Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The evolutionary history of dogs in the Americas

Lineage losses for man's best friend Dogs have been present in North America for at least 9000 years. To better understand how present-day breeds and populations reflect their introduction to the New World, Ní Leathlobhair et al. sequenced the mitochondrial and nuclear genomes of ancient dogs (see the Perspective by Goodman and Karlsson). The earliest New World dogs were not domesticated from North American wolves but likely originated from a Siberian ancestor. Furthermore, these lineages date back to a common ancestor that coincides with the first human migrations across Beringia. This lineage appears to have been mostly replaced by dogs introduced by Europeans, with the primary extant lineage remaining as a canine transmissible venereal tumor. Science, this issue p. 81; see also p. 27 Ancient North American dogs survive primarily as a canine transmissible venereal tumor. Dogs were present in the Americas before the arrival of European colonists, but the origin and fate of these precontact dogs are largely unknown. We sequenced 71 mitochondrial and 7 nuclear genomes from ancient North American and Siberian dogs from time frames spanning ~9000 years. Our analysis indicates that American dogs were not derived from North American wolves. Instead, American dogs form a monophyletic lineage that likely originated in Siberia and dispersed into the Americas alongside people. After the arrival of Europeans, native American dogs almost completely disappeared, leaving a minimal genetic legacy in modern dog populations. The closest detectable extant lineage to precontact American dogs is the canine transmissible venereal tumor, a contagious cancer clone derived from an individual dog that lived up to 8000 years ago.
The Design and Evaluation of an Ergonomic Contactless Gesture Control System for Industrial Robots

In industrial human-robot collaboration, variability commonly exists in the operation environment and the components, which induces uncertainty and error that require frequent manual intervention for rectification. Conventional teach pendants can be physically demanding to use and require user training prior to operation. Thus, a more effective control interface is required. In this paper, the design and evaluation of a contactless gesture control system using Leap Motion is described. The design process involves the use of RULA human factor analysis tool. Separately, an exploratory usability test was conducted to compare three usability aspects between the developed gesture control system and an off-the-shelf conventional touchscreen teach pendant. This paper focuses on the user-centred design methodology of the gesture control system. The novelties of this research are the use of human factor analysis tools in the human-centred development process, as well as the gesture control design that enable users to control industrial robot’s motion by its joints and tool centre point position. The system has potential to use as an input device for industrial robot control in a human-robot collaboration scene. The developed gesture control system was targeting applications in system recovery and error correction in flexible manufacturing environment shared between humans and robots. The system allows operators to control an industrial robot without the requirement of significant training.
Setbacks and promises for drugs against Alzheimer's disease

EMBO Reports (2018) e46714 A diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a devastating experience, both for patients and their families. The most common type of dementia, AD, slowly builds up in the brain, creeping in the parts that control memory, thought, and language, and ultimately destroys the patient's ability to interact with the human and physical environment. About 50 million people in the world suffer from dementia, and the number is set to triplicate by 2050 (Fig 1). As the risk of AD rapidly increases beyond the age of 65, and as the human population is aging, much of the forecasted increase of people with dementia will take place in low‐ and middle‐income countries, according to the World Health Organization (Fig 1). Given the increasing prevalence and the severity of AD, enormous financial and human resources—both public and private—have been devoted to finding a cure; in addition, a successful drug would reap immense revenues. So far, however, scientists still do not fully understand the causes of the disease, and treatment is mainly focused at slowing or delaying symptoms to help patients maintain their mental functions. Figure 1. Dementia, a public health priority WHO infographic about the symptoms of dementia, the cause, the number of people affected and its cost.Source: World Health Organization. Reproduced with permission. The hallmark of AD is the accumulation of extracellular plaques from amyloid‐β (Aβ) protein—which is derived from a membrane protein called amyloid precursor protein (APP)—and of intracellular neurofibrillary tangles of tau protein in brain cells (Fig 2). These aggregates gradually lead to neuron loss, synaptic dysfunction, and progressive cognitive degeneration (Fig 3). This so‐called amyloid cascade hypothesis has been the reference point for most research and drug development. Most attempts to slow the progression of the disease or to revert its effects target the amyloid‐β and tau proteins to prevent …
Phenotypic plasticity and local adaptation favor range expansion of a Neotropical palm

