Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Site-Specific Nutrient Management for Cassava in Southern India

Cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz.) yield in the major growing environments of India has been stagnating despite the development of high yielding varieties and increasing use of chemical fertilizers. On farm experiments were conducted to evaluate the performance of site-specific nutrient management (SSNM). Field and crop specific NPK rates were calculated using quantitative evaluation of fertility of tropical soils (QUEFTS) model. The average 2-yr yield advantage of SSNM over farmer fertilizer practice (FFP) was 7 Mg ha–¹. The N agronomic efficiency increase of SSNM over FFP was 32 kg kg–¹, the N recovery efficiency of SSNM was 0.14 kg kg–¹ greater than that of FFP and the N physiological efficiency of SSNM was 54 kg kg–¹ greater than that of FFP, whereas the partial factor productivity of SSNM was 148 kg less than that of FFP. Use of SSNM led to a reduction of fertilizer costs by an average of US$10 ha–¹ crop–¹ and an increase in gross return above fertilizer costs by $254 ha–¹ crop–¹ compared with FFP. Zone NPK recommendation maps and customized fertilizer blends were also developed. The results showed the potential of SSNM in significantly increasing yield and nutrient use efficiency of cassava. Future research is needed to validate the customized fertilizer blends and fine tune zone NPK recommendation maps which will help reduce the need for field specific modeling and intensive crop monitoring.
Increasing climate‐driven taxonomic homogenization but functional differentiation among river macroinvertebrate assemblages

Global change is increasing biotic homogenization globally, which modifies the functioning of ecosystems. While tendencies towards taxonomic homogenization in biological communities have been extensively studied, functional homogenization remains an understudied facet of biodiversity. Here, we tested four hypotheses related to long‐term changes (1991–2016) in the taxonomic and functional arrangement of freshwater macroinvertebrate assemblages across space and possible drivers of these changes. Using data collected annually at 64 river sites in mainland New Zealand, we related temporal changes in taxonomic and functional spatial β‐diversity, and the contribution of individual sites to β‐diversity, to a set of global, regional, catchment and reach‐scale environmental descriptors. We observed long‐term, mostly climate‐induced, temporal trends towards taxonomic homogenization but functional differentiation among macroinvertebrate assemblages. These changes were mainly driven by replacements of species and functional traits among assemblages, rather than nested species loss. In addition, there was no difference between the mean rate of change in the taxonomic and functional facets of β‐diversity. Climatic processes governed overall population and community changes in these freshwater ecosystems, but were amplified by multiple anthropogenic, topographic and biotic drivers of environmental change, acting widely across the landscape. The functional diversification of communities could potentially provide communities with greater stability, resistance and resilience capacity to environmental change, despite ongoing taxonomic homogenization. Therefore, our study highlights a need to further understand temporal trajectories in both taxonomic and functional components of species communities, which could enable a clearer picture of how biodiversity and ecosystems will respond to future global changes.
Effects of temperature on the recruitment phenology and niche overlap of shallow epifaunal assemblages in southern New England

Recruitment phenology, or the timing of recruitment, can have a large influence on individuals and populations by affecting their exposure to adverse environmental conditions and interspecific competition. In this study, we examined whether temperature parameters could predict the timing of recruitment, the duration of recruitment and total recruitment in 18 benthic epifaunal species using partial least squares regression (PLSR) and ordinary least squares regres- sion. Additionally, we used a null model to test whether temperature parameters and inter-annual variation in those parameters affect the temporal niche overlap of these benthic species. We specifically examined the recruitment patterns of non-native species to help illustrate how shifts in phenology may help drive changes in the community composition. Results from the PLSR helped determine the most instructive regressors for univariate least-squares models. For many (14 of 18) of the species examined, recruitment patterns could be predicted by seasonal growing degree days. Additionally, communities at cooler sites exhibited greater temporal niche overlap than assemblages found at warmer sites. Finally, we observed a unique pattern among invasive species, with more recent invaders recruiting later in the season, which may be a result of shifts in niche overlap. The findings of this study illustrate potential mechanisms for species coexistence and increased rates of invasion resulting from climate change.
Effects of Hypericin,Chlorogenic acid and Scleroglucan as Diet Supplements on the Nonspecific Immune Response in Grass Carp Ctenopharyngodon idellus

Grass carp(Ctenopharyngodon idellus)juveniles were fed on basal diets supplemented with different levels hypericin(0、 0.066% and 0.132%),chlorogenic acid(0、0.04% and 0.08%)and scleroglucan(0、0.2% and 0.4%)for 42 days to evaluate the effects of the additives on lysozyme activity,phagocytic rate and complement C3 concentration in grass carp. There was significantly higher lysozyme activity in 0.2% scleroglucan group than that in the control group(P0.05),the maximal lysozyme activity in the 0.2% scleroglucan group on the 35th day. However,there were no significant increase in the lysozyme activities in both hypericin groups and chlorogenic acid groups(P0.05). The phagocytic rate and complement C3 concentration were shown to be significantly higher in 0.04% chlorogenic acid group than those in the control group(P0.05). There were no significant differences in the phagocytic rate and complement C3 concentration in 0.2% and 0.4% scleroglucan groups compared to 0.08% chlorogenic acid group. The minimal complement C3 concentration was found in the fish fed the diet containing 0.132% hypericin,significantly lower than that in the control group(P0.05). The findings indicate that the diets supplemented with 0.08% of chlorogenic acid or 0.2% of scleroglucan improve the nonspecific immune responses in grass carp juveniles.
In vitro evaluation of cytotoxicity caused by carbamazepine and its metabolites in association to carbamazepine-induced hypersensitivity reactions

