Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Synaptic Failure: Focus in an Integrative View of ALS

From early description by Charcot, the classification of the Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) is evolving from a subtype of Motor Neuron (MN) Disease to be considered rather a multi-systemic, non-cell autonomous and complex neurodegenerative disease. In the last decade, the huge amount of knowledge acquired has shed new insights on the pathological mechanisms underlying ALS from different perspectives. However, a whole vision on the multiple dysfunctional pathways is needed with the inclusion of information often excluded in other published revisions. We propose an integrative view of ALS pathology, although centered on the synaptic failure as a converging and crucial player to the etiology of the disease. Homeostasis of input and output synaptic activity of MNs has been proved to be severely and early disrupted and to definitively contribute to microcircuitry alterations at the spinal cord. Several cells play roles in synaptic communication across the MNs network system such as interneurons, astrocytes, microglia, Schwann and skeletal muscle cells. Microglia are described as highly dynamic surveying cells of the nervous system but also as determinant contributors to the synaptic plasticity linked to neuronal activity. Several signaling axis such as TNFα/TNFR1 and CX3CR1/CX3CL1 that characterize MN-microglia cross talk contribute to synaptic scaling and maintenance, have been found altered in ALS. The presence of dystrophic and atypical microglia in late stages of ALS, with a decline in their dynamic motility and phagocytic ability, together with less synaptic and neuronal contacts disrupts the MN-microglia dialogue, decreases homeostatic regulation of neuronal activity, perturbs “on/off” signals and accelerates disease progression associated to impaired synaptic function and regeneration. Other hotspot in the ALS affected network system is the unstable neuromuscular junction (NMJ) leading to distal axonal degeneration. Reduced neuromuscular spontaneous synaptic activity in ALS mice models was also suggested to account for the selective vulnerability of MNs and decreased regenerative capability. Synaptic destabilization may as well derive from increased release of molecules by muscle cells (e.g. NogoA) and by terminal Schwann cells (e.g. semaphorin 3A) conceivably causing nerve terminal retraction and denervation, as well as inhibition of re-connection to muscle fibers. Indeed, we have overviewed the alterations on the metabolic pathways and self-regenerative capacity presented in skeletal muscle cells that contribute to muscle wasting in ALS. Finally, a detailed footpath of pathologic changes on MNs and associated dysfunctional and synaptic alterations is provided. The oriented motivation in future ALS studies as outlined in the present article will help in fruitful novel achievements on the mechanisms involved and in developing more target-driven therapies that will bring new hope in halting or delaying disease progression in ALS patients.
SIMULTANEOUS TRADING IN ‘LIT’ AND DARK POOLS

We consider an optimal trading problem over a finite period of time during which an investor has access to both a standard exchange and a dark pool. We take the exchange to be an order-driven market and propose a continuous-time setup for the best bid price and the market spread, both modeled by Levy processes. Effects on the best bid price arising from the arrival of limit buy orders at more favorable prices, the incoming market sell orders potentially walking the book, and deriving from the cancellations of limit sell orders at the best ask price are incorporated in the proposed price dynamics. A permanent impact that occurs when ‘lit’ pool trades cannot be avoided is built in, and an instantaneous impact that models the slippage, to which all lit exchange trades are subject, is also considered. We assume that the trading price in the dark pool is the mid-price and that no fees are due for posting orders. We allow for partial trade executions in the dark pool, and we find the optimal trading strategy in both venues. Since the mid-price is taken from the exchange, the dynamics of the limit order book also affects the optimal allocation of shares in the dark pool. We propose a general objective function and we show that, subject to suitable technical conditions, the value function can be characterized by the unique continuous viscosity solution to the associated partial integro-differential equation. We present two explicit examples of the price and the spread models, derive the associated optimal trading strategy numerically. We discuss the various degrees of the agent's risk aversion and further show that roundtrips are not necessarily beneficial.
A Context-based Approach for Dialogue Act Recognition using Simple Recurrent Neural Networks

