Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Screening of Rhizospheric Actinomycetes for Various In-vitro and In-vivo Plant Growth Promoting (PGP) Traits and for Agroactive Compounds

In this study 98 rhizospheric actinomycetes were isolated from different wheat and tomato fields, Punjab, Pakistan. The isolates were characterized morphologically, biochemically, and genetically and were subjected to a comprehensive in vitro screening for various plant growth promoting (PGP) traits. About 30% of the isolates screened were found to be the promising PGP rhizobacteria (PGPRs), which exhibited maximum genetic similarity (up to 98–99%) with different species of the genus Streptomyces by using16S rRNA gene sequencing. The most active indole acetic acid (IAA) producer Streptomyces nobilis WA-3, Streptomyces Kunmingenesis WC-3, and Streptomyces enissocaesilis TA-3 produce 79.5, 79.23, and 69.26 μg/ml IAA respectively at 500 μg/ml L-tryptophan. The highest concentration of soluble phosphate was produced by Streptomyces sp. WA-1 (72.13 mg/100 ml) and S. djakartensis TB-4 (70.36 mg/100 ml). All rhizobacterial isolates were positive for siderophore, ammonia, and hydrogen cyanide production. Strain S. mutabilis WD-3 showed highest concentration of ACC-deaminase (1.9 mmol /l). For in-vivo screening, seed germination, and plant growth experiment were conducted by inoculating wheat (Triticum aestivum) seeds with the six selected isolates. Significant increases in shoot length was observed with S. nobilis WA-3 (65%), increased root length was recorded in case of S. nobilis WA-3 (81%) as compared to water treated control plants. Maximum increases in plant fresh weight were recorded with S. nobilis WA-3 (84%), increased plant dry weight was recorded in case of S. nobilis WA-3 (85%) as compared to water treated control plants. In case of number of leaves, significant increase was recorded with S. nobilis WA-3 (27%) and significant increase in case of number of roots were recorded in case of strain S. nobilis WA-3 (30%) as compared to control plants. Over all the study revealed that these rhizospheric PGP Streptomyces are good candidates to be developed as bioferlizers for growth promotion and yield enhancement in wheat crop and can be exploited for the commercial production of different agro-active compounds.
Effect of Two Models of Intrauterine Growth Restriction on Alveolarization in Rat Lungs: Morphometric and Gene Expression Analysis

Intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) in preterm infants increases the risk of bronchopulmonary dysplasia, characterized by arrested alveolarization. We evaluated the impact of two different rat models (nitric oxide synthase inhibition or protein deprivation) of IUGR on alveolarization, before, during, and at the end of this postnatal process. We studied IUGR rat pups of dams fed either a low protein (LPD) or a normal diet throughout gestation and pups of dams treated by continuous infusion of Nω-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME) or its diluent on the last four days of gestation. Morphometric parameters, alveolar surface (Svap), mean linear intercept (MLI) and radial alveolar count (RAC) and transcriptomic analysis were determined with special focus on genes involved in alveolarization. IUGR pups regained normal weight at day 21 in the two treated groups. In the LPD group, Svap, MLI and RAC were not different from those of controls at day 4, but were significantly decreased at day 21, indicating alveolarization arrest. In the L-NAME group, Svap and RAC were significantly decreased and MLI was increased at day 4 with complete correction at day 21. In the L-NAME model, several factors involved in alveolarization, VEGF, VEGF-R1 and –R2, MMP14, MMP16, FGFR3 and 4, FGF18 and 7, were significantly decreased at day 4 and/or day 10, while the various factors studied were not modified in the LPD group. These results demonstrate that only maternal protein deprivation leads to sustained impairment of alveolarization in rat pups, whereas L-NAME impairs lung development before alveolarization. Known growth factors involved in lung development do not seem to be involved in LPD-induced alveolarization disorders, raising the question of a possible programming of altered alveolarization.
Human-zebrafish non-coding conserved elements act in vivo to regulate transcription

