Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effectiveness of Naturally Occurring Substances Added to Duck Litter in Reducing Emergence and Landing of Adult Musca domestica (Diptera: Muscidae)

Abstract Poultry barns provide an ideal breeding environment for Musca domestica L. (Diptera: Muscidae) owing to the controlled temperatures and litter (manure plus bedding material) accumulation. Management techniques that render the litter less suitable for immature stage development, such as the addition of naturally occurring insecticidal substances, could reduce fly infestations. The effectiveness of acetic, boric, and citric acids; diatomaceous earth; and hydrated lime at restricting female landing and growth of house flies in duck litter was evaluated. Litter treated with 1.9% and 4.7% by weight of acetic or boric acid had significantly lower adult emergence rates compared with the same concentrations of citric acid, diatomaceous earth, hydrated lime, or the untreated control litter. The pH of duck litter treated with acetic or citric acid was significantly reduced and remained significantly lower than the control litter (pH 8.7) for 10 d. Significantly more house flies landed on a house fly-rearing substrate (wheat bran, powdered milk, bloodmeal, water, and yeast) than litter treated with any of the other test substances or the control. The LC50 for boric acid was estimated to be 0.01% by weight, which was lower than that of acetic acid (1.42%). Similarly, the LC90 of boric acid was estimated to be 0.12%, which was lower than that of acetic acid (10.03%). Acetic acid and boric acid have the potential to be incorporated into litter as a pest management tactic to reduce house fly populations in duck production facilities.
Cryptosporidium spp., comparative diagnosis and geospatial distribution in diarrheic calves from dairy farms, Valdivia, Chile

Objective. To determine the Cryptosporidium spp. infection frequency by using Ziehl-Neelsen and Auramine stains on samples obtained from diarrheic calves from milking farms of the Valdivia province. To compare both diagnostic tests and to determine the geospatial distribution of the infections caused by this protozoan. Materials and methods. 221 fecal samples of diarrheic calves of 24 milking farms of the Valdivia province were studied. The processing and analysis of the samples was done by Ziehl-Neelsen (ZN) and Auramine (AU) staining techniques, and the results were compared by McNemar statistical test and the concordance level was determined by kappa index. A map was also generated to determine the geospatial distribution of Cryptosporidium infections. Results. 57.9% of all the animals tested were classified as positive with the ZN stain test, while 55.6% of all the animals turned out positive for the AU stain test. The McNemar test showed no significant difference between both diagnostic techniques (p>0.05), while the kappa index showed proper concordance between tests (k=0.73). 100% of the farms studied showed protozoan presence demonstrating the broad distribution of the parasite, however, and considering the previous factor, it was not possible to determine geospatial associations for the parasite distribution. Conclusions. The infection frequency of Cryptosporidium is higher than 50% in the milking farms studied from the Valdivia province. No difference between the Ziehl-Neelsen and Auramine staining techniques was demonstrated showing very consistent results. It was possible to detect that the number of farms infected correspond to 100% of the farms analyzed.
Inverse Reinforcement Learning with Simultaneous Estimation of Rewards and Dynamics

Inverse Reinforcement Learning (IRL) describes the problem of learning an unknown reward function of a Markov Decision Process (MDP) from observed behavior of an agent. Since the agent's behavior originates in its policy and MDP policies depend on both the stochastic system dynamics as well as the reward function, the solution of the inverse problem is significantly influenced by both. Current IRL approaches assume that if the transition model is unknown, additional samples from the system's dynamics are accessible, or the observed behavior provides enough samples of the system's dynamics to solve the inverse problem accurately. These assumptions are often not satisfied. To overcome this, we present a gradient-based IRL approach that simultaneously estimates the system's dynamics. By solving the combined optimization problem, our approach takes into account the bias of the demonstrations, which stems from the generating policy. The evaluation on a synthetic MDP and a transfer learning task shows improvements regarding the sample efficiency as well as the accuracy of the estimated reward functions and transition models.
Diversity, Conflict and Growth: Theory and Evidence

