Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Does alcohol consumption really affect asymmetry perception? A three-armed placebo-controlled experimental study.

AIMS A possible explanation for increased levels of attractiveness of faces when under the influence of alcohol is the reduced ability to perceive bilateral asymmetry. This study tested the degree of preference by alcohol-dosed and non-alcohol-dosed participants for symmetrical faces and their ability to detect facial symmetry, while controlling for other explanations. DESIGN Volunteers were recruited to a random allocation experiment with three conditions: alcoholic drink (alcohol dosed), non-alcoholic drink (placebo) and diluted orange cordial (control). Data on concentration, personality and demographics were collected. Dependent variables were symmetry preference and detection. SETTING Laboratory, University of Roehampton. PARTICIPANTS A total of 101 participants, mainly students (41 alcohol-dosed, 40 placebo, 20 control). MEASUREMENTS Participants provided verbal responses to images of faces which were presented on a computer screen for 5 seconds each; the first task required a preference judgement and the second task consisted of a forced-choice response of whether or not a face was symmetrical. Levels of concentration, weight and level of alcohol dose were measured, and demographics plus additional psychological and health information were collected using a computer-based questionnaire. FINDINGS In contrast to a previous investigation, there was no difference in symmetry preference between conditions (P = 0.846). In agreement with previous findings, participants who had not drunk alcohol were better at detecting whether a face was symmetrical or asymmetrical (P = 0.043). Measures of concentration did not differ between conditions (P = 0.214-0.438). Gender did not affect ability to detect symmetry in placebo or alcohol-dosed participants (P = 0.984, 0.499); however, alcohol-dosed females were shown to demonstrate greater symmetry preference than alcohol-dosed males (P = 0.004). CONCLUSIONS People who are alcohol-dosed are subtly less able to perceive vertical, bilateral asymmetry in faces, with gender being a possible moderating factor.
Impact of MTHFR gene C677T polymorphism on Bcl-2 gene methylation and protein expression in colorectal cancer

Abstract Objective. To investigate the impact of MTHFR C677T polymorphism on Bcl-2 gene promoter CpG island (CGI) methylation and Bcl-2 protein expression. Material and methods. MTHFR polymorphisms of 86 sporadic colorectal cancer (CRC) patients and 100 healthy volunteers were analyzed by PCR-based restriction fragment length polymorphism, and Bcl-2 promoter CGI methylation in 86 CRC tissues and 86 paired nonneoplastic adjacent tissues was determined by methylation-specific PCR. Bcl-2 oncoprotein expression in 70 CRC tissues and paired nonneoplastic adjacent tissues was detected by immunohistochemistry. Results. The frequency of MTHFR 677 T allele and combined variant genotypes (677CT + TT) in CRC patients was significantly higher than that in healthy controls (p = 0.023 and p = 0.035, respectively), and there is a significant association between 677TT or 677(CT + TT) genotypes and CRC (OR = 2.534, p = 0.045 and OR = 1.888, p = 0.035, respectively). The frequency of methylated Bcl-2 promoter CGI in tumor tissues was significantly lower than that in nonneoplastic adjacent tissues (p = 0.014). The frequency of methylated Bcl-2 promoter CGI in CRC tissues of the individuals with CC genotype was significantly higher than that of those with CT/TT genotypes (p = 0.018), there was significant distribution difference of C and T alleles between individuals with methylated and unmethylated Bcl-2 promoter CGI in colorectal cancer tissues (p = 0.023). Bcl-2 promoter hypomethylation was significantly correlated with Bcl-2 oncoprotein expression in colorectal cancer tissues (r = 0.558, p < 0.001). Conclusion. Bcl-2 promoter is hypomethylated in colorectal cancer tissue, and there is a significant correlation between MTHFR 677 TT or CT/TT genotypes and CRC or Bcl-2 promoter CGI methylation/oncoprotein expression in CRC.
A Rational Distributed Process-level Account of Independence Judgment

