Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
What Hanuman langur males know about female reproductive status

In species with a high risk of infanticide, a conflict of interest exists between the sexes over the amount of paternity information that is available to males. While females are expected to keep males unaware of their reproductive status in order to confuse paternity, selection should favor those male traits that enhance the males' assessment of female status and consequently of paternity probability. In Hanuman langurs (Semnopithecus entellus), a species that is extremely vulnerable to infanticide, females have been shown to successfully conceal the exact timing of ovulation from males‐‐perhaps because they exhibit no sexual swelling and mate during all reproductive phases, including gestation. Nevertheless, it remains unclear whether males have hitherto unrecognized information about females' reproductive condition on a broader level that could still enhance male reproductive success. We investigated male assessment of female reproductive states in a population of wild Hanuman langurs as indicated by changes in male behavior, such as rates of copulations, anogenital inspections, and consortships, in relation to different female receptive periods (pregnant, fertile‐nonconceptional, and conceptional). Our data indicate that males were able to discern qualitatively distinct reproductive states. Males were more interested in fertile than pregnant females, as indicated by higher copulation rates. Based on consortships, males distinguished fertile from nonfertile phases, as well as fertile, nonconceptional receptive periods from conceptional ones. Hanuman langur males are thus not as unaware of female reproductive condition as previously thought, supporting the idea of an ongoing battle of the sexes over paternity information. However, granting some knowledge while at the same time concealing the exact day of ovulation may also reflect a pure female strategy of balancing paternity concentration with paternity confusion, which is the most likely strategy in this system with high infanticide risk and male defense of infants. Am. J. Primatol. 68:701–712, 2006. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Cross-reactions between Legionella pneumophila (serogroup 1) and twenty-eight other bacterial species, including other members of the family Legionellaceae

Cross-reactions between Legionella pneumophila serogroup 1 and 28 other bacterial species were studied by various quantitative immunoelectrophoretic techniques. A sonicated L. pneumophila antigen and purified homologous rabbit antibody were used as a reference system. Few antigens (0 to 6) cross-reacted with non-Legionellaceae, but two were found in nearly all gram-negative bacteria tested (antigens no. 1 and 66). Antigen no. 66 of the L. pneumophila reference system was shown to be antigenically similar to the "common antigen" of Pseudomonas aeruginosa reported in many gram-negative bacteria. Greater than 85% of the antigens from L. pneumophila serogroup 1 cross-reacted with the other six serogroups of L. pneumophila. By contrast, Fluoribacter (Legionella) bozemanae, F. (L.) dumoffii, F. (L.) gormanii, and Tatlockia (Legionella) micdadei cross-reacted with only 45, 53, 39, and 43% of the reference system antigens, respectively. The antigenic relatedness of members of the Legionellaceae, expressed as a matching coefficient, is discussed in terms of its taxonomic significance. Serogroup-, genus-, and family-specific antigens are identified in the L. pneumophila reference system.
Size, Shape, and Low Energy Electronic Structure of Carbon Nanotubes

A theory of the long-wavelength low-energy electronic structure of graphite-derived nanotubules is presented. The propagating {pi} electrons are described by wrapping a massless two dimensional Dirac Hamiltonian onto a curved surface. The effects of the tubule size, shape, and symmetry are included through an effective vector potential which we derive for this model. The rich gap structure for all straight single wall cylindrical tubes is obtained analytically in this theory, and the effects of inhomogeneous shape deformations on nominally metallic armchair tubes are analyzed. {copyright} {ital 1997} {ital The American Physical Society}
Impact of postharvest prohexadione calcium treatment on PAL activity in tomato fruit in response to chilling stress

