Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Short Communication SPECIAL ISSUE: Island Plant Biology—Celebrating Carlquist’s Legacy Introduction to the Special Issue: Advances in island plant biology since Sherwin Carlquist’s Island Biology

Introduction the Issue: Advances in island plant biology since Sherwin Island Biology Abstract. SherwinCarlquist’sseminalpublications—inparticularhisclassic IslandBiology ,publishedin1974—formulated hypotheses speciﬁc to island biology that remain valuable today. This special issue brings together some of the most interesting contributions presented at the First Island Biology Symposium hosted in Honolulu on 7–11 July 2014. We compiled a total of 18 contributions that present data from multiple archipelagos across the world and from different disciplines within theplantsciences.Inthisintroductorypaper,weﬁrstprovideashortoverview ofCarlquist’s lifeandworkand thensummarize the main ﬁndings of the collated papers. A ﬁrst group of papers deals with issues to which Carlquist notably contributed: long-distance dispersal, adaptive radiation and plant reproductive biology. The ﬁndings of such studies demonstrate the extent to which the ﬁeld has advanced thanks to (i) the increasing availability and richness of island data, covering many taxonomic groups and islands; (ii) new information from the geosciences, phylogenetics and palaeoecology, which allows us a more realistic understanding of the geological and biological development of islands and their biotas; and (iii) the new theoretical and methodological advances that allow us to assess patterns of abundance, diversity and distribution of island biota over large spatial scales. Most other papers in the issue cover a range of topics related to plant conservation on islands, such as causesandconsequencesofmutualisticdisruptions(duetopollinatorordisperserlosses,introductionofalienpredators,etc.). Island biologists are increasingly considering reintroducing ecologically important species to suitable habitats within their historic range and to neighbouring islands with depauperate communities of vertebrate seed dispersers, and an instructive exampleis given here. Finally,contributions on ecological networksdemonstrate theusefulness of this methodologicaltoolto advancing conservation management and better predicting the consequences of disturbances on species and interactions in the fragile insular ecosystems.
Effects of Oriental Medicine Kyung-Ok-Ko on Uterine Abnormality in Hyperandrogenized Rats.

A traditional herbal prescription Kyung-Ok-Ko (KOK), composed of Rehmannia glutinosa Liboschitz var. purpurae, Lycium chinense, Aquilaria agallocha, Poria cocos, Panax ginseng, and honey, has been widely used in Oriental medicine as an invigorant for age-related diseases, such as amnesia and stroke. However, the beneficial value of KOK on uterine dysfunction related to hyperandrogenism is largely unknown. We investigated the effect of KOK (2.0 g/kg/day, per os) on endometrial abnormalities in a dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA, subcutaneous)-induced polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) rat model. Preadministration of KOK significantly (p<0.05) decreased the elevated body weight, uterus weight, and endometrial thickness by PCOS induction, corresponding to reduced apoptosis and the infiltration of immune cells (CD4+ T cells, CD8+ T cells, and macrophages) in the endometrium. These results were associated with reduced mRNA expression of interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-6, IL-8, and matrix metalloproteinase-3 and increased mRNA expression of IGF-β1, transforming growth factor (TGF)-β, TGF-β1, and vascular endothelial growth factor in the uterus after DHEA injection. These multiple effects of KOK may synergistically prevent the development of endometrial abnormalities in DHEA-induced hyperandrogenism via anti-inflammatory action, indicating that KOK has preventive and therapeutic potential for suppressing PCOS.
EARLY DIFFERENCE IN TISSUE PH AND MICROVASCULAR HEMODYNAMICS IN HEMORRHAGIC SHOCK RESUSCITATION USING POLYETHYLENE GLYCOL-ALBUMIN- AND HYDROXYETHYL STARCH-BASED PLASMA EXPANDERS

