Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Type-Dependent Oxidative Damage in Frontotemporal Lobar Degeneration: Cortical Astrocytes Are Targets of Oxidative Damage

Oxidative injury and stress responses are common features of many neurodegenerative diseases. To assess oxidative stress responses in frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD), we identified increased 4-hydroxynonenal (HNE) adducts using gel electrophoresis and Western blotting in frontal cortex samples in 6 of 6 cases of FTLD with the P301L mutation in the tau gene (FTLD-tau), in 3 of 10 cases with tau-negative ubiquitin-immunoreactive inclusions, and in 2 of 3 cases associated with motor neuron disease. Selectively increased lipoxidation-derived protein damage associated with altered membrane unsaturation and fatty acid profiles was verified by mass spectrometry in FTLD-tau and FTLD associated with motor neuron disease. All FTLD-tau and most cases with increased HNE-positive bands had marked astrocytosis as determined by glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) immunohistochemistry and increased GFAP expression on Western blotting; 2 FTLD cases with tau-negative ubiquitin-immunoreactive inclusions and with increased GFAP expression did not have increased HNE adducts. Bidimensional gel electrophoresis, Western blotting, in-gel digestion, and mass spectrometry identified GFAP as a major target of lipoxidation in all positive cases; confocal microscopy revealed colocalization of HNE and GFAP in cortical astrocytes, superoxide dismutase 1 in astrocytes, and superoxide dismutase 2 in astrocytes and neurons in all FTLD types. Thus, in FTLD, there is variable disease-dependent oxidative damage that is prominent in FTLD-tau, astrocytes are targets of oxidative damage, and GFAP is a target of lipoxidation. Astrocytes are, therefore, crucial elements of oxidative stress responses in FTLD.
Selective Roles for Hippocampal, Prefrontal Cortical, and Ventral Striatal Circuits in Radial-Arm Maze Tasks With or Without a Delay

The hippocampus, the prefrontal cortex, and the ventral striatum form interconnected neural circuits that may underlie aspects of spatial cognition and memory. In the present series of experiments, we investigated functional interactions between these areas in rats during the performance of delayed and nondelayed spatially cued radial-arm maze tasks. The two-phase delayed task consisted of a training phase that provided rats with information about where food would be located on the maze 30 min later during a test phase. The single-phase nondelayed task was identical to the test phase of the delayed task, but in the absence of a training phase rats lacked previous knowledge of the location of food on the maze. Transient inactivation of the ventral CA1/subiculum (vSub) by a bilateral injection of lidocaine disrupted performance on both tasks. Lidocaine injections into the vSub on one side of the brain and the prefrontal cortex on the other transiently disconnected these two brain regions and significantly impaired foraging during the delayed task but not the nondelayed task. Transient disconnections between the vSub and the nucleus accumbens produced the opposite effect, disrupting foraging during the nondelayed task but not during the delayed task. These data suggest that serial transmission of information between the vSub and the prefrontal cortex is required when trial-unique, short-term memory is used to guide prospective search behavior. In contrast, exploratory goal-directed locomotion in a novel situation not requiring previously acquired information about the location of food is dependent on serial transmission between the hippocampus and the nucleus accumbens. These results indicate that different aspects of spatially mediated behavior are subserved by separate, distributed limbic–cortical–striatal networks.
Contextual variation in the punishment of Hispanic non-citizens: A multilevel analysis from an immigration threat perspective

Title of Document: CONTEXTUAL VARIATION IN THE PUNISHMENT OF HISPANIC NONCITIZENS: A MULTILEVEL ANALYSIS FROM AN IMMIGRATION THREAT PERSPECTIVE Byron E. Villagomez M. , Master of Arts, 2013 Directed By: Associate Professor Brian D. Johnson, Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice The increasing number of Hispanic non-citizens being punished by the Federal courts has revived the debate about sentencing disparity. This study extends extant research by examining contextual variation in the punishment of Hispanic defendants, with a focus on citizenship status. Using data from the United States Sentencing Commission for FY2008, this paper purports to explain that variation using factors drawn from an immigration threat standpoint. The results indicate that the expected variation exists, with non-citizens receiving shorter or lengthier sentences than citizens, depending on the place of sentencing. Moreover, Hispanic political representation and unauthorized immigrant populations had a slight but significant negative and positive effect, respectively, for all Hispanic defendants. Also, the former aspect had a minor and negative impact on sentence length for Hispanic noncitizens. These findings contribute to a better understanding of how Hispanics are sentenced by the Federal courts, and tracing the route for future research. CONTEXTUAL VARIATION IN THE PUNISHMENT OF HISPANIC NON CITIZENS: A MULTILEVEL ANALYSIS FROM AN IMMIGRATION THREAT PERSPECTIVE
Using the Surface Reflectance MODIS Terra Product to Estimate Turbidity in Tampa Bay, Florida

