Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Sperm competition shapes gene expression and sequence evolution in the ocellated wrasse

Gene expression differences between males and females often underlie sexually dimorphic phenotypes, and the expression levels of genes that are differentially expressed between the sexes are thought to respond to sexual selection. Most studies on the transcriptomic response to sexual selection treat sexual selection as a single force, but postmating sexual selection in particular is expected to specifically target gonadal tissue. The three male morphs of the ocellated wrasse (Symphodus ocellatus) make it possible to test the role of postmating sexual selection in shaping the gonadal transcriptome. Nesting males hold territories and have the highest reproductive success, yet we detected feminization of their gonadal gene expression compared to satellite males. Satellite males are less brightly coloured and experience more intense sperm competition than nesting males. In line with postmating sexual selection affecting gonadal gene expression, we detected a more masculinized expression profile in satellites. Sneakers are the lowest quality males and showed both de‐masculinization and de‐feminization of gene expression. We also detected higher rates of gene sequence evolution of male‐biased genes compared to unbiased genes, which could at least in part be explained by positive selection. Together, these results reveal the potential for postmating sexual selection to drive higher rates of gene sequence evolution and shape the gonadal transcriptome profile.
Explaining the enjoyment of playing video games: the role of competition

The tremendous and still growing popularity of computer and video games has inspired Communication Researchers and Media Psychologists to investigate the factors of the enjoyment experienced by the players. Apparently, the games' interactivity allows for a continuous stream of challenging and competitive situations that have to be resolved by the players. Competition is therefore regarded a key element of the explanation of players' entertainment experience. Subsequent to a theoretical explication, empirical evidence for the role of competition in the playing process and the impact of competitiveness for selective exposure to computer games is reported from a field experiment (N = 349) and an online survey study (N = 795).
Carbon Isotope Composition of Nighttime Leaf-Respired CO2 in the Agricultural-Pastoral Zone of the Songnen Plain, Northeast China

Variations in the carbon isotope signature of leaf dark-respired CO2 (δ13CR) within a single night is a widely observed phenomenon. However, it is unclear whether there are plant functional type differences with regard to the amplitude of the nighttime variation in δ13CR. These differences, if present, would be important for interpreting the short-term variations in the stable carbon signature of ecosystem respiration and the partitioning of carbon fluxes. To assess the plant functional type differences relating to the magnitude of the nighttime variation in δ13CR and the respiratory apparent fractionation, we measured the δ13CR, the leaf gas exchange, and the δ13C of the respiratory substrates of 22 species present in the agricultural-pastoral zone of the Songnen Plain, northeast China. The species studied were grouped into C3 and C4 plants, trees, grasses, and herbs. A significant nocturnal shift in δ13CR was detected in 20 of the studied species, with the magnitude of the shift ranging from 1‰ to 5.8‰. The magnitude of the nighttime variation in δ13CR was strongly correlated with the daytime cumulative carbon assimilation, which suggests that variation in δ13CR were influenced, to some extent, by changes in the contribution of malate decarboxylation to total respiratory CO2 flux. There were no differences in the magnitude of the nighttime variation in δ13CR between the C3 and C4 plants, as well as among the woody plants, herbs and graminoids. Leaf respired CO2 was enriched in 13C compared to biomass, soluble carbohydrates and lipids; however the magnitude of enrichment differed between 8 pm and 4 am, which were mainly caused by the changes in δ13CR. We also detected the plant functional type differences in respiratory apparent fractionation relative to biomass at 4 am, which suggests that caution should be exercised when using the δ13C of bulk leaf material as a proxy for the δ13C of leaf-respired CO2.
A Compact-Trie-Based Structure for K-Nearest-Neighbour Searching