Abstract One of the most intriguing questions in plant ecology is which evolutionary strategy allows widely distributed species to increase their ecological range and grow in changing environmental conditions. Phenotypic plasticity and local adaptations are major processes governing species range margins, but little is known about their relative contribution for tree species distribution in tropical forest regions. We investigated the relative role of phenotypic plasticity and local adaptation in the ecological distribution of the widespread palm Euterpe edulis in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest. Genetic sampling and experiments were performed in old‐growth remnants of two forest types with higher (Seasonal Semideciduous Forests vs. Submontane Rainforest) and lower biogeographic association and environmental similarities (Submontane Rainforest vs. Restinga Forest). We first assessed the molecular genetic differentiation among populations, focusing on the group of loci potentially under selection in each forest, using single‐nucleotide polymorphism (SNPs) outliers. Further, we looked for potential adaptive divergence among populations in a common garden experiment and in reciprocal transplants for two plant development phases: seedling establishment and sapling growth. Analysis with outlier loci indicated that all individuals from the Semideciduous Forest formed a single group, while another group was formed by overlapping individuals from Submontane Rainforest and Restinga Forest. Molecular differentiation was corroborated by reciprocal transplants, which yielded strong evidence of local adaptations for seedling establishment in the biogeographically divergent Rainforest and Semideciduous Forest, but not for Restinga Forest and Submontane Rainforest. Phenotypic plasticity for palm seedling establishment favors range expansion to biogeographically related or recently colonized forest types, while persistence in the newly colonized ecosystem may be favored by local adaptations if climatic conditions diverge over time, reducing gene flow between populations. SNPs obtained by next‐generation sequencing can help exploring adaptive genetic variation in tropical trees, which impose several challenges to the use of reciprocal transplants.
Recovery‐oriented practice: Participant observations of the interactions between patients and health professionals in mental health inpatient settings

Despite an increasing attention towards recovery orientation in the mental health services, the provision of recovery-oriented practice is challenged in the inpatient wards. Moreover, the existing research within this area is modest and we currently have limited knowledge of how recovery-oriented practice is integrated into inpatient settings. A cornerstone of recovery-oriented practice is the collaboration, patient involvement, and choices, particularly when deciding and planning treatment options. Thus, this ethnographic study aimed to explore how recovery-oriented practice is reflected in the interactions between patients and health professionals around treatment in two mental health inpatient wards in Denmark. Participant observations were conducted in two mental health inpatient wards from November 2014 to January 2015. The Recovery Self-Assessment scale inspired the observation guide and the initial data analysis. Field notes were analysed deductively and inductively using qualitative content analysis. One theme with four subthemes emerged showing that interactions were characterized by an 'as-if collaboration' where 'negotiating on limited grounds' was an important feature of interactions, in which health professionals seemed to have superiority, acting on behalf of 'competing demands'. Patients had to navigate in a field of 'inconsistent guidance and postponed decisions' and faced tendencies of 'control and condescending communication'. The results suggest that recovery oriented values such as equal collaboration, choice and patients' personal preferences are reflected rhetorically in the interactions between patients and health professionals. However, they are negotiated within organizational logics and often overruled by competing demands.
B lymphocyte subsets and outcomes in patients with an initial diagnosis of transient hypogammaglobulinemia of infancy

Transient hypogammaglobulinemia of infancy (THI) is a common immunodeficiency, but definitive diagnosis can only be made retrospectively. While the pathogenesis is still unknown, abnormalities have been reported in the B cell compartment. In this study, we analysed the B cell subsets of patients with an initial THI diagnosis (n = 20) and compared them with those of healthy age‐matched Turkish children (n = 72).
Tetralogy of Fallot With Absent Pulmonary Valve and Nonconfluent Pulmonary Arteries: A Management Conundrum

Tetralogy of Fallot with absent pulmonary valve syndrome is a rare form of congenital heart disease. Among the different variations with this rare anomaly is nonconfluent pulmonary artery branches with anomalous origin of the left pulmonary artery from the ductus arteriosus. The authors present one such case which was diagnosed prenatally to have tetralogy of Fallot with absent pulmonary valve and identified postnatally to have nonconfluent pulmonary artery branches in addition. We discuss the conundrum of respiratory management in this patient pre- and postoperatively due to a unique ventilation perfusion mismatch problem, which varies between the two lungs.
An Incremental Construction of Deep Neuro Fuzzy System for Continual Learning of Nonstationary Data Streams

Existing fuzzy neural networks (FNNs) are mostly developed under a shallow network configuration having lower generalization power than those of deep structures. This article proposes a novel self-organizing deep FNN, namely deep evolving fuzzy neural network (DEVFNN). Fuzzy rules can be automatically extracted from data streams or removed if they play limited role during their lifespan. The structure of the network can be deepened on demand by stacking additional layers using a drift detection method, which not only detects the covariate drift, variations of input space, but also accurately identifies the real drift, dynamic changes of both feature space and target space. The DEVFNN is developed under the stacked generalization principle via the feature augmentation concept, where a recently developed algorithm, namely generic classifier, drives the hidden layer. It is equipped by an automatic feature selection method, which controls activation and deactivation of input attributes to induce varying subsets of input features. A deep network simplification procedure is put forward using the concept of hidden layer merging to prevent the uncontrollable growth of dimensionality of input space due to the nature of the feature augmentation approach in building a deep network structure. The DEVFNN works in the samplewise fashion and is compatible for data stream applications. The efficacy of the DEVFNN has been thoroughly evaluated using seven datasets with nonstationary properties under the prequential test-then-train protocol. It has been compared with four popular continual learning algorithms and its shallow counterpart, where the DEVFNN demonstrates improvement of classification accuracy. Moreover, it is also shown that the concept of the drift detection method is an effective tool to control the depth of the network structure, while the hidden layer merging scenario is capable of simplifying the network complexity of a deep network with negligible compromise of generalization performance.
Cerebrovascular reactivity and cerebral perfusion of rats with acute liver failure: role of L‐glutamine and asymmetric dimethylarginine in L‐arginine‐induced response

