Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Jasmonate Negatively Regulates Stomatal Development in Arabidopsis Cotyledons1

Jasmonate and MYC transcription factors negatively regulate stomatal development in Arabidopsis cotyledons. Stomata are ports that facilitate gas and water vapor exchange between plants and their environment. Stomatal development is strictly regulated by endogenous signals and environmental cues. Jasmonate is an important signal that modulates multiple physiological processes in plants, yet the molecular mechanisms underlying its interactions with other developmental signaling pathways remain poorly understood. Here, we show that jasmonate negatively regulates stomatal development in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) cotyledons. Cotyledons of the wild type and stomata-overproliferating mutants (such as too many mouths-1 and stomatal density and distribution1-1) treated with methyl jasmonate exhibit a clear reduction in stomata number. By contrast, blocking endogenous jasmonate biosynthesis or perception enhanced stomatal development. Moreover, three MYC transcription factors involved in jasmonate signaling, MYC2, MYC3, and MYC4, were found to redundantly modulate jasmonate-inhibited stomatal development. A genetic analysis showed that these MYC proteins act upstream of the SPEECHLESS and FAMA transcription factors to mediate stomatal development. Furthermore, jasmonate repression of stomatal development is dependent on these three MYC transcription factors, as stomatal development of the myc2 myc3 myc4 triple mutant was insensitive to methyl jasmonate treatment. Collectively, our study demonstrates that jasmonate and MYC transcription factors negatively regulate stomatal development in Arabidopsis cotyledons.
Cerebrovascular pressure reactivity monitoring using wavelet analysis in traumatic brain injury patients: A retrospective study

Background After traumatic brain injury (TBI), the ability of cerebral vessels to appropriately react to changes in arterial blood pressure (pressure reactivity) is impaired, leaving patients vulnerable to cerebral hypo- or hyperperfusion. Although, the traditional pressure reactivity index (PRx) has demonstrated that impaired pressure reactivity is associated with poor patient outcome, PRx is sometimes erratic and may not be reliable in various clinical circumstances. Here, we introduce a more robust transform-based wavelet pressure reactivity index (wPRx) and compare its performance with the widely used traditional PRx across 3 areas: its stability and reliability in time, its ability to give an optimal cerebral perfusion pressure (CPPopt) recommendation, and its relationship with patient outcome. Methods and findings Five hundred and fifteen patients with TBI admitted in Addenbrooke’s Hospital, United Kingdom (March 23rd, 2003 through December 9th, 2014), with continuous monitoring of arterial blood pressure (ABP) and intracranial pressure (ICP), were retrospectively analyzed to calculate the traditional PRx and a novel wavelet transform-based wPRx. wPRx was calculated by taking the cosine of the wavelet transform phase-shift between ABP and ICP. A time trend of CPPopt was calculated using an automated curve-fitting method that determined the cerebral perfusion pressure (CPP) at which the pressure reactivity (PRx or wPRx) was most efficient (CPPopt_PRx and CPPopt_wPRx, respectively). There was a significantly positive relationship between PRx and wPRx (r = 0.73), and wavelet wPRx was more reliable in time (ratio of between-hour variance to total variance, wPRx 0.957 ± 0.0032 versus PRx and 0.949 ± 0.047 for PRx, p = 0.002). The 2-hour interval standard deviation of wPRx (0.19 ± 0.07) was smaller than that of PRx (0.30 ± 0.13, p < 0.001). wPRx performed better in distinguishing between mortality and survival (the area under the receiver operating characteristic [ROC] curve [AUROC] for wPRx was 0.73 versus 0.66 for PRx, p = 0.003). The mean difference between the patients’ CPP and their CPPopt was related to outcome for both calculation methods. There was a good relationship between the 2 CPPopts (r = 0.814, p < 0.001). CPPopt_wPRx was more stable than CPPopt_PRx (within patient standard deviation 7.05 ± 3.78 versus 8.45 ± 2.90; p < 0.001). Key limitations include that this study is a retrospective analysis and only compared wPRx with PRx in the cohort of patients with TBI. Prior prospective validation is required to better assess clinical utility of this approach. Conclusions wPRx offers several advantages to the traditional PRx: it is more stable in time, it yields a more consistent CPPopt recommendation, and, importantly, it has a stronger relationship with patient outcome. The clinical utility of wPRx should be explored in prospective studies of critically injured neurological patients.
The exergy analysis of a glass tank furnace

