Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A global checklist of the 932 fruit fly species in the tribe Dacini (Diptera, Tephritidae)

Abstract The correct application of the scientific names of species is neither easy nor trivial. Mistakes can lead to the wrong interpretation of research results or, when pest species are involved, inappropriate regulations and limits on trade, and possibly quarantine failures that permit the invasion of new pest species. Names are particularly challenging to manage when groups of organisms encompass a large number of species, when different workers employ different philosophical views, or when species are in a state of taxonomic flux. The fruit fly tribe Dacini is a species-rich taxon within Tephritidae and contains around a fifth of all known species in the family. About 10% of the 932 currently recognized species are pests of commercial fruits and vegetables, precipitating quarantines and trade embargos. Authoritative species lists consist largely of scattered regional treatments and outdated online resources. The checklist presented here is the first global overview of valid species names for the Dacini in almost two decades, and includes new lure records. By publishing this list both in paper and digitally, we aim to provide a resource for those studying fruit flies as well as researchers studying components of their impact on agriculture. The list is largely a consolidation of previous works, but following the results from recent phylogenetic work, we transfer one subgenus and eight species to different genera: members of the Bactrocera subgenus Javadacus Hardy, considered to belong to the Zeugodacus group of subgenera, are transferred to genus Zeugodacus; Bactrocera pseudocucurbitae White, 1999, stat. rev., is transferred back to Bactrocera from Zeugodacus; Zeugodacus arisanicus Shiraki, 1933, stat. rev., is transferred back to Zeugodacus from Bactrocera; and Z. brevipunctatus (David & Hancock, 2017), comb. n. ; Z. javanensis (Perkins, 1938), comb. n. ; Z. montanus (Hardy, 1983), comb. n. ; Z. papuaensis (Malloch, 1939), comb. n. ; Z. scutellarius (Bezzi, 1916), comb. n. ; Z. semisurstyli (Drew & Romig, 2013), comb. n. ; and Z. trilineatus (Hardy, 1955), comb. n. are transferred from Bactrocera to Zeugodacus.
Validity and reliability of a three-dimensional dental cast simulator for arch dimension measurements

Background: The accuracy and reproducibility of measurements in a locally made three dimensional (3D) simulator was assessed and compared with manual caliper measurements. Materials and Methods: A total of 20 casts were scanned by our laser scanner. Software capabilities included dimensional measurements, transformation and rotation of the cast as a whole, separation and rotation of each tooth and clip far. Two orthodontists measured the intercanine width, intermolar width and canine, molar and arch depth on the casts and in 3D simulator. For calculating the reliability coefficient and comparing random and systematic errors between the two methods, intra-class correlation coefficient of reliability (ICC), Dahlberg and paired t-test were used, respectively. The ICC and Dahlberg's formula were also applied to assess intra-examiner and inter-examiner reliability of measurements on the casts and in the simulator (P < 0.05). Results: Canine and molar depth measurements had low reliability on the casts. Reliability between methods for the remaining three variables was 0.87, 0.98 and 0.98 in the maxilla and 0.92, 0.77 and 0.94 in the mandible, respectively. The method error was between 0.31 and 0.48 mm. The mean intra-observer difference were 0.086 and 0.23 mm in the 3D method and caliper. The inter-observer differences were 0.21 and 0.42 mm, respectively. Conclusion: The maximum average absolute difference between the two methods was <0.5 mm, indicating that the new system is indeed clinically acceptable. The examiner reliability was higher in 3D measurements.
Studies on the cellular uptake of substance P and lysine‐rich, KLA‐derived model peptides

In the last decade many peptides have been shown to be internalized into various cell types by different, poorly characterized mechanisms. This review focuses on uptake studies with substance P (SP) aimed at unravelling the mechanism of peptide‐induced mast cell degranulation, and on the characterization of the cellular uptake of designed KLA‐derived model peptides.
Data-Mining Model Based Intelligent Differential Microgrid Protection Scheme