This paper proposes a k-nearest neighbour search method inspired by grid space partitioning and the compact-trie structure. A compact trie structure, and a k-nearest neighbour search strategy are presented. Then, a k-nearest neighbour search performance comparison is carried out against two well-known methods, using one million two-dimensional spatial points and finding up to 1000 nearest neighbours. The results of the comparison shows that the proposed compact-trie method can perform up to 300 times better when k is small, and up to 25 times better for larger k values, suggesting that the proposed method is suitable for low dimensions and location-dependent spatial queries in applications such as mobile computing.
Incomplete Gustatory Lateralization as Shown by Analysis of Taste Discrimination After Callosotomy

The lateral organization of the gustatory pathway in man is incompletely understood. Majority of the studies support an uncrossed projection from each side of the tongue to the cortex, but reports of an opposite crossed organization continue to appear in the neurological literature. We studied the lateral organization of the gustatory pathway in normal controls, a man with a complete callosal agenesis, and a man with a complete section of the corpus callosum, a right anterior-frontal lesion, and language in the left hemisphere. Sapid solutions were applied to one or the other side of the tongue, and subjects reported the taste of the stimulus either verbally or by manually pointing to the name of the taste. There were no differences in accuracy and reaction time between the right and left hemitongues of the controls and the genetically acallosal observer. By contrast, the callosotomy subject showed a constant marked advantage of the left hemitongue over the right for both accuracy and speed of response, though performance with right stimuli was clearly above chance. The left advantage can be attributed to the left hemisphere being favored by the essentially verbal nature of the task, or to the presence of a lesion in cortical gustatory areas in the right hemisphere, or to both factors. Whichever of these hypotheses turns out to be correct, the results unequivocally reject the notion of an exclusively crossed organization of the gustatory pathway from the tongue to the cortex, and favor the notion of a bilaterally distributed organization of this pathway with a marked predominance of the uncrossed over the crossed component.
Immunocytochemical localization of glutamate receptor subunits in the brain stem and cerebellum of the turtle Chrysemys picta

The regional distribution of ionotropic (AMPA and NMDA) and metabotropic (mGluR1α) glutamate receptor subunits was examined in the brain stem and cerebellum of the pond turtle, Chrysemys picta, by using immunocytochemistry and light microscopy. Subunit‐specific antibodies that recognize NMDAR1, GluR1, GluR4, and mGluR1α were used to identify immunoreactive nuclei in the brain stem and cerebellum. Considerable immunoreactivity in the turtle brain stem and cerebellum was observed with regional differences occurring primarily in the intensity of staining with the antibodies. The red nucleus, lateral reticular nucleus and cerebellum labeled intensely for NMDAR1 and moderately for GluR1. The cerebellum also labeled strongly for mGluR1α. All of the cranial nerve nuclei labeled intensely for NMDAR1 and to varying degrees for GluR1, GluR4, and mGluR1α. Counterstaining revealed the presence of neuronal somata where there were no immunoreactive neurons in individual nuclei. This finding suggests that there are subpopulations of immunoreactive neurons within a given nucleus that bear different glutamate receptor subunit compositions. The results suggest that the glutamate receptor subunit distribution in the brain stem and cerebellum of turtles is similar to that reported for rats. Additionally, there is considerable colocalization of NMDA and AMPA receptors as revealed by light microscopy. These results have implications for the organization of neural circuits that control motor behavior in turtles, and, generally, for the function of brain stem and cerebellar neural circuits in vertebrates. J. Comp. Neurol. 427:455–468, 2000. © 2000 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Mitomycin C induces apoptosis in cultured corneal fibroblasts derived from type II granular corneal dystrophy corneas

