Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Allometric Models for Estimating Site Index of Teak (Tectona grandis Linn F.) in Kanya Forest Plantation, Kebbi State, Nigeria

This study aims to develop site index for Teak (Tectona grandis) in Kanya Forest Plantation, Nigeria. Site index is defined as the total height of the dominant or co-dominant trees at an arbitrary index age, it is a method used for quantifying site quality for pure even-aged stands which is essential in growth and yield modelling. The data used in this study were obtained from six different age classes. Five sample plots each were selected across all age classes in which a total of 712 trees were measured, variables measured include total height, diameter at the base, middle, top, and diameter at the breast height were taken from 30 temporary sampled plots of 25x25m approximately from the centre, 180 dominant trees were selected from 712 trees. Basal area and volume of sampled trees were computed. Yield values obtained from the dominant trees are (B = 249.312 m3/ha, D = 196.128 m3/ha, F = 134.976 m3/ha, C = 119.328 m3/ha, E = 100.320 m3/ ha and A = 86.976 m3/ha). The results showed that B was the best and A was the poorest. Seventeen models were generated and paired sampled t-test was used for model validation, comparing the actual and predicted height. Two out of 17 were rejected (significant P<0.05). The first model Hd=12075.346-354.809(Age)+3.448(Age)2-135193.126(1/Age) is the recommended height estimation of Teak in Kanya Forest plantation for its best performance.
The effects of special sports games program on physical fitness in adolescents with intellectual disability

The aim of this research was to determine the influence of the experimental program on improving physical fitness in adolescents with intellectual disability (ID). For the needs of a dual prospective study of the cohort, 122 adolescents aged 13 to 17 with mild ID were recruited and then divided into two groups, experimental (EG) and control (CG). The EG was subjected to a special program of sports games (SSGP) lasting 12 weeks, four times a week, with 30-minute duration of each session. CG was subjected to the program of the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development of the Republic of Serbia (MP), with the same duration, weekly frequency and session duration, with one session per week being the time of the selected sport. The data for 30 adolescents within EG and CG were collected for further analysis, respectively. Physical fitness of the respondents was tested using the Eurofit fitness test battery: standing long jump (SLJ), single-arm ball pushing (SABP), sit-ups (SUP), 25-meter run (R25), seated forward bend (SFB), bench walking (BW1), and narrow bench walking (BW2). SSGP led to statistically significant improvements in EG concerning arm's explosive strength, local muscular endurance, speed and flexibility of the hip. The results of ANOVA and MANOVA indicated that after the implementation of SSGP, there was a statistically significant positive difference in favor of EG compared to CG. It can be concluded that the SSGP contributed with a greater extent to the development of physical fitness than MP in adolescents with ID.
The Medial Temporal Lobe Is Critical for Spatial Relational Perception

Abstract The medial temporal lobe (MTL) is traditionally considered to be a system that is specialized for long-term memory. Recent work has challenged this notion by demonstrating that this region can contribute to many domains of cognition beyond long-term memory, including perception and attention. One potential reason why the MTL (and hippocampus specifically) contributes broadly to cognition is that it contains relational representations—representations of multidimensional features of experience and their unique relationship to one another—that are useful in many different cognitive domains. Here, we explore the hypothesis that the hippocampus/MTL plays a critical role in attention and perception via relational representations. We compared human participants with MTL damage to healthy age- and education-matched individuals on attention tasks that varied in relational processing demands. On each trial, participants viewed two images (rooms with paintings). On “similar room” trials, they judged whether the rooms had the same spatial layout from a different perspective. On “similar art” trials, they judged whether the paintings could have been painted by the same artist. On “identical” trials, participants simply had to detect identical paintings or rooms. MTL lesion patients were significantly and selectively impaired on the similar room task. This work provides further evidence that the hippocampus/MTL plays a ubiquitous role in cognition by virtue of its relational and spatial representations and highlights its important contributions to rapid perceptual processes that benefit from attention.
Bayesian hierarchical models for disease mapping applied to contagious pathologies