The hamster chamber window model was subjected to hemorrhagic shock by the withdrawal of 50% of blood volume (BV). BV was restored 1 h after hemorrhage with a single volume infusion (resuscitation) of 25% BV with polyethylene glycol (PEG)-conjugated bovine serum albumin (Alb) and hydroxyethyl starch (HES). Hemorrhage, shock, and resuscitation were monitored continuously in terms of mean arterial pressure (MAP), microvascular blood flow, capillary perfusion, and tissue pH. Blood samples for laboratory parameters were taken at baseline, shock, and resuscitation. Intravascular and tissue pO2 were assessed after resuscitation, and microvascular oxygen supply and extraction were calculated and corrected for pH effect on hemoglobin saturation. Resuscitation with PEG-Alb restored systemic and microvascular parameters up to the end of the observation period (90 min). HES was identical to PEG-Alb resuscitation during the initial 10 to 15 min, but was not sustained subsequently. The trend of recovery in MAP for HES persisted beyond the time when both function capillary density and tissue pH decreased, thus MAP was not indicative of early microvascular dysfunction. Hemoglobin oxygen saturation estimation showed a significant pH dependence. However, oxygen-dependant parameters corrected for pH varied less than 10% from uncorrected data. Early differences found at the microvascular levels suggest that decisions to amend end-result of resuscitation may be short and on the order of minutes. Furthermore, PEG-Alb appears to provide early and long-term sustained systemic and microvascular recovery when used to restitute perfusion and metabolic conditions after resuscitation from hemorrhagic shock.
How Bacterial Ribosomal Protein L20 Assembles with 23 S Ribosomal RNA and Its Own Messenger RNA*

In bacteria, the expression of ribosomal proteins is often feedback-regulated at the translational level by the binding of the protein to its own mRNA. This is the case for L20, which binds to two distinct sites of its mRNA that both resemble its binding site on 23 S rRNA. In the present work, we report an NMR analysis of the interaction between the C-terminal domain of L20 (L20C) and both its rRNA- and mRNA-binding sites. Changes in the NMR chemical shifts of the L20C backbone nuclei were used to show that the same set of residues are modified upon addition of either the rRNA or the mRNA fragments, suggesting a mimicry at the atomic level. In addition, small angle x-ray scattering experiments, performed with the rRNA fragment, demonstrated the formation of a complex made of two RNAs and two L20C molecules. A low resolution model of this complex was then calculated using (i) the rRNA/L20C structure in the 50 S context and (ii) NMR and small angle x-ray scattering results. The formation of this complex is interesting in the context of gene regulation because it suggests that translational repression could be performed by a complex of two proteins, each interacting with the two distinct L20-binding sites within the operator.
High Glucose Represses β-Klotho Expression and Impairs Fibroblast Growth Factor 21 Action in Mouse Pancreatic Islets

Circulating fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF21) levels are elevated in diabetic subjects and correlate directly with abnormal glucose metabolism, while pharmacologically administered FGF21 can ameliorate hyperglycemia. The pancreatic islet is an FGF21 target, yet the actions of FGF21 in the islet under normal and diabetic conditions are not fully understood. This study investigated the effects of high glucose on islet FGF21 actions in a diabetic mouse model by investigating db/db mouse islet responses to exogenous FGF21, the direct effects of glucose on FGF21 signaling, and the involvement of peroxisome proliferator–activated receptor γ (PPARγ) in FGF21 pathway activation. Results showed that both adult db/db mouse islets and normal islets treated with high glucose ex vivo displayed reduced β-klotho expression, resistance to FGF21, and decreased PPARγ expression. Rosiglitazone, an antidiabetic PPARγ ligand, ameliorated these effects. Our data indicate that hyperglycemia in type 2 diabetes mellitus may lead to FGF21 resistance in pancreatic islets, probably through reduction of PPARγ expression, which provides a novel mechanism for glucose-mediated islet dysfunction.
Adoption of 'Ofada' Rice Variety and Technical Efficiency of Rice-Based Production Systems in Ogun State, Nigeria

