Oxidative Toxicity in Neurodegenerative Diseases: Role of Mitochondrial Dysfunction and Therapeutic Strategies

Besides fluorine, oxygen is the most electronegative element with the highest reduction potential in biological systems. Metabolic pathways in mammalian cells utilize oxygen as the ultimate oxidizing agent to harvest free energy. They are very efficient, but not without risk of generating various oxygen radicals. These cells have good antioxidative defense mechanisms to neutralize these radicals and prevent oxidative stress. However, increased oxidative stress results in oxidative modifications in lipid, protein, and nucleic acids, leading to mitochondrial dysfunction and cell death. Oxidative stress and mitochondrial dysfunction have been implicated in many neurodegenerative disorders including Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and stroke-related brain damage. Research has indicated mitochondria play a central role in cell suicide. An increase in oxidative stress causes mitochondrial dysfunction, leading to more production of reactive oxygen species and eventually mitochondrial membrane permeabilization. Once the mitochondria are destabilized, cells are destined to commit suicide. Therefore, antioxidative agents alone are not sufficient to protect neuronal loss in many neurodegenerative diseases. Combinatorial treatment with antioxidative agents could stabilize mitochondria and may be the most suitable strategy to prevent neuronal loss. This review discusses recent work related to oxidative toxicity in the central nervous system and strategies to treat neurodegenerative diseases

BIG Hype: Best Intervention in Games via Distributed Hypergradient Descent

Hierarchical decision making problems, such as bilevel programs and Stackelberg games, are attracting increasing interest in both the engineering and machine learning communities. Yet, existing solution methods lack either convergence guarantees or computational efficiency, due to the absence of smoothness and convexity. In this work, we bridge this gap by designing a first-order hypergradient-based algorithm for Stackelberg games and mathematically establishing its convergence using tools from nonsmooth analysis. To evaluate the \textit{hypergradient}, namely, the gradient of the upper-level objective, we develop an online scheme that simultaneously computes the lower-level equilibrium and its Jacobian. Crucially, this scheme exploits and preserves the original hierarchical and distributed structure of the problem, which renders it scalable and privacy-preserving. We numerically verify the computational efficiency and scalability of our algorithm on a large-scale hierarchical demand-response model

"Breathing" rogue wave observed in numerical experiment

Numerical simulations of the recently derived fully nonlinear equations of motion for weakly three-dimensional water waves [V.P. Ruban, Phys. Rev. E {\bf 71}, 055303(R) (2005)] with quasi-random initial conditions are reported, which show the spontaneous formation of a single extreme wave on the deep water. This rogue wave behaves in an oscillating manner and exists for a relatively long time (many wave periods) without significant change of its maximal amplitude.Comment: 6 pages, 12 figure

Avaliação de metodologias para estimativa da temperatura do ar para áreas de canola no Rio Grande do Sul.

Orientador: Genei Antonio Dalmago

NDVI da canola obtido com sensor Green Seeker e calculado a partir de dados hiperespectrais.

Orientador: Genei Antonio Dalmago

Variabilidade espacial dos atributos físicos e químicos de solo e planta na UP Uva para Vinho, Bento Gonçalves, RS.

Tecnologias de agricultura de precisão (AP) são pouco contempladas pelo setor primário para aumentar a qualidade e competitividade do vinho brasileiro. Por isso, esta pesquisa considera várias tecnologias de AP num vinhedo do cv. Merlot, clone 347, UP Uva para Vinho, localizado em Bento Gonçalves, RS. Neste resumo apresentam-se resultados preliminares relacionados à análise da variabilidade espacial dos atributos físicos e químicos de solo e planta, complementando o trabalho de Miele et al. (2011), também apresentado neste workshop. Os dados sugerem haver variabilidade espacial significativa para vários atributos, com boa correlação com as classes taxonômicas de solo (Argissolos, Cambissolos e Neossolos) e, em certos casos, dependência com o manejo realizado no vinhedo. Os próximos passos consistem em afinar a espacialização dos dados e definir métodos adequados de integração

Temperatura de flores e síliquas de canola (Brassica napus L.) durante ocorrência de geada.

Orientador: Genei Antonio Dalmago

Comparison between three-dimensional linear and nonlinear tsunami generation models

The modeling of tsunami generation is an essential phase in understanding tsunamis. For tsunamis generated by underwater earthquakes, it involves the modeling of the sea bottom motion as well as the resulting motion of the water above it. A comparison between various models for three-dimensional water motion, ranging from linear theory to fully nonlinear theory, is performed. It is found that for most events the linear theory is sufficient. However, in some cases, more sophisticated theories are needed. Moreover, it is shown that the passive approach in which the seafloor deformation is simply translated to the ocean surface is not always equivalent to the active approach in which the bottom motion is taken into account, even if the deformation is supposed to be instantaneous.Comment: 39 pages, 16 figures; Accepted to Theoretical and Computational Fluid Dynamics. Several references have been adde

The Global Dynamics of Inequality (GINI) project: analysing archaeological housing data

The GINI project investigates the dynamics of inequality among populations over the long term by synthesising global archaeological housing data. This project brings archaeologists together from around the world to assess hypotheses concerning the causes and consequences of inequality that are of relevance to contemporary societies globally

Temporal dynamics of spectral reflectance and vegetation indices during canola crop cycle in southern Brazil.

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