Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Amelioration of Sugar Mill Effluent Polluted Soil and its Effect of Greengram (Vigna radiata L.)

Sugar mills plays a major role in polluting the water bodies and land by discharging a large amount of wastewater as effluent. The sugar mill effluents are having higher amount of suspended solids, dissolved solids, BOD, COD, chloride sulphate, nitrates, calcium and magnesium. The continuous use of these effluents harmfully affect the crops when used for irrigation. As a result, a higher amount of various elements get deposited in the soil and make them polluted. Since this polluted soil reduces both the crop production as well as the soil properties it was decided to give some bioremediation measures by growing the tree species in polluted soil. The tree species like Polyalthia longifolia, Pithocolobium dulce, Moringa olefera, Tamarindus indicus, Samanea saman, Azadirachta indica and Acacia nilotica were grown in the polluted soil upto 120 days. The treatment in which all tree species grown in one pot showed a remarkable reduction of pollutants. The bioremediated soil showed a good germination of green gram seeds. In another experiment, the polluted soil were mixed with some organic amendments like coir waste, vermicompost, Rhizobium and cow dung to improve the soil fertility and their efficacy was tested by growing green gram plant in that soil. Among the amendments, the vermicompost mixed polluted soil showed good morphological and yield parameters.
The Visualisation and Exploration of a Curriculum Knowledgebase

: This paper discusses the difficulties associated with the visualisation and navigation of complex, multi-faceted knowledgebases. The issues are analysed through a case study of the Manchester Medical School curriculum, with the intention of developing an innovative visualisation tool to enhance the experience of navigation through such large sets of data. The approach taken to provide a solution involves the use of a metaphorical representation of the data schema, designed to reduce visual complexity and increase human usability. User feedback uncovered the need to create a ‘trail’ of related concepts through the knowledgebase, and provision for such navigation techniques is present in the developed tool. The concept of domain-specific structural customisation was investigated and led to the suggestion that modification of a schema towards a more logical and human-friendly abstraction can improve a user’s understanding and engagement with data.
Expression of redox pathway enzymes in human prostatic tissue.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the involvement of thioredoxin reductase (TxnR), thioredoxin (Trx) and peroxiredoxins (Prdx) in prostate cancer (PCa) and to assess the potential prognostic importance of these redox-regulated pathways. STUDY DESIGN Expression of the isoforms TxnR2, Trx1 and Prdx2 was studied by immunohistochemistry on tissue microarrays (TMAs). In a prognostic TMA, 294 primary cases of PCa with a median follow-up of 49 months were stained for Trx1 and Prdx2. Another TMA containing benign prostatic tissue, atrophy, high grade prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia (HGPIN) and PCa from 40 patients was stained with all 3 antibodies. RES ULTS: All 3 proteins showed similar expression patterns, with the highest immunoreactivity in HGPIN followed by atrophy, PCa and benign tissue. TxnR2, Trx1 and Prdx2 were overexpressed in HGPIN and PCa compared with benign tissue (p < 0.001), and Trx1 and Prdx2 were also overexpressed in HGPIN compared with PCa (p < 0.001). Trx1 and Prdx2 did not correlate with biochemical recurrence. CONCLUSION This study demonstrates up-regulation of the redox pathway proteins in PCa and its precursor lesions. The pathogenetic role of the redox system remains to be investigated.
Sovereignty and cooperation in regional Pacific tuna fisheries management: Politics, economics, conservation and the vessel day scheme

Abstract The Pacific islands region has developed a collaborative approach to fisheries management that has set global precedents in regional fisheries co-operation and significantly boosted Islanders’ capacity to manage the region’s tuna fisheries in a manner consistent with their individual national interests. Through this cooperation, the Pacific islands states have developed a collective influence in fisheries negotiations that is arguably far greater and more effective than what they could achieve individually. During 2007–2009, the Pacific islands region further developed its collective approach by establishing new initiatives in regional fisheries cooperation that are of global interest. Chief among these is the Vessel Day Scheme, which introduces a flexible and potentially tradeable permit scheme into regional management, and a supporting set of zonal based management measures. This paper examines the evolution and development of these recent management initiatives and provides a tentative evaluation of these against the conservation and management agreements entered into by the Pacific islands.
Sphingosine 1‐phosphate modulates human airway smooth muscle cell functions that promote inflammation and airway remodeling in asthma