This article re-examines recent studies that link different forms of social diversity—ethnic polarization and fractionalization—to underdevelopment and an increased risk of civil war. We review theoretical arguments in favor of a connection between diversity and these social outcomes and discuss the inter-linkage between economic growth and internal conflict in situations of extreme diversity. Our analysis confirms that the relationship between ethnic polarization and civil war is ambiguous and depends on the use of civil war incidence or civil war onset as an outcome variable. Furthermore, fractionalization rather than polarization seems to be negatively related to economic growth.
Parsing the effects violence exposure in early childhood: modeling developmental pathways.

OBJECTIVE To prospectively examine pathways from early childhood violence exposure and trauma-related symptoms to school-age emotional health. METHODS A longitudinal, birth cohort (N = 437) was assessed with parent reports of lifetime violence exposure and trauma-related symptoms at 3 years of age and later, internalizing and externalizing symptoms, and social competence at school age. RESULTS Early family and neighborhood violence correlated significantly with early trauma-related symptoms and also significantly predicted school-age internalizing and externalizing symptoms and poorer competence, independent of sociodemographic risk and past-year violence exposure. Longitudinal pathways were significantly mediated by arousal and avoidance symptoms at 3 years of age, which increased risk for clinically significant emotional problems and lower competence at school age (adjusted odds ratios = 3.1-6.1, p < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS Trauma-related symptoms may mediate developmental pathways from early violence exposure to later emotional health. Interventions that prevent or reduce early trauma-related symptoms may ameliorate the long-term deleterious impact of violence exposure.
Diverse Pathways in Children's Learning

This article argues the need for interpretations of cognition which acknowledge the truly diverse nature of learning in young children. To illustrate this, Partially Ordered Scaling of Items (POSI) analysis (Knight & Fischer, 1992) was applied to the domain of block play in a replication of Innes and King-Shaw's 1985 study. The 1985 study identified the developmental product sequences of block play as a linear hierarchy, ignoring the possibility of diverse pathways. The present replication of Innes and King-Shaw's work which used POSI analysis, enabled identification of several developmental pathways, illustrating the web like nature of conceptual advancement in this domain.
ttenuation of the cortisol response to stress in female rainbow trout hronically exposed to dietary selenomethionine

Selenomethionine (Se-Met) is the major dietary form of selenium (Se). While Se is a required nutrient, it can also influence the physiological stress response because it stimulates greater concentrations of cortisol in blood plasma of exposed fish. However, little is known about the effects of exposure to Se on the ability to cope with a secondary stressor. In the current study, female rainbow trout were exposed to an environmentally relevant dietary concentration (8.47 mg Se/kg dry mass (dm)) of Se-Met for 126 d, after which time fish were subjected to a 3-min handling stressor and sampled at 2 h and 24 h post-stressor exposure. Concentrations of cortisol, cortisone, glucose, and lactate in blood plasma and concentrations of glycogen and triglycerides in liver and muscle were determined. Abundances of transcripts of proteins involved in corticosteroidogenesis were determined using quantitative RT-PCR. Concentrations of cortisol were significantly greater in blood plasma of trout exposed to Se-Met, relative to control trout sampled prior to the handling stressor. A typical response of cortisol to the handling stressor was observed in the control trout. However, trout exposed to Se-Met were unable to mount a cortisol response to the handling stressor. Concentrations of cortisone, the inactive metabolite of cortisol, were significantly greater following the handling stressor in trout exposed to Se-Met. In trout exposed to Se-Met, transcript abundance of melanocortin 2 receptor (mc2r) and peripheral benzodiazepine receptor (pbr) were greater, which is consistent with the conclusion that synthesis of cortisol was greater. However, abundances of transcripts of cytochrome P450 side-chain cleavage (p450scc) and cytochrome P450 11B1 (cyp11b1) were not significantly different between controls and Se-Met exposed trout. Exposure to Se-Met affected accumulation and tissue partitioning of glycogen and triglycerides in liver and muscle as concentrations of these energy reserves were greater in muscle, but not liver. Concentrations of glycogen and triglycerides in muscle, but not in liver, were lesser following the handling stressor suggesting that the muscle energy reserves are an important source of energy required for recovery from the handling stressor. The results of the study demonstrate that chronic exposure to dietary Se-Met elicits a stress response, but prevents a cortisol response to a secondary handling stressor, most likely due to cortisol inactivation. Moreover, exposure to Se-Met has effects on concentrations of energy reserves that are important for providing the energy necessary to cope with a secondary stressor. ∗ Corresponding author at: Toxicology Centre, University of Saskatchewan, 44 ampus Drive, Saskatoon, SK, Canada, S7N 5B3. Tel. : +1 306 966 4912; ax: +1 306 970 4796. E-mail address: steve.wiseman@usask.ca (S. Wiseman). 166-445X/$ – see front matter © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. oi:10.1016/j.aquatox. 2011.09. 002 © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Teachers' Perceptions of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: Incidence and Management