It is inconceivable how chaotic the world would look to humans, faced with innumerable decisions a day to be made under uncertainty, had they been lacking the capacity to distinguish the relevant from the irrelevant---a capacity which computationally amounts to handling probabilistic independence relations. The highly parallel and distributed computational machinery of the brain suggests that a satisfying process-level account of human independence judgment should also mimic these features. In this work, we present the first rational, distributed, message-passing, process-level account of independence judgment, called $\mathcal{D}^\ast$. Interestingly, $\mathcal{D}^\ast$ shows a curious, but normatively-justified tendency for quick detection of dependencies, whenever they hold. Furthermore, $\mathcal{D}^\ast$ outperforms all the previously proposed algorithms in the AI literature in terms of worst-case running time, and a salient aspect of it is supported by recent work in neuroscience investigating possible implementations of Bayes nets at the neural level. $\mathcal{D}^\ast$ nicely exemplifies how the pursuit of cognitive plausibility can lead to the discovery of state-of-the-art algorithms with appealing properties, and its simplicity makes $\mathcal{D}^\ast$ potentially a good candidate for pedagogical purposes.
Which review feedback did long-term contributors get on OSS projects?

Open Source Software (OSS) cannot exist without contributions from the community. In particular, long-term contributors (LTCs) (e.g., committer), defined as contributors who spend at least one year on OSS projects, play crucial role in a project success because they would have permission to add (commit) code changes to a project's version control system, and to become a mentor for a beginner in OSS projects. However, contributors often leave a project before becoming a LTC because most contributors are volunteers. If contributors are motivated in their work in OSS projects, they might not leave the projects. In this study, we examine the phenomena involved in becoming a LTC in terms of motivation to continue in OSS projects. In particular, our target motivation is to understand what is involved in long-term contribution with other expert contributors. We study classifier to identify a LTC who will contribute patch submissions for more than one year based on collaboration in terms of the code review process. In detail, we analyze what review feedbacks encourage a contributor to continue with OSS project. Using a Qt project dataset, we understand review feedback which affected contribution period of the developer.
Interaction of caffeine and sulfadiazine with lysozyme adsorbed at colloidal metal nanoparticle interface: influence on drug transport ability and antibacterial activity

The modulated bioactivity of proteins immobilized on nanoparticle (NP) interfaces is of tremendous interest toward designing better therapeutic and diagnostic tools. In this work, binding behavior and the antibacterial activity of free lysozyme (LYS) as well as its non-covalent assembly with silver (Ag) and gold (Au) colloidal NPs were compared in presence of two model drugs, viz. sulfadiazine (SDZ) and caffeine (CAF). Intrinsic protein fluorescence was found to quench due to the formation drug–protein complex in case of CAF resulting a linear Stern–Volmer (SV) plot with KSV = 1.83 × 103 M−1.On the other hand, a positive deviation beyond [SDZ] ~0.15 mM is explained due to the formation of a fluorophore – quencher sphere with radius of 13.85 ± 1.80 Å that results almost one order of magnitude higher KSV (1.75 × 104 M−1). Molecular docking calculation also predicts relatively more stabilized complex of SDZ with LYS in comparison to CAF (ΔE ~ 3 kJ mol−1). Synchronous fluorescence results corresponding to Trp and Tyr residues as well as FTIR spectra in the amide I region of LYS confirms minimal deformation in the LYS secondary structure on adsorption to spherical NP surface. Although the nature of LYS–drug interaction remains invariant, the extent of quenching interaction as well as the drug binding ability is strongly modulated in presence of NPs. Further, the antibacterial activity of LYS in presence of the investigated drugs shows 9–14% upsurge with AuNP, in sharp contrast to ca. 31–34% decrease in AgNP.
Russia’s Current Nuclear Modernization and Arms Control

