Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Fluoride toxicity triggered oxidative stress and the activation of antioxidative defence responses in Spirodela polyrhiza L. Schleiden

ABSTRACT The present study was designed to assess the fluoride mediated antioxidant defence responses in Spirodela polyrhiza, grown under hydroponic conditions. The plants of S. polyrhiza were exposed to different fluoride concentrations (0, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 50 ppm) for the time period 24, 72, 120 and 168 h. Fluoride was observed to be readily accumulated by S. polyrhiza at all the exposure periods. Increased accumulation of fluoride triggered the oxidative stress that was quite evident from enhanced electrolyte leakage, proline, anthocyanin and phenolic content To counterbalance the stress, plant responded by the alterations in the activities of antioxidative enzymes (SOD, CAT, APOX, POD, GR), that was also supposed to confer tolerance ability to plant. Moreover, SEM-EDX, CLSM and FT-IR studies were also performed to confirm oxidative damage. Hence, it can be elucidated that this plant can act as an efficient fluoride accumulator and antioxidant defence system minimized fluoride toxicity.
Vibration Cycling Did Not Affect Energy Demands Compared to Normal Cycling During Maximal Graded Test

The aim of this study was to compare the physiological responses between a vibration induced cycling step protocol (Vib) and normal cycling (without vibration, no-Vib). Eighteen moderate trained males (age 24.1 ± 4.3 years; weight 76.5 ± 10.5 kg; height 178.0 ± 6.4 cm) have participated in this study. They randomly performed two gradual maximal exercise tests on two separate days using a new bike that automatically induces vibration cycling and the Corival cycle ergometer. The choice of two different bikes was made because of the impossibility to recreate the same power output without altering the cycling cadence on the vibration Bike. Both protocols were matched for power output and cycling cadence incrementations. Oxygen uptake (VO2), carbon dioxide production (VCO2), ventilation (VE), heart rate (HR), blood lactate and rating of perceived exertion (RPE) during each stage were continuously recorded. No statistical differences were founded for all variables when comparing the Vib to no-Vib trials, except a higher ventilation during the vibration trial at submaximal levels. The results of this study do not confirm those of previous studies stated that Vib increased metabolic demands during cycling exercise. Added vibration stimulus to an incremental cycling protocol does not affect physiological parameters.
Inventory of farmers indigenous innovations for primary processing and storage of selected food legumes in Uganda: Implications to food safety and storage bruchids management

Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata), Chickpea (Cicer arietinum) and Pigeon pea (Cajanus cajan) are among important food legumes in African small scale agricultural systems and livelihoods of many rural poor. High volumes of these food legumes are lost during storage, mostly to a group of beetles called bruchids. To be able to develop safe, sustainable and effective practices of managing storage bruchids, it was critical to first understand farmers’ indigenous innovations of handling food legumes in the selected regions. A household survey was conducted to determine the various indigenous innovations used in postharvest handling of food legumes in purposively selected areas in South-western, Northern, and Eastern regions of Uganda. A total of 468 households were covered and data was collected using a pretested semi-structured questionnaire focusing on major postharvest handling innovations. Results indicated that there were differences in terms of innovations used by farmers in postharvest handling of food legumes across the three study regions. Results also revealed that the targeted legumes were mostly dried on bare ground whereas in other cases were left to dry in the fields. Over 63% of households in Northern region used synthetic pesticides to manage bruchids whereas over 80 and 58% in South-western and Eastern regions used indigenous innovations respectively. The indigenous innovations identified for bruchids management were; wood ash, cowdung ash, goat pellets, pesticidal plants, airtight created conditions, and frequent sun drying of grains. Other innovations reported included use of finely crushed burnt bricks. There was no standard procedure during the use of indigenous innovations among households to achieve consistent protection of storage legume grains against bruchids. The study suggests the need for sustainable and easily adaptable innovations for improved postharvest handling of not only targeted grain legumes but also other food legumes under smallholder farming systems in Uganda. Key words: Bruchids, innovations, grain legumes, food, nutrition.
Evening Primrose (Oenothera biennis) Oil in Management of Female Ailments

