Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Role of propagule pressure in colonization success: disentangling the relative importance of demographic, genetic and habitat effects

High propagule pressure is arguably the only consistent predictor of colonization success. More individuals enhance colonization success because they aid in overcoming demographic consequences of small population size (e.g. stochasticity and Allee effects). The number of founders can also have direct genetic effects: with fewer individuals, more inbreeding and thus inbreeding depression will occur, whereas more individuals typically harbour greater genetic variation. Thus, the demographic and genetic components of propagule pressure are interrelated, making it difficult to understand which mechanisms are most important in determining colonization success. We experimentally disentangled the demographic and genetic components of propagule pressure by manipulating the number of founders (fewer or more), and genetic background (inbred or outbred) of individuals released in a series of three complementary experiments. We used Bemisia whiteflies and released them onto either their natal host (benign) or a novel host (challenging). Our experiments revealed that having more founding individuals and those individuals being outbred both increased the number of adults produced, but that only genetic background consistently shaped net reproductive rate of experimental populations. Environment was also important and interacted with propagule size to determine the number of adults produced. Quality of the environment interacted also with genetic background to determine establishment success, with a more pronounced effect of inbreeding depression in harsh environments. This interaction did not hold for the net reproductive rate. These data show that the positive effect of propagule pressure on founding success can be driven as much by underlying genetic processes as by demographics. Genetic effects can be immediate and have sizable effects on fitness.
Variation in mitochondrial DNA reveals multiple distant glacial refugia in black spruce (Picea mariana), a transcontinental North American conifer

Range‐wide genetic variation of black spruce (Picea mariana) was studied using polymerase chain reaction‐random fragment length polymorphism markers of the mitochondrial genome. Four polymorphic mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) loci were surveyed and two or three alleles were detected at each locus, resulting in 10 multilocus mtDNA types or mitotypes. A significant subdivision of population genetic diversity was detected (GST = 0.671; NST = 0.726), suggesting low levels of gene flow among populations. The distribution of mitotypes was not random (NST > GST; P < 0.05) and revealed four partially overlapping zones, presumably representative of different glacial populations. Comparison of the genetic structure derived from mtDNA markers and the colonization paths previously deduced from the fossil and pollen records allow us to infer at least three southern and one northeastern glacial populations for black spruce. The patterns revealed in this study suggest that black spruce shares its biogeographical history with other forest‐associated North American species.
The iterated Carmichael \lambda-function and the number of cycles of the power generator

Iteration of the modular l-th power function f(x) = x^l (mod n) provides a common pseudorandom number generator (known as the Blum-Blum-Shub generator when l=2). The period of this pseudorandom number generator is closely related to \lambda(\lambda(n)), where \lambda(n) denotes Carmichael's function, namely the maximal multiplicative order of any integer modulo n. In this paper, we show that for almost all n, the size of \lambda(\lambda(n)) is n/exp((1+o(1))(log log n)^2 log log log n). We conjecture an analogous formula for the k-th iterate of \lambda. We deduce that for almost all n, the psuedorandom number generator described above has at least exp((1+o(1))(log log n)^2 log log log n) disjoint cycles. In addition, we show that this expression is accurate for almost all n under the assumption of the Generalized Riemann Hypothesis for Kummerian fields. We also consider the number of iterations of \lambda it takes to reduce an integer n to 1, proving that this number is less than (1+o(1))(log log n)/log 2 infinitely often and speculating that log log n is the true order of magnitude almost always.
A Systematic Review of Simulation for Multidisciplinary Team Training in Operating Rooms

Summary Statement Current simulation training initiatives predominantly occur in uniprofessional silos and do little to integrate different disciplines working in the operating room (OR). The objective of this review was to determine the current status of work describing simulation for full OR multidisciplinary teams including barriers to conducting OR multidisciplinary team training and factors contributing to successful courses. We found a total of 18 articles from 10 research groups. Various scenarios and simulators were used, and training sessions were generally perceived as realistic and beneficial by participants despite rudimentary integration of surgical and anesthetic models. Measures of performance involved a variety of both technical and nontechnical ratings of the simulations. Challenges to conducting the simulations included recruitment, model realism, and financial costs. Future work should focus on how best to overcome the barriers to implementation of team training interventions for full OR teams, particularly on how to engage senior staff to aid recruitment.
The Relationship Between Personality and Schadenfreude in Hypothetical Versus Live Situations

