Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Development of Diagnostic Insecticide Concentrations and Assessment of Insecticide Susceptibility in German Cockroach (Dictyoptera: Blattellidae) Field Strains Collected From Public Housing

Abstract Insecticide resistance in German cockroaches (Blattella germanica (L.)) has been a barrier to effective control since its first documentation in the 1950s. A necessary first step toward managing resistance is to understand insecticide susceptibility profiles in field-collected strains so that active ingredients (AIs) with lowest resistance levels can be identified. As a first step in this study, diagnostic concentrations (DCs) were determined for 14 insecticide AIs based on lethal concentrations that killed 99% or 90% of the individuals from a susceptible lab strain (JWax-S). Next, cockroaches were collected from two low-income multifamily housing complexes in Danville, IL, and Indianapolis, IN, and used to establish laboratory strains. These strains were screened against the 14 AI-DCs in vial bioassays, and susceptibility profiles were determined by comparing percent mortalities between the field strains relative to the JWax-S strain. Results revealed lowest resistance of field strains to boric acid, abamectin, dinotefuran, clothianidin, thiamethoxam, and chlorfenapyr. For the AIs hydramethylnon and imidacloprid, field strains did not display survivorship different than the lab strain, but >90% mortality was never achieved. Lastly, both field strains displayed resistance to indoxacarb, fipronil, acetamiprid, beta-cyfluthrin, bifenthrin, and lambda-cyhalothrin, but at varying levels. These results satisfy two objectives. First, baseline monitoring DCs were established for 14 insecticides presently registered for use against cockroaches, which represents a useful resource. Second, our findings reveal insecticide AIs with lowest resistance levels for use in forthcoming field studies that will investigate impacts of different insecticide deployment strategies on resistance management and evolution in cockroach field populations.
Field and Laboratory Evaluations of Chlorantraniliprole as a Termiticide in Southern Arizona

ABSTRACT The desert subterranean termite, Heterotermes aureus (Snyder), is the predominant termite of economic importance in the arid southwest. Chlorantraniliprole, a relatively new nonrepellent, slow acting termiticide has been shown to be capable of being transferred among colony members through social interactions, and thus may be effective beyond its original site of application. Using field grids, we evaluated the colony-level effects of chlorantraniliprole on H. aureus foraging activity. Repeated laboratory soil bioassays at 3, 15, 27 and 39 mo postapplication were performed to determine the effects of chlorantraniliprole on termite mortality and tunneling activity. Additionally, field tests of chlorantraniliprole were completed on 10 structures infested with H. aureus. In the experimental grids, the zone surrounded by a chlorantraniliprole perimeter was the only section in which a significant decrease in the number of termites collected occurred, but this was observed in both treatment and controls plots. Overall, no significant colony-level effects of chlorantraniliprole application were observed within the grids. Laboratory bioassays resulted in high mortality and significantly lower tunneling activity of exposed termites at all time points. In structures, the initial application of chlorantraniliprole was sufficient to control infestations in 6 out of 10 cases without supplemental applications. Additional treatments were confined to areas that had not been treated previously. Results show that chlorantraniliprole is capable of achieving control of desert subterranean termites under most conditions. This is likely a result of its high toxicity instead of colony-level effects resulting from termiticide transfer.
Distributed under Creative Commons Cc-by 4.0 the Self Prefers Itself? Self-referential versus Parental Standards in Face Attractiveness

Preference for phenotypic similarity in assortative mating may be influenced by either a preference for self-similarity or parent-similarity. The aim of the current study was to assess whether people's preference in face attractiveness is influenced by resemblance to the opposite sex parent's face (parental phenotype) or their own face (self-based phenotype or " self-imprinting "). We used computerized image manipulations of facial photographs of participants, their mothers and fathers. The original photographs were combined with 78% of the participants' opposite sex prototype face (i.e., male and female prototypes made from equal contributions of a hundred faces), creating morphs where the contribution from the familiar faces went unnoticed. Female and male participants ranked these images together with the opposite-sex prototype different familiar morphs. Each participant did the same for the morphs generated with other same-sex participants' faces and of their parents. We found that the female participants preferred the self-based morphs to the prototype faces. Male participants showed a general tendency towards self-referential standard. Parental face morphs were ranked low in attractiveness, which may be accounted for by the age difference of the faces blended into the self-based versus parental face morphs, since we used present-time photographs of both the participants and their parents.
Temporal Effects of Perpetrating or Receiving Intimate Partner Aggression on Alcohol Consumption: A Daily Diary Study of Community Couples.