Oenothera biennis with the common name of “evening primrose” is containing a valuable fixed oil with commercial name of EPO. Evening primrose oil has two types of omega-6-fatty acid including linoleic acid (60%–80%) and γ-linoleic acid (8%–14%). Essential fatty acids are considered as essential compounds for body health, especially among women. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of evening primrose oil in the management of women ailments. The document was prepared by investigation in scientific articles of electronic resources (Google Scholar, PubMed, Science Direct, Wiley, Scopus, and Springer) by keywords of evening primrose oil and women. The results of our investigations showed that evening primrose oil has been the subject of several clinical studies, including premenstrual syndrome (PMS), hot flash, mastalgia, fibroadenomas, gestational diabetes, cervical ripening, and dilation. The major clinical studies are focused on mastalgia, followed by PMS. The results of studies confirmed the evening primrose oil's efficacy in women health, but the immediate response should not be expected from it, therefore, it should be regularly used up to 4 or 6 months.
A 160,000-year-old history of tectonically controlled methane seepage in the Arctic

Late Quaternary Northern Hemisphere ice volume variations influenced deep-sea methane release. The geological factors controlling gas release from Arctic deep-water gas reservoirs through seabed methane seeps are poorly constrained. This is partly due to limited data on the precise chronology of past methane emission episodes. Here, we use uranium-thorium dating of seep carbonates sampled from the seabed and from cores drilled at the Vestnesa Ridge, off West Svalbard (79°N, ~1200 m water depth). The carbonate ages reveal three emission episodes during the Penultimate Glacial Maximum (~160,000 to 133,000 years ago), during an interstadial in the last glacial (~50,000 to 40,000 years ago), and in the aftermath of the Last Glacial Maximum (~20,000 to 5,000 years ago), respectively. This chronology suggests that glacial tectonics induced by ice sheet fluctuations on Svalbard mainly controlled methane release from Vestnesa Ridge. Data corroborate past methane release in response to Northern Hemisphere cryosphere variations and suggest that Arctic deep-water gas reservoirs are sensitive to temperature variations over Quaternary time scales.
Efficacy of Two (2) Organic Fertilizer Sources (Oil Palm Bunch and Vermicast) on the Growth Response of Tetrapleura tetraptera

To increase awareness of Tetrapleura tetraptera potential uses, enhance its utilization and promote its domestication as a fruit trees, a potential use of organic manure as soil amendment in afforestation, reforestation, agroforestry, fruit tree orchards, and bio-energy plantations cannot be over emphasized. Therefore, the study to determine the efficacy of organic manure (sole application and its interaction) on the growth of Tetrapleura tetraptera under a screen house condition was carried out in Federal College of Forest, Ibadan located within the government Reserve Area (GRA) Jericho Ibadan. The experimental design was a 2 x 8 factorial arranged in a Completely Randomized Design (CRD) with seven (7) replicates each making a total of 112 experimental samples. The treatments used were as follows: vermicast at two levels (20t/ha, 40t/ha), oil palm bunch at two levels (20t/ha, 40t/ha), interaction of vermicast and oil palm bunch (1:1, 1:2 and 2:1) and Control (no amendment). Data on plant height number of leaves, collar diameter and dry matter yields were generated and subjected to analysis of variance and significant means separated using Duncan’s Multiple Range Test at 5 % level of significance. The results shows that, the collar diameter of Tetrapleura tetraptera increased (P=0.05) with the sole application of oil palm bunch at 40t/ha with a mean value of 2.16mm , however, this increase can also be comparable to the sole application of oil palm bunch at 20t/ha with a mean value of 2.04 mm. Oil palm bunch at 20t/ha recorded the highest plant of Tetrapleura tetraptera with a mean value of 18.00 cm while the interaction of VC+OB (2:1) and VC 40t/ha are also relatively comparable to the control (no amendment) to improve the plant height. The highest leaves number was observed when oil palm bunch 20t/ha was used as an amendment with a mean value of 14.0 while the lowest number of leaves was recorded with the interaction VC+OB 1:1 with a mean value of 12.0. From the results obtained, oil palm bunch residue as an organic fertilizer improves the growth of Tetrapleura tetraptera.
A general kinetic model for biological nutrient removal activated sludge systems: Model evaluation

Hu et al. (2007) presented a general kinetic model for biological nutrient removal (BNR) activated sludge (AS) systems in general, but for external nitrification (EN) BNRAS (ENBNRAS) systems in particular. In this article, this model is evaluated against a large number of experimental data sets. In this evaluation, the model is first used to simulate a wide variety of conventional internal nitrification (IN) BNRAS systems to evaluate its predictions and also evaluate the model parameters suggested by Hu et al. (2007), and to calibrate those constants for which values are not available in the literature. Simulation results indicate that the model, with appropriately calibrated parameters, is capable of predicting COD removal, nitrification and denitrification and two types of biological excess phosphorus removal (BEPR), namely aerobic and anoxic/aerobic P uptake BEPR. The model is then used to simulate the ENBNRAS systems to evaluate its capacity of simulating the behaviour of this system. Simulation results show that the model is capable of simulating the behaviour of the ENBNRAS systems, including COD, nitrification, denitrification and BEPR, particularly anoxic P uptake BEPR, with the values of kinetic and stoichiometric parameters obtained in modelling conventional BNRAS systems, except for µNIT, KMP, ηPAO and ηH which required calibration. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 2007;98: 1259–1275. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Metabolic Profiling of Aortic Stenosis and Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy Identifies Mechanistic Contrasts in Substrate Utilisation