Disease mapping aims to determine the underlying disease risk from scattered epidemiological data and to represent it on a smoothed colored map. This methodology is based on Bayesian inference and is classically dedicated to non-infectious diseases whose incidence is low and whose cases distribution is spatially (and eventually temporally) structured. Over the last decades, disease mapping has received many major improvements to extend its scope of application: integrating the temporal dimension, dealing with missing data, taking into account various a prioris (environmental and population covariates, assumptions concerning the repartition and the evolution of the risk), dealing with overdispersion, etc. We aim to adapt this approach to rare infectious diseases. In the context of a contagious disease, the outcome of a primary case can in addition generate secondary occurrences of the pathology in a close spatial and temporal neighborhood; this can result in local overdispersion and in higher spatial and temporal dependencies due to direct and/or indirect transmission. We have proposed and tested 60 Bayesian hierarchical models on 400 simulated datasets and bovine tuberculosis real data. This analysis shows the relevance of the CAR (Conditional AutoRegressive) processes to deal with the structure of the risk. We can also conclude that the negative binomial models outperform the Poisson models with a Gaussian noise to handle overdispersion. In addition our study provided relevant maps which are congruent with the real risk (simulated data) and with the knowledge concerning bovine tuberculosis (real data). Author summary Disease mapping is dedicated to non-infectious diseases whose incidence is low and whose distribution is spatially (and eventually temporally) structured. In this paper, we aim to adapt this approach to rare infectious pathologies. In the context of a contagious disease, the outcome of a primary case can in addition generate secondary occurrences of the pathology in a close spatial and temporal neighborhood, resulting in local overdispersion and in high spatial and temporal dependencies. We thus explored different adapted spatial, temporal and spatiotemporal links and highlight the most adapted to likely risk structures for infectious diseases. We also conclude that the negative binomial models outperform the Poisson models with a Gaussian noise to handle overdispersion. Our study also provided relevant maps which are congruent with the real risk (in case of simulated data) and with the knowledge concerning bovine tuberculosis (when applying to real data). Thus disease mapping appears as a promising way to investigate rare infectious diseases.
The role of NF-κB and Elk-1 in the regulation of mouse ADAM17 expression

ABSTRACT ADAM17 is a cell membrane metalloproteinase responsible for the release of ectodomains of numerous proteins from the cell surface. Although ADAM17 is often overexpressed in tumours and at sites of inflammation, little is known about the regulation of its expression. Here we investigate the role of NF-κB and Elk-1 transcription factors and upstream signalling pathways, NF-κB and ERK1/2 in ADAM17 expression in mouse brain endothelial cells stimulated with pro-inflammatory factors (TNF, IL-1β, LPS) or a phorbol ester (PMA), a well-known stimulator of ADAM17 activity. Notably, NF-κB inhibitor, IKK VII, interfered with the IL-1β- and LPS-mediated stimulation of ADAM17 expression. Furthermore, Adam17 promoter contains an NF-κB binding site occupied by p65 subunit of NF-κB. The transient increase in Adam17 mRNA in response to PMA was strongly reduced by an inhibitor of ERK1/2 phosphorylation, U0126. Luciferase reporter assay with vectors encoding the ERK1/2 substrate, Elk-1, fused with constitutively activating or repressing domains, indicated Elk-1 involvement in Adam17 expression. The site-directed mutagenesis of potential Elk-1 binding sites pointed to four functional Elk-1 binding sites in Adam17 promoter. All in all, our results indicate that NF-κB and Elk-1 transcription factors via NF-κB and ERK1/2 signalling pathways contribute to the regulation of mouse Adam17 expression. Summary: We show the involvement of ERK1/2 and NF-κB pathways in the stimulation of mouse Adam17 expression and determine functional Elk-1- and NF-κB binding sites in its promoter.
First Report of Ulva sapora (Ulvales, Chlorophyta) from Indian Subcontinent