OBJECTIVE Survey studies provide evidence that experiencing intimate partner aggression (IPA) contributes to subsequent alcohol use. However, it is unknown whether the increase in alcohol use over time reflects a temporal effect of IPA. We examined verbal and physical IPA as predictors of alcohol use and heavy drinking within the next few hours. We also investigated whether both victims and perpetrators drank following IPA, and if it mattered which partner reported the aggression. METHOD The data reported here were derived from a 56-day diary study examining the association between alcohol use and partner aggression in 118 heterosexual couples. We examined whether alcohol use in a given hour could be predicted by IPA in the previous 3 hours, taking into account victim/perpetrator status, source of the report (self, other), and gender. RESULTS Victims were twice as likely to use alcohol in a given hour when they reported having received verbal IPA in the previous 3 hours, independent of the perpetrator's report. Similarly, perpetrators were more than twice as likely to use alcohol in a given hour when they reported having perpetrated verbal IPA in the previous 3 hours, independent of the victim's report. Results were similar when reports of mutual IPA were considered. Verbal IPA increased the likelihood of drinking but not the likelihood of heavy drinking. Results for physical IPA were not significant. CONCLUSIONS Verbal IPA is a proximal predictor of alcohol use for both victims and perpetrators. However, effects emerge only when individuals report aggression, and not when their partner provides the sole report, emphasizing the importance of the individual's perception of IPA.
Confronting fear using exposure and response prevention for anorexia nervosa: A randomized controlled pilot study.

OBJECTIVE Anorexia nervosa (AN) is a severe illness with high rates of relapse. Exposure and Response Prevention for AN (AN-EXRP) is a new approach that specifically addresses maladaptive eating behavior by targeting eating-related fear and anxiety. The aim of this study was to evaluate AN-EXRP as an adjunctive strategy to improve eating behavior during weight restoration, at a pivotal moment when treatment goals shift toward relapse prevention. METHOD A randomized controlled trial was conducted to compare AN-EXRP with a comparison condition, Cognitive Remediation Therapy (CRT). Hospitalized patients with AN (n = 32) who had achieved weight restoration to a BMI > 18.5 kg/m(2) received 12 sessions of either AN-EXRP or CRT. Outcome was assessed by change in caloric intake in an objective assessment of eating behavior. RESULTS The average test meal caloric intake of participants who received AN-EXRP increased from 352 ± 263 kcal at baseline to 401 ± 215 kcal post-treatment, while that of participants who received CRT decreased from 501 ± 232 kcal at baseline to 424 ± 221 kcal post-treatment [t(28) = 2.5, p = . 02]. Improvement in intake was significantly associated with improvement in eating-related anxiety (Spearman's ρ = 0.40, p = .03). DISCUSSION These data demonstrate that AN-EXRP, compared to a credible comparison intervention, is associated with better caloric intake in a laboratory meal over time in AN. Additional studies are required to determine whether incorporation of these techniques into a longer treatment program leads to enduring and clinically significant change.
Simultaneous two-photon imaging and two-photon optogenetics of cortical circuits in three dimensions

The simultaneous imaging and manipulating of neural activity could enable the functional dissection of neural circuits. Here we have combined two-photon optogenetics with simultaneous volumetric two-photon calcium imaging to measure and manipulate neural activity in mouse neocortex in vivo in three-dimensions (3D) with cellular resolution. Using a hybrid holographic approach, we simultaneously photostimulate more than 80 neurons over 150 μm in depth in layer 2/3 of the mouse visual cortex, while simultaneously imaging the activity of the surrounding neurons. We validate the usefulness of the method by photoactivating in 3D selected groups of interneurons, suppressing the response of nearby pyramidal neurons to visual stimuli in awake animals. Our all-optical approach could be used as a general platform to read and write neuronal activity.
Response of four broiler strains to dietary phosphorus above and below the requirement when brooded at two temperatures.