Background Aortic stenosis (AS) and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) are highly distinct disorders leading to left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH), but whether cardiac metabolism substantially differs between these in humans remains to be elucidated. Method We undertook a detailed invasive (aortic root and coronary sinus) metabolic profiling in patients with severe AS and HCM in comparison to non-LVH controls, to investigate cardiac fuel selection and metabolic remodelling. These patients were assessed under different physiological states (at rest and during stress induced by pacing). The identified changes in the metabolome were further validated by metabolomic and orthogonal transcriptomic analysis, in separately recruited patient cohorts. Results We identified a highly discriminant metabolomic signature in severe AS characterised by striking accumulation of long-chain acylcarnitines, intermediates of long-chain transport and fatty acid metabolism, and validated this in a separate cohort. Mechanistically, we identify a down-regulation in the PPAR-α transcriptional network, including expression of genes regulating FAO. Conclusions We present a comprehensive analysis of changes in the metabolic pathways (transcriptome to metabolome) in severe AS, and its comparison to HCM. Our results demonstrate fundamental distinctions in substrate preference between AS and HCM, highlighting insufficient long-chain FAO, and the PPAR-α signalling network as a specific metabolic therapeutic target in AS.
Ontogenetic variability in the limb bones histology of plains vizcacha (Lagostomus maximus, Chinchillidae, Rodentia): implications for life history reconstruction of fossil representatives

ABSTRACT Osteohistological studies provide information on the life history of extant and extinct vertebrates, such as growth dynamics, age, body size, sexual maturity, sexual dimorphism, soft tissues, among others aspects. In this work, we evaluate the histological changes occurred during the ontogeny of extant representatives of plains vizcacha, Lagostomus maximus, through the analysis of limb bones in order to evaluate biological and ecological features of their life history. The results obtained are used as framework for the recognition of ontogenetic stages in isolated fossil limb bones of this species. The osteohistology clearly vary according to the ontogenetic stage of the individuals. It is described, for the first time, the presence of a neonatal line in rodents. We could identify different microstructural features that favor the correlation among extant and fossil representatives of L. maximus. It is considered that the mid-shaft of the humeri, femora and tibiae does not represent the most propitious sector to make the thin sections, since the modeling process there has erased part of the bone growth history of the individuals. This study contributes to the general knowledge of the bone histology of rodents.
New record of Schizophyllum (Schizophyllaceae) from Mexico and the confirmation of its edibility in the humid tropics

The genus Schizophyllum is easily recognized within the order Agaricales. However, at the species level, taxonomic information for identification purposes is limited. The objective of the present study was to confirm the identity of the Schizophyllum species present in Tabasco, Mexico, by means of a detailed taxonomic revision of the macro- and micromorphological characters in more than 90 specimens, as well as phylogenetic analyses inferred from ITS sequence data. In total, three Schizophyllum species are described, of which one constitute a new record for Mexico. Finally, the edibility of S. radiatum is reported for the first time in the humid tropical region.
Modeling the nonlinear elastic behavior of plant epidermis

Cell growth and organ development in plants are often correlated with the tensile behavior of the primary cell wall. To understand the mechanical behavior of plant material, various mechanical testing techniques have been employed, such as tensile testing of excised tissue samples. The onion (Allium cepa L.) epidermis has emerged as a model system for plant tissue mechanics. In this study, we performed tensile tests on strips of adaxial onion epidermis. While the tissue appeared stiffer in the direction along the major growth axis compared with the transverse direction, the tensile strength of tissue was not significantly different between the two orientations, indicating a nontrivial link between the cell wall and tissue mechanical anisotropy. Importantly, we observed the stress–strain behavior of the onion epidermis under tension to be highly nonlinear. Several hyperelastic models were fitted to the test data to evaluate their capacity to describe the nonlinear deformation of onion epidermis. The Yeoh hyperelastic model could successfully simulate the uniaxial tensile test data. This study suggests that accounting for nonlinearity in the deformation of the primary tissue may be essential for the accurate interpretation of mechanical test data, and a better understanding of the mechanics of the primary plant cell wall.
Functional analysis of multiple activities associated with the herpes simplex virus-1 DNA polymerase

