Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Performance, haematology and serum biochemistry of broiler chickens fed differently processed shea butter cake meal

A 42-day study was conducted to determine the effect of feeding differently processed shea butter cake meal (SBCM) on performance and blood indices of broiler chickens. A total of 250 Arbor acre day old chicks were randomly allocated to five dietary treatments with five replicates of 10 birds each in a completely randomized design under deep litter system. The five diets were formulated such that T1 is the control containing 0% SBCM while T2, T3, T4 and T5 contained 20% of raw, boiled, sodium hydroxide (NaOH)treated and fermented SBCM respectively. Data obtained on performance, haematology and serum indices were subjected to one-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). The results showed that all performance parameters were significantly (p<0.05) affected by the treatments and birds fed processed SBCM diets compared favorably with the control group especially fermented SBCM than those fed raw SBCM diet. WBC, RBC, serum protein, glucose and creatinine were comparable among birds fed control and processed SBCM diets while lower (P<0.05) values were recorded in those on raw-SBCM. In conclusion, birds fed fermented-SBCM diets showed improved performance at lower fed and up to 20% inclusion can be tolerated without any deleterious health consequences.
DKK2 Impairs Tumor Immunity Infiltration and Correlates with Poor Prognosis in Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) remains one of the most devastating cancer types despite the improvement of modern medicine. In our present study, we found that dickkopf-related protein 2 (DKK2) shares a higher expression in PDAC compared with adjacent pancreas tissue in tissue microarray. In addition, an elevated expression of DKK2 predicts poorer prognosis of patients and positively correlated with poor tumor differentiation. Multivariate Cox regression analysis was also performed and confirmed that the expression of DKK2 is an independent prognostic factor in PDAC. A high expression of DKK2 correlates with cell migration and epithelial mesenchymal transition based on gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) while knockdown of DKK2 in PDAC cells resulted in impaired cellular migration. Furthermore, GSEA predicts negative correlation between tumor immunity invasion and DKK2 expression. We then confirmed these results and demonstrated that a higher expression of DKK2 imparts the recruitment of CD8+ T cells. Our work suggested that DKK2 imparts tumor immune evasion and is associated with poor prognosis in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.
Changes in ambient temperature are the prevailing cue in determining Brachypodium distachyon diurnal gene regulation

Plants are continuously exposed to diurnal fluctuations in light and temperature, and spontaneous changes in their physical or biotic environment. The circadian clock coordinates regulation of gene expression with a 24-hour period, enabling the anticipation of these events. We used RNA sequencing to characterize the Brachypodium distachyon transcriptome under light and temperature cycles, as well as under constant conditions. Approximately 3% of the transcriptome was regulated by the circadian clock, a smaller proportion reported in most other species. For most transcripts that were rhythmic under all conditions, including many known clock genes, the period of gene expression lengthened from 24 to 27 h in the absence of external cues. To functionally characterize the cyclic transcriptome in B. distachyon, we used Gene Ontology enrichment analysis, and found several terms significantly associated with peak expression at particular times of the day. Furthermore we identified sequence motifs enriched in the promoters of similarly-phased genes, some potentially associated with transcription factors. When considering the overlap in rhythmic gene expression and specific pathway behavior, thermocycles was the prevailing cue that controlled diurnal gene regulation. Taken together, our characterization of the rhythmic B. distachyon transcriptome represents a foundational resource with implications in other grass species.
Activity Patterns and Feeding Ecology of the Gelada Baboon (Theropithecus Gelada Arsi) and Human – Gelada Conflicts in Amigna, Eastern Arsi, Ethiopia

iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS . v DEDICATION . vii TABLE OF CONTENT . viii LIST OF TABLES . xii LIST OF FIGURES . xiv LIST OF APPENDICES . xvi ACRONOMY.xvii
The mitogenome of the jumping bristletail Trigoniophthalmus alternatus (Insecta, Microcoryphia) and the phylogeny of insect early-divergent lineages

