Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Portfolio optimization with quantile-based risk measures

In this thesis we analyze Portfolio Optimization risk-reward theory, a generalization of the mean-variance theory, in the cases where the risk measures are quantile-based (such as the Value at Risk (V aR) and the shortfall). We show, using multicriteria theory arguments, that if the measure of risk is convex and the measure of reward concave with respect to the allocation vector, then the expected utility function is only a special case of the risk-reward framework. We introduce the concept of pseudo-coherency of risk measures, and analyze the mathematics of the Static Portfolio Optimization when the risk and reward measures of a portfolio satisfy the concepts of homogeneity and pseudo-coherency. We also implement and analyze a sub-optimal dynamic strategy using the concept of consistency which we introduce here, and achieve a better mean-V aR than with a traditional static strategy. We derive a formula to calculate the gradient of quantiles of linear combinations of random variables with respect to an allocation vector, and we propose the use of a nonparametric statistical technique (local polynomial regression LPR) for the estimation of the gradient. This gradient has interesting financial applications where quantile-based risk measures like the V aR and the shortfall are used: it can be used to calculate a portfolio sensitivity or to numerically optimize a portfolio. In this analysis we compare our results with those produced by current methods. Using our newly developed numerical techniques, we create a series of examples showing the properties of efficient portfolios for pseudo-coherent risk measures. Based on these examples, we point out the danger for an investor of selecting the wrong risk measure and we show the weaknesses of the Expected Utility Theory. Thesis Supervisor: Roy E. Welsch Title: Professor of Statistics and Management Science Thesis Supervisor: Alexander Samarov Title: Principal Research Associate
Liver transplantation for hepatocellular carcinoma beyond the Milan criteria

Objective Liver transplantation is an optimal radical therapy for selected patients with hepatocellular carcinoma. The stringent organ allocation system driven by the Milan criteria has been challenged by alternative sets of expanded criteria. Careful analysis is needed to prove that the Milan criteria can be expanded safely and effectively. Design This study collectively reviewed 6012 patients of hepatocellular carcinoma from the China Liver Transplant Registry. Expanded criteria were evaluated to characterise an optimised expansion with acceptable outcomes beyond the Milan criteria. Results Compared with the Milan criteria, Valencia, University of California, San Francisco, University Clinic of Navarra and Hangzhou criteria provided an expansion of 12.4%, 16.3%, 19.6%, and 51.5%, respectively. The post-transplant survivals of patients fulfilling the expanded criteria were comparable to that of the Milan criteria. The analysis of net reclassification improvement and area under the receiver operating characteristic curves showed an excellent efficiency in recurrence prediction for the expanded criteria compared with the Milan criteria. In patients exceeding Milan but fulfilling the Hangzhou criteria (N=1352), α-fetoprotein (AFP) >100 ng/mL and tumour burden>8 cm were the only two independent prognostic factors (p<0.001). Accordingly, the Hangzhou criteria were stratified as type A (tumour burden ≤8 cm, or tumour burden >8 cm but AFP≤100 ng/mL) and type B (tumour burden >8 cm but AFP between 100 and 400 ng/mL). Type A showed significantly higher 5-year tumour-free survival rates compared with type B (p<0.001). Conclusions The Milan criteria can be expanded safely and effectively. The prognostic stratification system based on the Hangzhou criteria serves as a hierarchy of transplant candidates for hepatocellular carcinoma.
Higher Dialysate Matrix Metalloproteinase-2 Levels Are Associated with Peritoneal Membrane Dysfunction

