Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The neuropathology of genetic Parkinson's disease

Pathological data from autopsies genotyped for Parkinson's disease (PD)‐related mutations in alpha‐synuclein, Parkin, PINK1, DJ1, LRRK2, and glucocerebrosidase have accumulated in recent years. The aim of this review is to systematically review all pathological reports of mutation carriers and to identify pathological patterns and gaps in the currently available data. A systematic review of the English literature was done using the terms “Parkinson's disease,” “brain pathology,” “autopsy,” the specific gene nomenclature, and any combination of the above. Most studies included reports of convenience samples: either cases that were preidentified as mutation carriers before autopsy or screens of Lewy body brain banks. Nineteen autopsies of alpha‐synuclein mutation carriers, 49 of LRRK2 mutation carriers, nine of Parkin mutation carriers, one of a PINK1 mutation carrier, and 86 of glucocerebrosidase mutation carriers were identified. Most autopsies of alpha‐synuclein, LRRK2 G2019S, and glucocerebrosidase mutation carriers demonstrated Lewy body pathology, as opposed to Parkin and LRRK2 non‐G2019S mutation carriers. However, there was a marked variability in pathological findings, even among carriers of identical mutations. Pathological data from DJ1 mutation carriers, nonmanifesting mutation carriers (e.g., of LRRK2 mutations), and carriers of a single Parkin mutation were lacking. In gathering together all studies of PD autopsies with an identified genetic risk, this review highlights the wealth of information generated as well as shortcomings in the available data. In particular, there is a need for larger, unbiased pathological studies. Differential association of Lewy pathology with specific mutations may reflect heterogeneity in pathogenic mechanisms among the different PD‐related genes. © 2012 Movement Disorder Society
Why has the British National Minimum Wage had Little or No Impact on Employment?

A century has passed since the first call for a British national minimum wage (NMW). The NMW was finally introduced in 1999. It has raised the real and relative pay of low wage workers, narrowed the gender pay gap and now covers around 1-worker-in-10. The consequences for employment have been extensively analysed using information on individuals, areas and firms. There is little or no evidence of any employment effects. The reasons for this include: an impact on hours rather than workers; employer wage setting and labour market frictions; offsets via the tax credit system; incomplete compliance; improvements in productivity; an increase in the relative price of minimum wage-produced consumer services; and a reduction in the relative profits of firms employing low paid workers.
The Internet of Things as a Helping Tool in the Daily Life of Adult Patients with ADHD

The ADHD (Attention Deficit Disorder and Hyperactivity) is a brain disorder and whose main characteristics are inattention, restlessness and impulsivity. It has its onset in childhood (it occurs in 3 to 5% of the children in the world), being able to accompany the individual throughout its life, although some symptoms become more soft throughout the life.In adults, most problems are related to the difficulty of organizing, planning, managing time, remembering dates, appointments, objects, among others. With the advancement of technology, several solutions have emerged to help our day-to-day life, as well as for peoples with some type of disability, giving them a greater autonomy.In this context, we have the IoT (Internet of Things), one of the solutions with great potential to provide this autonomy, since we can provide several devices, for example, to monitor our blood pressure or body temperature, without the need to be in a hospital.This work proposes a solution, based on IoT, to help the daily activities of an adult person with ADHD. For this, was developed a tool that is able to remember activities and possible lost objects. The evaluation carried out over the proposed solution was based on a questionnaire applied to specialized professionals. The results obtained so far, show that the tool has demonstrated a great potential to help people with ADHD.
The Perils and Pitfalls of Performance Measurement: The CPA Regime for Local Authorities in England

From 2002 comprehensive performance assessment (CPA) has been used by the Audit Commission to scrutinize service delivery in English local authorities across six service blocks: benefits; social care; environment; libraries and leisure; use of resources; education and housing. The authors examined CPA in terms of how vulnerable it is to categorization errors and gaming, whether it is consistent with other government policies and how it deals with uncontrollable factors. CPA failed all of these tests.
Foreign direct investment and wages in domestic firms in Ireland: Productivity spillovers versus labour‐market crowding out

