Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Spatio‐temporal development of forests – current trends in field methods and models

We present a critical review of current trends in research of spatio-temporal development of forests. The paper addresses (1) field methods for the development of spatially-explicit models of forest dynamics and their integration in models of forest dynamics, (2) strengths and limitations of traditional patch models versus spatially-explicit, individual-based models, and (3) the potential for moment-based methods in the analysis of forest dynamics. These topics are discussed with reference to their potential for solving open questions in the studies of forest dynamics. The study of spatio-temporal processes provides a link between pattern and process in plant communities, and plays a crucial role in understanding ecosystem dynamics. In the last decade, the development of spatially-explicit, individual-based models shifted the focus of forest dynamics modelling from the dynamics of discrete patches to the interactions among individual organisms, thus encapsulating the theory of "neighbourhood" dynamics. In turn, the stochastic properties and the complexity of spatially-explicit, individual-based models gave rise to the development of a new suite of so-called moment-based models. These new models describe the dynamics of individuals and of pairs of individuals in terms of their densities, thus directly capturing second-order information on spatial structure. So far, this approach has not been applied to forests; we indicate extensions needed for such applications. Moment-based models may be an important complement to spatially explicit individual-based models in developing a general spatial theory of forest dynamics. However, both kinds of models currently focus on fine scales, whereas a critical issue in forest dynamics is to understand the interaction of fine-scale processes with coarser-scale disturbances. To obtain a more complete picture of forest dynamics, the relevant links and interactions between fine-, intermediate-, and coarse-scale processes ought to be identified. Intensive links between modelling work and field studies designed across different scales are a promising means to create a new perspective on forest dynamics.
Misconceptions and Game Form Recognition: Challenges to Theories of Revealed Preference and Framing

This study explores the tension between the standard economic theory of preference and nonstandard theories of preference that are motivated by an underlying theory of framing. A simple experiment fails to measure a known preference. The divergence of the measured preference from the known preference reflects a mistake, arising from some subjects’ misconception of the game form. We conclude that choice data should not be granted an unqualified interpretation of preference revelation. Mistakes in choices obscured by a possible error at the foundation of the theory of framing can masquerade as having been produced by nonstandard preferences.
Effects of Tidal Action on Pollination and Reproductive Allocation in an Estuarine Emergent Wetland Plant–Sagittaria graminea (Alismataceae)

In estuarine wetlands, the daily periodic tidal activity has a profound effect on plant growth and reproduction. We studied the effects of tidal action on pollination and reproductive allocation of Sagittaria graminea. Results showed that the species had very different reproductive allocation in tidal and non-tidal habitats. In the tidal area, seed production was only 9.7% of that in non-tidal habitat, however, plants produced more male flowers and nearly twice the corms compared to those in non-tidal habitat. An experiment showed that the time available for effective pollination determined the pollination rate and pollen deposition in the tidal area. A control experiment suggested that low pollen deposition from low visitation frequency is not the main cause of very low seed sets or seed production in this plant in tidal habitat. The negative effects of tides (water) on pollen germination may surpass the influence of low pollen deposition from low visitation frequency. The length of time from pollen deposition to flower being submerged by water affected pollen germination rate on stigmas; more than three hours is necessary to allow pollen germination and complete fertilization to eliminate the risk of pollen grains being washed away by tidal water.
A second trigeminal CGRP receptor: function and expression of the AMY1 receptor

The trigeminovascular system plays a central role in migraine, a condition in need of new treatments. The neuropeptide, calcitonin gene‐related peptide (CGRP), is proposed as causative in migraine and is the subject of intensive drug discovery efforts. This study explores the expression and functionality of two CGRP receptor candidates in the sensory trigeminal system.
Membrane protein analysis using an improved peptic in‐solution digestion protocol

