Methods Spontaneous inhibitory postsynaptic currents were sampled from neocortical neurons in cultured slices derived from wild-type and beta3(N265M) mutant mice. The effects of 0.3 and 0.6 mm enflurane on decay kinetics, peak amplitude, and charge transfer were quantified. Furthermore, the impact of enflurane-induced changes in spontaneous action potential firing was evaluated by extracellular recordings in slices from wild-type and mutant mice. Results In slices derived from wild-type mice, enflurane prolonged inhibitory postsynaptic current decays and decreased peak amplitudes. Both effects were almost absent in slices from beta3(N265M) mutant mice. At clinically relevant concentrations between MAC-awake and MAC-immobility, the anesthetic was less effective in depressing spontaneous action potential firing in slices from beta3(N265M) mutant mice compared with wild-type mice. Conclusion At concentrations between MAC-awake and MAC-immobility, beta3-containing gamma-aminobutyric acid type A receptors contribute to the depressant actions of enflurane in the neocortex. The beta3(N265M) mutation affects both the prolonging and blocking effects of enflurane on gamma-aminobutyric acid type A receptor-mediated inhibitory postsynaptic currents in neocortical neurons.
COPPER AND BRONZE DURING THE ENEOLITHIC AND EARLY BRONZE AGE: A METALLOGRAPHIC EXAMINATION OF AXES FROM THE NORTHALPINE REGION*
2006-07-25

This paper presents the results of a metallographic examination of Eneolithic and Early Bronze Age axes from the Northalpine region of central Europe. During this period, different types of copper were in use: arsenical copper, Fahlerz copper and tin bronze. We examine if and to what extent the different properties of the metals used were known to prehistoric metalworkers and actively manipulated in the production of the axes. The development of methods of casting and smithing is discussed. Both aspects contribute to our understanding of the nature of prehistoric technological change. During the Early Bronze Age of the Northalpine region, different traditions of early metallurgy can be identified, which differ in their use of Fahlerz copper, their attitude towards tin alloying and the use made of tin bronze in the production of the axes. These traditions can only be adequately described by reference to both composition—that is, access to different types of copper as well as tin—and knowledge of the production techniques provided by metallographic data.