Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Genome-Wide Selection Scan in an Arabian Peninsula Population Identifies a TNKS Haplotype Linked to Metabolic Traits and Hypertension

Despite the extreme and varying environmental conditions prevalent in the Arabian Peninsula, it has experienced several waves of human migrations following the out-of-Africa diaspora. Eventually, the inhabitants of the peninsula region adapted to the hot and dry environment. The adaptation and natural selection that shaped the extant human populations of the Arabian Peninsula region have been scarcely studied. In an attempt to explore natural selection in the region, we analyzed 662,750 variants in 583 Kuwaiti individuals. We searched for regions in the genome that display signatures of positive selection in the Kuwaiti population using an integrative approach in a conservative manner. We highlight a haplotype overlapping TNKS that showed strong signals of positive selection based on the results of the multiple selection tests conducted (integrated Haplotype Score, Cross Population Extended Haplotype Homozygosity, Population Branch Statistics, and log-likelihood ratio scores). Notably, the TNKS haplotype under selection potentially conferred a fitness advantage to the Kuwaiti ancestors for surviving in the harsh environment while posing a major health risk to present-day Kuwaitis.
Simulation of pattern of gene flow in Canjerana fragments in the Brazilian Atlantic Rainforest for evaluating genetic conservation strategies

ABSTRACT: Gene flow is important for the conservation of genetic resources to allow connectivity of geographically isolated populations and which genetic variability is reduced. Gene movement is a function of flow rate and model. Understanding how gene flow occurs can contribute to the conservation and selection of priority populations that could benefit from an eventual intervention. Simulation softwares allow making inferences about past events based on current datasets or predict future phenomena under real genetic scenarios. Adverse phenomena can be predicted and actions can be taken to avoid them. The aim of this study was to identify a model and the gene flow rates that could explain genetic structure of eight forest fragments of Cabralea canjerana in development in the Brazilian Atlantic Rainforest. To do this, simulations were performed with the EASYPOP software using a microsatellite marker dataset obtained for the species by Melo and collaborators, in 2012, 2014 and 2016. We tested five models and nine migration rates and we selected the model that produced values closer to those previously obtained for them. Criteria used for selection were the observed and expected heterozygosity and the Wright’s F Statistics obtained in the simulations. The gene flow model selected was the isolation by distance model that used a rate of 0.1. We observed high levels of genetic differentiation among the fragments as result of their reproductive isolation. To allow homogenization of the allelic frequencies through gene flow, the solution would be to create ecological corridors with the aim of connecting distant fragments.
Response of Some Snap Bean Cultivars to Foliar Application with some Antioxidant Substances for Increasing Productivity and Quality under Local Environments at Early Summer Season.

Two field experiments were carried out at El-Baramoon Research Farm, El-Mansoura Horticulture Research Station, Horticulture Research Institute, Agricultural Research Center, Egypt during the early summer season of 2014 and 2015 to study the effect of some foliar applications, i.e., moringa leaf extract (:5 ml/l), yeast extract (25 ml/l), salicylic acid (150 ppm) and ascorbic acid (250 ppm) on vegetative growth, pod yield and quality of snap bean cultivars, i.e. Bronco, Polista and Valentino.The results showed that Valentino cultivar had longest plant height, heaviest fresh and dry weight, largest leaf area and gave the highest pod length, number of pods/plant and pod yield (ton/fed) compared with other cultivars in the two seasons. Whereas, the least one was Bronco cultivar in both season. Moreover, Bronco cultivar was the highest in pod weight, total soluble solids (TSS) and vitamin C in both seasons, meanwhile Polista pods had the highest fiber and titrable acidity contents. Whereas, the least one was Valentino cultivar in both seasons. All foliar applications significantly increased all the studied parameters compared with the control treatment. The superior application was salicylic acid followed by ascorbic acid in both seasons, respectively. From the obtained results, it could be concluded that Valentino cultivar sprayed with salicylic acid at 150 ppm three times, i.e., 15 days after planting and repeated each 15 days interval, respectively collected the highest total pod yield /fed and quality.
Radial Glial from mammalian developing neocortex can perform symmetric proliferative divisions in vitro

