Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Further records of non-cryptic New Zealand earthworms

Abstract Current descriptions add natives Aporodrilus aotea sp. n. , Aporodrilus ponga sp. n. and Notoscolex repanga sp. n. , plus new exotic records to the numbers of megadrile earthworms known from New Zealand, which are now raised from 193 to 222 species in five families, viz: Acanthodrilidae, Octochaetidae and Megascolecidae, plus Lumbricidae and Glossoscolecidae for exotics. Overlooked spermathecal diverticula have been located for Notoscolex equestris Benham, 1942 and for Megascolex animae Lee, 1959 and non-tubular prostrates were misconstrued as tubular in Megascolides tasmani Lee, 1959. Of these latter three species, a lectotype is designated for Notoscolex equestris and holotypes of the other two are briefly redescribed. Whereas Megascolides tasmani now belongs in Notoscolex Fletcher, 1887 and Megascolides animae belongs in Anisochaeta Beddard, 1890, further lack of dorsal pores in Notoscolex equestris as with Notoscolex esculentus (Benham, 1904) and Notoscolex mortenseni (Michaelsen, 1924) newly qualifies all three as additional combs. novae in primarily Tasmanian genus Aporodrilus Blakemore, 2000.
The Novel Drosophila timblind Mutation Affects Behavioral Rhythms but Not Periodic Eclosion

Circadian clock function depends on the tightly regulated exclusion or presence of clock proteins within the nucleus. A newly induced long-period timeless mutant, timblind, encodes a constitutively hypophosphorylated TIM protein. The mutant protein is not properly degraded by light, and timblind flies show abnormal behavioral responses to light pulses. This is probably caused by impaired nuclear accumulation of TIMBLIND protein, which we observed in brain pacemaker neurons and photoreceptor cells of the compound eye. timblind encodes two closely spaced amino acid changes compared to the wild-type TIM protein; one of them is within a putative nuclear export signal of TIM. Under constant conditions, timblind flies exhibit 26-hr free-running locomotor rhythms, which are not correlated with a period lengthening of eclosion rhythms and period-luciferase reporter-gene oscillations. Therefore it seems possible that TIM—in addition to its well-established role as core clock factor—functions as a clock output factor, involved in determining the period length of adult locomotor rhythms.
Pancreaticoduodenectomy With Preoperative Obstructive Jaundice: Drainage or Not

Objectives: In this study, we determined whether preoperative biliary drainage should be routinely performed in patients with jaundice. Methods: The 342 patients undergoing pancreaticoduodenectomy between June 2004 and June 2008 were analyzed. Of these patients, 303 without biliary drainage were divided into 4 groups: (1) no jaundice, (2) mild jaundice, (3) moderate jaundice, and (4) severe jaundice. Multiple preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative variables were examined. Postoperative complications were stratified by severity according to the modified Clavien classification. Results: Patients with jaundice had a higher incidence in subsequent complications than those with no jaundice. The complications were stratified by severity. Compared with those in group 1, patients in groups 2, 3, and 4 had more complications just in grade 2 (15.6%, 23.1%, 28.3%, and 40.0%, respectively, P = 0.046), but not other more severe grades including 3a, 3b, 4a, 4b, and 5; all of the complications in this grade could be conservatively treated and cured without requiring surgical, endoscopic, or radiological intervention. The incidences of infection and overall complications were higher in patients with drainage than those without, but neither difference was statistically significant. Conclusions: Preoperative drainage should not routinely be performed in patients with jaundice scheduled for pancreaticoduodenectomy, and immediate surgery is preferable.
Mutation Accumulation Affects Male Virility in Drosophila Selected for Later Reproduction