We give an example of an exergy balance on a glass tank furnace, which overcomes the deficiencies of a heat balance and deals with the quality of the energy as well as its quantity. The method makes it possible to use energy reasonably, completely, and effectively and it also shows where improvements can be made to the design of furnaces. A detailed study has been made of the many items which make up an exergy balance on a glass tank furnace and an exergy analysis of an end fired furnace is presented and compared with a conventional heat balance. The furnace had a melting area of 22 m 2 and was end fired using heavy fuel oil to produce 290 t/d of flint glass at a melting temperature of 1504°C; fuel consumption was 7.2 t/d
Estimating the Number of Heroin Users in Metropolitan France Using Treatment Centers Data: An Exploratory Analysis

ABSTRACT Background: An updated prevalence estimate for heroin users in France is lacking. Accurate figures are needed to estimate the potential need for treatment. Method: This research relies on a capture-recapture framework and, for the first time, makes use of individual data collected by a standardized survey conducted within treatment centers. Taking the hierarchical structure of data collection into consideration, a multilevel Zelterman regression model was used, thus enabling estimates at national level. Results: The number of heroin users was estimated to be 76,000, 95% CI = [68,000; 85,000] in 2009 (prevalence of 1.9‰ [1.7–2.1]), 101,000 in 2011, 95% CI = [66,000–137,000] (prevalence of 2.5‰ [1.6–3.4]), and 107,000 in 2013, 95% CI = [85,000–124,000] (prevalence of 2.6‰ [2.1–3.1]), with a 4:1 ratio of male:female. Less than one heroin users out of three was seen in treatment centers in 2013. Conclusions: The rise in the number of heroin users is related to an increasing availability of heroin, increasing use in more remote areas, and providers targeting new types of users. The figures, however, should be completed with alternative estimates and enhance the need for a perennial monitoring.
The Effects of Stereotype Threat on the Associative Memory Deficit of Older Adults

The purpose of the current study was to assess whether the age-related associative memory deficit is affected by stereotype threat, which has been shown to negatively affect performance on a wide variety of cognitive tasks, including memory performance of older adults. To date, the effects of stereotype threat on older adults’ memory performance have only been shown using tests of item memory, and using only between-subjects manipulations. The first experiment manipulated stereotype threat by providing younger and older adults with either stereotype consistent (threat condition) or stereotype inconsistent (nonthreat condition) information before studying lists of item pairs and being tested for both item and associative memory. The results revealed a triple interaction of Age × Test × Condition (a strong associative memory deficit in the threat condition that disappeared in the nonthreat condition), and this pattern of results was found both between- and within-subjects. A follow-up control experiment also yielded an age-related associative deficit, suggesting that stereotype threat may be activated even under normal testing conditions. These results imply that stereotype threat could affect older adults’ associative memory, and that one effective strategy to reduce the associative deficit of older adults is to reverse negative stereotypes that exist.
Comparison of a Modified Atmosphere Stunning-Killing System to conventional electrical stunning and killing on selected broiler breast muscle rigor development and meat quality attributes.

Two experiments were conducted to compare the effects of a 70:30 argon:carbon dioxide Modified Atmosphere Stun-Kill (MASK) system to both a low voltage (LV) and a high current (HC) electrical stunning and conventional killing system on broiler breast rigor development and meat quality. In Experiment 1, the effects on breast muscle pH and meat tenderness of the MASK system and the LV system were compared. In Experiment 2, the MASK system was compared to both HC and LV stunning for pH, R-value, C.I.E. L*, a*, b*, cooked yield, and tenderness of broiler breast meat. In Experiment 1, there were no significant differences in breast muscle pH between LV and MASK, except at 24 h. Only at 5 h post-mortem did the MASK system result in significantly tougher breast meat. In Experiment 2, there were no significant differences between treatments in breast muscle color or cooked yield at any sampling time. The breast muscle from birds subjected to the HC stun had consistently higher pH values until 5 h post-mortem, at which time the breast meat from birds subjected to the MASK system had higher pH. R-value data showed a similar trend, with the HC stunned birds having the lower R-values until 5 h post-mortem. Breast meat tenderness values for the three treatments were significantly different only at 3 and 5 h post-mortem, when birds stunned with HC had the highest shear values. The MASK system did not exhibit any rigor accelerating benefits when compared to LV stunning and conventional killing, and only minimal rigor acceleration when compared to HC killing.
Effect of two stunning voltages on blood loss and objective texture of meat deboned at various post-mortem times.