Radial Glial progenitors in the mammalian developing neocortex have been shown to follow a deterministic differentiation program restricted to an asymmetric only mode of division. This feature contrasts with previous studies and with other developmental systems, such as the developing spinal cord, the retina, epidermis, airway epithelium, germline, and the intestine, where differentiation takes place based on probabilities that can change overtime and other modes of division are possible. Here, we combine experimental, computational and theoretical tools to show that Radial Glial cultured in vitro can divide symmetrically, and that the balance between the different modes of division, as well as the cell cycle length, can be modulated by external signals, such as Fibroblast Growth Factor. Our results suggest that the constraint of deterministic and asymmetric mode of division that Radial Glia exhibit in vivo may not be an inherent property of this particular cell type, but a feature induced by the complex organized pseudo-stratified structure of the mammalian developing neocortex. Significance Statement It is well established that, during the neurogenesis of the mammalian neocortex, Radial Glial can only divide asymmetrically. To understand the features that set this important restriction, we analyze in vitro cultures from mouse developing neocortex during the differentiation of Radial Glial into terminally differentiated neurons. Our results show that Radial Glial cultured in vitro also divide symmetrically. Moreover, the balance between the division modes can be modulated by external signals, such as Fibroblast Growth Factor. In conclusion, our results suggest that the constraint of deterministic and asymmetric mode of division of Radial Glial is not an inherent property of this particular cell type, but a feature induced by the complex organized pseudo-stratified structure of the mammalian developing neocortex.
ANALYSIS OF STUDENTS’ ATTITUDE ON THE USE OF CD BASED INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS IN TEACHING AND LEARNING PROCESSES: A CASE OF THE OPEN UNIVERSITY OF TANZANIA

Compact Disc (CDs) based instructional materials in Open and Distance Learning (ODL) institutions deemed to be useful mode of delivery as it is essential in addressing the gaps between knowledge and technology. Like other ODL institutions globally, the Open University of Tanzania (OUT) adopted the use of the named instructional technology for its students. However, little is known about students’ attitudes on the use of CD based instructional materials in the teaching and learning at OUT. This paper set out to explore students’ attitude on the use of CD based instructional materials in the course of teaching and learning at OUT. The study was conducted in three regional centers of Tanga, Kilimanjaro and Morogoro and was guided by Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) developed by Davis in 1989. Survey design with quantitative method was used to collect and analyze data. Data collected through questionnaires was analyzed with the use of Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). The study findings revealed that majority of students (68%) had positive attitude towards the use of CD based instructional materials in the course of teaching and learning due to the perceived usefulness of this mode of delivery. However, few students (32%) had negative attitude toward the use of CD based instructional materials because of the different emerged challenges involving lack of access to computers, skills of interacting with electronic devices such as computers as well as electricity connectivity and reliability. The study concludes that OUT should utilize the use of both hardcopy and soft copy materials (CDs) to carter for learners preferred mode of delivery. Nevertheless, learners need to be encouraged to use CD based instructional materials so as to copy with the rapid changes in Information and Communication Technology. Article visualizations:
Dietary Inflammatory Index is Associated with Excessive Body Weight and Dietary Patterns in Subjects with Cardiometabolic Risk

Unhealthy eating habits can trigger chronic inflammation in organs and tissues, and subsequent cardiovascular risk. Thus, this study aimed to evaluate the potential association of Dietary Inflammatory Index (DII™) score with cardiometabolic risk factors and a priori and a posteriori dietary patterns in adults and elderly Brazilians (42 ± 16 years) from a health care program. This cross-sectional study was carried out with 248 individuals (138 women and 110 men) from a Cardiovascular Health Care Program of the Universidade Federal de Vicosa (PROCARDIO-UFV, ReBEC ID number: RBR-5n4y2g). Sociodemographic and clinical characteristics, lifestyle and anthropometric data were assessed by standardized protocols. DII scores were calculated from a 24 h-recall, and dietary patterns were determined by a posteriori method, as Principal Component Analysis (PAC), and a priori method, as Healthy Eating Index (HEI). The mean DII was 0.15 ± 0.84. The subjects included in the most pro-inflammatory category(3rd tertile) were more likely to be individuals with excessive body weight, increased waist-to-hip ratio and lower quality diet assessed by PAC and HEI. The most pro-inflammatory diet was associated with excessive body weight as well as other worse dietary patterns.
Potensi Regenerasi alami Shorea leprosula Miq. di Hutan Penelitian Gunung Dahu, Leuwiliang, Kabupaten Bogor.