An intensive study of longevity, female fecundity, and male reproductive behavior in Drosophila melanogaster was undertaken in order to establish whether late‐life fitness characters in short‐lived populations might be affected by the increase in deleterious alleles due to random genetic drift. We also sought to determine whether selection for late‐life fertility could eliminate alleles that produce a decline in later fitness components in short‐lived populations, as predicted by the mutation accumulation hypothesis for the evolution of aging. These experiments employed long‐lived (O) populations, short‐lived (B) populations, and hybrids made from crosses of independent lines from within the O and B populations. No detectable longevity differences were seen between hybrid B males and females and purebred B males and females. Reproduction in aged B purebred females was significantly less than in hybrid females at 3 wk of age only. A full diallel cross of the five replicate B lines showed a steady increase in hybrid male reproductive performance after the first week of adult life, relative to the parental lines. A full diallel cross of the five replicate O lines revealed no significant increase in hybrid O age‐specific male reproductive success compared with the purebred O lines when assayed over the first 5 wk of adult life. The results on male reproductive behavior are consistent with the idea that relaxed age‐specific selection in the B populations has been accompanied by an increase in deleterious, recessive traits that exhibit age‐specific expression. Consequently, we conclude that a mutation accumulation process has been at least partly responsible for the age‐specific decline in male B virility relative to that of the O populations.
Cerebral blood flow and oxygen consumption in man.

HE BLOOD FLOW AND OXYGEN METABOLISM of the human brain has been studied intensively since Kety developed the inert gas method in 1945. More than 200 clinical studies employing this method have been published so far, and now the former terra incognita is well mapped out. The information gained from all these studies will form the subject of the present review. It will also include, however, the results obtained by an indicator injection technique which has been applied to the measurement of cerebral blood flow in man to a much more limited extent. The early results obtained in this particular field have been reviewed by Schmidt (292) and Kety (156-163) and by other authors (38, 61, 76, 2 I 6, 281, 307). The aim of the present review is to offer an up to date presentation of the subject, and, in particular, to discuss certain aspects in greater detail. The general field of cerebral circulation was reviewed by Wolff in 1936 (348), by many authors in a comprehensive study in 1938 (41), and extensive bibliographic compilations of original contributions from 1938 to 1952 have also been published (255, 256). The pharmacology of the cerebral circulation alone, which has recently been reviewed by Sokoloff (318), forms an overwhelming body of knowledge. In the present study great emphasis will be put on information regarding cerebral oxygen consumption in man, whereas only scant attention will be paid to the intermediary metabolism of the brain. Himwich in I 951 published an excellent review (142) of much of the pertinent literature in this rapidly expanding field. Reference is also made to the recent study by Sokoloff (3 I 9). The first attempt to measure the cerebral blood flow in man was made in 1941 by observing the displacement of spinal fluid caused by compression of the
Time course of antiproteinuric effect of aliskiren in arterial hypertension associated with type 2 diabetes and microalbuminuria

Objective: The aim was to compare the antiproteinuric effect of aliskiren and ramipril in hypertensive patients with type 2 diabetes and microalbuminuria. Research design and methods: A total of 138 patients were treated with aliskiren 300 mg/day or ramipril 10 mg/day for 12 weeks and checked after 1, 2, 4, 8 and 12 weeks and 2 and 4 weeks after treatment withdrawal. Main outcome measures: Clinic and ambulatory BP, urinary albumin excretion rate (UAER) and plasma aldosterone were measured. Results: Both aliskiren and ramipril induced a similar lowering in clinic and ambulatory BP (p < 0.001 vs baseline). However, such a lowering persisted longer after stopping aliskiren than after stopping ramipril regimen. Both treatments reduced UAER, but the decrease in UAER associated with aliskiren was more pronounced, the difference vs ramipril being maximal at week 12 (−42 vs −15%, p < 0.01). Two weeks after stopping therapy, UAER remained below baseline values with aliskiren, but not in the ramipril group. Plasma aldosterone decreased in the aliskiren group, whereas in the ramipril group it decreased until week 8 and thereafter increased toward baseline values. Conclusions: Aliskiren has a greater and more prolonged antiproteinuric effect than R; it might partly be related to a higher degree of intrarenal renin–angiotensin–aldosterone system blockade.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Using Internet-Based Survey Methods in Aviation-Related Research