Abstract: Turbidity is a commonly-used index of the factors that determine light penetration in the water column. Consistent estimation of turbidity is crucial to design environmental and restoration management plans, to predict fate of possible pollutants, and to estimate sedimentary fluxes into the ocean. Traditional methods monitoring fixed geographical locations at fixed intervals may not be representative of the mean water turbidity in estuaries between intervals, and can be expensive and time consuming. Although remote sensing offers a good solution to this limitation, it is still not widely used due in part to required complex processing of imagery. There are satellite-derived products, including the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Terra surface reflectance daily product (MOD09GQ) Band 1 (620–670 nm) which are now routinely available at 250 m spatial resolution and corrected for atmospheric effect. This study shows this product to be useful to estimate turbidity in Tampa Bay, Florida, after rainfall events
Intra-Industry Trade and Differences in Technology

The approach focussed on allows one to examine theoretically the empirical observation of increasing levels of intra-industry trade flows founded upon an increasing similarity of technology between countries and firms. Within the framework of a simple model of international trade in differentiated goods it is demonstrated that an in an international free trade scenario ranking high in product differentiation and monopolistic market structures the intensity of intra-industry trade is dependent upon the degree of differences present in applied technology. Technologlcal similarity among nations results in high levels of intra-industry trade; whereas persistent differences in available technology reduces intra-industrial trade flows.
Student–student mentoring for retention and engagement in distance education

This article argues that in the drive to develop e‐learning initiatives in distance learning, simpler ways of supporting students for retention may be overlooked; for example, the linking of students in the form of mentoring and peer support networks. The article reports on three mentoring projects, in the United Kingdom, Korea and New Zealand, and shows that apparent retention gains of up to 20% with a return on investment of the order of magnitude of several hundred per cent may be possible. Whilst accepting the limitations of these studies, the article argues that there needs to be a clearer understanding of the benefits of such initiatives when deciding to invest time and funding in distance education support. It suggests that there is still much mileage to be made out of mentoring and ‘study dating’.
Mechanisms underlying the postexercise baroreceptor‐mediated suppression of heat loss

Reports indicate that postexercise heat loss is modulated by baroreceptor input; however, the mechanisms remain unknown. We examined the time‐dependent involvement of adenosine receptors, noradrenergic transmitters, and nitric oxide (NO) in modulating baroreceptor‐mediated changes in postexercise heat loss. Eight males performed two 15‐min cycling bouts (85% VO2max) each followed by a 45‐min recovery in the heat (35°C). Lower body positive (LBPP), negative (LBNP), or no (Control) pressure were applied in three separate sessions during the final 30‐min of each recovery. Four microdialysis fibres in the forearm skin were perfused with: (1) lactated Ringer's (Ringer's); (2) 4 mmol·L−1 Theophylline (inhibits adenosine receptors); (3) 10 mmol·L−1 Bretylium (inhibits noradrenergic transmitter release); or (4) 10 mmol·L−1 l‐NAME (inhibits NO synthase). We measured cutaneous vascular conductance (CVC; percentage of maximum) calculated as perfusion units divided by mean arterial pressure, and local sweat rate. Compared to Control, LBPP did not influence CVC at l‐NAME, Theophylline or Bretylium during either recovery (P > 0.07); however, CVC at Ringer's was increased by ~5‐8% throughout 30 min of LBPP during Recovery 1 (all P < 0.02). In fact, CVC at Ringer's was similar to Theophylline and Bretylium during LBPP. Conversely, LBNP reduced CVC at all microdialysis sites by ~7–10% in the last 15 min of Recovery 2 (all P < 0.05). Local sweat rate was similar at all treatment sites as a function of pressure condition (P > 0.10). We show that baroreceptor input modulates postexercise CVC to some extent via adenosine receptors, noradrenergic vasoconstriction, and NO whereas no influence was observed for postexercise sweating.
User Embedding for Scholarly Microblog Recommendation

