Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effect of Parental Care on the Verical Transmission of Enteric Bacteria in Nicrophorus Defodiens

Parental care has evolved promote fitness gains. Burying beetles engage in extensive pre- hatching and post-hatching parental care providing several avenues to transmit bacteria to their offspring. One aspect of pre-hatching parental care consists of preserving a small vertebrate carcass via oral and anal secretions, allowing the carcass to be used as a reproductive resource. Post-hatching parental care consists in large part of parental regurgitations of the preserved carcass. We sought to determine if pre-hatching parental care resulted in bacterial transmission from adults to carcasses via anal secretions. We then sought to determine if lab-rearing conditions affected the digestive tract bacterial communities of F1 and F2 generation adults. We finally sought to determine if carcasses and post-hatching parental care in the form of parental regurgitations resulted into bacterial transmission to larvae. Using High-Throughput Illumina MiSeq, we were able to characterize bacterial communities of adult and larval digestive tracts, anal secretions, and unprepared and prepared carcasses. Our results show that bacterial communities of adults are dissimilar from anal secretions and prepared carcasses. We then show that lab-rearing conditions do not significantly alter digestive tract bacterial communities of F1 and F2 generation adults relative to wild caught adults. We proceed to show that larvae receiving parental regurgitations have digestive tract bacterial communities similar to their parents whereas larvae that do not receive parental regurgitations have dissimilar digestive tract bacterial communities from their parents. We further show that bacterial communities of prepared carcasses are dissimilar from all larvae. Our evidence suggests that anal secretions to preserve carcasses for the reproductive bout and have no influence on bacterial transmission to neither carcasses nor larvae. Our evidence also suggests that parental regurgitations influence bacterial transmission to offspring.
First Central Mediterranean Scientific Field Study on Recreational Fishing Targeting the Ecosystem Approach to Sustainability

The Maltese Islands have a very active recreational fishing community which may affect the coastal marine ecosystem. Despite this, studies to scientifically document the effects of this activity have been lacking prior to works between July 2012 and June 2017 presented here as a case study. This project, with the aim of collecting long-term data on the characteristics, trends, catches and impacts to fish populations of the recreational shore sport fishery at the national level also involved a pilot study on hobby shore angling. 2589 roving-access creel surveys conducted during 132 sport fishing events and 159 catches from hobby fishers were documented with the methodology used also applicable to shore fishing taking place in the Mediterranean and elsewhere. 90 species belonging to 29 families were documented with the most common being the Sparidae and Labridae. Catch per unit effort was higher for sport fishers with hobby fishers targeting larger fish. Results from this case study go to augment the limited and necessary knowledge on this fishing sector in the Mediterranean. Findings also indicate that recreational fisheries need to be taken into account when considering conservation measures for national, regional and global fisheries management.
Robust nonblocking supervisory control of discrete-event systems

In this paper, we generalize a notion of robust supervisory control to deal with marked languages. We show how to synthesize a supervisor to control a family of plant models, each with its own specification. The solution we obtain is the most general in that it provides the closest approximation to the supremal controllable sublanguage for each plant/specification pair.
Characterization of the edaphic mesofauna in five grassland agroecosystems of Granma province, Cuba

The edaphic mesofauna performs essential functions in the soil such as the recycling of nutrients and formation of its microstructure. The objective of this research was to characterize the edaphic mesofauna in five grassland agroecosystems of Granma province, Cuba. To this end, contrasting agroecosystems were selected in terms of soil type, grassland and productive purpose (“Estacion de Pastos”, “Ojo de agua”, "El Triangulo", "El Progreso" and "Cupeycito"). The pitfall traps were used, with a 0.003 % detergent solution. The individuals were extracted and counted and placed in vials, with 70 % ethanol, for later identification. Individuals belonging to two classes, four orders, six families and seven genera were found. The Collembola order was the best represented with five genera. Only in the third sampling there was a significant influence of the season detected on some of the studied variables, specifically for each agroecosystem. The Shannon index showed values lower than 1.35; while the dominance indexes showed values close to or higher than 0.5 in most cases. It is concluded that the richness and abundance of the edaphic mesofauna in the studied grassland agroecosystems was low and very variable in both climatic periods. Individuals belonging to the trophic categories of predators and detritivores were found which showed a variable relative abundance, in each agroecosystem and sampling performed; except in the “Estacion de Pastos” where there was a predominance of predators. Key words: acari, collembolans, grasses, soils, pitfall traps
Bisphenol A promotes stress granule assembly and modulates the integrated stress response