Dialogue act recognition is an important part of natural language understanding. We investigate the way dialogue act corpora are annotated and the learning approaches used so far. We find that the dialogue act is context-sensitive within the conversation for most of the classes. Nevertheless, previous models of dialogue act classification work on the utterance-level and only very few consider context. We propose a novel context-based learning method to classify dialogue acts using a character-level language model utterance representation, and we notice significant improvement. We evaluate this method on the Switchboard Dialogue Act corpus, and our results show that the consideration of the preceding utterances as a context of the current utterance improves dialogue act detection.
Transforming Wikipedia into a Large-Scale Fine-Grained Entity Type Corpus

This paper presents WiFiNE, an English corpus annotated with ﬁne-grained entity types. We propose simple but effective heuristics we applied to English Wikipedia to build a large, high quality, annotated corpus. We evaluate the impact of our corpus on the ﬁne-grained entity typing system of Shimaoka et al. (2017), with 2 manually annotated benchmarks, F IGER (GOLD) and O NTO N OTES . We report state-of-the-art performances, with a gain of 0.8 micro F1 score on the former dataset and a gain of 2.7 macro F1 score on the latter one, despite the fact that we employ the same quantity of training data used in previous works. We make our corpus available as a resource for future works.
Genetic diversity estimation of Yunnan indigenous goat breeds using microsatellite markers

Abstract Background To assess the genetic diversity of seven Yunnan indigenous goat populations (Fengqing hornless goat, Mile red‐bone goat, Longling goat, Ninglang black goat, Black‐bone goat, Yunling black goat, and Zhaotong goat), their population structures were investigated using 20 microsatellite markers. Results The results indicated that the genetic diversity of these goats was rich. The observed heterozygosity ranged from 0.4667 ± 0.0243 to 0.5793 ± 0.0230, and the mean number of alleles ranged from 4.80 ± 1.61 and 4.80 ± 1.64 to 6.20 ± 2.93. The population structure analysis showed that these seven goat populations were separated into two clusters, consistent with the results from phylogenetic networks, pairwise differences, and STRUCTURE analyses. We speculate that this may have been caused by natural geographical isolation, human migration and economic and cultural exchanges. We suggest removing CSRD247 and ILSTS005, two loci identified to be under positive selection in the present study, from the microsatellite evaluation system of goats. Conclusions The present study may provide a scientific basis for the conservation and utilization of Yunnan indigenous goats.
Gender Equality in Employment in Turkish Legislation with Comparisons to EU and International Law

As a candidate for membership of the European Union (EU), Turkey has to harmonize its existing legislation with the EU requirements for gender equality in employment. Also the amended Turkish Constitution states that where a conflict between ratified international treaties and domestic law exists, international treaties shall prevail. These treaties are binding upon the legislative, executive, and judicial organs, the administrative authorities, and other institutions and individuals. Turkey has therefore been undergoing a period of rapid legislative change and development, in order to comply with the EU's acquis communautaire and with Council of Europe (COE), International Labour Organisation (ILO), and United Nations (UN) conventions, which have been ratified by Turkey. In this respect, the new Employment Act (EA), the Criminal Act (CA), and the amended Constitution represent a major step forward toward gender equality in employment. However, there are problems of harmonization with EU and international standards in the wording of the EA and CA, and in some provisions of the Constitution. In the present article, the EA's legal framework for women employees is analyzed from a critical point of view. The provisions of the EA, the CA, and the Constitution are compared with EU and international standards and possible changes are proposed. (Less)
Factors influencing the provision of fertility counseling and impact on quality of life in adolescents and young adults with cancer

