Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Brazilian peppertree: a poster child for invasive plants in Florida

Invasive plants in Florida The growth in global trade has resulted in unprecedented movement of plants and animals outside of their native ranges (di Castri 1989; Pimental 2011). The majority of introductions of alien species have little impact on native ecosystems, but a few species become established in natural areas and threaten native biodiversity, alter ecological processes, and often have severe economic consequences (Mack et al. 2000). Invasive plants are estimated to cost the U. S. economy $123 billion per year (U.S. Department of Interior 2009). In the continental USA, Florida stands out as the recipient of the most exotic plant invaders (U.S. Congress 1993; Simberloff 1997), with 1421 non-native species growing outside of cultivation (Wunderlin and Hansen 2008), and infesting an estimated 1.0 million acres (Lee et al. 2009). Florida‟s elevated susceptibility to invasion likely stems from several factors, including a highly disturbed environment, which is known to promote the invasion of alien species (Hobbs and Huenneke 1992). Secondly, Florida‟s depauperate native flora (Ewel 1986) may exert low „biotic resistance‟ the ability of native communities to resist invasion (Lodge 1993; Maron and Vilà 2001). Finally, huge numbers of exotic plants are continually being brought into Florida, the vast majority of which are intentionally introduced through the ornamental plant trade (Reichard and White 2001). Thus, opportunities for invasion into Florida may simply be elevated due to constant, high propagule pressure (Simberloff 1997).
Baseline tumor growth and immune control in laboratory mice are significantly influenced by subthermoneutral housing temperature

Significance We show that the mandated, subthermoneutral laboratory housing temperature, which is known to cause chronic, metabolic cold stress, induces suppression of the antitumor immune response and promotes tumor growth and metastasis. When mice are housed at thermoneutrality, there are fewer immunosuppressive cells with significantly enhanced CD8+ T cell-dependent control of tumor growth. These findings underscore the fact that investigating mouse models under a single set of environmental temperature conditions may lead to a misunderstanding of the antitumor immune potential. These data also highlight the need for additional study to determine how systemic metabolic stress modulates the functions of immune effector cells, particularly in tumor-bearing mice, and whether cancer therapies, including immunotherapy, are impacted by housing temperature. We show here that fundamental aspects of antitumor immunity in mice are significantly influenced by ambient housing temperature. Standard housing temperature for laboratory mice in research facilities is mandated to be between 20–26 °C; however, these subthermoneutral temperatures cause mild chronic cold stress, activating thermogenesis to maintain normal body temperature. When stress is alleviated by housing at thermoneutral ambient temperature (30–31 °C), we observe a striking reduction in tumor formation, growth rate and metastasis. This improved control of tumor growth is dependent upon the adaptive immune system. We observe significantly increased numbers of antigen-specific CD8+ T lymphocytes and CD8+ T cells with an activated phenotype in the tumor microenvironment at thermoneutrality. At the same time there is a significant reduction in numbers of immunosuppressive MDSCs and regulatory T lymphocytes. Notably, in temperature preference studies, tumor-bearing mice select a higher ambient temperature than non-tumor-bearing mice, suggesting that tumor-bearing mice experience a greater degree of cold-stress. Overall, our data raise the hypothesis that suppression of antitumor immunity is an outcome of cold stress-induced thermogenesis. Therefore, the common approach of studying immunity against tumors in mice housed only at standard room temperature may be limiting our understanding of the full potential of the antitumor immune response.
Transforming Growth Factor β Signaling Pathway Associated Gene Polymorphisms May Explain Lower Breast Cancer Risk in Western Indian Women