Freshly harvested tomato fruit (Solanum lycopersicum) were pre-treated with 0, 50, and 100 µM prohexadione-calcium (Pro-Ca) and then stored at 1 °C for 21 days to investigate the effect of Pro-Ca treatment on electrolyte leakage (EL), malondialdehyde (MDA), proline and total phenols contents, and activity of phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL) in relation to chilling injury (CI). Treatment with Pro-Ca, without significant difference between two applied concentrations, mitigated chilling injury, reduced EL and MDA content and increased proline content. Also, our results indicated that during storage time fruits treated with Pro-Ca exhibited significantly higher PAL activity, but total phenols content was not significantly affected by Pro-Ca treatments. These results suggested that Pro-Ca protects tomato fruit from CI by activation of PAL enzyme, enhancing proline contents and reducing MDA content, and thus maintaining membrane integrity.
Effect of Glucose and Adenosine Phosphates on Production of Extracellular Carbohvdrases of Alternaria solanil

Production of carbohydrases by Alternaria solani is inhibited by glucose under low growth conditions. In an enriched medium, glucose has little effect on the production of polygalacturonase and cellulase while it still suppresses production of 8-glucosidase. Low levels of all three enzymes were produced in the absence of their respective substrates. Such regulation has been found with many organisms. However, far greater production of these carbohydrases occurred with additions of adenosine phosphates to the growth media. Highest stimulation of enzyme production was by adenosine 5'-phosphate. Adenosine 5'-triphosphate and cyclic 3', 5'-adenosine monophosphate gave lesser amounts. Starvation appears to induce pro. duction of extracellular carbohydrases and adenosine 5'-phospliate may have a role in the starvation process. Extracellular carbohydrases which degrade pectin and wall material of host tissue have been invoked as a mechanism by which pathogenic fungi invade plants (1-3, 13). Substrate induction of enzyme production and its repression by simple sugars have been reported (9, 11, 14). The effect of cAMP on negating enzyme repression by simple sugars, although well established in bacteria (10), has yet to be explored fully in fungi. We examined the influence of substrate, glucose, and adenosine phosphate compounds on the production of PG,2 Cx, and BG by the fungus Alternaria solani (Ell. and G. Martin) L. R. Jones and Growt. , a foliar pathogen of solanaceous crops.
Event-related FMRI evidence of frontotemporal involvement in aberrant response inhibition and task switching in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.

OBJECTIVE Response inhibition deficits are characteristic of individuals with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Previous functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies investigating the neural correlates of this dysfunction have used block designs, making it difficult to disentangle activation differences specifically related to response inhibition from activation differences related to subprocesses involved in task performance. The current study was designed to further enhance our understanding of this critical function in individuals with ADHD using event-related fMRI. METHOD Ten adolescent boys diagnosed with ADHD, combined type, and 12 typically developing controls completed a Go/NoGo task modified to control for novelty processing. RESULTS The ADHD group made significantly more errors of omission and more errors of commission than the control group. Further, compared with controls, individuals with ADHD showed marked abnormalities in brain activation during response inhibition, including hypoactivation of the anterior/mid-cingulate cortex extending to the supplementary motor area and hyperactivation of the left temporal gyrus. CONCLUSIONS The authors suggest that underactivation in frontal regions reflects core deficits in response/task-switching abilities for the ADHD group.
Promoting Intellectual Discovery: Patents Versus Markets

Because they provide exclusive property rights, patents are generally considered to be an effective way to promote intellectual discovery. Here, we propose a different compensation scheme, in which everyone holds shares in the components of potential discoveries and can trade those shares in an anonymous market. In it, incentives to invent are indirect, through changes in share prices. In a series of experiments, we used the knapsack problem (in which participants have to determine the most valuable subset of objects that can fit in a knapsack of fixed volume) as a typical representation of intellectual discovery problems. We found that our “markets system” performed better than the patent system.
Is Magnetic Resonance Imaging Assessment of the Size of Articular Cartilage Defects Accurate?