Asthma is characterized by airway inflammation, remodeling, and hyperresponsiveness to contractile stimuli that promote airway constriction and wheezing. Here we present evidence that sphingosine 1‐phosphate (SPP) is a potentially important inflammatory mediator implicated in the pathogenesis of airway inflammation and asthma. SPP levels were elevated in the airways of asthmatic (but not control) subjects following segmental antigen challenge, and this increase was correlated with a concomitant increase in airway inflammation. Because human airway smooth muscle (ASM) cells expressed EDG receptors for SPP (EDG‐1, ‐3, ‐5, and ‐6), we examined whether SPP may play a role in airway inflammation and remodeling, by affecting ASM cell growth, contraction, and cytokine secretion. SPP is mitogenic and augments EGF‐ and thrombin‐induced DNA proliferation by increasing G1/S progression. SPP increased phosphoinositide turnover and intracellular calcium mobilization, the acute signaling events that affect ASM contraction. By modulating adenylate cyclase activity and cAMP accumulation, SPP had potent effects on cytokine secretion. Although SPP inhibited TNF‐α–induced RANTES release, it induced substantial IL‐6 secretion alone and augmented production of IL‐6 induced by TNF‐α. These studies are the first to associate SPP with airway inflammation and to identify SPP as an effective regulator of ASM growth, contraction and synthetic functions.
Bid evaluation in combinatorial auctions: optimization and learning

In combinatorial auctions bidders can post bids on groups of items. The problem of selecting the winning bids, called Winner Determination Problem, is NP‐hard. In this paper, we consider an interesting variant of this problem, called Bid Evaluation Problem (BEP), where items are services and are subject to precedence constraints and temporal windows. The BEP has many practical applications, such as, for instance, in transportation routes auctions and in take off and landing time slot allocation problems. We have developed a number of optimization algorithms based on Constraint Programming, on Integer Programming and on the combination of the two techniques. We first show that all algorithms proposed outperform the only commercial system for solving BEP instances called Multi AGent Negotiation Testbed, a more general tool for agent negotiation. Then, we evaluate the developed algorithms and use the decision tree machine learning technique for finding a relation between the instance structure and the solving algorithm and providing an automatic algorithm selection procedure. We show that we can achieve an accuracy of 90% in predicting the best algorithm given the instance to be solved with a significant time saving w.r. t. a single solving technique or a costless, but less accurate, prediction technique. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Give ‘til it hurts: trade‐offs between immunity and male reproductive effort in the decorated cricket, Gryllodes sigillatus

Trade‐offs between life‐history variables can be manifested at either the phenotypic or genetic level, with vastly different evolutionary consequences. Here, we examined whether male decorated crickets (Gryllodes sigillatus) from eight inbred lines and the outbred founder population from which they were derived, trade‐off immune effort [lytic activity, phenoloxidase (PO) activity or encapsulation] to produce spermatophylaxes: costly nuptial food gifts essential for successful sperm transfer. Canonical correlation analysis of the outbred population revealed a trade‐off between spermatophylax mass and lytic activity. Analysis of our inbred lines, however, revealed that although PO activity, encapsulation, body mass, spermatophylax mass and ampulla (sperm capsule) mass were all highly heritable, lytic activity was not, and there was, therefore, no negative genetic correlation between lytic activity and spermatophylax mass. Thus, males showed a phenotypic but not a genetic trade‐off between spermatophylax mass and lytic activity, suggesting that this trade‐off is mediated largely by environmental factors.
Development of a Chlamydia trachomatis T cell Vaccine