Transforming growth factor β1 (TGFB1) T29C and TGF β receptor type 1 (TGFBR1) 6A/9A polymorphisms have been implicated in the modulation of risk for breast cancer in Caucasian women. We analyzed these polymorphisms and combinations of their genotypes, in pre menopausal breast cancer patients (N = 182) and healthy women (N = 236) from western India as well as in breast cancer patients and healthy women from the Parsi community (N = 48 & 171, respectively). Western Indian women were characterized by a higher frequency of TGFB1*C allele of the TGF β T29C polymorphism (0.48 vs 0.44) and a significantly lower frequency of TGFBR1*6A allele of the TGFBR1 6A/9A polymorphism (0.02 vs 0.068, p<0.01) as compared to healthy Parsi women. A strong protective effect of TGFB1*29C allele was seen in younger western Indian women (<40 yrs; OR = 0.45, 95% CI 0.25–0.81). Compared to healthy women, the strikingly higher frequencies of low or intermediate TGF β signalers in patients suggested a strong influence of the combination of these genotypes on the risk for breast cancer in Parsi women (for intermediate signalers, OR = 4.47 95%CI 1.01–19.69). The frequency of low signalers in Parsi healthy women, while comparable to that reported in Europeans and Americans, was three times higher than that in healthy women from western India (10.6% vs 3.3%, p<0.01). These observations, in conjunction with the low incidence rate of breast cancer in Indian women compared to White women, raise a possibility that the higher frequency of TGFB1*29C allele and lower frequency of TGFBR1*6A allele may represent important genetic determinants that together contribute to a lower risk of breast cancer in western Indian women.
Improved arithmetic coding in H.264/AVC using Context-Tree Weighting and prediction by Partial Matching

In this paper, an improvement is proposed for coding efficiency of the context-based adaptive binary arithmetic coding (CABAC) in applications to the Advance Video Coding H.264/AVC. The improvement of coding efficiency is obtained by more accurate estimation of the conditional probabilities fed to the arithmetic codec. Better conditional probabilities estimation is achieved with well-known data modelling algorithms: Context-Tree Weighting (CTW) and Prediction by Partial Matching (PPM). The original method of incorporating CTW and PPM techniques into the H.264/AVC video codec is presented in this paper. The coding efficiency of the modified H264/AVC video codecs (with CTW and PPM techniques) have been tested with several test sequences. The coding efficiency of the modified H.264/AVC video codecs have been compared against the coding efficiency of the original H.264/AVC codec (with CABAC entropy coding method). Experimental results show that the proposed techniques of the conditional probabilities estimation allow up to 2% bitstream reduction in comparison to the standard CABAC algorithm.
Thirteenth Conference on Pacific Basin Finance , Economics , and Accounting Diversification Benefit of International Equity Markets Subject to Investment Restrictions

This paper investigates the impact of constraints of short-sale and over-weight to international diversification benefits. We find that the short-sale restriction alone does not influence the diversifying benefit while the addition of over-weighting constraint significantly worsens mean-variance of optimal portfolio. This finding holds for the analyses of regional and cross-regional portfolios. The portfolio with more emerging markets exhausts more unit-risk performance than the one with developed countries when the over-weighting limitation is installed. The analysis of cross-continent portfolios suggests the portfolio with both equity markets in developing and developed countries tends to lose less mean-variance efficiency than the portfolio with only emerging markets or developed countries. The results support greater variety of geographical location and economic development among markets in portfolio will enhance the diversification benefit and decrease the loss brought by the investment constraints.
The Respiratory Complex I (NDH I) from Klebsiella pneumoniae, a Sodium Pump*