The green marine algal species Ulva sapora (U. sapora) had only been reported from Australia till date. In this study, we analyzed many algal specimens collected from different locations of Indian coastline and the Andaman Islands. Both morphological, as well as nuclear ITS1 based phylogenetic analysis, revealed them to be congruent with U. sapora. All the isolates from India clustered with the accessions from Australia forming a monophyletic clade with strong statistical support. We also generated sequence data of chloroplast-encoded CF1-ATPase betasubunit gene (atpB) for the first time for this species. Phylogenetic assessments at this locus revealed an evolutionary affinity of U. sapora with Ulva intestinalis. As U. sapora is commercially important edible green seaweed and a known indicator for coastal pollution, this new record for India are expected to be significant.
Regulating Abortion: Impact on Patients and Providers in Texas

This article describes the effects of enforcement of the Woman's Right to Know Act, a Texas law requiring that all abortions at or after 16 weeks' gestation be performed in an ambulatory surgical center. In the month the law went into effect, none of the 54 nonhospital abortion providers in Texas met the requirements of a surgical center. The number of abortions performed in Texas at or after 16 weeks' gestation dropped 88 percent, from 3,642 in 2003 to 446 in 2004, and the number of residents who left the state for a late abortion almost quadrupled. By 2006, abortions at or after 16 weeks' gestation in a nonhospital setting were available in four major cities in Texas (down from nine in 2003), and the abortion rate at or after 16 weeks' gestation remained 50 percent below its pre-act level.
Long Memory Volatility and Bernoulli Jumps in Daily Crypto Currency Prices

This paper investigates the intrinsic time series properties of daily crypto currency prices, the long memory volatility and the jumps. For the purpose, this paper first adopts the simple FIGARCH model to analyze the long memory volatility process of the crypto currency prices and finds that there exists the long memory volatility in the daily returns. But, the jumps are found to be significant in the daily returns so that the simple FIGARCH model appears to be inadequate. Thus, this paper uses a normal mixture distribution which includes the Bernoulli jumps in the daily returns. In particular, the jumps appear to make the long memory volatility more significant in the daily returns. The results imply that using simple FIGARCH model without the jumps may yield the incorrect long memory volatility process of the crypto currencies and result in ineffective risk management and portfolio optimization in the markets. Thus, the FIGARCH model with allowing for the jump process could be more appropriate in the aspects of risk management and investment purpose forecasting the risk in such an investment as this market attracts increasing attractions from regulators and investors. Long Memory Volatility and Bernoulli Jumps in Daily Crypto Currency Prices*
Association of faecal pH with childhood stunting: Results from a cross-sectional study

Background Gut microbiota plays an important role in the growth of children. The gut of children with optimum growth is enriched in certain species, especially Bifidobacteria and Clostridia. Bifidobacteria and commensal Clostridia both contribute to formation of acidic stool, and an elevated faecal pH indicates reduction of these species in the gut. The purpose of the study was to investigate the association of faecal pH with childhood stunting. Methods In this cross-sectional study, 100 children with length-for-age Z score (LAZ) <−1 aged between 12 and 18 months were enrolled from the ongoing Bangladesh Environmental Enteric Dysfunction study conducted in Dhaka, Bangladesh. LAZ was measured by anthropometry and data on factors affecting linear growth were recorded. Faecal pH measurement was done using pH metre on freshly collected non-diarrhoeal faecal samples following standard procedure. Multiple quantile regression was done to quantify the relation between faecal pH and LAZ scores. Results The mean LAZ and faecal pH of the children were −2.12±0.80 and 5.84±1.11, respectively. Pearson correlation analysis showed a statistically significant negative correlation between stool pH and the LAZ scores (p<0.01). After inclusion of other factors affecting linear growth into the regression model, a statistically significant inverse association was observed between faecal pH and LAZ score (p<0.01). Conclusion Elevated faecal pH was found to have a significant association with stunted growth. As an indicator of gut microbiota status, faecal pH might have emerged as a possible indirect determinant of childhood stunting. Trial registration number NCT02812615
Elevated circulating aldosterone and platelet activity in overweight/obese young adults: Roles in vascular remodeling and cardiometabolic health