This study sought to investigate how individual differences are related to schadenfreude (pleasure derived from another’s misfortune) by replicating past findings and extending them to additional personality traits. Because most past research on schadenfreude has relied heavily on the use of reactions to hypothetical scenarios, an attempt was made to demonstrate external validity by also including a reaction to a live event (confederate misfortune). For the scenarios, schadenfreude was positively correlated with the Dark Triad and just world beliefs; negatively correlated with empathy and agreeableness; and uncorrelated with dispositional envy, self-esteem, or the remaining Big Five traits. For the live event, no personality traits were correlated with schadenfreude, suggesting responses to hypothetical situations may not be representative of real-life schadenfreude events.
THE CRITICAL ROLE OF VASCULAR ENDOTHELIAL GROWTH FACTOR IN PULMONARY VASCULAR REMODELING AFTER LUNG INJURY

The pulmonary vascular endothelial cell plays a crucial role in the regulation of the pulmonary vascular tone and in the maintenance of the barrier function and integrity of the alveolar-capillary membrane. It also plays a major role in coagulation, fibrinolysis, and angiogenesis and participates in inflammatory reactions. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is a central growth and survival factor for the endothelial cell. Particularly high levels of VEGF are expressed in the lungs, reflecting the critical role of VEGF for lung development and structural integrity of the adult lung. Vascular endothelial growth factor exerts a variety of physiological and pathophysiological actions in the lung. Recent evidence suggests its involvement in the pathogenesis of lung diseases such as bronchopulmonary dysplasia, acute lung injury, emphysema, and pulmonary hypertension. To summarize the critical effects of VEGF on the pulmonary endothelial cell in the pathogenesis of these diseases, the purposes of this review are to (1) discuss the biological activities and intracellular signaling pathways of VEGF in the lung; (2) summarize the regulatory mechanisms involved in VEGF expression; (3)address the effects of VEGF on endothelial cells in hyperoxia-induced and other forms of lung injury; (4) highlight the endothelial effects of VEGF in the pathogenesis of emphysema; and (5) explore the role of VEGF in the pathogenesis of pulmonary arterial hypertension.
Distress levels in Turkish parents of children with congenital heart disease

Objective The purpose of this research was to determine the distress levels of parents of children with congenital heart disease and identify factors that influenced the levels of distress. Design The research used a cross‐sectional, descriptive study design. Setting The setting was a Paediatric Cardiology Outpatient Clinic at a university hospital in Erzurum, Turkey. Subject The subjects for the research were 262 parents (130 fathers and 132 mothers) of 147 children with congenital heart disease. Main outcome measure The Symptom Check List (SCL‐ 90‐R), developed by Derogatis (1997) was used to measure parents’ distress. Results Mothers had higher scores than fathers on all distress dimensions (somatisation 1.17 ± 0.43; anxiety 1.78 ± 0.52; depression 1.54 ± 0.50 ‐ p<0.001). Additionally, the intensity of distress for both mothers and fathers increased with the severity of the child’s disease. Conclusion Parents were seriously affected by the illness of their children. Parents (especially mothers) of children with congenital heart disease should receive psychological and emotional support from health professionals for distress stemming from parenting a child with special needs.
Nutrition for the young athlete

Abstract Athletics is a popular sport among young people. To maintain health and optimize growth and athletic performance, young athletes need to consume an appropriate diet. Unfortunately, the dietary intake of many young athletes follows population trends rather than public health or sports nutrition recommendations. To optimize performance in some disciplines, young athletes may strive to achieve a lower body weight or body fat content and this may increase their risk for delayed growth and maturation, amenorrhoea, reduced bone density, and eating disorders. Although many of the sports nutrition principles identified for adults are similar to those for young athletes, there are some important differences. These include a higher metabolic cost of locomotion and preferential fat oxidation in young athletes during exercise. Young athletes, particularity children, are at a thermoregulatory disadvantage due to a higher surface area to weight ratio, a slower acclimatization, and lower sweating rate. An appropriate dietary intake rather than use of supplements (except when clinically indicated) is recommended to ensure young athletes participate fully and safely in athletics.
Age‐related changes in cell dynamics of the postnatal mouse olfactory neuroepithelium: Cell proliferation, neuronal differentiation, and cell death

Age‐related changes in cell proliferation, neuronal differentiation, and cell death in mouse olfactory neuroepithelium were investigated. Mice at the age of 10 days through 16 months were given a single injection of bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU). The olfactory mucosae were fixed at 9 timepoints ranging from 2 hours to 3 months after the injection and examined using double immunostaining for BrdU and olfactory marker protein (OMP), and double staining with terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase‐mediated biotinylated dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL) and immunostaining for OMP. The number of BrdU‐labeled cells/mm epithelial length initially increased, peaked at 2–3 days after the BrdU injection, then declined at each age. The number of BrdU‐ and TUNEL‐labeled neuronal cells both decreased with increasing age, suggesting that the rates of both cell proliferation and cell death in the olfactory neuroepithelium decrease with increasing age. Double‐labeled cells for BrdU and OMP appeared at 7 days after injection in all age groups, suggesting that the time required for neuronal differentiation is broadly similar irrespective of age. In older age groups, smaller amounts of the newly produced cohort are integrated into the OMP‐positive ORN population, and even once it is integrated it is eliminated from the population more rapidly compared to the younger age groups. Furthermore, TUNEL assay showed that the fraction of apoptotic cells distributed in the OMP‐positive layer/total apoptotic cells decreased with age. This observation suggests that the turnover of mature ORNs is slower in the older neuroepithelium compared to the younger neuroepithelium. J. Comp. Neurol. 518:1962–1975, 2010. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Discrete Wigner Function Derivation of the Aaronson-Gottesman Tableau Algorithm

