Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Duodenal calcium uptake, femur ash, and eggshell quality decline with age and increase following molt.

An experiment was conducted to test the hypothesis that the decline in eggshell quality over time during egg production, and its improvement after molting, paralleled the rate of calcium uptake by the duodenum of the laying hen. In vitro duodenal calcium uptake rate and femur ash (percentage of femur weight) were determined at 37, 45, 51, 58, 68, and 72 wk of age. Percentage shell and shell thickness (millimeters) were determined at 22, 29, 36, 44, 50, 57, and 71 wk of age. Molt was induced at 63 wk of age. Three commercial strains DeKalb XL-Link, ISA/Babcock B-300V, and Hy-Line W-36 were compared. There were no differences in duodenal calcium uptake rate among strains. There was a significant decline (P < .01) in duodenal calcium uptake from 408 pmol/mg tissue per min at 37 wk of age to 329 pmol/mg per min at 58 wk of age. Femur ash decreased (P < .01) from 50.8% at 37 wk of age to 47.6% at 58 wk of age. Percentage shell and shell thickness declined (P < .01) from 9.79% and . 403 mm at 22 wk of age to 8.88% and . 373 mm at 57 wk of age, respectively. After the induced molt, duodenal calcium uptake increased (P < .01) to 402 pmol/mg tissue per min, and percentage shell and shell thickness increased (P < .01) to 10.23% and . 389 mm, respectively. Duodenal calcium uptake increased immediately postmolt, whereas femur ash did not increase until 72 wk of age (P < .01).
Abdominal fat and testes weights in diverse genetic lines of Japanese quail.

Six experiments were conducted to investigate abdominal fat levels in mature male and female Japanese quail following selection for 4-wk body weight and to investigate the relationship between testes development and abdominal fat accumulation. The present study utilized P-, T-, and S-line quail selected for more than 75 generations for high 4-wk body weight and also lines divergently selected (16 or more generations) for high (H-SD, H-CD) and low (L-SD, L-CD) 4-wk body weight. Adult males had from two to four times more abdominal fat than females, the reciprocal of abdominal fat patterns in chickens. These differences were observed regardless of the selection environment, direction of selection, or duration of selection. Percentage of abdominal fat was higher in high body weight lines than in low body weight lines, and correlation coefficients between body weight and abdominal fat were moderate to high (mean = .39). Correlations between abdominal fat and testes weights were positive and largest at 5 wk (r = .62).
Parental Management of Peers and Autonomic Nervous System Reactivity in Predicting Adolescent Peer Relationships

The present study examined sympathetic and parasympathetic indices of autonomic nervous system reactivity as moderators of the prospective association between parental management of peers via directing of youths’ friendships and peer adjustment in a sample of typically developing adolescents. Participants included 246 adolescents at Time 1 (T1) [47% boys; 66% European American (EA), 34% African American (AA)] and 226 adolescents at Time 2 (T2; 45% boys; 67% EA, 33% AA). Adolescents were approximately 16 and 17 years old at T1 and T2, respectively. To address study aims, a multiinformant, multimethod longitudinal design was utilized. Skin conductance level (SCL) and respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) were measured during a baseline period and challenge task (star-tracing). Reactivity was computed as a difference score between the task and baseline period. Results from path models revealed that higher levels of mother-reported parental directing predicted decreases in adolescent-reported peer rejection and friends’ deviant behavior from T1 to T2 at relatively low levels of physiological arousal in response to challenge (i.e., low SCL reactivity, RSA augmentation). Further, exploratory analyses indicated that directing was associated with decreases in friends’ deviant behavior and peer rejection particularly among boys who exhibited lower levels of physiological arousal, but increases in friends’ deviant behavior among boys who exhibited higher levels of arousal reflected in RSA withdrawal only. Overall, findings are consistent with prior studies revealing the benefits of parental behavioral control for underaroused youth, contributing to the growing literature on the interplay of parenting and physiological factors in the adolescent peer domain.
The use of vector bootstrapping to improve variable selection precision in Lasso models