Within the last decade, numerous online populations, such as SurveyMonkeyH and Amazon’s Mechanical TurkH (MTurk), have been established allowing researchers to gather data involving diverse populations. These resources offer an alternative to traditional laboratory settings hosted at universities, where many studies utilize students as the available and accessible population. While these online portals do provide new opportunities, they also contain unique advantages and disadvantages. This paper synthesizes the advantages and disadvantages of using online populations to conduct research in the aviation field. Some of the advantages are: easier access to new populations, larger sample sizes, more balanced ratio of genders, lower cost, more timely data collection, reliable data, and anonymity of participants. Some of the disadvantages are: unrepresentative samples, lower response rates, financial motivation issues, limited access to certain portals, limited length of study, non-behavioral data, and lack of follow-up data. In addition, the authors share their personal experiences of using these portals and summarize previous literature researching online populations.
Chemical Profiles of Two Pheromone Glands Are Differentially Regulated by Distinct Mating Factors in Honey Bee Queens (Apis mellifera L.)

Pheromones mediate social interactions among individuals in a wide variety of species, from yeast to mammals. In social insects such as honey bees, pheromone communication systems can be extraordinarily complex and serve to coordinate behaviors among many individuals. One of the primary mediators of social behavior and organization in honey bee colonies is queen pheromone, which is produced by multiple glands. The types and quantities of chemicals produced differ significantly between virgin and mated queens, and recent studies have suggested that, in newly mated queens, insemination volume or quantity can affect pheromone production. Here, we examine the long-term impact of different factors involved during queen insemination on the chemical composition of the mandibular and Dufour's glands, two of the major sources of queen pheromone. Our results demonstrate that carbon dioxide (an anesthetic used in instrumental insemination), physical manipulation of genital tract (presumably mimicking the act of copulation), insemination substance (saline vs. semen), and insemination volume (1 vs. 8 µl) all have long-term effects on mandibular gland chemical profiles. In contrast, Dufour's gland chemical profiles were changed only upon insemination and were not influenced by exposure to carbon dioxide, manipulation, insemination substance or volume. These results suggest that the chemical contents of these two glands are regulated by different neuro-physiological mechanisms. Furthermore, workers responded differently to the different mandibular gland extracts in a choice assay. Although these studies must be validated in naturally mated queens of varying mating quality, our results suggest that while the chemical composition of Dufour's gland is associated with mating status, that of the mandibular glands is associated with both mating status and insemination success. Thus, the queen appears to be signaling both status and reproductive quality to the workers, which may impact worker behavior and physiology as well as social organization and productivity of the colony.
Trauma After Refractive Surgery

Considering myopia alone, more than 20 million patients in the United States are potential candidates for refractive surgery. For all types of ametropia, it is projected that more than 1 million refractive procedures will be performed in 2001. Although current refractive surgical techniques have been found to be relatively effective and safe, they may leave the eyes susceptible to permanent loss of best spectacle corrected visual acuity due to complications arising from trauma. Accidental ocular trauma is not uncommon, especially among the young, the active, and the working population. The susceptibility of eyes undergoing refractive surgery to injury after accidental blunt trauma deserves close attention, particularly because spectacles offer a certain measure of protection, and one of the most common motivations for undergoing the procedure is to engage in sports and other daily activities without the need for glasses. Given the increasing volume of refractive procedures performed in the United States and around the world, even a low incidence of trauma could translate into a large number of patients suffering from complications of their injury. Recognition of the inherent risks of each procedure in this regard may aid the surgeon occasionally to “tailor” the choice of refractive procedure to the lifestyle needs of individual patients and, more important, to counsel patients about postoperative care concerns and the need for protective measures during high-risk activities. In this chapter, we review the characteristics of blunt ocular injuries that may alter the integrity of the globe after refractive surgical procedures: radial keratotomy (RK), photorefractive keratectomy (PRK), and laser in situ keratomileusis (LASIK). Given the increasing numbers of
Un renforcement de la propriété (T)

