Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Dopaminergic correlates of metabolic network activity in Parkinson's disease

Parkinson's disease (PD) is associated with distinct metabolic covariance patterns that relate to the motor and cognitive manifestations of the disorder. It is not known, however, how the expression of these patterns relates to measurements of nigrostriatal dopaminergic activity from the same individuals. To explore these associations, we studied 106 PD subjects who underwent cerebral PET with both 18F‐fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) and 18F‐fluoro‐L‐dopa (FDOPA). Expression values for the PD motor‐ and cognition‐related metabolic patterns (PDRP and PDCP, respectively) were computed for each subject; these measures were correlated with FDOPA uptake on a voxel‐by‐voxel basis. To explore the relationship between dopaminergic function and local metabolic activity, caudate and putamen FDOPA PET signal was correlated voxel‐wise with FDG uptake over the entire brain. PDRP expression correlated with FDOPA uptake in caudate and putamen (P < 0.001), while PDCP expression correlated with uptake in the anterior striatum (P < 0.001). While statistically significant, the correlations were only of modest size, accounting for less than 20% of the overall variation in these measures. After controlling for PDCP expression, PDRP correlations were significant only in the posterior putamen. Of note, voxel‐wise correlations between caudate/putamen FDOPA uptake and whole‐brain FDG uptake were significant almost exclusively in PDRP regions. Overall, the data indicate that PDRP and PDCP expression correlates significantly with PET indices of presynaptic dopaminergic functioning obtained in the same individuals. Even so, the modest size of these correlations suggests that in PD patients, individual differences in network activity cannot be explained solely by nigrostriatal dopamine loss. Hum Brain Mapp 36:3575–3585, 2015. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Influence of postweaning gain interval on estimates of heritability and genetic correlations.

Heritability and phenotypic environmental and genetic correlations of postweaning gains for intervals of 28 to 224 d were calculated from data on 2,410 crossbred steers and 3,088 Hereford bulls. Gains were essentially linear for the 224-d interval. As the length of the performance interval increased from 28 to 224 d, heritability of gain increased from . 12 to . 55 among the crossbred steers and from . 09 to . 24 among the Hereford bulls. There was no tendency for heritability to be larger or smaller for intervals of like duration initiated early or late in the 224-d interval. Heritability of individual animal regressions of weight on days was evaluated as an alternative measure of gain/d. Heritabilities were not different between daily gain and regressions when measured over the same intervals. Genetic correlations were generally positive and much larger than the environmental or phenotypic correlations, indicating that genetic influences tended to persist from one interval to another. Genetic correlations between intervals tended to become smaller as the number of days separating the intervals increased.
Distributed Saddle-Point Subgradient Algorithms With Laplacian Averaging

We present distributed subgradient methods for min-max problems with agreement constraints on a subset of the arguments of both the convex and concave parts. Applications include constrained minimization problems where each constraint is a sum of convex functions in the local variables of the agents. In the latter case, the proposed algorithm reduces to primal-dual updates using local subgradients and Laplacian averaging on local copies of the multipliers associated to the global constraints. For the case of general convex-concave saddle-point problems, our analysis establishes the convergence of the running time-averages of the local estimates to a saddle point under periodic connectivity of the communication digraphs. Specifically, choosing the gradient step-sizes in a suitable way, we show that the evaluation error is proportional to <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$1/\sqrt{t}$</tex-math> </inline-formula>, where <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$t$</tex-math></inline-formula> is the iteration step. We illustrate our results in simulation for an optimization scenario with nonlinear constraints coupling the decisions of agents that cannot communicate directly.
Identification of Bronchodilator Responsiveness by Forced Oscillation Admittance in Children

The upper airway wall motion may be responsible for significant error when measuring respiratory resistance (Rrs) with the forced oscillation technique (FOT), particularly in young children with airway obstruction. Assessing the response to methacholine from the change in respiratory admittance (Ars, the reciprocal of respiratory impedance, Zrs) avoids the artifact. The aim of the study was to explore the possibility of assessing the response to a bronchodilator from the change in Ars. FOT measurements were performed at 12 Hz in 36 young children before and after salbutamol. Transrespiratory pressure was varied in two ways: directly at the mouth (standard generator, SG) and around the head (head generator, HG), a variant nearly free of upper airway artifact. Salbutamol induced significantly lower Rrs and Zrs change with SG than HG (respectively, p = 0.0003 and 0.05). The relative change in Ars was not significantly different with SG and HG. Both estimates were significantly correlated (p < 0.0001). The change in Ars may thus be useful to avoid the upper airway artefact when assessing the response to salbutamol using the FOT in young children.
Family Background and Racial and Ethnic Differences in Adolescent Weight