Four strains of broilers (1,200 birds) were fed diets containing . 14, . 51, and . 88% available phosphorus. The birds were raised for 3 wk at two brooding temperatures, 29.4 C and 35 C, with each being reduced 2.8 degrees per week. Feed consumption, feed conversion, body weight, bone weight (tibia), strength and percentage ash, and mortality were measured in order to assess broiler response. An increase or improvement in each measurement was observed from feeding diets containing . 51% rather than . 14% available phosphorus, but no further increase or improvement was observed in measurements by feeding diets containing . 88% rather than . 51% available phosphorus. The values for feed consumption, weight gain, and bone weight were significantly lower at the higher temperatures than at the lower temperatures. There were interactions of broiler strain-by-phosphorus with feed consumption, BW gain, and bone weight and strength; also, of temperature-by-phosphorus with bone strength, bone ash, and mortality. These interactions indicate that the bird's response to phosphorus is influenced by strain and environmental temperature.
Audiovisual Rehabilitation in Hemianopia: A Model-Based Theoretical Investigation

Hemianopic patients exhibit visual detection improvement in the blind field when audiovisual stimuli are given in spatiotemporally coincidence. Beyond this “online” multisensory improvement, there is evidence of long-lasting, “offline” effects induced by audiovisual training: patients show improved visual detection and orientation after they were trained to detect and saccade toward visual targets given in spatiotemporal proximity with auditory stimuli. These effects are ascribed to the Superior Colliculus (SC), which is spared in these patients and plays a pivotal role in audiovisual integration and oculomotor behavior. Recently, we developed a neural network model of audiovisual cortico-collicular loops, including interconnected areas representing the retina, striate and extrastriate visual cortices, auditory cortex, and SC. The network simulated unilateral V1 lesion with possible spared tissue and reproduced “online” effects. Here, we extend the previous network to shed light on circuits, plastic mechanisms, and synaptic reorganization that can mediate the training effects and functionally implement visual rehabilitation. The network is enriched by the oculomotor SC-brainstem route, and Hebbian mechanisms of synaptic plasticity, and is used to test different training paradigms (audiovisual/visual stimulation in eye-movements/fixed-eyes condition) on simulated patients. Results predict different training effects and associate them to synaptic changes in specific circuits. Thanks to the SC multisensory enhancement, the audiovisual training is able to effectively strengthen the retina-SC route, which in turn can foster reinforcement of the SC-brainstem route (this occurs only in eye-movements condition) and reinforcement of the SC-extrastriate route (this occurs in presence of survived V1 tissue, regardless of eye condition). The retina-SC-brainstem circuit may mediate compensatory effects: the model assumes that reinforcement of this circuit can translate visual stimuli into short-latency saccades, possibly moving the stimuli into visual detection regions. The retina-SC-extrastriate circuit is related to restitutive effects: visual stimuli can directly elicit visual detection with no need for eye movements. Model predictions and assumptions are critically discussed in view of existing behavioral and neurophysiological data, forecasting that other oculomotor compensatory mechanisms, beyond short-latency saccades, are likely involved, and stimulating future experimental and theoretical investigations.
Asymptotic Optimality of Finite Approximations to Markov Decision Processes with Borel Spaces