ABSTRACT Russia’s strategic modernization program suggests that it is determined to continue its reliance on nuclear weapons as a key element of its national security strategy. The US is now also committed to the large-scale modernization of its strategic forces. Combined with uncertainty about the future of US-Russian arms control, these developments have given rise to concerns about a potential new round of the arms race that could reverse the progress in nuclear disarmament that has been achieved since the end of the Cold War. This paper considers Russia’s key modernization efforts and the factors that influence the decisions in that area. It concludes that modernization is shaped primarily by internal factors and traditional arms control, and that an emphasis on strategic stability plays a limited role in the process.
Qualitative interaction trees: a tool to identify qualitative treatment–subgroup interactions

When two alternative treatments (A and B) are available, some subgroup of patients may display a better outcome with treatment A than with B, whereas for another subgroup, the reverse may be true. If this is the case, a qualitative (i.e., disordinal) treatment–subgroup interaction is present. Such interactions imply that some subgroups of patients should be treated differently and are therefore most relevant for personalized medicine. In case of data from randomized clinical trials with many patient characteristics that could interact with treatment in a complex way, a suitable statistical approach to detect qualitative treatment–subgroup interactions is not yet available. As a way out, in the present paper, we propose a new method for this purpose, called QUalitative INteraction Trees (QUINT). QUINT results in a binary tree that subdivides the patients into terminal nodes on the basis of patient characteristics; these nodes are further assigned to one of three classes: a first for which A is better than B, a second for which B is better than A, and an optional third for which type of treatment makes no difference. Results of QUINT on simulated data showed satisfactory performance, with regard to optimization and recovery. Results of an application to real data suggested that, compared with other approaches, QUINT provided a more pronounced picture of the qualitative interactions that are present in the data. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Changes in Vertical Jump Height, Anthropometric Characteristics, and Biochemical Parameters After Contrast Training in Master Athletes and Physically Active Older People

González-Ravé, JM, Delgado, M, Vaquero, M, Juarez, D, and Newton, RU. Changes in vertical jump height, anthropometric characteristics, and biochemical parameters after contrast training in master athletes and physically active older people. J Strength Cond Res 25(7): 1866-1878, 2011—The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of 16 weeks of contrast training (CT) on older adults (with different levels of physical conditioning) in vertical jump performance (squat jump [SJ], countermovement jump [CMJ], CMJ during 15 seconds [CMJ15], depth jump [DJ]), body weight, fat percentage, muscle mass (MM), muscle cross-sectional area ([CSA] of the arm and thigh) and biochemical parameters (creatine kinase [CK], creatinine, and urea). Sixteen older (63.55 ± 6.89 years) recreational master runners (A) and 16 physically active older people (60.30 ± 5.18 years) though not athletes (NA), participated in the CT using a combination of heavy-resistance and explosive exercise. The dependent variables were measured pretraining and posttraining. The CT resulted in significant improvements (α = 0.05) for both groups in jump performance. The SJ height improved in NA by 21.68% and in A by 21.81%, the CMJ height increased in NA by 21.51% and in A by 14.81%, the DJ height increased in NA by 26.45% and in A by 7.43%, and CMJ15 increased in NA by 6.20% and in A by 6.17%). Significant improvements in MM (16.44% in NA and 14.78% in A), thigh CSA (19.68% in NA and 21.67% in A), and arm CSA (7.43% in NA and 5.52% in A), and significant decreases in creatinine (8.65%) and CK (25.49%) in A were observed. In conclusion, CT improved vertical jump performance and MM in both groups, regardless of the training history and current physical activity of each group. These improvements were accompanied by a slight decrease in body fat but no changes in total body weight. These findings suggest that CT can have a significant effect on maximal jump height and MM in NA and A.
Rush Hours: The Real Impact of Trading Activity on Volatility. Evidences from the Dow Jones Industrial 30.