Medical and social research has found racial and ethnic differences in weight relative to stature. While previous research has controlled to varying degrees for family socioeconomic status, other observed and unobserved differences across families could help explain the observed racial and ethnic differences in weight. The present research seeks to better analyze the social factors associated with adolescent weight. We model adolescents’ body-mass index (BMI) utilizing sibling resemblance models of sibling pairs identified in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. By conducting sibling model analysis in the structural equation framework, we are able to account for unmeasured family background characteristics and parcel out what proportion of the variation in adolescent weight is due to variation between families and variation within families. After accounting for both observed and unobserved characteristics of families, we find that blacks and Hispanics have significantly greater weights relative to whites, though the differences between these two racial groups are smaller than found in previous research. Pairs with other racial identities or mixed racial/ethnic identities show no significant differences in weight relative to whites once the observed and unobserved characteristics of families are accounted for.
The Ethnic Density Effect: Results From a National Community Survey of England and Wales

Using data from a community survey of 5196 ethnic minority and 2867 white respondents, together with data on local group concentration from the 1991 Census, the hypothesis was tested that ethnic group concentration is associated with lower levels of reported psychiatric symptoms. The hypothesis was broadly confirmed, both for within- and between-group differences. However, the effect was found to be modest in size and in one group, the Pakistani sample, was reversed. The findings are inconsistent with an explanation based on selection or drift. Linguistic factors contributed to, but did not explain the effects. Evidence on victimisation and mutual support suggests that social causation, in the form of reduced exposure to direct prejudice and increased social support, is a likely cause of the effect.
Masking and parametric effects of high-frequency light-dark cycles.

Light seems to be the only zeitgeber signal that reaches the pacemaker via specific pathways. For all nonphotic entraining agents, there might be a common mechanism that operates by feedback processes via "arousal. " When entrained, the circadian system keeps a distinct phase relationship to the zeitgeber. This is achieved by daily corrections of frequency and/or phase. The phase response curves (PRCs) obtained with brief light- or dark-pulses are satisfactory in explaining such non-parametric entrainment. However, many organisms are exposed daily to one major step-up and one step-down in light intensity; hence, attention should be payed to the usefulness of step-PRCs. Zeitgebers not only entrain circadian rhythms by controlling the phase and period of the pacemaker, but also mask the overt rhythm. Many experimental data demonstrate a dependence on phase of the masking effects. It is due to this dependence on phase that organisms that become arrhythmic in constant conditions can show freerunning rhythms under the influence of permanent high-frequency light-dark (LD) cycles (the "demasking" effect). Under natural conditions, most animals are exposed to continuously fluctuating light intensities. As demonstrated by experiments with high-frequency LD cycles, either self-selected or externally controlled, the circadian system integrates over the intensities experienced, and changes its frequency accordingly. It seems likely that non-parametric entrainment plays a predominant role, but contributions of parametric effects are probably underrated.
Visions, Values, and Strategies: Changing Attitudes and Culture

I 'm pleased to be able to share with you a strategic change process that we began at the BankAmerica Corporation back in the Spring of 1983. My job, as head of corporate human resources, was to help the chief executive officer achieve the goal of returning BankAmerica Corporation to a level of profitability where it should be, and to do it strategically versus short term. My challenge was and is to work with line managers to revamp human resource practices, thus enabling us to change the attitudes and hence the culture of the organization. To get started, we conducted what we call a "root value study. " We went back to the founding principles of the organization. I would like to explain our background so that you might see what changed in the corporation. It may seem like a commercial, but I think that once you see the CEO's change agenda you'll understand what we're trying to do. One of the most unique aspects of this approach is that we have tried to measure the change in employees' attitudes as well as the behavior of our managers through personnel practices. Most of this information has come through interviews and employee opinion surveys. To the extent possible, I will share that information with you.
THE CONCESSION OF ECOTOURISM SERVICES IN THE COLOMBIAN NATIONAL PARKS - THE REALITY OF THE POLICY MAKING PROCESS

This study presents a decision-making policy case in Colombia, related to the concession of the ecotourism services in the National Natural Parks in 2004. The study poses the question of why the government ~ook the decision to give in concession the ecotourism services in the parks. The policy-process resulted to be a solution driven-type of policy reform. In the document is explained and analyzed the factors behind that influenced the decision-making. The study highlights how solution-driven policy decisions are highly influenced by the international context and lesson drawing practices, are more likely to happen in a top-down perspective of policy making and are also influenced and shaped by the characteristics of a national context and the political pressures and interests of some society groups. In this sense the policy does not followed a normative and linear approach for policy making but an interactive, showing the reality of policy-making process in which politics plays an important role. Key words: Policy-analysis, decision-making, solution-centric approaches, realism in policy making, planning, politics, ecotourism, environmental polices natural parks, lesson drawing practices and state reforms.
Mandatory IFRS adoption and earnings quality in different institutional settings: a comparison between Italy and the UK