Abstract The Lasso is a shrinkage regression method that is widely used for variable selection in statistical genetics. Commonly, K-fold cross-validation is used to fit a Lasso model. This is sometimes followed by using bootstrap confidence intervals to improve precision in the resulting variable selections. Nesting cross-validation within bootstrapping could provide further improvements in precision, but this has not been investigated systematically. We performed simulation studies of Lasso variable selection precision (VSP) with and without nesting cross-validation within bootstrapping. Data were simulated to represent genomic data under a polygenic model as well as under a model with effect sizes representative of typical GWAS results. We compared these approaches to each other as well as to software defaults for the Lasso. Nested cross-validation had the most precise variable selection at small effect sizes. At larger effect sizes, there was no advantage to nesting. We illustrated the nested approach with empirical data comprising SNPs and SNP-SNP interactions from the most significant SNPs in a GWAS of borderline personality symptoms. In the empirical example, we found that the default Lasso selected low-reliability SNPs and interactions which were excluded by bootstrapping.
Intravascular hemolysis and the pathophysiology of sickle cell disease

Hemolysis is a fundamental feature of sickle cell anemia that contributes to its pathophysiology and phenotypic variability. Decompartmentalized hemoglobin, arginase 1, asymmetric dimethylarginine, and adenine nucleotides are all products of hemolysis that promote vasomotor dysfunction, proliferative vasculopathy, and a multitude of clinical complications of pulmonary and systemic vasculopathy, including pulmonary hypertension, leg ulcers, priapism, chronic kidney disease, and large-artery ischemic stroke. Nitric oxide (NO) is inactivated by cell-free hemoglobin in a dioxygenation reaction that also oxidizes hemoglobin to methemoglobin, a non–oxygen-binding form of hemoglobin that readily loses heme. Circulating hemoglobin and heme represent erythrocytic danger-associated molecular pattern (eDAMP) molecules, which activate the innate immune system and endothelium to an inflammatory, proadhesive state that promotes sickle vaso-occlusion and acute lung injury in murine models of sickle cell disease. Intravascular hemolysis can impair NO bioavailability and cause oxidative stress, altering redox balance and amplifying physiological processes that govern blood flow, hemostasis, inflammation, and angiogenesis. These pathological responses promote regional vasoconstriction and subsequent blood vessel remodeling. Thus, intravascular hemolysis represents an intrinsic mechanism for human vascular disease that manifests clinical complications in sickle cell disease and other chronic hereditary or acquired hemolytic anemias.
The serpin proteinase inhibitor 8: An endogenous furin inhibitor released from human platelets

Summary The cornerstone of hemostasis is the ability of the organism to limit the enzymatic processes involved, thereby avoiding thrombosis. For this, anticoagulant systems in place involve serpins, such as PAI-1 and antithrombin III, which bind to their targeted serine proteases and limit their period of activity. We have previously identified the serine protease furin as a platelet-derived enzyme with an intrinsic role in platelet functions. We now report that furin enzymatic activity decreased rapidly following platelet activation, corresponding with the increase in formation of a high 180 M r SDS-stable complex composed of furin and the PI8 serpin. PI8 is shown to be a platelet-derived constituent, synthesized by megakaryocytes and stored in platelets prior to its release. Immunoprecipitation and purification of the PI8-furin complex confirmed their direct interaction and indicates that one of the roles of PI8 is to inhibit furin enzymatic activity. Furthermore, our findings demonstrate the inhibitory capacity of exogenous PI8 in platelet aggregation assays. The finding that PI8 is released by platelets and controls functional responses suggests a role for this serpin in platelet-regulated pathophysiological responses.
Improving a health information system for real-time data entries: An action research project using socio-technical systems theory

ABSTRACT Background/Purpose: This paper presents the findings of an action research (AR) project to improve a health information system (HIS) at the Operating Theater Department (OTD) of a National Health Service (NHS) hospital in South East England, the UK. Methods: Informed by socio-technical systems (STS) theory, AR was used to design an intervention to enhance an existing patient administration system (PAS) to enable data entries in real time while contributing to the literature. The study analyzed qualitative data collected through interviews, participant observations, and document reviews. Results: The study found that the design of the PAS was unsuitable to the work of the three units of the OTD. Based on the diagnoses and STS theory, the project developed and implemented a successful intervention to enhance the legacy system for data entries in real time. Conclusions: The study demonstrates the value of AR from a socio-technical perspective for improving existing systems in healthcare settings. The steps adopted in this study could be applied to improve similar systems. A follow-up study will be essential to assess the sustainability of the improved system.
MAGE-A family serves as poor prognostic markers and potential therapeutic targets for epithelial ovarian cancer patients: a retrospective clinical study