Since the mid-1970s, rice consumption in Nigeria has risen tremendously at about 10% per annum due to changes in consumer preference. Most public and private sector interventions programmes at increasing the productive capacities of various factors within the system notwithstanding, domestic production has not been able to meet the local demand leading to considerable import, which today stood at about 1,000,000 metric tones yearly. Milled rice is procured from neighbouring West African communities with Nigeria spending annually over U.S. $300 million on its imports alone. Inadequate use of yield improving technologies has been identified as major setback in rice-based production systems in most developing economies especially in Africa. This study had examined the factors influencing adoption of the improved Ofada rice variety as well as measured the technical efficiency of rice farmers in the rice-growing Obafemi-Owode Local Government Area of Ogun State, Nigeria. Primary data were collected in a two-stage sampling procedure and analysed for 105 rice farmers selected from ten (10) prominent rice-producing communities in the study area. Probit and Gross margin models were used to estimate the determinants of adopting the improved Ofada rice variety and the profitability of the rice enterprise, respectively, while farmers' production efficiency was measured using the stochastic frontier model. Profitability index was 0.32 indicating that every Naira expended on Ofada rice production will return about 32kobo to the rice farmer as net income. Years of farmer's education, number of contacts with extension workers and cost of cultivars were the variables that jointly influenced adoption of the improved Ofada rice variety being statistically significant at 5%, 10% and 5%, respectively. The maximum likelihood estimate showed that quantity of planted cultivars and size of farmland are positively significant at 1% depicting an increase in rice output as farmland and seeds are increase. It was recommended that policy that will further enhance adoption of the improved Ofada rice variety be put in place as well as effective extension programmes to sufficiently service the farmers.
Exploiting hardware performance counters with flow and context sensitive profiling

A program profile attributes run-time costs to portions of a program's execution. Most profiling systems suffer from two major deficiencies: first, they only apportion simple metrics, such as execution frequency or elapsed time to static, syntactic units, such as procedures or statements; second, they aggressively reduce the volume of information collected and reported, although aggregation can hide striking differences in program behavior.This paper addresses both concerns by exploiting the hardware counters available in most modern processors and by incorporating two concepts from data flow analysis--flow and context sensitivity--to report more context for measurements. This paper extends our previous work on efficient path profiling to flow sensitive profiling, which associates hardware performance metrics with a path through a procedure. In addition, it describes a data structure, the calling context tree, that efficiently captures calling contexts for procedure-level measurements.Our measurements show that the SPEC95 benchmarks execute a small number (3--28) of hot paths that account for 9--98% of their L1 data cache misses. Moreover, these hot paths are concentrated in a few routines, which have complex dynamic behavior.
Endotoxin-Binding Peptides Derived from Casein Glycomacropeptide Inhibit Lipopolysaccharide-Stimulated Inflammatory Responses via Blockade of NF-κB activation in macrophages

Systemic low-grade inflammation and increased circulating lipopolysaccharide (LPS) contribute to metabolic dysfunction. The inhibitory effects and underlying molecular mechanisms of casein glycomacropeptide (GMP) hydrolysate on the inflammatory response of LPS-stimulated macrophages were investigated. Results showed that the inhibitory effect of GMP hydrolysates obtained with papain on nitric oxide (NO) production were obviously higher than that of GMP hydrolysates obtained with pepsin, alcalase and trypsin (p < 0.05), and the hydrolysate obtained with papain for 1 h hydrolysis (GHP) exhibited the highest inhibitory effect. Compared with native GMP, GHP markedly inhibited LPS-induced NO production in a dose-dependent manner with decreased mRNA level of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS). GHP blocked toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4)/myeloid differentiation primary response 88 (MyD88)/nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) signaling pathway activation, accompanied by downregulation of LPS-triggered significant upregulation of tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α and interleukin (IL)-1β gene expression. Furthermore, GHP could neutralize LPS not only by direct binding to LPS, but also by inhibiting the engagement of LPS with the TLR4/MD2 complex, making it a potential LPS inhibitor. In conclusion, these findings suggest that GHP negatively regulates TLR4-mediated inflammatory response in LPS-stimulated RAW264.7 cells, and therefore may hold potential to ameliorate inflammation-related issues.
A Study on the Relationship between Internet Addiction and Stress of College Students