Evidence pertaining to the effect of IFRS adoption on earnings quality in the EU is mixed with results varying by country. Potential reasons for the conflicting results include the diverse institutional settings in which European firms operate as well as methodological issues. We use a sample of firms operating in Italy and in the UK, matched on the basis of size and industry, to examine the relative changes in earnings quality after the mandatory IFRS introduction. Our results refute the suggestion that IFRS are not suitable for code law countries while they accept the evidence that IFRS do not improve earnings quality when it is already at an adequate level.
New Operational Transconductance Amplifiers using current boosting

New techniques for Class-AB Operational Transconductance Amplifiers (OTAs) are presented. These new techniques are two topologies based on current boosting in class-AB stage which achieve considerable improvement of Slew Rate and Gain-Bandwidth while maintaining the same power consumption as the conventional design. Circuit level analysis and simulation results of proposed circuits in 0. 18μm CMOS technology for gain, GBW, slew rate, and settling time are presented to prove the effectiveness of the proposed design method.
Secure Web Application Development and Global Regulation

The World Wide Web (WWW) has been predominantly responsible for instigating radical paradigm transformations in today's global information rich civilizations. Many societies have basic operational economical components that depend on Web enabled systems in order to support daily commercial activities. The acceptance of E-commerce as a valid channel for conducting business coupled with societal integration and dependence on Web enabled technology has instigated the development of local, national, and global efforts to regulate criminal activities on the World Wide Web. This paper makes two contributions. The first contribution is the high-level review of the United States and United Kingdom legislation that has developed from the escalation and integration of the World Wide Web into society. The second contribution is the support for the idea that legislative compatibility, in concert with an organization' s policy compatibility, needs to be acknowledged in secure Web application development methodologies
The histone deacetylase inhibitor, PXD101, potentiates bortezomib‐induced anti‐multiple myeloma effect by induction of oxidative stress and DNA damage

Clinical trials have shown the high anti‐myeloma activity of the proteasome inhibitor bortezomib. The present study examined the activity of bortezomib combined with PXD101, a histone deacetylase inhibitor, against multiple myeloma (MM) and osteoclastogenesis. Treatment of myeloma cell lines with combinations of bortezomib and PXD101 led to synergistic inhibition of proliferation and induction of cell death. The combination significantly decreased the viability of primary human CD138+ myeloma cells but not of bone marrow mononuclear cells. Further studies showed a dose‐dependent activation of caspases‐3, ‐8 and ‐9 and nuclear fragmentation in myeloma cells. Bortezomib/PXD101 treatment markedly triggered reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation that was accompanied by p53, H2A.X and p38–mitogen‐activated protein kinase phosphorylation. ROS generation could be blocked by the free radical scavenger N‐acetyl‐l‐cysteine. The combination of bortezomib and PXD101 also resulted in synergistic inhibition of osteoclast formation. In conclusion, bortezomib and PXD101 have different molecular targets. The combination induces cell death in myeloma cells via ROS‐mediated DNA damage and also inhibits osteoclastogenesis. Therefore, this study provides the rationale for the clinical evaluation of bortezomib combined with PXD101 in patients with MM.
“Optimal Dividends: Analysis with Brownian Motion,” Ana C. Cebrián, Hans U. Gerber and Elias S.W. Shiu, January 2004

BEIRLANT, J., P. VYNCKIER, AND J. L. TEUGELS. 1996. “Tail Index Estimation, Pareto Quantile Plots, and Regression Diagnostics,” Journal of the American Statistical Association 91: 1659–67. BINGHAM, N. H. , C. M. GOLDIE, AND J. L. TEUGELS. 1987. Regular Variation. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press. PICKANDS, J. 1975. “Statistical Inference Using Extreme Order Statistics,” Annals of Statistics 3: 119–31.
Multitene design for third order MIMO volterra kernels

This paper proposes a technique for designing multitone signals that can separate the third order multiple input multiple output (MIMO) Volterra kernels. Multitone signals fed to a MIMO Volterra system yield a spectrum that is a permutation of the sums of the input signal tones. This a priori knowledge is used to design multitone signals such that the output from the MIMO Volterra kernels does not overlap in the frequency domain, hence making it possible to separate these kernels from the output of the MIMO Volterra system. The proposed technique is applied to a 2×2 RF MIMO transmitter to determine its dominant hardware impairments. For input crosstalk, the proposed method reveals the dominant self and cross kernels whereas for output crosstalk, the proposed method reveals that only the self kernels are dominant.
Controlled Studies on Women Presenting with Sexual Drive Disorder: I. Endocrine Status

