Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Omega-3 Fatty Acids in Early Prevention of Inflammatory Neurodegenerative Disease: A Focus on Alzheimer's Disease

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the leading cause of dementia and the most common neurodegenerative disease in the elderly. Furthermore, AD has provided the most positive indication to support the fact that inflammation contributes to neurodegenerative disease. The exact etiology of AD is unknown, but environmental and genetic factors are thought to contribute, such as advancing age, family history, presence of chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease (CVD) and diabetes, and poor diet and lifestyle. It is hypothesised that early prevention or management of inflammation could delay the onset or reduce the symptoms of AD. Normal physiological changes to the brain with ageing include depletion of long chain omega-3 fatty acids and brains of AD patients have lower docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) levels. DHA supplementation can reduce markers of inflammation. This review specifically focusses on the evidence in humans from epidemiological, dietary intervention, and supplementation studies, which supports the role of long chain omega-3 fatty acids in the prevention or delay of cognitive decline in AD in its early stages. Longer term trials with long chain omega-3 supplementation in early stage AD are warranted. We also highlight the importance of overall quality and composition of the diet to protect against AD and dementia.
Quantitative comparison of analytic and iterative reconstruction methods in 2- and 3-dimensional dynamic cardiac 18F-FDG PET.

UNLABELLED The aim of this work was to compare the quantitative accuracy of iteratively reconstructed cardiac (18)F-FDG PET with that of filtered backprojection for both 2-dimensional (2D) and 3-dimensional (3D) acquisitions and to establish an optimal procedure for imaging myocardial viability with (18)F-FDG PET. METHODS Eight patients underwent dynamic cardiac (18)F-FDG PET using an interleaved 2D/3D scan protocol, enabling comparison of 2D and 3D acquisitions within the same patient and study. A 10-min transmission scan was followed by a 10-min, 25-frame dynamic 3D scan and then by a series of 10 alternating 5-min 3D and 2D scans. Images were reconstructed with filtered backprojection (FBP) or attenuation-weighted ordered-subsets expectation maximization (OSEM), combined with Fourier rebinning (FORE) for 3D acquisitions, applying all usual corrections. Regions of interest (ROIs) were drawn in the myocardium, left ventricle, and ascending aorta, with the last 2 being used to define image-derived input functions (IDIFs). Patlak graphical analysis was used to compare net (18)F-FDG uptake in the myocardium, calculated from either 2D or 3D data, after reconstruction with FBP or OSEM. Either IDIFs or arterial sampling was used as the input function. The same analysis was performed on parametric images. RESULTS A good correlation (r(2) > 0.99) was found between net (18)F-FDG uptake values for a myocardium ROI determined using each acquisition and reconstruction method and blood-sampling input functions. A similar result was found for parametric images. The ascending aorta was the best choice for IDIF definition. CONCLUSION Good correlation and no bias of net (18)F-FDG uptake in relation to that based on FBP images, combined with less image noise, make 3D acquisition with FORE plus attenuation-weighted OSEM reconstruction the preferred choice for cardiac (18)F-FDG PET studies.
European Union Enlargement: Background, Developments, Facts

almost ten-year process of preparing and negotiating the accession of Eastern, Southeastern, and Central European countries, as well as Mediterranean countries to the European Union. In the end, ten joined in 2004, with two more to follow in 2007. European Union Enlargement was written by two diplomats who were directly involved in that process.
Combined records from a stalagmite from Barbados and from lake sediments in Haiti reveal variable seasonality in the Caribbean between 6 . 7 and 3 ka BP