ABSTRACT Bisphenol-A (BPA) is a ubiquitous precursor of polycarbonate plastics that is found in the blood and serum of >92% of Americans. While BPA has been well documented to act as a weak estrogen receptor (ER) agonist, its effects on cellular stress are unclear. Here, we demonstrate that high-dose BPA causes stress granules (SGs) in human cells. A common estrogen derivative, β-estradiol, does not trigger SGs, indicating the mechanism of SG induction is not via the ER pathway. We also tested other structurally related environmental contaminants including the common BPA substitutes BPS and BPF, the industrial chemical 4-nonylphenol (4-NP) and structurally related compounds 4-EP and 4-VP, as well as the pesticide 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D). The variable results from these related compounds suggest that structural homology is not a reliable predictor of the capacity of a compound to cause SGs. Also, we demonstrate that BPA acts primarily through the PERK pathway to generate canonical SGs. Finally, we show that chronic exposure to a low physiologically relevant dose of BPA suppresses SG assembly upon subsequent acute stress. Interestingly, this SG inhibition does not affect phosphorylation of eIF2α or translation inhibition, thus uncoupling the physical assembly of SGs from translational control. Our work identifies additional effects of BPA beyond endocrine disruption that may have consequences for human health. Summary: Physiologically-relevant doses of the plasticizing agent BPA inhibit stress granule formation in response to a secondary acute stress, indicating BPA may affect the way human cells cope with cellular stress.
A 20-bp insertion/deletion (indel) polymorphism within the CDC25A gene and its associations with growth traits in goat

Abstract Cell division cycle 25A (CDC25A), a member of the CDC25 family of phosphatases, is required for progression from G1 to the S phase of the cell cycle. CDC25A provides an essential function during early embryonic development in mice, suggesting that it plays an important role in growth and development. In this study, we used mathematical expectation (ME) methods to identify a 20-bp insertion/deletion (indel) polymorphism of CDC25A gene in Shaanbei White Cashmere (SBWC) goats. We also investigated the association between this 20-bp indel and growth-related traits in SBWC goats. Association results showed that the indel was related to growth traits (height at hip cross, cannon circumference, and cannon circumference index) in SBWC goats. The height at hip cross of individuals with insertion/insertion (II) genotype was higher than those with insertion/deletion (ID) genotype (P=0.02); on the contrary, the cannon circumference and cannon circumference index of individuals with ID genotype were superior when compared with those with II genotype (P=0.017 and P=0.009). These findings suggest that the 20-bp indel in the CDC25A gene significantly affects growth-related traits, and could be utilized as a candidate marker for marker-assisted selection (MAS) in the cashmere goat industry.
Productivity and characteristics of triticale (xTriticosecale Wittm.) dihaploid lines

Stoyanov, H. , Baychev, V. & Belchev, I. (2018). Productivity and characteristics of triticale (xTriticosecale Wittm.) dihaploid lines. Rastenievadni nauki, 55(4), 3-13 The biotechnology methods are a major part of the contemporary breeding. The anther culture method plays a particularly important role for the acceleration of the breeding process in cereals and for achieving fast uniformity of the hybrid material. The double haploid (DH) lines of triticale developed by this method are especially important in the breeding of triticale, as well, due to the complex genome of the crop and the respective higher complexity of the breeding process. In order to determine the efficiency of the anther culture method for production of high-yielding and stable lines of triticale, 1448 DH lines were tested and evaluated under field conditions during 2013-2016. Out of this number, 145 lines were investigated in a control nursery, 12 lines – in a preliminary varietal trial, and 8 – in a competitive varietal trial. The grown DH lines possessed high production potential; DH line 157Т/9-4 yielding more than 800 kg/da during harvest years 2015 and 2016 and exceeding the mean standard with over 10%. This line was characterized with very high ecological plasticity and stability in comparison to the contemporary Bulgarian triticale cultivars. Lines 161Т/4-2 and 158Т/1-1 were also with very high production potential, their yield exceeding 700 kg/da. Such data are indicative for the high efficiency of the anther culture method in improving and accelerating the breeding process in winter hexaploid triticale.
Immune markers and proteasomal gene polymorphisms specific for asthma phenotypes