WAHYU NURKHAENI. Natural regeneration potential Shorea leprosula Miq. in Gunung Dahu Forest Research, Leuwiliang, Bogor District, Supervised by PRIJANTO PAMOENGKAS and HENTI HENDALASTUTI RACHMAT. The establishment of man-made forest is an ex-situ conservation effort. Sustainable plantation management, one of the indicators is the creation of natural regeneration characterized by natural regeneration and diversity of species. Gunung Dahu a man-made Dipterocarpaceae Forest Research is one form of plantation development that has natural regeneration potential. This research aimed to identify the regeneration potential of S. leprosula and environmental factors that affect the regeneration of S. leprosula in the Gunung Dahu Forest Research. The study showed that natural regeneration in plot 2 and plot 5 has the highest number with canopy openness of 20%  25%. Altitude of place does not support natural regeneration of Shorea leprosula. Natural regeneration of seedling stage were abundant while saplings only detected in very few numbers.
Enhanced maturation of fast-spiking interneurons driven by mTOR activation

The use of stem cell derived neurons for cell-based therapies is limited by a protracted maturation. We present a novel? approach for accelerating the post-mitotic maturation of human stem cell derived interneurons via the activation of mTOR signaling. Lox sites were placed within PTEN, a key mTOR inhibitor, in a cortical interneuron (CIn) reporter line. Following directed differentiation and purification by FACS, the CIns were exposed to Cre-expressing lentivirus, then transplanted into mouse neocortex or plated onto cultured rat neocortex. Input synaptogenesis and dendritogenesis was greatly enhanced in the PTEN-deleted CIns. Whole-cell recording of the PTEN-deleted CIns in slices of transplanted neocortex revealed multiple indices of enhanced maturation. Finally, we observed similar effects using transient, doxycycline-inducible activation of AKT. We thus present an inducible, reversible approach for accelerating the maturation of human stem cell derived CIns, and to study the influences of this disease-related signaling system in human neurons.
Intra Coding Performance Comparison of HEVC, H.264/AVC, Motion-JPEG2000 and JPEGXR Encoders

In this document the intra coding performance comparison of HEVC, H.264/AVC, Motion-JPEG2000 and JPEG XR is investigated. The performance of these four codecs is evaluated for various videos coded at different bitrates in Intra coding configuration. The results prove the excellent coding efficiency of the HEVC. In addition, the performance of the JPEG2000 is improved at high resolution videos and is close to the ones of HEVC and H.264/AVC at low bit-rates.
Two complete mitochondrial genomes of Paraleucogobio fishes (Cypriniformes: Gobionidae)

Abstract Freshwater fishes in the genus Paraleucogobio include two species, Paraleucogobio notacanthus and Paraleucogobio strigatus. In this study, we determined complete mitochondrial genomes of P. notacanthus and P. strigatus to clarify their phylogenetic positions. The two mitochondrial genomes showed similar gene arrangements, codon use, gene overlaps or gene intervals with the length of 16,596 bp and 16,598 bp. Our phylogeny revealed that P. notacanthus and P. strigatus were nested within Gnathopogon fishes. The findings indicate that Paraleucogobio is a junior synonym of Gnathopogon.
Effects of exercise training on brain‐derived neurotrophic factor in skeletal muscle and heart of rats post myocardial infarction

