Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Spatial and temporal variability in stream sediment loads using examples from the Gros Ventre Range, Wyoming, USA

Sediment transport rates (dissolved, suspended, and bedload) measured over the course of several years are reported for two streams in the Gros Ventre Mountain range in western Wyoming, USA: Little Granite and Cache Creeks. Both streams drain watersheds that are in relatively pristine environments. The sites are about 20 km apart, have runoff dominated by snowmelt and are underlain by a similar geological setting, suggesting that sediment supply and rates of transport in the two watersheds may be comparable. Yet, estimated sediment yields for the two sites appear substantially different. On average, sediment load per unit watershed area was about 40% greater at Little Granite Creek than Cache Creek, with larger differences during wetter years. Moreover, while there were differences for all components of the sediment load, suspended, and bedload fractions showed the most noteworthy contrast where nearly three times more material was exported from Little Granite Creek on an annual basis. Speculatively, this is attributed to contributions of sediment from several chronic sources in the Little Granite Creek watershed. Similar to other studies of sediment transport in gravel-bed streams, the range of measured bedload and suspended sediment in this study were quite variable. An assessment of annual differences in the 13 years of bedload record for Little Granite Creek indicated that variability could not be ascribed to between-year differences. Instead, the data appear to represent the same population of highly variable transport rates. However, the inability to distinguish between years could be due to the infrequency with which data were collected each year. Seasonal variability was evident in the suspended sediment record of Little Granite Creek where there were higher rates on the rising limb of the snowmelt hydrograph, indicative of a flushing of sediment with the onset of snowmelt. Baseline data on rates of sediment transport provide useful information on the inherent variability of stream processes and may be used to assess departure due to natural or anthropogenic disturbances. In August 2000, wildfire burned portions of E-mail addresses: sryanburkett@fs.fed. us (S.E. Ryan) ISSN: 0928-2025 DOI: 10.1016/S0928-2025(07)11134-2 S. E. Ryan, M. K. Dixon 388 the Little Granite Creek watershed, presenting an opportunity to quantify increases in sediment loads associated with large-scale disturbance. The results of 3 years of postfire monitoring showed substantial increases in suspended sediment transport on the rising limb of the snowmelt hydrograph and during several summer thunderstorms. Suspended sediment yields calculated for the post-fire years were higher for the first year and have decreased over time, indicating a return to baseline levels within a few years following the wildfire. In contrast, there were no detectable increases in the rate of bedload transport over the pre-burn values suggesting differences in the rapidity with which the two sediment components respond to disturbance.
Chimeric rabies glycoprotein with a transmembrane domain and cytoplasmic tail from Newcastle disease virus fusion protein incorporates into the Newcastle disease virion at reduced levels