PURPOSE The present study investigated the effect of mitomycin C (MMC) on cell viability, apoptosis, and transforming growth factor beta-induced protein (TGFBIp) expression in cultured normal corneal fibroblasts and heterozygote or homozygote granular corneal dystrophy type II (GCD II) corneal fibroblasts. METHODS Keratocytes were obtained from normal cornea or from heterozygote or homozygote GCD II patients after lamellar or penetrating keratoplasty. To measure cell viability, corneal fibroblasts were incubated with 0.02% MMC for 3 h, 6 h, and 24 h or with 0%, 0.01%, 0.02%, and 0.04% MMC for 24 h and then tested using lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and 3-[4,5-demethylthiazol-2,5-diphenyl-2H-tetrazolium bromide] (MTT) assays. To measure apoptosis, cells were analyzed by FACS analysis and annexin V staining. Bcl-xL, Bax, and TGFBI mRNA expression was measured using reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assays. Cellular and media levels of TGFBIp protein were measured by immunoblotting. RESULTS MTT and LDH assays showed that MMC reduced cell viability in all three cell types in a dose-dependent and time-dependent manner (p<0.05). FACS analysis and annexin V staining showed that MMC caused apoptosis with GCD II homozygote cells being most affected. RT-PCR analysis showed that MMC decreased Bcl-xL mRNA expression and increased Bax mRNA expression in all cell types. RT-PCR and immunoblotting analysis showed that MMC reduced TGFBI mRNA levels and cellular and media TGFBIp protein levels in all cell types. CONCLUSIONS MMC induced apoptosis, and the effects of MMC were greatest in GCD II homozygote cells. MMC also reduced the production of TGFBIp in all three types of corneal fibroblasts. These findings may explain the additional therapeutic effect of MMC in GCD II patients.
Solving the Frame Problem

Murray Shanahan has been actively involved in research on the frame problem since the late eighties. When a scientist looks back at the past of his eld, including his own early work, he can see how poorly the subject was understood years ago, and then two attitudes are possible. One is to think: It's amazing how naive and confused we used to be; much of this work should have never appeared in print, and the rest should have been expressed very diierently! Or he can adopt a wiser view of the history of his eld as a reasonable|maybe necessary|path towards the better understanding that is available today. This respect for the past, with all its embarassing mistakes, is an attractive quality of Shanahan's book. He believes that the history of attempts to solve the frame problem isn't an arbitrary record of failures which culminates in the discovery of a truth which, in hindsight, seems obvious. Rather, it seems to me to reeect a natural order of enquiry. The dead ends that people have investigated are much more than mistakes. They're obvious possibilities, which any thinker engaged in studying the frame problem is wont to investigate. A deep understanding of the knowledge representation issues surrounding the frame problem can only be acquired by getting a feel for the space of mathematical possibilities and where they lead. p. xv] The book is about the history of research on the frame problem as much as about our current state of knowledge. This may be the only way a good book can be written today on a subject as volatile as the theory of commonsense knowledge and reasoning.
Contrasting extracellular enzyme activities of particle-associated bacteria from distinct provinces of the North Atlantic Ocean

Microbial communities play a key role in the marine carbon cycle, processing much of phytoplankton-derived organic matter. The composition of these communities varies by depth, season, and location in the ocean; the functional consequences of these compositional variations for the carbon cycle are only beginning to be explored. We measured the abilities of microbial communities in the large-particle fraction (retained by a 10-μm pore-size cartridge filter) to enzymatically hydrolyze high molecular weight substrates, and therefore initiate carbon remineralization in four distinct oceanic provinces: the boreal polar (BPLR), the Arctic oceanic (ARCT), the North Atlantic drift (NADR), and the North Atlantic subtropical (NAST) provinces. Since we expected the large-particle fraction to include phytoplankton cells, we measured the hydrolysis of polysaccharide substrates (laminarin, fucoidan, xylan, and chondroitin sulfate) expected to be associated with phytoplankton. Hydrolysis rates and patterns clustered into two groups, the BPLR/ARCT and the NADR/NAST. All four substrates were hydrolyzed by the BPLR/ARCT communities; hydrolysis rates of individual substrate varied by factors of ca. 1–4. In contrast, chondroitin was not hydrolyzed in the NADR/NAST, and hydrolytic activity was dominated by laminarinase. Fluorescence in situ hybridization of the large-particle fraction post-incubation showed a substantial contribution (15–26%) of CF319a-positive cells (Bacteroidetes) to total DAPI-stainable cells. Concurrent studies of microbial community composition and of fosmids from these same stations also demonstrated similarities between BPLR and ARCT stations, which were distinct from the NADR/NAST stations. Together, these data support a picture of compositionally as well as functionally distinct communities across these oceanic provinces.
Communicating with terminal patients: lessons from "wit" and students.