Abstract The complete mitochondrial genome of the machilid Trigoniophthalmus alternatus (Silvestri 1904) is herein described and applied to phylogenetic analyses, inclusive of the most early-divergent lineages of hexapods. Both gene content and order generally conform with the organization of the arthropods’ mitochondrial genome. One gene translocation involving trnA is the autapomorphic character observed in this species. Another peculiar molecular feature is the long size of the A + T-rich region, due to the occurrence of repeat units. The phylogenetic analyses support the typical placement, along the hexapods’ tree, of Ectognatha, Monocondylia and Dicondylia, with Diplura as the adelphotaxon of all true insects.
The responses of soil organic carbon mineralization and microbial communities to fresh and aged biochar soil amendments

While biochar soil amendment has been widely proposed as a soil organic carbon (SOC) sequestration strategy to mitigate detrimental climate changes in global agriculture, the SOC sequestration was still not clearly understood for the different effects of fresh and aged biochar on SOC mineralization. In the present study of a two‐factorial experiment, topsoil samples from a rice paddy were laboratory‐incubated with and without fresh or aged biochar pyrolyzed of wheat residue and with and without crop residue‐derived dissolved organic matter (CRM) for monitoring soil organic matter decomposition under controlled conditions. The six treatments included soil with no biochar, with fresh biochar and with aged biochar treated with CRM, respectively. For fresh biochar treatment, the topsoil of a same rice paddy was amended with wheat biochar directly from a pyrolysis wheat straw, the soil with aged biochar was collected from the same soil 6 years following a single amendment of same biochar. Total CO2 emission from the soil was monitored over a 64 day time span of laboratory incubation, while microbial biomass carbon and phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA) were determined at the end of incubation period. Without CRM, total organic carbon mineralization was significantly decreased by 38.8% with aged biochar but increased by 28.9% with fresh biochar, compared to no biochar. With CRM, however, the significantly highest net carbon mineralization occurred in the soil without biochar compared to the biochar‐amended soil. Compared to aged biochar, fresh biochar addition significantly increased the total PLFA concentration by 20.3%–33.8% and altered the microbial community structure by increasing 17:1ω8c (Gram‐negative bacteria) and i17:0 (Gram‐positive bacteria) mole percentages and by decreasing the ratio of fungi/bacteria. Furthermore, biochar amendment significantly lowered the metabolic quotient of SOC decomposition, thereby becoming greater with aged biochar than with fresh biochar. The finding here suggests that biochar amendment could improve carbon utilization efficiency by soil microbial community and SOC sequestration potential in paddy soil can be enhanced by the presence of biochar in soil over the long run.
Effect of Sowing Dates and Potassium Fertilizer Rates on Seed Yield of Lima Bean CV. (Phaseolus vulgaris L.)

To investigate the effect of sowing dates and potassium fertilizer rates on seeds yield and yield component of lima bean. Two field experiments were conducted at Sakha Agricultural Research Station during 2015 and 2016 summer seasons. Four sowing dates (1st May, 15th May, 30th May and 15th June) and potassium fertilizer rates (0, 50, 75, and 100 kg/fed) were used as treatments. The main findings could be summarized as follows:Sowing dates significantly affected seed yield (t/fed), No. of seeds/pod, pod length (cm), No. of pods/plant, pods weight/plant, plant height (cm), stem diameter (cm), No. of branches/plant. Sowing on 1st May significantly exceeded all studied traits compared with other sowing dates and produced the highest yield (2.477 t/fed), while the lowest sowing date on 15th June. The stem diameter increased with sowing late (1.810 t/fed.). Potassium fertilizer rates significantly affected on seed yield (t/fed), No. of seeds/pod, pod length (cm) , No. of pods/plant, pods weight (t/ fed), plant height (cm), stem diameter (cm), No. of branches/ plant. The results indicated that the highest lima bean seed yield was 2.375 (t/fed) when fertilized with100kg k2o/fed and the lowest at control zero fertilizer 1.990 (t/fed). It could be concluded that early sowing on 1st May with addition potassium fertilizer rate at 100 kg k2o/fed were the recommended treatment to produce the highest seed yield production of lima bean at North Delta under the environmental condition of Kafr EL-Sheikh Governorate.
Multilevel modeling, prevalence, and predictors of hypertension in Ghana: Evidence from Wave 2 of the World Health Organization's Study on global AGEing and adult health