Nous proposons un renforcement de la propriete (T) de Kazhdan en remplacant les representations unitaires par les representations dans des espaces de Hilbert qui ne sont pas necessairement unitaires, mais a croissance exponentielle suffisamment petite. On sait qu’un groupe localement compact a la propriete (T) si et seulement si il existe un idempotent p dans C∗ max(G) tel que pour toute representation unitaire continue (H, π) de G, π(p) est le projecteur orthogonal sur le sous-espace ferme de H forme des vecteurs Ginvariants. Pour la propriete (T) renforcee, nous posons une definition dans ce style. On appelle longueur sur un groupe localement compact G une fonction continue ` : G → R+ verifiant `(g−1) = `(g) et `(g1g2) ≤ `(g1) + `(g2) pour g, g1, g2 ∈ G. Dans la suite, pour tout groupe localement compact G, on supposera choisie une mesure de Haar a gauche, qui munit Cc(G) d’une structure d’algebre, par convolution.
Kidney Flow and Function in Hypertension: Protective Effects of Pycnogenol in Hypertensive Participants—A Controlled Study

This study evaluated the effects of Pycnogenol as an adjunct to angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE)-inhibitor ramipril treatment of hypertensive patients presenting with early signs of renal function problems. One group of 26 patients was medicated with 10 mg ramipril per day only; a second group of 29 patients took Pycnogenol in addition to the ACE inhibitor over a period of 6 months. At trial end, a lowered systolic and diastolic blood pressure was found in both groups, with a significant further reduction of diastolic pressure in the group given Pycnogenol in addition to ramipril. The major aim of this study was the investigation of kidney-protective effects of Pycnogenol. Urinary albumin decreased from 87 ± 23 to 64 ± 16 mg/d with ramipril only. Additional Pycnogenol lowered albumin significantly better from 91 ± 25 to 39 ± 13 mg/day (P < .05). In both groups, serum creatinine was lowered; however, only in the combination treatment group did the effect reached statistical significance. In both groups, CRP levels decreased from 2.1 to 1.8 with ramipril and from 2.2 to 1.1 with the ramipril—Pycnogenol combination; the latter reached statistical significance. Kidney cortical flow velocity was investigated by Doppler color duplex ultrasonography. Both systolic and diastolic flow velocities increased significantly after 6 months medication with ramipril. The addition of Pycnogenol to the regimen statistically significantly further enhanced kidney cortical flow velocities, by 8% for diastolic flow and 12% for systolic flow, relative to values found for the group taking ramipril only. The protective effects of Pycnogenol for initial kidney damage found in this study warrant further research with a larger number of patients and over a longer period of time.
The Stability of a Dynamic Model of Traffic Assignment - An Application of a Method of Lyapunov

This paper considers a dynamic model of traffic assignment in which drivers change their route choices to take advantage of cheaper routes. Using a method due to Lyapunov, we show that if the cost-flow function is monotone and there are no explicit capacity restrictions then any solution trajectory of our dynamical system converges to the set of Wardrop equilibria as time passes.
Role of ABA in ethylene-independent Iris flower senescence

This project aims at investigating the role of ABA in ethylene-independent flower senescence. Our hypothesis is that ABA (abscisic acid) as a developmental factor activates PP2C (protein phosphatase 2C), an ABA signalling regulator. Activated PP2C probably dephosphorylates an interacting component essential for ABA signalling and turns on the pathway for “death protein” synthesis, which activates hydrolytic enzymes like proteases, leading to PCD and floral death. By using flag petal rims of cut Iris flowers, we have gathered physiological and molecular evidences suggesting a direct role of ABA in upregulating the early steps of ethylene-independant petal senescence, and “Blue Magic” Iris could serve as a good model plant for studying age-dependent, ethylene-independant senescence of flowers, some of which are food crops.
Sound signature for identification and quantification of upper airway disease in horses.