♦ Background: Peritoneal dialysis (PD) patients develop progressive and cumulative peritoneal injury with longer time spent on PD. The present study aimed to a) describe the trend of peritoneal injury biomarkers, matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2) and tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase-1 (TIMP-1), in incident PD patients, b) to explore the capacity of dialysate MMP-2 to predict peritoneal solute transport rate (PSTR) and peritonitis, and c) to evaluate the influence of neutral pH, low glucose degradation product (GDP) PD solution on these outcomes. ♦ Methods: The study included 178 participants from the balANZ trial who had at least 1 stored dialysate sample. Changes in PSTR and peritonitis were primary outcome measures, and the utility of MMP-2 in predicting these outcomes was analyzed using multilevel linear regression and multilevel Poisson regression, respectively. ♦ Results: Significant linear increases in dialysate MMP-2 and TIMP-1 concentrations were observed (p < 0.001), but neither was affected by the type of PD solutions received (MMP-2: p = 0.07; TIMP-1: p = 0.63). An increase in PSTR from baseline was associated with higher levels of MMP-2 (p = 0.02), and the use of standard solutions over longer PD duration (p = 0.001). The risk of peritonitis was independently predicted by higher dialysate MMP-2 levels (incidence rate ratio [IRR] per ng/mL 1.01, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.005 – 1.02, p = 0.002) and use of standard solutions (Biocompatible solution: IRR 0.45, 95% CI 0.24 – 0.85, p = 0.01). ♦ Conclusion: Dialysate MMP-2 and TIMP-1 concentrations increased with longer PD duration. Higher MMP-2 levels were associated with faster PSTR and future peritonitis risk. Administration of biocompatible solutions exerted no significant effect on dialysate levels of MMP-2 or TIMP-1, but did counteract the increase in PSTR and the risk of peritonitis associated with the use of standard PD solutions. This is the first longitudinal study to examine the clinical utility of MMP-2 as a predictor of patient-level outcomes.
Bootstrap Learning and Augmented Reinforcement Learning for Robust Performance in Agent Domains

Inapplication domains characterized bydynamic changes and non-deterministic action outcomes, it is frequently difficult for agents or robots to function without any human supervision. Although human feedback can help an agent learn a rich representation of the task and domain, humans may not have the expertise or time to provide elaborate, accurate and real-time feedback in complex domains. Widespread deployment of intelligent agents hence requires that these agents operate autonomously using limited and unreliable high-level feedback from nonexpert human observers. Towards this objective, we advocate the use of bootstrap learning in an online augmented reinforcement learning framework. In the absence of human feedback, the agent operates by sensing the environment, i.e., using environmental feedback. When a human participant provides high-level feedback on the agent’s performance, the agent uses a learning scheme that enables the environmental feedback and human feedback to bootstrap off of each other to continuously revise their relative contributions to the agent’s action choice policy. The algorithms are implemented and evaluated in two simulated domains: Tetris and Keepaway soccer.
Superoxide dismutase, catalase, glutathione peroxidase and gluthatione S-transferases M1 and T1 gene polymorphisms in three Brazilian population groups

Antioxidants such as superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT) and glutathione peroxidase (GPX1) reduce the oxidation rates in the organism. Gluthatione S-transferases (GSTs) play a vital role in phase 2 of biotransformation of many substances. Variation in the expression of these enzymes suggests individual differences for the degree of antioxidant protection and geographical differences in the distribution of these variants. We described the distribution frequency of CAT (21A/T), SOD2 (Ala9Val), GPX1 (Pro198Leu), GSTM1 and GSTT1 polymorphisms in three Brazilian population groups: Kayabi Amerindians (n = 60), Kalunga Afro-descendants (n = 72), and an urban mixed population from Federal District (n = 162). Frequencies of the variants observed in Kalunga (18% to 58%) and Federal District (33% to 63%) were similar to those observed in Euro and Afro-descendants, while in Kayabi (3% to 68%), depending on the marker, frequencies were similar to the ones found in different ethnic groups. Except for SOD2 in all population groups studied here, and for GPX1 in Kalunga, the genotypic distributions were in accordance with Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium. These data can clarify the contribution of different ethnicities in the formation of mixed populations, such as that of Brazil. Moreover, outcomes will be valuable resources for future functional studies and for genetic studies in specific populations. If these studies are designed to comprehensively explore the role of these genetic polymorphisms in the etiology of human diseases they may help to prevent inconsistent genotype-phenotype associations in pharmacogenetic studies.
Cyclic Changes in the Level of the Innate Immune Molecule, Surfactant Protein‐A, and Cytokines in Vaginal Fluid