Whole genome comparisons of distantly related species effectively predict biologically important sequences—core genes and cis-acting regulatory elements (REs)—but require experimentation to verify biological activity. To examine the efficacy of comparative genomics in identification of active REs from anonymous, non-coding (NC) sequences, we generated a novel alignment of the human and draft zebrafish genomes, and contrasted this set to existing human and fugu datasets. We tested the transcriptional regulatory potential of candidate sequences using two in vivo assays. Strict selection of non-genic elements which are deeply conserved in vertebrate evolution identifies 1744 core vertebrate REs in human and two fish genomes. We tested 16 elements in vivo for cis-acting gene regulatory properties using zebrafish transient transgenesis and found that 10 (63%) strongly modulate tissue-specific expression of a green fluorescent protein reporter vector. We also report a novel quantitative enhancer assay with potential for increased throughput based on normalized luciferase activity in vivo. This complementary system identified 11 (69%; including 9 of 10 GFP-confirmed elements) with cis-acting function. Together, these data support the utility of comparative genomics of distantly related vertebrate species to identify REs and provide a scaleable, in vivo quantitative assay to define functional activity of candidate REs.
Relationship between Internet Using Mental health of Internet Users

Internet is a harmless tool by itself, however limitless and improper use of it may lead to the risk of addiction to internet and the present article aims to examine the relation between Internet Using Mental healths of Internet Users.Statistical community of the study consisted of internet users in cafes of Zahedan city, That 120 persons (60 men and 60 women) were selected by accessible sampling method as the sample of study. The users were divided in two groups of ordinary and addicted users, using internet addiction test (IAT, Yang, 1998). General health of these two groups was compared using general health test (GHQ-28, Goldberg.1987). The results of research was analyzed using Pearson's coefficient of correlation, independent (t), (x2) . The results of pearson correlation showed that there was a significant correlation between addiction to internet and mental health.
Prevention of Type 2 Diabetes by Diet and Lifestyle Modification

Diabetes mellitus is an epidemic of our time. This disease affects nearly 150 million adults worldwide and nearly 11 million in the United States in 2000. Because of the prevalence of obesity and diabetes and associated vascular complications, preventing even a small proportion of cases would save thousands of lives and billions of dollars in healthcare costs and lost productivity. Researchers have made great strides in identifying many lifestyle and dietary factors associated with diabetes, but solidifying the scientific basis for prevention and control of this disease as well as implementation at a national level remains a difficult challenge. The literature on the influence of diet and lifestyle in the development of diabetes is reviewed here, with emphasis on epidemiologic data. We outline a systematic approach to primary and secondary prevention of this disease by evaluating and prioritizing risk factors for which intervention is effective and developing a framework for application of intervention strategies. Effective interventions must target not only the affected individuals but also families, workplaces, schools and communities. Prevention of this devastating disease calls for the identification of culture-sensitive measures that can be applied to the population in general and some high-risk minority groups in particular.
Primary Reinforcing Effects of Nicotine Are Triggered from Multiple Regions Both Inside and Outside the Ventral Tegmental Area