This paper examines the influence that trading activity has over volatility at intraday level. The correlation between the waiting times between consecutive trades and the amplitude of price movements has been analyzed, confirming the results found by Engle (2000), and Doufur and Engle (2000), according to which volatility is positively correlated with the frequency of the trades, and so, negatively correlated with the waiting times. However, this study demonstrates that these findings are strongly influenced by the presence of deterministic patterns in both waiting times and volatility. In fact, both time series are highly non-stationary and autocorrelated. In order to analyze an unbiased correlation between the two quantities, a detrending procedure with different orders of the polynomial has been used. The results show that, with an appropriate detrending order, the correlation between trading activity and volatility is reduced during the central part of the day, while completely disappearing at the beginning and at the end of the trading session. The explanation may lie in the activity of informed vs uninformed traders. As Admati and Pfleiderer (1988) pointed out, in the central part of the day the liquidity traders are staying away leaving a high proportion of informed traders, which may translate in a direct information impact from the trades to the price formation process. On the other side, the higher activity of noise traders in the first and in the last 20 minutes of the trading session may destroy the relationship between transactions’ frequency and price movements.
How teacher educators learn to use data in a data team

This dissertation is about a data team in a Teacher Education College in the Netherlands, and how a data team can contribute to de development of data skills, a more positive attitude towards data use and the use of data in practice. In order to study the research question, How does a data team contribute to the development of teacher educators’ ability to use data to improve their educational practice? , four studies were carried out. After and introduction, the dissertation consists of four studies. The first study deals with data use by teacher educators and, in particular, with the way in which future teachers learn how to use data, the way in which data are used by the teacher educators themselves, and which factors influence data use. The second study focuses on the way in which a data team within a teacher education college can provide a context for learning how to use data. The third study focuses on the factors influencing the depth of inquiry of the data team conversations. And finally, the fourth study deals with the knowledge, skills, and attitudes developed through data team participation and to what extent the data team members implement data use in their educational practice. The dissertation closes with an overview of the outcomes of these four studies and discusses the outcomes of these four studies, as well as the way in which the research was designed, and provides recommendations regarding educational practice, policy, and research.
Venezuela: el ocaso de una democracia

This article puts forward a central thesis, namely, that for its study, Venezuela’s current foreign policy must be related to two important changes at the domestic and international levels and defined as driving forces. First, the increasing erosion of democracy and the strengthening of illiberal regimes in the world; secondly, the significant geopolitical transformation of the international order. Based on neorealism tenets, the hierarchy and balance of power in an international system where the classical conception of sovereignty and diplomatic discretion are changing, the authors deem that Venezuela has become an important case to have a better understanding of those processes
Political Environments, Elite Co-Option, and Conflict

This article establishes a framework for understanding the ways in which subnational governance arrangements produce divergent types and dynamics of political violence. The variation in agents of governance, how a regime shapes its territorial presence and subnational relationships, structures the forms of violent conflict that emerge within and across states. We first acknowledge four distinct types of political environments based on regime depth and subnational elite authority and fragmentation. We then apply these political environment categorizations and logics to the political violence patterns, agents, and risks across key states in Africa. We find that violence across countries varies based on distinct power dynamics that emerge from relations between the central authority and subnational elites. We conclude that the organization of power determines the type and risk of conflict that affects states. Although the interaction among local governance, co-optive arrangements, and violence has been largely neglected in the literature, this article proposes an alternative and generalizable interpretation of governance across developing states, based on subnational patterns of authority. This article contributes to a growing focus on political settlements—rather than national institutions—in explaining governance stability and violence. Key Words: Africa, conflict, domestic politics, political geography.
ABCA1 (ATP-Binding Cassette Transporter A1) Mediates ApoA-I (Apolipoprotein A-I) and ApoA-I Mimetic Peptide Mobilization of Extracellular Cholesterol Microdomains Deposited by Macrophages