This paper presents a data-mining-based intelligent differential protection scheme for the microgrid. The proposed scheme preprocesses the faulted current and voltage signals using discrete Fourier transform and estimates the most affected sensitive features at both ends of the respective feeder. Furthermore, differential features are computed from the corresponding features at both ends of the feeder and are used to build the decision tree-based data-mining model for registering the final relaying decision. The proposed scheme is extensively validated for fault situations in the standard IEC microgrid model with wide variations in operating parameters for radial and mesh topology in grid-connected and islanded modes of operation. The extensive test results indicate that the proposed intelligent differential relaying scheme can be highly reliable in providing an effective protection measure for safe and secured microgrid operation.
The Roots of Islamist Armed Struggle

This contribution studies the influence of poor politico-economic factors, unfavorable demographic conditions, globalization and the perceived dependency of the Islamic world from the West on the onset of armed Islamist activity (i.e., Islamist terrorism and civil wars that involve Islamist groups) for 155 countries between 1968 and 2006. Its empirical findings show that the onset of Islamist conflict is robustly associated with the discrimination of Islamic minorities, military dependence from the U.S. and the availability of a large pool of potential recruits (i.e., a large, Muslim population). The presence of large (secular and possibly predatory) governments and external cultural influences only matter to the onset of Islamist terrorism but not to broader Islamist insurgencies. Poor economic conditions and authoritarianism share no association with the onset of either Islamist terrorism or civil war that involves Islamist groups. The latter findings imply that democratic reforms and economic development — while often advocated by policymakers — are rather ineffective in preventing Islamist violence.
Rapid and sensitive assay for fluconazole which uses gas chromatography with electron capture detection

Fluconazole, an orally active antifungal agent, has been shown to be clinically beneficial for maintenance therapy of cryptococcal meningitis. A sensitive gas-liquid chromatographic assay with electron capture detection, which required only a single extraction step and precluded any pretreatment of the chromatographic column, was developed for fluconazole. The assay was linear from 0.1 to 20 micrograms/ml, with a correlation coefficient of 0.999. The intraassay and interassay coefficients of variation were less than 9%. The measured values on average were within 8% of the target values. The extraction recoveries ranged from 87 to 106%. Steady-state plasma fluconazole levels (mean +/- standard deviation) in three AIDS patients with cryptococcal meningitis receiving 200 mg of fluconazole per day ranged from 8.95 +/- 1.32 to 11.41 +/- 0.63 micrograms/ml and were within the expected range for this dosing rate, on the basis of previous studies. The ratio of fluconazole concentration in cerebrospinal fluid to fluconazole concentration in plasma in one patient receiving 400 mg/day was 0.73 at steady state and was consistent with published reports.
Eyes first! Eye processing develops before face processing in children

Faces and eyes are critical social stimuli which adults process with ease, but how this expertise develops is not yet understood. Neural changes associated with face and eye processing were investigated developmentally using ERPs (N170), in 128 subjects (4–15 year olds and adults). Stimuli included upright faces to assess configural processing, eyes and inverted faces to assess feature-based processing. N170 was present in the youngest children with similar patterns of face sensitivity seen in adults. Development of N170 to upright faces continued until adulthood, suggesting slow maturation of configural processing. In contrast, N170 was shorter latency and much larger to eyes than faces in children and was mature by 11 years, suggesting the early presence of an eye detector, with a rapid maturational course.
Tracking Cholera through Surveillance of Oral Rehydration Solution Sales at Pharmacies: Insights from Urban Bangladesh