Nicotine is thought to be the key substance responsible for tobacco-smoking habits and appears to trigger reinforcement via the ventral tegmental area (VTA). Recently, multiple anatomical substrates for drug reinforcement have been identified in the vicinity of the ventral midbrain. In addition to the posterior portion of the VTA, the central linear nucleus raphé and the supramammillary nucleus of the posterior hypothalamus mediate drug reinforcement. Using intracranial self-administration procedures, we examined whether these regions mediate the reinforcing effects of nicotine. Rats learned to lever press for self-administration of nicotine into the posterior VTA, central linear nucleus, and supramammillary nucleus, suggesting a reinforcing action of nicotine in these regions. The rats did not self-administer nicotine into surrounding regions including the anterior VTA, substantia nigra, the region just dorsal to the posterior VTA, interpeduncular nucleus, or medial mammillary nucleus. The reinforcing effects of nicotine into the three brain regions were further confirmed by a two-lever discrimination procedure, in which rats learned to selectively respond between active and inactive levers. The reinforcing effects of nicotine administration into the posterior VTA, central linear nucleus, and supramammillary nucleus were blocked by coadministration of the nicotine receptor antagonist mecamylamine. The reinforcing effects of nicotine into the posterior VTA or central linear nucleus were attenuated by coadministration of the D2 receptor agonist quinpirole. These findings demonstrate that nicotine reinforcement involves multiple regions both inside and outside the VTA.
Immunodominance of HIV-1 Specific CD8+ T-Cell Responses Is Related to Disease Progression Rate in Vertically Infected Adolescents

Background HIV-1 vertically infected children in the USA are living into adolescence and beyond with the widespread use of antiretroviral drugs. These patients exhibit striking differences in the rate of HIV-1 disease progression which could provide insights into mechanisms of control. We hypothesized that differences in the pattern of immunodomination including breadth, magnitude and polyfunctionality of HIV-1 specific CD8+ T cell response could partially explain differences in progression rate. Methodology/Principal Findings In this study, we mapped, quantified, and assessed the functionality of these responses against individual HIV-1 Gag peptides in 58 HIV-1 vertically infected adolescents. Subjects were divided into two groups depending upon the rate of disease progression: adolescents with a sustained CD4%≥25 were categorized as having no immune suppression (NS), and those with CD4%≤15 categorized as having severe immune suppression (SS). We observed differences in the area of HIV-1-Gag to which the two groups made responses. In addition, subjects who expressed the HLA- B*57 or B*42 alleles were highly likely to restrict their immunodominant response through these alleles. There was a significantly higher frequency of naïve CD8+ T cells in the NS subjects (p = 0.0066) compared to the SS subjects. In contrast, there were no statistically significant differences in any other CD8+ T cell subsets. The differentiation profiles and multifunctionality of Gag-specific CD8+ T cells, regardless of immunodominance, also failed to demonstrate meaningful differences between the two groups. Conclusions/Significance Together, these data suggest that, at least in vertically infected adolescents, the region of HIV-1-Gag targeted by CD8+ T cells and the magnitude of that response relative to other responses may have more importance on the rate of disease progression than their qualitative effector functions.
Knowledge Management Strategies: Toward a Taxonomy

This paper draws on primary and secondary data to propose a taxonomy of strategies, or "schools," for knowledge management. The primary purpose of this framework is to guide executives on choices to initiate knowledge management projects according to goals, organizational character, and technological, behavioral, or economic biases. It may also be useful to teachers in demonstrating the scope of knowledge management and to researchers in generating propositions for further study.
Heterogeneity of the growth and metastatic behavior of cloned cell lines derived from a primary rhabdomyosarcoma.

In order to study the heterogeneity of the metastatic and tumorigenic behaviors of malignant neoplasms, we have isolated a series of cloned cell lines from a primary nickel-induced rat rhabdomyosarcoma. The growth characteristics in vitro and in vivo and metastatic capacity following s.c. or i.v. injection of cells were compared to those of the parental cell line. Differences between the cloned cell lines themselves and between the clones and the parental cells were found in the number of metastases provoked by both i.v. and s.c. injections, in the number of cells required to induce s.c. tumors, and in the growth rate of those tumors. In vitro, the doubling times and saturation densities of the different cell lines varied greatly. A direct correlation was observed between the 50% tumoral dose and the initial tumor growth phase. We found that there was a tendency for lines which were highly metastatic after s.c. injection to have a low metastatic capacity after i.v. injection and inversely. The two types of metastasis (spontaneous and experimental) appear therefore to depend on different characteristics of the cells used.
Coordinating Autonomous Planning Agents with Temporal Constraints