The immune correlates of protection for most of the currently used vaccines are based on long-lived humoral immunity. Vaccines based on humoral immunity alone are unlikely to protect against infections caused by intracellular pathogens and today’s most pressing infectious diseases of public health importance are caused by intracellular infections that not only include Chlamydia trachomatis but also tuberculosis, malaria, and HIV/AIDS. For these infections, vaccines that induce cellular immune responses are essential. Major impediments in developing such vaccines include difficulty in identifying relevant T cell antigens and delivering them in ways that elicit protective cellular immunity. In turn this is compounded by the complexity and plasticity of T cell developmental pathways that often correlate with specific aspects of protective immunity. Genomics and proteomics now provide tools to allow unbiased selection of candidate T cell antigens. This review mainly focuses on an immunoproteomic approach used in our laboratory to identify Chlamydia T cell antigens and how these T cell antigens can be developed into a future human Chlamydia vaccine.
Perioperative corticosteroids administration as a risk factor for pressure ulcers in cardiovascular surgical patients: a retrospective study

The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between perioperative corticosteroids administration and the incidence of pressure ulcers (PUs) in cardiovascular surgical patients. A retrospective analysis was performed on data from consecutive patients who had cardiac surgery in 2012. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed to evaluate the relationship between perioperative corticosteroid administration and the incidence of surgery‐related PU (SRPU). A total of 286 cardiac surgery patients were included in this study; of these, 47 patients developed 57 SRPUs, an incidence of 16·4% [95% confidence interval (CI): 12·3–21·2%). The SRPU incidence was significantly higher in corticosteroid‐administered group compared with groups not receiving corticosteroids (43·8% versus 14·8%, Pearson's χ2 = 9·209, P = 0·002). The crude odds ratio (OR) was 4·472 (95% CI: 1·576–12·694). After performing multivariate logistic regression analysis, the adjusted OR was 2·808 (95% CI: 1·062–11·769). This result showed that perioperative corticosteroid administration was an independent risk factor for PUs in cardiovascular surgical patients. Therefore, it is recommended that in order to prevent PU perioperative corticosteroids should be administered with caution to cardiovascular surgical patients.
Serological evidence of murine pathogens in wild grey squirrels (Sciurus carolinensis) in North Wales

Wild grey squirrels in North Wales were examined for their serological response to a range of laboratory mouse pathogens. Nineteen squirrels were tested against 14 organisms and a high seroprevalence was found to several, including murine cytomegalovirus, mouse adenovirus, reovirus 3, rotavirus and Sendai virus. Four of the squirrels were seropositive for lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus, a zoonotic pathogen. None of the infections has previously been reported in squirrels.
Decrease in cellularity and expression of adhesion molecules by anti-tumor necrosis factor alpha monoclonal antibody treatment in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

OBJECTIVE The effect of chimeric anti-tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF alpha) monoclonal antibody (MAb) therapy on synovial inflammation was studied in order to address the hypothesis that anti-TNF alpha therapy leads to down-regulation of adhesion molecules and a decrease in inflammatory cell influx in synovial tissue (ST). METHODS The immunohistologic features of synovial biopsy specimens, both before and 4 weeks after anti-TNF alpha MAb (cA2) therapy, were studied in 14 patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The patients either received a placebo (n = 2), or were given intravenous doses of cA2 at 10 mg/kg (n = 5) or 20 mg/kg (n = 7). RESULTS A significant (P < 0.03) reduction in the mean scores for T cells and for the adhesion molecules, vascular cell adhesion molecule 1 and E-selectin, was observed after therapy with 10 mg/kg or 20 mg/kg of cA2 in RA patients. CONCLUSION The reduced expression of adhesion molecules, and the decrease in cellularity of rheumatoid ST after cA2 administration support the hypothesis that the antiinflammatory effect of anti-TNF alpha therapy might be partly explained by down-regulation of cytokine-inducible vascular adhesion molecules in ST, with a consequent reduction of cell traffic into joints.
Risikobezogenes Verhalten und Geschlechtsrollenorientierung im Jugendalter