A single mid-cycle blood sample was obtained from 15 premenopausal female patients presenting with lifelong absence of sexual drive and from a control group of women with intact sexual drive. Serum levels of testosterone, 5-dihydrotestosterone (5-DHT), 17ß oestradiol, sex hormone binding globulin, and prolactin were measured and indices of free testosterone and 5-DHT were derived. During the menstrual cycle in which the blood samples were obtained, the study subjects kept a diary of their sexual desire and activities. The only endocrine parameter that is significantly different between the two groups is free testosterone, which is lower in the patients than in the control women. Associations between endocrine parameters and indices of sexual behavior were examined. In the control group, average daily sexual thoughts correlates positively with total testosterone, free testosterone index, and free 5- DHT. Feeling of "need for sex" correlates positively with free 5-DHT index and free testosterone index. Experience of sexual thoughts correlates with need for sex, and average frequency of masturbation correlates negatively with age. In both groups, average coital frequency correlates with free testosterone index.
Effect of inhalational anaesthetic on postoperative cognitive dysfunction following radical rectal resection in elderly patients with mild cognitive impairment

Aims To determine the effect of choice of inhalational anaesthetic (sevoflurane vs propofol) on the incidence and severity of postoperative cognitive dysfunction (POCD) in elderly patients (aged ≥ 60 years) with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Methods Elderly patients with MCI undergoing radical rectal resection were randomly assigned to receive sevoflurane or propofol general anaesthesia. Cognitive function was assessed using neuropsychological testing before and 7 days after surgery. POCD severity was graded as mild, moderate or severe using standard deviation cut-offs. Results At 7 days after surgery, the incidence of POCD was 29.7% in the propofol group (n = 101) and 33.3% in the sevoflurane group (n = 99). There was a signiﬁcant between-group difference for POCD severity: sevoflurane anaesthesia had a more severe impact on cognitive function than propofol anaesthesia. Conclusions There was no difference in the incidence of POCD at 7 days after radical rectal resection under sevoflurane or propofol-based general anaesthesia. Both propofol and sevoflurane were associated with negative cognitive effects, but sevoflurane had a more severe impact on cognitive function than propofol, in elderly patients with MCI.
Nitrogen dioxide: no influence on allergic sensitization in an intranasal mouse model with ovalbumin and diesel exhaust particles

The role of traffic-related air pollution in the development of allergic diseases is still unclear. We therefore investigated if NO2, an important constituent of traffic-related air pollution, promotes allergic sensitization to the allergen ovalbumin (OVA). We also examined if NO2 influenced the allergy adjuvant activity of diesel exhaust particles (DEP). For this purpose, mice were exposed intranasally to OVA with or without DEP present, immediately followed by exposure to NO2 (5 or 25 parts per million [ppm]) or room air for 4 h in whole body exposure chambers. Eighteen hours after the last of three exposures, the lungs of half of the animals were lavaged with saline and markers of lung damage and lung inflammation in the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) were measured. Three weeks later, after intranasal booster immunizations with OVA, the levels of OVA-specific IgE and IgG2a antibodies in serum were determined. Both NO2 (25 ppm) and DEP gave lung damage, measured as increased total protein concentration in BALF, whereas only NO2 seemed to stimulate release of the proinflammatory cytokine tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α). In contrast, only DEP significantly increased the number of neutrophils. Furthermore, DEP in combination with OVA stimulated the production of serum allergen-specific IgE antibodies. NO2, however, neither increased the production of allergen-specific IgE antibodies, nor influenced the IgE adjuvant activity of DEP. Thus, based on our findings, NO2 seems to be of less importance than combustion particles in the development of allergic diseases after exposure to traffic-related air pollution.
Development of a Hardware Platform for Detection of Milk Adulteration Based on Near-Infrared Diffuse Reflection

Generally, detection of water adulteration in milk is performed using a cryoscope. However, the equipment may present erroneous results when other adulterants, e.g., urea, are added to milk. One of the techniques capable of overcoming situations in which the cryoscope fails to detect fraud is near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy. Unfortunately, the development of an instrument based on this technology is challenging due to the influence of external factors and low signal-to-noise ratio. This paper presents a hardware platform based on NIR diffuse reflectance spectroscopy. It can be used to determine the concentration of substances in solid and liquid samples that present diffuse reflectance. An optical condenser system was developed using fixed lenses to increase the signal-to-noise ratio. LEDs with specific spectral emission were used as the light source. In addition, InGaAsSb sensors, which present rapid response and good sensitivity to the NIR spectrum, were used to detect diffusely reflected light. The proposed instrument was tested on milk samples adulterated with water. The results presented high coefficients of determination, higher than 0.99. Therefore, the developed system may be used for detection of milk adulteration. For this purpose, the system response for other variables as milk composition and addition of adulterants other than water must be studied.