Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Men’s status and reproductive success in 33 nonindustrial societies: Effects of subsistence, marriage system, and reproductive strategy

Significance Much of human behavior results from a desire for social status. From an evolutionary perspective, answering the question of why we pursue status must consider how status affects reproduction, especially in nonindustrial societies with natural fertility. In a metaanalysis of 288 results from 33 nonindustrial populations, we find that status is significantly associated with men’s reproductive success, consistent with an evolved basis for status pursuit. Status hierarchies have changed dramatically throughout human history, yet we find that the association between status and reproductive success does not depend on subsistence category (foraging, horticulture, pastoralism, agriculture) or how status is measured. These findings suggest no significant increase in selection on status-enhancing traits with the domestication of plants and animals. Social status motivates much of human behavior. However, status may have been a relatively weak target of selection for much of human evolution if ancestral foragers tended to be more egalitarian. We test the “egalitarianism hypothesis” that status has a significantly smaller effect on reproductive success (RS) in foragers compared with nonforagers. We also test between alternative male reproductive strategies, in particular whether reproductive benefits of status are due to lower offspring mortality (parental investment) or increased fertility (mating effort). We performed a phylogenetic multilevel metaanalysis of 288 statistical associations between measures of male status (physical formidability, hunting ability, material wealth, political influence) and RS (mating success, wife quality, fertility, offspring mortality, and number of surviving offspring) from 46 studies in 33 nonindustrial societies. We found a significant overall effect of status on RS (r = 0.19), though this effect was significantly lower than for nonhuman primates (r = 0.80). There was substantial variation due to marriage system and measure of RS, in particular status associated with offspring mortality only in polygynous societies (r = −0.08), and with wife quality only in monogamous societies (r = 0.15). However, the effects of status on RS did not differ significantly by status measure or subsistence type: foraging, horticulture, pastoralism, and agriculture. These results suggest that traits that facilitate status acquisition were not subject to substantially greater selection with domestication of plants and animals, and are part of reproductive strategies that enhance fertility more than offspring well-being.
Seroprevalence and Risk Factors for Toxoplasma gondii Infection among Pregnant Women in Northeast Iran

ABSTRACT We report Toxoplasma IgG seroprevalence of 34.4% among 419 pregnant women in Mashhad, northeast Iran. Soil contact, living in rural environment, and level of education were associated with infection. The prevalence did not increase with age, suggesting high infection rate during childhood and adolescence.
Targeting human serum fucome by an integrated liquid‐phase multicolumn platform operating in “cascade” to facilitate comparative mass spectrometric analysis of disease‐free and breast cancer sera

A fully integrated platform was developed for capturing/fractionating human fucome from disease‐free and breast cancer sera. It comprised a multicolumn operated by HPLC pumps and switching valves for the simultaneous depletion of high abundance proteins via affinity‐based subtraction and the capturing of fucosylated glycoproteins via lectin affinity chromatography followed by the fractionation of the captured glycoproteins by reversed phase chromatography (RPC). Two lectin columns specific to fucose, namely Aleuria aurantia lectin (AAL) and Lotus tetragonolobus agglutinin (LTA) were utilized. The platform allowed the “cascading” of the serum sample from column‐to‐column in the liquid phase with no sample manipulation between the various steps. This guaranteed no sample loss and no propagation of experimental biases between the various columns. Finally, the fucome was fractionated by RPC yielding desalted fractions in volatile acetonitrile‐rich mobile phase, which after vacuum evaporation were subjected to trypsinolysis for LC‐MS/MS analysis. This permitted the identification of the differentially expressed proteins (DEP) in breast cancer serum yielding a broad panel of 35 DEP from the combined LTA and AAL captured proteins and a narrower panel of eight DEP that were commonly differentially expressed in both LTA and AAL fractions, which are considered as more representative of cancer altered fucome.
Abeta42-Induced Neurodegeneration via an Age-Dependent Autophagic-Lysosomal Injury in Drosophila