Nowadays, many scholarly messages are posted on Chinese microblogs and more and more researchers tend to find scholarly information on microblogs. In order to exploit microblogging to benefit scientific research, we propose a scholarly microblog recommendation system in this study. It automatically collects and mines scholarly information from Chinese microblogs, and makes personalized recommendations to researchers. We pro-pose two different neural network models which learn the vector representations for both users and microblog texts. Then the recommendation is accomplished based on the similarity between a user’s vector and a microblog text’s vector. We also build a dataset for this task. The two embedding models are evaluated on the dataset and show good results compared to several baselines.
An integrated regression analysis and time series model for construction tender price index forecasting

Clients need to be informed in advance of their likely future financial commitments and cost implications as the design evolves. This requires the estimation of building cost based on historic cost data that is updated by a forecasted Tender Price Index (TPI), with the reliability of the estimates depending significantly on accurate projections being obtained of the TPI for the forthcoming quarters. In practice, the prediction of construction tender price index movement entails a judgemental projection of future market conditions, including inflation. Statistical techniques such as Regression Analysis (RA) and Time Series (TS) modelling provide a powerful means of improving predictive accuracy when used individually. An integrated RA‐TS model is developed and its predictive power compared with the individual RA or TS models. The accuracy of the RA‐TS model is shown to outperform the individual RA and TS models in both one and two‐period forecasts, with the integrated RA‐TS model accurately predicting (95% confidence level) one‐quarter forecasts for all the 34 holdout periods involved, with only one period not meeting the confidence limit for two‐quarter forecasts.
Association of VEGF Genetic Polymorphisms with Recurrent Spontaneous Abortion Risk: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Background Studies of the associations between the genetic polymorphisms of the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) gene and recurrent spontaneous abortion (RSA) have revealed conflicting results. The present meta-analysis was performed to provide a more precise estimation of these relationships and to explore potential sources of heterogeneity that may have influenced the reported disparities. Methods An extensive literature search for relevant studies was conducted on PubMed, Embase, and The Cochrane Library through June 6, 2014. Crude odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence intervals were calculated. Results 10 case-control studies including 1,832 RSA patients and 2,271 healthy controls were identified. Meta-analysis indicated that rs1570360, rs3025039, rs2010963, and rs3025020 polymorphisms in the VEGF gene correlated with elevated RSA risk. The rs1570360 variant was statistically significantly relevant to RSA risk among non-Asian populations. Interestingly, the rs3025039 variant was statistically significantly relevant to RSA risk among Asian populations. Conclusions The current meta-analysis indicates that rs1570360, rs3025039, rs2010963, and rs3025020 polymorphisms increase RSA susceptibility. Moreover, rs1570360 and rs3025039 polymorphisms may play various roles in RSA susceptibility in various geographic groups.
Proposal of small-aperture guided-mode resonance filter

A guided-mode-resonance filter (GMRF) consisting of a thin film waveguide and a surface periodic relief has been widely studied for application to a laser mirror as well as to an optical wavelength filter, because of its great advantage in mass production in comparison to multilayer dielectric mirrors. However, GMRF needs some considerably large coupling area to provide high coupling efficiency, meaning that the direct coupling to an optical fiber or a semiconductor laser end is difficult. Therefore, the miniaturization of GMRF is very attractive in practical applications. In this paper, we propose a new concept of the integration of a cavity resonator consisting of a pair of distributed Bragg reflectors to miniaturize a GMRF aperture down to several micrometers matching to the electric-field size of an optical fiber or a semiconductor laser.
Dopaminergic differentiation of human neural stem cells mediated by co‐cultured rat striatal brain slices