Our knowledge of the innate host defenses in the vagina, a site where these defenses are essential to protecting the host upper reproductive tract from invasion by pathogens, is as yet rudimentary. Specifically, little is known about the pattern‐recognition component of vaginal innate immunity, the relationship of pattern‐recognition molecules to known cytokine levels, and the role of gonadal hormones in their regulation.
Ultraconserved Elements in the Human Genome

There are 481 segments longer than 200 base pairs (bp) that are absolutely conserved (100% identity with no insertions or deletions) between orthologous regions of the human, rat, and mouse genomes. Nearly all of these segments are also conserved in the chicken and dog genomes, with an average of 95 and 99% identity, respectively. Many are also significantly conserved in fish. These ultraconserved elements of the human genome are most often located either overlapping exons in genes involved in RNA processing or in introns or nearby genes involved in the regulation of transcription and development. Along with more than 5000 sequences of over 100 bp that are absolutely conserved among the three sequenced mammals, these represent a class of genetic elements whose functions and evolutionary origins are yet to be determined, but which are more highly conserved between these species than are proteins and appear to be essential for the ontogeny of mammals and other vertebrates.
Necessary and sufficient graphical conditions for formation control of unicycles

The feasibility problem is studied of achieving a specified formation among a group of autonomous unicycles by local distributed control. The directed graph defined by the information flow plays a key role. It is proved that formation stabilization to a point is feasible if and only if the sensor digraph has a globally reachable node. A similar result is given for formation stabilization to a line and to more general geometric arrangements.
Long-term clinical and radiographic results of the cementless Spotorno stem in Japanese patients: A more than 15-year follow-up

Purpose: Although previous studies have reported encouraging results of cementless Spotorno (CLS) stem, studies with more than 15 years of follow-up are rare. The objective of this study is to investigate the long-term results of CLS stem and the factors potentially influencing the outcomes. Methods: The clinical and radiographic data of 79 hips (64 patients) were reviewed. Clinical outcome was determined using the Japanese Orthopedic Association’s hip scoring system (JOA hip score). Survival rate was assessed by Kaplan–Meier survival analysis. The main end point for survival analysis was revision of stem. The correlations between patient demographics, radiographic factors, and stem survival rates were analyzed. Results: At a mean follow-up period of 20.1 years, the mean JOA hip score at final follow-up was 84.7 points. Stem survival rate for all revisions was 97.5% at 20 years, and stem survival for aseptic loosening was 98.9%. Varus alignment had a significant negative influence on the survival of the femoral stem. Conclusion: This study demonstrates acceptable long-term clinical and radiographic results of the CLS stem in Japanese patients. Caution should be exercised to avoid varus stem alignment.
Cartilage Magnetic Resonance Imaging Techniques at 3 T: Current Status and Future Directions

Abstract Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) remains the imaging modality of choice for morphological and compositional evaluation of the articular cartilage. Accurate detection and characterization of cartilage lesions are necessary to guide the medical and surgical therapy and are also critical for longitudinal studies of the cartilage. Recent work using 3.0-T MRI systems shows promise in improving detection and characterization of the cartilage lesions, particularly with increasing use of high-resolution and high-contrast 3-dimensional sequences, which allow detailed morphological assessment of cartilage in arbitrary imaging planes. In addition, implementation of biochemical sequences in clinically feasible scan times has a potential in the early detection of cartilage lesions before they become morphologically apparent. This article discusses relative advantages and disadvantages of various commonly used as well as experimental MRI techniques to directly assess the morphology and indirectly evaluate the biochemical composition of the articular cartilage.
A New Semantics for Positive Modal Logic