Objective—We examined the function of ABCA1 (ATP-binding cassette transporter A1) in ApoA-I (apolipoprotein A-I) mobilization of cholesterol microdomains deposited into the extracellular matrix by cholesterol-enriched macrophages. We have also determined whether an ApoA-I mimetic peptide without and with complexing to sphingomyelin can mobilize macrophage-deposited cholesterol microdomains. Approach and Results—Extracellular cholesterol microdomains deposited by cholesterol-enriched macrophages were detected with a monoclonal antibody, 58B1. ApoA-I and an ApoA-I mimetic peptide 5A mobilized cholesterol microdomains deposited by ABCA1+/+ macrophages but not by ABCA1−/− macrophages. In contrast, ApoA-I mimetic peptide 5A complexed with sphingomyelin could mobilize cholesterol microdomains deposited by ABCA1−/− macrophages. Conclusions—Our findings show that a unique pool of extracellular cholesterol microdomains deposited by macrophages can be mobilized by both ApoA-I and an ApoA-I mimetic peptide but that mobilization depends on macrophage ABCA1. It is known that ABCA1 complexes ApoA-I and ApoA-I mimetic peptide with phospholipid, a cholesterol-solubilizing agent, explaining the requirement for ABCA1 in extracellular cholesterol microdomain mobilization. Importantly, ApoA-I mimetic peptide already complexed with phospholipid can mobilize macrophage-deposited extracellular cholesterol microdomains even in the absence of ABCA1.
Statistical mechanics and molecular dynamics in evaluating thermodynamic properties of biomolecular recognition

Abstract Molecular recognition plays a central role in biochemical processes. Although well studied, understanding the mechanisms of recognition is inherently difficult due to the range of potential interactions, the molecular rearrangement associated with binding, and the time and length scales involved. Computational methods have the potential for not only complementing experiments that have been performed, but also in guiding future ones through their predictive abilities. In this review, we discuss how molecular dynamics (MD) simulations may be used in advancing our understanding of the thermodynamics that drive biomolecular recognition. We begin with a brief review of the statistical mechanics that form a basis for these methods. This is followed by a description of some of the most commonly used methods: thermodynamic pathways employing alchemical transformations and potential of mean force calculations, along with end-point calculations for free energy differences, and harmonic and quasi-harmonic analysis for entropic calculations. Finally, a few of the fundamental findings that have resulted from these methods are discussed, such as the role of configurational entropy and solvent in intermolecular interactions, along with selected results of the model system T4 lysozyme to illustrate potential and current limitations of these methods.
A Novel Form of DAP5 Protein Accumulates in Apoptotic Cells as a Result of Caspase Cleavage and Internal Ribosome Entry Site-Mediated Translation

ABSTRACT Death-associated protein 5 (DAP5) (also named p97 and NAT1) is a member of the translation initiation factor 4G (eIF4G) family that lacks the eIF4E binding site. It was previously implicated in apoptosis, based on the finding that a dominant negative fragment of the protein protected against cell death. Here we address its function and two distinct levels of regulation during apoptosis that affect the protein both at translational and posttranslational levels. DAP5 protein was found to be cleaved at a single caspase cleavage site at position 790, in response to activated Fas or p53, yielding a C-terminal truncated protein of 86 kDa that is capable of generating complexes with eIF4A and eIF3. Interestingly, while the overall translation rate in apoptotic cells was reduced by 60 to 70%, in accordance with the simultaneous degradation of the two major mediators of cap-dependent translation, eIF4GI and eIF4GII, the translation rate of DAP5 protein was selectively maintained. An internal ribosome entry site (IRES) element capable of directing the translation of a reporter gene when subcloned into a bicistronic vector was identified in the 5′ untranslated region of DAP5 mRNA. While cap-dependent translation from this transfected vector was reduced during Fas-induced apoptosis, the translation via the DAP5 IRES was selectively maintained. Addition of recombinant DAP5/p97 or DAP5/p86 to cell-free systems enhanced preferentially the translation through the DAP5 IRES, whereas neutralization of the endogenous DAP5 in reticulocyte lysates by adding a dominant negative DAP5 fragment interfered with this translation. The DAP5/p86 apoptotic form was more potent than DAP5/p97 in these functional assays. Altogether, the data suggest that DAP5 is a caspase-activated translation factor which mediates cap-independent translation at least from its own IRES, thus generating a positive feedback loop responsible for the continuous translation of DAP5 during apoptosis.