Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Nature and nurture effects of voluntary activity and nutrition on energy balance and nutrition

Maternal behavior and nutritional factors have been shown to imprint neurobiological controls over energy balance in the offspring during postnatal life. This is particularly relevant in species that give birth to multiple pups at once, and are faced with nursing large litters where above-mentioned maternal factors can easily become limited for the individual kids. In these experiments, we investigated the effects of the postnatal influences in mice selectively bred for voluntary high running under low-fat (LF) and a high-fat (HF) feeding conditions. The activity selected lines generally give birth to relative large litters, but have mixed success in nursing their offspring, presumably due to the activity trait. Our aims were 1) to examine the effects of perigestational diet on maternal and offspring characteristics in equalized litter conditions, and 2) to investigate postnatal environment exchange between active and control lines by cross-fostering of pups. Firstly, we found that litter size at birth needs to be taken account in equalizing litter sizes. Manipulation with already two pups difference in the litter can result in contradictory effects, potentially due to a mismatch with expected number of pups the mothers prepared for. Secondly, control offspring fostered by active mothers resulted in smaller growth, lower glucose and insulin levels at adulthood of the fostered controls, meaning that the physical activity trait of mothers strongly influences the control offspring later in life. The opposite, in which selection line pups were fostered by control mothers did not have a major effect on adult energy balance regulation in these animals. Thus the prenatal, genetic make-up of activity selected offspring overpowered the relatively rich postnatal environment of control mothers, even when they were subjected to a HF diet. In conclusion, postnatal epigenetic effects seem to play only a limited role in the phenotype of mice selectively bred for high running wheel behavior.
Delivery , and Fetal Pneumonia in Rhesus Macaques Ureaplasma parvum or Mycoplasma hominis as Sole Pathogens Cause Chorioamnionitis , Preterm

http://rsx.sagepub. com/content/16/1/56 The online version of this article can be found at: DOI: 10.1177/1933719108325508 2009 16: 56 originally published online 2 January 2009 Reproductive Sciences and Kenneth B. Waites Miles J. Novy, Lynn Duffy, Michael K. Axthelm, Drew W. Sadowsky, Steven S. Witkin, Michael G. Gravett, Gail H. Cassell Delivery, and Fetal Pneumonia in Rhesus Macaques Ureaplasma parvum or Mycoplasma hominis as Sole Pathogens Cause Chorioamnionitis, Preterm
Sonography foran ImperforateAnus Approach

This systematic review outlines the role of sonography in an imperforate anus. The diagnostic performance for type of imperforate anus is superior on the day after birth than that on the day of birth by using the pouch-perineum distance. Three approaches can be used (suprapubic, infracoccygeal, and perineal). The pouchperineum distance, fistula location, and relationship between the puborectalis muscle and distal rectal pouch are useful for classifying the type of imperforate anus. However, the pouch-perineum distance measured has an overlap between the low and high/intermediate types of imperforate anus. Sonography can be useful for some of the associated anomalies and helpful for surgeons in some cases.
The Effect of Four Mulberry Varieties on Performance of Bombyx mori L. (Lepidoptera, Bombycidae)

Silkworm larvae were reared on the leaves of four mulberry varieties i.e. Morusalba, M. rubra, M. latifoliaand M. nigra. The varieties were evaluated for nutritional potential on the growth and cocoon characters of silkworm. The results revealed that larval growth by weight, single cocoon weight, shell weight and shell percentage were greatly influenced by the nutritive value of different mulberry leaves. The maximum and minimum body weights were found (25.50 g) and (20.50 g) in M. alba respectively. The effect of mulberry species on larval and pupal mortality was non-significant. The percent defective cocoons (3.32%) and good cocoons (96.68%) were found in M. nigra. The maximum effective and good cocoon was found in M.alba (6.73%) and (96.68%), respectively. The maximum single cocoon weight of 1.34 g was recorded in M. nigra while minimum was 1.035 g in M. rubra. The larvae fed on M.nigra showed maximum single shell weight of 0.55 g. The minimum single shell weight of 0.242 g was recorded in M.rubra. Maximum shell ratio of 26.49% was recorded in M.nigra while minimum shell ratio 23.43% was recorded in M.alba. Protein and carbohydrates were found in mulberry leaves (17.25-21.06%) and (35.47-37.25%), respectively. The maximum carbohydrate (37.25%) and protein (21.06%) were found in M.nigra. Generally the larvae fed on M.nigra leaves gained more body weight and gave better cocoon characters. These variations could be attributed to the nature of nutritive value in tested species.
Responses to environmental stress in plants adapted to Mediterranean gypsum habitats.