We address the problem of coordinating autonomous agents that have to come up with a joint plan and schedule for a set of tasks. These tasks are interdependent and temporally constrained and are distributed over the agents. We start with investigating the scheduling part of the problem: How to achieve, given the constraints, a joint solution to the distributed scheduling problem where each of the agents is allowed to determine its own schedule for the set of tasks assigned to it. Here, the problem is to ensure that whatever individual schedule each agent comes up with, these schedules always can be combined into a global schedule satisfying all constraints. Next, we investigate a more complex problem where, before scheduling, the agents are allowed to make their own plan to achieve the tasks assigned to them. That is, they are allowed to choose autonomously some additional precedence constraints to their assigned tasks. We have to provide the necessary coordination mechanisms to ensure that no conflicts will arise between the resulting plans. The solution we provide is to reduce the temporal constraints of the individual tasks to a set of precedence constraints between tasks and virtual tasks and we solve the resulting coordination problem for tasks with precedence constraints. The solution thus obtained enables us to solve the plan coordination problem with temporal constraints.
Charge transport in voltage-biased superconducting single-electron transistors.

Charge is transported through superconducting single-electron transistors at finite bias voltages by a combination of coherent Cooper-pair tunneling and quasiparticle tunneling. At low transport voltages the effect of an ``odd'' quasiparticle in the island leads to a 2e-periodic dependence of the current on the gate charge. We evaluate the I-V characteristic in the framework of a model which accounts for these effects as well as for the influence of the electromagnetic environment. The good agreement between our model calculation and experimental results demonstrates the importance of coherent Cooper-pair tunneling and parity effects. \textcopyright{} 1996 The American Physical Society.
An adaptive path tracking method for autonomous land vehicle based on neural dynamic programming

Since the nonlinear properties of the autonomous land vehicles (ALVs) and the time-varying relationship between ego-vehicle and the desired path, it is difficult to tune the parameters of a path tracking controller for the autonomous driving of ALVs. Aiming at this problem, a novel learning based path tracking method is proposed in this paper, which is composed of the Stanley control structure and a learning based module. The input of the learning module is the relationship between current vehicle state and the desired path, and the learning output is the parameter k in the Stanley control structure. What we want to learn is to adaptive tune k according to current vehicle state. A near-optimal policy is obtained by neural dynamic programming (NDP), which is an online and model-free algorithm. The learning based module online tunes the parameter k of the Stanley control structure. The simulation results show that the proposed path tracking method possesses attractive performance.
Novelty, Challenge, and Practice: The Impact of Intensive Language Learning on Attentional Functions

We investigated the impact of a short intensive language course on attentional functions. We examined 33 participants of a one-week Scottish Gaelic course and compared them to 34 controls: 16 active controls who participated in courses of comparable duration and intensity but not involving foreign language learning and 18 passive controls who followed their usual routines. Participants completed auditory tests of attentional inhibition and switching. There was no difference between the groups in any measures at the beginning of the course. At the end of the course, a significant improvement in attention switching was observed in the language group (p < .001) but not the control group (p = .127), independent of the age of participants (18–78 years). Half of the language participants (n = 17) were retested nine months after their course. All those who practiced Gaelic 5 hours or more per week improved from their baseline performance. In contrast, those who practiced 4 hours or fewer showed an inconsistent pattern: some improved while others stayed the same or deteriorated. Our results suggest that even a short period of intensive language learning can modulate attentional functions and that all age groups can benefit from this effect. Moreover, these short-term effects can be maintained through continuous practice.
Predictive value of a screen for gestational diabetes mellitus: influence of associated risk factors

Background. There is a need for solid evidence of the relative advantages of universal vs. selective screening for gestational diabetes mellitus. Our study of a broad obstetric population determines the positive predictive value of the 50‐g oral glucose challenge test for screening in the presence and absence of classical gestational diabetes risk factors.
Physiological responses to linear treadmill and cycle ergometer exercise in COPD