Abstract Objective: The aim of our study is to investigate the expression pattern and prognostic significance of melanoma-associated antigens-A (MAGE-A) family in primary epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) patients. Study design: The expression of MAGE-A family members, including MAGE-A1, -A2, -A3, -A4, -A6, -A10 and -A12 was immunohistochemically detected in 82 cases of primary EOC and 10 cases of pericarcinoma ovarian tissues. The association between MAGE-A family expression and the clinicopathological parameters as well as the prognosis of primary EOC patients was analyzed. Results: MAGE-A family expressed in 48.8% of primary EOC tissues, but not expressed in pericarcinoma ovarian tissues. MAGE-A expression was associated with the pathological types, FIGO stage, and pre-operative serum CA125 level. Overall survival of EOC patients with positive MAGE-A family expression was significantly shorter than those patients with negative MAGE-A expression. Multivariate analysis showed that although MAGE-A family expression can affect the overall survival, it was not an independent prognostic marker for EOC patients. Conclusions: Molecular assessment of MAGE-A family members could be helpful to improve the prognostic evaluation and to provide a new potential therapeutic target for primary EOC patients.
Climate‐driven diversity change in annual grasslands: Drought plus deluge does not equal normal

Climate forecasts agree that increased variability and extremes will tend to reduce the availability of water in many terrestrial ecosystems. Increasingly severe droughts may be exacerbated both by warmer temperatures and by the relative unavailability of water that arrives in more sporadic and intense rainfall events. Using long‐term data and an experimental water manipulation, we examined the resilience of a heterogeneous annual grassland community to a prolonged series of dry winters that led to a decline in plant species richness (2000–2014), followed by a near‐record wet winter (2016–2017), a climatic sequence that broadly resembles the predicted future in its high variability. In our 80, 5‐m2 observational plots, species richness did not recover in response to the wet winter, and the positive relationship of richness to annual winter rainfall thus showed a significant weakening trend over the 18‐year time period. In experiments on 100, 1‐m2 plots, wintertime water supplementation increased and drought shelters decreased the seedling survival and final individual biomass of native annual forbs, the main functional group contributing to the observed long‐term decline in richness. Water supplementation also increased the total cover of native annual forbs, but only increased richness within nested subplots to which seeds were also added. We conclude that prolonged dry winters, by increasing seedling mortality and reducing growth of native forbs, may have diminished the seedbank and thus the recovery potential of diversity in this community. However, the wet winter and the watering treatment did cause recovery of the community mean values of a key functional trait (specific leaf area, an indicator of drought intolerance), suggesting that some aggregate community properties may be stabilized by functional redundancy among species.
Toward Deeper Understanding of Nonconvex Stochastic Optimization with Momentum using Diffusion Approximations

Momentum Stochastic Gradient Descent (MSGD) algorithm has been widely applied to many nonconvex optimization problems in machine learning. Popular examples include training deep neural networks, dimensionality reduction, and etc. Due to the lack of convexity and the extra momentum term, the optimization theory of MSGD is still largely unknown. In this paper, we study this fundamental optimization algorithm based on the so-called"strict saddle problem. "By diffusion approximation type analysis, our study shows that the momentum helps escape from saddle points, but hurts the convergence within the neighborhood of optima (if without the step size annealing). Our theoretical discovery partially corroborates the empirical success of MSGD in training deep neural networks. Moreover, our analysis applies the martingale method and"Fixed-State-Chain"method from the stochastic approximation literature, which are of independent interest.
The Leading Anthropometric Indicator of CardiovascularHealth Risks among Female Nurses: A Cross-SectionalStudy