Gypsum areas are stressful environments inhabited by gypsophytes, plants that are exclusive for such habitats, and by plants that grow on gypsum but also on other soil types, the so-called gypsovags. To investigate possible differences between gypsovags and gypsophytes with respect to basic stress response mechanisms, two common osmolytes, glycine betaine and total soluble sugars, as well as monovalent (Na + and K + ) and bivalent (Ca 2+ and Mg 2+ ) cations, were quantified, under field conditions, in two Iberian endemic gypsophytes ( Gypsophila struthium subsp. hispanica and Ononis tridentata ) and two common Mediterranean gypsovags ( Rosmarinus officinalis and Helianthemum syriacum ). Their spatial variation according to a topographic gradient and their temporal variation over a period of three successive seasons were correlated with climatic data and soil characteristics. This analysis confirmed that water stress is the main environmental stress factor in gypsum habitats, whereas the percentage of gypsum in the soil does not seem to play any relevant role in the activation of stress responses in plants. Glycine betaine may contribute to stress tolerance in the gypsophytes, but not in the gypsovags, according to the close correlation found between the level of this osmolyte and the gypsophily of the investigated taxa. Cation contents in the plants did not correlate with those present in the soil, but the gypsophytes have higher levels of Ca 2+ and Mg 2+ than the gypsovags, under all environmental conditions, which may represent an adaptation mechanism to their specific habitat.
In-game advertising: Consumers' attitude and the effect of product placements on memory

This study investigated the effectiveness of product placement in video games by testing participants’ brand and product memory along with three distinctive types of product presentation: associative placement, illustrative placement and demonstrative placement. Memory measures comprise explicit memory and implicit memory. The results indicated that the associative placement had a lower level of explicit memory (recall and recognition) than illustrative and demonstrative placements, while the implicit memory of associative placement was higher than illustrative and demonstrative placements. Based on these results, companies should use illustrative or demonstrative placements for new products to help consumers remember new brands and use associative placements for existing products to increase consumers’ purchase intention. Key words: In-game advertising, consumers’ attitude, product placements, explicit memory, implicit memory, video game.
Life Span of Biopolymer Sequestering Agents for Contaminant Removal and Erosion Resistance

The objective of this paper is to report the development and life span of cross-linked biopolymers that remove contaminants, resist biodegradation over long periods of time, and resist erosion in dynamic aquatic environments. Biopolymers are polymeric compounds produced by living organisms (e.g., microorganisms, plants, crustaceans). They have repeated sequences that vary broadly in chemical composition including a variety of repeating functional groups (such as carboxyl, hydroxyl, amino, etc.). This makes them reactive and subject to cross-linking. Therefore, biopolymers, a great molecular weight compounds with repeated sequences, may have high opportunity for chemical interaction with other compounds. Depending on their functional groups, biopolymers can bind metals, organic contaminants, or soil particles and form interpenetrating cross-linking networks with other polymers. The ability of biopolymers (cross-linked or not) to bind a large variety of metals is supported by many studies (Chen et al., 1993; Etemadi et al., 2003; Knox et al., 2008 a, b). The capacity of alginate as a crosslinked product (calcium alginate) for Cr(VI) uptake was demonstrated by Fiol et al. (2004), who obtained an uptake of 86.42 mmol of Cr(VI) per L of wet sorbent volume using grape stalk wastes encapsulated into calcium alginate. The Cr(VI) removal ability of cross-linked calcium alginate was also shown by Araujo and Teixeira (1997), and its ability to bind Cu was shown by Chen et al. (1990 and 1993) and Wan et al. (2004). The removal of Cu, Cr, and As from treated wood onto the biopolymers, chitin and chitosan, was shown by Kartal and Iamamura (2004). The use of biopolymers based on elastine-like polypeptides for the selective removal of Hg was reported by Kostal et al. (2003), who also reported their potential for binding and removal of other metals such as As and Cr. Recently, the use of a similar elastin-like polypeptide composed of a polyhistidine tail was exploited as a metalbinding biopolymer with high affinity toward Cd by Prabhukumar et al. (2004). Knox et al. (2007 and 2008 a, b) showed that biopolymers (with and without cross-linking) have the ability to sequester a large variety of metals (e.g., Cu, Pb, Cd, As, Cr, Zn, and Ni) and organic contaminants (e.g., phenanthrene and pyrene).
Variation in house cat ( Felis catus ) predation sign at a black-fronted tern ( Sterna albostriata ) colony