Background Hypertension is a major public health issue, a critical risk factor for cardiovascular diseases and stroke, especially in developing countries where the rates remain unacceptably high. In Africa, hypertension is the leading driver of cardiovascular disease and stroke deaths. Identification of critical risk factors of hypertension can help formulate targeted public health programmes and policies aimed at reducing the prevalence and its associated morbidity, disability and mortality. This study attempts to develop multilevel regression, an in-depth statistical model to identify critical risk factors of hypertension. Methods This study used data on 4381 individuals aged ≥18 years from the nationally representative World Health Organization Study on global AGEing and adult health (SAGE) Ghana Wave 2. Multilevel regression modelling was employed to identify critical risk factors for hypertension based on systolic blood pressure (SBP) (i.e. SBP>140mmHg). Results The data on 4381 individuals were analysed out of which 27.3% were hypertensive. Critical risk factors for hypertension identified were age, obesity, marital status, health state and difficulty with self-care. Strong unobserved household-level residual variations were found. Conclusion Hypertension remains high in Ghana. Addressing the problem of obesity, targeting specific interventions to those aged over 50 years, and improvement in the general health of Ghanaians are paramount to reducing the prevalence and its associated morbidity, disability and mortality. Lifestyle modification in the form of dietary intake, knowledge provision supported with strong public health message and political will could be beneficial to the management and prevention of hypertension.
JAM-A functions as a female microglial tumor suppressor in glioblastoma.

BACKGROUND Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most aggressive primary brain tumor and has a dismal prognosis. Previously, we identified that junctional adhesion molecule-A (JAM-A), a cell adhesion molecule, is highly elevated in human GBM cancer stem cells and predicts poor patient prognosis. While JAM-A is also highly expressed in other cells in the tumor microenvironment, specifically microglia and macrophages, how JAM-A expression in these cells affects tumor growth has yet to be determined. The goal of this study was to understand the role of microenvironmental JAM-A in mediating GBM growth. METHODS Male and female wild-type (WT) and JAM-A-deficient mice were transplanted intracranially with the syngeneic glioma cell lines GL261 and SB28 and were assessed for differences in survival and microglial activation in tumors and in vitro. RNA-sequencing was performed to identify differentially regulated genes among all genotypes, and differences were validated in vitro and in vivo. RESULTS We found that JAM-A-deficient female mice succumbed to GBM more quickly compared to WT females and JAM-A-deficient and male WT mice. Analysis of microglia in the tumors revealed that female JAM-A-deficient microglia were more activated, and RNA-sequencing identified elevated expression of Fizz1 and Ifi202b specifically in JAM-A-deficient female microglia. CONCLUSIONS Our findings suggest that JAM-A functions to suppress pathogenic microglial activation in the female tumor microenvironment, highlighting an emerging role for sex differences in the GBM microenvironment and suggesting that sex differences extend beyond previously reported tumor cell-intrinsic differences.
Histopathological biomarking changes in the internal organs of Tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) and catfish (Clarias gariepinus) exposed to heavy metals contamination from Dandaru pond, Ibadan, Nigeria

ABSTRACT The study assessed histopathological alterations in the organs of Oreochromis niloticus (Nile tilapia) and Clarias gariepinus (Catfish) harvested from Dandaru Pond, Ibadan, Nigeria. The histopathological effects were evaluated through biomarkings and heavy metals measurements of the fish organs and tissue. Results showed the kidney with sign of coagulated necrosis of the renal tubules. In the liver, there were hepatocytes which appeared foamy and contained large-sized vacuoles. The gills appeared with some congestion in their capillaries in addition to numerous bluish staining walled-off structures. There was severe thinning of the myocardial fibres in the fish heart. The chambers were moderately congested. The fish organs contained 0.06–0.90 µg/g lead. The Pb concentrations and those of manganese and iron exceeded the WHO permissible limit in fish. It is conclusive that the bioaccumulated heavy metals in the tissue and fish organs consequently impaired their histopathological condition, and thus affect fish health status.
Neonatal brain-directed gene therapy rescues a mouse model of neurodegenerative CLN6 Batten disease