Abstract The purpose of this study was to systematically review the literature relative to the following question: Is preoperative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) an accurate instrument for the assessment of the size of knee articular cartilage defects compared with arthroscopy? A systematic search was performed in September 2011 using PubMed MEDLINE (from 1966), CINAHL (from 1982), SPORTDiscus (from 1985), SCOPUS (from 1996), and EMBASE (from 1974) databases. Four studies (one study of Level II and three studies of Level III) were identified that met the predetermined inclusion and exclusion criteria. The ability of MRI to preoperatively assess the size of cartilage lesions was highly variable. As a result of inconsistencies between imaging techniques, the methodological variability and shortcomings of the studies, and the limited amount of data available, a meta-analysis was not performed. There is some evidence that MRI is an accurate tool for preoperatively assessing the dimensions of articular cartilage defects. However, because of the heterogeneity of MRI sequences and the paucity of literature related to preoperative sizing, it is not possible to make definitive conclusions regarding the global clinical utility of MRI for guiding the selection of therapeutic strategies.
Defining the potential for cell therapy for vascular disease using animal models

Cell-based therapeutics are currently being developed for a wide array of unmet medical needs. As obstructive vascular disease is the major cause of mortality in the world, cell-based strategies aimed at developing novel therapies or improving current therapies are currently under study. These studies are based on the evolving understanding of the biology of vascular progenitor cells, which has in turn led to the availability of well-defined sources of vascular cells for delivery. Crucial to the development of these approaches is the preclinical testing of cell delivery in animal models. This review highlights the crucial steps involved in the selection of cell sources and generation, delivery approaches, animal models to be used, and endpoints to be studied, in the context of cell delivery for vascular disease. Furthermore, the development of cell delivery to induce angiogenesis in ischemic limbs and to improve the response to large vessel injury will be discussed.
Advancing Novel Anesthetics: Pharmacodynamic and Pharmacokinetic Studies of Cyclopropyl-methoxycarbonyl Metomidate in Dogs

Background:Cyclopropyl-methoxycarbonyl metomidate (CPMM, also known as ABP-700) is a second-generation “soft” (i.e., metabolically labile) etomidate analogue. The purpose of this study was to characterize CPMM’s pharmacology in beagle dogs in preparation for potential first in human phase 1 clinical trials. Methods:CPMM’s and etomidate’s hypnotic activity and duration of action were assessed using loss of righting reflex and anesthesia score assays in three or four dogs. Their pharmacokinetics were defined after single bolus administration and single bolus followed by 2-h infusion. Adrenocortical recovery times after single bolus followed by 2-h infusion of CPMM, propofol, etomidate, and vehicle were measured using an adrenocorticotropic hormone stimulation test. Results:Compared with etomidate, CPMM was half as potent as a hypnotic (ED50 approximately 0.8 mg/kg), was more rapidly metabolized, and had a shorter duration of sedative–hypnotic action. Recovery times after CPMM administration were also independent of infusion duration. After hypnotic infusion, adrenocorticotropic hormone–stimulated plasma cortisol concentrations were 4- to 27-fold higher in dogs that received CPMM versus etomidate. Adrenocortical recovery was faster in dogs after CPMM infusion versus etomidate infusion (half-time: 215 vs. 1,623 min, respectively). Adrenocortical responsiveness assessed 90 min after CPMM infusion was not significantly different from that after propofol infusion. Conclusion:The studies in dogs confirm that CPMM has hypnotic and adrenocortical recovery profiles that are superior than those of etomidate, supporting the continued development of CPMM as a clinical sedative–hypnotic to be used as a single bolus and by continuous infusion to induce and maintain general anesthesia or procedural sedation.
Semantic Image Segmentation and Web-Supervised Visual Learning

Given an image, the goal of this work is to recognise objects of certain categories despite intra-class appearance variations and small inter-class differences. The appearance of objects in photographs is influenced by lighting, scale, different poses, viewpoints, articulation of objects, clutter and occlusion. Two different aspects of object recognition are investigated in this thesis. The first part develops models for semantic object segmentation of natural images and relies on groundtruth labelling for training. The second part uses the implicit supervision that is available on web-pages to learn visual object-class models automatically. It can then provide training data for object detection or segmentation algorithms. The goal in the first part is to label connected regions in an image as belonging to specific object classes, such as grass or cow. We introduce a compact model, where each class is modelled by a single histogram of visual-words, this is in contrast to common nearest-neighbour approaches which model each class by storing exemplar histograms. After introducing segmentation algorithms based on these histogram models we extend the Random Forest classifier and evaluate its feature selection properties for the semantic object segmentation task. Most object recognition methods rely on labelled training images. For each object category to be recognised, the system is trained on a set of images containing instances of these categories. The second part of this thesis focuses on the automatic creation of sets of images that contain a certain object class. The idea is to download an initial set of images from the Internet based on a search query (e.g. penguin). Given the images a text based ranking that exploits the information on the web-pages is performed. This ranking is then used to automatically learn visual models for object categories. We compare the performance of our system to previous work and show that it performs equally well without the need of explicit manual supervision. This thesis is submitted to the Department of Engineering Science, University of Oxford, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. This thesis is entirely my own work, and except where otherwise stated, describes my own research. Florian Schroff, St. Anne’s College Copyright c ©2009 Florian Schroff All Rights Reserved
Let Them Play! Active Learning in a Virtual World