There is a large literature on the positive spillovers frequently thought to be associated with inward foreign direct investment. Aitken et al. (1996) identify several cases, however, where inward FDI appears to have reduced wages in domestic firms. They suggest that this might arise either because foreign firms increase the degree of product‐market competition that domestic firms face, or because they poach the best workers from domestic firms. We concentrate on the second effect, arguing that the first is unlikely to arise in the Irish case to which our data pertain. In a theoretical section we show that the labour‐market poaching effect cannot generate the results postulated if labour markets are competitive and production functions are of the Cobb–Douglas variety, but that it can arise if production functions display higher elasticities of substitution. In an empirical section based on a sample of larger Irish firms we show that, consistent with our theoretical model, foreign presence has different effects on wages and productivity in domestic exporting and non‐exporting establishments.
Nuclear clefting in dorsal root ganglion neurons: A response to whole body vibration

Normal adult rabbits were studied in a whole body vibration model which simulates the type of environmental exposure associated with vibration‐induced low back pain. This model has previously been shown to induce changes in pain‐related neuropeptides in the dorsal root ganglion. Following two weeks of daily exposure to whole body vibration, dorsal root ganglia were excised from control and vibrated rabbits and prepared for ultrastructural evaluation. Of over 1,200 cells sampled, 190 appropriately sectioned cells were analyzed: 32 from immobilized controls, 44 from normal controls, and 114 from vibrated animals. Analysis of nuclear contours revealed more prevalent and more extensive clefting of the nuclear membrane in vibrated cells. The membrane lining these clefts was traversed by numerous pores; density of these pores was 46% greater than in adjacent nonclefted segments (p <.001). Number of clefts per nucleus was increased by 39% in vibrated animals. Cleft area represented 1.19% of nuclear area in vibrated cells compared to 0.74% in controls (p <.001). Numerous mitochondria and free ribosomes and abundant rough endoplasmic reticulum were located within the cleft spaces of vibrated cells. Pores in the cleft membrane appeared normal, supporting the conclusion that the clefts are structural alterations rather than fixation or sectioning artifacts.
Reproducibility of sonographic measurements of carotid intima-media thickness

Background: Carotid intima-media thickness (IMT), measured with B-mode ultrasound, is a marker for atherosclerosis and widely used as an outcome in intervention trials. Purpose: To evaluate the reproducibility of carotid intima-media thickness measurements using tissue harmonic imaging (THI) sonography between two observers with different levels of experience. Material and Methods: IMT measurement was performed in 40 patients: 26 males and 14 females, with a mean age of 62.6 years. The measurements were taken on the posterior wall of the right common carotid artery using a standardized protocol. Observer measurement of the IMT was independent and blind. Statistical analysis was done with parametric tests and Pearson's correlation coefficient. Results: The measurements of the IMT were taken satisfactorily in all cases. IMT measurement time was 5min/study. No significant differences were noted between the means obtained by the two observers. The interobserver correlation of the measurements was very high (97.2%). Conclusion: The results of this study show that carotid IMT measurement using THI sonography and a standardized protocol is accurate and reproducible.
Cdc42- and Rac1-mediated endothelial lumen formation requires Pak2, Pak4 and Par3, and PKC-dependent signaling