The paper provides a new semantics for positive modal logicusing Kripke frames having a quasi ordering ≤ on the set of possible worlds and an accessibility relation R connected to the quasi ordering by the conditions (1) that the composition of ≤ with R is included in the composition of R with ≤ and (2) the analogous for the inverse of ≤ and R. This semantics has an advantage over the one used by Dunn in "Positive modal logic," Studia Logica(1995) and works fine for extensions of the minimal system of normal positive modal logic. 1I ntroduction In (4) Dunn begins the study of positive modal logic, modal logic without negation and without implication—that is, modal logic with the connectives ∧, ∨,,, and also modal logic with the mentioned connectives plus the proposi- tional constantsand ⊥ . T he question addressed in the paper is which set of pos- tulates characterizes the definition of these connectives (and propositional constants) in the usual Kripke semantics: that is, the semantics where (1) frames are pairs con- sisting of a set of possible worlds and a binary relation on that set, (2) valuations are any function from the propositional functions to sets of possible worlds, and (3) the semantical clauses in the definition of truth in a world are the usual classical ones for the connectives involved. (4) answers the question by introducing the systems K+ (with the connectives ∧, ∨,,) and K �⊥ (with the connectives ∧, ∨,, and the propositional constants � , ⊥ )o fpositive minimal normal modal logicdefined by means of calculi on consequence pairs, that is, pairs of formulas (ϕ, ψ), written ϕ � ψ, that can be identified with sequents. Dunn's systems have the following prop- erty for the formulas in the languages involved:
The distribution of B chromosomes across species

In this review we look at the broad picture of how B chromosomes are distributed across a wide range of species. We review recent studies of the factors associated with the presence of Bs across species, and provide new analyses with updated data and additional variables. The major obstacle facing comparative studies of B chromosome distribution is variation among species in the intensity of cytogenetic study. Because Bs are, by definition, not present in all individuals of a species, they may often be overlooked in species that are rarely studied. We give examples of corrections for differences in study effort, and show that after a variety of such corrections, strong correlations remain. Several major biological factors are associated with the presence of B chromosomes. Among flowering plants, Bs are more likely to occur in outcrossing than in inbred species, and their presence is also positively correlated with genome size and negatively with chromosome number. They are no more frequent in polyploids than in diploids, nor in species with multiple ploidies. Among mammals, Bs are more likely to occur in species with karyotypes consisting of mostly acrocentric chromosomes. We find no evidence for an association with chromosome number or genome size in mammals, although the sample for genome size is small. The associations with breeding system and acrocentric chromosomes were both predicted in advance, but those with genome size and chromosome number were discovered empirically and we can offer only tentative explanations for the very strong associations we have uncovered. Our understanding of why B chromosomes are present in some species and absent in others is still in its infancy, and we suggest several potential avenues for future research.
Identification of Dietetically Absorbed Rapeseed (Brassica campestris L.) Bee Pollen MicroRNAs in Serum of Mice

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of small noncoding RNA that, through mediating posttranscriptional gene regulation, play a critical role in nearly all biological processes. Over the last decade it has become apparent that plant miRNAs may serve as a novel functional component of food with therapeutic effects including anti-influenza and antitumor. Rapeseed bee pollen has good properties in enhancing immune function as well as preventing and treating disease. In this study, we identified the exogenous miRNAs from rapeseed bee pollen in mice blood using RNA-seq technology. We found that miR-166a was the most highly enriched exogenous plant miRNAs in the blood of mice fed with rapeseed bee pollen, followed by miR-159. Subsequently, RT-qPCR results confirmed that these two miRNAs also can be detected in rapeseed bee pollen. Our results suggested that food-derived exogenous miRNAs from rapeseed bee pollen could be absorbed in mice and the abundance of exogenous miRNAs in mouse blood is dependent on their original levels in the rapeseed bee pollen.
Effects of Fusion between Tactile and Proprioceptive Inputs on Tactile Perception