Zusammenfassung. Gegenstand des Beitrags ist die Affinitat zu waghalsigen und Risk-Fashion Aktivitaten Jugendlicher. Im Mittelpunkt steht die Frage nach dem Zusammenhang zwischen dieser spezifischen Risikoaffinitat und der Geschlechtsrollenorientierung unter Jugendlichen. Datengrundlage bildet eine Stichprobe von 2.203 Madchen und Jungen im Alter zwischen 12 und 16 Jahren, die mittels standardisierter Erhebungsinstrumente schriftlich befragt wurden. Es ist festzustellen, dass maskuline Jungen die groste und feminine Madchen die geringste Affinitat zu risikobezogenen Verhaltensweisen zeigen. Regressionsanalytisch erweist sich, dass die Geschlechtsrollenorientierung ein relevanterer Pradiktor ist als die Geschlechtszugehorigkeit oder das Lebensalter.
Impact of a Service-Learning Course on First-Year Pharmacy Students’ Learning Outcomes

Objectives. To assess the differences in learning outcomes of first-year (P1) pharmacy students enrolled in a course based on service learning with those of a comparable group of students not enrolled in a course involving service learning. Design. Students on 2 campuses of a school of pharmacy completed a required P1 course involving service learning. A control group of students at a different school completed typical P1 courses, none of which involved service learning. Assessment. A questionnaire was administered to P1 students in the study group at the conclusion of the service-learning course, and a similar questionnaire was administered to P1 students in the control group in the spring of their P1 year. Survey questions inquired about what the students had learned generally and in the areas identified as common to the 2 groups of respondents. Differences in the learning outcomes of the students were identified, most notably in the areas of professional communication, cultural competence, the elderly, and awareness of service-providing agencies in the community. Conclusion. This study demonstrated that service-learning positively impacts pharmacy students’ learning outcomes.
The biosynthesis of insulin and a probable precursor of insulin by a human islet cell adenoma.

Because of the occurrence of two polypeptide chains in the insulin molecule, it has been proposed by several investigators, most recently by Givol et al.,I that it may be synthesized in vivo as a single large polypeptide chainwhich is converted byproteolysis to insulin after the native conformation has been established. This mechanism would undoubtedly ensure correct and efficient assembly in vivo. However, high yields of insulin have been obtained in vitro by recombination of separated or synthetic chains, especially when directing groups are employed.2 The results of Humbel3 also are consistent with a separate parallel synthesis of the two chains of angler fish insulin. Furthermore, Wang and Carpenter4 have looked for a "proinsulin" in pancreatic extracts but have concluded that if such exists, it comprises less than 10 per cent of the total insulin in the pancreas. The preponderant acinar tissue in the mammalian pancreas and its proteolytic enzymes has restricted most studies of insulin biosynthesis to a few species of teleost fish in which the islet tissue is separate from the pancreas.5' 6 Insulinproducing tumors of the islets of Langerhans, which occasionally occur in humans, are uniquely suited for the study of insulin biosynthesis since they are composed mainly of fB cells and are well separated from the surrounding acinar tissue. We recently obtained part of an islet cell adenoma that was removed from the pancreas of a patient with severe hypoglycemic episodes. When slices from this tumor were incubated with tritiated leucine or phenylalanine, the amiho acids were incorporated into insulin. A second labeled protein was separated from the acid-alcohol soluble fraction which could be shown to be related immunologically and chemically to insulin. Treatment of the second fraction with trypsin resulted in its conversion to a form that could not be distinguished from insulin. The results suggest that there is a precursor in the synthesis of insulin and that the precursor is a larger protein than insulin.
Postural disorders and spatial neglect in stroke patients: a strong association.

PURPOSE In this paper we analyse the arguments for a strong association between spatial neglect and postural disorders and attempt to better understand the mechanisms which underlie that. METHODS We first provide a general overview of the available tools for a rational assessment of postural control in a clinical context. We then analyse the arguments in favour of a close relationship, although not necessarily causal, between spatial neglect and: 1) body orientation with respect to gravity (including verticality perception i.e. the visual vertical, the haptic vertical, and the postural vertical); 2) body stabilisation with respect to the base of support; 3) posturographic features of stroke patients; 4) and finally their postural disability in daily life. This second part of the paper is based both on the literature review and on results of our current research. RESULTS Neglect patients show a dramatic postural disability, due both to problems in body orientation with respect to gravity and to problems in body stabilisation. It might be that these problems are partly caused by a neglect phenomenon bearing on graviceptive (somaesthetic > vestibular) and visual information serving postural control. This could correspond to a kind of postural neglect involving both the bodily and nonbodily domains of spatial neglect. The existence of distorsion(s) in the body scheme are also probably involved, especially to explain the weight-bearing asymmetry in standing, and probably an impaired multisegmental postural coordination leading to an impaired body stabilisation. CONCLUSION The present paper explains why neglect patients show longer/worse recovery of postural-walking autonomy than other stroke patients.
Oil spill monitoring on water surfaces by radar L, C and X band SAR imagery: A comparison of relevant characteristics