Black-fronted terns (Sterna albostriata) nest on the beds of braided rivers in the South I, New Zealand (Heather & Robertson 2000). They are classed as Endangered (Hitchmough et al. 2007; IUCN 2008; Miskelly et al. 2008). Predation by introduced mammalian predators and habitat loss appear to be the main causes of decline (O’Donnell 2000; Sanders & Maloney 2002; Keedwell 2004, 2005). During the course of a study of the nesting behaviour of black-fronted terns in South Canterbury in spring 2006, we encountered a significant predation event at a colony of blackfronted terns near Arundel on the Rangitata River. We interpreted from field sign that the predator responsible was a house cat (Felis catus). We found a single set of cat footprints imprinted in sand in the colony, which we were able to follow from nest to nest, and 2 fresh scats that were characteristic of cat and contained tern feathers. These scats were found beside tern nests that had been preyed upon. We discounted the possibility that the cat was scavenging birds that had already been killed by another predator, because the birds were alive on the previous day at sunset and there was no sign of other predators being present. There is a possibility that the primary predator was an aerial predator (e.g., Australasian harrier Circus approximans), but we think this is unlikely because there were no birdlike scuff marks around the nests and we think the predation occurred at night because we arrived at the colony at first light. Egg laying at the colony on an island on the Rangitata River commenced at the beginning of Nov 2006. At that time, river flows were steadily declining from a peak of c. 350 cumecs on 30 Oct to c. 140 cumecs on 2 Nov. We consider the islandcolony was relatively well protected from incursion by terrestrial predators at the beginning of nesting because there were 2 river channels, each c. 30–50 m wide and containing c. 80% of the river flow to the south of the island, and 2 channels c. 9–15 m wide on the north side each containing c. 10% of the flow (Fig. 1a). On 2 Nov the colony contained only 2 nests, each with 2 eggs, but we found 20 newly created empty scrapes. By 7 Nov there were 29 nests (6 with 1 egg, 22 with 2 eggs, and 1 newly created empty scrape). By 9 Nov river flows had declined considerably to c. 100 cumecs, and the 2 river channels to the north of the island were much smaller and shallower (3–7 m wide, 80–160 mm deep, velocity <0.01 m/s; Fig. 1b). On 9 Nov, when re-checking nest contents, we immediately came across carcasses of dead black-fronted terns. We systematically searched all 29 nests previously located and recorded their condition. Twelve nests (41%) showed direct signs of predation or interference. Six of these contained carcasses of dead adult birds (21%). We were able to determine where the cat first entered the colony as we could follow the direction of footprints left SHORT NOTE Notornis, 2010, Vol. 57: 43-47 0029-4470 © The Ornithological Society of New Zealand, Inc.
Random unitary matrices