In this research, the authors introduce Second Life in undergraduate marketing courses to evaluate its impact on learning. Following the principles of active learning, they conducted two studies (“observing-reflection” and “observing-doing-reflection”) in which a total of 201 marketing students participated. Findings show that students who feel Second Life is more game-like and easy to use report greater effectiveness of learning. When “doing” is incorporated in learning activity, enjoyment and learning outcomes improve significantly.
Development and use of diagnostic tests to evaluate students’ misconceptions in science

There is now a large body of research which examines students’ misconceptions in a variety of science subject areas. A problem exists, however, in applying the findings of this research to the classroom. One means of improving the application of misconceptions research is by the use of diagnostic tests which incorporate the findings of this research. A methodology for developing these diagnostic tests and the use of two such tests ‐‐ in chemistry (covalent bonding and structure) and in biology (photosynthesis and respiration in plants)‐are described. Analysis of the results of the tests given to class groups illustrate the ease of identification of misconceptions which can be subsequently addressed by the teacher.
Neuromuscular control of the point to point and oscillatory movements of a sagittal arm with the actor–critic reinforcement learning method

In this study, we have used a single link system with a pair of muscles that are excited with alpha and gamma signals to achieve both point to point and oscillatory movements with variable amplitude and frequency. The system is highly nonlinear in all its physical and physiological attributes. The major physiological characteristics of this system are simultaneous activation of a pair of nonlinear muscle-like-actuators for control purposes, existence of nonlinear spindle-like sensors and Golgi tendon organ-like sensor, actions of gravity and external loading. Transmission delays are included in the afferent and efferent neural paths to account for a more accurate representation of the reflex loops. A reinforcement learning method with an actor–critic (AC) architecture instead of middle and low level of central nervous system (CNS), is used to track a desired trajectory. The actor in this structure is a two layer feedforward neural network and the critic is a model of the cerebellum. The critic is trained by state-action-reward-state-action (SARSA) method. The critic will train the actor by supervisory learning based on the prior experiences. Simulation studies of oscillatory movements based on the proposed algorithm demonstrate excellent tracking capability and after 280 epochs the RMS error for position and velocity profiles were 0.02, 0.04 rad and rad/s, respectively.
The Selectivity of Visual Arrestin for Light-activated Phosphorhodopsin Is Controlled by Multiple Nonredundant Mechanisms*

Arrestin plays an important role in quenching phototransduction via its ability to bind to the phosphorylated light-activated form of the visual receptor rhodopsin (P-Rh*). Remarkable selectivity of visual arrestin toward this functional form is determined by an elegant sequential multisite binding mechanism. Previous structure-function studies have suggested that the COOH-terminal region of arrestin (residues 356–404) is not directly involved in rhodopsin interaction, but instead plays a regulatory role. This region supports basal arrestin conformation and ensures arrestin’s transition into a high affinity rhodopsin-binding state upon an encounter with P-Rh*. Overall, our results corroborate this hypothesis and identify three functional subregions (residues 361–368, 369–378, and 379–404) and individual amino acids involved in the control of arrestin stability and binding selectivity. Two of the most potent mutants, arrestin(1–378) and arrestin(F375A,V376A,F377A) belong to a novel class of constitutively active arrestins with high affinity for P-Rh*, dark P-Rh, and Rh* (but not dark Rh), in contrast to earlier constructed mutants arrestin(R175E) and arrestin(Δ2–16) with high affinity for light-activated forms only. The implications of these findings for the mechanism of arrestin-rhodopsin interaction are discussed in light of the recently determined crystal structure of arrestin.
Anti-inflammatory activity of aqueous extracts of five Costa Rican medicinal plants in Sprague-Dawley rats.