Cerebral blood flow (CBF) is impaired in acute liver failure (ALF), however, the complexity of the underlying mechanisms has often led to inconclusive interpretations. Regulation of CBF depends at least partially on variations in the local brain L‐arginine concentration and/or its metabolic rate. In ALF, other factors, like an increased concentration of asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA), an endogenous nitric oxide synthase inhibitor and elevated level of L‐glutamine, may contribute to CBF alteration. This study demonstrated strong differences in the reactivity of the middle cerebral arteries and their response to extravascular L‐arginine application between vessels isolated from rats with thioacetamide (TAA)‐induced ALF and control animals. Our results also showed the decrease in the cerebral perfusion in TAA rats measured by arterial spin labeling perfusion magnetic resonance. Subsequently, we aimed to investigate the importance of balance between the concentration of ADMA and L‐arginine in the CBF regulation. In vivo, intraperitoneal L‐arginine administration in TAA rats corrected: (i) decrease in cerebral perfusion, (ii) decrease in brain extracellular L‐arginine/ADMA ratio and (iii) increase in brain L‐glutamine concentration. Our study implicates that impaired vascular tone of cerebral arteries is most likely associated with exposure to high ADMA and L‐glutamine levels resulting in limited availability of L‐arginine and might be responsible for reduced cerebral perfusion observed in ALF.
Activity rhythm and action range of workers of the invasive hornet predator of honeybees Vespa velutina, measured by radio frequency identification tags

Abstract In social insects, the activity rhythm of foragers and their action range determinate the activity of the colony. In vespids, which are mostly predators, the foraging range of workers determines their maximum predation pressure round the nest. One of these species, Vespa velutina, a recently invasive species introduced into Europe, exerts a strong predation on honeybees at the hive. Therefore, the definition of its activity rhythm and spatial range of predation is of primary importance. Using radio frequency identification tags (RFID), two experiments were carried out to (a) determine their return ability (called homing) in releasing 318 individuals at different distance from their colony and (b) monitor their foraging activity rhythm and the duration of their flights based on 71 individuals followed 24 hr/24 during 2 months. The homing ability of V. velutina was evaluated to be up to 5,000 m and was not affected by the cardinal orientation of release point. The lag time to return to the nest increased with the distance of release. Most of the flight activity took place between 07:00 a.m. and 08:00 p.m. , hornets doing principally short flights of less than an hour. Foraging range was thus estimated ca. 1,000 m around the nest. This study of V. velutina assisted by RFID tags provides for the first time a baseline for its potential foraging distance that increase our knowledge of this species to (a) refine more accurately models for risk assessment and (b) define security perimeter for early detection of predation on invasion front.
Multi-classifier model for software fault prediction

Prediction of fault prone module prior to testing is an emerging activity for software organizations to allocate targeted resource for development of reliable software. These software fault prediction depend on the quality of fault and related code extracted from previous versions of software. This paper, presents a novel framework by combining multiple expert machine learning systems. The proposed multi-classifier model takes the benefits of best classifiers in deciding the faulty modules of software system with consensus prior to testing. An experimental comparison is performed with various outperformer classifiers in the area of fault prediction. We evaluate our approach on 16 public dataset from promise repository which consists of National Aeronautics and Space Administration( NASA) Metric Data Program (MDP) projects and Turkish software projects. The experimental result shows that our multi classifier approach which is the combination of Support Vector Machine (SVM), Naive Bayes (NB) and Random forest machine significantly improves the performance of software fault prediction.
Ghrelin Stimulates Endothelial Cells Angiogenesis through Extracellular Regulated Protein Kinases (ERK) Signaling Pathway