In the proteomic analysis of membrane proteins, less‐specific proteases have become a promising tool to overcome fundamental limitations of trypsin with its unique specificity for basic residues. Pepsin is well‐known to be utilized for specific applications that require acidic conditions, but in terms of membrane protein identification and characterization, it has been disregarded for the most part. This work presents an optimization of an existing peptic digest protocol for the analysis of membrane proteins using bacteriorhodopsin from purple membranes as reference.
Disrupting IGF Signaling in Adult Mice Conditions Leanness, Resilient Energy Metabolism, and High Growth Hormone Pulses

Growth hormone (GH) and insulinlike growth factor (IGF) promote aging and age-related pathologies. Inhibiting this pathway by targeting IGF receptor (IGF-1R) is a promising strategy to extend life span, alleviate age-related diseases, and reduce tumor growth. Although anti-IGF-1R agents are being developed, long-term effects of IGF-1R blockade remain unknown. In this study, we used ubiquitous inducible IGF-1R knockout (UBIKOR) to suppress signaling in all adult tissues and screened health extensively. Surprisingly, UBIKOR mice showed no overt defects and presented with rather inconspicuous health, including normal cognition. Endocrine GH and IGF-1 were strongly upregulated without causing acromegaly. UBIKOR mice were strikingly lean with coordinate changes in body composition and organ size. They were insulin resistant but preserved physiological energy expenditure and displayed enhanced fasting metabolic flexibility. Thus, long-term IGF-1R blockade generated beneficial effects on aging-relevant metabolism, but exposed to high GH. This needs to be considered when targeting IGF-1R to protect from neurodegeneration, retard aging, or fight cancer.
Do physical exercise and reading reduce the risk of Parkinson’s disease? a cross-sectional study on factors associated with Parkinson’s disease in elderly Chinese veterans

Background The purpose of this study was to investigate risk factors for and factors protecting against Parkinson’s disease (PD) in elderly Chinese veterans. Methods Using a database containing detailed information on the health status of the nervous system in elderly Chinese veterans, univariate and multivariate analyses of factors that may be associated with PD were performed. Univariate analysis of qualitative data was done using the Pearson Chi-square and Fisher’s exact tests, and the Mann–Whitney U nonparametric test was used for univariate analysis of quantitative data. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to identify independent risk factors for and factors protecting against PD in elderly Chinese veterans. Results A total of 9,676 elderly Chinese veterans were enrolled, including 228 cases with PD and 183 cases with Parkinson’s syndrome, with 9,265 non-PD subjects serving as controls. Age (odds ratio [OR] 1.343, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.028–1.755) and medical history of essential tremor (OR 1.228, 95% CI 1.081–1.396) were identified as independent risk factors for PD, with age being the most important risk factor. Physical exercise (OR 0.478, 95% CI 0.355–0.643) and reading (OR 0.513, 95% CI 0.357–0.735) were identified as independent factors protecting against PD, and physical exercise showed better protection against PD relative to reading. Smoking, alcohol use, anemia, cerebral trauma, education level, and electromagnetic field exposure showed no association with PD. Conclusion Physical exercise and reading may be independent factors that protect against PD among elderly Chinese veterans, while advancing age and medical history of essential tremor may be independent risk factors for PD. This study was cross-sectional, so further research is needed to confirm its results.
"Reactivity to Stimuli” Is a Temperamental Factor Contributing to Canine Aggression

Canine aggression is one of the most frequent problems in veterinary behavioral medicine, which in severe cases may result in relinquishment or euthanasia. As it is important to reveal underlying factors of aggression for both treatment and prevention, we recently developed a questionnaire on aggression and temperamental traits and found that “reactivity to stimuli” was associated with aggression toward owners, children, strangers, and other dogs of the Shiba Inu breed. In order to examine whether these associations were consistent in other breeds, we asked the owners of insured dogs of Anicom Insurance Inc. to complete our questionnaire. The top 17 contracted breeds were included. The questionnaire consisted of dogs' general information, four items related to aggression toward owners, children, strangers, and other dogs, and 20 other behavioral items. Aggression-related and behavioral items were rated on a five-point frequency scale. Valid responses (n = 5610) from owners of dogs aged 1 through 10 years were collected. Factor analyses on 18 behavioral items (response rate over 95%) extracted five largely consistent factors in 14 breeds: “sociability with humans,” “fear of sounds,” “chase proneness,” “reactivity to stimuli,” and “avoidance of aversive events. ” By stepwise multiple regression analyses, using the Schwartz's Bayesian information criterion (BIC) method with aggression points as objective variables and general information and temperamental factor points as explanatory variables, “reactivity to stimuli,” i.e., physical reactivity to sudden movement or sound at home, was shown to be significantly associated with owner-directed aggression in 13 breeds, child-directed aggression in eight breeds, stranger-directed aggression in nine breeds, and dog-directed aggression in five breeds. These results suggest that “reactivity to stimuli” is simultaneously involved in several types of aggression. Therefore, it would be worth taking “reactivity to stimuli” into account in the treatment and prevention of canine aggression.
Object relations, dependency, and attachment: a theoretical review of the infant-mother relationship.

