Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
MECHANISMS OF REPRODUCTIVE ISOLATION AMONG SYMPATRIC BROADCAST-SPAWNING CORALS OF THE MONTASTRAEA ANNULARIS SPECIES COMPLEX

Abstract Many coral species spawn simultaneously and have compatible gametes, leading to controversy over the nature of species boundaries and the frequency with which hybridization occurs. Three western Atlantic corals, Montastraea annularis, M. faveolata, and M. franksi, typify this controversy; they all spawn sympatrically on the same evenings after the fall full moons. Here we show, in both Panama and the Bahamas for multiple years, how a variety of mechanisms may act in concert to reproductively isolate all three species. Field studies indicate that M. franksi spawns two hours earlier than the other two species, and the eggs released during this earlier period disperse an average of 500 m by the time the other species spawn. Field measures of fertilization indicate that peak fertilization occurs when spawning synchrony is high and that corals that spawn at the tails of the spawning distributions have greatly reduced fertilization success. Laboratory studies indicate that there is a gametic incompatibility between M. faveolata and the other two species. There are regional differences in the gametic compatibility of M. franksi and M. annularis. In Panama, the two species are completely compatible, whereas in the Bahamas, M. franksi sperm can fertilize M. annularis eggs but the reciprocal cross often fails. Gamete age influences patterns of fertilization, such that very young eggs seem resistant to fertilization and old sperm lose viability after two hours. In sum, the combination of temporal differences in spawning, sperm aging, gamete dispersal and dilution, and gametic incompatibility act in various combinations among the three species, making it unlikely that hybrid fertilization would occur.
Identifying bacterial genes and endosymbiont DNA with Glimmer

MOTIVATION The Glimmer gene-finding software has been successfully used for finding genes in bacteria, archaea and viruses representing hundreds of species. We describe several major changes to the Glimmer system, including improved methods for identifying both coding regions and start codons. We also describe a new module of Glimmer that can distinguish host and endosymbiont DNA. This module was developed in response to the discovery that eukaryotic genome sequencing projects sometimes inadvertently capture the DNA of intracellular bacteria living in the host. RESULTS The new methods dramatically reduce the rate of false-positive predictions, while maintaining Glimmer's 99% sensitivity rate at detecting genes in most species, and they find substantially more correct start sites, as measured by comparisons to known and well-curated genes. We show that our interpolated Markov model (IMM) DNA discriminator correctly separated 99% of the sequences in a recent genome project that produced a mixture of sequences from the bacterium Prochloron didemni and its sea squirt host, Lissoclinum patella. AVAILABILITY Glimmer is OSI Certified Open Source and available at http://cbcb.umd. edu/software/glimmer.
CREEP AND SHRINKAGE OF HIGH-PERFORMANCE LIGHTWEIGHT CONCRETE

Two high-performance lightweight concrete (HPLC) mixtures with average compressive strengths of 68.5 and 75.4 MPa (9950 and 10,950 psi) were developed. Their air-dry unit weights were 1875 and 1905 kg/cubic m, respectively. 26 creep specimens were loaded at 16 or 24 hrs to 40 or 60% of their initial strength. This preliminary investigation showed that expanded slate HPLC experienced less creep, but slightly more shrinkage than normalweight HPC of similar paste content, mixture proportions, and strength. The 620-day creep coefficients of the 68.5 and 75.4 MPa (9950 and 10,950 psi) HPLC were 1.66 and 1.29, respectively. Creep and shrinkage were compared with estimates from 12 models.
Hereditary Colorectal Cancer in the Gastroenterology Clinic: How Common Are At‐Risk Patients and How Do We Find Them?

Colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer deaths in the United States in both men and women and is thus a major public health problem. The American Cancer Society estimated that in 2007, approximately 153,760 people in the United States were diagnosed with colorectal cancer and about 52,180 died of the disease. Colorectal cancer is largely preventable, however, and often curable when detected early. About 80% of people with colorectal cancer seem to have sporadic disease with no evidence of inheriting the disorder, and the remaining 20% have a familial or hereditary risk. Identifying those with heritable cancers is best accomplished through a detailed family history, easily obtained by a trained nurse. With a detailed family history, risk can be assessed and further screening via colonoscopy or genetic testing may be undertaken. Unfortunately, to date, there is no universally accepted method to collect family health histories to determine the risk of hereditary colorectal cancer. This study field tested two different intake tools that collect personal and family history information for (1) evaluating their effectiveness in identifying patients at risk for hereditary colorectal cancer in a gastroenterology center; (2) determining patient, nurse, and physician satisfaction with each tool; and (3) assessing the prevalence of patients at risk for hereditary colorectal cancer in a gastroenterology center. A purposive sample of six gastroenterology practices across the United States was utilized. Eligible subjects included all patients seen in those practices over a 2-month time frame. Each intake tool was administered over a 4-week time frame. Satisfaction questionnaires were given to a random selection of subjects, as well as involved nurses and providers at each site. Overall prevalence of those at risk for hereditary colorectal cancer was 26% for all sites, ranging from 11%-39% across sites and tools. This study is significant because it revealed a fairly high percentage of people at risk for hereditary colorectal cancer and showed how an initial risk assessment can be easily done by professional nurses and other healthcare providers who are in a unique position to help reduce the incidence and mortality from colorectal cancer.
Application of Photoshop-based Image Analysis to Quantification of Hormone Receptor Expression in Breast Cancer

The benefit of quantifying estrogen receptor (ER) and progesterone receptor (PR) expression in breast cancer is well established. However, in routine breast cancer diagnosis, receptor expression is often quantified in arbitrary scores with high inter- and intraobserver variability. In this study we tested the validity of an image analysis system employing inexpensive, commercially available computer software on a personal computer. In a series of 28 invasive ductal breast cancers, immunohistochemical determinations of ER and PR were performed, along with biochemical analyses on fresh tumor homogenates, by the dextran-coated charcoal technique (DCC) and by enzyme immunoassay (EIA). From each immunohistochemical slide, three representative tumor fields (x20 objective) were captured and digitized with a Macintosh personal computer. Using the tools of Photoshop software, optical density plots of tumor cell nuclei were generated and, after background subtraction, were used as an index of immunostaining intensity. This immunostaining index showed a strong semilogarithmic correlation with biochemical receptor assessments of ER (DCC, r = 0.70, p >0.001; EIA, r = 0.76, p >0.001) and even better of PR (DCC, r = 0.86; p >0.01; EIA, r = 0.80, p >0.001). A strong linear correlation of ER and PR quantification was also seen between DCC and EIA techniques (ER, r = 0.62, p >0.001; PR, r = 0.92, p >0.001). This study demonstrates that a simple, inexpensive, commercially available software program can be accurately applied to the quantification of immunohistochemical hormone receptor studies. (J Histochem Cytochem 45:1559–1565, 1997)
Preliminary results of a randomized, equivalence trial of fluoroscopic caudal epidural injections in managing chronic low back pain: Part 3--Post surgery syndrome.