The growth of a well-dated stalagmite from Barbados records high infiltration rates into the karst aquifer and hence increased rainfall intensity between 6.7 and 3 ka BP in agreement with records from Lake Miragoane, Haiti [Hodell et al., 1991. Reconstruction of the Caribbean climate change over the past 10,500 years. Nature 352, 790–793], mainly reflecting the insolation maximum of the Northern Hemisphere. Both the lake record and the stable isotope record of the stalagmite reveal additional centennial variability of recharge. High oxygen isotope values in stalagmite calcite, corresponding to reduced recharge, are synchronous with periods of lower stable isotope values recorded in Lake Miragoane ostracods, previously attributed to enhanced precipitation. Accordingly, periods of increased recharge in Barbados correspond to O-enriched isotope values of ostracods, which were attributed to higher evaporation/precipitation ratios in the lakes. We ascribe this apparent discrepancy to changes in seasonality, i.e., winter periods of reduced temperature and relative humidity following summer months of increased precipitation. At present, such climate conditions occur during periods of enhanced Northern Atlantic Oscillation (NAO). If enhanced seasonality is a consequence of a NAO situation, the apparent discrepancy of high isotope values in lakes (previously attributed to droughts) can be reconciled with lower winter temperatures in the lakes. Further, the correlation of solar intensity (derived from C and Be) with the isotopic signals recorded in the lacustrine sediments suggests a solar forcing of the NAO during the mid Holocene. r 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Early Exposure to Respiratory Allergens by Placental Transfer and Breastfeeding

The relationship between allergen exposure and the onset of or protection from allergic diseases remains unclear. Many factors could be related to immunological responses, such as the age when the exposure occurs, type of allergen, timing, dose, and allergen route. In this study, we investigated whether exposure to respiratory allergens could occur in pregnancy or early life. In particular, we assessed whether Der p 1 and Blo t 5, as well as specific antibodies against these allergens, could be detected in 90 paired cord blood and colostrum samples. Der p 1 was detected in 58.6% of colostrum and 29% of cord blood samples, whereas Blot 5 was positive in 41.3% and 9.6% of the samples, respectively. Similar to specific IgA, which could be detected in all samples for both mites, specific IgG was found in a high number of colostrum samples, 93.5% and 94.8% for Dp and Bt, respectively. Although allergens were not detected in all cord blood samples, a high percentage of them (≥95%) were positive for specific IgM to both mites in cord blood samples, suggesting that neonates can be exposed and sensitized to airborne allergens during pregnancy. Many studies have attempted to correlate allergen exposure or its prevention in early infancy with the onset of or protection from allergic diseases. However, conflicting and inconsistent data do not show a clear correlation with or suggest a way to prevent allergen sensitization. Nevertheless, these unconvincing results could be better understood if the relationship with many aspects of allergen exposure after pregnancy could be clarified. Thus, it is necessary to address basic issues related to allergen exposure, including the development of reproducible, standardized and reliable methods, and to determine how and where the exposure occurs.
Voltage-activated Ca(2+) channels in rat renal afferent and efferent myocytes: no evidence for the T-type Ca(2+) current.

AIMS Based on indirect methods, it has been suggested that both L- and T-type Ca(2+) channels mediate signalling in the renal afferent arteriole and that T-type Ca(2+) channels are involved in signalling in the efferent arteriole. However, Ca(2+) currents have never been studied in these two vessels. Our study was initiated to directly determine the type of Ca(2+) channels in these vessels for the first time, using patch clamp. METHODS AND RESULTS Native myocytes were obtained from individually isolated rat renal afferent and efferent arterioles and from rat tail arteries (TA). TA myocytes, which possess both L- and T-type Ca(2+) currents, served as a positive control. Inward Ca(2+) and Ba(2+) currents (I(Ca) and I(Ba)) were measured in 1.5 mmol/L Ca(2+) and 10 mmol/L Ba(2+), respectively, using the whole-cell configuration. By exploiting known differences in activation and inactivation characteristics and differing sensitivities to nifedipine and kurtoxin, the presence of both L- and T-type Ca(2+) channels in TA myocytes was readily demonstrated. Afferent arteriolar myocytes exhibited relatively large I(Ca) densities (-2.0 ± 0.2 pA/pF) in physiological Ca(2+) and the I(Ba) was 3.6-fold greater. These currents were blocked by nifedipine, but not by kurtoxin, and did not exhibit the activation and inactivation characteristics of T-type Ca(2+) channels. Efferent arteriolar myocytes did not exhibit a discernible voltage-activated I(Ca) in physiological Ca(2+). CONCLUSION Our findings support the physiological role of L-type Ca(2+) channels in the afferent, but not efferent, arteriole, but do not support the premise that functional T-type Ca(2+) channels are present in either vessel.
A chaotic approach to dynamic asset pricing theory