Incremental cardiopulmonary exercise testing work rate ideally increases linearly to the subject’s tolerance within approximately 10 min. Widely used treadmill protocols often yield shorter exercise times in debilitated patients. We compared a recently described treadmill protocol featuring linear work rate increase, weight adjustments and a priori exercise tolerance estimates with standard cycle and treadmill protocols. We also compared treadmill and cycle responses to examine mechanisms of oxyhaemoglobin desaturation differences. In total, 16 subjects with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD; mean±sd forced expiratory volume in 1 s of 36.5±10.9% predicted) performed incremental exercise using cycle, linear treadmill and modified Bruce protocols. Initial linear treadmill speed and grade yielded oxygen uptake (V′O2) similar to cycle unloaded pedalling; Bruce protocol first stage elicited much higher V′O2. Exercise duration was much shorter in Bruce than in cycle or linear treadmill protocols. At peak exercise, greater desaturation was noted in linear treadmill and Bruce protocols compared with cycle (-8.9±4.9 versus -8.5±4.7 versus -3.7±3.3%; p<0.001); at iso-V′O2 values this difference widened as exercise proceeded. Iso-V′O2 desaturation differences were largely related to higher ventilatory response to cycle than to treadmill exercise. The linear incremental treadmill protocol generates responses similar to cycle ergometry in severe COPD. However, cycle ergometry elicits less desaturation than does ambulation, making the linear treadmill protocol advantageous when evaluating COPD patients.
Cassini plasma observations of Saturn's magnetospheric cusp

The magnetospheric cusp is a funnel‐shaped region where shocked solar wind plasma is able to enter the high‐latitude magnetosphere via the process of magnetic reconnection. The plasma observations include various cusp signatures such as ion energy dispersions and diamagnetic effects. We present an overview analysis of cusp plasma observations at the Saturnian magnetosphere from the Cassini spacecraft era. A comparison of the observations is made as well as classification into groups due to varying characteristics. The locations of the reconnection site are calculated and shown to vary along the subsolar magnetopause. We show the first in situ evidence for lobe reconnection that occurred at nearly the same time as dayside reconnection for one of the cusp crossings. Evidence for “bursty” and more “continuous” reconnection signatures is observed at different cusp events. The events are compared to solar wind propagation models, and it is shown that magnetic reconnection and plasma injection into the cusp can occur for a variety of upstream conditions. These are important results because they show that Saturn's magnetospheric interaction with the solar wind and the resulting cusp signatures are dynamic and that plasma injection in the cusp occurs due to a variety of solar wind conditions. Furthermore, reconnection can proceed at a variety of locations along the magnetopause.
Potentials and Limits of Plasticity Induced by Working Memory Training in Old-Old Age

Background: Old-old age (80+ years) is associated with substantial cognitive decline. In this population, training-induced cognitive plasticity has rarely been studied. While earlier findings on strategy trainings suggested reduced training gains in old-old age, recent results of an extensive process-based working memory (WM) training have been more positive. Objective: Following up on previous research, the present study aimed at examining the effects of a short WM training in old-old adults and the influence of baseline WM capacity on training gains. Methods: A training group (mean age: 86.8 years) and a matched control group (mean age: 87.1 years) participated in the study. The WM training consisted of five tasks that were trained in each of 10 sessions. To evaluate possible transfer effects, executive functions were assessed with two tests before and after training. The training group was divided via median split in high- and low-capacity individuals to determine the influence of baseline WM capacity on training gains. Results: The training group improved in four of the trained tasks (medium-to-large effects). Training gains were significantly larger in the training group than in the control group in only two of those tasks. The training effects were mainly driven by the low-capacity individuals who improved in all trained tasks. No transfer effects were observed. Conclusions: These positive effects of a short WM training, particularly for low-capacity individuals, emphasize the potential for cognitive plasticity in old-old age. The absence of transfer effects may also point to its limits.