What is the central question of this study? Exercise training increases brain‐derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in the hippocampus, which depends on a myokine, fibronectin type III domain‐containing protein 5 (FNDC5). Whether exercise training after myocardial infarction induces parallel increases in FNDC5 and BDNF expression in skeletal muscle and the heart has not yet been studied. What is the main finding and its importance? Exercise training after myocardial infarction increases BDNF protein in skeletal muscle and the non‐infarct area of the LV without changes in FNDC5 protein, suggesting that BDNF is not regulated by FNDC5 in skeletal muscle and heart. An increase in cardiac BDNF may contribute to the improvement of cardiac function by exercise training.
Coleoptera found in marine strandlines on New Zealand beaches: species diversity, seasonal trends and the effect of beach substrate

ABSTRACT The terrestrial invertebrates found in association with marine strandlines constitute a world-wide ecological system. This study examined the beetle assemblages (Insecta: Coleoptera) in strandlines on New Brighton beach near Christchurch and at 35 other sites on Banks Peninsula in the South Island of New Zealand. In a total of 535 thirty-minute hand searches, 81 distinct beetle taxa (identified species & recognisable taxonomic units) were recorded, representing 25 coleopteran families. Regular sampling at New Brighton over the course of three years identified a clear seasonal increase in Coleoptera species richness in the summer, and revealed that some of the commoner species (e.g. Haplanister crypticus, Lagrioida brouni and Cafius litoreus) occurred in every calendar month. The collections from Banks Peninsula suggested that sampling strandlines on sandy beaches tended to produce more beetle species than those on shingle or boulder shores. Species accumulation analysis indicated that additional species are still likely to be recorded for this region, although many of these species will be vagrants in the strandline habitat. This study provides an initial catalogue of beetle species for strandlines in this region of New Zealand, along with valuable information on aspects of life history and ecology. Further research is needed to enhance the limited biogeographic data available for these beetle species and, by repeated sampling, determine which species can be considered resident within the strandline habitat.
Helmintos de populações simpátricas de algumas espécies de anfíbios anuros da família Leptodac tylidae

Levantamento dos helmintos parasitas obtidos de populacoes de 8 diferentes especies de leptodactilideos que convivem em area florestada no antigo Horto Florestal de Santa Cruz, atual Estacao Florestal de Experimentacao Engenheiro Agronomo Mario Xavier, no Municipio de Itaguai, Estado do Rio de Janeiro, visando-se comparar o parasitismo entre populacoes simpatricas de anuros filogeneticamente relacionados. Foram necropsiados 170 exemplares, representando as seguintes especies de anuros: Leptodactylus ocellatus (Linnaeus, 1758), L. sibilatrix (Wied, 1824), L. mystaceus (Spix, 1824) L. mystacinus (Burmeister, 1861), L. caliginosus Girard, 1853, L. marmoratus (Steindachner, 1867), Phyalaemus signiferus (Girard, 1853) e P. soaresi Izecksohn, 1965. Obtiveram-se 1.098 exemplares de helmintos representado as seguintes especies: Mesococliun monas (Rudolphi, 1819) Oxyascaris oxyascaris Travassos, 1920, Pteroxyascaris caudacutus Freitas, 1958, Spironoura mascula (Rudolphi, 1819), Aplectana membranosa (Schneider, 1866), A. lopesi Silva, 1954, Neyraplectana sp. , Cosmocerca parva Travassos, 1925, Rhabdias sp. Physaloptera sp. e Centrorhynchus sp. Foram feitas redescricoes das especies de helmintos, bem como analise de alguns aspectos sistematicos. Foram discutidos aspectos como suas diferencas entre as especies de hospedeiros, a concorrencia entre e dentro de especies de helmintos, os Indices do parasitismo, os sitios preferenciais, a frequencia estacional e fatores com influencia sobre a infeccao. Estabeleceu-se a sinonimia entre Oxyascaris oxyascaris Travassos, 1920 e necopinus Freitas, 1958 e entre Cosmocerca parva Travassos, 1925, e C. freitasi Silva, 1954. As associacoes observadas entre anuros e helmintos foram as seguintes: L. ocellatus (O. oxyascaris, S. Mascula, C. parva, Rhabdias sp.), L. sibilatrix (M. monas, Pt. caudacutus, C. parva), L. mystaceus (M. monas, O. oxyascaris, Pt. caudacutus, C. parva, Physaloptera sp., Centrorhynchus sp.), L. mystacinus (M. monas, A. membranosa, Centrorhynchus sp.), L. caliginosus (S. macula, C. parva, Physaloptera sp., Centrorhynchus sp.), L. marmoratus (Neyraplectana sp., C. parva, Physaloptera sp., Centrorhynchus sp.) P. signiferus (O. oxyascaris, A. lopesi, Neyraplectana sp., C. parva, Physaloptera sp., Centrorhynchus sp.) e P. soaresi (O. oxyascaris, C. parva, Physaloptera sp., Centrorhynchus sp.). O parasitismo por nematodeos mostrou-se mais acentuado que o por acantocefalos e o por trematodeos. O parasitismo no verao e na primavera foi mais intenso que nas outras estacoes. Diferencas de comportamento entre os hospedeiros, por seus significados nos mecanismos de infeccao, foram consideradas como fatores influentes sobre as diferencas de parasitismo registradas.
Plant community development following reclamation of oil sands mines using four cover soil types in northern Alberta

