Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Arbitrage and Beliefs

We study a segmented-markets setting in which self-fulfilling volatility can arise. The only requirements are (i) asset price movements redistribute wealth across markets (e.g., equities rise as bonds fall) and (ii) some stabilizing force keeps valuation ratios stationary (e.g., cash flow growth rises when valuations rise). We prove that when self-fulfilling volatility exists, arbitrage opportunities must also exist. Conversely, at times when arbitrage profits exist, asset markets are susceptible to self-fulfilling fluctuations. The tight theoretical connection between price volatility and arbitrage is detectable in currency markets by studying deviations from covered interest parity.
Transient Neural Activation of Abstract Relations on an Incidental Analogy Task

Although a large proportion of the lexicon consists of abstract concepts, little is known about how they are represented by the brain. Here, we investigated how the mind represents relations shared between sets of mental representations that are superficially unrelated, such as car–engine and dog–tongue, but that nonetheless share a more general, abstract relation, such as whole–part. Participants saw a pair of words on each trial and were asked to indicate whether they could think of a relation between them. Importantly, they were not explicitly asked whether different word pairs shared the same relation, as in analogical reasoning tasks. We observed representational similarity for abstract relations in regions in the “conceptual hub” network, even when controlling for semantic relatedness between word pairs. By contrast, we did not observe representational similarity in regions previously implicated in explicit analogical reasoning. A given relation was sometimes repeated across sequential word pairs, allowing us to test for behavioral and neural priming of abstract relations. Indeed, we observed faster RTs and greater representational similarity for primed than unprimed trials, suggesting that mental representations of abstract relations are transiently activated on this incidental analogy task. Finally, we found a significant correlation between behavioral and neural priming across participants. To our knowledge, this is the first study to investigate relational priming using functional neuroimaging and to show that neural representations are strengthened by relational priming. This research shows how abstract concepts can be brought to mind momentarily, even when not required for task performance.
The Visual Acuity Outcome and Relevant Factors Affecting Visual Improvement in Pediatric Sporadic Chiasmatic–Hypothalamic Glioma Patients Who Received Surgery

Background: The role and effectiveness of primary surgical treatment for sporadic chiasmatic–hypothalamic glioma (CHG) are not clear. The present study was to describe sporadic CHG visual acuity (VA) outcomes after surgery and to analyze the relevant factors affecting VA improvement. Methods: Forty-five pediatric sporadic CHG patients who met the inclusion criteria were included in a retrospective study. All patients received primary intratumor partial resection. Disease characteristics, treatment strategies, complications, and VA outcome were analyzed. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to identify relevant factors of VA improvement. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis was performed to evaluate the predictive accuracy of measurement indexes. Results: There were 77 eyes of 45 children suffering from various levels of VA impairment before surgical treatment, and only 13 eyes had normal vision. Patients with resection extents >70, 50–70, and <50% accounted for 26.67, 24.44, and 48.89%, respectively. The percentages of VA maintained and deteriorated in normal vision eyes were 61.54 and 38.46%. The percentages of VA improved, maintained, and deteriorated in visually impaired eyes after surgery were 29.87, 45.45, and 24.68%, respectively. There was a positive correlation between the IVA level and VA improvement. There was no significant difference in VA improvement between the different resection extents. Blindness occurred in ~4.4%. Approximately 11.1% of the children had complications that affected quality of life, which correlated with resection extent. IVA and tumor size were correlated with VA improvement. The AUC for IVA + tumor size predicting VA improvement was 0.831. The cutoff points for IVA level and tumor volume were 4.5 and 43.50 cm3, respectively. Conclusions: IVA and tumor size were correlated with VA improvement after primary intratumor partial resection. Children with IVA ≥ level 5 were more likely to achieve visual improvement after decompression surgery, but decompression had limited effectiveness on vision improvement in patients with tumor volumes ≥ 43.50 cm3. Performing resections < 50% was safe and did not reduce the effect of decompression to improve VA.
Toll-Like Receptor 4 Expression on Lymphoma Cells Is Critical for Therapeutic Activity of Intratumoral Therapy With Synthetic TLR4 Agonist Glucopyranosyl Lipid A