Rho GTPases regulate a diverse spectrum of cellular functions involved in vascular morphogenesis. Here, we show that Cdc42 and Rac1 play a key role in endothelial cell (EC) lumen and tube formation as well as in EC invasion in three-dimensional (3D) collagen matrices and that their regulation is mediated by various downstream effectors, including Pak2, Pak4, Par3 and Par6. RNAi-mediated or dominant-negative suppression of Pak2 or Pak4, two major regulators of cytoskeletal signaling downstream of Cdc42 or Rac1, markedly inhibits EC lumen and tube formation. Both Pak2 and Pak4 phosphorylation strongly correlate with the lumen formation process in a manner that depends on protein kinase C (PKC)-mediated signaling. We identify PKCϵ and PKCζ as regulators of EC lumenogenesis in 3D collagen matrices. Two polarity proteins, Par3 and Par6, are also required for EC lumen and tube formation, as they establish EC polarity through their association with Cdc42 and atypical PKC. In our model, disruption of any member in the Cdc42-Par3-Par6-PKCζ polarity complex impairs EC lumen and tube formation in 3D collagen matrices. This work reveals novel regulators that control the signaling events mediating the crucial lumen formation step in vascular morphogenesis.
I suppose you think that's funny! The role of humour in corporate learning events

This paper examines the uses of humour among participants in five bank training programmes in the UK. These programmes, run by the banks themselves, were studied using ethnographic methods and the observations reported here are based upon extensive field notes. The paper examines the ways in which participants deployed humour during these learning events and the role humour played in the management of their relations with their fellow learners and the course instructors. The course instructors' use of humour is also examined. It is argued that humour played a far from trivial role in the programmes studied. On the contrary, humour was vital to their maintenance as viable organizational practices. In conclusion it is suggested that the more systematic study of humour could make an important contribution to the understanding of the social realities of corporate training programmes.
determination of pesticide residues in fruits and vegetables

LC-MS/MS determination of pesticide residues in fruits and vegetables Anna Stachniuk, Agnieszka Szmagara, Renata Czeczko & Emilia Fornal To cite this article: Anna Stachniuk, Agnieszka Szmagara, Renata Czeczko & Emilia Fornal (2017): LC-MS/MS determination of pesticide residues in fruits and vegetables, Journal of Environmental Science and Health, Part B, DOI: 10.1080/03601234.2017. 1301755 To link to this article: http://dx.doi. org/10.1080/03601234.2017. 1301755
The Persistence of Hedge Fund Risk

In this article the authors examine persistence of hedge fund performance and find that returns are not persistent while risk (volatility in returns) and correlations to underlying markets are highly persistent. Less risky funds tend to be less correlated with underlying markets and more efficient at bearing risk than their more risky counterparts. They analyze various determinants of hedge fund performance and develop a multifactor model to identify funds whose superior performance is based on underlying investment skill, rather than on risk-taking or undue exposure to markets. For the period 1996 to 2001, portfolios of such funds generate significantly higher risk-adjusted returns (Sharpe ratio of 4.14) than portfolios containing all funds (1.38), portfolios constructed solely on the basis of past returns (0.75), and portfolios constructed based on past Sharpe ratios (2.42).
The effect of prevalent cardiovascular conditions on the association between alcohol consumption and mortality among older Mexican American men.

PURPOSE To examine the association between alcohol consumption and mortality among older Mexican American men, with and without pre-existing cardiovascular conditions. METHODS We conducted survival analysis among 908 men aged 65-80 years from the Hispanic Established Population for the Epidemiological Study of the Elderly (H-EPESE), a longitudinal population-based study of older Mexican Americans who reside in the southwestern United States. Men were categorized into four alcohol-consumption groups: lifetime abstainers, former drinkers, low risk drinkers (< or =30 drinks/month and < or =3 drinks/occasion) and at-risk drinkers (>30 drinks/month or >3 drinks/occasion) and stratified into two groups: those with and those without pre-existing cardiovascular conditions. Mortality was ascertained from 1993-1994 to 2007. RESULTS Among participants without pre-existing cardiovascular conditions, former, low risk, and at-risk drinkers had a lower risk for all-cause mortality compared to lifetime abstainers [HR: . 70, 95% CI (.50-.99), . 64 (.42-.97) and . 60 (.40-.92), respectively]. There was no statistically significant association between mortality and any of the alcohol consumption groups among those with cardiovascular conditions. CONCLUSIONS Among older Mexican-American men without cardiovascular conditions, former and current drinkers had lower mortality compared to abstainers. No such associations were observed between alcohol use and mortality among those with cardiovascular conditions.
Cloning and Functional Characterization of HDAC11, a Novel Member of the Human Histone Deacetylase Family*