Methods of constructing random matrices typical of circular unitary and circular orthogonal ensembles are presented. We generate numerically random unitary matrices and show that the statistical properties of their spectra (level-spacing distribution, number variance) and eigenvectors (entropy, participation ratio, eigenvector statistics) confer to the predictions of the random-matrix theory, for both CUE and COE.
Adaptive Bayesian Optimization for Organic Material Screening

Adaptive Bayesian Optimization for Organic Material Screening Sangwoong Yoon Interdisciplinary Program in Neuroscience The Graduate School Seoul National University Bayesian optimization (BO) is an efficient black-box optimization method which utilizes the power of statistical models built upon previously searched points. The efficacy of BO largely depends on the choice of the statistical model, but it is usually difficult to determine beforehand which model would yield the best optimization performance for a given task. This thesis investigates a modified problem setting for BO where multiple candidate surrogate functions are available, and experiments two novel strategies based on multi-armed bandit algorithms. The proposed strategies attempt to discriminate among the candidate models, and therefore referred as adaptive BO’s. The strategies are tested on optimization test bed functions, and the chemical screening scheduling problem where the issue of selecting a surrogate function to use become particularly salient. Surprisingly, it is discovered that the baseline strategy which blends multiple candidate functions uniform-randomly performs non-trivial performance. The results presented in the thesis shows that the relaxation of the number of surrogate functions in BO yields interesting dynamics.
A Class of Generalized Operator Equilibrium Problems

In this paper, we consider a class of generalized operator equilibrium problems and derive a Minty type lemma for this class of problems. Further, we establish some existence theorems for the generalized operator equilibrium problems. The theorems presented in this paper generalize and unify many well-known results in the litrature.
Pharmacological Interaction between Galphimine-A, a Natural Anxiolytic Compound and Gabaergic Drugs

Galphimia glauca is a plant species that has been used in mexican traditional Medicine for the treatment of central nervous system disorders. It was demonstrated that the standardized extract of G. glauca, by means of double-blind, controlled and randomized clinical studies, possesses therapeutic effectiveness in patients with generalized anxiety disorder. In the active extract, nor-secotriterpenes Galphimines, Galphimine-A (G-A) and Galphimine-B (G-B) are prominent for their anxiolytic effect. In the present work, the oral administration of different doses of G-A in ICR male mice submitted to the Elevated Plus Maze (EPM) test was capable of inducing a significant anxiolytic effect, while any of the doses modified the spontaneous motor activity of the mice in the Open Field Test (OFT). The administration of G-A (30 mg kgG, p.o.) in mice inhibited the anxiogenic effect of picrotoxin (PTX, 2 mg kgG, i.p.), but not of bicuculline (BCC, 5 mg kgG, i.p.) and pentylenetetrazole (PTZ, 10 mg kgG, i.p.) in the EPM. The combination of G-A with these drugs was evaluated by means of in vivo extracellular recordings in basolateral amygdala (BLA). A dose-dependent increase of the firing rate on BLA neurons was induced by the administration (i.v.) of different doses of G-A, while diazepam (DZP) decreased the firing rate. The co-administration of G-A with DZP or flumazenil (FMZ) did not modify the effect produced by these drugs on the firing rate. However, the co-administration of G-A modified the effect produced by PTX. The G-A was able to produce an anxiolytic effect when administered at different doses orally in mice, without inducing an associated sedative effect. Electrophysiological recordings showed that the effect produced by G-A is different of that of DZP and suggest that G-A do not interact directly with the GABAergic system (transmission mechanism for the g-aminobutyric acid-GABA), while it was able to modify the effect produced by PTX, BCC and Phaclofen evidencing a different action mechanism.
Modeling dust emission in the Magellanic Clouds with Spitzer and Herschel