Intratumoral (IT) injections of Glucopyranosyl lipid A (G100), a synthetic toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) agonist formulated in a stable emulsion, resulted in T-cell inflammation of the tumor microenvironment (TME) and complete cure of 60% of mice with large established A20 lymphomas. Strong abscopal effects on un-injected lesions were observed in a bilateral tumor model and surviving mice resisted a secondary tumor challenge. Depletion of CD8 T-cells, but not CD4 or NK cells, abrogated the anti-tumor effect. Unexpectedly, TLR4 knock-out rendered A20 tumors completely non-responsive to G100. In vitro studies showed that GLA has direct effect on A20 cells, but not on A20 cells deficient for TLR4. As shown by genotyping and phenotyping analysis, G100 strongly activated antigen presentation functions in A20 cells in vitro and in vivo and induced their apoptosis in a dose dependent manner. Similarly, the TLR4 positive human mantle cell lymphoma line Mino showed in vitro activation with G100 that was blocked with an anti-TLR4 antibody. In the A20 model, direct activation of B-lymphoma cells with G100 is sufficient to induce protective CD8 T-cell responses and TLR4 expressing human B-cell lymphomas may be amenable to this therapy as well.
Influence of Genetic Variance on Biomarker Levels After Occupational Exposure to 1,6-Hexamethylene Diisocyanate Monomer and 1,6-Hexamethylene Diisocyanate Isocyanurate

We evaluated the impact of genetic variance on biomarker levels in a population of workers in the automotive repair and refinishing industry who were exposed to respiratory sensitizers 1,6-hexamethylene diisocyanate (HDI) monomer and one of its trimers, HDI isocyanurate. The exposures and respective urine and plasma biomarkers 1,6-diaminohexane (HDA) and trisaminohexyl isocyanurate (TAHI) were measured in 33 workers; and genome-wide microarrays (Affymetrix 6.0) were used to genotype the workers’ single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). Linear mixed model analyses have indicated that interindividual variations in both inhalation and skin exposures influenced these biomarker levels. Using exposure values as covariates and a false discovery rate < 0.10 to assess statistical significance, we observed that seven SNPs were associated with HDA in plasma, five were associated with HDA in urine, none reached significance for TAHI in plasma, and eight were associated with TAHI levels in urine. The different genotypes for the 20 significant SNPs accounted for 4- to 16-fold changes observed in biomarker levels. Associated gene functions include transcription regulation, calcium ion transport, vascular morphogenesis, and transforming growth factor beta signaling pathway, which may impact toxicokinetics indirectly by altering inflammation levels. Additionally, in an expanded analysis using a minor allele cutoff of 0.05 instead of 0.10, there were biomarker-associated SNPs within three genes that have been associated with isocyanate-induced asthma: ALK, DOCK2, and LHPP. We demonstrate that genetic variance impacts the biomarker levels in workers exposed to HDI monomer and HDI isocyanurate and that genetics can be used to refine exposure predictions in small cohorts when quantitative personal exposure and biomarker measurements are included in the models.
Comparison of Stage 4 and Stage 4s Neuroblastoma Identifies Autophagy-Related Gene and LncRNA Signatures Associated With Prognosis

Background: The spontaneous regression of neuroblastoma (NB) is most prevalent and well-documented in stage 4s NB patients. However, whether autophagy plays roles in the spontaneous regression of NB is unknown. Objective: This study aimed to identify autophagy-related genes (ARGs) and autophagy-related long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) differentially expressed in stage 4 and stage 4s NB and to build prognostic risk signatures on the basis of the ARGs and autophagy-related lncRNAs. Methods: One RNA-sequence (RNA-Seq) dataset (TARGET NBL, n = 153) was utilized as discovery cohort, and two microarray datasets (n = 498 and n = 223) were used as validation cohorts. Differentially expressed ARGs were identified by comparing stage 4s and stage 4 NB samples. An ARG signature risk score and an autophagy-related lncRNA signature risk score were constructed. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analyses were used to evaluate the survival prediction ability of the two signatures. Gene function annotation and Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) were performed to clarify the autophagic biological processes enriched in different risk groups. Results: Nine ARGs were integrated into the ARG signature. Patients in the high-risk group of the ARG signature had significantly poorer overall survival (OS) than patients in the low-risk group. The ROC curves analyses revealed that the ARG signature performed very well in predicting OS [5-year area under the curve (AUC) = 0.81]. Seven autophagy-related lncRNAs were integrated into the autophagy-related lncRNA signature. Patients in the high-risk group of the lncRNA signature had significantly poorer OS than patients in the low-risk group. The ROC curve analyses also revealed that the lncRNA signature performed well in predicting OS (5-year AUC = 0.77). Both the ARG signature and lncRNA signature are independent with other clinical risk factors in the multivariate Cox regression survival analyses. GSEAs revealed that autophagy-related biological processes are enriched in low-risk groups. Conclusions: Autophagy-related genes and lncRNAs are differentially expressed between stage 4 and stage 4s NB. The ARG signature and autophagy-related lncRNA signature successfully stratified NB patients into two risk groups. Autophagy-related biological processes are highly enriched in low-risk NB groups.
Decidability in Group Shifts and Group Cellular Automata

Many undecidable questions concerning cellular automata are known to be decidable when the cellular automaton has a suitable algebraic structure. Typical situations include linear cellular automata where the states come from a ﬁnite ﬁeld or a ﬁnite commutative ring, and so-called additive cellular automata in the case the states come from a ﬁnite commutative group and the cellular automaton is a group homomorphism. In this paper we generalize the setup and consider so-called group cellular automata whose state set is any (possibly non-commutative) ﬁnite group and the cellular automaton is a group homomorphism. The conﬁguration space may be any subshift that is a subgroup of the full shift and still many properties are decidable in any dimension of the cellular space. Decidable properties include injectivity, surjectivity, equicontinuity, sensitivity and nilpotency. Non-transitivity is semi-decidable. It also turns out that the the trace shift and the limit set can be eﬀectively constructed, that injectivity always implies surjectivity, and that jointly periodic points are dense in the limit set. Our decidability proofs are based on developing algorithms to manipulate arbitrary group shifts, and viewing the set of space-time diagrams of group cellular automata as multidimensional group shifts.
Daily Monitoring of Emotional Responses to the Coronavirus Pandemic in Serbia: A Citizen Science Approach

The COVID-19 pandemic, a health emergency with international consequences, has brought serious impact on all aspects of society and affects not only health and economy, but psychological functioning and mental health as well. This research was conducted in order to examine and further our understanding of emotional reactions to the ongoing pandemic. Change in emotional reactions during the pandemic and relations with specific pandemic related behaviors and personality traits from the revised Reinforcement sensitivity theory were explored. The research was conducted in Serbia for 35 days while the country was in a state of emergency, as a citizen science project. Out of the 1526 participants that joined the study, 444 (67% female) had measures for all five weeks. Longitudinal changes in four emotional states during the pandemic were examined: worry, fear, boredom, and anger/annoyance. Results indicate a decrease in all four emotional states over time. The biggest decrease was present in case of worry, followed by fear and boredom. Regression analysis showed that personality dimensions, as well as behavioral responses in this situation significantly predicted emotional reactions. Findings revealed the Behavioral activation system was significantly related to worry, fear and boredom, Fight with boredom and anger, and the Behavioral inhibition system with anger. Adherence to protection measures, as well as increased exposure to the media, had significant positive relations with worry and fear. These results indicate that both stable characteristics and specific pandemic-related behaviors are significantly related to emotional response during the pandemic.
Perceived Barriers to Mental Health Service Utilization in the United States, Ontario, and the Netherlands

Objective: Although rates of mental health service utilization differ dramatically across countries, little information is available about differences in self-reported barriers to mental health service utilization. Perceived barriers were examined in three locations with differing health care systems. Methods: Data came from three methodologically similar population-based surveys of adults conducted in the 1990s in Ontario, Canada (N=6,261), the United States (N=5,384), and the Netherlands (N=6,031) that assessed DSM-III-R nonpsychotic mental disorders with the Composite International Diagnostic Interview. Respondents who reported a need for professional help were asked to indicate reasons for not seeking care. Multiple logistic regression analyses were used to determine the sociodemographic, mental disorder, and location-specific correlates of each perceived barrier. Results: The pattern of reported barriers to mental health service utilization was similar across locations: attitudinal barriers (thoughts that the problem would get better on its own) were more prevalent than structural barriers (inability to get an appointment). Fear of stigmatization was not commonly endorsed. With adjustment for sociodemographic factors and type of mental disorder, low-income respondents were significantly more likely to report a financial barrier in the United States than in either Ontario or the Netherlands. Conclusions: Across locations, attitudinal barriers were more likely to be endorsed than structural barriers to service utilization. The most striking reported cross-national difference was structural, with many more U.S. respondents (especially those with low incomes) reporting financial barriers than respondents in either Ontario or the Netherlands. (Psychiatric Services 58:357–364, 2007)
A comparison of large-scale science models based on textual, direct citation and hybrid relatedness

Recent large-scale bibliometric models have largely been based on direct citation, and several recent studies have explored augmenting direct citation with other citation-based or textual characteristics. In this study we compare clustering results from direct citation, extended direct citation, a textual relatedness measure, and several citation-text hybrid measures using a set of nine million documents. Three different accuracy measures are employed, one based on references in authoritative documents, one using textual relatedness, and the last using document pairs linked by grants. We find that a hybrid relatedness measure based equally on direct citation and PubMed-related article scores gives more accurate clusters (in the aggregate) than the other relatedness measures tested. We also show that the differences in cluster contents between the different models are even larger than the differences in accuracy, suggesting that the textual and citation logics are complementary. Finally, we show that for the hybrid measure based on direct citation and related article scores, the larger clusters are more oriented toward textual relatedness, while the smaller clusters are more oriented toward citation-based relatedness.
Introgression Among Three Western North American Bilberries (Vaccinium Section Myrtillus)

Abstract Despite being dominant elements of understory communities in the coniferous forests of western North America, phylogenetic relationships among bilberries (Vaccinium section Myrtillus) remain unresolved. Morphological delimitation among most western bilberry species is tenuous, and traditionally employed molecular sources of phylogenetic information have yielded insufficient variability. Moreover, these species are hypothesized to have undergone extensive introgression. We used RADseq data analyzed with maximum likelihood species tree estimation and Patterson's D-statistic analyses to examine the influence of introgression on relationships among Vaccinium myrtillus, V. scoparium, and V. cespitosum. Additionally, we used these data to assess whether the populations of V. myrtillus disjunct between North America and Eurasia are monophyletic and should continue to be recognized as conspecific. Significant genome-wide introgression, as determined through D-statistic analyses, was detected between North American samples of V. myrtillus and V. cespitosum, and to a lesser extent, between V. myrtillus and V. scoparium. No significant D-values were detected between V. scoparium and V. cespitosum. Accessions of Vaccinium myrtillus from Eurasia and North America were recovered as non-monophyletic, prompting our proposed resurrection of V. oreophilum for North American material. The long-assumed sister species relationship between V. oreophilum and V. scoparium was not recovered in our analysis. Instead, V. oreophilum and V. cespitosum were inferred to be sister taxa. This study reveals considerable introgression detectable in the evolutionary history of western North American bilberries and demonstrates the utility of RADseq data to resolve species level relationships in groups that undergo reticulate evolution such as Vaccinium.
Association of the Trough, Peak/Trough Ratio of Imatinib, Pyridine–N-Oxide Imatinib and ABCG2 SNPs 34 G>A and SLCO1B3 334 T>G With Imatinib Response in Egyptian Chronic Myeloid Leukemia Patients

Imatinib mesylate (IM) is highly efficacious in the treatment of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). Therapeutic drug monitoring and pharmacogenetic screening are affirmed for better management of IM therapy. The goal of this study was to gain a greater mechanistic understanding of the factors controlling variability in IM level and its relation to the response. One hundred and two patients with CML at chronic phase were recruited in this study. Blood samples were withdrawn at least 30 days after drug administration, and trough and peak concentrations of imatinib, N-des-methyl imatinib, and pyridine-N-oxide imatinib were determined by HPLC/MS/MS. Genetic polymorphism of the genes ABCG2 SNPs 34 G>A and 421C >A; ABCB1 SNPs 2677 G>A/T, 1236 C>T, 3435 C>T; SLCO1B3 SNPs 334 T>G and CYP3A5 were studied using PCR-RFLP technique. Our study presented significant higher trough IM (1,281 ± 578 ng/ml), lower Peak/Trough ratio, clearance (Cl), and elimination rate constant, ke, among patients who achieved favorable responses (N = 64) than those for patients who suffered unfavorable response (N = 37). The P/T ratio was the only significant independent factor affecting response, as the P/T ratio increased by one, the risk of unfavorable response increased by more than double as compared to favorable response with 95% CI (1.28–3.92, P = 00.005). Moreover, like the results of IM, the trough concentration of Pyridine-N-oxide imatinib was significantly higher (P = 0.01) and its P/T ratio was significantly lower (P = 0.008) in patients achieved favorable response than those without. The wild GG genotype of the ABCG2.34 G>A gene was associated with favorable response (P = 0.01), lower Cl, Ke and high plasma IM trough level than both (AA+GA) genotypes. ABCG2.421C >A (CC) genotype had a significantly higher plasma peak of IM, N-des-methyl imatinib and higher Css. The GG and TG alleles of the SLCO1B3.334 T>G gene were significantly correlated to favorable response, while the wild allele TT was linked to unfavorable response (P = 0.03). In conclusion, the trough and P/ T ratio for both IM and Pyridine-N-oxide imatinib, in addition to Polymorphism of ABCG2 SNPs 34 G>A and SLCO1B3.334 T>G gene, is a good predictor for response of IM in CML Egyptian patients.
Toward a Systematic Structural and Functional Annotation of Solute Carriers Transporters—Example of the SLC6 and SLC7 Families

SLC transporters are emerging key drug targets. One important step for drug development is the profound understanding of the structural determinants defining the substrate selectivity of each transporter. Recently, the improvement of computational power and experimental methods such as X-ray and cryo-EM crystallography permitted to conduct structure-based studies on specific transporters having important pharmacological impact. However, a lot remains to be discovered regarding their dynamics, transport modulation and ligand recognition. A detailed functional characterization of transporters would provide opportunities to develop new compounds targeting these key drug targets. Here, we are giving an overview of two major human LeuT-fold families, SLC6 and SLC7, with an emphasis on the most relevant members of each family for drug development. We gather the most recent understanding on the structural determinants of selectivity within and across the two families. We then use this information to discuss the benefits of a more generalized structural and functional annotation of the LeuT fold and the implications of such mapping for drug discovery.