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between internet addiction and stress of college students. To assess the degree of internet addiction, internet addiction test of the center for online addiction was completed. Subjects were divided into three group depending on internet addiction ; subjects with 20-49 internet scores were grouping as 'normal usage group', subjects with 50-79 internet scores were grouping as 'addiction tendency group', and subjects with more than 80 internet scores were grouping as 'internet addiction group'. In this study it is found that interpersonal relationship stress is significantly related to internet addiction. Also, the result of this study shows that home background stress and school background stress have influence on internet addiction.
Empirical comparison of object-oriented and dataflow models

The relative performance of alternative system analysis modeling techniques is an important consideration in the adoption of system analysis methods in organizations. Proponents of object-oriented analysis techniques have argued that object-oriented methods are capable of improved performance in systems analysis due to the method’s more natural fit with human cognition in comparison with traditional system analysis modeling techniques such as dataflow diagraming (Booch 1991; Coad and Yourdon 1991; Jacobson et al. 1995). Little empirical evidence to date has been provided to support claims of superior performance from object-oriented techniques. Instead, empirical research has revealed that novice analysts seem to prefer dataflow techniques over object-oriented techniques (Vessey and Conger 1994; Wand et al. 1997).
The Help Seeking Behaviors of Students of Color: Factors Influencing the Utilization of Mental Health Resources on a College Campus

This study examined the help seeking behaviors of African American emerging adults attending a predominantly Caucasian university in the Midwest. Facets considered included one’s racial ethnic cultural identity, level of cultural mistrust, preference for counselor race, use of close relationships for support and attitudes towards seeking professional psychological help. Qualitative inquiry was employed to explore the nature of help seeking interactions with friends, peers, family and the university system. Interviewees included a cohort pool represented by eight females and one male of the African American student body, all of which were interviewed by the primary researcher, a Caucasian female. All nine interviews were transcribed by the primary researcher and then processed by a research team consisting of two Caucasian females and one African American male resulting in seven categories and 26 subcategories. Implications of the findings are discussed and recommendations for university counseling centers provided.
Microglial Cells as a Link between Cannabinoids and the Immune Hypothesis of Psychiatric Disorders

Psychiatric disorders are one of the leading causes of disability worldwide. Although several therapeutic options are available, the exact mechanisms responsible for the genesis of these disorders remain to be fully elucidated. In the last decade, a body of evidence has supported the involvement of the immune system in the pathophysiology of these conditions. Microglial cells play a significant role in maintaining brain homeostasis and surveillance. Dysregulation of microglial functions has been associated with several psychiatric conditions. Cannabinoids regulate the brain–immune axis and inhibit microglial cell activation. Here, we summarized evidence supporting the hypothesis that microglial cells could be a target for cannabinoid influence on psychiatric disorders, such as anxiety, depression, schizophrenia, and stress-related disorders.
Cardiac Metabolism in Heart Failure: Implications Beyond ATP Production

The heart has a high rate of ATP production and turnover that is required to maintain its continuous mechanical work. Perturbations in ATP-generating processes may therefore affect contractile function directly. Characterizing cardiac metabolism in heart failure (HF) revealed several metabolic alterations called metabolic remodeling, ranging from changes in substrate use to mitochondrial dysfunction, ultimately resulting in ATP deficiency and impaired contractility. However, ATP depletion is not the only relevant consequence of metabolic remodeling during HF. By providing cellular building blocks and signaling molecules, metabolic pathways control essential processes such as cell growth and regeneration. Thus, alterations in cardiac metabolism may also affect the progression to HF by mechanisms beyond ATP supply. Our aim is therefore to highlight that metabolic remodeling in HF not only results in impaired cardiac energetics but also induces other processes implicated in the development of HF such as structural remodeling and oxidative stress. Accordingly, modulating cardiac metabolism in HF may have significant therapeutic relevance that goes beyond the energetic aspect.
A theory of multiplexed illumination