ADHD continues to be a common diagnosis of school children, and according to the DSM-IV, it affects approximately 3-5% of the population. Teachers are often the primary source of information regarding ADHD diagnoses in school children. A previous study by Glass and Wegar (2000) found that teachers were over-identifying children with ADHD and that medication was preferred as the primary treatment for these students. This study further examines teacher perceptions on the causes, incidence, and appropriate treatment methods of ADHD. In addition, this study also examines the prevalence of ADHD as determined by the ADHD Rating Scale-IV (School Version) (DuPaul et al., 1998), and determines if it carries biases towards gender or ethnicity. Results show that teachers are still over-identifying children with ADHD when compared to expected prevalence rates by the DSM-IV. Out of 121 rating scales analyzed, 23.97 percent were identified by teachers as meeting criteria for one of the three types of ADHD. Males had significantly higher scores than females and Whites had significantly higher scores than Hispanics. In conclusion, more research needs to be conducted on developing culturally appropriate rating scales for ADHD as well as making changes in the DSM-IV to reflect the growing incidence rates of ADHD.
A Redox Regulatory System Critical for Mycobacterial Survival in Macrophages and Biofilm Development

Survival of M. tuberculosis in host macrophages requires the eukaryotic-type protein kinase G, PknG, but the underlying mechanism has remained unknown. Here, we show that PknG is an integral component of a novel redox homeostatic system, RHOCS, which includes the ribosomal protein L13 and RenU, a Nudix hydrolase encoded by a gene adjacent to pknG. Studies in M. smegmatis showed that PknG expression is uniquely induced by NADH, which plays a key role in metabolism and redox homeostasis. In vitro, RenU hydrolyses FAD, ADP-ribose and NADH, but not NAD+. Absence of RHOCS activities in vivo causes NADH and FAD accumulation, and increased susceptibility to oxidative stress. We show that PknG phosphorylates L13 and promotes its cytoplasmic association with RenU, and the phosphorylated L13 accelerates the RenU-catalyzed NADH hydrolysis. Importantly, interruption of RHOCS leads to impaired mycobacterial biofilms and reduced survival of M. tuberculosis in macrophages. Thus, RHOCS represents a checkpoint in the developmental program required for mycobacterial growth in these environments.
Balancing Power Consumption in IoT Devices by Using Variable Packet Size

Currently, IoT devices are becoming more and more popular, being deployed in different scenarios such as monitoring the power consumption of a house or the state of an outdoor parking spot. These networks tend to be densely populated by a huge amount of sensors that send really short messages. Given these characteristics, their main problem is the great variability and unpredictability of battery lifetime, when they cannot be plugged to a power outlet. In this paper, we analyze the mote behaviour on a real IoT network and use the extracted data to propose a mechanism to distribute the power consumption more equally between all motes, regardless the number of messages each one sends. This new proposal decreases the numbers of interventions required to replace batteries, minimizing costs and increasing network lifetime.
Pulsed Radiofrequency Treatment of Articular Branches of the Obturator and Femoral Nerves for Management of Hip Joint Pain