Calculating optimal policies is known to be computationally difficult for Markov decision processes with Borel state and action spaces and for partially observed Markov decision processes even with finite state and action spaces. This paper studies finite-state approximations of discrete time Markov decision processes with Borel state and action spaces, for both discounted and average costs criteria. The stationary policies thus obtained are shown to approximate the optimal stationary policy with arbitrary precision under mild technical conditions. For compact-state MDPs, we obtain explicit rates of convergence bounds quantifying how the approximation improves as the size of the approximating finite state space increases. Using information theoretic arguments, the order optimality of the obtained rates of convergence is established for a large class of problems. We also show that, as a pre-processing setup, action space can taken to be finite with sufficiently large number points for the finite-state approximation problem; thereby, well known algorithms, such as value or policy iteration, Q-learning, etc., can be used to calculate near optimal policies.
Pelvic Inlet Shape Is Not as Dimorphic as Previously Suggested

It is well known that there are significant differences in the pelves of males and females due, in part, to differing constraints. The male and female pelves must be suitable for upright posture and locomotion, but the female pelvis must also be suitable for reproduction. These differing requirements lead to differences in the shape and size of various pelvic dimensions. These differences are reflected in the pelvic inlet, midplane, and outlet. Current research has documented dimorphisms in the posterior and anterior spaces in all three of these planes. One measure however, that is calculated from the relationship between the length of the anterior–posterior diameter (APD) and the transverse diameter (TD) of the inlet, is not as dimorphic as previously suggested. This computed value is used to describe four main categories of inlet shape: android, gynecoid, anthropoid, and platypelloid. Current textbooks in anatomy and midwifery describe these forms and identify the typical male inlet shape as android and the typical female inlet shape as gynecoid. In this study, however, using skeletonized pelves of 378 adult individuals from three identified skeletal collections, the most common inlet shape for both males and females was android. In addition, when examining shape as a continuous variable, inlet shape is not sexually dimorphic in two of the three populations examined in this study. Based on the results of this study, the inlet shape for males and females is less dimorphic than previously thought, and we need to discontinue using pelvic categories to describe typical inlet shape. Anat Rec, 300:706–715, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Influence of dietary calcium deficiency on yolk and serum calcium, yolk and organ weights and other selected production criteria of the pullet.

Abstract Two experiments were conducted with pullets being fed either a 0.05% or a 3.0% calcium diet for 25 days. Egg production from birds fed the 0.05% calcium diet was reduced approximately 75% within nine days. During the last three days the pullets fed the calcium-deficient diet laid at the rate of 10.7% of which approximately one-half were hard-shelled eggs. The first soft-shelled eggs were observed on the third day and by the sixth day soft-shelled egg production had peaked at approximately 20%. Within six days serum calcium from birds fed the 0.05% calcium diet was reduced by approximately 50% and it remained at this level for the next 18 days. A gradual reduction in yolk calcium and yolk weight was observed for 15 days at which time they had reached their lowest value of 0.105% and 11.8 g. compared to the control values of 0.159% and 16.0 g. , respectively. Shell weight, shell thickness and egg weight also gradually decreased for approximately two weeks. The birds fed the calcium-deficient diet had smaller ovaries, oviducts, pituitaries and combs and had larger parathyroids.
Torsional Behavior Design of UHPC Box Beams Based on Thin-Walled Tube Theory

This study proposed a prediction formula for the torsional strength enabling to reflect the tensile strength of ultra high performance concrete (UHPC) beams based upon the thin-walled tube theory. The remarkable ductile behavior of UHPC can also be attributed to the steel fiber reinforcement. This feature must be considered to provide rational explanation of the torsional behavior of UHPC structures. In this study, the proposed torsional design adopts a modified thin-walled tube theory so as to consider the tensile behavior of UHPC. And torsion test was conducted on thin-walled UHPC box beams to validate the proposed formula through comparison of the predicted torsional strength with the experimental results. The comparison of the predicted values of the cracking torque and torsional moment resistance with those observed in the torsional test of UHPC verified the validity of the design method. The contribution of the steel fibers to the torsional strength and cracking load was larger than that of the stirrups, but the stirrups appeared to contribute additionally to the torsional ductility. Accordingly, it is recommended that design should exploit effectively the contribution of the steel fiber rather than arrange a larger number of stirrups in UHPC structures subjected to torsion.
Utility and Limitations of Using Gene Expression Data to Identify Functional Associations