Two experiments were conducted to determine the effect of different stunning voltages on the objective texture of the Pectoralis major muscles deboned at various post-mortem times. Broilers were stunned at either 50 or 200 V alternating current (VAC) for 10 s in a brine stunner. The artery and vein on one side of the neck were severed, blood collected for 90 s, and blood loss calculated as percentage of live weight. Carcasses were then processed under simulated commercial conditions. In the first experiment, the right and left Pectoralis major muscles were excised at 1 and 2 h post-mortem respectively, weighed, vacuum-sealed in plastic bags, and held overnight at 2 C. In the second experiment, the Pectoralis major muscles were excised at 4 h post-mortem and held overnight at 2 C. The muscles were then heated at 85 C for 30 min, equilibrated to room temperature, and prepared for Warner-Bratzler shear analysis. The stunning treatments did not significantly affect blood loss, which averaged 2.86 and 2.64% for 50 and 200 VAC, respectively. Birds subjected to the 50 VAC treatment had a mean shear value of 7.3 kg, which was significantly lower (P < .05) than the mean shear value of 10 kg for birds subjected to the 200 VAC treatment for muscles excised 2 h post-mortem. The use of 200 VAC for stunning could be used without any detrimental effect on the cooked meat as long as the standard deboning time of 4 h was maintained.
An Econometric Analysis of Emission Trading Allowances

World power and gas markets have a natural relationship with global tradable carbon permits markets, including the U.S. Clean Air Act Amendments and the EU Emissions Trading Scheme, the latter officially launched in January 2005. Electric utilities operate their power plants based in part on the price of the power and the relative cost of coal and natural gas. As both carbon dioxide and sulphur dioxide are by-products of the coal burning process, the new factors of SO2 and CO2 emissions allowances come into play in a carbon constrained economy. Now that a price has been put on such allowances, the differences in carbon intensity for coal and gas could potentially change the way companies run their power plants. Moreover, knowledge of the statistical distribution of emission trading allowances, and its forecastability, becomes crucial in constructing optimal hedging and purchasing strategies in the carbon market. This paper provides an in-depth analysis of available data addressing the unconditional tail behavior and the inherent heteroskedastic dynamics in the returns on the emissions allowances.
Influences of age in emotion recognition of spontaneous speech: A case of an under-resourced language

Recognizing emotions using natural or spontaneous speech are extremely difficult compared to doing the same for acted or elicited speeches. Speech emotion recognition for real conversation such as spontaneous speech requires linguistic information of the speech to be included in the speech emotion recognition component to achieve a high recognition rate. However, with the lack of digital speech resources of an under-resourced language, this requirement poses a problem. In this paper, speech emotion recognition of spontaneous speech in Malay language using prosodic features and Random Forest classifier is presented. We also investigate the influence of age categorized as children, young adults and middle-aged on emotion recognition. Ninety spontaneous speech sentences from 30 native speakers of Malay language are collected and classified into three emotions, which are happy, angry and sad. Results show that the spontaneous speech of middle-aged group achieved the highest accuracy rate followed by children age group and finally the young adults. While sad emotions are recognized satisfactorily across all age groups, confusions exist between happy and angry emotions.
Evaluation of a noninvasive technique for measuring fat-free mass in poultry.