Understanding the effects of reclamation treatments on plant community development is an important step in setting realistic indicators and targets for reclamation of upland oil sands sites to forest ecosystems. We examine trends in cover, richness, evenness, and community composition for four cover soil types (clay over overburden, clay over tailings sand, peat‐mineral mix over overburden, and peat‐mineral mix over tailings sand) and natural boreal forests over a 20 year period in the mineable oil sands region of northern Alberta, Canada. Tree, shrub, and nonvascular plant species cover showed similar increases over time for all reclamation treatments, with corresponding declines in forb and graminoid cover with time. These trends resemble those in the natural boreal forests of the region and the trajectory of community development for the reclamation treatments appears to follow typical early successional trends for boreal forests. Species richness and diversity of natural forest differed significantly from reclamation treatments. Nonmetric multidimensional scaling ordination and multi‐response permutation procedure revealed that species composition was not affected by reclamation treatment but clearly differed from natural forest. Analysis of species co‐occurrence indicated random plant community assembly following reclamation, in contrast to a higher proportion of nonrandom plant community assembly in natural forests. Thus, reclaimed plant communities appear to be unstructured through year 20 and assembly is still in progress on these reclaimed sites.
Signal from the noise: model‐based interpretation of variable correspondence between active and passive samplers

Combining information from active and passive sampling of mobile animals is challenging because active-sampling data are affected by limited detection of rare or sparse taxa, while passivesampling data reflect both density and movement. We propose that a model-based analysis allows information to be combined between these methods to interpret variation in the relationship between active estimates of density and passive measurements of catch per unit effort to yield novel information on activity rates (distance/time). We illustrate where discrepancies arise between active and passive methods and demonstrate the model-based approach with seasonal surveys of fish assemblages in the Florida Everglades, where data are derived from concurrent sampling with throw traps, an enclosure-type sampler producing point estimates of density, and drift fences with unbaited minnow traps that measure catch per unit effort (CPUE). We compared incidence patterns generated by active and passive sampling, used hierarchical Bayesian modeling to quantify the detection ability of each method, characterized interspecific and seasonal variation in the relationship between density and passively measured CPUE, and used a predator encounter-rate model to convert variable CPUE–density relationships into ecological information on activity rates. Activity rate information was used to compare interspecific responses to seasonal hydrology and to quantify spatial variation in non-native fish activity. Drift fences had higher detection probabilities for rare and sparse species than throw traps, causing discrepancies in the estimated spatial distribution of non-native species from passively measured CPUE and actively measured density. Detection probability of the passive sampler, but not the active sampler, varied seasonally with changes in water depth. The relationship between CPUE and density was sensitive to fluctuating depth, with most species not having a proportional relationship between CPUE and density until seasonal declines in depth. Activity rate estimates revealed interspecific differences in response to declining depths and identified locations and species with high rates of activity. We propose that variation in catchability from methods that passively measure CPUE can be sources of ecological information on activity. We also suggest that model-based combining of data types could be a productive approach for analyzing correspondence of incidence and abundance patterns in other applications.