The electrogenic NADH:Q oxidoreductase from the enterobacterium Klebsiella pneumoniae transports Na+ ions. The complex was purified with an increase of the specific Na+ transport activity from 0.2 μmol min−1 mg−1 in native membrane vesicles to 4.7 μmol min−1 mg−1 in reconstituted enzyme specimens. The subunit pattern resembled that of complex I fromEscherichia coli, and two prominent polypeptides were identified as the NuoF and NuoG subunits of complex I. During purification the typical cofactors of complex I were enriched to yield ∼17 nmol mg−1 iron, 24 nmol mg−1acid-labile sulfide, and 0.79 nmol mg−1 FMN in the purified sample. The enzyme contained ∼1.2 nmol mg−1 Q6 and 1.5 nmol mg−1 Q8. The reduction of ubiquinone by NADH was Na+-dependent, which indicates coupling of the chemical and the vectorial reaction of the pump. The Na+ activation profile corresponded to the Hill equation with a Hill coefficient KH(Na+) = 1.96 and with a half-maximal saturation at 0.33 mm Na+. The reconstituted complex I from Klebsiella pneumoniae catalyzed deamino-NADH oxidation, Q1 reduction, and Na+ translocation with specific activities of 2.6 units mg−1, 2.4 units mg−1, and 4.7 units mg−1, respectively, which indicate a Na+/electron stoichiometry of one.
Six Mutations in the Glucokinase Gene Identified in MODY by Using a Nonradioactive Sensitive Screening Technique

We have reported that 56% of French families with maturity-onset diabetes of the young (MODY) carry a mutation in the glucokinase gene (GCK). Therefore, we have established a quick and sensitive nonradioactive technique (with the PhastSystemTM based on single-strand conformation polymorphism [SSCP] analysis) to routinely screen the 12 exons of GCK for mutations. We have studied GCK in 12 young hyperglycemic patients with a strong family history of type II diabetes. SSCP variants were observed in 6 of those 12 patients (50%), which cosegregated with diabetes in five families where DNA from additional members was available. Direct sequencing identified a 10-bp (base pair) deletion in exon 3; a 33-bp deletion at the exon 5/intron 5 junction, including the two consensus bases (GT) of the donor splice site; a nonsense mutation in exon 5 (Arg186 → Stop) in a Black-African family, which has been identified previously in a Caucasian family; and three missense mutations: Thr209 → Met209 in exon 6, Gly261 → Glu261 in exon 7, and Arg36 → Trp36 in exon 2. The missense mut ation in exon 2 was found only in the second and third generation of the tested family but not in the first. To our knowledge, this is the first time that a de novo mutation of GCK is reported within a family. All six families carrying a mutation in GCK were typical MODY and most of their affected members had a mild form of diabetes. This nonradioactive SSCP technique may be useful to routinely diagnose glucokinase deficiency, which is an important cause of hyperglycemia among young type II diabetic patients.
Effects of selected dietary constituents on high-sensitivity C-reactive protein levels in U.S. adults

Abstract Background and aim: Growing evidence suggests that some of the effects of diet on cardiovascular disease (CVD) occur through mechanisms involving subclinical inflammation. We assessed the relationship between selected dietary constituents and serum high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) concentration in a population-based sample of United States adults. Methods: In this cross-sectional analysis, participants were selected from the US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) and restricted to those with available data on dietary intake, biochemical and anthropometric measurements from 2001 to 2010. All statistical analyses accounted for the survey design and sample weights by using SPSS Complex Samples v22.0 (IBM Corp, Armonk, NY). Results: Of the 17,689 participants analysed, 8607 (48.3%) were men. The mean age was 45.8 years in the overall sample, 44.9 in men and 46.5 in women (p = .047). The age-, race-, sex-, energy intake- and body mass index-adjusted mean dietary intakes of total dietary fibre, polyunsaturated fatty-acids, vitamin E, vitamin A, vitamin B6, total folate, vitamin B family, vitamin C, vitamin K, magnesium, iron, copper and potassium monotonically decreased across increasing hsCRP quarters (p < .001 for all), whereas sugar intake increased (p < .001). In analysis of covariance adjusted for potential confounders (age-, race-, sex-, energy intake- and body weight-) hsCRP levels increased across increasing quarters of sugar intake (p < .001). Conclusions: This study provides further evidence of an association between dietary sugar, polyunsaturated fatty-acids, fibre and antioxidant intake and hsCRP levels, a subclinical inflammation marker. hsCRP concentrations are likely modulated by dietary intake. KEY MESSAGES Serum high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) concentration is positively associated with sugar intake, and negatively with the consumption of minerals, vitamins and polyunsaturated fatty-acids (fruit and vegetables). hsCRP concentrations, and accordingly subclinical inflammation, are likely influenced by dietary intake.
T Cell Receptor Mediated Calcium Entry Requires Alternatively Spliced Cav1.1 Channels