Properly committed neural stem cells constitute a promising source of cells for transplantation in Parkinson’s disease, but a protocol for controlled dopaminergic differentiation is not yet available. To establish a setting for identification of secreted neural compounds promoting dopaminergic differentiation, we co‐cultured cells from a human neural forebrain‐derived stem cell line (hNS1) with rat striatal brain slices. In brief, coronal slices of neonatal rat striatum were cultured on semiporous membrane inserts placed in six‐well trays overlying monolayers of hNS1 cells. After 12 days of co‐culture, large numbers of tyrosine hydroxylase (TH)‐immunoreactive, catecholaminergic cells could be found underneath individual striatal slices. Cell counting revealed that up to 25.3% (average 16.1%) of the total number of cells in these areas were TH‐positive, contrasting a few TH‐positive cells (<1%) in non‐induced areas. The presence of dopamine in the conditioned culture medium was confirmed by HPLC analysis. Interestingly, not all striatal slice cultures induced TH‐expression in underlying hNS1 cells. Common to TH‐inductive cultures was, however, the presence of degenerating, necrotic areas, suggesting that factors released during striatal degeneration were responsible for the dopaminergic induction of the hNS1 cells. Ongoing experiments aim to identify such factors by comparing protein profiles of media conditioned by degenerating (necrotic) versus healthy striatal slice cultures.
Fertilizing ability of short-term preserved spermatozoa Abant trout (Salmo trutta abanticus T, 1954)

Bu arastirma ile, ulkemize ait endemik bir balik turu olan Abant alabaliginin spermatolojik parametrelerinin degerlendirilmesi ve farkli sulandiricilarda kisa sureli saklanan spermatozoonlarin fertilizasyon yeteneginin ortaya konulmasi amaclanmistir. Bu arastirmada, 30 ergin erkek baliktan anestezi yapilmaksizin masaj yoluyla sperma alinmistir. Birincil spermatolojik parametreler (miktar, motilite, haraket suresi, yogunluk ve pH) belirlendikten sonra birlestirilen ornekler iki farkli sulandirici ile (0,3 M glukoz veya Ringer solusyonu) 1:2 (sperma:sulandirici) oraninda sulandirilmistir. Sulandirilan sperma 4°C‘de 48 saat saklanmistir. Saklama islemi esnasinda 24. ve 48. saatlerde motilite degerlendirmesi yapilmistir. Fertilizasyon denemeleri icin kuru fertilizasyon teknigi kullanilmistir. Yumurtalar 30 ergin disiden masaj yoluyla alinmistir. Fertilizasyon kuru plastic kaplarda gerceklestirilmis ve her bir fertilizasyon denemesi icin 600 yumurta kullanilmistir. Tohumlama dozu olarak herbir yumurta icin 0,25x106 spermatozoa kullanilmistir. Yumurtalarin sismesinden sonra uzerlerine kulucka suyu (7oC) eklenerek dikey inkubasyon tepsilerine yerlestirilmistir. Deneysel basarinin tesbiti icin spermatozoon motilitesi ve fertilizasyon sonrasi 25. gunde gozlu yumurta sayisi dikkate alinmistir. Arastirmadan elde edilen sonuclara gore taze sperma motilitesi ortalama % 81,4 olarak bulundu. Saklama sonrasi en yuksek motilite (24. saat: % 67; 48. saat: % 53) ve hareket sureleri (24. saat: 60 saniye; 48. saat: 42 saniye) glukoz sulandiricisi ile elde edildi. Taze spermadan elde edilen fertilizasyon orani % 84,4 olarak bulundu. En yuksek gozlu yumurta orani (% 80,4) 24 saat glukoz sulandiricisinda saklanan spermadan elde edildi. Saklamanin 48. saatinde bu oran glukoz sulandiricisi icin % 61,9’a, ringer sulandiricisi icin % 43,8’e dustu. Sonuclara gore, Abant alabaligi spermasinin kisa sureli saklanmasinda glukoz tabanli sulandirici Ringer sulandiricisina oranla daha iyi koruyucu ozellliklere sahip oldugu tesbit edilmistir
On the performance of novice evaluators in usability evaluations

The paper investigates the performance of novice evaluators in usability evaluations by presenting the results of a comparative usability evaluation that was conducted by nine novice evaluator teams. The evaluation teams performed considerably well in terms of the validity of their results, which counts for their participation in usability evaluation projects. The thoroughness of the results obtained was found to be in a relatively stable ratio of about 20-25% of the total number of problems found for eight of the nine teams, which gives a clear indication of the degree to which novice evaluators can identify usability problems. The consistency of the results was not satisfactory, although similar to results of other studies that involve professional evaluators. The paper suggests that when novice evaluators have to be employed for usability evaluations and it is important to find most usability problems then parallel usability evaluations can provide overall valid and thorough results.
Clinical Validity of Aß‐Protein Deposition Staging in Brain Aging and Alzheimer Disease