We have cloned and characterized a human cDNA that belongs to the histone deacetylase family, which we designate as HDAC11. The predicted HDAC11 amino acid sequence reveals an open reading frame of 347 residues with a corresponding molecular mass of 39 kDa. Sequence analyses of the putative HDAC11 protein indicate that it contains conserved residues in the catalytic core regions shared by both class I and II mammalian HDAC enzymes. Putative orthologues of HDAC11 exist in primate, mouse, Drosophila, and plant. Epitope-tagged HDAC11 protein expressed in mammalian cells displays histone deacetylase activity in vitro. Furthermore, HDAC11's enzymatic activity is inhibited by trapoxin, a known histone deacetylase inhibitor. Multiple tissue Northern blot and real-time PCR experiments show that the high expression level of HDAC11 transcripts is limited to kidney, heart, brain, skeletal muscle, and testis. Epitope-tagged HDAC11 protein localizes predominantly to the cell nucleus. Co-immunoprecipitation experiments indicate that HDAC11 may be present in protein complexes that also contain HDAC6. These results indicate that HDAC11 is a novel and unique member of the histone deacetylase family and it may have distinct physiological roles from those of the known HDACs.
Determinants of industry performance: region vs. country effects in knowledge-intensive service industries

Recent variance decomposition studies have started trying to determine the relative importance of industry and firm on profitability, but little research has been done to investigate exactly how much the difference in regions and countries could explain the variation in industry performance. This study explores the sources of knowledge-intensive service industry performance by comparing the relative importance of region, country, and industry effects. Using a variance components model fitted to a new data set, we find that while the country effects dominate industry performance around the world and in all regions (North America, South America, West Europe, East Europe, and Asia), industry effects too play a role in developing the worldwide knowledge-intensive service industries. We also find that regional effects have little significant influence on industry performance.
Peer education in sexual and reproductive health programming: a Cambodian case study

This article analyses in detail the impact and effectiveness of peer-education projects implemented in Cambodia under the Reproductive Health Initiative for Asia (RHI), in an attempt to provide important lessons for the design and implementation of such interventions and to contribute to the development of best practice. Under RHI, which was the first programme in Cambodia designed specifically to address the sexual and reproductive health needs of young people, peer education was implemented as if it were a directly transferable method, rather than a process to be rooted in specific social and political contexts. Consequently, peer-education concepts of empowerment and participation conflicted with hierarchical traditions and local power relations concerning gender and poverty; peer educators were trained to deliver messages developed by adults; and interventions were not designed to reflect the social dynamics of youth peer groups.
Microdata analysis of price setting behaviour and macrodata analysis of heterogeneous DSGE models

This thesis investigates nominal frictions in price setting behaviour from both microe-conometric and macroeconometric perspectives. Chapter I and II use the unpublished retailer-level and producer-level microdata underlying CPI and PPI in the UK statisti-cal authority to study empirical price rigidity and price setting mechanisms. Based on the conventional frequency-based method, little rigidity is found since the implied price duration is less than half a year. However, this method is shown to significantly underestimate the true duration due to oversampling of short price spells. Alternative-ly, a trajectory-based cross-sectional approach is adopted, giving an unbiased and ro-bust estimate for average duration over 9 months (retailer price) and 15 months (pro-ducer price). That is to say, producer price has higher degree of rigidity than retailer price if cross-sectional approach is used. Both time-dependent and state-dependent features exist in price setting. In particular for retailer price, results also suggest con-spicuous heterogeneities in price rigidity across sectors and shop types, but weak dif-ference across regions and time. The overall hazard function of price change can be decomposed into a decreasing component from goods sectors and a 4-month cyclical component from services sectors. The empirical findings in the microdata not only contribute to the microdata literature on price setting behaviour, but also make possible the calibrations of macroeconomic DSGE model with heterogeneous price setting. Hence, based on the microdata find-ings in Chapter I and II, Chapter III uses Classical maximum likelihood and Bayesian inference to evaluate and estimate DSGE models with various price setting mecha-nisms. A vital problem with homogeneous price setting models is that they cannot generate enough persistence while keeping calibration of average price rigidity con-sistent with microdata evidence. In contrast, this ―persistence puzzle‖ is successfully resolved by heterogeneous price setting models, which greatly improve the dynamic performance of macroeconomic models.
Hybrid and Modular Multilevel Converter Designs for Isolated HVDC–DC Converters