s at scientific conferences: 1. Gasiūnienė, Edita; Janulaitytė, Ieva; Tamašauskienė, Laura; Sakalauskas, Raimundas; Šitkauskienė, Brigita. Serum periostin in asthma is related to disease severity, eosinophilia and IL-33 / E. Gasiuniene, I. Janulaityte, L. Tamasauskiene, R. Sakalauskas, B. Sitkauskiene // Abstracts from the European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (EAACI) Congress “On the road to prevention and healthy living”: 17– 21 June 2017, Helsinki, Finland / European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. Helsinki: European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, 2017. (Poster Session.). p. 1-1, no. 0529: pav.
Natural variants in C. elegans atg-5 3’UTR uncover divergent effects of autophagy on polyglutamine aggregation in different tissues

Diseases caused by protein misfolding and aggregation, in addition to cell selectivity, often exhibit variation among individuals in the age of onset, progression, and severity of disease. Genetic variation has been shown to contribute to such clinical variation. We have previously found that protein aggregation-related phenotypes in a model organism, C. elegans, can be modified by destabilizing polymorphisms in the genetic background and by natural genetic variation. Here, we identified a large modifier locus in a Californian wild strain of C. elegans, DR1350, that alters the susceptibility of the head muscle cells to polyglutamine (polyQ) aggregation, and causes an increase in overall aggregation, without changing the basal activity of the muscle proteostasis pathways known to affect polyQ aggregation. We found that the two phenotypes were genetically separable, and identified regulatory variants in a gene encoding a conserved autophagy protein ATG-5 (ATG5 in humans) as being responsible for the overall increase in aggregation. The atg-5 gene conferred a dosage-dependent enhancement of polyQ aggregation, with DR1350-derived atg-5 allele behaving as a hypermorph. Examination of autophagy in animals bearing the modifier locus indicated enhanced response to an autophagy-activating treatment. Because autophagy is known to be required for the clearance of polyQ aggregates, this result was surprising. Thus, we tested whether directly activating autophagy, either pharmacologically or genetically, affected the polyQ aggregation in our model. Strikingly, we found that the effect of autophagy on polyQ aggregation was tissue-dependent, such that activation of autophagy decreased polyQ aggregation in the intestine, but increased it in the muscle cells. Our data show that cryptic genetic variants in genes encoding proteostasis components, although not causing visible phenotypes under normal conditions, can have profound effects on the behavior of aggregation-prone proteins, and suggest that activation of autophagy may have divergent effects on the clearance of such proteins in different cell types.
Constructing a high-density linkage map to infer the genomic landscape of recombination rate variation in European Aspen (Populus tremula)

The rate of meiotic recombination is one of the central factors determining levels of linkage disequilibrium and the efficiency of natural selection, and many organisms show a positive correlation between local rates of recombination and levels of nucleotide diversity indicating that linked selection is an important factor determining genome-wide levels of nucleotide diversity. Several methods for estimating recombination rates from segregating polymorphisms in natural populations have recently been developed. These methods have been extensively used in part because they are relatively simple to implement even in many non-model organisms, but also because they potentially offer higher resolution than traditional map-based methods. However, thorough comparisons of LD and map-based estimates of recombination are not readily available in plants. Here we present a new, high-resolution linkage map for Populus tremula and use this to estimate variation in recombination rates across the P. tremula genome. We compare these results to recombination rates estimated based on linkage disequilibrium in a large number of unrelated individuals. We also assess how variation in recombination rates is associated with genomic features, such as gene density, repeat density and methylation levels. We find that recombination rates obtained from the two methods largely agree, although the LD-based method identify a number of genomic regions with very high recombination rates that the map-based method fail to detect. Linkage map and LD-based estimates of recombination rates are positively correlated and show similar correlations with other genomic features, showing that both methods can accurately infer recombination rate variation across the genome.
Using neutral and outlier loci to uncover the genetic structure of 'Mytilus galloprovincialis' populations from the eastern Adriatic coast using population genetic and seascape genetic approaches