During last years, several studies related to remote sensing technologies analyzed the processes to extract and classify slicks from SAR imagery. These images are used, among other purposes, for monitoring coastal and marine waters pollution where oil floating on the surface becomes visible because it damps the short gravity-capillary waves that are responsible for the radar backscattering [14]. Nowadays an important number of SAR images are available and this number will increase in coming years thanks the launch of Cosmo-Skymed 2nd generation, recent availability of Sentinel-1, ALOS Palsar-2 products and future SAOCOM launch. That will provide information suitable to support decision makers in managing emergencies or potential disasters. The present study show the results obtained from 190 regions of interest extracted from a set of X, C and L Band images, where a database related to spatial, textural, spectral and contextual characteristics of the features detected was ingested into a neural network algorithm. The classification process reached percentages of up to 95% of cases of oil spills and look-alikes correctly classified depending on the wavelength, the polarization and incidence angle.
Mechanisms of action of acetylcholine in the guinea‐pig cerebral cortex in vitro.

The mechanisms of action of acetylcholine (ACh) in the guinea‐pig neocortex were investigated using intracellular recordings from layer V pyramidal cells of the anterior cingulate cortical slice. At resting membrane potential (Vm = ‐80 to ‐70 mV), ACh application resulted in a barrage of excitatory and inhibitory post‐synaptic potentials (p.s.p.s) associated with a decrease in apparent input resistance (Ri). ACh, applied to pyramidal neurones depolarized to just below firing threshold (Vm = ‐65 to ‐55 mV), produced a short‐latency hyperpolarization concomitant with p.s.p.s and a decrease in Ri, followed by a long‐lasting (10 to greater than 60 s) depolarization and action potential generation. Both of these responses were also found in presumed pyramidal neurones of other cortical regions (sensorimotor and visual) and were blocked by muscarinic, but not nicotinic, antagonists. The ACh‐induced hyperpolarization possessed an average reversal potential of ‐75.8 mV, similar to that for the hyperpolarizing response to gamma‐aminobutyric acid (GABA; ‐72.4 mV) and for the i.p.s.p. generated by orthodromic stimulation (‐69.6 mV). This cholinergic inhibitory response could be elicited by ACh applications at significantly greater distance from the cell than the slow depolarizing response. Blockade of GABAergic synaptic transmission with solution containing Mn2+ and low Ca2+, or by local application of tetrodotoxin (TTX), bicuculline or picrotoxin, abolished the ACh‐induced inhibitory response but not the slow excitatory response. In TTX (or Mn2+, low Ca2+) the slow excitatory response possessed a minimum onset latency of 250 ms and was associated with a voltage‐dependent increase in Ri. Application of ACh caused short‐latency excitation associated with a decrease in Ri in eight neurones. The time course of this excitation was similar to that of the inhibition seen in pyramidal neurones. Seven of these neurones had action potentials with unusually brief durations, indicating that they were probably non‐pyramidal cells. ACh blocked the slow after‐hyperpolarization (a.h.p.) following a train of action potentials, occasionally reduced orthodromically evoked p.s.p.s, and had no effect on the width or maximum rate of rise or fall of the action potential. It is concluded that cholinergic inhibition of pyramidal neurones is mediated through a rapid muscarinic excitation of non‐pyramidal cells, resulting in the release of GABA. In pyramidal cells ACh causes a relatively slow blockade of both a voltage‐dependent hyperpolarizing conductance (M‐current) which is most active at depolarized membrane potentials, and the Ca2+‐activated K+ conductance underlying the a.h. p.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)