The neuronal ceroid lipofuscinoses (NCLs), more commonly referred to as Batten disease, are a group of inherited lysosomal storage disorders that present with neurodegeneration, loss of vision and premature death. There are at least 13 genetically distinct forms of NCL. Enzyme replacement therapies and preclinical studies on gene supplementation have shown promising results for NCLs caused by lysosomal enzyme deficiencies. The development of gene therapies targeting the brain for NCLs caused by defects in transmembrane proteins has been more challenging and only limited therapeutic effects in animal models have been achieved so far. Here, we describe the development of an adeno-associated virus (AAV)-mediated gene therapy to treat the neurodegeneration in a mouse model of CLN6 disease, a form of NCL with a deficiency in the membrane-bound protein CLN6. We show that neonatal bilateral intracerebroventricular injections with AAV9 carrying CLN6 increase lifespan by more than 90%, maintain motor skills and motor coordination and reduce neuropathological hallmarks of Cln6-deficient mice up to 23 months post vector administration. These data demonstrate that brain-directed gene therapy is a valid strategy to treat the neurodegeneration of CLN6 disease and may be applied to other forms of NCL caused by transmembrane protein deficiencies in the future.
Parallel Concerted Evolution of Ribosomal Protein Genes in Fungi and Its Adaptive Significance

Ribosomal proteins (RPs) genes encode structure components of ribosomes, the cellular machinery for protein synthesis. A single functional copy has been maintained in most of 78-80 RP families in animals due to evolutionary constraints imposed by gene dosage balance. Some fungal species have maintained duplicate copies in most RP families. How the RP genes were duplicated and maintained in these fungal species, and their functional significance remains unresolved. To address these questions, we identified all RP genes from 295 fungi and inferred the timing and nature of gene duplication for all RP families. We found that massive duplications of RP genes have independently occurred by different mechanisms in three distantly related lineages. The RP duplicates in two of them, budding yeast and Mucoromycota, were mainly created by whole genome duplication (WGD) events. However, in fission yeasts, duplicate RP genes were likely generated by retroposition, which is unexpected considering their dosage sensitivity. The sequences of most RP paralogs in each species have been homogenized by repeated gene conversion, demonstrating parallel concerted evolution, which might have facilitated the retention of their duplicates. Transcriptomic data suggest that the duplication and retention of RP genes increased RP transcription abundance. Physiological data indicate that increased ribosome biogenesis allowed these organisms to rapidly consuming sugars through fermentation while maintaining high growth rates, providing selective advantages to these species in sugar-rich environments.
Food habits and foraging ecology of American Kestrels in the semiarid forests of central Argentina

ABSTR•qCT. ---The annual diet of the American Kestrel (Falco sparverius) was studied by analyzing 705 pellets and prey remains collected in a semiarid forest area of central Argentina. The diet composition fluctuated seasonally but was composed primarily of invertebrates, followed by small mammals, birds, and reptiles. Based on biomass, vertebrate prey was the major component of the diet in winter and spring. We found significant numerical differences between prey consumed by adult and nestling kestrels. Percentages of small mammal prey were higher in the diet of adults than in the nestlings, but rodents consumed by nestlings were larger in size than consumed by adults. Nestlings also ate more birds and reptiles than adults. Based in biomass contribution of vertebrate and invertebrate prey to the diet during non-breeding and breeding seasons, American Kestrels in semiarid forest of Central Argentina were more carnivorous than insectivorous predators. Differences between adult and nestling diets emphasized the importance of collecting samples from perches and nests when kestrel food habits are being studied during the breeding season.
Time of day effect in postural control in young soccer players: Field dynamic assessment