ABSTRACT Purpose: This study investigated the impact of fertility-related discussions on Adolescent and Young Adult (AYA) cancer patients’ quality of life (QoL) and the factors influencing provision of these discussions. Methods: Recruitment was conducted through population-based state cancer registries. Eligible AYAs were 15–24 years at diagnosis, 3–24 months postdiagnosis, with any cancer (except early stage melanoma). As part of a larger survey, AYAs were asked about their experiences of fertility-related discussions and QoL (FACT-G). Results: Of the 207 AYAs returning surveys (29% response rate) 88% reported a discussion about infertility risks, 75% reported a discussion about preservation options and 59% were offered a referral to a fertility specialist. Patients attending health services with an AYA focus were more likely than those attending other types of centers to report discussions of fertility preservation (FP) options (85% versus 67%) and referrals (75% versus 49%). Social well-being was positively related to discussions about preservation options and being provided fertility risk information in a sensitive, supportive manner. Conclusions: Providing a sensitive and proactive discussion about fertility-related risks may benefit AYAs’ well-being. Services with an AYA focus are fulfilling their mandate of ensuring optimal fertility-related care for AYA cancer patients.
Business Cycle Dynamics and Optimal Leverage

This paper explores theoretically and empirically the link between macroeconomic risk and corporate financing policies. In a structural trade-off model of tax benefits and default costs, I introduce EBIT growth and volatility rates that depend on the business cycle. The model shows that leverage and its benefits are larger in expansions than in recessions. A structural break of expansion and recession patterns has a pronounced effect on optimal financing policies. The use of debt increases when recessions become milder and less volatile due to a reduction in expected default costs. In an econometric analysis, I show that my model is able to replicate empirically observed leverage patterns over the business cycle. On a sample of publicly traded US firms, I document pro-cyclical leverage ratios and an increase in leverage ratios after the reduction of macroeconomic risk in the 1980s.
Clinical markers associated with glycaemic response to dipeptidyl peptidase‐4 inhibitor therapy

Incretins such as glucagon‐like peptide‐1 (GLP‐1) and glucose‐ dependent insulinotropic polypeptides are gut hormones secreted from L and K cells in the intestine in response to food intake, respectively, both of which not only stimulate glucose‐induced insulin release from pancreatic β cells, but also suppress glucagon secretion and gastric emptying. Although incretins are considered to be natural anti‐ diabetic hormones, they are rapidly degraded and inactivated by dipeptidyl peptidase‐4 (DPP‐4). So, 2 types of incretin‐based therapies have been developed for the treatment of type 2 diabetes; one pharmacological approach is oral administration of DPP‐4 inhibitors, which can extend the half‐life of native incretins, and the other is subcutaneous injection of incretin mimetics that are resistant to degradation by DPP‐4. Inhibitors of DPP‐4 are now widely used oral anti‐hypoglycaemic agents for the treatment of patients with type 2 diabetes because they can improve hyperglycaemia, especially postprandial hyperglycaemia with low risk of hypoglycaemia and no weight gain. Meta‐analysis of placebo‐controlled clinical studies revealed that DPP‐4 inhibitors yielded a mean reduction in HbA1c of −0.7%, the extent of which was similar in patients with a different duration of diabetes in both shorter‐term and longer‐term trials. However, there is some controversy as to which clinical markers, beyond baseline fasting plasma glucose and HbA1c levels, are associated with the glycaemic response to DPP‐4 inhibitor therapy in type 2 diabetic patients. Indeed, a systemic review of randomized clinical trials has reported inconsistent findings; some studies have shown that high baseline body mass index or homeostasis model assessment 2 of insulin resistance (HOMA2‐IR), one of the markers of insulin resistance, is associated with the reduced response to DPP‐4 inhibitors, while others have revealed consistent glycaemic response across subpopulations of patients with varying demographics. Methodological limitations, ecological bias, and
Examining the Psychometric Properties of the Behavioral Regulation in Exercise Questionnaire