Rabies remains an important worldwide health problem. Newcastle disease virus (NDV) was developed as a vaccine vector in animals by using a reverse genetics approach. Previously, our group generated a recombinant NDV (LaSota strain) expressing the complete rabies virus G protein (RVG), named rL-RVG. In this study, we constructed the variant rL-RVGTM, which expresses a chimeric rabies virus G protein (RVGTM) containing the ectodomain of RVG and the transmembrane domain (TM) and a cytoplasmic tail (CT) from the NDV fusion glycoprotein to study the function of RVG's TM and CT. The RVGTM did not detectably incorporate into NDV virions, though it was abundantly expressed at the surface of infected BHK-21 cells. Both rL-RVG and rL-RVGTM induced similar levels of NDV virus-neutralizing antibody (VNA) after initial and secondary vaccination in mice, whereas rabies VNA induction by rL-RVGTM was markedly lower than that induced by rL-RVG. Though rL-RVG could spread from cell to cell like that in rabies virus, rL-RVGTM lost this ability and spread in a manner similar to the parental NDV. Our data suggest that the TM and CT of RVG are essential for its incorporation into NDV virions and for spreading of the recombinant virus from the initially infected cells to surrounding cells.
The Risk of Human Papillomavirus Infection for Spontaneous Abortion, Spontaneous Preterm Birth, and Pregnancy Rate of Assisted Reproductive Technologies: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Aims: To estimate the impact of human papillomavirus (HPV) infection on spontaneous abortion, spontaneous preterm birth (sPTB), pregnancy rate of females undergoing assisted reproductive technologies (ART), and spontaneous abortion of ART pregnancy. Methods: PubMed, Medline, Embase, and the Cochrane Library were searched until December 16, 2016. The OR or relative risk (RR) with its corresponding 95% CI were selected as effect size. Subgroup analysis of HPV genotype infection (high-risk HPV [HR-HPV] or indiscriminate genotype) was performed. Statistical analysis was conducted using STATA 12.0. Results: Eighteen studies were included. Eight studies revealed no significant association between HPV infection and spontaneous abortion (OR 1.40, 95% CI 0.56–3.50). However, subgroup analysis showed indiscriminate genotype HPV infection increased the ratio of spontaneous abortion with OR of 2.24 (95% CI 1.37–3.65), while HR-HPV infection had no significant effect (OR 0.65, 95% CI 0.21–1.98). The results indicated that HR-HPV infection was a risk for sPTB with a pooled OR of 2.84 (95% CI 1.95–4.14). HPV infection was found to be independent of the ART-based clinical pregnancy rate (RR 1.04, 95% CI 0.64–1.70) and spontaneous abortion of ART pregnancy (RR 1.47, 95% CI 0.86–2.50). Conclusions: Indiscriminate HPV genotype infection can increase the risk of spontaneous abortion and HR-HPV infection was a risk factor for sPTB. However, there was not enough evidence to indicate the association between HPV infection and pregnancy rate of ART, and spontaneous abortion of ART pregnancy. Different genotypes of HPV infection may play a discrepant role in adverse pregnancy outcomes.
Is the European Industry Moving toward Solving Requirements Engineering Problems?

This article gives an informal overview of the situation of European companies regarding requirements engineering. It reviews what progress the industry has made with respect to the requirements-related problems identified years ago and calls attention to the gap between RE practice and the solutions provided by research. The authors aim to determine whether the same problems still exist today, even though potential solutions have been provided in the literature for some time.
Laboratory surveillance of arboviral infections in a southern France region colonized by Aedes albopictus

SUMMARY The establishment of Aedes albopictus in southern France, a recognized competent vector for several arboviruses, represents a new threat for the local transmission and spread of what were until recently considered as tropical diseases. A preparedness and response plan, based on vigilance of both clinicians and laboratories, has introduced significant changes in guidelines and behaviour regarding patients’ care specifically during the activity period of mosquitoes. In the present study, we report the results of a 1-year activity in arboviral infection diagnosis. A total of 141 patients were included in this retrospective study. The number of suspected imported and autochthonous cases was 69 and 72, respectively. A diagnosis of arboviral infection was confirmed for 15 (21·7%) suspected imported cases, with identification of 13 dengue viruses, one chikungunya virus and one Zika virus. No autochthonous cases were detected. This report illustrates the increase in requests for arboviral infection diagnosis and confirms the challenge with identifying autochthonous arboviral infection cases in many unspecific febrile syndromes.
Subjective health complaints and exposure to peer victimization among disabled and non-disabled adolescents: A population-based study in Sweden

Aims: To investigate subjective health complaints (SHCs) (psychological and somatic, respectively) among disabled and non-disabled adolescents, focusing on the impact of traditional bullying and cyber harassment, and furthermore to report psychological and somatic SHCs across different types of disability. Methods: Data from the public health survey of children and adolescents in Scania, Sweden, 2012 was used. A questionnaire was answered anonymously in school by 9791 students in the 9th grade (response rate 83%), and 7533 of these with valid answers on key questions were included in this study. Associations with daily SHCs were investigated by multi-adjusted logistic regression analyses. Results: Any disability was reported by 24.1% of boys and 22.0% of girls. Disabled students were more exposed to cyber harassment (boys: 20.0%; girls: 28.2%) than non-disabled peers (boys: 11.8%; girls: 18.1%). Exposure to traditional bullying showed the same pattern but with a lower prevalence. Disabled students had around doubled odds of both daily psychological SHCs and daily somatic SHCs in the fully adjusted models. In general, the odds increased with exposure to cyber harassment or traditional bullying and the highest odds were seen among disabled students exposed to both cyber harassment and traditional bullying. Students with ADHD/ADD had the highest odds of daily psychological SHCs as well as exposure to traditional bullying across six disability types. Conclusions: Disabled adolescents report poorer health and are more exposed to both traditional bullying and cyber harassment. This public health issue needs more attention in schools and in society in general.
Brazilian Maize Landraces Silks as Source of Lutein: An Important Carotenoid in the Prevention of Age-Related Macular Degeneration