ABSTRACT This study aimed to examine the reliability and the time-of-day variability on standing long jump (SLJ), three hop test (THT) speed (5-m, and 20-m sprint), and balance (Y balance test [Y-BT]) in prepuberal male soccer players. Data were gathered from two phases, using 105 soccer players. Reliability was investigated in phase 1. Time of day effect on SLJ, THT, 5-m, and 20-m speed and Y-BT tests was investigated in phase 2. Phase 1 showed non-significant bias between the two applications of the SLJ, THT, 5-m, and 20-m speed, and Y-BT tests . The SLJ, THT, 5-m, and 20-m speed, and Y-BT scores showed high relative and absolute reliability. The usefulness analysis showed that the SLJ, THT, 5-m and 20-m speed, and Y-BT tests could detect small changes in performance (SEM < SWC for all tests). Phase 2 showed that leg power, speed, and postural control are affected by time of day. A significantly better (p< 0.05) leg power, speed, and postural control were observed at the end of the afternoon than at morning hours. Time-of-day may be considered as a factor in designing leg power, speed, and postural control training programmes and intervention studies for prepuberal male soccer players.
Arabidopsis PPC2 is crucial for growth at low CO2 by involvement in photorespiratory metabolism and integration of ABI5

Phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase (PEPC) is a pivotal enzyme that plays a key role in photosynthetic CO2 fixation in C4. However, the function of C3 PEPCs and their roles at environmental CO2 changes are still limited. Here, we report the role of PPC2 in seedling growth at low CO2 by linking photorespiratory metabolism with primary metabolism and involvement of ABA and ABI5. Mutation of PPC2 caused seedling growth arrest, with reduced Fv/Fm, photosynthetic carbohydrates and ABA biosynthesis at low CO2. PPC2 is induced by low CO2 and the PEPC activity was greatly reduced in ppc2 leaves. Moreover, metabolic analyses showed the photorespiratory intermediates, glycine and serine, were greatly increased and primary metabolites were reduced. Application of sucrose, malate and ABA greatly rescued the growth arrest phenotype of ppc2. The expression of glycine/serine synthesis and metabolism related photorespiratory enzyme genes were decreased in ppc2 and regulated by ABI5 at low CO2 conditions. ppc2 and abi5 mature plants exhibited reduced A-Ci curves at relatively low CO2, which could be recovered by non-photorespiratory low oxygen conditions. ABI5 expression greatly rescued the growth arrest and A-Ci curves of ppc2 at low CO2. Our findings demonstrate the important role of C3 PEPCs in carbon fixation and metabolism.
Bumble bee parasite prevalence but not genetic diversity impacted by the invasive plant
 Impatiens glandulifera

While many bee species are experiencing population declines, some host plant generalist bees remain common in Europe, partly because they seem able to shift to new resources. However, foraging on a new alternative plant, such as an invasive species, can modify diet quality and have a potentially detrimental effect on bee health. Herein, we investigated whether the spread of the invasive plant Impatiens glandulifera affects Bombus pascuorum population regarding parasite prevalence, genetic structure, and nest density in Belgium. While no difference in bumble bee genetic structure was detected between invaded and uninvaded sites, we show that I. glandulifera occurrence was significantly correlated with a decrease in the prevalence of Apicystis bombi but not the prevalence of three other parasite species (i.e., Crithidia bombi, Nosema bombi, Nosema ceranae, and Nosema sp.). Regarding our investigations, this effect was likely not due to variation in local bumble bee population fitness before I. glandulifera flowering, nor to the relative abundance of other pollinators such as Apis mellifera, but the unique chemical composition (i.e., polyphenol rich) of the pollen of I. glandulifera remained as an interesting hypothesis. Whereas B. pascuorum queens probably colonize all the potential nesting sites in an area, invaded by I. glandulifera or not, the abundance of polyphenol ampelopsin in pollen from I. glandulifera pollen might reduce local parasite prevalence. Our field study confirms that bumble bee parasite prevalence is potentially related to the particular chemical composition of collected pollen. Plant traits such as secondary metabolite occurrence could play a key role in the health and conservation of bumble bees.