Background In Bangladesh, pharmacy-purchased oral rehydration solution (ORS) is often used to treat diarrhea, including cholera. Over-the-counter sales have been used for epidemiologic surveillance in the past, but rarely, if ever, in low-income countries. With few early indicators for cholera outbreaks in endemic areas, diarrhea-related product sales may serve as a useful surveillance tool. Methodology/Principal Findings We tracked daily ORS sales at 50 pharmacies and drug-sellers in an urban Bangladesh community of 129,000 for 6-months while simultaneously conducting surveillance for diarrhea hospitalizations among residents. We developed a mobile phone based system to track the sales of ORS and deployed it in parallel with a paper-based system. Our objectives were to determine if the mobile phone system was practical and acceptable to pharmacists and drug sellers, whether data were reported accurately compared to a paper-based system, and whether ORS sales were associated with future incidence of cholera hospitalizations within the community. We recorded 47,215 customers purchasing ORS, and 315 hospitalized diarrhea cases, 22% of which had culture-confirmed cholera. ORS sales and diarrhea incidence were independently associated with the mean daily temperature; therefore both unadjusted and adjusted models were explored. Through unadjusted cross-correlation statistics and generalized linear models, we found increases in ORS sales were significantly associated with increases in hospitalized diarrhea cases up to 9-days later and hospitalized cholera cases up to one day later. After adjusting for mean daily temperature, ORS was significantly associated with hospitalized diarrhea two days later and hospitalized cholera one day later. Conclusions/Significance Pharmacy sales data may serve as a feasible and useful surveillance tool. Given the relatively short lagged correlation between ORS sales and diarrhea, rapid and accurate sales data are key. More work is needed in creating actionable algorithms that make use of this data and in understanding the generalizability of our findings to other settings.
L2 multiple nominal feature agreement in German: the acquisition of grammatical gender in a formal environment

Abstract This work reports on accuracy in grammatical gender marking by Italian adults learning German in a formal environment. It aims at investigating whether adult speakers of a [+gender] language who are acquiring a [+gender] L2 language can master a complex gender agreement system given the crucial role played either by other morphosyntactic features in the L2 nominal inflection. Moreover, it explores the role that L2 input (formal instruction; access to the L2 outside classroom activities) may (not) have in this particular domain of language acquisition. Findings indicate that L1 transfer – the fact that [gender] is morphologically realized in both languages although the Italian system is not congruent to the German one – and formal instruction do not play a crucial role in the population investigated for this study. Overall, results show that acquiring lexical gender seems to be possible from early on, whereas mastering more complex agreement configurations where multiple morphosyntactic factors interact on gender marking on nominal elements is problematic even if the category gender is present in the L1.
Dynamic relationship between tourism and economic growth in MERCOSUR countries: a nonlinear approach based on asymmetric time series models

Since 1995 the four MERCOSUR countries have gone through the path of economic integration; however, they have dissimilar situations in terms of economic growth and, particularly, in the degree of development of the tourism sector. Brida et al. (2015) analyzed the validity of the Tourism Led Growth Hypothesis (TLGH) for these countries and demonstrated that the relationship between tourism and economic growth is not linear for Argentina and Brazil. However, the authors did not specify the format of the nonlinearity. The present research moves in that direction and explores about the identity of these nonlinearities. The research is based on the methodology which combines the concepts of cointegration with the asymmetric adjustment thresholds. The results allow explaining the nonlinearity in the case of Brazil, which is modeled on the dynamics of the adjustment from transitory situations of disequilibrium between tourism and growth. It is shown that an M-TAR adjustment mechanism is which best describes this behavior.
Tree Cavity-Using Wildlife and the Potential of Artificial Nest Boxes for Wildlife Management in New Guinea

Little is known of the frequency of use and reliance upon tree cavities by wildlife, nor the natural availability of cavities in New Guinea forests. We surveyed the literature for records of cavity use by birds and mammals in New Guinea. We examined every standing tree on one hectare of primary forest and one hectare of secondary forest for cavities, then carefully assessed every tree for cavities after they were felled. We put up 190 artificial nest boxes of five designs in three sites and monitored occupancy. At least 50 species (23.6%) of New Guinea terrestrial mammals and 118 species (17.7%) of non-marine or aquatic bird species are recorded in the literature as using tree cavities. Ground observation identified 36 suspected cavities in a hectare of lowland primary forest and 10 in nearby secondary forest. Upon inspection of all trees after felling, these figures changed to 26 and 0 respectively. Ground censuses are not accurate. Cavities were more commonly found in large trees. In less than a year, nest box occupancy reached exceeded 33%, with Phalanger spp. and Sugar gliders, Petaurus breviceps, being most common. Some bird use was detected by the presence of feathers; snakes and geckos were also found in boxes. Occupancy increased with time and would probably be higher after a second year. The larger boxes had greater occupancy, as did boxes placed higher in the trees. Bees occupied and probably excluded other users from 10% of boxes. As Papuan forests are disturbed by logging, hunting practices and gardening, conservationists might need to manage practices to ensure cavity availability. Artificial nest boxes might have utility for wildlife conservation and research.
Choroid Plexus and Aquaporin-1: A Novel Explanation of Cerebrospinal Fluid Production