Dust modeling is crucial to infer dust properties and budget for galaxy studies. However, there are systematic disparities between dust grain models that result in corresponding systematic differences in the inferred dust properties of galaxies. Quantifying these systematics requires a consistent fitting analysis. We compare the output dust parameters and assess the differences between two dust grain models, Compiegne et al (2011), and THEMIS (Jones et al 2013, Kohler et al 2015). In this study, we use a single fitting method applied to all the models to extract a coherent and unique statistical analysis. We fit the models to the dust emission seen by Spitzer and Herschel in the Small and Large Magellanic Clouds (SMC and LMC). The observations cover the infrared (IR) spectrum from a few microns to the sub-millimeter range. For each fitted pixel, we calculate the full n-D likelihood, based on the method described in Gordon et al (2014). The free parameters are both environmental ($U$, the interstellar radiation field strength; $\alpha_\mathrm{ISRF}$, power-law coefficient for a multi-U environment; $\Omega^*$, the starlight strength) and intrinsic to the model ($Y_\mathrm{i}$: abundances of the grain species $i$; $\alpha_\mathrm{sCM20}$, coefficient in the small carbon grain size distribution). Fractional residuals of 5 different sets of parameters show that fitting THEMIS brings a more accurate reproduction of the observations than the Compiegne model. However, independent variations of the dust species show strong model-dependencies. We find that the abundance of silicates can only be constrained to an upper-limit and the silicate/carbon ratio is different than that seen in our Galaxy. In the LMC, our fits result in dust masses slightly lower than those found in literature , by a factor lower than 2. In the SMC, we find dust masses in agreement with previous studies.
Children with Language Disorders or Late Bloomers – the problem of differential diagnosis

Communication problems are often the first noticeable symptom of developmental abnormalities. About 15% of children at the age of 2 years demonstrate a lower level of speech expression than their peers. Speech development disorders may constitute either symptoms of global developmental delay or only isolated difficulties. One of the main challenges for professionals dealing with early development support is recognizing whether a child whose linguistic competence differs significantly from that of their peers suffers from a specific language impairment, or whether they belong to the group of ‘late bloomers’ who at some point, without the intervention of a specialist, will achieve an appropriate level of communication skills. Although a differential diagnosis can be extremely difficult, the analysis of the literature leads to the conclusion that there are some markers that can aid a specialist in establishing an accurate diagnosis.
The Effect of Emission Information on Housing Prices in Germany

In this paper, we study the effect of the release of emission information on housing prices. The main event under study is the release of the first wave of data from the European Pollutant Release and Transfer Register (E-PRTR) publishing emission quantities for the reporting year 2007. We base our analysis on quarterly house prices at the German postal code level for the years 2004-2011 and provide, to the best of our knowledge, the first analysis outside the US on this research question. We estimate a differences-in-differences model and find no significant effect of the release of emission information on the value of houses in affected postal code areas when controlling for observable differences in land use, prevalence of housing types, tax revenues and other postal code area characteristics by means of propensity score matching. This result survives several robustness checks. We conclude that disclosing the first wave of E-PRTR emissions had no robust impact on housing prices.
THE EFFECT OF TRANSIENT ACCRETION ON THE SPIN-UP OF MILLISECOND PULSARS

A millisecond pulsar is a neutron star that has been substantially spun up by accretion from a binary companion. A previously unrecognized factor governing the spin evolution of such pulsars is the crucial effect of nonsteady or transient accretion. We numerically compute the evolution of accreting neutron stars through a series of outburst and quiescent phases, considering the drastic variation of the accretion rate and the standard disk–magnetosphere interaction. We find that, for the same long-term average accretion rate, X-ray transients can spin up pulsars to rates several times higher than can persistent accretors, even when the spin-down due to electromagnetic radiation during quiescence is included. We also compute an analytical expression for the equilibrium spin frequency in transients, by taking spin equilibrium to mean that no net angular momentum is transferred to the neutron star in each outburst cycle. We find that the equilibrium spin rate for transients, which depends on the peak accretion rate during outbursts, can be much higher than that for persistent sources. This explains our numerical finding. This finding implies that any meaningful study of neutron star spin and magnetic field distributions requires the inclusion of the transient accretion effect, since most accreting neutron star sources are transients. Our finding also implies the existence of a submillisecond pulsar population, which is not observed. This may point to the need for a competing spin-down mechanism for the fastest-rotating accreting pulsars, such as gravitational radiation.