The process of calcium entry in T cells is a multichannel and multi-step process. We have studied the requirement for L-type calcium channels (Cav1.1) α1S subunits during calcium entry after TCR stimulation. High expression levels of Cav1.1 channels were detected in activated T cells. Sequencing and cloning of Cav1.1 channel cDNA from T cells revealed that a single splice variant is expressed. This variant lacks exon 29, which encodes the linker region adjacent to the voltage sensor, but contains five new N-terminal exons that substitute for exons 1 and 2, which are found in the Cav1.1 muscle counterpart. Overexpression studies using cloned T cell Cav1.1 in 293HEK cells (that lack TCR) suggest that the gating of these channels was altered. Knockdown of Cav1.1 channels in T cells abrogated calcium entry after TCR stimulation, suggesting that Cav1.1 channels are controlled by TCR signaling.
Prevalence of Bulimic Behaviours and Eating Attitudes in Schoolgirls from Trinidad and Barbados

We investigated eating attitudes and the prevalence of bulimic disorders in a group of 362 schoolgirls from the islands of Trinidad and Barbados using key questions from the Bulimia Investigatory Test, Edinburgh (BITE) and additional questions for the exploration of eating attitudes and dieting practices. A random sample of 92 girls were interviewed using the DSM-III-R Bulimia Diagnostic Interview. Only three subjects (0.8%) scored over the cut-off point on the BITE. None of the interviewees was diagnosed as having bulimia nervosa. Two hundred and forty-five girls (67.7%) reported being terrified of becoming fat and fat-fear was associated with higher Body Mass Index, dieting and exercising for losing weight. Girls of African origin were found to have a more unusual eating pattern and more concerns about their eating habits. The prevalence of bulimic disorders in Caribbean schoolgirls is still very low, but they are a population at increasing risk since they share the western ideals of slimness and engage in dieting behaviours.
Combined fetal inflammation and postnatal hypoxia causes myelin deficits and autism‐like behavior in a rat model of diffuse white matter injury

Diffuse white matter injury (WMI) is a serious problem in extremely preterm infants, and is associated with adverse neurodevelopmental outcome, including cognitive impairments and an increased risk of autism‐spectrum disorders. Important risk factors include fetal or perinatal inflammatory insults and fluctuating cerebral oxygenation. However, the exact mechanisms underlying diffuse WMI are not fully understood and no treatment options are currently available. The use of clinically relevant animal models is crucial to advance knowledge on the pathophysiology of diffuse WMI, allowing the definition of novel therapeutic targets. In the present study, we developed a multiple‐hit animal model of diffuse WMI by combining fetal inflammation and postnatal hypoxia in rats. We characterized the effects on white matter development and functional outcome by immunohistochemistry, MRI and behavioral paradigms. Combined fetal inflammation and postnatal hypoxia resulted in delayed cortical myelination, microglia activation and astrogliosis at P18, together with long‐term changes in oligodendrocyte maturation as observed in 10 week old animals. Furthermore, rats with WMI showed impaired motor performance, increased anxiety and signs of autism‐like behavior, i.e. reduced social play behavior and increased repetitive grooming. In conclusion, the combination of fetal inflammation and postnatal hypoxia in rats induces a pattern of brain injury and functional impairments that closely resembles the clinical situation of diffuse WMI. This animal model provides the opportunity to elucidate pathophysiological mechanisms underlying WMI, and can be used to develop novel treatment options for diffuse WMI in preterm infants.
Substrate Chemistry and Rainfall Regime Regulate Elemental Composition of Tree Leaves in Karst Forests