Aquaporins are selective water channel proteins that play a central role in the homeostasis of human body water. The choroid plexus (CP) is considered to be the main cerebrospinal fluid (CSF)-producing structure. In this study, six specimens of normal human CP obtained during surgery were analyzed by immunohistochemistry techniques for aquaporin-1 (AQP1) expression and distribution. Intense, uniformly distributed AQP1 immunostaining was observable in the apical but not the basolateral side of cuboid cells of the CP. Moreover, this polarized expression of AQP1 was weakly detectable in the endothelial cells of choroid microvessels and, with a different pattern, in the cells lining the tubules shaped into crypts. Selective AQP1 expression on the surface of the normal human CP might explain the role of CSF production by this complex structure.
Iloprost treatment in patients with Raynaud's phenomenon secondary to systemic sclerosis and the quality of life: a new therapeutic protocol.

OBJECTIVES To evaluate the clinical efficacy and the effects on the quality of life of iloprost, a prostacyclin analogue, used according to a new protocol in patients with Raynaud's phenomenon secondary to systemic sclerosis. METHODS In this randomized study, we treated 30 patients with iloprost, given by intravenous infusion, at progressively increasing doses (from 0.5 to 2 ng/kg/min) over a period of 6 h each day for 10 days in two consecutive weeks, with repeated cycles at regular intervals of 3 months for 18 months. The results were compared with those obtained in 30 other patients who received the same drug but with different dosing schemes. RESULTS The total average daily duration of the attacks, the average duration of a single attack and the average daily frequency of the attacks were reduced significantly in all treatment groups, but the comparison between the groups demonstrated significant differences between patients treated with the new protocol and the others at later times (12 and 18 months). The effects on the quality of life in the group treated with the new protocol, evaluated with the Short Form-36, demonstrated a marked improvement regarding both the scale relating to the physical aspect of the illness and, especially, the scale relating to the mental aspect. CONCLUSIONS In patients with systemic sclerosis, cyclic intravenous iloprost infusion is efficacious in the treatment of Raynaud's phenomenon. The protocol that we used, compared with others, not only has favourable clinical effects but also leads to a marked improvement in the quality of life.
Radioactivity concentrations and dose assessment for soil samples around nuclear power plant IV in Taiwan

Activity concentrations and distributions of natural and man-made radionuclides in soil samples collected around nuclear power plant IV, Taiwan, were investigated for five years to assess the environmental radioactivity and characterisation of radiological hazard prior to commercial operation. The activity concentrations of radionuclides were determined via gamma-ray spectrometry using an HPGe detector. Data obtained show that the average concentrations of the 238U and 232Th series, and 40K, were within world median ranges in the UNSCEAR report. The 137Cs ranged from 2.46 ± 0.55 to 12.13 ± 1.31 Bq kg−1. The terrestrial absorbed dose rate estimated by soil activity and directly measured with a thermoluminescence dosemeter (excluding cosmic rays), and the annual effective doses, were 45.63, 57.34 nGy h−1 and 57.19 µSv, respectively. Experimental results were compared with international recommended values. Since the soil in this area is an important building material, the mean radium equivalent activity, external and inhalation hazard indices and the representative level index using various models given in the literature for the study area were 98.18 Bq kg−1, 0.27, 0.34 and 0.73, respectively, which were below the recommended limits. Analytical results demonstrate that no radiological anomaly exists. The baseline data will prove useful and important in estimating the collective dose near the new nuclear power plant under construction in Taiwan.
Identification of human dopamine D1-like receptor agonist using a cell-based functional assay

