Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Oxidative Stress in Parkinson's Disease

Parkinson’s disease (PD, OMIM entry #168600) is the most common progressive neurodegenerative disorder that not only affects a large group of individuals in Antioquia, Colombia (Pradilla et., 2003; Sanchez et al., 2004) but also affects other regions in the world. Actually, the prevalence of PD is between 0.1% and 0.3% in the general population and between 1% and 2% in persons 65 years of age or older (Alves et al., 2008). Moreover, the number of individuals with PD over age 50 has been projected between 8.7 and 9.3 million in Western countries by 2030 (Dorsey et al., 2007). PD is typified clinically by motor symptoms including bradykinesia, resting tremor, rigidity and gait posture abnormalities followed by postural instability and less frequent non-motor complication such as dementia, depression and autonomic dysfunction (Jancovic, 2008). Pathologically, the disorder is prominently characterized by progressive loss of 50–70% of dopaminergic neurons located in the substantia nigra, decrease of the neurotransmitter dopamine content in striatum (Forno, 1996), cytoplasmic inclusions of insoluble, aggregated proteins, including ┙synuclein known as Lewy bodies (Cuervo et al., 2010), elevated levels and/or deposits of iron (Sian-Hülsmann et al., 2010) and selective neuronal vulnerability to oxidative stress (Wang & Michaelis, 2010). The cause of all cases of PD remains unknown. However, in the mid-1990s this situation changed with the identification of a mutation in the ┙-synuclein gene associated with autosomal dominant PD in Italian kindred (Polymeropoulos et al., 1997). Since then, more than 10 genes have been found either causal of the disease (e.g., Parkin, DJ-1, PTEN-induced putative kinase 1 (PINK-1), leucine rich region kinase 2 (LRRK2), ATP13A2 (Xiromerisiou et al., 2010; Cookson, 2010; Hardy, 2010)) or as risk factor for PD (e.g. HLA region). Interestingly, the first gene that causes autosomal recessive
A design methodology for semantic Web database-based systems

The exponential growth in the volume of accessible information on the Web has led to the development of distributed systems, which share knowledge by making use of conceptualizations of specific domains generally defined by means of ontologies. Multiple conceptualizations may describe similar domains using different or overlapped terminologies. These issues should be taken into account when a new system is designed. However, they are not usually considered, leading to greater development time and effort. In order to tackle these problems, we propose an engineering approach for the development of new database-based systems starting from domain ontologies.
Glycoprotein (gp) 96 expression: induced during differentiation of intestinal macrophages but impaired in Crohn’s disease

Background: The glycoprotein (gp) 96 links the adaptive with the innate immune system. It is a chaperone with a binding domain for peptides generated by proteasomal degradation. During cellular stress, peptide loaded gp96 can be released and presented to T cells by antigen presenting cells (APCs). Methods: mRNAs from in vitro differentiated macrophages (iv mac) and normal intestinal macrophages (IMACs) were compared by subtractive hybridisation and Affymetrix GeneChip analysis. Differentiation induced expression of gp96 was investigated in the multicellular spheroid (MCS) model. In vivo gp96 protein expression was detected by double labelling immunohistochemistry of human colon and in the CD4+ CD62L+ T cell transfer mouse model. Results: Five of 76 clones obtained by subtractive hybridisation revealed >99% sequence homology to gp96. Affymetrix GeneChip analysis confirmed induction of gp96 in IMACs. Gp96 mRNA was detected in IMACs from normal and intestinal bowel disease mucosa. Induction of gp96 protein was observed after seven days in the MCS model of IMAC differentiation. Immunohistochemistry confirmed the presence of gp96 protein in IMACs in normal mucosa as well as in mucosa from patients with ulcerative colitis and diverticulitis. In mucosa from Crohn’s disease (CD) patients, gp96 protein was not detectable. In the CD4+ CD62L+ T cell transfer mouse model, gp96 was verifiable in non-activated IMACs. Conclusion: Gp96 is induced during differentiation of normal IMACs but is not detected in IMACs in CD mucosa. As gp96 has been described as having a role in tolerance induction, this may be relevant for loss of tolerance against luminal bacteria found in CD patients.
IMPROVED PATH PLANNING IN HIGHLY DYNAMIC ENVIRONMENTS BASED ON TIME VARIANT POTENTIAL FIELDS