The Gottesman–Knill theorem established that stabilizer states and Clifford operations can be efficiently simulated classically. For qudits with odd dimension three and greater, stabilizer states and Clifford operations have been found to correspond to positive discrete Wigner functions and dynamics. We present a discrete Wigner function-based simulation algorithm for odd-d qudits that has the same time and space complexity as the Aaronson–Gottesman algorithm for qubits. We show that the efficiency of both algorithms is due to harmonic evolution in the symplectic structure of discrete phase space. The differences between the Wigner function algorithm for odd-d and the Aaronson–Gottesman algorithm for qubits are likely due only to the fact that the Weyl–Heisenberg group is not in S U ( d ) for d = 2 and that qubits exhibit state-independent contextuality. This may provide a guide for extending the discrete Wigner function approach to qubits.
On the extent of job-to-job transitions

The rate of job-to-job transitions is twice as large today as the rate at which workers move from employment to unemployment. I demonstrate that, under plausible specifications, the basic job-ladder model --- the workhorse model of the literature on on-the-job search --- has no chance of matching the extent of job-to-job transitions. Moreover, it cannot account for the low search effort exerted by most employed workers and the observation that on-the-job search is a means to ``escape'' unemployment: it is undertaken exactly by those workers who are facing the threat of becoming unemployed. I develop an alternative theoretical framework that can quantitatively match salient features of job-to-job transitions. The model incorporates a stochastic process that causes the value of a job to the worker to decrease at times, predicting that workers with a lower job value have a higher probability of entering unemployment. This natural feature is not in standard models. A second important element of the model is endogenous search effort, explaining the low search effort exerted by many employed workers and the correlation between search effort and the probability of becoming unemployed observed in the data. Calculating the equilibrium of the model shows that it can successfully account for the stylized facts on job-to-job transitions. I also demonstrate that the model can account for observed differences in the extent of job-to-job transitions across demographic groups
Psychiatric Morbidity in Patients with HIV Infection *

A psychiatric examination was conducted on 144 patients at various stages of HIV infection and on 29 controls found to be seronegative. One-half of the control group had at least one DSM-III-R Axis I diagnosis, most commonly cannabis abuse, alcohol abuse, or adjustment disorder. Compared to this baseline, HIV-infected subjects had higher rates of adjustment disorder. AIDS patients were also more likely to suffer from organic mental disorder. The rate of unemployment increased as the disease progressed. Major depression was seen in only ten patients, and there were no differences between controls and HIV-infected subjects. Formal assessment of mood state and feelings of pessimism also showed no differences among the groups. The importance of helping improve the patient's lifestyle through the control of alcohol and drug abuse is underscored.
Twofold Reduction of Phosphofructokinase Activity in Lactococcus lactis Results in Strong Decreases in Growth Rate and in Glycolytic Flux

ABSTRACT Two mutant strains of Lactococcus lactis in which the promoter of the las operon, harboring pfk, pyk, and ldh, were replaced by synthetic promoters were constructed. These las mutants had an approximately twofold decrease in the activity of phosphofructokinase, whereas the activities of pyruvate kinase and lactate dehydrogenase remained closer to the wild-type level. In defined medium supplemented with glucose, the growth rate of the mutants was reduced to 57 to 70% of wild-type levels and the glycolytic flux was reduced to 62 to 76% of wild-type levels. In complex medium growth was even further reduced. Surprisingly, the mutants still showed homolactic fermentation, which indicated that the limitation was different from standard glucose-limited conditions. One explanation could be that the reduced activity of phosphofructokinase resulted in the accumulation of sugar-phosphates. Indeed, when one of the mutants was starved for glucose in glucose-limited chemostat, the growth rate could gradually be increased to 195% of the growth rate observed in glucose-saturated batch culture, suggesting that phosphofructokinase does affect the concentration of upstream metabolites. The pools of glucose-6-phosphate and fructose-6-phosphate were subsequently found to be increased two- to fourfold in the las mutants, which indicates that phosphofructokinase exerts strong control over the concentration of these metabolites.
The cytolysin gene of Vibrio vulnificus: sequence and relationship to the Vibrio cholerae E1 Tor hemolysin gene