BACKGROUND Post surgery syndrome resulting in persistent pain following lumbar spine surgery is common. Speculated causes of post lumbar surgery syndrome include stenosis, degeneration of adjacent segments, internal disc disruption, recurrent disc herniation, retained disc fragment, epidural or intraneural fibrosis, radiculopathy, and various other causes. Epidural injections are most commonly used in post surgery syndrome. There is lack of evidence for the effectiveness of epidural injections in managing chronic low back pain with or without lower extremity pain secondary to post surgery syndrome. STUDY DESIGN A randomized, double-blind, equivalence trial. SETTING An interventional pain management practice, a specialty referral center, a private practice setting in the United States. OBJECTIVES To evaluate the effectiveness of caudal epidural injections in patients with chronic low back and lower extremity pain after surgical intervention with post lumbar surgery syndrome. METHODS Patients were randomly assigned to one of 2 groups; Group I patients received caudal epidural injections with local anesthetic (lidocaine 0.5%), whereas Group II patients received caudal epidural injections with 0.5% lidocaine 9 mL mixed with 1 mL of 6 mg non-particulate Celestone. Randomization was performed by computer-generated random allocation sequence by simple randomization. OUTCOMES ASSESSMENT Multiple outcome measures were utilized which included the Numeric Rating Scale (NRS), the Oswestry Disability Index 2.0 (ODI), employment status, and opioid intake with assessment at 3 months, 6 months, and 12 months post-treatment. Significant pain relief was described as 50% or more, whereas significant improvement in the disability score was defined as a reduction of 40% or more. RESULTS Significant pain relief (> or =50%) was recorded in 60% to 70% of the patients with no significant differences noted with or without steroid over a period of one-year. In addition, functional assessment measured by the ODI also showed significant improvement with at least 40% reduction in Oswestry scores in 40% to 55% of the patients. The average procedures per year were 3.4 with an average total relief per year of 31.7 +/- 19.10 weeks in Group I and 26.2 +/- 18.34 weeks in Group II over a period of 52 weeks. LIMITATIONS The results of this study are limited by the lack of a placebo group and the preliminary report size of only 20 patients in each group. CONCLUSION Caudal epidural injections in chronic function-limiting low back pain in post surgery syndrome without facet joint pain demonstrated effectiveness with over 55% of the patients showing improvement in functional status with significant pain relief in 60% to 70%.
Improving instruction supply efficiency in superscalar architectures using instruction trace buffers

‘lMs paper addresses the problem of efkknt instruction supply in superscalar architectures. The presence of branch instructions introduces two types of overhead on insuuuion supply efficiency, namely the delay requited toreaolve branch decisions and the fetch penalty due to poor wde alignment. The former can be reduced by conventional branch prediction techniques. The latter, however, has not been well addremd in past research. We propose the instruction trace buffer technique to alleviate the alignment problem. An instruction trace buffer is an aggressive extension of the conventional loop buffer technique. It caches recent instruction traces in a circular buffer to predict branch behavior as well as to improve wde alignment. This approach relies on the fau that dynamic branch behavior is stable in most cases. Application tram m collected to verify this assumption and to evaluate our scheme. The result indicates that instruction trace buffers lead to substantial improvement on instruction supply efficiency for numerical applications. For these applications new perfect (99%) efficiency is achieved without imposing undue demand on the instruction memory bandwidth, which is essential in other hardware based alignment techniques.
Pleuroparenchymal fibroelastosis: report of two cases in Brazil

ABSTRACT Pleuroparenchymal fibroelastosis (PPFE) is a rare lung disease. It can be idiopathic or associated with any one of various conditions. To our knowledge, this is the first report of two cases of PPFE in Brazil. Our first patient presented with pleural and subpleural fibrosis in the upper lobes; a spiculated nodule in the left upper lobe; and a mild reticular pattern in the lower lobes. Surgical lung biopsy revealed PPFE in the upper lobes, including the nodule, and unclassified interstitial pneumonia in the left lower lobe. Our second patient had a history of exposure to domestic birds, indicating a risk of hypersensitivity pneumonitis, and presented with advanced lung disease, predominantly in the upper lobes, together with subpleural fibrosis.That patient underwent lung transplantation. In the explant specimen, PPFE and granulomas were identified, suggesting hypersensitivity pneumonitis as an associated cause.
Control Synthesis of Continuous-Time T-S Fuzzy Systems With Local Nonlinear Models

This paper is concerned with the problem of designing fuzzy controllers for a class of nonlinear dynamic systems. The considered nonlinear systems are described by T-S fuzzy models with nonlinear local models, and the fuzzy models have fewer fuzzy rules than conventional T-S fuzzy models with local linear models. A new fuzzy control scheme with local nonlinear feedbacks is proposed, and the corresponding control synthesis conditions are given in terms of solutions to a set of linear matrix inequalities (LMIs). In contrast to the existing methods for fuzzy control synthesis, the new proposed control design method is based on fewer fuzzy rules and less computational burden. Moreover, the local nonlinear feedback laws in the new fuzzy controllers are also helpful in achieving good control effects. Numerical examples are given to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.
Mast cell chymase contributes to the antibody response and the severity of autoimmune arthritis