The purpose of this study was to examine select psychometric properties of the Behavioral Regulation in Exercise Questionnaire (BREQ; Mullen, Markland, & Ingledew, 1997). To accomplish this aim, data were gathered in 2 phases to evaluate the BREQ's factorial composition and structure and the relation between the BREQ, need satisfaction, exercise behavior, and relevant motivational constructs. Participants completed measures assessing psychological need satisfaction, optimism, perceived behavioral control, exercise behavior, and the BREQ. Phase 1 results supported the original 4-factor measurement model and a simplex model of structural relations between latent BREQ constructs suggested within self-determination theory (Deci & Ryan, 1985), and results supported the positive relations between more self-determined motives and greater psychological need satisfaction and frequent exercise behavior. Phase 2 results provided further construct validity evidence for the BREQ by linking subscale scores with greater perceived behavioral control in a manner consistent with theory (Deci & Ryan, 1985). Collectively, these results further support the construct validity of the BREQ and lend credence to the notion of measuring exercise motivation from a multidimensional perspective using self-determination theory as a guiding framework in the exercise domain.
Comparison of Anterior, Posterior, and Total Corneal Astigmatism Measured Using a Single Scheimpflug Camera in Healthy and Keratoconus Eyes

Purpose To compare the effect of posterior corneal astigmatism on the estimation of total corneal astigmatism using anterior corneal measurements (simulated keratometry [K]) between eyes with keratoconus and healthy eyes. Methods Thirty-three eyes of 33 patients with keratoconus of grade I or II and 33 eyes of 33 age- and sex-matched healthy control subjects were enrolled. Anterior, posterior, and total corneal cylinder powers and flat meridians measured by a single Scheimpflug camera were analyzed. The difference in corneal astigmatism between the simulated K and total cornea was evaluated. Results The mean anterior, posterior, and total corneal cylinder powers of the keratoconus group (4.37 ± 1.73, 0.95 ± 0.39, and 4.36 ± 1.74 cylinder diopters [CD], respectively) were significantly greater than those of the control group (1.10 ± 0.68, 0.39 ± 0.18, and 0.97 ± 0.63 CD, respectively). The cylinder power difference between the simulated K and total cornea was positively correlated with the posterior corneal cylinder power and negatively correlated with the absolute flat meridian difference between the simulated K and total cornea in both groups. The mean magnitude of the vector difference between the astigmatism of the simulated K and total cornea of the keratoconus group (0.67 ± 0.67 CD) was significantly larger than that of the control group (0.28 ± 0.12 CD). Conclusions Eyes with keratoconus had greater estimation errors of total corneal astigmatism based on anterior corneal measurement than did healthy eyes. Posterior corneal surface measurement should be more emphasized to determine the total corneal astigmatism in eyes with keratoconus.
Assessing the utility of metabarcoding for diet analyses of the omnivorous wild pig (Sus scrofa)

Abstract Wild pigs (Sus scrofa) are an invasive species descended from both domestic swine and Eurasian wild boar that was introduced to North America during the early 1500s. Wild pigs have since become the most abundant free‐ranging exotic ungulate in the United States. Large and ever‐increasing populations of wild pigs negatively impact agriculture, sport hunting, and native ecosystems with costs estimated to exceed $1.5 billion/year within the United States. Wild pigs are recognized as generalist feeders, able to exploit a broad array of locally available food resources, yet their feeding behaviors remain poorly understood as partially digested material is often unidentifiable through traditional stomach content analyses. To overcome the limitation of stomach content analyses, we developed a DNA sequencing‐based protocol to describe the plant and animal diet composition of wild pigs. Additionally, we developed and evaluated blocking primers to reduce the amplification and sequencing of host DNA, thus providing greater returns of sequences from diet items. We demonstrate that the use of blocking primers produces significantly more sequencing reads per sample from diet items, which increases the robustness of ascertaining animal diet composition with molecular tools. Further, we show that the overall plant and animal diet composition is significantly different between the three areas sampled, demonstrating this approach is suitable for describing differences in diet composition among the locations.
A Computational Workflow for Probabilistic Quantitative in Vitro to in Vivo Extrapolation