▪ Abstract: Groin and thigh pain are frequently the major symptoms of hip joint pathology. The hip joint is innervated by articular branches of the obturator, femoral, superior gluteal, and sciatic nerves. The nerve responsible for hip joint pain can be determined by a diagnostic nerve block. Radiofrequency ablation of the identified articular branches of the hip was demonstrated to provide relief of hip pain. However, continuous radiofrequency denervation by thermal coagulation carries the potential risk of neuritis. We report on two patients with groin and thigh pain related to hip joint pathology treated with a novel technique for hip pain relief, pulsed radiofrequency treatment (PRF) of articular branches of the obturator and femoral nerves. At the time this case was written, both patients demonstrated at least 50% pain relief 3 to 4 months after the intervention along with improved function (increased ambulation and ability to participate in physical therapy). Our clinical observation suggests that PRF of articular branches of the hip joint may be an alternative treatment for patients with intractable hip pain. ▪
Activity-Dependent Regulation of Surface Glucose Transporter-3

Glucose transporter 3 (GLUT3) is the main facilitative glucose transporter in neurons. Glucose provides neurons with a critical energy source for neuronal activity. However, the mechanism by which neuronal activity controls glucose influx via GLUT3 is unknown. We investigated the influence of synaptic stimulation on GLUT3 surface expression and glucose import in primary cultured cortical and hippocampal neurons. Synaptic activity increased surface expression of GLUT3 leading to an elevation of intracellular glucose. The effect was blocked by NMDA receptor (NMDAR) and neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS) inhibition. The Akt inhibitor I (Akt-I) blocked NMDAR-induced GLUT3 surface expression while a nNOS-phosphomimetic mutant (S1412D) enhanced GLUT3 expression at cell surface. These results suggest that NMDAR/Akt-dependent nNOS phosphorylation is coupled to GLUT3 trafficking. We demonstrated that activation of cGMP-dependent protein kinase (cGK) increased the surface expression of GLUT3, which was repressed by Rp-8-pCPT-cGMPS, a potent cell-permeable inhibitor of cGKs. These studies characterize the molecular basis for activity-dependent increases in surface GLUT3 after stimulation of the NMDARs. NMDAR-induced increase in surface GLUT3 represents a novel pathway for control of energy supply during neuronal activity that is critical for maintaining glucose homeostasis during neuronal transmission.
Enhanced MALDI-TOF MS Analysis of Phosphopeptides Using an Optimized DHAP/DAHC Matrix

Selecting an appropriate matrix solution is one of the most effective means of increasing the ionization efficiency of phosphopeptides in matrix-assisted laser-desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-MS). In this study, we systematically assessed matrix combinations of 2, 6-dihydroxyacetophenone (DHAP) and diammonium hydrogen citrate (DAHC), and demonstrated that the low ratio DHAP/DAHC matrix was more effective in enhancing the ionization of phosphopeptides. Low femtomole level of phosphopeptides from the tryptic digests of α-casein and β-casein was readily detected by MALDI-TOF-MS in both positive and negative ion mode without desalination or phosphopeptide enrichment. Compared with the DHB/PA matrix, the optimized DHAP/DAHC matrix yielded superior sample homogeneity and higher phosphopeptide measurement sensitivity, particularly when multiple phosphorylated peptides were assessed. Finally, the DHAP/DAHC matrix was applied to identify phosphorylation sites from α-casein and β-casein and to characterize two phosphorylation sites from the human histone H1 treated with Cyclin-Dependent Kinase-1 (CDK1) by MALDI-TOF/TOF MS.
Healthcare Costs for Chronic Hepatitis C in South Korea from 2009 to 2013: An Analysis of the National Health Insurance Claims’ Data