Forests on calcareous substrates constitute a large fraction of the vegetation in Puerto Rico. Plant growth on these substrates may be affected by nutrient deficiencies, mainly P and Fe, resulting from high pH and formation of insoluble compounds of these elements. The occurrence of these forests in humid and dry areas provides an opportunity to compare nutrient relations, water use efficiency, and N dynamics, using biogeochemical parameters. We selected sites under humid climate in the north, and dry climate in the southwest of Puerto Rico. Adult, healthy leaves of species with high importance values were collected at each site and analyzed for their elemental composition and the natural abundance of C and N isotopes. Calcium was the dominant cation in leaf tissues, explaining over 70% of the ash content variation, and Al and Ca concentration were positively correlated, excepting only two Al-accumulating species. Karst vegetation consistently showed high N/P ratios comparable to forests on P-poor soils. Dry karst sites had significantly higher δ13C and δ15N ratios. We conclude that forests on karst are mainly limited by P availability, and that mechanisms of nutrient uptake in the rhizosphere lead to linear correlations in the uptake of Ca and Al. Isotope ratios indicate higher water use efficiency, and predominant denitrification in dry karst forest sites.
Carbon-Nanotube Loaded Antenna-Based Ammonia Gas Sensor

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have been researched extensively for gas-sensing applications due to their unique electrical, chemical, and structural properties. Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) have been predominantly used due to their superior electrical conductivity and higher sensitivity relative to multiwalled CNTs. This paper presents the design and characterization of a novel planar sensor fabricated on paper substrate to detect small concentrations of ammonia gas, using the shift in resonance frequency of a patch antenna as the discriminator. We have investigated three main design issues in depth. First, functionalization of the SWNTs with a polymer is studied in order to enhance the gas detection sensitivity. Second, a thin film of the functionalized SWNT is characterized to create a surface impedance model for the explanation and prediction of the resonance shift due to different gas concentrations. Finally, as a proof of concept, functionalized SWNTs are integrated into a patch antenna design and the return loss is measured in a closed-system environment to show high sensitivity for low concentrations of ammonia gas. The proposed antenna-based wireless gas sensor can be utilized in several applications, given its small form factor, light weight, and little to no power requirements.
U-type exchange is the most frequent mechanism for inverted duplication with terminal deletion rearrangements

Background: Chromosomal rearrangements resulting in an interstitial inverted duplication with concomitant terminal deletion were first described for the short arm of chromosome 8 in 1976. Since then, this type of alteration has been identified and characterised for most chromosome arms. Three mechanisms are commonly proposed to explain the origin of this type of rearrangement. All three mechanisms involve formation of a dicentric chromosome that then breaks in a subsequent meiotic division to produce a monocentric duplicated and deleted chromosome. However, the events leading to the formation of the dicentric chromosome differ between the mechanisms. In one mechanism, either parent carries a paracentric inversion. This results in formation of a loop during meiotic pairing with a recombination event occurring in the loop. In the second mechanism, inverted low copy repeats in the same chromosome arm allow partial folding of one homologue onto itself with a recombination event between the inverted repeats. The third mechanism involves a pre-meiotic double-strand break with subsequent fusion, or U-type exchange, between the sister chromatids. The first two mechanisms require a single copy region to exist between the duplicated and deleted regions on the derivative chromosome, and therefore high resolution analysis of the rearrangement can be used to distinguish between these mechanisms. Methods and results: Using G-banded chromosome analysis, fluorescence in situ hybridisation (FISH) and array comparative genomic hybridisation (CGH), we describe 17 new cases of inverted duplication with terminal deletion of 2q, 4p, 5p, 6q, 8p, 9p, 10q, 13q, 15q, 18p, 18q, and 22q. Conclusions: These new cases, combined with previously described cases, demonstrate that U-type exchange is the most frequent mechanism for this rearrangement and can be observed on most, or perhaps all, chromosome arms.