3 theoretical approaches to the origin and development of the infant-mother relationship are reviewed: psychoanalytic theories of object relations, social learning theories of dependency (and attachment), and an ethologically oriented theory of attachment. "Object relations," "dependency," and "attachment," although overlapping, are seen to differ substantially. Among the concepts in regard to which there are significant intertheoretical differences, the following are discussed: genetic "biases," reinforcement as compared with activation and termination of behavioral systems and with feedback, strength o f attachment behavior versus strength of attachment, inner representation of the object, intra-organismic and environmental conditions of behavioral activation, and the role of intra-organismic organization and structure. Finally, the relation between theory and research methods is considered.
Critical Point Detection Using the Length Ratio (LR) for Line Generalization

Abstract This article presents a review of existing methods for the detection of critical points cited in cartographic and computer science literature. Moreover, a theoretical assessment of algorithm validity with regard to cartographic representation demands is carried out. A method for the detection of critical points using the length ratio (LR) index is introduced, based on geometric principles. Four lines (three geomorphologic and one arbitrary) selected from relevant studies are used to check the method. Finally, the LR index is used to compare the results of two line simplification algorithms (pointremove and bendsimplify) applied on five successive line simplification tasks on the coastline of a small island.
A comparison of gas dynamics in smooth particle hydrodynamics and semi-analytic models of galaxy formation

We compare the results of two techniques used to calculate the evolution of cooling gas during galaxy formation: smooth particle hydrodynamics (SPH) simulations and semi-analytic modelling. We improve upon the earlier statistical comparison of Benson et al. by taking halo merger histories from the dark matter component of the SPH simulation, which allows us to compare the evolution of galaxies on an object-by-object basis in the two treatments. We use a ‘stripped-down’ version of the semi-analytic model described by Helly et al. that includes only shock heating and radiative cooling of gas and which is adjusted to mimic the resolution and other parameters of a comparison SPH simulation as closely as possible. We compare the total mass of gas that cools in haloes of different mass as a function of redshift and the masses and spatial distribution of individual ‘galaxies’. At a redshift of z = 0, the cooled gas mass in well-resolved haloes agrees remarkably well (to better than ∼20 per cent) in the SPH simulation and stripped-down semi-analytic model. At high redshift, resolution effects in the simulation become increasingly important and, as a result, more gas tends to cool in low-mass haloes in the SPH simulation than in the semi-analytic model. The cold gas mass function of individual galaxies in the two treatments at z = 0 also agrees very well and, when the effects of mergers are accounted for, the masses of individual galaxies and their two-point correlation functions are also in excellent agreement in the two treatments. Thus, our comparison confirms and extends the earlier conclusion of Benson et al. that SPH simulations and semi-analytic models give consistent results for the evolution of cooling galactic gas.
Prognostic value of weight change in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: results from the Copenhagen City Heart Study