Background/Aims The introduction of direct-acting antivirals (DAA) in 2013 revolutionized hepatitis C virus (HCV) treatment, offering a cure rate >90%. However, this therapy is expensive, and estimations of the number of chronic HCV-infected (CHC) patients and their treatment costs pre-2013 are therefore essential for creating policies and expanding drug access. Herein, we aimed to investigate the number of HCV-related liver disease patients, their healthcare utilization, their annual direct medical costs, and the interferon-based antiviral treatment rates and costs from 2009 to 2013 in South Korea. Methods The National Health Insurance database was reviewed, and patients diagnosed with CHC from 2009 to 2013 were extracted. Data regarding detailed healthcare utilization, prescribed drugs, and direct medical costs were obtained. For annual direct healthcare cost calculations, a prevalence-based approach was used. Results Overall, 181,768 CHC patients were identified. In 2013, the annual per-patient costs for chronic hepatitis, liver cirrhosis, hepatocellular carcinoma, and the first year post-liver transplant were 895, 1,873, 6,945, and 67,359 United States dollars, respectively. Interferon-based antiviral therapeutics were prescribed to 25,223 patients (13.9%). Conclusions Healthcare costs have increased remarkably with increasing liver disease severity. Thus, efforts to stop disease progression are needed. Moreover, the low rate of interferon-based therapy indicates an unmet need for DAA.
Translation invariance and continuous symmetries in two-dimensional continuum systems

We reconsider the problem of absence of continuous symmetry breaking for systems of point particles in R. Assuming smoothness and suitable decay of the interaction, we show that each tempered Gibbs measure is invariant under translations. If the particles exhibit internal degrees of freedom with continuous symmetries, the latter are also preserved. The proof is elementary and avoids the use of superstability estimates.
The Heterochromatic Barrier to DNA Double Strand Break Repair: How to Get the Entry Visa

Over recent decades, a deep understanding of pathways that repair DNA double strand breaks (DSB) has been gained from biochemical, structural, biophysical and cellular studies. DNA non-homologous end-joining (NHEJ) and homologous recombination (HR) represent the two major DSB repair pathways, and both processes are now well understood. Recent work has demonstrated that the chromatin environment at a DSB significantly impacts upon DSB repair and that, moreover, dramatic modifications arise in the chromatin surrounding a DSB. Chromatin is broadly divided into open, transcriptionally active, euchromatin (EC) and highly compacted, transcriptionally inert, heterochromatin (HC), although these represent extremes of a spectrum. The HC superstructure restricts both DSB repair and damage response signaling. Moreover, DSBs within HC (HC-DSBs) are rapidly relocalized to the EC-HC interface. The damage response protein kinase, ataxia telangiectasia mutated (ATM), is required for HC-DSB repair but is dispensable for the relocalization of HC-DSBs. It has been proposed that ATM signaling enhances HC relaxation in the DSB vicinity and that this is a prerequisite for HC-DSB repair. Hence, ATM is essential for repair of HC-DSBs. Here, we discuss how HC impacts upon the response to DSBs and how ATM overcomes the barrier that HC poses to repair.
SPECIAL COLLECTION : NEURODEGENERATION Neurodegenerative disease : models , mechanisms , and a new hope

Neurodegeneration is a feature of many debilitating, incurable diseases that are rapidly rising in prevalence, such as Parkinson’s disease. There is an urgent need to develop new and more effective therapeutic strategies to combat these devastating diseases. Models – from cell-based systems, to unicellular organisms, to complex animals – have proven to be a useful tool to help the research community shed light on the mechanisms underlying neurodegenerative diseases, and these advances have now begun to provide promising therapeutic avenues. In this themed issue of Disease Models & Mechanisms, a special collection of articles focused on neurodegenerative diseases is introduced. The collection includes original research articles that provide new insights into the complex pathophysiology of such diseases, revealing candidate biomarkers or therapeutic targets. Some of the articles describe a new disease model that enables deeper exploration of key mechanisms. We also present a series of reviews that highlight some of the recent translational advances made in studies of neurodegenerative diseases. In this Editorial, we summarize the articles featured in this collection, emphasizing the impact that modelbased studies have made in this exciting area of research.