Total body electrical conductivity (TOBEC) has been successfully used to predict fat-free mass and lipid content in various species of mammals and birds. In the current trial, TOBEC was used to predict fat-free mass in broiler chicks through 14d posthatch. To accomplish this, a calibration equation was developed and then tested for accuracy of prediction. It was determined that two calibration equations (hatch to 4 d and 6 to 14 d) were necessary to predict growth. Equations including only the TOBEC reading had R2 values of . 92 (6 to 14 d) and . 96 (hatch to 4 d). Equations including additional measures of length or weight had slightly improved R2 values. Through the verification of the calibration equations it was found that when the equations were used in the appropriate range, 95% of the variation in fat-free mass was explained. It was determined that TOBEC measures can be used to predict fat-free mass in live broiler chicks to 2 wk posthatch.
Effect of overheating on the nutritional quality of cottonseed meal.

The effect of overheating on the nutritive value of cottonseed meal (CSM) for chicks and protein solubility in . 2% KOH was evaluated. One-week-old male chicks were assigned to seven diets consisting primarily of corn and unautoclaved commercial CSM (expander-solvent extracted) or CSM that had been autoclaved for 20, 40, 60, 90, or 120 min at 121 C and 105 kPa. The protein level of the diets was either 21 or 22%, and FeSO4.7H2O was added to bind any free gossypol in the CSM. A control corn-soybean meal diet was included for comparison. A sample of full-fat cotton seeds extracted with a mixture of water-acetone-hexane without heating (DFCS) was also evaluated. The true digestibility of amino acids in cecectomized cockerels was determined for DFCS, three samples of unautoclaved commercial CSM, and the commercial CSM that had been autoclaved for 60 or 120 min. Growth performance of chicks was depressed (P < .05) by feeding CSM autoclaved for 40 to 60 min or more. Growth performance of chicks fed CSM diets was inferior (P < .05) to that obtained from the corn-soybean meal diet. Protein solubility for the unautoclaved commercial CSM was less than for DFCS (70 vs 60%) and did not decrease until 90 min of autoclaving. Average amino acid digestibility was higher for DFCS than in CSM (85 vs 74%). The mean true digestibilities of lysine, methionine, and cystine in the three unautoclaved commercial CSM were 64, 72, and 72%, respectively. Digestibilities of amino acids in CSM were reduced by 60 and 120 min of autoclaving. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Neutrophil‐to‐lymphocyte ratio: Prognostic indicator for head and neck squamous cell carcinoma

The neutrophil‐to‐lymphocyte ratio (NLR) has prognostic significance for many cancers, with higher values correlating with poor outcomes. The purpose of this study was to determine the prognostic significance of this inflammatory marker for patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC).
Sexual dimorphism across 3 stages of development in polygynous Artiodactyls is not affected by maternal care

In polygynous mammals, mature males are usually much heavier than females. Competition for females is intense, and few males reproduce. Given the importance of the male’s body size for the reproduction and social life of these species, levels of sexual dimorphism were studied in 27 species of polygynous terrestrial cetartiodactyls at the 3 most significant stages of development: birth, 6 months of age, and adulthood. Overall, there were 3 different types of changes in male-to-female (M/F) mass ratios between birth and adulthood, corresponding to the 3 categories of adult dimorphism. The change in mass ratio between birth and 6 months of age was inversely correlated to the degree of dimorphism at birth. Most adult dimorphism was acquired after weaning. On the whole, postnatal maternal care seems to have no or even an inverse effect on the evolution of dimorphism, which is apparently not consistent with the assumption of greater maternal investment in male than in female offspring among polygynous mammals.
Myofibrillar Z-discs Are a Protein Phosphorylation Hot Spot with Protein Kinase C (PKCα) Modulating Protein Dynamics*