Adipose tissue is hyper-vascularized. Vessels in adipose tissue not only supply nutrients and oxygen to nourish adipocytes, but also provide cytokines that regulate mass and function of adipose tissue. Understanding the fundamental mechanisms how vessels modulate adipocyte functions would provide new therapeutic options for treatment of metabolic disease and obesity. In recent years, researches about ghrelin are focused on glucose and lipid metabolism, but its effect on vascular function remains uncharacterized. In the present study, ghrelin receptor gene deletion mice (Ghsr−/− mice) were used to study ghrelin-regulated vascular metabolism in white adipose tissue. Ghsr−/− mice demonstrated lower food intake, lower body weight, and resistance to high-fat diet-induced obesity. The number of vessels in white adipose tissue was decreased in Ghsr−/− mice when compared with wild type mice fed with high-fat diet. To further define ghrelin effects in vitro, we used endothelial progenitor cells from wild type and Ghsr−/− mice as well as human umbilical vein endothelial cells in our experiments. We found that ghrelin stimulated endothelial cells angiogenesis and migration through the MEK-ERK signaling pathway. [d-Lys3]-GHRP-6 and PD98059 could reverse the effects of ghrelin on endothelial cells. Our study indicates that ghrelin activates its receptor on endothelial cells to promote angiogenesis and migration via a mechanism involving the extracellular regulated protein kinases (ERK) signaling pathway.
Theoretical Analysis for Bending of Single-Stranded DNA Adsorption on Microcantilever Sensors

An energy-based model is presented to establish the bending deformation of microcantilever beams induced by single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) adsorption. The total free energy of the DNA-microcantilever sensor was obtained by considering the excluded-volume energy and the polymer stretching energy of DNA chains from mean-field theory, and the mechanical energy of three non-biological layers. The radius of curvature and deflection of the cantilever were determined through the minimum principle of energy. The efficiency of the present model was confirmed through comparison with experimental data. The effects of length, grafting density, salt concentration, thickness, and elastic modulus of substrate on tip deflections are also discussed in this paper. These factors can significantly affect the deflections of the biosensor. This work demonstrates that it is useful to develop a theoretical model for the label-free nanomechanical detection technique.
Apoptosis and epicardial contributions act as complementary factors in remodeling of the atrioventricular canal myocardium and atrioventricular conduction patterns in the embryonic chick heart

Background: During heart development, it has been hypothesized that apoptosis of atrioventricular canal myocardium and replacement by fibrous tissue derived from the epicardium are imperative to develop a mature atrioventricular conduction. To test this, apoptosis was blocked using an established caspase inhibitor and epicardial growth was delayed using the experimental epicardial inhibition model, both in chick embryonic hearts. Results: Chicken embryonic hearts were either treated with the peptide caspase inhibitor zVAD‐fmk by intrapericardial injection in ovo (ED4) or underwent epicardial inhibition (ED2.5). Spontaneously beating embryonic hearts isolated (ED7–ED8) were then stained with voltage‐sensitive dye Di‐4‐ANEPPS and imaged at 0.5–1 kHz. Apoptotic cells were quantified (ED5–ED7) by whole‐mount LysoTracker Red and anti‐active caspase 3 staining. zVAD‐treated hearts showed a significantly increased proportion of immature (base to apex) activation patterns at ED8, including ventricular activation originating from the right atrioventricular junction, a pattern never observed in control hearts. zVAD‐treated hearts showed decreased numbers of apoptotic cells in the atrioventricular canal myocardium at ED7. Hearts with delayed epicardial outgrowth showed also increased immature activation patterns at ED7.5 and ED8.5. However, the ventricular activation always originated from the left atrioventricular junction. Histological examination showed no changes in apoptosis rates, but a diminished presence of atrioventricular sulcus tissue compared with controls. Conclusions: Apoptosis in the atrioventricular canal myocardium and controlled replacement of this myocardium by epicardially derived HCN4‐/Trop1‐ sulcus tissue are essential determinants of mature ventricular activation pattern. Disruption can lead to persistence of accessory atrioventricular connections, forming a morphological substrate for ventricular pre‐excitation. Developmental Dynamics 247:1033‐1042, 2018. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Convergence between the microcosms of Southeast Asian and North American pitcher plants

The ‘pitchers’ of carnivorous pitcher plants are exquisite examples of convergent evolution. An open question is whether the living communities housed in pitchers also converge in structure or function. Using samples from more than 330 field-collected pitchers of eight species of Southeast Asian Nepenthes and six species of North American Sarracenia, we demonstrate that the pitcher microcosms, or miniature ecosystems with complex communities, are strikingly similar. Compared to communities from surrounding habitats, pitcher communities house fewer species. While communities associated with the two genera contain different microbial organisms and arthropods, the species are predominantly from the same phylogenetic clades. Microbiomes from both genera are enriched in degradation pathways and have high abundances of key degradation enzymes. Moreover, in a manipulative field experiment, Nepenthes pitchers placed in a North American bog assembled Sarracenia-like communities. An understanding of the convergent interactions in pitcher microcosms facilitates identification of selective pressures shaping the communities.