Globally, cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality. Overweight/obese individuals are at increased risk for CVD because the increased metabolic requirements and inflammation caused by excess weight drive adverse cardiovascular changes. Elevated circulating aldosterone and platelet activity are hypothesized to be important factors linking obesity to declining cardiometabolic health, but little longitudinal data is available in young adults with no clinically apparent obesity-related comorbidities. We sought to evaluate the roles of elevated serum aldosterone and plasma β-thromboglobulin, a marker of platelet activity, in vascular remodeling and cardiometabolic risk in overweight/obese young adults. These questions were investigated in a sample from the Slow Adverse Vascular Effects of excess weight trial, a randomized trial that evaluated the effects of a one year lifestyle intervention targeting weight loss, increased physical activity, and dietary sodium reduction on vascular health. We found that lower circulating platelet activity at the end of the two year study was associated with smaller common carotid artery IMT and greater weight loss during the study. In addition, non-Hispanic white individuals carrying the T allele of rs168753 in the gene encoding PAR-1, the main thrombin receptor, had greater carotid bulb IMT than non-carriers at baseline but not at the end of the study. In another analysis, higher arterial stiffness over the course the study was found to predict higher circulating platelet activity at the end of the study. However, this association was partly explained by the effect of obesity. Finally, in our study of serum aldosterone and obesity-related factors, we found that reductions in aldosterone were associated with reductions in insulin resistance, C-reactive protein, leptin, heart rate, tonic cardiac sympathovagal balance, and increases in adiponectin, independent of changes in dietary sodium and weight. In addition, weight loss and reduced intermuscular fat were associated with reduced aldosterone in individuals who had metabolic syndrome at baseline. The public health relevance of these findings is that elevated aldosterone and platelet activity are important modifiable cardiometabolic risk factors in overweight/obese otherwise healthy young adults. These factors may be useful targets for therapies to reduce the burden of CVD is this population.
Beyond the word and image: III. Neurodynamic properties of the semantic network

Understanding the neural process underlying the comprehension of visual images and sentences remains a major open challenge in cognitive neuroscience. We previously demonstrated with fMRI and DTI that comprehension of visual images and sentences describing human activities recruits a common semantic system. The current research tests the hypothesis that this common semantic system will display similar neural dynamics during processing in these two modalities. To investigate these neural dynamics we recorded EEG from naïve subjects as they saw simple narratives made up of a first visual image depicting a human event, followed by a second that was either a sequentially coherent narrative follow-up, or not, of the first image. In separate blocks of trials the same protocol was presented using sentences. Analysis of the EEG signal revealed common neural dynamics for semantic processing across image and sentence modalities. Late positive ERPs were observed in response to sequential incoherence for sentences and images, consistent with previous studies that examined coherence in these two modalities separately. Analysis of oscillatory power revealed increased gamma-band activity for sequential coherence, again consistent with previous studies showing gamma increases for coherence and matching in sentence and image processing. Multivariate analysis demonstrated that training a classifier on data from one modality (images or sentences) allowed reliable decoding of the sequential coherence of data from trials in the untrained modality, providing further support for a common underlying semantic system for images and sentences. Processing sequential coherence of successive stimuli is associated with neural dynamics that are common to sentence and visual image modalities and that can be decoded across modalities. These results are discussed in the context of EEG signatures of narrative processing and meaning, and more general neural mechanisms for structure processing.
Assessment of Inflammatory Joint Rheumatoid Arthritis and Changes in Conditions Activity in Atmospheric

Summary Seventy-nine patients suffering from rheumatoid factor positive rheumatoid arthritis (RA) were included in this study. In each patient disease activity was assessed three times at two-week intervals during a four-week period. All factors that might possibly influence RA, except atmospheric conditions (AC) were held constant as far as possible. Current AC parameters were obtained from the local observatory of the Royal Dutch Meteorological Institute. There were no relevant correlations between AC and RA variables. Also relations between changes in AC variables preceding the disease activity assessment or between changes in AC variables and RA variables were not seen. By means of factor analysis, uncorrelated factors pertaining to RA or to weather were extracted. No clear association between any of the AC variables and any of the RA variables was noted. Our results do not support the widely accepted, but insufficiently documented, influence of weather on RA.
Clinico-pathological findings in a case of canine cutaneous metastatic transmissible venereal tumor.