An association between low body mass index (BMI) and poor prognosis in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) has been found in a number of studies. The prevalence and prognostic importance of weight change in unselected subjects with COPD was examined. Subjects with COPD, defined as forced expiratory volume in one second/forced vital capacity <0.7 in the Copenhagen City Heart Study and who attended two examinations 5 yrs apart, were followed for 14 yrs for COPD-related and all-cause mortality. The proportion of subjects who lost >1 unit BMI (∼3.8 kg) between the two examinations was significantly associated with level of COPD, reaching ∼30% in subjects with severe COPD. After adjusting for age, smoking habits, baseline BMI and lung function, weight loss was associated with higher mortality in both persons with and without COPD (rate ratio (RR) for weight loss >3 BMI units 1.71 (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.32–2.23) and 1.63 (95% CI 1.38–1.92), respectively). Weight gain was associated with increased mortality, but not significantly so in subjects with COPD. Risk of COPD-related death increased with weight loss (RR 2.14 (95% CI 1.18–3.89)), but not with weight gain (RR 0.95 (95% CI 0.43–2.08)). In subjects without COPD or with mild-to-moderate COPD, the effect of weight change was the same irrespective of initial weight. In subjects with severe COPD, there was a significant risk ratio modification (p=0.045) between effect of baseline BMI and weight change: in the normal-to-underweight (BMI<25), best survival was seen in those who gained weight, whereas for the overweight and obese (BMI≥25), best survival was seen in stable weight. A high proportion of subjects with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease experienced a significant weight loss, which was associated with increased mortality. The results support further intervention studies that aim at avoiding weight loss in normal-to-underweight chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients.
A novel benzimidazole and other constituents with antiproliferative and antioxidant properties from Thymelaea microphylla Coss. et Dur

Abstract A new compound (microphybenzimidazole, 7) along with the six known compounds matairesinol (1), prestegane B (2), umbelliferone (3), daphnoretin (4), microphynolide A (5) and microphynolide B (6) were isolated from Thymelaea microphylla. The structures of the pure compounds were elucidated by spectroscopic and mass-spectrometric analyses, including 1D-, 2D-NMR, and HPLC-TOF/MS. Compounds 2 and 4, as well as three fractions (F6, F6-C5, and F6-W42) obtained from a 50% (v:v) CH2Cl2:MeOH extract exhibited a selective activity against rat brain glioma cells (C6). Moreover, compound 1 and other fractions obtained from 50% (v:v) CH2Cl2:MeOH and 70% (v:v) MeOH:H2O extracts exhibited dose- and time-dependent effects on human cervical cancer cell (HeLa), as measured by xCELLigence assay. Compound 2 (IC50 = 14.0 ± 0.2 μg/mL) and fraction F5 (IC50 = 12.4 ± 0.1 μg/mL) showed higher radical scavenging ability than the synthetic agent butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT, IC50 = 22.7 ± 0.6 μg/mL)
Francisella tularensis Schu S4 O-Antigen and Capsule Biosynthesis Gene Mutants Induce Early Cell Death in Human Macrophages

ABSTRACT Francisella tularensis is capable of rampant intracellular growth and causes a potentially fatal disease in humans. Whereas many mutational studies have been performed with avirulent strains of Francisella, relatively little has been done with strains that cause human disease. We generated a near-saturating transposon library in the virulent strain Schu S4, which was subjected to high-throughput screening by transposon site hybridization through primary human macrophages, negatively selecting 202 genes. Of special note were genes in a locus of the Francisella chromosome, FTT1236, FTT1237, and FTT1238. Mutants with mutations in these genes demonstrated significant sensitivity to complement-mediated lysis compared with wild-type Schu S4 and exhibited marked defects in O-antigen and capsular polysaccharide biosynthesis. In the absence of complement, these mutants were phagocytosed more efficiently by macrophages than wild-type Schu S4 and were capable of phagosomal escape but exhibited reduced intracellular growth. Microscopic and quantitative analyses of macrophages infected with mutant bacteria revealed that these macrophages exhibited signs of cell death much earlier than those infected with Schu S4. These data suggest that FTT1236, FTT1237, and FTT1238 are important for polysaccharide biosynthesis and that the Francisella O antigen, capsule, or both are important for avoiding the early induction of macrophage death and the destruction of the replicative niche.
Notes on Testing Graph Properties in the Dense Graph Model