We provide a new framework for modelling interest rates and the dynamics of asset prices. We consider the general family of arbitrage-free positive interest rate models, valid on all time horizons. The conditional variance representation for the pricing kernel process provides a powerful framework in which we develop the theory of discount bond evolution, when the market is driven by a Brownian motion of one or more dimensions. We show that there is a mapping between all positive arbitrage-free interest rate models and the space of square-integrable Wiener functionals. The Wiener chaos expansion technique is then used to formulate a systematic analysis of the structure and classification of interest rate models. The specification of a first-chaos model is equivalent to the specification of an admissible initial yield curve. A comprehensive development of the secondchaos interest rate theory is presented in the case of a single Brownian factor, and we show that there is a natural methodology for calibrating the model to at-the-moneyýforward caplet prices. The factorisable second-chaos models are particularly tractable, and lead to closed-form expressions for various types of interest rate derivatives. The methodology is powerful enough to apply in a general foreign exchange setting, for which each currency admits an associated family of discount bonds. The same arguments hold for general asset dynamics, and we provide a generic way for creating models for trajectories of assets of limited liability. Examples include the usual geometric Brownian motion model as well as other more sophisticated models. In the case of a combination of two chaos expansions we are lead to a potentially powerful modelling alternative for the pricing of derivative products. Explicit results are given for simple European options and we discuss generalisations for more exotic derivatives.
Structural and Dynamical Patterns on Online Social Networks: The Spanish May 15th Movement as a Case Study

The number of people using online social networks in their everyday life is continuously growing at a pace never saw before. This new kind of communication has an enormous impact on opinions, cultural trends, information spreading and even in the commercial success of new products. More importantly, social online networks have revealed as a fundamental organizing mechanism in recent country-wide social movements. In this paper, we provide a quantitative analysis of the structural and dynamical patterns emerging from the activity of an online social network around the ongoing May 15th (15M) movement in Spain. Our network is made up by users that exchanged tweets in a time period of one month, which includes the birth and stabilization of the 15M movement. We characterize in depth the growth of such dynamical network and find that it is scale-free with communities at the mesoscale. We also find that its dynamics exhibits typical features of critical systems such as robustness and power-law distributions for several quantities. Remarkably, we report that the patterns characterizing the spreading dynamics are asymmetric, giving rise to a clear distinction between information sources and sinks. Our study represents a first step towards the use of data from online social media to comprehend modern societal dynamics.
Access to integrated community case management of childhood illnesses services in rural Ethiopia: a qualitative study of the perspectives and experiences of caregivers

Background: In 2010, Ethiopia began scaling up the integrated community case management (iCCM) of childhood illness strategy throughout the country allowing health extension workers (HEWs) to treat children in rural health posts. After 2 years of iCCM scale up, utilization of HEWs remains low. Little is known about factors related to the use of health services in this setting. This research aimed to elicit perceptions and experiences of caregivers to better understand reasons for low utilization of iCCM services. Methods: A rapid ethnographic assessment was conducted in eight rural health post catchment areas in two zones: Jimma and West Hararghe. In total, 16 focus group discussions and 78 in-depth interviews were completed with mothers, fathers, HEWs and community health volunteers. Results: In spite of the HEW being a core component of iCCM, we found that the lack of availability of HEWs at the health post was one of the most common barriers to the utilization of iCCM services mentioned by caregivers. Financial and geographic challenges continue to influence caregiver decisions despite extension of free child health services in communities. Acceptability of HEWs was often low due to a perceived lack of sensitivity of HEWs and concerns about medicines given at the health post. Social networks acted both to facilitate and hinder use of HEWs. Many mothers stated a preference for using the health post, but some were unable to do so due to objections or alternative care-seeking preferences of gatekeepers, often mothers-in-law and husbands. Conclusion: Caregivers in Ethiopia face many challenges in using HEWs at the health post, potentially resulting in low demand for iCCM services. Efforts to minimize barriers to care seeking and to improve demand should be incorporated into the iCCM strategy in order to achieve reductions in child mortality and promote equity in access and child health outcomes.
BENEFITS TRANSFER AND COUNT DATA TRAVEL COST MODELS: AN APPLICATION AND TEST OF A VARYING PARAMETER APPROACH WITH GUIDED WHITEWATER RAFTING