Efficient medium and high-voltage dc–dc conversion is critical for future dc grids. This paper proposes a hybrid multilevel dc–ac converter structure that is used as the kernel of dc–dc conversion systems. Operation of the proposed dc–ac converter is suited to trapezoidal ac-voltage waveforms. Quantitative and qualitative analyses show that said trapezoidal operation reduces converter footprint, active and passive components’ size, and on-state losses relative to conventional modular multilevel converters. The proposed converter is scalable to high voltages with controllable ac-voltage slope; implying tolerable dv/dt stresses on the converter transformer. Structural variations of the proposed converter with enhanced modularity and improved efficiency will be presented and discussed with regards to application in front-to-front isolated dc–dc conversion stages, and in light of said trapezoidal operation. Numerical results provide deeper insight of the presented converter designs with emphasis on system design aspects. Results obtained from a proof-of-concept 1-kW experimental test rig confirm the validity of simulation results, theoretical analyses, and simplified design equations presented in this paper.
High and low frequency variations and the cyclical behaviour of real wages

The conflicting empirical evidence on the cyclicality of real wages may be a result of the fact that the measure of comovements employed in the literature is affected by coherence among non-business cycle variations in the data. By recursively removing components the degree to which long- and short-term cycles contaminate the existing evidence is studied. While confirming many of the results of the current literature, it is found that evidence of cyclicality is affected more by long rather than by short-term components, even though the data have been detrended by a number of different methods. It has been suggested in the literature that wages become more countercyclical as the deflators used represent less finished bundles of goods. This study shows that this result is robust to the removal of components from either end of the spectrum.
Leptin opposes insulin's effects on fatty acid partitioning in muscles isolated from obese ob/obmice.

Because muscle triacylglycerol (TAG) accumulation might contribute to insulin resistance in leptin-deficient ob/obmice, we studied the acute (60- to 90-min) effects of leptin and insulin on [14C]glucose and [14C]oleate metabolism in muscles isolated from lean and obese ob/ob mice. In ob/ob soleus, leptin decreased glycogen synthesis 36-46% ( P < 0.05), increased oleate oxidation 26% ( P < 0.05), decreased oleate incorporation into TAG 32% ( P < 0.05), and decreased the oleate partitioning ratio (oleate partitioned into TAG/CO2) 44% ( P < 0.05). Insulin decreased oleate oxidation 31% ( P < 0.05), increased oleate incorporation into TAG 46% ( P< 0.05), and increased the partitioning ratio 125% ( P < 0.01). Adding leptin diminished insulin's antioxidative, lipogenic effects. In soleus from lean mice, insulin increased the partitioning ratio 142%, whereas leptin decreased it 51%, as previously reported (Muoio, D. M., G. L. Dohm, F. T. Fiedorek, E. B. Tapscott, and R. A. Coleman. Diabetes 46: 1360-1363, 1997). The phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase inhibitor wortmannin blocked insulin's effects on lipid metabolism but only attenuated leptin's effects. Increasing glucose concentration from 5 to 10 mM did not affect TAG synthesis, suggesting that insulin-induced lipogenesis is independent of increased glucose uptake. These data indicate that leptin opposes insulin's promotion of TAG accumulation in lean and ob/ob muscles. Because acute leptin exposure does not correct insulin resistance in ob/ob muscles, in vivo improvements in glucose homeostasis appear to require other long-term factors, possibly TAG depletion.