Introduction Planning collision-free paths is one of the basic skills for a mobile robot performing a goal-oriented task. Especially in highly dynamic environments such as robot soccer there is a need for smooth navigation avoiding the cooperating and competing players. Today, robots in RoboCup [5] are moving at speeds of up to 3 m/s. Navigation thus requires real time path planning considering the movement of the obstacles. Although there are publications on path planning in the robot soccer domain (e.g. [1],[3],[7]), the presented approaches do not incorporate the speed of the obstacles into the planned paths. The majority of the teams in the RoboCup middle size league competition of 2005 are actually completely unaware of the speed of the other robots [6]. To the best knowledge of the authors no team uses information on moving obstacles in their path planning algorithms. This paper presents a new method of path planning for the RoboCup domain that extends the approach introduced by Weigel et al. [7] to time variant potential fields that consider the movement of the obstacles over time. Using this method results in smoother paths and less collisions for several scenarios, that frequently occur in RoboCup. The remainder of the paper explains the method in detail and presents first results.
Computer-aided detection for virtual colonoscopy

Colon cancer is one of the leading causes of cancer deaths in the developed countries. Most colon cancers can be prevented if precursor colon polyps are detected and removed. Virtual colonoscopy, or CT colonography, has shown promise to be the future screening tool for polyp detection, with a number of studies performed at academic institutions showing high sensitivity and specificity. Two main factors limiting CT colonography in general use are its excessive interpretation time and the variable sensitivity among readers. This article discusses the potential of computer-aided detection to address these problems. We also review the current state of research in this field and the future roles and challenges of CAD for CT colonography.
RESEARCH AND EVALUATION: THEIR ROLE IN DECISION MAKING IN THE RELIGIOUS SETTING

The major point of this paper is as follows: research and evaluation are not additional tools for a religious leader'; instead, they form a perspective from which the eflective administrator approaches all his decisions. Hence, the person (or committee) who makes decisions for religious programs will be most effective when he (it) develops an empirically and theologically based evaluation system containing appropriate data input and feedback mechanisms. To explicate the above, we shall begin with a brief discussion of the conditions under which people reach relatively accurate decisions and conclude that empirically based information is usually, but not always, vital. Then the development of the information a person or committee needs to reach more accurate decisions, an area generally referred to as research and evaluation, is discussed. In the concluding section, we set forth some of the implications of this discussion for those utilizing information to make decisions concerning religious programs. The present paper is designed as an introductory discussion which stresses a perspective rather than the details of evaluation and research.2 In-depth discussions of more technical problems are available elsewhere.3
Development and control of a hand exoskeleton for rehabilitation of hand injuries

Hand injuries are a frequent problem. The great amount of hand injuries is not only a problem for the affected people but economic consequences follow because rehabilitation takes a long time. Physical therapy after an operation is associated with high personnel expenses. To improve therapy results and reduce cost of rehabilitation a hand exoskeleton was developed. The hand exoskeleton was specifically designed to accomplish requirements of medical applications. For research on control algorithms and rehabilitation programs a prototype supporting all four degrees of freedom of one finger was build. The device can be easily attached and also be adjusted to deformed and scarred hands. In view of the fact that a lot of hand injuries affect only one finger, this prototype could already be functional in physical therapy. This paper presents the construction and the control system of the hand exoskeleton and possible applications in therapy of hand injuries. For the position control a PID controller was implemented and evaluated. The resulting control system allows following of recorded trajectories with sufficient accuracy.
Quasinormal modes in pure de Sitter spacetimes

We have studied scalar perturbations as well as fermion perturbations in pure de Sitter spacetimes. For scalar perturbations we have shown that well-defined quasinormal modes in d-dimensions can exist provided that the mass of scalar field m>(d-1/2l). The quasinormal modes of fermion perturbations in three and four dimensional cases have also been investigated. We found that different from other dimensional cases, in the three dimensional pure de Sitter spacetime there is no quasinormal mode for the s-wave. This interesting difference caused by the spacial dimensions is true for both scalar and fermion perturbations.
The Genesis of the Rarity of Art