Deloney LA, 2003, TEACH LEARN MED, V15, P247, DOI 10.1207-S15328015TLM1504_06; Ellershaw J, 2003, BRIT MED J, V326, P30, DOI 10.1136-bmj.326. 7379.30; Garg A, 1997, CAN MED ASSOC J, V156, P1159; Kirk P, 2004, BRIT MED J, V328, P1343, DOI 10.1136-bmj.38103. 423576.55; Lloyd-Williams M, 2003, BRIT MED J, V327, P221, DOI 10.1136-bmj.327. 7408.221-b; Saab BR, 2005, FAM MED, V37, P90
Long-term follow-up of surgical resection alone for primary intracranial rostrotentorial tumors in dogs: 29 cases (2002-2013)

Intracranial neoplasia is frequently encountered in dogs. After a presumptive diagnosis of intracranial neoplasia is established based on history, clinical signs and advanced imaging characteristics, the decision to treat and which treatment to choose must be considered. The objective of this study is to report survival times (ST) for dogs with intracranial meningiomas and gliomas treated with surgical resection alone (SRA), to identify potential prognostic factors affecting survival, and to compare the results with the available literature. Medical records of 29 dogs with histopathologic confirmation of intracranial meningiomas and gliomas treated with SRA were retrospectively reviewed. For each dog, signalment, clinical signs, imaging findings, type of surgery, treatment, histological evaluation, and ST were obtained. Twenty-nine dogs with a histological diagnosis who survived >7 days after surgery were included. There were 15 (52%) meningiomas and 14 (48%) gliomas. All tumors had a rostrotentorial location. At the time of the statistical analysis, only two dogs were alive. Median ST for meningiomas was 422 days (mean, 731 days; range, 10-2735 days). Median ST for gliomas was 66 days (mean, 117 days; range, 10-730 days). Kaplan-Meier analysis indicated that ST was significantly longer for meningiomas than for gliomas (P<0.05). A negative correlation between the presence of a midline shift and ST (P=0.037) and ventricular compression and ST (P=0.038) was observed for meningiomas. For gliomas, there were no significant associations between ST and any of the variables evaluated. In conclusion, the results of this study suggest that, for dogs that survived >7 days postoperatively, SRA might be an appropriate treatment, particularly for meningiomas, when radiation therapy is not readily available. Also, the presence of midline shift and ventricular compression might be negative prognostic factors for dogs with meningiomas.
Attempts to isolate H-1 virus from spontaneous human abortions: a negative report.

In previous studies the H-1 virus was reported to have been isolated from up to 20% of human tumors, placentas, and embryos. In the present investigation no H-1 virus could be recovered from 50 spontaneous human abortions. None of the sera that were available from the gravid women had detectable hemagglutination-inhibiting antibody to H-1 or RV virus. The relation of H-1 virus to human abortions and other human disease remains in question.
Quantitative Laughter Detection, Measurement, and Classification—A Critical Survey

The study of human nonverbal social behaviors has taken a more quantitative and computational approach in recent years due to the development of smart interfaces and virtual agents or robots able to interact socially. One of the most interesting nonverbal social behaviors, producing a characteristic vocal signal, is laughing. Laughter is produced in several different situations: in response to external physical, cognitive, or emotional stimuli; to negotiate social interactions; and also, pathologically, as a consequence of neural damage. For this reason, laughter has attracted researchers from many disciplines. A consequence of this multidisciplinarity is the absence of a holistic vision of this complex behavior: the methods of analysis and classification of laughter, as well as the terminology used, are heterogeneous; the findings sometimes contradictory and poorly documented. This survey aims at collecting and presenting objective measurement methods and results from a variety of different studies in different fields, to contribute to build a unified model and taxonomy of laughter. This could be successfully used for advances in several fields, from artificial intelligence and human-robot interaction to medicine and psychiatry.
Eurographics/ Acm Siggraph Symposium on Computer Animation (2006) Simultaneous Coupling of Fluids and Deformable Bodies