Organization. The current lecture is the first out of a series of three lectures that cover three models for testing graph properties. In each model, we spell out the definition of property testing (when specialized to that model), present some of the known results, and demonstrate some of the ideas involved (by focusing on testing Bipartiteness, which seems a good benchmark). We start the current lecture with a general introduction to testing graph properties, which includes an overview of the three models (see Section 1.2). We then present and illustrate the “dense graph model” (Section 2), which is the focus of the current lecture. The main two sections (i.e., Sections 3 and 4) cover the two topics that are mentioned in the foregoing summary: Section 3 deals with testing arbitrary graph partition properties, as illustrated by the example of testing Bipartitness. Section 4 deals with the connection between property testing in this model and Szemeŕedi’s Regularity Lemma, as illustrated by testing subgraph-freeness. The last two sections (i.e., Sections 5 and 6) are descriptive in nature: Section 5 presents a taxonomy of the known results, whereas Section 6 presents final comments.
An Update on the Use of C-Reactive Protein in Early-Onset Neonatal Sepsis: Current Insights and New Tasks

C-reactive protein (CRP) is one of the most studied and most used laboratory tests for neonatal sepsis. As part of the acute-phase reaction to infection, it plays a central role in the humoral response to bacterial invasion. The delayed synthesis during the inflammatory response accounts for its low sensitivity during the early phases of the disease. Diagnostic accuracy clearly improves by the performance of serial determinations and by the combination with earlier markers such as interleukins or procalcitonin. CRP is as well particularly useful for monitoring the response to treatment and guiding antibiotic therapy, though nothing replaces the clinical impression and the gold standard (i.e. culture results). In spite of the large amount of research done on CRP in neonates, some topics are still not fully understood, such as the influence of noninfectious factors on CRP levels in healthy as well as in symptomatic neonates and the role of gestational age and birthweight on CRP kinetics. In this review, we aim to give an update on the current evidence on the use of CRP in neonates.
Optimized and validated flow-injection spectrophotometric analysis of topiramate, piracetam and levetiracetam in pharmaceutical formulations

Optimized and validated flow-injection spectrophotometric analysis of topiramate, piracetam and levetiracetam in pharmaceutical formulations Application of a sensitive and rapid flow injection analysis (FIA) method for determination of topiramate, piracetam, and levetiracetam in pharmaceutical formulations has been investigated. The method is based on the reaction with ortho-phtalaldehyde and 2-mercaptoethanol in a basic buffer and measurement of absorbance at 295 nm under flow conditions. Variables affecting the determination such as sample injection volume, pH, ionic strength, reagent concentrations, flow rate of reagent and other FIA parameters were optimized to produce the most sensitive and reproducible results using a quarter-fraction factorial design, for five factors at two levels. Also, the method has been optimized and fully validated in terms of linearity and range, limit of detection and quantitation, precision, selectivity and accuracy. The method was successfully applied to the analysis of pharmaceutical preparations. Optimirana i validirana protočna injekcijska spektrofotometrijska analiza topiramata, piracetama i levetiracetama u farmaceutskim pripravcima Opisana je osjetljiva i brza protočna injekcijska analiza (FIA) za određivanje topira-mata, piracetama i levetiracetama u farmaceutskim pripravcima. Metoda se temelji na reakciji ortho-ftalaldehida i 2-merkaptoetanola u bazičnom puferu i mjerenju apsorbancije na 295 nm u protočnim uvjetima. U svrhu povećanja osjetljivosti i dobivanja reproducibilnih rezultata optimirane su varijable koje utječu na određivanje kao što su volumen injektiranog uzorka, pH, ionska jakost, koncentracija reagensa, brzina protoka reagensa i drugi FIA parametri koristeći četvrt-frakcijski faktorijalni dizajn, za pet faktora na dva nivoa. Metoda je optimirana i potpuno validirana (linearnost, područje određivanja, granica detekcije i kvantifikacije, preciznost, selektivnost i točnost). Metoda je uspješ no primijenjena za analizu farmaceutskih pripravaka.