Abstract Moulin examines the ideological, economic, and legal implications of “rarity” and “uniqueness” in relation to the work of art and the art market. From the Renaissance onward, artists distinguished their works from those of industry and of handicraft by rejecting the utilitarian project and by making the uniqueness of every work an essential predicate of art, a process that was entrenched by the market and by the law. In the case of folk art and ethnographical objects, “rarity” can be promoted by the expert community, while the “rarity” of new objects, such as prints or photographs, has to be “produced” so that they conform to the model of the unique artwork.
The effect on muscle strength of maximum isometric and isotonic contractions at different repetition rates

There is some controversy concerning the most efficient method of producing a rapid improvement in muscle strength (Delorme, 1945; Asmussen, 1949; Ionesco, 1949; MacQueen, 1954; McMorris & Elkins, 1954), many clinical exercise routines having an empirical rather than an experimental basis. Since there is no generally accepted routine, it might be assumed that the optimum method is still to be formulated. In outlining an exercise schedule, the following variables have to be considered: whether the contractions should be isometric or isotonic; whether they should be maximal or submaximal; the duration of each contraction; the repetition rate and the total number of contractions per session, and the total number and spacing of sessions. Following the initial investigation into the relative importance of certain of these factors (Darcus & Salter, 1955), the present experiment was carried out on normal individuals to compare the effect of training by repeated sessions of isometric contractions, made at a repetition rate of either 2 or 15/min, with the effect of comparable 'doses' of exercise by isotonic contractions.
LA PERCEPCIÓN DE JUDOCAS DE DISTINTO NIVEL DE PERICIA RESPECTO A LAS ACTIVIDADES DE ENTRENAMIENTO ESPECÍFICAS QUE CONTRIBUYEN AL RENDIMIENTO JUDOKAS PERCEPTION OF DIFFERENT LEVELS OF EXPERTISE RESPECT TO SPECIFIC TRAINING ACTIVITIES THAT CONTRIBUTE TO PERFORMANCE

Introduction and Objectives: This study focuses on the theoretical framework for excellence in sports performance, which we deal with the theory of deliberate practice. The objective of this research is to analyze the perception of judo about their training activities, identify training activities in the perception of the most influential Judoka in improving the performance and confirmed the correlation between the dimensions of concentration, physical effort, fun and performance. Method: The study sample consisted of judo at the regional (n = 9), national (n = 27) and international (n = 40). For data collection questionnaire was used as a measuring device. The questionnaire begins with general information on the athletic performance of each subject. Subsequently, the study focuses on perceptions about the judo specific training activities carried out around 4 dimensions (concentration, physical effort, fun and importance to improve performance). Results: The regional-level judo athletes (M = 9.37) national (M = 8.69) and international (M = 9.20) perceived the competition as the most crucial element to improve performance. Moreover, considered it very enjoyable, whether requiring great physical effort and concentration. Conclusions: From the perspective of judo there is a relatively homogenous view on what training activities contribute more to improve performance. This fact suggests that if the keys to success are no different in the perception of players with different skill levels, will be the time devoted to training each performance factors, one of the most important keys to development expertise, supporting the idea of practice as the main explanatory variable of skill acquisition.
A Method to Formulate a Dimensionally Homogeneous Jacobian of Parallel Manipulators

This paper presents a general and systematic approach to formulate the dimensionally homogeneous Jacobian, which is an important issue for the dexterity evaluation and dimensional synthesis of f-degrees-of-freedom (DOF) (f ≤ 6) parallel manipulators having mixed rotational and translational movement capabilities. By the utilization of f independent coordinates to describe the specified motion types of the platform, the f × f dimensionally homogeneous Jacobian is derived directly from the generalized Jacobian, provided that the manipulator has only one type of actuator. The condition number of the new Jacobian is then employed to evaluate the dexterity of two typical 3-DOF parallel manipulators as an illustration of the effectiveness of this approach.
Genomic Analysis of the Emergence of Vancomycin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus

ABSTRACT Staphylococcus aureus is a human commensal bacterium and a prominent cause of infections globally. The high incidence of S. aureus infections is compounded by the ability of the microbe to readily acquire resistance to antibiotics. In the United States, methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality by a single infectious agent. Therapeutic options for severe MRSA infections are limited to a few antibiotics to which the organism is typically susceptible, including vancomycin. Acquisition of high-level vancomycin resistance by MRSA is a major concern, but to date, there have been only 12 vancomycin-resistant S. aureus (VRSA) isolates reported in the United States and all belong to a phylogenetic lineage known as clonal complex 5. To gain enhanced understanding of the genetic characteristics conducive to the acquisition of vancomycin resistance by S. aureus, V. N. Kos et al. performed whole-genome sequencing of all 12 VRSA isolates and compared the DNA sequences to the genomes of other S. aureus strains. The findings provide new information about the evolutionary history of VRSA and identify genetic features that may bear on the relationship between S. aureus clonal complex 5 strains and the acquisition of vancomycin resistance genes from enterococci.
Antioxidant activity and safety assessment of Tragopogon buphthalmoides hydroethanolic extract: Acute and subchronic toxicities

Tragopogon buphthalmoides (DC.) Boiss, is widely used as a food additive with some imputed health effects in folk medicine of western Iran. Unfortunately, despite the prevalent medicinal uses of the plant, there are no reports on the toxic effects of T. buphthalmoides aerial parts. The present study evaluated the potential toxicity of dried hydroethanolic extract of the species in wistar rats. Also, we investigated antioxidant activity and total phenolic content (TPC) of the extract. In the acute study, single doses of extract were administered orally, and the rats were then monitored for 14 days. In the subchronic toxicity study, the sample was administered to the rats for 45 days. In the antioxidant capacity assays dried extract showed moderate to weak antioxidant activities. Also, the sample showed relatively notable TPC. The results of acute study indicated that the LD50 of T. buphthalmoides is higher than 2500 mg/kg. Biochemical analysis showed some significant changes including creatinine, glucose and triglyceride levels. Moreover, some significant abnormality of lung, kidney and liver organs was observed. Based on the results of this study, adverse effect level (AEL) of dried hydroethanolic extract of T. buphthalmoides considered to be less than 175 mg/kg/day for the male and female rats.
Deficient induction of the immune response to oral immunization with cholera toxin in malnourished rats during suckling

Malnourished rats during suckling were orally immunized with cholera toxin (CT) after different periods of refeeding. Intestinal fluids, sera, and supernatant fluids from cultured mesenteric lymph node (MLN) cells were obtained after rats were given three doses of CT and analyzed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) to evaluate the specific antibody response. Serum-specific immunoglobulin G (IgG), IgA, and IgM were severely diminished in malnourished rats immunized with three doses of CT after 1 week of refeeding when compared with those of controls. Also, a decreased IgA ELISA titer of the intestinal fluids and abrogation of the capacity to neutralize the CT in the intestinal ligated loop test were found. When a booster was given at 113 days of age, the immune response continued to be affected in the serum and the intestinal fluid. The results from the analysis of the supernatant fluids from cultured MLN cells were coincident with those mentioned above. When one dose of CT was administered into Peyer's patches (PP) after 1 week of refeeding, an impaired immune response was found in the intestinal fluid of malnourished rats during suckling compared with that of controls. This result together with the analysis of supernatant from MLN and PP cell cultures suggests that antigen triggering in the PP was affected. When the refeeding period was extended to 30 days and then the first dose of CT was administered, the antibody immune responses in intestinal fluid serum and supernatant fluid approached control values. These observations reinforce the fact that the gut-associated lymphoid tissue immaturity of the rats when they received the first CT dose (at 28 days old) was the main reason for the decreased immune response observed in the experimental group.
Approximate Aeroelastic Modeling of Flapping Wings: Comparison with CFD and Experimental Data