This paper presents a method for simulating the two-way interaction between fluids and deformable solids. The fluids are simulated using an incompressible Eulerian formulation where a linear pressure projection on the fluid velocities enforces mass conservation. Similarly, elastic solids are simulated using a semi-implicit integrator implemented as a linear operator applied to the forces acting on the nodes in Lagrangian formulation. The proposed method enforces coupling constraints between the fluid and the elastic systems by combining both the pressure projection and implicit integration steps into one set of simultaneous equations. Because these equations are solved simultaneously the resulting combined system treats closed regions in a physically correct fashion, and has good stability characteristics allowing for relatively large time steps. This general approach is not tied to any particular volume discretization of fluid or solid, and we present results implemented using both regular-grid and tetrahedral simulations.
Palliative Care in New York State Nursing Homes: A Descriptive Study

Objective: To describe the current landscape of palliative care (PC) in nursing homes (NHs) in New York State (NYS). Measurements: A statewide survey was completed by 149 respondents who named 61 different NHs as their workplace. Questions were related to presence, type, and composition of PC programs; perceptions of PC; barriers to implementing PC; and qualifying medical conditions. Results: Hospice is less available than palliative or comfort care programs, with three-fourths of NYS NH responded providing a PC program. In general, medical directors and physicians were more similar in perspective about the role/impact of PC compared to nursing and others. There was general agreement about the positive impact and role of PC in the NH. Funding and staffing were recognized as barriers to implementing PC. Conclusion: There is growing penetration of PC programs in NH facilities in NYS, with good perception of the appropriate utilization of PC programs. Financial reimbursement and staffing are barriers to providing PC in the NH and need to be addressed by the health-care system.
Optimization of the scintigraphic segmental anatomy of the lungs.

UNLABELLED Accurate and reproducible reporting of lung scintigraphy is predicated on a sound knowledge of the segmental anatomy of the lungs. A limited amount of hard data exists about the true segmental anatomy of the lungs. A virtual model of human lungs was created using a CT-based dataset and a Monte Carlo simulation technique to examine the optimal projections for the visualization of each segment in the lungs. METHODS Segmental anatomy of the lungs was modeled using CT, cadaveric lungs and standard anatomical texts. The emission, scatter and attenuation of photons was modeled within these virtual lungs and the surrounding tissues. Single segmental lesions were created in eight projections and submitted for blinded reporting to four experienced nuclear medicine physicians to obtain the best views for each segment. RESULTS The anterior and posterior oblique projections yielded the best views for 10 of 18 segments, with the laterals contributing four views, the anterior contributing two views and the posterior contributing one view. The majority of basal segments (six of nine) were best seen in the anterior and posterior oblique projections. CONCLUSION This model overcomes the major problems associated with experimentation in the normal human and has the potential to provide answers to the major problems of scatter, attenuation and "shine-through" in lung scintigraphy.
Intramolecular dynamics. III. Theoretical studies of the CH overtone spectra for benzene

The electronic states of the ionic excimer Ar + + 2 are calculated using ab initio multireference configuration interaction and effective core pseudopotentials. Among states dissociating into Ar+(2P)+Ar+(2P), all are found to be repulsive, except the ground state, which occurs to be quasibound near Re=4.1a0 with a well depth of >=230 cm^−1. All states originating from Ar++(3P,1D,1S)+Ar are bound with dissociation energies in the range 3200–4500 cm^−1 and equilibrium distances between 5.6a0 and 6a0. Simulation emission spectra from bound excited states are derived from the calculated potentials and the possible contribution of the Ar + + 2 ion to the third continuum fluorescence is discussed.