A metastatic form of cutaneous transmissible venereal tumor was diagnosed in a mongrel dog. The dog had non-fl uctuating and ulcerating neoplastic nodules throughout the subcutis with a history of spontaneous regression and recurrence of new growths at different sites. A presumptive diagnosis was made based on fi ne needle aspiration cytology of neoplastic nodules and an impression smear of ulcerated lesions, which was confi rmed by histopathology. Erythrocyte oxidant-antioxidant status revealed increased lipid peroxidation and decreased antioxidant enzymes, which might have been due to the direct infl uence of the tumor or by associated factors such as tumor necrosis and/or the infl ammatory changes. Increased early apoptosis was observed in peripheral blood leukocytes. Treatment with Vincristin along with other supportive therapy yielded an unfavorable outcome due to the advanced stage of malignancy.
Assessment of pink component and white component in the extraoral profile pictures of population from three different ethnicities

Website: jprsolutions.info ISSN: 0975-7619 Many research studies have drawn a valuable attention toward the importance of distributive pattern of tooth shade color to achieve an adequate knowledge regarding the esthetic dentistry. It has been reported that a statistically significant difference exists between gingival and incisal region of the teeth and they are clinically significant when fabricating any esthetic restoration, respectively. A significant contrast between the facial skin complexion and tooth shade was observed showing that the individuals with a darker skin complexion tend to have a lighter tooth shade. It was found that people having a medium to darker facial skin complexion were more likely to have teeth with a higher tooth shade value (lighter shades), whereas individuals with a fair or lighter skin complexion tend to have teeth with a lower tooth shade value (darker shades) regardless of their age or gender. [1]
Microtubule binding of the kinesin-4 KIF7 and its regulation by autoinhibition

KIF7 is a member of the kinesin-4 family and plays critical roles in Hedgehog signaling in vertebrate cells. KIF7 is an atypical kinesin as it binds to microtubules but is immotile. We demonstrate that, like conventional kinesins, KIF7 is regulated by autoinhibition as the full-length motor cannot bind to microtubules whereas truncated versions bind statically to microtubules in cells. Previous work suggested that truncated KIF7 motors bind preferentially to the plus ends of microtubules in vitro, however, we find that truncated KIF7 does not bind preferentially to or track the plus ends of growing microtubules in mammalian cells or in cell extracts. Although the truncated KIF7 did alter microtubule dynamics in cells, this property is not specific to KIF7 as expression of an active kinesin-1 motor also altered microtubule growth rates. The immotile behavior of KIF7 is not due to the extended neck linker domain as its deletion does not activate KIF7 for motility and its presence in a KIF5C/KIF7 chimeric motor does not prevent processive motility. Together this work indicates that the atypical kinesin KIF7 is regulated by autoinhibition to prevent binding to microtubules and alteration of microtubule dynamics in cells.
Individuos e instituciones: una mirada desde la religiosidad vivida

El presente articulo recoge un avance de investigacion internacional titulada Religion Vivida en America Latina, restringida para este trabajo solo al caso del Uruguay. Se trata de una investigacion cualitativa que pone el enfasis en comprender como se vive la religiosidad en America Latina desde la perspectiva de las personas y no de las instituciones o lideres religiosos. Se realizaron 160 entrevistas a 80 personas focalizando, a los efectos de esta publicacion, el trabajo en la tension entre el individuo y las instituciones. Los vinculos, la autonomia de los individuos, los distanciamientos y la forma de ser interpretados por las personas, se expresan en funcion de como los viven los catolicos, los evangelicos, los participantes de religiones afroamericanas, los creyentes sin afiliacion y ateos.