A computational workflow was developed to facilitate the process of quantitative in vitro to in vivo extrapolation (QIVIVE), specifically the translation of in vitro concentration-response to in vivo dose-response relationships and subsequent derivation of a benchmark dose value (BMD). The workflow integrates physiologically based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) modeling; global sensitivity analysis (GSA), Approximate Bayesian Computation (ABC) and Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) simulation. For a given set of in vitro concentration and response data the algorithm returns the posterior distribution of the corresponding in vivo, population-based dose-response values, for a given route of exposure. The novel aspect of the workflow is a rigorous statistical framework for accommodating uncertainty in both the parameters of the PBPK model (both parameter uncertainty and population variability) and in the structure of the PBPK model itself recognizing that the model is an approximation to reality. Both these sources of uncertainty propagate through the workflow and are quantified within the posterior distribution of in vivo dose for a fixed representative in vitro concentration. To demonstrate this process and for comparative purposes a similar exercise to previously published work describing the kinetics of ethylene glycol monoethyl ether (EGME) and its embryotoxic metabolite methoxyacetic acid (MAA) in rats was undertaken. The computational algorithm can be used to extrapolate from in vitro data to any organism, including human. Ultimately, this process will be incorporated into a user-friendly, freely available modeling platform, currently under development, that will simplify the process of QIVIVE.
Bag of Surrogate Parts Feature for Visual Recognition

Convolutional neural networks (CNNs) have attracted significant attention in visual recognition. Several recent studies have shown that, in addition to the fully connected layers, the features derived from the convolutional layers of CNNs can also achieve promising performance in image classification tasks. In this paper, we propose a new feature from the convolutional layers, called Bag of Surrogate Parts (BoSP), and its spatial variant, Spatial-BoSP (S-BoSP). The main idea is, we assume the feature maps in the convolutional layers as surrogate parts, and densely sample and assign image regions to these surrogate parts by observing the activation values. Together with BoSP/S-BoSP, we further propose another two schemes to enhance the performance: scale pooling and global-part prediction. Scale pooling aims to handle the objects with different scales and deformations, and global-part prediction combines the predictions of global and part features. By conducting extensive experiments on generic object, fine-grained object and scene datasets, we find the proposed scheme can not only achieve superior performance to the fully connected feature, but also produces competitive or, in some cases, remarkably better performance than the state of the art.
Exploring teachers’ inquiry-based attitude

ABSTRACT Having a well-founded insight into the characteristics of teachers inquiry-based attitude (IA) supports operationalising IA as a learning goal in teacher education (TE). The aim of this study is to refine the notion of IA from an ill-defined global concept into something with reliable and valid characteristics. To do so, data were gathered on three different occasions amongst three different cohorts of teachers who participated in a master's programme at a Dutch university for applied sciences. This process of exploration and reconceptualisation was performed in collaboration with teacher educators. The results indicate that, statistically, IA has an internal reflective dimension and an external knowledge-sourcing dimension. Both dimensions can also statistically be differentiated from the personality traits openness to ideas, openness to change and epistemic curiosity. The implications of these findings for TE, plus recommendations for future research, are addressed.
PENGARUH LOKASI USAHA PADA VOLUME PENJUALAN (Survei pada Restoran Kecil di Lingkungan Universitas Riau)

ABSTRAK Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui pengaruh lokasi usaha terhadap volume penjualan. Variabel bebas adalah lokasi usaha (terdiri dari akses, visibilitas, tempat parkir, lingkungan dan persaingan) dan volume penjualan sebagai variabel terikat. Penarikan sampel sebanyak 46 responden dengan menggunakan metode survey dan analisis yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah model regresi sederhana. Setelah dilakukan uji korelasi dan uji koefisien determinasi, hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa faktor yang sangat penting dalam pemilihan lokasi usaha secara berurutan adalah akses, visibilitas, lingkungan dan tempat parkir. Sementara faktor yang dianggap penting bagi pemilik usaha adalah persaingan. Realisasi penjualan restoran kelas kecil di lingkungan kampus Universitas Riau Pekanbaru berdasarkan tingkat kedatangan rata-rata pelanggan, tingkat laba bersih perhari dan tingkat penjualan perhari dinilai sudah sesuai harapan pemilik restoran kelas kecil. Variabel lokasi usaha berpengaruh positif dan signifikan terhadap volume penjualan.