The mechanism of widespread neuronal death occurring in Alzheimer's disease (AD) remains enigmatic even after extensive investigation during the last two decades. Amyloid beta 42 peptide (Aβ1–42) is believed to play a causative role in the development of AD. Here we expressed human Aβ1–42 and amyloid beta 40 (Aβ1–40) in Drosophila neurons. Aβ1–42 but not Aβ1–40 causes an extensive accumulation of autophagic vesicles that become increasingly dysfunctional with age. Aβ1–42-induced impairment of the degradative function, as well as the structural integrity, of post-lysosomal autophagic vesicles triggers a neurodegenerative cascade that can be enhanced by autophagy activation or partially rescued by autophagy inhibition. Compromise and leakage from post-lysosomal vesicles result in cytosolic acidification, additional damage to membranes and organelles, and erosive destruction of cytoplasm leading to eventual neuron death. Neuronal autophagy initially appears to play a pro-survival role that changes in an age-dependent way to a pro-death role in the context of Aβ1–42 expression. Our in vivo observations provide a mechanistic understanding for the differential neurotoxicity of Aβ1–42 and Aβ1–40, and reveal an Aβ1–42-induced death execution pathway mediated by an age-dependent autophagic-lysosomal injury.
PKC- (cid:1) -mediated remodeling of the actin cytoskeleton is involved in constitutive albumin uptake by proximal tubule cells

PKC- (cid:1) -mediated remodeling of the actin cytoskeleton is involved in constitutive albumin uptake by proximal tubule cells. Am J Physiol Renal Physiol 288: F1227–F1235, 2005. key role of the renal proximal tubule is the reabsorption of proteins from the glomerular ﬁltrate by constitutive receptor-mediated endocytosis. In the opossum kidney (OK) renal proximal tubule cell line, inhibition of protein kinase C (PKC) reduces albumin uptake, although the isoforms involved and mechanisms by which this occurs have not been identiﬁed. We used pharmacological and molecular approaches to inves-tigate the role of PKC- (cid:1) in albumin endocytosis. We found that albumin uptake in OK cells was inhibited by the pan-PKC blocker bisindolylmaleimide-1 and the isoform-speciﬁc PKC blockers Go¨-6976 and 2 (cid:2) ,3,3 (cid:2) ,4,4 (cid:2) -hexahydroxy-1,1 (cid:2) -biphenyl-6,6 (cid:2) -dimethanol dimethyl ether, indicating a role for PKC- (cid:1) . Overexpression of a kinase deﬁcient PKC- (cid:1) (K368R) but not wild-type PKC- (cid:1) signiﬁcantly reduced albumin endocytosis. Western blot analysis of fractionated cells showed an increased association of PKC- (cid:1) -green ﬂuorescent protein with the membrane fraction within 10–20 min of exposure to albumin. We used phalloidin to demonstrate that albumin induces the formation of clusters of actin at the apical surface of OK cells and that these clusters correspond to the location of albumin uptake. These clusters were not present in cells grown in the absence of albumin. In cells treated either with PKC inhibitors or overexpressing kinase-deﬁcient PKC- (cid:1) (K368R) this actin cluster formation was signiﬁcantly reduced. This study identiﬁes a role for PKC- (cid:1) in constitutive albumin uptake in OK cells by mediating assembly of actin microﬁlaments at the apical membrane. (WT-PKC- (cid:1) ) or a dominant-negative kinase-deﬁcient PKC-(cid:1) (K368R) (provided by Dr C. Schmitz-Peiffer, Garvan Institute of Medical Research, Sydney, Australia; originally from Prof G. Baier, Innsbruck, Austria), and GFP-tagged PKC- (cid:1) (PKC- (cid:1) -GFP; BD Bio-sciences). The transfection reagent Effectene (Qiagen) was used to transfect, following the manufacturer’s protocols.
Trazodone effects on [3H]-paroxetine and α2-adrenoreceptors in platelets of patients with major depression