A cytolysin of ca. 56 kilodaltons has been suggested as a possible virulence factor in Vibrio vulnificus infections. We sequenced the DNA encoding cytolytic activity and found that the sequence contained two open reading frames, vvhA and vvhB. vvhA encoded the structural gene for the cytolysin and contained the N-terminal amino acid sequence previously reported for the protein. Regions of the vvhA gene showed homology to the structural gene for the Vibrio cholerae E1 Tor hemolysin.
Lack of association of TNF-alpha promoter polymorphisms with ankylosing spondylitis: a meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVES Genetic factors, in addition to the HLA-B27, could play a role in the pathogenesis of AS. TNF-alpha promoter polymorphisms have been reported to be associated with AS susceptibility, but the results of these previous studies have been inconsistent. The aim of this study was to explore whether TNF-alpha promoter polymorphisms confer susceptibility to AS. METHODS We conducted a random effect meta-analysis on the association of the A/A genotype (the recessive effect), the A/A + A/G genotype (the dominant effect) and the A allele of the TNF-alpha -308 and -238 polymorphisms with AS. RESULTS Eight studies, consisting of seven European studies and one Latin American study, were included in this meta-analysis. Any association between AS and the TNF-alpha -308 A allele was not found [odds ratio (OR) = 0.911; 95% CI 0.512, 1.286; P = 0.636; I(2) = 73.8]. There was also no association of the TNF-alpha -308 AA and AA+AG genotypes with AS. Meta-analysis of the TNF-alpha -238 polymorphisms showed no association with AS (OR for A allele = 0.930; 95% CI 0.498, 1.737; P = 0.821; I(2) = 71.6). Subgroup analysis by ethnicity and HLA-B27 positivity did not change the results for the association of the TNF-alpha -308 and -238 polymorphisms with AS. CONCLUSIONS This meta-analysis including 2247 subjects has shown that there is a lack of association of the TNF-alpha -308 A/G and -238 A/G polymorphisms with AS.
Spatiotemporal Patterning During T Cell Activation Is Highly Diverse

The timing and the distribution of signaling intermediates reflect the efficiency and nature of T cell receptor activation. Right Times and Right Places Signals downstream of receptor activation can be effectively regulated by controlling both the distribution of signaling intermediates within the cell and the time at which they get to their destinations. Such spatiotemporal patterning of receptors, kinases, and adaptor molecules can have a substantial effect on their local concentrations and on the probabilities that they will interact with each other. Previous studies have characterized the patterning of individual or small groups of molecules; however, systems-level analyses of such processes are lacking. Singleton et al. have studied the spatiotemporal patterning of some 30 signaling intermediates in various mouse T cells activated by antigen-presenting cells under different conditions. As well as establishing that the patterning of these molecules regulates the efficiency of T cell receptor signaling, this study also shows that different T cell activation conditions generate different spatiotemporal patterns. Temporal and spatial variations in the concentrations of signaling intermediates in a living cell are important for signaling in complex networks because they modulate the probabilities that signaling intermediates will interact with each other. We have studied 30 signaling sensors, ranging from receptors to transcription factors, in the physiological activation of murine ex vivo T cells by antigen-presenting cells. Spatiotemporal patterning of these molecules was highly diverse and varied with specific T cell receptors and T cell activation conditions. The diversity and variability observed suggest that spatiotemporal patterning controls signaling interactions during T cell activation in a physiologically important and discriminating manner. In support of this, the effective clustering of a group of ligand-engaged receptors and signaling intermediates in a joint pattern consistently correlated with efficient T cell activation at the level of the whole cell.
Clinical features of capsular glaucoma in comparison with primary open‐angle glaucoma in Japan

Abstract. Clinical features of capsular glaucoma during a recent 15‐year period were compared with those of primary open‐angle glaucoma (POAG). Out of 1623 new glaucoma patients, 263 patients (16.2%) were capsular glaucoma and 268 (16.5%) were POAG. The patients with capsular glaucoma were older than the patients with POAG. The former had higher intraocular pressure, lower visual acuity, more advanced visual field change and heavier trabecular pigmentation than POAG patients at the time of initial examination. These findings suggest that capsular glaucoma is more difficult to manage than POAG and that the prognosis is poorer than for POAG. Pseudoexfoliative material was found on the pupillary border in 98.3%, on the central lens surface in 46.1%, and on the peripheral lens surface in 72.3%. Though 190 of 263 patients with capsular glaucoma (73.9%) were unilateral cases, 38.9% of the fellow eyes had some abnormalities related to glaucoma. Phakodonesis was found in 10% of patients with capsular glaucoma. This finding suggests that the presence of capsular glaucoma might be a risk factor in cataract surgery.