The carotenoid composition of the silk tissue of Zea mays (L.) has not been investigated despite its large occurrence in maize grains. For the purpose of evaluating maize silk as a source of carotenoids, samples from eight landraces developed and cultivated in Southern Brazil were assayed. The silk samples were harvested from individual plants through the fourth and seventh day after they emerged, frozen in liquid N2, and lyophilized. The carotenoids were extracted with a MeOH/toluene solution (1:1, v/v), 30 min, and saponified (15% KOH, 12 h, 40℃). The RP-HPLC-UV-visible analysis revealed lutein as the main carotenoid (88.75%) in maize silks, with a wide range of contents (dry weight), i.e. 39.11 ? g? g-1 (Palha Roxa 18) to 176.12 ? g? g-1 (Lingua de Papagaio) among the studied genotypes. Smaller amounts of trans-β-carotene, α-carotene, and zeaxanthin were also detected. The results revealed that in parallel to the claimed high genetic variability of maize landraces, a quite variable carotenoidic composition of silk tissue seems to occur in the germoplasm cultivated in Southern Brazil. Taking into account the usage of lutein for the prevention of several pathologies, especially the age related macular degeneration, some maize landraces (e.g. Lingua de Papagaio and Rosado) might be interesting sources of a lutein-rich extract that could add value to an underutilized biomass.
Prevalence and etiology of mastitis in dairy cattle in El Oro Province, Ecuador

This study described the occurrence of clinical and subclinical forms of mastitis in 250 cattle from 5 dairy farms around the cities of Santa Rosa and Machala, El Oro Province, Ecuador. Clinical mastitis (CM) was determined based on obvious changes in milk (mild), signs of inflammation in the udder (moderate), and/or generalized clinical symptoms (severe). Subclinical mastitis (SCM) was assessed using the California mastitis test. CM and SCM were detected in 30 (12.0%) and 150 (60%) of the 250 tested cattle, respectively. Prevalence at the udder quarter level was 57.7% (577/1,000), which was higher among forequarters (369/577; 63.9%) than hindquarters. Of the 577 mastitic milk samples subjected to microbiological analysis, 35 were excluded due to contamination and 20 tested negative. Identification of bacterial isolates revealed that 33.3% of the 93 CM samples contained coliforms, 25.8% coagulase-positive staphylococci, 20.4% coagulase-negative staphylococci (CNS), 9.7% streptococci, 7.5% Bacillus spp. , and 3.2% Klebsiella spp. Bacterial profiling of the 429 SCM milk samples showed that 55.4% contained CNS, 22.1% Bacillus spp. , 9.3% streptococci, and 6.1% coagulase-positive staphylococci. In vitro antibiotic susceptibility testing of the obtained isolates indicated that all were susceptible to amoxicillin, ampicillin, cefotaxime, enrofloxacin, sulfamethoxazole-trimethoprim, gentamicin, and neomycin. No multidrug-resistant strains were observed.
Preteens Talking to Parents: Perceived Communication and School-Based Aggression

In order to combat escalating aggression and violence in schools, it is important to understand the relationship between intrafamilial communication and aggressive behaviors. In this study, the authors examined the link between preadolescents’ perceptions of parentchild communication and their levels of school-based aggressive behavior. The results indicate that perceived effective communication was highest for mother-girl dyads, followed in order by mother-boy, father-boy, and father-girl dyads. Second, no difference between preadolescents’levels of aggressive behaviors in school on the basis of gender of child was found. Finally, the results indicated that preadolescents’ perceptions of effective parent-child communication were negatively correlated with school-based aggression. Implications for prevention and intervention strategies are discussed.
Distress, omnipotence, and responsibility beliefs in command hallucinations