Trazodone is an antidepressant which behaves as a selective 5-HT2 antagonist and 5-HT reuptake inhibitor. The lack of information on its effects in vivo prompted us to evaluate α2-adrenoceptors by means of the specific binding of [3H]-rauwolscine, and the 5-HT transporter (SERT) by means of the binding of [3H]-paroxetine ([3H]-Par), in platelets of depressed patients, before and after one month of treatment with trazodone (75–300 mg/day). Twenty-five outpatients of both sexes with a diagnosis of major depression, as assessed by the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM IV, were included in the study. Depressive symptoms were evaluated by means of the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression: the total score (mean ± SD) was 20 ± 6 at baseline (t0) and 7 ± 4 after one month of treatment (t1). Platelet membranes, [3H]- rauwolscine and [3H]-Par bindings were carried out according to standardized protocols. The results showed that the Bmax values of [3H]-Par were statistically lower at t1 than at t0 (733 ± 30 vs 1471 ± 99, P < 0.001), while the Kd and the [3H]-rauwolscine binding parameters remained unchanged. The findings of this study suggest that in vivo trazodone modifies the number of the SERT proteins and that, perhaps, most of its antidepressant properties are related to this activity.
A novel approach reveals that zinc oxide nanoparticles are bioavailable and toxic after dietary exposures

Abstract If engineered nanomaterials are released into the environment, some are likely to end up associated with the food of animals due to aggregation and sorption processes. However, few studies have considered dietary exposure of nanomaterials. Here we show that zinc (Zn) from isotopically modified 67ZnO particles is efficiently assimilated by freshwater snails when ingested with food. The 67Zn from nano-sized 67ZnO appears as bioavailable as 67Zn internalized by diatoms. Apparent agglomeration of the zinc oxide (ZnO) particles did not reduce bioavailability, nor preclude toxicity. In the diet, ZnO nanoparticles damage digestion: snails ate less, defecated less and inefficiently processed the ingested food when exposed to high concentrations of ZnO. It was not clear whether the toxicity was due to the high Zn dose achieved with nanoparticles or to the ZnO nanoparticles themselves. Further study of exposure from nanoparticles in food would greatly benefit assessment of ecological and human health risks.
BOLD human responses to chromatic spatial features

Animal physiological and human psychophysical studies suggest that an early step in visual processing involves the detection and identification of features such as lines and edges, by neural mechanisms with even‐ and odd‐symmetric receptive fields. Functional imaging studies also demonstrate mechanisms with even‐ and odd‐receptive fields in early visual areas, in response to luminance‐modulated stimuli. In this study we measured fMRI BOLD responses to 2‐D stimuli composed of only even or only odd symmetric features, and to an amplitude‐matched random noise control, modulated in red–green equiluminant colour contrast. All these stimuli had identical power but different phase spectra, either highly congruent (even or odd symmetry stimuli) or random (noise). At equiluminance, V1 BOLD activity showed no preference between congruent‐ and random‐phase stimuli, as well as no preference between even and odd symmetric stimuli. Areas higher in the visual hierarchy, both along the dorsal pathway (caudal part of the intraparietal sulcus, dorsal LO and V3A) and the ventral pathway (V4), responded preferentially to odd symmetry over even symmetry stimuli, and to congruent over random phase stimuli. Interestingly, V1 showed an equal increase in BOLD activity at each alternation between stimuli of different symmetry, suggesting the existence of specialised mechanisms for the detection of edges and lines such as even‐ and odd‐chromatic receptive fields. Overall the results indicate a high selectivity of colour‐selective neurons to spatial phase along both the dorsal and the ventral pathways in humans.
Food for Thought: Lower-Than-Expected Crop Yield Stimulation with Rising CO2 Concentrations

Model projections suggest that although increased temperature and decreased soil moisture will act to reduce global crop yields by 2050, the direct fertilization effect of rising carbon dioxide concentration ([CO2]) will offset these losses. The CO2 fertilization factors used in models to project future yields were derived from enclosure studies conducted approximately 20 years ago. Free-air concentration enrichment (FACE) technology has now facilitated large-scale trials of the major grain crops at elevated [CO2] under fully open-air field conditions. In those trials, elevated [CO2] enhanced yield by ∼50% less than in enclosure studies. This casts serious doubt on projections that rising [CO2] will fully offset losses due to climate change.
Exponential Family Embeddings