The genetic variation of the Mediterranean blue mussel, Mytilus galloprovincialis from the eastern coastline of the Adriatic Sea was investigated using polymorphic microsatellite markers. In total, 843 individuals were sampled from 18 populations representing a variety of coastal environments in Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro and Albania. Neutral loci revealed low levels of genetic structure in this continuously distributed species, while one outlier locus, MGE7, which may be under selection, provided strong evidence of genetic structure. The distribution of one of the alleles of this locus, MGE7, was significantly correlated with latitude. A genetic seascape analysis using 9 environmental and 3 geospatial variables revealed a strong association between MGE7 and three highly correlated environmental variables, maximum sea surface temperature, minimum salinity and maximum chlorophyll-a. This association was maintained for homozygous genotypes for the MGE7 allele, but not for heterozygotes, providing further evidence that the locus MGE7 may be under selection or closely linked to a gene under selection. These findings highlight how previously unrecognised genetic structure can be identified through the use of genetic seascape
Effects of an adenosine A2A agonist on the rewarding associative properties of nicotine and neural plasticity in a rodent model of schizophrenia

Background: Adenosine A2a receptors form a mutually inhibitory heteromeric complex with dopamine D2 receptors such that each receptor exhibits lower sensitivity to its agonist after the opposing receptor agonist is bound. This study analyzed the effects of CGS 21680, an adenosine A2A agonist, on nicotine conditioned place preference (CPP) in adolescence using a rodent model of schizophrenia (SZ). Methods: Rats were treated from postnatal day (P) 1 to P21 with saline or the dopamine D2/D3 agonist quinpirole (NQ treatment) and raised to P41. After an initial preference test, rats were conditioned with saline or nicotine (0.6 mg/kg base) from P43 to P51. CGS 21680 (0.03 or 0.09 mg/kg) was given 15 minutes before nicotine was administered. The post-conditioning test was administered on P52. On P53, the nucleus accumbens (NAcc) was analyzed for brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and glial cell-lined neurotrophic factor (GDNF). Results: Results revealed that NQ treatment enhanced nicotine CPP, and both doses of CGS 21680 alleviated this enhancement. Nicotine also resulted in a CPP in controls, which was alleviated by both doses of CGS 21680. BDNF closely followed the behavioral results: CGS 21680 alleviated the enhancement in NAcc BDNF in NQ-treated animals, and eliminated the increase in NAcc BDNF produced by nicotine in controls. NQ-treated animals conditioned to nicotine resulted in an increase of NAcc GDNF, but this was eliminated by CGS 21680. Both BDNF and GDNF correlated with CPP performance. Conclusions: Results revealed that an adenosine A2A agonist decreased the rewarding aspects of nicotine and its accompanying neural plasticity changes in a model of SZ.
Connectome preprocessing by Consensus Clustering increases separability in group neuroimaging studies

One of the biggest challenges in preprocessing pipelines for neuroimaging data is to increase the signal-to-noise ratio of the data which will be used for subsequent analyses. In the same line, we suggest in the present work that the application of consensus clustering for brain connectivity matrices to find subgroups of subjects can be a valid additional”connectome processing” step helpful to reduce intra-group variability and therefore increase the separability of distinct classes. In addition, by partitioning the data before any group comparison, we demonstrate that unique regions within each cluster arise and bring new information that could be relevant from a clinical point of view.
Evaluation of nitric oxide levels in chronic periodontitis patients treated with initial periodontal therapy and probiotic food supplements: a double blind, randomized controlled clinical trial