Tactile perception is typically considered the result of cortical interpretation of afferent signals from a network of mechanical sensors underneath the skin. Yet, tactile illusion studies suggest that tactile perception can be elicited without afferent signals from mechanoceptors. Therefore, the extent that tactile perception arises from isomorphic mapping of tactile afferents onto the somatosensory cortex remains controversial. We tested whether isomorphic mapping of tactile afferent fibers onto the cortex leads directly to tactile perception by examining whether it is independent from proprioceptive input by evaluating the impact of different hand postures on the perception of a tactile illusion across fingertips. Using the Cutaneous Rabbit Effect, a well studied illusion evoking the perception that a stimulus occurs at a location where none has been delivered, we found that hand posture has a significant effect on the perception of the illusion across the fingertips. This finding emphasizes that tactile perception arises from integration of perceived mechanical and proprioceptive input and not purely from tactile interaction with the external environment.
The Role of Haptics in User Input for People with Motor and Cognitive Impairments

Most input devices, also traditional ones like keyboard and mouse involve at least a certain amount of haptic experience. For instance, they require direct physical contact between user and device and provide direct haptic feedback (e.g., through the physical resistance of a key). However, in the past years, also touchless input devices and techniques gained broader attention as they e.g., allow for a restriction of physical boundaries that limit the possible range of user input activities. This paper discusses the role of haptics in user input with a particular focus on the needs of people with impairments and presents the results of a study comparing three input devices, each involving a different amount of haptic experience.
Bmc Developmental Biology Identification of Genes Differentially Expressed during Prenatal Development of Skeletal Muscle in Two Pig Breeds Differing in Muscularity

Background: Postnatal muscle growth is largely depending on the number and size of muscle fibers. The number of myofibers and to a large extent their metabolic and contractile properties, which also influence their size, are determined prenatally during the process of myogenesis. Hence identification of genes and their networks governing prenatal development of skeletal muscles will provide insight into the control of muscle growth and facilitate finding the source of its variation. So far most of the genes involved in myogenesis were identified by in vitro studies using gene targeting and transgenesis. Profiling of transcriptome changes during the myogenesis in vivo promises to obtain a more complete picture. In order to address this, we performed transcriptome profiling of prenatal skeletal muscle using differential display RT-PCR as on open system with the potential to detect novel transcripts. Seven key stages of myogenesis (days 14, 21, 35, 49, 63, 77 and 91 post conception) were studied in two breeds, Pietrain and Duroc, differing markedly in muscularity and muscle structure.
Low preoperative lymphocyte to monocyte ratio predicts poor cancer-specific survival in patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma

Background Recent studies have shown that the lymphocyte to monocyte ratio (LMR) is a useful predictive factor in various cancers. However, the prognostic value of LMR in patients with esophageal cancer has not been reported yet. The purpose of the current study was to determine the prognostic role of LMR in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). Methods Three-hundred and forty-eight patients who had undergone esophagectomy for ESCC were included. A receiver operating characteristic curve for survival prediction was plotted to verify the optimum cut-off point for LMR. Kaplan–Meier method was used to calculate the cancer-specific survival (CSS), the difference was assessed by the log-rank test. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to evaluate the prognostic factors. Results A receiver operating characteristic curve for survival prediction was plotted to verify the optimum cut-off point for LMR, which was 2.93. Patients with LMR ≤2.93 had a significantly worse 5-year CSS than patients with LMR >2.93 (21.2% versus 59.3%, P<0.001). For subgroup analysis, the predictive value of LMR was also significant in patients with T1-2 cancer (P=0.003), T3-4a (P<0.001), and patients with (P=0.044) or without (P<0.001) nodal metastasis. In addition, the predictive value of LMR was also significant stratified by absolute lymphocyte count (P<0.001) and absolute monocyte count (P<0.001). In multivariate analysis, LMR was a significant predictive factor of CSS (P=0.010). Conclusion LMR is still a predictive factor for long-term survival in patients with ESCC. We conclude that 2.93 may be the optimum cut-off point for LMR in predicting survival in ESCC patients.