Of the DNA replication proteins required for herpes simplex virus-1 (HSV-1) viral replication, the catalytic subunit of the DNA polymerase (Pol) has been the most extensively studied, both as a model for Family B polymerases and as a successful antiviral target. Despite decades of work, however, there are still questions regarding the enzyme and its functions that have not been fully resolved, especially related to the RNase H activity, the 3’-5’ exonuclease activity, and a putative RNA-binding motif with no defined activity. We set out to answer some of these questions and further define the activities associated with HSV Pol. There has been a controversy regarding whether an RNase H activity intrinsic to HSV-1 Pol is due to the 3’-5’ exonuclease of Pol or whether it is a separate activity, possibly acting on 5’ RNA termini. We found that the RNase H activity of HSV Pol exclusively degrades RNA:DNA hybrids with 3’ RNA ends, and that this activity is dependent upon the 3’-5’ exonuclease active site. Next, we set out to study a 3’-5’ exonuclease-deficient mutant that had been previously studied in vitro but not characterized in cell culture. We confirmed that this mutant was incapable of replicating in non-complementing cells and determined that this substitution severely affected expression of the protein during infection. Finally, we made substitutions within the putative RNA-binding (RNP) motif within the NH2-terminal domain of
In vitro and in vivo evaluation of two DNA vaccine candidates

DNA vaccinology, although still in its infancy, has raised a great wave of interest among researchers, due to its wide applicability and the potential advantages it appears to offer over traditional methods of vaccination. In this study two independent bacterially derived antigens were evaluated as DNA vaccine candidates. The main thrust being to determine the potential of these vaccines to express antigen in vitro and stimulate immune responses in vivo. In addition, the route of immunisation on the magnitude and orientation of the immune response to the encoded antigens was also considered, with mice immunized either intramuscularly or intradermally using a Gene Gun. One of the candidates, a DNA vaccine encoding a Mycobacterium bovis antigen (MPB-70) expressed very effectively in vitro when transfected into COS-7 cells. However, it failed to stimulate an immune responses in mice, regardless the route of immunisation used. In contrast, a second bacterial antigen. Fragment C of tetanus toxin produced by Clostridium tetani, expressed poorly in eukaryotic cells but elicited a specific immune response in vaccinated mice. Although, the magnitude of these responses did not appear to differ when mice were immunized using intramuscular or intradermal immunisation using the Gene-Gun, the quality of the immune response generated varied considerably. These results demonstrated that vaccination of pcDNA3/tetC by intramuscular route was associated with a specific anti-Fragment C humoral and cellular response associated with Th1 CD4 cells, whilst immunisation using the Gene-Gun appeared to bias the response toward a CD4 associated Th2 profile. Moreover, both methods were able to prime a specific immune response with a magnitude that could be improved when the mice were boosted using the purified Fragment C antigen. Boosting these animals in such a manner resulted in an improvement in the magnitude of the immune response generated, however, the orientation of this response remained faithful to that originally initiated by the original route of DNA vaccination. Interestingly, the Gene- Gun mediated immunisation appeared to be far more efficient at stimulating immune responses as the magnitude of the immune response to the antigen was unaffected despite only a fiftieth of the amount of DNA used for each immunisation. This work highlights the potential impact of immunisation route on the quality and magnitude of an immune response to Fragment C when delivered as a DNA vaccine.
Mesenchymal Stem Cell Secretome: Cell-free Therapeutic Strategy in Regenerative Medicine

BACKGROUND: Mesenchymal stem (stromal) cells (MSCs) have a multipotent character, able to differentiate into several cell types, thus MSC serve as a cell reservoir for regenerative medicine. MSC therapeutic potency more associated to their immunosuppressive and anti-inflammatory properties rather than the multipotency, by its mechanism to secrete soluble factors with paracrine actions.CONTENT: MSC paracrine function was known to mediated partly by extracellular vesicles (EVs), which were released predominantly from the endosomal compartment contained in MSC secretome. EV contain a cargo bring micro RNA (miRNA), messenger RNA (mRNA), and proteins from their cells of origin, propose EV as a novel alternative to whole cell therapies, regarding the benefit of EV in safety and easier storage compared to the parent cells.SUMMARY: The discovery of EVs including exosomes in MSC secretome as key of stem cells beneficial function lead to the future hope of using cell-free regenerative therapies.KEYWORDS: MSC, secretome, conditioned media, extracellular vesicle, exosome