OBJECTIVE To investigate whether upper airway sounds of horses exercising with laryngeal hemiplegia and alar fold paralysis have distinct sound characteristics, compared with unaffected horses. ANIMALS 6 mature horses. PROCEDURE Upper airway sounds were recorded in horses exercising on a high-speed treadmill at maximum heart rate (HR(MAX)) under 3 treatment conditions (ie, normal upper airway function [control condition], and after induction of left laryngeal hemiplegia or bilateral alar fold paralysis) in a randomized crossover design. Fundamental frequency, spectrograms using Gabor transform, and intensity characteristics of acquired sounds (peak sound level [sound(peak] and highest frequency of at least -25 dB sound intensity [F(25max)]) were evaluated. RESULTS Evaluation of the fundamental frequency of the time domain signal was not useful. Sensitivity and specificity (83 and 75%, respectively) of spectrograms were greatest at maximal exercise, but the exact abnormal condition was identified in evaluation of only 12 of 18 spectrograms. Increased accuracy was obtained using sound(peak) and F(25max) as discriminating variables. The use of sound(peak) discriminated between control and laryngeal hemiplegia conditions and F(25max) between laryngeal hemiplegia and alar fold paralysis conditions. This increased the specificity of sound analysis to 92% (sensitivity 83%) and accurately classified the abnormal state in 92% of affected horses. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE Sound analysis might be a useful adjunct to the diagnosis and evaluation of treatment of horses with upper airway obstruction, but would appear to require close attention to exercise intensity. Multiple measurements of recorded sounds might be needed to obtain sufficient accuracy for clinical use.
Should Unemployment Insurance Vary with the Unemployment Rate? Theory and Evidence

We study how the marginal welfare gain from increasing the unemployment insurance (UI) benefit level varies over the business cycle. We do this by estimating how the moral hazard cost and the consumption smoothing benefit of UI vary with labour market conditions, which we identify using variation in the interaction of UI benefit levels with the unemployment rate within U.S. states over time. We find that the moral hazard cost is procyclical, greater when the unemployment rate is relatively low. By contrast, we do not find evidence that the consumption smoothing benefit varies with the unemployment rate. We use these empirical results to estimate the marginal welfare gain, and we find that it is modest on average, but varies positively with the unemployment rate.
A carryover effect of the chelating agents EDTA and EDDS applied to soils on the uptake of copper and iron by maize in the second year of a pot experiment.

A pot experiment was established in 2006 to examine whether induced phytoextraction can remove copper from soils polluted with emissions from copper smelters. Two soils tested in the experiment were sand and loam in texture, and contained 620 and 510 mg⋅kg -1 Cu, respectively. Maize was used as a testing plant. Two chelating agents: EDTA and biodagradable EDDS were introduced into the soils at the rates of 0.2; 0.5 and 1.0 mmol⋅kg -1 to intensify the process of Cu phytoextraction. The results that have been already published indicated that application of both chelators caused increase in Cu uptake by plants in 2006, although the concentrations of Cu in biomass were far below those required for effective phytoextraction. Additionally, both chelators caused intensive leaching of metals from soils. This paper focuses on the carryover effects observed in the subsequent year, 2007, certainly caused by the application of chelators. EDTA, particularly when applied at the highest rate, caused considerable deterioration of plant growth, reduction of plant yields and increased uptake of Cu by plants grown in both soils. The plants showed unquestionable effects of copper phytotoxicity. In the plots where EDDS was applied, a small decrease in yield was observed in the case of plants grown on sandy soil, whereas in plants grown on loamy soil a significant increase in plant yields and decrease in Cu concentrations in shoot biomass occurred compared with the control plots. Cu and Fe concentrations in plant shoots were positively correlated with each other, and the plants with the highest concentrations of Cu also contained the highest concentrations of Fe. Application of the chelating agents, particularly EDTA, in 2006 caused a long-lasting increase of Cu and Fe solubility