Mast cells are implicated in rheumatoid arthritis, but the mechanism by which they contribute to disease progression is not clarified. Here we investigated whether mouse mast cell protease‐4 (mMCP‐4), a chymase present in the mast cell secretory granule, contributes to experimental arthritis. Two models of arthritis were investigated in mMCP‐4+/+ and mMCP‐4−/− DBA/1 mice: collagen‐induced arthritis (CIA) was induced by immunization with collagen II (CII) in Freund's complete adjuvant, and a passive model of arthritis was induced by administration of anti‐CII antibodies. The clinical scores were significantly reduced in the mMCP‐4−/− animals as compared to mMCP‐4+/+ controls in both arthritis models. In CIA, the number of affected paws was lower in the CII‐immunized mMCP‐4−/− mice, with less cartilage destruction, pannus formation, and mononuclear cell and mast cell influx in the mMCP‐4 −/− joints. Interestingly, the lower clinical scores in the CII‐immunized mMCP‐4−/− mice coincided with lower serum levels of immunoglobulin G anti‐CII antibodies. Our findings identify a pathogenic role of mMCP‐4 in autoimmune arthritis. — Magnusson, S. E. , Pejler, G. , Kleinau, S. , Åbrink, M. Mast cell chymase contributes to the antibody response and the severity of autoimmune arthritis. FASEB J. 23, 875–882 (2009)
The effects of passive warming on muscle injury

This study investigated the effects of passive warming on the biomechanical properties of the musculotendi nous unit. Paired tibialis anterior (TA) and extensor digitorum longus (EDL) muscles in the rabbit hindlimb were passively heated to different temperatures and then subjected to controlled strain injury. The parame ters examined were: 1) percent increase in length to failure, 2) force to failure, 3) energy absorbed by the musculotendinous unit to failure, and 4) site of failure. Warmed (39°C ± 0.5°C) TA (P ≤ 0.01) and EDL (P ≤ 0.05) muscles achieved a greater increase in length from rest before failing than did their contralateral con trols at 35°C ± 0.5°C. In both the TA and EDL the force at failure was greater at 35°C than at 39°C, although the difference was significant for only the EDL (P ≤ 0.05). The energy absorbed (area beneath the length-tension curve) by both the TA and EDL was greater at 39°C, but these differences were not signif icant. All muscles failed at the distal musculotendinous junction. These data suggest that passive warming increases the extensibility of the musculotendinous unit and may thereby reduce its susceptibility to strain in jury.
Physical chemistry of protoplanetary discs

This thesis presents a new assessment of the physical and chemical properties of crystalline grains widely observed in protoplanetary discs and in chondrite meteorites. We present new insights on the possible mechanisms that produced the observed crystalline grain distribution in protoplanetary discs and the bulk material which likely formed chondrites and the planets in our Solar System. We begin by presenting a comprehensive investigation of the thermodynamic behaviour of several astrophysically interesting crystalline phases, such as olivine and pyroxenes, as well as high refractory compounds and sulfides. Laboratory experiments show that the behaviour of most of these species deviate from the ideal with decreasing the temperature. Thus we introduce the regular solution model which we find to be a better approximation of the phases’ behaviour especially outside the high temperature region, compared with the ideal solution model, which is widely used in astrophysics. An interesting new result is in the derived sequence of forsterite-enstatite-forsterite with lowering temperature, which differs from previous thermodynamic equilibrium calculations that show a sequence of forsterite-enstatite. Our 1D condensation sequence matches infrared observations of protoplanetary disc surfaces with increasing distance from the central star. Next we focus on the effect of the initial composition of the gas mixture, the role of water vapour in the condensation of dust, and the effect of increasing the carbon-to-oxygen ratio, C/O. All the calculations are made using the regular solution model to describe the behaviour of the considered phases. We find that high refractory compounds, widely present in the Calcium Aluminium inclusions (CAIs) in carbonaceous chondrites, need water vapour to form. While previous experimental studies of the formation of CAIs were only conducted in “dry” environments, our new results suggest that, with lowering the temperature, the oxygen form the water vapour was incorporated in the condensing CAIs material. If the phases that comprise the CAIs can be experimentally reproduced in a water vapour-rich environment supporting our theoretical prediction, this result raises several new questions such as the contribution of the water vapour in the oxygen isotope content found in CAIs, the efficiency of isotopes mixing processes in the disc, and potentially helps in determining the location in which CAIs formed. Furthermore, if corundum grains, observed in “dry” condition experiments, are not reproduced in a water vapour-rich experiment at high disc pressures (P ≥ 10−3 bar), then it may be possible to further narrow down the location where these rarely observed crystals might have formed, likely lower pressure and water vapour-poor environments. The main silicates, enstatite and forsterite,
Distributed under Creative Commons Cc-by 4.0 Jumping Performance in the Highly Aquatic Frog, Xenopus Tropicalis: Sex-specific Relationships between Morphology and Performance