OBJECTIVES Command hallucinations are considered to be one of the most distressing and disturbing symptoms of schizophrenia. Building on earlier studies, we compare key attributes in the symptomatic, affective, and cognitive profiles of people diagnosed with schizophrenia and hearing voices that do (n = 77) or do not (n = 74) give commands. METHODS The study employed a cross-sectional design, in which we assessed voice severity, distress and control (PSYRATs), anxiety and depression (HADS), beliefs about voices (BAVQ-R), and responsibility beliefs (RIQ). Clinical and demographic variables were also collected. RESULTS Command hallucinations were found to be more distressing and controlling, perceived as more omnipotent and malevolent, linked to higher anxiety and depression, and resisted more than hallucinations without commands. Commanding voices were also associated with higher conviction ratings for being personally responsible for preventing harm. CONCLUSIONS The findings suggest key differences in the affective and cognitive profiles of people who hear commanding voices, which have important implications for theory and psychological interventions. PRACTITIONER POINTS Command hallucinations are associated with higher distress, malevolence, and omnipotence. Command hallucinations are associated with higher responsibility beliefs for preventing harm. Responsibility beliefs are associated with voice-related distress. Future psychological interventions for command hallucinations might benefit from focussing not only on omnipotence, but also on responsibility beliefs, as is done in psychological therapies for obsessive compulsive disorder. Limitations The cross-sectional design does not assess issues of causality. We did not measure the presence or severity of delusions.
Nutritional status among children aged 24-59 months in rural Bangladesh: An assessment measured by BMI index

This study employs statistical methods to identify the factors associated with nutritional status among children aged 24-59 months in rural Bangladesh. Bangladesh Demographic Health Survey data 2004 (N=652) were used for this study. Child’s nutritional status was defined in terms of Body Mass Index (BMI\wt in kg/ht in m2). Descriptive and multivariate logistic regression methods were employed in analyzing the data. It was observed that that girl children’s were more under weighted than the boys. This study elucidates that although maximum numbers of children (both boys and girls) aged 24-59 months have healthy weight a large portion of them were under weighted . Bivariate analysis shows that mothers who gave last birth in their middle age group (20-30 years) have more healthy boys (61.7%) and girls (56.1%) children as compared the mothers who gave their first birth during adolescence (<20 years) and women with higher age group (≥30 years). Multivariate logistic regression analysis shows that women who worked for cash were two-and-a-half times more probability of having healthy weighted child than among the mothers who did not work for cash. It was also found that proportion of under weighted children was significantly greater among those who had not taken vitamin A supplementation. The other main contributing factors likely to affect nutritional status of children aged 24-59 months were respondent’s education, husband’s education and occupation, household assets index and mothers’ age at last birth,
Genetic relatedness of axial and radial diffusivity indices of cerebral white matter microstructure in late middle age

Two basic neuroimaging‐based characterizations of white matter tracts are the magnitude of water diffusion along the principal tract orientation (axial diffusivity, AD) and water diffusion perpendicular to the principal orientation (radial diffusivity, RD). It is generally accepted that decreases in AD reflect disorganization, damage, or loss of axons, whereas increases in RD are indicative of disruptions to the myelin sheath. Previous reports have detailed the heritability of individual AD and RD measures, but have not examined the extent to which the same or different genetic or environmental factors influence these two phenotypes (except for corpus callosum). We implemented bivariate twin analyses to examine the shared and independent genetic influences on AD and RD. In the Vietnam Era Twin Study of Aging, 393 men (mean age = 61.8 years, SD = 2.6) underwent diffusion‐weighted magnetic resonance imaging. We derived fractional anisotropy (FA), mean diffusivity (MD), AD, and RD estimates for 11 major bilateral white matter tracts and the mid‐hemispheric corpus callosum, forceps major, and forceps minor. Separately, AD and RD were each highly heritable. In about three‐quarters of the tracts, genetic correlations between AD and RD were >. 50 (median = .67) and showed both unique and common variance. Genetic variance of FA and MD were predominately explained by RD over AD. These findings are important for informing genetic association studies of axonal coherence/damage and myelination/demyelination. Thus, genetic studies would benefit from examining the shared and unique contributions of AD and RD.
Structural Requirements of Alkylglyceryl-l-Ascorbic Acid Derivatives for Melanogenesis Inhibitory Activity