Results generated from an aeroelastic model obtained by coupling a nonlinear structural dynamic model based on MARC with an approximate aerodynamic model that incorporates leading edge vortices and a wake model are presented. The aerodynamic model, used in our earlier studies, is extended to forward ∞ight. Results presented describe structural dynamic and aeroelastic studies conducted on isotropic and anisotropic wings in hover. For the cases considered, the approximate model shows reasonable agreement with the CFD based results. Comparisons with experiment indicate that the approximate model captures trends accurately, but under predicts the magnitude of thrust. Preliminary results obtained for a rigid ∞apping wing in forward ∞ight indicate that, for the cases considered, peak lift generated by the wing increases as forward ∞ight speed increases.
Bump Hunting in the Dark: Local Discrepancy Maximization on Graphs

We study the problem of discrepancy maximization on graphs: given a set of nodes <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$Q$</tex-math><alternatives><inline-graphic xlink:href="mathioudakis-ieq1-2571693.gif"/> </alternatives></inline-formula> of an underlying graph <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$G$</tex-math> <alternatives><inline-graphic xlink:href="mathioudakis-ieq2-2571693.gif"/></alternatives></inline-formula>, we aim to identify a connected subgraph of <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$G$</tex-math><alternatives> <inline-graphic xlink:href="mathioudakis-ieq3-2571693.gif"/></alternatives></inline-formula> that contains many more nodes from <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$Q$</tex-math><alternatives> <inline-graphic xlink:href="mathioudakis-ieq4-2571693.gif"/></alternatives></inline-formula> than other nodes. This variant of the discrepancy-maximization problem extends the well-known notion of “bump hunting” in the Euclidean space <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="ref1">[1]</xref> . We consider the problem under two access models. In the <italic>unrestricted-access model</italic>, the whole graph <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$G$</tex-math><alternatives> <inline-graphic xlink:href="mathioudakis-ieq5-2571693.gif"/></alternatives></inline-formula> is given as input, while in the <italic>local-access model</italic> we can only retrieve the neighbors of a given node in <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$G$</tex-math><alternatives><inline-graphic xlink:href="mathioudakis-ieq6-2571693.gif"/> </alternatives></inline-formula> using a possibly slow and costly interface. We prove that the basic problem of discrepancy maximization on graphs is <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\mathbf {NP}$</tex-math> <alternatives><inline-graphic xlink:href="mathioudakis-ieq7-2571693.gif"/></alternatives></inline-formula>-hard, and empirically evaluate the performance of four heuristics for solving it. For the local-access model, we consider three different algorithms that aim to recover a part of <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$G$</tex-math> <alternatives><inline-graphic xlink:href="mathioudakis-ieq8-2571693.gif"/></alternatives></inline-formula> large enough to contain an optimal solution, while using only a small number of calls to the neighbor-function interface. We perform a thorough experimental evaluation in order to understand the trade offs between the proposed methods and their dependencies on characteristics of the input graph.
Norme pro-environnementale et participation : entre adhésion et clairvoyance normative (une étude comparée entre habitants d'écoquartier et habitants de quartier ordinaire)

L’ampleur prise par les preoccupations liees a l'ecologie se revele dans la constitution d’un discours dominant essentiellement prescriptif. Il en decoule une nouvelle norme sociale : la norme pro-environnementale. Au-dela de la preconisation de Comportements Ecologiques Responsables, le discours ambiant insiste sur la necessite d'une participation massive des habitants a la vie de leur quartier. Cette injonction participative apparait, en particulier, dans les projets urbanistiques dits ecoquartiers. La comparaison de deux echantillons de 100 habitants (issus d'un quartier traditionnel et d'un ecoquartier) met en evidence que les habitants des ecoquartiers montrent une plus grande clairvoyance que les autres. Cela signifie qu'ils ont une meilleure connaissance de la nature socialement valorisee du discours ecologique. Cette clairvoyance porte, tout particulierement sur la necessite de la participation locale a la vie de quartier. Cependant, le haut niveau de clairvoyance vient remettre en question le credit a accorder aux reponses des habitants des ecoquartiers concernant leur adhesion a des comportements ecologiques responsables et leur participation reelle a la vie locale.