Frogs are characterized by a morphology that has been suggested to be related to their unique jumping specialization. Yet, the functional demands associated with jumping and swimming may not be that different as suggested by studies with semi-aquatic frogs. Here, we explore whether features previously identified as indicative of good burst swimming performance also predict jumping performance in a highly aquatic frog, Xenopus tropicalis. Moreover, we test whether the morphological determinants of jumping performance are similar in the two sexes and whether jumping performance differs in the two sexes. Finally we test whether jumping capacity is positively associated with burst swimming and terrestrial endurance capacity in both sexes. Our results show sex-specific differences in jumping performance when correcting for differences in body size. Moreover, the features determining jumping performance are different in the two sexes. Finally, the relationships between different performance traits are sex-dependent as well with females, but not males, showing a trade-off between peak jumping force and the time jumped to exhaustion. This suggests that different selective pressures operate on the two sexes, with females being subjected to constraints on locomotion due to their greater body mass and investment in reproductive capacity. In contrast, males appear to invest more in locomotor capacity giving them higher performance for a given body size compared to females.
PART OF A SPECIAL ISSUE ON POLLINATOR-DRIVEN SPECIATION Matching floral and pollinator traits through guild convergence and pollinator ecotype formation

†BackgroundandAims Pollinator landscapes, as determined by pollinator morphology/behaviour, can vary inter- or intraspecifically, imposing divergent selective pressures and leading to geographically divergent floral ecotypes. Assemblages of plants pollinated by the same pollinator ( pollinator guilds) should exhibit convergence of floral traits because they are exposed to similar selective pressures. Both convergence and the formation of pollination ecotypes should lead to matching of traits among plants and their pollinators. †Methods We examined 17 floral guild members pollinated in all or part of their range byProsoecalongipennis, a longproboscid fly with geographic variation in tongue length. Attractive floral traits such as colour, and nectar properties were recorded in populations across the range of each species. The length of floral reproductive parts, a mechanical fit trait, was recorded in each population to assess possible correlation with the mouthparts of the local pollinator. A multiple regression analysis was used to determine whether pollinators or abiotic factors provided the best explanation for variation in floral traits, and pollinator shifts were recorded in extralimital guild member populations. †Key Results Nine of the 17 species were visited by alternative pollinator species in other parts of their ranges, and these displayed differences in mechanical fit and attractive traits, suggesting putative pollination ecotypes. Plants pollinated byP.longipennis were similar in colour throughout the pollinator range. Tube length of floral guild members co-varied with the proboscis length of P. longipennis. †Conclusions Pollinator shifts have resulted in geographically divergent pollinator ecotypes across the ranges of several guild members. However, within sites, unrelated plants pollinated by P. longipennis are similar in the length of their floral parts, most probably as a result of convergent evolution in response to pollinator morphology. Both of these lines of evidence suggest that pollinators play an important role in selecting for certain floral traits.