Aim: Medical team members are directly concerned with community health, and their wellbeing plays a key role in community well-being. We aimed to explore the association between anthropometric indices and cardiovascular risk factors in female nurses and determine the best cardiovascular risk predictor. Methods: Anthropometric measurements and cardiovascular risk factors were collected from a randomized sample of 138 female nurses aged 20-52 years employed in three hospitals in Zahedan in southeast Iran. Results: The prevalence of being overweight (25 ≤ BMI ≤ 29.9 kg/m2) and obese (BMI ≥ 30 kg/m2) and central obesity in terms of WHpR ≥ 0.8, WHtR ≥ 0.49, and WC ≥ 88 cm was 31.9%, 12.3%, 76.1%, 61.6%, and 28.3% respectively. Abnormal BMI, WC, and WHtR was significantly associated with all cardiovascular risk factors including high TC, TG, LDL-C, HDL-C, LDL-C:HDL-C, and TC:HDL-C, while abnormal WHpR was only associated with hypercholesterolemia, hypertriglyceridemia, and high TC:HDL-C ratio. Thus BMI was a superior predictor of elevated levels of TC, TG, HDL-C, LDL-C: HDL-C, and SBP, whereas abnormal TC: HDL-C and LDL-C were best indicated by WC and WHtR, respectively. Nevertheless, no anthropometric index was superior at distinguishing high FBS, fibrinogen, and DBP values. Conclusions: A considerable proportion of female nurses were overweight or obese. BMI was the strongest and most accurate predictor of most cardiovascular risk factors in this sample of Iranian female nurses. Our study underscores the need to perform large epidemiological studies targeting medical staff to determine a valuable and easily applicable indicator of cardiovascular risk factors and implement proper health promotion programs.
Seasonal variations in exacerbations and deaths in patients with COPD during the TIOSPIR® trial

Background Although COPD exacerbations are known to occur more frequently in winter, there is little information on hospitalizations and cause-specific mortality. This study aimed to examine seasonal variations in mortality and exacerbations in patients with COPD during the TIOtropium Safety and Performance In Respimat® (TIOSPIR®) trial. Patients and methods TIOSPIR was a large-scale, multicenter trial, which assessed the safety and efficacy of tiotropium delivered via HandiHaler® (18 μg once daily) or Respimat® Soft Mist™ (2.5 or 5 μg once daily) inhaler in patients with COPD. Patients were aged ≥40 years, with a smoking history ≥10 pack-years, and post-bronchodilator forced expiratory volume in 1 second ≤70% and forced expiratory volume in 1 second/forced vital capacity ≤0.70. COPD exacerbations and deaths were monitored throughout the trial. The data were pooled to examine seasonal patterns. Southern hemisphere data were shifted by 6 months to align with northern hemisphere seasons. Results TIOSPIR was conducted in 43 northern (n=15,968) and 7 southern (n=1,148) hemisphere (n=1,148) countries. The median duration of treatment was 835 days, with a mean follow-up of 2.3 years. Among 19,494 exacerbations, there were clear seasonal differences (winter, 6,646 [34.1%]; spring, 4,515 [23.2%]; summer, 3,198 [16.4%]; autumn, 5,135 [26.3%]). Exacerbations peaked in early winter (December in the northern hemisphere and June in the southern hemisphere), respiratory hospitalizations in midwinter, and respiratory deaths in early spring. Conclusion Although winter poses a 2-fold hazard for COPD exacerbations vs summer, respiratory deaths peak in early spring. These data suggest that seasonal intensification of preventive treatments may impact COPD morbidity and mortality. Trial registration number NCT01126437.
Kinetics and Optimization of Lipophilic Kojic Acid Derivative Synthesis in Polar Aprotic Solvent Using Lipozyme RMIM and Its Rheological Study