Braak's neurofibrillary tangle (NFT) pathology staging system of Alzheimer disease (AD) correlates generally with clinical data. Recently, Braak's group proposed an Aß-protein staging based on the progression of amyloid deposition in the medial temporal lobe. To examine its clinical validity and evaluate whether it adds predictive power to NFT-based staging, we performed a study comparing both neuropathological classifications with clinical dementia rating scale (CDR) scores in a large autopsy series. The 2 neuropathological staging systems were strongly correlated. Their association with clinical severity was highly significant. However, the strength of the relationship was greater for NFT-based staging. It accounted for 26.5% of the variability in clinical severity, Aß-protein-based staging for 13.0%, and age for 4.4%. Compared to NFT-based staging, the Aß-protein-based system was less able to distinguish mild cognitive changes from dementia and showed marked overlap among the various stages of cognitive decline. In a multivariate model, NFT and age together accounted for 27.2% of the clinical variability and the addition of Aß-protein deposition staging could only explain an extra 2.9%. Our data support the close relationship between NFT progression and amyloid formation within the medial temporal lobe proposed by Braak's group but demonstrate the limited value of Aß-protein deposition staging in terms of clinicopathological correlations.
Effect of 06-Methylguanine on DNA Interstrand Chloroethylnitrosoureas and Z-ChloroethyKmethylsulfonyOmethanesulfonate1

Exposure of III29 cells in culture to O'-methylguanine is known to result in a reduction in O'-alkylguanine-DNA alkyltransferase (AGT) activity and an enhancement of sensitivity to the cytotoxic effects of chloroethylating agents. Since cytotoxicity of these agents may be me diated by the formation of interstrand cross-links, alkaline elution analy sis was performed on HT29 cells treated with l-(2-chloroi'thyI)-l-nitro-sourea, l-(2-chloroethyl)-3-cyclohexyl-l-nitrosourea, and Clomesone [2-chloroethyl(methylsulfonyl)methanesulfonate] in the presence or absence of O'-methylguanine pretreatment to determine if the enhanced toxicity was due to an increase in the number of cross-links formed. Interstrand cross-linking by l-(2-chlorot'thyl)-l-ni(rosourea or l-(2-chloroethyl)-3- cyclohexyl-1-nitrosourea was increased by pretreatment with 0.4 mMO*-methylguanine for 24 h. Cross-linking by Qomesone was observed only in cells exposed to 0.4 mM 06-methylguanine for 24 h prior to adminis tration of the drug and for 12 h after administration, suggesting that the resynthesis of the AGT may prevent the cross-linking by Clomesone. Complete recovery of AGT activity after reduction to 20 to 30% of the basal level upon treatment with 0.4 mM O'-methylguanine required between 8 h and 15 h in both HT29 cells and in Raji cells which were also sensitized to l-(2-chloro-ethyl)-3-cyclohexyl-l-nitrosourea by ex posure to O'-methylguanine. These data suggest that the enhancement of chloroethylnitrosourea toxicity after treatment with O'-mct hyIguanine may be related to an increase in the number of DNA cross-links and that the relatively rapid rate of AGT recovery plays a role in prevention of cross-links resulting from Clomesone.
Real-time bus holding control on a transit corridor based on multi-agent reinforcement learning

Bus holding is the most used control strategy to improve bus service reliability. This paper presents a coordinated holding control framework based on multi-agent reinforcement-learning (MARL-H) to mitigate bus bunching in real-time on a bus corridor. The MARL-H framework depicts a combination of agents and methods to make decision of coordinated holdings. Coordination Graphs (CGs) are introduced in automatically selecting the coordinated holding actions in case of multiple buses dwelling at stops. Sparse Cooperative Q-learning algorithms are developed to obtain the joint coordinated holding actions due to the particularity of the sparsely structured graphs. The performance of the proposed method is evaluated by simulations. The results show the advantages of the MARL-H framework for the coordinated holding control in real-time. The proposed method could be embedded in an advanced public transportation system to improve bus operation performance.