We combine currently popular count data methods with earlier work by Vaughan and Russell on varying parameter travel cost models to model trip demand and calculate consumer surplus. We test and reject the hypothesis that per trip consumer surplus from guided rafting is invariant to river characteristics. We then develop and test a series of benefit transfer functions against benefits derived from individual river models. Our findings suggest that this flexible form of count data model offers considerable promise as a benefit transfer function.
Regional Competition and Competitive Balance in Sport Leagues

A well-known finding in of sport economics is that differences in the winning probabilities of sport teams are determined largely by unequal market sizes and, therefore, revenue potential. Larger markets yield higher marginal revenue and thus, more units of talent being employed by the respective teams. In contrast to the existing literature, this paper presents a model with endogenous market sizes. Teams are able to choose their location at which they are based, implying a direct effect on their own, as well as on their opponent’s potential market size. This regional competition in sport leagues is analyzed in terms of overall payoff, competitive balance, and effectiveness of revenue sharing agreements for profit-, as well as for win-maximizing team behavior. It can be shown that the usually assumption of a strictly positive correlation between market size and success does not hold in general. Furthermore, evidence relating to major European football leagues is presented, indicating that a larger market does not necessarily imply more successful teams.
The LF-ASD brain computer interface: on-line identification of imagined finger flexions in subjects with spinal cord injuries

Our research has focused on developing a brain-controlled switch that is suitable for asynchronous control applications. We have developed a switch, the Low Frequency Asynchronous Switch Design (LF-ASD) that users can activate by imagining movement. On-line implementations of the LF-ASD has shown promising results in respond to actual index finger flexions and imagined finger flexions within able-bodied subjects. This work reports the results of our first test with subjects with high-level spinal-cord injuries. In this study, two subjects with high-level spinal-cord injuries were able to control the LF-ASD with imagined voluntary movements with hit (true positive) rates from 45-48% and false positive rates below 1%.
Deep brain stimulation in Parkinson's disease following fetal nigral transplantation

OFF‐period dyskinesias have been reported as a consequence of fetal nigral transplantation for Parkinson's disease. This type of dyskinesias may appear in patients even in the prolonged absence of antiparkinson medication and be aggravated by levodopa. Therefore, pharmacological therapeutic approaches in these patients are limited. Here we report two patients with bilateral fetal nigral grafts in the caudate and putamen subjected to deep brain stimulation (DBS) of the globus pallidus internus (GPi) or subthalamic nucleus (STN). Clinical assessment was performed according to UPDRS and the clinical dyskinesia rating scale. In both patients, we found significant improvement in OFF‐period symptoms as well as levodopa‐induced dyskinesias. However, only GPi‐DBS led to a significant reduction of OFF‐period dyskinesias whereas STN‐DBS did not influence dyskinesias unrelated to external dopaminergic application. These findings, based on two case reports, highlight the pivotal role of the GPi in mediating dyskinesia‐related neural activity within the basal ganglia loop. © 2008 Movement Disorder Society
Construction of combinatorial manifolds with the prescribed sets of links of vertices