Abstract The aim of the present study was to analyse the nitric oxide (NO) levels in gingival crevicular fluid (GCF) of patients with chronic periodontitis (CP) treated with probiotic-containing food supplements as an adjunct to initial periodontal therapy (IPT). The present study was a randomized, double blind clinical trial conducted in Yeditepe University Dental Hospital, Istanbul, Turkey. Thirty-six CP patients, with ≥2 nonmolar teeth in each quadrant with probing depth (PD) of 5–7 mm at proximal sites and radiologically detectable horizontal alveolar bone loss were randomized into two treatment groups. The test group received IPT + probiotic-containing food supplements, whereas the control group received IPT + placebo. GCF sampling was performed at the baseline and 3 and 6 months after treatment. The biochemical evaluation of NO in GCF was performed using the Griess colourimetric method. Statistical analysis was performed by using statistical software. Significant reductions in GCF volume and GCF NO levels were detected in each group after the treatments (p < 0.05). Intergroup comparison of the NO levels revealed statistically significant differences in favour of the test group at both 3 and 6-month evaluation periods (p < 0.05). Adjunctive usage of probiotic comprising food supplements to IPT yielded significant reduction of the NO levels compared to the control for up to 6 months of follow-up. The present study is registered at Thai Clinical Trials Registry (TCTR identification number: TCTR20171114003).
Two heuristics for scheduling multiple projects with resource constraints

The purpose of this paper is to develop two efficient heuristic priority rules for the resource-constrained multiproject scheduling problem. The aptness of the two heuristic rules is analysed in terms of several dynamic characteristics of the scheduling problem. Fifteen heuristic rules presented in previous studies are used for comparison with the two heuristic rules on 4941 test problems which were generated by combining two, three or four projects from seven typical networks. The results indicate that the two proposed heuristics are superior to the other scheduling rules under the performance criteria of the minimum total project delay and the maximum number of times that a scheduling rule can obtain the best solution. Encouragingly, the two heuristic rules are proven to be adaptive and stable enough for scheduling under different problem sizes, network structures and degrees of resource tightness. As a result, the two proposed rules are the best representatives of the single priority rule method and th.
In-Class Use of Portable Electronic Devices (Peds)-Faculty and Student Perspectives

Portable Electronic Devices (PEDs) such as laptops, smart phones, tablets etc. have become an integral part of almost every higher education student’s learning toolbox. In this study, the faculty and student perspectives on the effectiveness of the use of PEDs during classes are collected and compared using surveys done at Southern Polytechnic State University. Faculty openness and reservations, policies, student temptations and complaints are discussed. While the PEDs can be a source of distraction, they, if used carefully, can also provide an opportunity for engaging students.
Life history and other biological traits of Capoeta buhsei (Kessler,1877) in the Gharachay River, Saveh

Capoeta buhsei is native species in the Namak Lake basin and biological aspects of life history of this fish in Iranian waters is not very well known. Life history of this fish examined by collecting 92 samples in Gharachay River. Sampling done by using Electroshoker in July and January 2011 and October 2012. The maximum age was found +4 years in female. Sex Ratio (male: female) was 1:0.73, and length –weight relationship was BW=35.55. TL 3.2 in male and BW=14.8. TL 3.07 in female. Mean egg diameter (ED) was 0.8726 0.12 mm ranging from 0.67 to 1.1 mm. Mean absolute (AF) and relative fecundity (RF) were 4917.2157 ( 1690.04 SE) egg female and 69.1 ( 16.15 SE) eggs g body weight, respectively. AF and ED were found to increase significantly with increasing fish size, whereas RF increased significantly with both fish TL and weight.
The Relation of Entrepreneurship Education to Business Education

The articles on simulation and experiential learning in entrepreneurship education in this issue of S&G are discussed in light of recent criticism of traditional business education. A desirable general trend is noted in the articles, reflecting the use of alternative pedagogical goals and methods and based on a more realistic approach to education. However; further challenges remain for entrepreneurship educators.