l-Ascorbic acid has multifunctional benefits on skin aesthetics, including inhibition of melanin production, and is widely used in cosmetics. It, however, has low stability and poor skin penetration. We hypothesize that alkylglyceryl-l-ascorbic acid derivatives, highly stable vitamin C–alkylglycerol conjugates, would have similar anti-melanogenic activity with better stability and penetration. We test 28 alkylglyceryl-l-ascorbic acid derivatives (1–28) on theophylline-stimulated B16 melanoma 4A5 cells to determine if they inhibit melanogenesis and establish any structure–function relationships. Although not the most potent inhibitors, 3-O-(2,3-dihydroxypropyl)-2-O-hexyl-l-ascorbic acid (6, IC50 = 81.4 µM) and 2-O-(2,3-dihydroxypropyl)-3-O-hexyl-l-ascorbic acid (20, IC50 = 117 µM) are deemed the best candidate derivatives based on their inhibitory activities and low toxicities. These derivatives are also found to be more stable than l-ascorbic acid and to have favorable characteristics for skin penetration. The following structural requirements for inhibitory activity of alkylglyceryl-l-ascorbic acid derivatives are also determined: (i) alkylation of glyceryl-l-ascorbic acid is essential for inhibitory activity; (ii) the 3-O-alkyl-derivatives (2–14) exhibit stronger inhibitory activity than the corresponding 2-O-alkyl-derivatives (16–28); and (iii) derivatives with longer alkyl chains have stronger inhibitory activities. Mechanistically, our studies suggest that l-ascorbic acid derivatives exert their effects by suppressing the mRNA expression of tyrosinase and tyrosine-related protein-1.
Macrophages in the Human Cochlea: Saviors or Predators—A Study Using Super-Resolution Immunohistochemistry

The human inner ear, which is segregated by a blood/labyrinth barrier, contains resident macrophages [CD163, ionized calcium-binding adaptor molecule 1 (IBA1)-, and CD68-positive cells] within the connective tissue, neurons, and supporting cells. In the lateral wall of the cochlea, these cells frequently lie close to blood vessels as perivascular macrophages. Macrophages are also shown to be recruited from blood-borne monocytes to damaged and dying hair cells induced by noise, ototoxic drugs, aging, and diphtheria toxin-induced hair cell degeneration. Precise monitoring may be crucial to avoid self-targeting. Macrophage biology has recently shown that populations of resident tissue macrophages may be fundamentally different from circulating macrophages. We removed uniquely preserved human cochleae during surgery for treating petroclival meningioma compressing the brain stem, after ethical consent. Molecular and cellular characterization using immunofluorescence with antibodies against IBA1, TUJ1, CX3CL1, and type IV collagen, and super-resolution structured illumination microscopy (SR-SIM) were made together with transmission electron microscopy. The super-resolution microscopy disclosed remarkable phenotypic variants of IBA1 cells closely associated with the spiral ganglion cells. Monitoring cells adhered to neurons with “synapse-like” specializations and protrusions. Active macrophages migrated occasionally nearby damaged hair cells. Results suggest that the human auditory nerve is under the surveillance and possible neurotrophic stimulation of a well-developed resident macrophage system. It may be alleviated by the non-myelinated nerve soma partly explaining why, in contrary to most mammals, the human’s auditory nerve is conserved following deafferentiation. It makes cochlear implantation possible, for the advantage of the profoundly deaf. The IBA1 cells may serve additional purposes such as immune modulation, waste disposal, and nerve regeneration. Their role in future stem cell-based therapy needs further exploration.