Word embeddings are a powerful approach for capturing semantic similarity among terms in a vocabulary. In this paper, we develop exponential family embeddings, a class of methods that extends the idea of word embeddings to other types of high-dimensional data. As examples, we studied neural data with real-valued observations, count data from a market basket analysis, and ratings data from a movie recommendation system. The main idea is to model each observation conditioned on a set of other observations. This set is called the context, and the way the context is defined is a modeling choice that depends on the problem. In language the context is the surrounding words; in neuroscience the context is close-by neurons; in market basket data the context is other items in the shopping cart. Each type of embedding model defines the context, the exponential family of conditional distributions, and how the latent embedding vectors are shared across data. We infer the embeddings with a scalable algorithm based on stochastic gradient descent. On all three applications—neural activity of zebrafish, users' shopping behavior, and movie ratings—we found exponential family embedding models to be more effective than other types of dimension reduction. They better reconstruct held-out data and find interesting qualitative structure.
Combining FDG‐PET/CT with laboratory data yields superior results for prediction of relapse in multiple myeloma *

Objectives: The precise role of positron emission tomography (PET/CT) for predicting relapse/progression in multiple myeloma remains uncertain. We compared the predictive values of PET/CT, concurrent laboratory testing (labs), and their combination in prediction of 12‐month progression, as determined by current International Myeloma Working Group (IMWG) criteria.
Screening of Fruits of Seven Plants Indicated for Medicinal Use in Iraq

Introduction: Coumarins exert many biological effects in humans, animals, and plants, which make the evaluation of their biological activities and study of their role in ethnomedicine highly valued. Objectives: Here, we selected seven plants which have ethnopharmacological use as antimicrobial in Iraq and the aims were to quantify the two structural isomers bergapten and methoxsalen in their seeds, to evaluate the antibacterial activities against several clinical isolates, and to isolate bergapten and methoxsalen from Ammi majus. Materials and Methods: Seven plants were extracted by petroleum ether (PE) and ethanol (EtOH). Bergapten and methoxsalen were separated and purified by preparative thin-layer chromatography. Quantification of the furanocoumarins has been conducted by high-performance liquid chromatography, and all the plant extracts and pure compounds were checked for antibacterial activities utilizing alamar blue microplate assay. Results: Cuminum cyminum was deprived of bergapten and methoxsalen and methoxsalen was not detected from Apium graveolens. Bergapten was abundant in PE more than in EtOH; on the other hand, EtOH was rich in methoxsalen. The separation of the two structural isomers was performed using normal phase chromatography and ultraviolet light as an indicator. All extracts showed weak to moderate antibacterial activities against Gram-positive isolates which were more sensitive than the negative ones. C. cyminum extract was least active, uncover the antibacterial role of bergapten and methoxsalen. Conclusion: These findings support the medicinal use of seeds of seven plants from Apiaceae family and quantify the two pharmacologically important furanocoumarins (bergapten and methoxsalen). Abbreviations used: EtOH: Ethanol; MIC: Minimum inhibitory concentration; PE: Petroleum ether; Rf: Retardation factor; Rt: Retention time.
Finite size giant magnons in the SU(2) × SU(2) sector of AdS4 × ℂℙ3

The discovery of integrability on both sides of the duality between planar N=4 super Yang-Mills theory and free type IIB string theory in AdS5 × S5 has lead to great progress in our understanding of the AdS/CFT correspondence. Similar integrable structures also appear in the more recent three-dimensional superconformal N=6 Chern-Simons-matter theory constructed by Aharony, Bergman, Jafferis and Maldacena (ABJM), as well as in its gravity dual, type IIA string theory on AdS4 × CP3. However, new interesting complications arise in the AdS4/CFT3 duality. In the conjectured all-loop Bethe equations by Gromov and Vieira the dispersion relation of the magnons has a non-trivial coupling dependence which is parametrized by a function that is only known to the leading order at weak and strong coupling. In the first part of this thesis I discuss our calculations of the next-to-leading correction to this function at weak coupling. We compute this function from four-loop Feynman diagrams in the SU(2) × SU(2) sector of the ABJM model. As a consistency check we have performed the calculation both in a component formalism and using superspace techniques. At strong coupling the fundamental excitations of the integrable model are the giant magnons. The topic of the second part of this thesis is the spectrum of these giant magnons in CP3. Furthermore, I discuss our analyses of the finite-size corrections beyond the asymptotic Bethe ansatz. At weak coupling we have computed the leading four-loop wrapping diagrams in the ABJM model. At the strong coupling side of the duality I discuss our results for the exponentially suppressed finite-size corrections to the energy of giant magnons.
Effect of Pirfenidone on Apoptosis-Regulatory Genes in Chronic Cyclosporine Nephrotoxicity