The synthesis of kojic acid derivative (KAD) from kojic and palmitic acid (C16:0) in the presence of immobilized lipase from Rhizomucor miehei (commercially known as Lipozyme RMIM), was studied using a shake flask system. Kojic acid is a polyfunctional heterocycles that acts as a source of nucleophile in this reaction allowing the formation of a lipophilic KAD. In this study, the source of biocatalyst, Lipozyme RMIM, was derived from the lipase of Rhizomucor miehei immobilized on weak anion exchange macro-porous Duolite ES 562 by the adsorption technique. The effects of solvents, enzyme loading, reaction temperature, and substrate molar ratio on the reaction rate were investigated. In one-factor-at-a-time (OFAT) experiments, a high reaction rate (30.6 × 10−3 M·min−1) of KAD synthesis was recorded using acetone, enzyme loading of 1.25% (w/v), reaction time of 12 h, temperature of 50 °C and substrate molar ratio of 5:1. Thereafter, a yield of KAD synthesis was optimized via the response surface methodology (RSM) whereby the optimized molar ratio (fatty acid: kojic acid), enzyme loading, reaction temperature and reaction time were 6.74, 1.97% (w/v), 45.9 °C, and 20 h respectively, giving a high yield of KAD (64.47%). This condition was reevaluated in a 0.5 L stirred tank reactor (STR) where the agitation effects of two impellers; Rushton turbine (RT) and pitch-blade turbine (PBT), were investigated. In the STR, a very high yield of KAD synthesis (84.12%) was achieved using RT at 250 rpm, which was higher than the shake flask, thus indicating better mixing quality in STR. In a rheological study, a pseudoplastic behavior of KAD mixture was proposed for potential application in lotion formulation.
The green alga Zygogonium ericetorum (Zygnematophyceae, Charophyta) shows high iron and aluminium tolerance: protection mechanisms and photosynthetic performance

Streptophyte green algae, ancestors of Embryophytes, occur frequently in terrestrial habitats being exposed to high light intensities, water scarcity and potentially toxic metal cations under acidic conditions. The filamentous Zygogonium ericetorum synthesizes a purple vacuolar ferrous pigment, which is lost after aplanospore formation. However, it is unknown whether this cellular reorganization also removes excessive iron from the protoplast and how Z. ericetorum copes with high concentrations of aluminium. Here we show that aplanospore formation shifts iron into the extracellular space of the algal filament. Upon germination of aplanospores, aluminium is bound in the parental cell wall. Both processes reduce iron and aluminium in unpigmented filaments. Comparison of the photosynthetic oxygen production in response to light and temperature gradients in two different Z. ericetorum strains from an Austrian alpine and a Scottish highland habitat revealed lower values in the latter strain. In contrast, the Scottish strain showed a higher optimum quantum yield of PSII during desiccation stress followed by rehydration. Furthermore, pigmented filaments of both strains exhibited a higher light and temperature dependent oxygen production when compared to the unpigmented phenotype. Our results demonstrate a high metal tolerance of Z. ericetorum, which is crucial for surviving in acidic terrestrial habitats.
Potential of Essential Oil-Based Pesticides and Detergents for Bed Bug Control

ABSTRACT The bed bug, (Cimex lectularius L.), is a difficult pest to control. Prevalence of insecticide resistance among bed bug populations and concerns over human-insecticide exposure has stimulated the development of alternative bed bug control materials. Many essential oil-based pesticides and detergent insecticides targeting bed bugs have been developed in recent years. We evaluated the efficacy of nine essential oil-based products and two detergents using direct spray and residual contact bioassays in the laboratory.Twoconventional insecticides, Temprid SC (imidacloprid and &bgr;-cyfluthrin) and Demand CS (&lgr;-cyhalothrin), were used for comparison. Among the 11 nonsynthetic insecticides tested, only EcoRaider (1% geraniol, 1% cedar extract, and 2% sodium lauryl sulfate) and Bed Bug Patrol (0.003% clove oil, 1% peppermint oil, and 1.3% sodium lauryl sulfate) caused >90% mortality of nymphs in direct spray and forced exposure residual assays. However, the efficacy of EcoRaider and Bed Bug Patrol was significantly lower than that of Temprid SC and Demand CS in choice exposure residual bioassay. Direct spray of EcoRaider caused 87% egg mortality, whereas the other nonsynthetic insecticides had little effect on bed bug eggs. EcoRaider and Bed Bug Patrol did not exhibit detectable repellency against bed bugs in the presence of a carbon dioxide source. These findings suggest that EcoRaider and Bed Bug Patrol are potentially useful pesticides for controlling bed bug infestations, but further testing in naturally infested environments is needed.