Gene co-expression has been widely used to hypothesize gene function through guilt-by association. However, it is not clear to what degree co-expression is informative, whether it can be applied to genes involved in different biological processes, and how the type of dataset impacts inferences about gene functions. Here our goal is to assess the utility and limitations of using co-expression as a criterion to recover functional associations between genes. By determining the percentage of gene pairs in a metabolic pathway with significant expression correlation, we found that many genes in the same pathway do not have similar transcript profiles and the choice of dataset, annotation quality, gene function, expression similarity measure, and clustering approach significantly impacts the ability to recover functional associations between genes using Arabidopsis thaliana as an example. Some datasets are more informative in capturing coordinated expression profiles and larger data sets are not always better. In addition, to recover the maximum number of known pathways and identify candidate genes with similar functions, it is important to explore rather exhaustively multiple dataset combinations, similarity measures, clustering algorithms and parameters. Finally, we validated the biological relevance of co-expression cluster memberships with an independent phenomics dataset and found that genes that consistently cluster with leucine degradation genes tend to have similar leucine levels in mutants. This study provides a framework for obtaining gene functional associations by maximizing the information that can be obtained from gene expression datasets.
Phosphoinositide 3-kinase gamma gene knockout impairs postischemic neovascularization and endothelial progenitor cell functions.

OBJECTIVE We evaluated whether phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase gamma (PI3Kgamma) plays a role in reparative neovascularization and endothelial progenitor cell (EPC) function. METHODS AND RESULTS Unilateral limb ischemia was induced in mice lacking the PI3Kgamma gene (PI3Kgamma-/-) or expressing a catalytically inactive mutant (PI3Kgamma(KD/KD)) and wild-type controls (WT). Capillarization and arteriogenesis were reduced in PI3Kgamma-/- ischemic muscles resulting in delayed reperfusion compared with WT, whereas reparative neovascularization was preserved in PI3Kgamma(KD/KD). In PI3Kgamma-/- muscles, endothelial cell proliferation was reduced, apoptosis was increased, and interstitial space was infiltrated with leukocytes but lacked cKit+ progenitor cells that in WT muscles typically surrounded arterioles. PI3Kgamma is constitutively expressed by WT EPCs, with expression levels being upregulated by hypoxia. PI3Kgamma-/- EPCs showed a defect in proliferation, survival, integration into endothelial networks, and migration toward SDF-1. The dysfunctional phenotype was associated with nuclear constraining of FOXO1, reduced Akt and eNOS phosphorylation, and decreased nitric oxide (NO) production. Pretreatment with an NO donor corrected the migratory defect of PI3Kgamma-/- EPCs. PI3Kgamma(KD/KD) EPCs showed reduced Akt phosphorylation, but constitutive activation of eNOS and preserved proliferation, survival, and migration. CONCLUSIONS We newly demonstrated that PI3Kgamma modulates angiogenesis, arteriogenesis, and vasculogenesis by mechanisms independent from its kinase activity.
Applying proteomics to tick vaccine development: where are we?

ABSTRACT Introduction: Ticks are second to mosquitoes as a vector of human diseases and are the first vector of animal diseases with a great impact on livestock farming. Tick vaccines represent a sustainable and effective alternative to chemical acaricides for the control of tick infestations and transmitted pathogens. The application of proteomics to tick vaccine development is a fairly recent area, which has resulted in the characterization of some tick-host-pathogen interactions and the identification of candidate protective antigens. Areas covered: In this article, we review the application and possibilities of various proteomic approaches for the discovery of tick and pathogen derived protective antigens, and the design of effective vaccines for the control of tick infestations and pathogen infection and transmission. Expert commentary: In the near future, the application of reverse proteomics, immunoproteomics, structural proteomics, and interactomics among other proteomics approaches will likely contribute to improve vaccine design to control multiple tick species with the ultimate goal of controlling tick-borne diseases.