Imaging of objects under variable lighting directions is an important and frequent practice in computer vision and image-based rendering. We introduce an approach that significantly improves the quality of such images. Traditional methods for acquiring images under variable illumination directions use only a single light source per acquired image. In contrast, our approach is based on a multiplexing principle, in which multiple light sources illuminate the object simultaneously from different directions. Thus, the object irradiance is much higher. The acquired images are then computationally demultiplexed. The number of image acquisitions is the same as in the single-source method. The approach is useful for imaging dim object areas. We give the optimal code by which the illumination should be multiplexed to obtain the highest quality output. For n images corresponding to n light sources, the noise is reduced by /spl radic/(n)/2 relative to the signal. This noise reduction translates to a faster acquisition time or an increase in density of illumination direction samples. It also enables one to use lighting with high directional resolution using practical setups, as we demonstrate in our experiments.
Are the Effects of Monetary Policy Shocks Big or Small?

This paper studies the small estimated effects of monetary policy shocks from standard VAR's versus the large effects from the Romer and Romer (2004) approach. The differences are driven by three factors: the different contractionary impetus, the period of reserves targeting and lag length selection. Accounting for these factors, the real effects of policy shocks are consistent across approaches and most likely medium. Alternative monetary policy shock measures from estimated Taylor rules also yield medium-sized real effects and indicate that the historical contribution of monetary policy shocks to real fluctuations has been significant, particularly during the 1970s and early 1980s.
Investigation of a new model accounting for rotors of finite tip-speed ratio in yaw or tilt

The main results from a recently developed vortex model are implemented into a Blade Element Momentum(BEM) code. This implementation accounts for the effect of finite tip-speed ratio, an effect which was not considered in standard BEM yaw-models. The model and its implementation are presented. Data from the MEXICO experiment are used as a basis for validation. Three tools using the same 2D airfoil coefficient data are compared: a BEM code, an Actuator-Line and a vortex code. The vortex code is further used to validate the results from the newly implemented BEM yaw-model. Significant improvements are obtained for the prediction of loads and induced velocities. Further relaxation of the main assumptions of the model are briefly presented and discussed.
Natural History of Perihematomal Edema in Patients With Hyperacute Spontaneous Intracerebral Hemorrhage

Background and Purpose— The natural history of perihematomal edema in human hyperacute spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) has not been well described. Methods— This study was a secondary analysis of a previously reported prospective, population-based study of hematoma growth in 142 patients with spontaneous ICH. Patients were first imaged within 3 hours of onset, then 1 and 20 hours later. We excluded patients with anticoagulant use (n=7), underlying aneurysm/vascular malformation (n=9), trauma (n=1), incomplete data (n=20), infratentorial ICH (n=17), and no consent (n=2), leaving an overall study population of 86 patients. From this overall group we further excluded patients with intraventricular extension (n=38), subsequent surgery (n=5), or death (n=2) before 20-hour postbaseline CT. This second, “restricted” analysis group of 41 patients was relatively devoid of clinical or radiological variables likely to confound edema measurement. Absolute and relative edema volumes (edema volume divided by hematoma volume) were descriptively summarized. Correlations between baseline edema volumes and relevant clinical and radiological variables were then performed. Results— Overall, median absolute edema volume increased from 6.93 to 14.4 cm3 during the first 24 hours after ICH, and median relative edema volume increased from 0.47 to 0.81. In the restricted group, median absolute edema volume was 7.4 cm3 at baseline and 11.0 cm3 at 24 hours after ICH, and median relative edema volume increased from 0.55 to 0.81. Baseline relative edema volume was significantly negatively correlated with subsequent change in relative edema volume from baseline to 20-hour CT (r =0.57, P =0.0002) but was not significantly correlated with other clinical and radiological variables, including hematoma volume or change in hematoma volume. Conclusions— Perihematomal edema volume increases by approximately 75% during the first 24 hours after hyperacute spontaneous ICH. Patients with the least amounts of baseline relative edema volume were most likely to develop significant additional amounts of edema during the first 24 hours after spontaneous ICH.