Background. Apoptosis was shown to play a role in the progression of fibrosis in a chronic cyclosporine A (CsA) nephrotoxicity animal model. In addition, the antifibrotic molecule pirfenidone (PFD) was shown to ameliorate fibrosis in this model. We evaluated the role of PFD on the expression of apoptosis-regulatory genes in the kidneys of CsA-treated rats. Methods. Rats were administered CsA 7.5 mg/kg per day, CsA+PFD (250 mg/kg/day), vehicle (VH), or VH+PFD, and sacrificed at 28 days. Physiologic and histologic changes were studied, and apoptosis was detected by terminal deoxynucleotide transferase-mediated dUTP nick-end labeling stain. The mRNA expression of pro-apoptotic genes p53 and Fas-ligand was evaluated by quantitative polymerase chain reaction, and that of Bcl-xL, an anti-apoptotic gene, was evaluated by Northern blot analysis. In addition to mRNA expression, immunohistochemical studies of caspase 3 were performed. Result. PFD administration to CsA-treated rats significantly ameliorated nephrotoxicity. Apoptosis-positive cells were increased by CsA but significantly reduced by PFD treatment (68±19 vs. 3±1, P<0.01). In addition, PFD down-regulated the mRNA expression of CsA-induced p53 and Fas-ligand (P<0.01) and increased that of Bcl-xL, previously reduced by CsA (P<0.01). Finally, PFD significantly down-regulated caspase 3 expression, present mostly on renal tubular epithelial cells. None of these changes were observed in VH-treated rats. Conclusion. Whereas CsA favored the expression of pro-apoptotic genes, that effect was ameliorated by PFD. Because apoptosis can partly explain the loss of cells associated with fibrosis, the influence of PFD on apoptosis-regulatory genes in a manner that reduces apoptosis may explain some of its antifibrotic properties.
New criteria for blind deconvolution of nonminimum phase systems (channels)

A necessary and sufficient condition for blind deconvolution (without observing the input) of nonminimum-phase linear time-invariant systems (channels) is derived. Based on this condition, several optimization criteria are proposed, and their solution is shown to correspond to the desired response. These criteria involve the computation only of second- and fourth-order moments, implying a simple tap update procedure. The proposed methods are universal in the sense that they do not impose any restrictions on the probability distribution of the (unobserved) input sequence. It is shown that in several important cases (e.g. when the additive noise is Gaussian), the proposed criteria are essentially unaffected. >
Expansion of the Parkinson disease-associated SNCA-Rep1 allele upregulates human α-synuclein in transgenic mouse brain

α-Synuclein (SNCA) gene has been implicated in the development of rare forms of familial Parkinson disease (PD). Recently, it was shown that an increase in SNCA copy numbers leads to elevated levels of wild-type SNCA-mRNA and protein and is sufficient to cause early-onset, familial PD. A critical question concerning the molecular pathogenesis of PD is what contributory role, if any, is played by the SNCA gene in sporadic PD. The expansion of SNCA-Rep1, an upstream, polymorphic microsatellite of the SNCA gene, is associated with elevated risk for sporadic PD. However, whether SNCA-Rep1 is the causal variant and the underlying mechanism with which its effect is mediated by remained elusive. We report here the effects of three distinct SNCA-Rep1 variants in the brains of 72 mice transgenic for the entire human SNCA locus. Human SNCA-mRNA and protein levels were increased 1.7- and 1.25-fold, respectively, in homozygotes for the expanded, PD risk-conferring allele compared with homozygotes for the shorter, protective allele. When adjusting for the total SNCA-protein concentration (endogenous mouse and transgenic human) expressed in each brain, the expanded risk allele contributed 2.6-fold more to the SNCA steady-state than the shorter allele. Furthermore, targeted deletion of Rep1 resulted in the lowest human SNCA-mRNA and protein concentrations in murine brain. In contrast, the Rep1 effect was not observed in blood lysates from the same mice. These results demonstrate that Rep1 regulates human SNCA expression by enhancing its transcription in the adult nervous system and suggest that homozygosity for the expanded Rep1 allele may mimic locus multiplication, thereby elevating PD risk.