The Z-disc is a protein-rich structure critically important for the development and integrity of myofibrils, which are the contractile organelles of cross-striated muscle cells. We here used mouse C2C12 myoblast, which were differentiated into myotubes, followed by electrical pulse stimulation (EPS) to generate contracting myotubes comprising mature Z-discs. Using a quantitative proteomics approach, we found significant changes in the relative abundance of 387 proteins in myoblasts versus differentiated myotubes, reflecting the drastic phenotypic conversion of these cells during myogenesis. Interestingly, EPS of differentiated myotubes to induce Z-disc assembly and maturation resulted in increased levels of proteins involved in ATP synthesis, presumably to fulfill the higher energy demand of contracting myotubes. Because an important role of the Z-disc for signal integration and transduction was recently suggested, its precise phosphorylation landscape further warranted in-depth analysis. We therefore established, by global phosphoproteomics of EPS-treated contracting myotubes, a comprehensive site-resolved protein phosphorylation map of the Z-disc and found that it is a phosphorylation hotspot in skeletal myocytes, underscoring its functions in signaling and disease-related processes. In an illustrative fashion, we analyzed the actin-binding multiadaptor protein filamin C (FLNc), which is essential for Z-disc assembly and maintenance, and found that PKCα phosphorylation at distinct serine residues in its hinge 2 region prevents its cleavage at an adjacent tyrosine residue by calpain 1. Fluorescence recovery after photobleaching experiments indicated that this phosphorylation modulates FLNc dynamics. Moreover, FLNc lacking the cleaved Ig-like domain 24 exhibited remarkably fast kinetics and exceedingly high mobility. Our data set provides research community resource for further identification of kinase-mediated changes in myofibrillar protein interactions, kinetics, and mobility that will greatly advance our understanding of Z-disc dynamics and signaling.
Potential risk factors for poor outcome after anterior surgery for patients with cervical ossification of the posterior longitudinal ligament

Objective Our purpose here was to identify risk factors of poor outcome after anterior operation in patients with cervical ossification of the posterior longitudinal ligament (OPLL). Methods This study retrospectively reviewed 98 patients who underwent anterior surgery for improving neurological symptoms. The Japanese Orthopedic Association (JOA) recovery rate <50% was defined as poor surgical outcome. We investigated the relationship between various predictors and outcome by logistic regression analysis and receiver operating characteristic curves. To explore the cause of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leakage, we used the Mann–Whitney U-test, χ2 test, or independent t-test. Results Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that age (odds ratio [OR] =1.1, 95% confidence interval [CI] =1.03–1.18, P=0.005), occupying ratio of OPLL (OR =1.08, 95% CI =1.03–1.12, P=0.001), and residual ratio of OPLL (OR =1.07, 95% CI =1.02–1.13, P=0.008) were independently associated with poor outcome. The cutoffs of the above risk factors were set at 63.5 years, 39.65%, and 25.165%, respectively. Predictors for CSF leakage were occupying ratio of OPLL, the K-line, and shape of the ossified lesion (P<0.001, P=0.019, and P=0.003). Conclusion These findings suggest that advanced age, high occupying ratio of OPLL, and high residual ratio of OPLL were risk factors for postoperative poor outcome in patients with OPLL. In addition, the high occupying ratio of OPLL, the K-line (−), and hill-shape ossification were potential causes of CSF leakage.
A Hybrid Feature Model and Deep-Learning-Based Bearing Fault Diagnosis

Bearing fault diagnosis is imperative for the maintenance, reliability, and durability of rotary machines. It can reduce economical losses by eliminating unexpected downtime in industry due to failure of rotary machines. Though widely investigated in the past couple of decades, continued advancement is still desirable to improve upon existing fault diagnosis techniques. Vibration acceleration signals collected from machine bearings exhibit nonstationary behavior due to variable working conditions and multiple fault severities. In the current work, a two-layered bearing fault diagnosis scheme is proposed for the identification of fault pattern and crack size for a given fault type. A hybrid feature pool is used in combination with sparse stacked autoencoder (SAE)-based deep neural networks (DNNs) to perform effective diagnosis of bearing faults of multiple severities. The hybrid feature pool can extract more discriminating information from the raw vibration signals, to overcome the nonstationary behavior of the signals caused by multiple crack sizes. More discriminating information helps the subsequent classifier to effectively classify data into the respective classes. The results indicate that the proposed scheme provides satisfactory performance in diagnosing bearing defects of multiple severities. Moreover, the results also demonstrate that the proposed model outperforms other state-of-the-art algorithms, i.e., support vector machines (SVMs) and backpropagation neural networks (BPNNs).