To each oriented closed combinatorial manifold we assign the set (with repetitions) of isomorphism classes of links of its vertices. The obtained transformation L is the main object of study of the present paper. We pose a problem on the inversion of the transformation L. We shall show that this problem is closely related to N.Steenrod's problem on realization of cycles and to the Rokhlin-Schwartz-Thom construction of combinatorial Pontryagin classes. It is easy to obtain a condition of balancing that is a necessary condition for a set of isomorphism classes of combinatorial spheres to belong to the image of the transformation L. In the present paper we give an explicit construction providing that each balanced set of isomorphism classes of combinatorial spheres gets into the image of L after passing to a multiple set and adding several pairs of the form (Z,-Z), where -Z is the sphere Z with the orientation reversed. This construction enables us, for a given singular simplicial cycle of a space R, to construct explicitly a combinatorial manifold M and a mapping $\phi:M\to R$ such that $\phi_*[M]=r[\xi]$ for some positive integer r. The construction is based on resolving singularities of the cycle $\xi$. We give applications of our main construction to cobordisms of manifolds with singularities and cobordisms of simple cells. In particular, we prove that every rational additive invariant of cobordisms of manifolds with singularities admits a local formula. Another application is the construction of explicit (though inefficient) local combinatorial formulae for polynomials in the rational Pontryagin classes of combinatorial manifolds.
Conservatism, Optimal Disclosure Policy, and the Timeliness of Financial Reports

We develop a theory of the relation between biases in financial reporting and managers' incentives to issue timely voluntary disclosures. We find that firms with relatively more conservative accounting are less likely to make timely voluntary disclosures than firms with less conservative accounting. Therefore, price is more timely in reflecting the news of firms with less conservative accounting. Prior research has assumed that the timeliness by which news is impounded in price is uncorrelated with the nature of accounting earnings and has ascribed a concave earnings‐return relation to the accounting system reporting bad news on a more timely basis than good news. In our theory, a concave relation is not necessarily attributable to a difference in the way the accounting system reports good vs. bad news. Rather, our prediction stems from how biases in mandatory financial reports determine which firms optimally choose to make voluntary preemptive disclosures and which do not. Hence, our theory provides an a.
Chapter 6: Weak Isolation and Distribution Overview and Prevalence the Key Challenge: Reasoning about Anoma- Lies

Conventional database wisdom dictates that serializable transactions are the canonical solution to the problem of concurrent programming, but this is seldom the case in real-world databases. In practice, database systems instead overwhelmingly implement concurrency control that is nonserializable, exposing users to the possibility that their transactions will not appear to have executed in some serial order. In this chapter, we discuss why the use of this socalled “weak isolation” is so widespread, what these nonserializable isolation modes actually do, and why reasoning about them is so difficult.
The Policy of Choice: Expanding Student Options in Higher Education. The New Millennium Project on Higher Education Costs, Pricing, and Productivity.

This report discusses what college choice means and how it works. Exploring in some detail the various definitions of choice, the report reveals what is known about the factors that influence students' decisions, and the current "status" of choice. The analysis focuses on choice in relation to federal need-based financial aid policy. Higher education policy about choice has evolved from focusing on whether students have a choice of public versus private institutions to examining whether students can choose between a two-year college, a for-profit institution, or a four-year institution. In 1999-2000, 62% of all first-year undergraduates were enrolled at public two-year institutions, and 19% attended public four-year institutions. First-year undergraduates with nontraditional characteristics were more likely to attend lower priced two-year institutions. Data reveal that patterns of enrollment have changed over the period 1989-1990 to 19992000, suggested a movement toward lower-priced institutions, especially community colleges, for many students. Data also show that the choice of a more expensive institution is relatively more costly for students from lowincome backgrounds than for students with high-income backgrounds. The report highlights key areas to consider in future policy discussions of college choice. (Contains 10 tables and 40 references.) (SLD) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. BEST COPY AVAILABLE of choice Expanding Student Options in Higher Education 1 PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE AND DISSEMINATE THIS MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY