Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Protective role of melatonin against MPTP-induced mouse brain cell DNA fragmentation and apoptosis in vivo.

OBJECTIVES 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP) is a neurotoxin that induces a Parkinsonian-type syndrome in animals which is similar to Parkinson's disease in humans. MPTP toxicity partially depends on the production of free radicals which in turn play a key role in the apoptotic death of neurons. In the present study melatonin, a potent free radical scavenger with antiapoptotic properties, was given to determine whether it would reduce oxidative stress in mice treated with MPTP. MATERIALS AND METHODS Male mice were given MPTP with or without melatonin and the brain was studied either 6h, 24h, 7 days or 15 days after the last MPTP injection. RESULTS The results show that melatonin counteracted in vivo MPTP-induced apoptosis in midbrain neurons at 6 and 24 h after MPTP treatment, and partially prevented apoptosis at 7 and 15 days after MPTP administration. MPTP treatment also produced time-dependent cell damage, whereas melatonin reduced the percentage of damaged cells at all time points, the effect being most evident at 15 days after treatment. Moreover, melatonin counteracted MPTP-dependent DNA fragmentation in the midbrain and striatum at 7 and 15 days after drug administration. CONCLUSION These results support a role for melatonin in protecting neurons against MPTP toxicity in vivo, and suggest that its antiapoptotic action is one of the mechanisms by which melatonin protects neuronal cells from neurotoxic insults.
Cross-currency smile calibration

We document the numerical aspects of the calibration of cross-currency options on the local volatility framework. We consider the partial differential equation satisfied by the price of the cross-currency option and see that the most important specifications to set are the boundary conditions. We explain how these conditions can be approximated and test the validity of the approximation on simple cases.
ASE analysis adaptive pilot symbol assisted modulation with imperfect CSI

Adaptive modulation requires knowledge of channel state information (CSI) at the receiver by inserting pilot symbols in the transmitted signal. In This paper we focuses on the Adaptive Coded Modulation (ACM) system, where the data symbols and power allocation variable are optimized. The pilot spacing and power allocation are adaptively changed in an optimal way according to the conditions channel. We take into consideration the channel estimation error at the receiver and channel prediction error at the transmitter. The average spectral efficiency (ASE) performance of the suggested system is analyzed.
Questioning the Relevance of Corporate Social Performance Measurement: from "Balanced" to "Paradoxical" Scorecards

The aim of this paper is to carry out a study on the limits of the concept of Corporate Social Performance (CSP) and its instrumentation in the form of the Balanced Scorecard (BSC) and the Sustainability Balanced Scorecard (SBSC), faced with the paradoxes of sustainable development induced by the existence of different expectations and from various stakeholders. Our purpose is to exceed the neo-institutional decoupling thesis by proposing an approach based on the recognition and management of paradoxes. With this in mind, we explore the opportunities offered by the concept of interactive control (Simons, 1995) and we propose an alternative to the Balanced Scorecard by substituting the concept of a "Paradoxical Scorecard. "
Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D and risk of postmenopausal breast cancer-results of a large case-control study

Various studies suggest that vitamin D may reduce breast cancer risk. Most studies assessed the effects of dietary intake only, although endogenous production is an important source of vitamin D. Therefore, the measurement of serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] better indicates overall vitamin D status. To assess the association of 25(OH)D serum concentrations with postmenopausal breast cancer risk, we used a population-based case-control study in Germany, which recruited incident breast cancer patients aged 50-74 between 2002 and 2005. Information on sociodemographic and breast cancer risk factors was collected by personal interview. For this analysis, we included 1394 cases and 1365 controls, matched on year of birth and time of blood collection. Conditional logistic regression was used to calculate odds ratios for breast cancer adjusted for potential confounders. Serum 25(OH)D concentration was significantly inversely associated with postmenopausal breast cancer risk. Compared with the lowest category (< 30 nM), odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals [OR (95% CI)] for the higher categories of 25(OH)D ( 30-45, 45-60, 60-75, ! 75 nM) were 0.57 (0.45-0.73), 0.49 (0.380.64), 0.43 (0.32-0.57) and 0.31 (0.24-0.42), respectively (ptrend <0.0001). Analysis using fractional polynomials indicated a non-linear association. The association was stronger in women never using menopausal hormone therapy compared to past and current users (pinteraction <0.0001). Our findings strongly suggest a protective effect for postmenopausal breast cancer through a better vitamin D supply as characterized by serum 25(OH)D measurement, with a stronger inverse association in women with low serum 25(OH)D concentrations (< 50 nM).
Correspondence between alternate measures of maladaptive exercise, and their associations with disordered eating symptomatology

Aims: The study sought to contribute to the measurement of maladaptive exercise by examining the psychometric properties of a variety of instruments and classification algorithms. The primary aim was to identify the items or scales necessary and sufficient to quantify the construct. A secondary aim was to comment on the construct validity of these measures by examining their relationships with disordered eating symptomatology. Methods: Questionnaire booklets comprising the Exercise Dependence Scale, the Obligatory Exercise Questionnaire, the Frequency, Intensity, Time Index, and the Eating Attitudes Test were distributed to women attending health and fitness centres. Self-reported age, height, current and desired weight, and length of time as a regular exerciser were also sought. Data were obtained from 302 regular exercisers. Results: While there were statistically significant associations among the measures, no two operationalised maladaptive exercise in the same manner. The Frequency-Intensity-Time Index (FIT) was found to be particularly poor. While variation in the size of relationships between maladaptive exercise and disordered eating was noted, all measures were strongly correlated with the exception of FIT, which demonstrated a modest correlation. Conclusions: Different conceptualisations of maladaptive exercise have led to alternative operational definitions, resulting in its classification being instrument dependent. Further exploration using samples with differing characteristics (e.g., high/low probability of dependence) may allow more specific recommendations to be made about the optimal measurement of maladaptive exercise. Further, the question of whether maladaptive exercise is more likely a cause or consequence of eating disorders remains.
CorrActive Learning: Learning from Noisy Data through Human Interaction

We introduce a new framework of supervised machine learning called CorrActive Learning, short for Corrective Active Learning. Similar to active learning, this setting involves learning through human interaction. However, unlike active learning which aims to acquire labels for unlabeled examples, corrActive learning addresses the problem where the set of training data provided to the supervised learner is noisy with respect to its labels. In this scenario, the objective is to accomplish the following two related goals simultaneously, using minimal assistance from the user : (a) clean up the noisy labeled data and (b) improve the performance of the supervised learner. As a solution, we present a simple algorithm that learns initially from the noisy labeled data, and proceeds to correct the labeling errors in the data iteratively by presenting to the user only those examples that are most likely to be mislabeled, and simultaneously learning from the corrected examples. Our preliminary experiments involving a human suggest that the new corrActive learner significantly improves the performance of a supervised classifier learned on noisy data. In addition, our synthetic experiments show that the corrActive learner is able to learn much faster than a learner that chooses examples using random sampling, when the labeling error rate is low to moderate (< 25%). At all error rates, the corrActive learner is able to identify the mislabeled examples much better than the random sampler.
Language Support for Declarative Future Commitments

Sequential programming and work-flow programming are two useful, but radically different, ways of describing computational processing. Of the two, it is sequential programming that we teach all programmers and support by programming languages, whether in procedural, objectoriented, or functional paradigms. We teach workflow as a secondary style of problem decomposition for use in special situations, like distributed or networked processing. Both styles offer complementary advantages, but the fact that they employ radically different models for ownership of continuations interferes with our ability to integrate them in a way that allows them to be taught and used in a single programming language. This paper describes a programming language construct, declarative future commitments, that permit better integration of the two.
Chemical Reductions Do Not Necessarily Lead to Computational Reductions

The comparison of solutions of the shock-ignition of a hydrogen bubble in air using detailed and reduced chemical mechanisms is presented. The reduced chemical kinetics mechanism with 9 species and 12 irreversible reactions is obtained using the G-Scheme. The test shows that the simulation becomes computationally more expensive using the reduced mechanism.
Mathematics Anxiety, Working Memory, and Mathematics Performance in Secondary-School Children

Mathematics anxiety (MA) has been defined as “a feeling of tension and anxiety that interferes with the manipulation of numbers and the solving of math problems in a wide variety of ordinary life and academic situations. ” Previous studies have suggested that a notable proportion of children in primary and secondary school suffer from MA, which is negatively correlated with calculation skills. The processing efficiency and attentional control theories suggest that working memory (WM) also plays an important part in such anxious feelings. The present study aimed to analyze the academic achievement and cognitive profiles of students with high math anxiety (HMA) and low math anxiety (LMA). Specifically, 32 students with HMA and 34 with LMA matched for age, gender, generalized anxiety, and vocabulary attending sixth to eighth grades were selected from a larger sample. The two groups were tested on reading decoding, reading comprehension, mathematics achievement, and on verbal short-term memory and WM. Our findings showed that HMA students were weak in several measures of mathematics achievement, but not in reading and writing skills, and that students with HMA reported lower scores on short-term memory and WM performances (with associated difficulties in inhibiting irrelevant information) than children with LMA. In addition, a logistic regression showed that weaknesses in inhibitory control and fact retrieval were the strongest variables for classifying children as having HMA or LMA.
Design of a haptic forceps for microsurgery training

While feedback of the grasping force is necessary to manipulate objects skillfully, most Virtual Reality systems do not provide such feedback. Grasping an object is often reduced to pushing a button on the interface. This paper presents the design and realization of a haptic forceps for microsurgery training, and its integration on a haptic 6DOF DELTA device. Psychophysical experiments were first conducted to determine the critical factors for the design. The haptic forceps has similar dimensions as a microsurgery forceps and integrates two active degrees of freedom for rotation about its axis as well as opening and closing. The transformation of the force/torque from the forceps tip to the haptic device TCP, necessary to compute the desired force/torque at the forceps tip, was derived and implemented. Preliminary experiments emonstrate the potential of this haptic forceps in a VR microsurgery trainer.
Non-parametric predictive inference of adaptive software rejuvenation schedule

In this paper we develop an adaptive approach to estimate the optimal preventive rejuvenation schedule which maximizes the steady-state system availability. We formulate the upper and lower bounds of the predictive system availability using the one-look ahead predictive survival function from system failure time data, and derive the pessimistic and optimistic rejuvenation policies. Then, we derive adaptive rejuvenation policies from the original data together with a right-censored observation.
Risk assessment factors for SME software development companies in Malaysia

There are large, medium, and small enterprises which develop software projects that can be influenced by a risk. Identifying risk is first step of perfectly assessing and controlling risks in a project. In the literature, a lot of researchers identified risk factors in software projects but none of these can be generalized as base of risk factors in the software projects as they differ in time, culture, and being studied in different application areas while using different research methodologies. Majority of the researchers focused on general software projects while few of them focused on specific application areas like virtual projects or e-commerce projects but no research focused identifying risk factors of software projects in terms of the firm size. In this paper, we are studying risk factors that Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) in Malaysia perceive as risk in their software development projects. 202 respondents from 25 enterprises located in three states in Malaysia was surveyed and analyzed. Finally, the top risk factors for each risk dimension were presented along their relationship with project risks.
Probabilistic Relations

The notion of binary relation is fundamental in logic. What is the correct analogue of this concept in the probabilistic case? I will argue that the notion of conditional probability distribution (Markov kernel, stochastic kernel) is the correct generalization. One can deene a category based on stochastic kernels which has many of the formal properties of the ordinary category of relations. Using this concept I will show how to deene iteration in this category and give a simple treatment of Kozen's language of while loops and probabilistic choice. I will use the concept of stochastic relation to introduce some of the ongoing joint work with Edalat and Desharnais on Labeled Markov Processes. In my talk I will assume that people do not know what partially additive categories are but that they do know basic category theory and basic notions like measure and probability. This work is mainly due to Kozen, Giry, Lawvere and others.
Identification and Expression Analysis of Zebrafish Glypicans during Embryonic Development

Heparan sulfate Proteoglycans (HSPG) are ubiquitous molecules with indispensable functions in various biological processes. Glypicans are a family of HSPG’s, characterized by a Gpi-anchor which directs them to the cell surface and/or extracellular matrix where they regulate growth factor signaling during development and disease. We report the identification and expression pattern of glypican genes from zebrafish. The zebrafish genome contains 10 glypican homologs, as opposed to six in mammals, which are highly conserved and are phylogenetically related to the mammalian genes. Some of the fish glypicans like Gpc1a, Gpc3, Gpc4, Gpc6a and Gpc6b show conserved synteny with their mammalian cognate genes. Many glypicans are expressed during the gastrulation stage, but their expression becomes more tissue specific and defined during somitogenesis stages, particularly in the developing central nervous system. Existence of multiple glypican orthologs in fish with diverse expression pattern suggests highly specialized and/or redundant function of these genes during embryonic development.
Pruning Techniques in Associative Classification: Survey and Comparison

Association rule discovery and classification are common data mining tasks. Integrating association rule and classification also known as associative classification is a promising approach that derives classifiers highly competitive with regards to accuracy to that of traditional classification approaches such as rule induction and decision trees. However, the size of the classifiers generated by associative classification is often large and therefore pruning becomes an essential task. In this paper, we survey different rule pruning methods used by current associative classification techniques. Further, we compare the effect of three pruning methods (database coverage, pessimistic error estimation, lazy pruning) on the accuracy rate and the number of rules derived from different classification data sets. Results obtained from experimenting on different data sets from UCI data collection indicate that lazy pruning algorithms may produce slightly higher predictive classifiers than those which utilise database coverage and pessimistic error pruning methods. However, the potential use of such classifiers is limited because they are difficult to understand and maintain by the end-user.
Long-Term Desensitization of Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptors Is Regulated via Protein Kinase A-Mediated Phosphorylation

During prolonged application of transmitter, ligand-gated ion channels enter a nonconducting desensitized state. Studies onTorpedo electroplax nicotinic acetylcholine (ACh) receptors have shown that entry into the desensitized state is accelerated by protein kinase A-dependent (PKA) receptor phosphorylation. To examine the effects of phosphorylation on desensitization of muscle-type ACh receptors, we expressed the frog embryonic receptor type inXenopus oocytes. Treatment of embryonic muscle ACh receptors with 8-Br cAMP had no measurable effect on the rate of entry into a desensitized state, but it greatly accelerated the recovery from desensitization. Three complementary approaches to reduce the levels of receptor phosphorylation provided additional evidence for a role of PKA-dependent phosphorylation in rescuing receptors from long-term desensitization. Inactivation of the endogenous PKA activity by coexpression of an inhibitor protein, treatment of receptors with phosphatase, and removal of phosphorylation sites by site-specific subunit mutation all resulted in slowed recovery. Our findings point to the existence of two distinct desensitized states: one requiring several seconds for full recovery and a second state from which recovery requires minutes. Receptors lacking PKA phosphorylation sites exhibit a pronounced increase in the slowly recovering component of desensitization, suggesting that receptor phosphorylation speeds overall recovery by reducing the entry into a deep desensitized state. This newly described effect of phosphorylation on ACh receptor function may serve as an important modulator of postsynaptic receptor sensitivity.
Bub1 regulates chromosome segregation in a kinetochore-independent manner

The kinetochore-bound protein kinase Bub1 performs two crucial functions during mitosis: it is essential for spindle checkpoint signaling and for correct chromosome alignment. Interestingly, Bub1 mutations are found in cancer tissues and cancer cell lines. Using an isogenic RNA interference complementation system in transformed HeLa cells and untransformed RPE1 cells, we investigate the effect of structural Bub1 mutants on chromosome segregation. We demonstrate that Bub1 regulates mitosis through the same mechanisms in both cell lines, suggesting a common regulatory network. Surprisingly, Bub1 can regulate chromosome segregation in a kinetochore-independent manner, albeit at lower efficiency. Its kinase activity is crucial for chromosome alignment but plays only a minor role in spindle checkpoint signaling. We also identify a novel conserved motif within Bub1 (amino acids 458–476) that is essential for spindle checkpoint signaling but does not regulate chromosome alignment, and we show that several cancer-related Bub1 mutants impair chromosome segregation, suggesting a possible link to tumorigenesis.
Efficiency Differences between the S&P 500 and the Tel-Aviv 25 Indices: A Moving Average Comparison

This paper compares the Tel-Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) 25 Index (TA25) to the S&P 500 Index with respect to the extent that the Technical Analysis method of moving average can beat the buy-and-hold policy. Previous research on the S&P 500 Index is inconclusive, while TA25 has never been tested in this respect. For 1,500 daily observations, our test results imply weak-form efficiency of the S&P 500 Index. For TA25, no market efficiency is found for relatively short moving averages. The results imply that market efficiency is higher in developed financial markets than in an emerging capital market, such as the TASE. JEL: G14, G15
Extracellular matrix molecules and their receptors: functions in neural development.

The development of neurons and virtually all other cell types in the organism depends upon interactions with molecules in their environment. Studics of individual cell types have revealed tremendous diversity in the molecules that regulate the development of cells in the nervous system. These include chemotropic and trophic factors [e.g. nerve growth-factor (NGF) and brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF)], cell adhesion molecules [e.g. the neural cell adhesion molecule (NCAM) and N-cadherin], and molecules secreted into the extracellular matrix (ECM) [e.g. laminin (LN) and fibronectin (FN)]. Each class of molecule has now been shown to influence major steps in the development of the nervous system, including neuronal survival, determination, and migration; axonal growth and guidance; synapse formation; and glial differentiation. As molecules in the ECM influence all of these events and can be used to illustrate many of the principles derived from studies of the other classes of molecules, this review focuses upon constituents of the ECM and their receptors. The role of the ECM in neural development has recently been reviewed in this series (Sanes 1989). This review focuses on cellular and molecular themes not emphasized in the previous one and includes examples of recent work on nonneural systems that illustrate probable future directions for research in the nervous system. Recent reviews on the composition and function of the ECM and its receptors include those of Hynes (1990), Hemler (1990), Kishimoto et al (1989), Plow & Ginsberg (1989), Burgeson (1988), Buck & Horowitz (1987), McDonald (1988), Ruoslahti (1988, 1989), Fessler & Fessler (1989), and Erickson & Bourdon (1989). Reviews focusing on aspects of ECM function in neural development include those by Lander (1989), Sanes (1989), and Edgar (1989). Because of space limitations, only representative examples and references are cited in this review.