AbstractAim:To establish a cell-based assay to screen human dopamine D1 and D5 receptor agonists against compounds from a natural product compound library.Methods:Synthetic responsive elements 6×cAMP response elements (CRE) and a mini promoter containing a TATA box were inserted into the pGL3 basic vector to generate the reporter gene construct pCRE/TA/Luci. CHO cells were co-transfected with the reporter gene construct and human D1 or D5 receptor cDNA in mammalian expression vectors. Stable cell lines were established for agonist screening. A natural product compound library from over 300 herbs has been established. The extracts from these herbs were used for human D1 and D5 receptor agonist screenings.Results:A number of extracts were identified that activated both D1 and D5 receptors. One of the herb extracts, SBG492, demonstrated distinct pharmacological characteristics with human D1 and D5 receptors. The EC50 values of SBG492 were 342.7 μg/mL for the D1 receptor and 31.7 μg/mL for the D5 receptor.Conclusion:We have established a cell-based assay for high-throughput drug screening to identify D1-like receptor agonists from natural products. Several extracts that can active D1-like receptors were discovered. These compounds could be useful tools for studies on the functions of these receptors in the brain and could potentially be developed into therapeutic drugs for the treatment of central nervous system diseases.
Expression of apoptosis-related proteins bcl-2 and bax in tumor infiltrating dendritic cells in human endometrial cancer

The purpose of this study was to investigate changes in apoptosis-related proteins bcl-2 and bax on tumor infiltrating dendritic cells (TIDCs) in human endometrial cancer. Expression of bcl-2 and bax proteins in TIDCs of 52 patients with human endometrial cancer were studied by double-labeling immunehistochemistry and image analysis, respectively. 28 cases of normal endometria served as control. DCs in these specimens were labeled by S-100 monoclonal antibody. Statistically significant differences (P<0.05) in bcl-2 and bax proteins expression were noticed on TIDCs in human endometrial cancer when compared to normal endometrium. The levels of expression of bcl-2 on TIDCs in human endometrial cancer were significantly lower compared to those on DCs in normal endometrium (P<0.05). The intensity of bax on DCs was considerably higher in human endometrial cancer compared to that in normal endometrium (P<0.05). Taken together, the data suggest that those apoptosis-related proteins bcl-2 and bax on TIDCs in human endometrial cancer are unbalanced. Therefore, the changes may lead to the occurrence of tumor immune escape, which promotes the evolution of endometrial cancer.
The activation antigen CD69

One of the earliest cell surface antigens expressed by T cells following activation is CD69, which is detectable within one h of ligation of the T cell receptor/CD3 complex. Once expressed, CD69 acts as a costimulatory molecule for T cell activation and proliferation. In addition to mature T cells, CD69 is inducibly expressed by immature thymocytes, B cells, natural killer (NK) cells, monocytes, neutrophils and eosinophils, and is constitutively expressed by mature thymocytes and platelets. Recently, cDNA clones encoding human and mouse CD69 were isolated and showed CD69 to be a member of the C‐type lectin super‐family. Gene mapping studies have placed CD69 on distal mouse chromosome 6 and human chromosome 12p13, close to, if not in, the NK gene complex. The structure, chromosomal localization, expression and function of CD69 suggest that it is likely a pleiotropic immune regulator, potentially important not only in NK cell function but also in the activation and differentiation of a wide variety of hematopoietic cells.
Citizen centric assessment framework for e-governance services quality

Citizen-centric e-governance services are essential to enhance the quality of life of citizens while ensuring citizen empowerment. The present study proposes a framework of assessing quality of e-governance services from the citizens' perspective to find out the degree of its quality impacting citizen satisfaction. The framework is validated through primary data collected from 213 respondents. Confirmatory factor analysis and structured equation modelling are employed to validate the model. The results depict quality of e-governance service and the information being disseminated to the citizens' impact on their satisfaction significantly. The study contributes a parsimonious model that can significantly contribute in future theoretical advances in e-governance quality assessment. The findings can bridge the gap between government initiatives and citizens' needs. Thus, designing high quality e-governance services while keeping the needs and expectations of citizen in focus translates its functional efficacy.