The anti-inflammatory properties of Loasa speciosa and Loasa triphylla (Loasaceae), Urtica leptuphylla and Urera baccifera (Urticaceae), and Chaptalia nutans (Asteracene) were studied using the carregeenan induced rat paw edema model. Aqueous extracts of each plant were made according to the ethnobotanical use. The hippocratic assay was made with female rats; the dose used was 500 mg/kg i.p. and the control group received 0.5 ml of n.s. s. All the animals treated showed hypothermia, and those treated with the extracts of Chaptalia nutans, Urera baccifera and Urtica leptuphylla showed an increased colinergic activity. Acute toxicities of the aqueous extracts were studied in mice an the mean lethal doses ranged between 1.0226 and 1.2022 g/kg. The extracts of Urera baccifera, Chaptalia nutans, Loasa speciosa and Loasa triphylla (500 mg/kg i.p.) showed an anti-inflammatory activity comparable with that of indomethacin. The extracts of U. baccifera and C. nutans, which showed the greatest anti-inflammatory activity, did not show it when used orally (500 mg/kg p.o.).
Molecular Mechanisms of DNA Damage and Repair: Progress in Plants

Dedicated to Prof. Jan H. J. Hoeijmakers. Referee: Dr. Nawin C. Mishra, Professor of Genetics, University of South Carolina, Department of Biological Sciences, Columbia, SC 29208 Despite stable genomes of all living organisms, they are subject to damage by chemical and physical agents in the environment (e.g., UV and ionizing radiations, chemical mutagens, fungal and bacterial toxins, etc.) and by free radicals or alkylating agents endogenously generated in metabolism. DNA is also damaged because of errors during its replication. The DNA lesions produced by these damaging agents could be altered base, missing base, mismatch base, deletion or insertion, linked pyrimidines, strand breaks, intra- and inter-strand cross-links.
Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans as an Early Colonizer of Oral Tissues: Epithelium as a Reservoir?

ABSTRACT This study examined in vivo and in vitro colonization by Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans, an organism highly associated with aggressive periodontitis. Thirteen volunteers (5 were A. actinomycetemcomitans positive for buccal epithelial cells [BECs] and teeth, 5 were A. actinomycetemcomitans positive for teeth only, and 3 were A. actinomycetemcomitans-negative controls) had two mandibular stents fabricated. Each stent contained 3 removable hydroxyapatite (HA) tooth surrogates. One HA square was removed from a stent at 5 time points over 7 h to assess the transfer of A. actinomycetemcomitans from teeth or BECs to HA. Streptococcus, Actinomyces, A. actinomycetemcomitans, and total anaerobic counts were evaluated on each square over time. In vitro experiments evaluated binding, desorption, transfer, and reattachment of A. actinomycetemcomitans wild-type and mutant strains to BECs and saliva-coated HA (SHA). Streptococcus and Actinomyces formed 80% of the cultivable flora on HA in all subjects. Transfer of A. actinomycetemcomitans to HA was not seen in subjects with A. actinomycetemcomitans on teeth only. All 5 subjects with A. actinomycetemcomitans on BECs showed transfer of A. actinomycetemcomitans to HA. In vitro, A. actinomycetemcomitans desorbed from BECs and transferred to SHA. A. actinomycetemcomitans binding to SHA was irreversible and did not transfer to BECs. The adhesin Aae showed specificity for BECs. Fimbrial mutants showed the greatest reduction in binding to SHA. A. actinomycetemcomitans migrated from BECs to HA in vivo and to SHA in vitro; however, A. actinomycetemcomitans movement from teeth and SHA to BECs did not occur. In vivo, A. actinomycetemcomitans colonized HA within 6 h and thus can be considered an early colonizer. BECs are a likely reservoir for A. actinomycetemcomitans tooth colonization.