Carbamazepine (CBZ), an anticonvulsant and mood-stabilising drug, is known to cause delayed type hypersensitivity reactions. These reactions occur only in a minority of patients treated with the drug, but often result in severe clinical outcomes. Although an association between CBZ-induced hypersensitivity reactions and HLA alleles has been demonstrated, the underlying mechanism(s) of toxicity are poorly understood. Cell death caused by CBZ and one of its metabolites, 9-acridinecarboxaldehyde (9-AC) was investigated. CBZ did not show cytotoxic effects in concentrations ranging from sub-therapeutic to supra-therapeutic. By contrast, 9-AC caused apoptosis in the lymphoblastoid cell line (50µM and 24 hours of exposure) and primary PBMCs (50 µM and 2 hours of exposure). PBMCs from 20 CBZ-naive individuals showed significant inter-individual variability in the susceptibility to the cytotoxic effect of 9-AC. To further investigate the observed inter-individual variability, 331 immortalised lymphoblast cell lines of unrelated individuals from 4 populations were exposed to CBZ, CBZ-10,11 epoxide or 9-AC and cell viability was measured after 24 hour exposure. Considerable inter-individual variability in the cytotoxic response was observed for all three compounds. The genome wide association study (GWAS) revealed two genetic polymorphisms in dual oxidase 1 (DUOX1) and RP11-354|13.2 that were linked to cell toxicity at low concentrations of all three compounds. A SNP in DUOX1 was investigated further because of its biological plausibility. Genotyping of 153 patients did not show an association between this SNP and CBZ-induced hypersensitivity in Caucasians. Due to the higher than normal frequency of the DUOX1 variant in non-Caucasian patients (20%), the involvement of DUOX1 in the predisposition to CBZ-induced hypersensitivity reactions in non-Caucasians could not be excluded. To elucidate how T cell activation occurs in CBZ-induced hypersensitivity reactions, the protein binding capability of CBZ and two of its metabolites, CBZ-10,11 epoxide (CBZE) and 9-AC, to human serum albumin and glutathione S-transferase π was assessed. Only CBZE was found to bind covalently to these proteins. For 9-AC, no covalent products were observed but an indication of reversible binding was detected. Finally, newly developed genotyping methods for HLA-A*31:01 were investigated in comparison to sequence based typing. The methods were based on SSP-PCR. One of the methods showed exact accordance with the current gold standard but PCR failed to amplify the gene of interest and the control gene in considerable amount of samples (13.1%), while the second SSP-PCR typing method showed less reliability. In conclusion, the mechanisms of CBZ hypersensitivity has been investigated using a number of approaches designed to elucidate bioactivation of the drug, and how cytotoxicity links with genetic factors. The genomic approach may have the potential to identify novel biomarkers, but needs further studies with larger sample size.
Tele‐ICUs for COVID‐19: A Look at National Prevalence and Characteristics of Hospitals Providing Teleintensive Care

Abstract Purpose Amidst the COVID‐19 outbreak, the use of intensive care unit telemedicine (tele‐ICUs) may be one mechanism to provide patient care, particularly in rural parts of the United States. The purpose of this research was to inform hospital decision makers considering tele‐ICUs, policy makers weighing immediate and longer‐term funding and reimbursement decisions relative to tele‐ICU care, and researchers conducting future work evaluating tele‐ICUs. Methods We compared hospitals that reported providing teleintensive care to hospitals that reported not providing teleintensive care in the 2018 American Hospital Association Annual Survey (AHAAS). Differences between groups were tested using Pearson's chi‐square (categorical variables) and t‐tests (continuous variables) using 0.05 as the probability of Type 1 error. The study sample included all US short‐term, acute care hospitals that responded to the AHAAS in 2018. Our key variable of interest was whether a hospital reported having any tele‐ICU capabilities in the 2018 AHAAS. Other factors evaluated were ownership, region, beds, ICU beds, outpatient visits, emergency department visits, full‐time employees, and whether a hospital was rural, a critical access hospital, a major teaching hospital, or part of a health system. Findings Larger, not‐for‐profit, nonrural, noncritical access, teaching hospitals that were part of a health system, particularly in the Midwest, were more likely to have tele‐ICUs. Over one‐third of hospital referral regions (HRRs) had zero hospitals with tele‐ICUs, 4 had all hospitals with tele‐ICU, and the median percent of hospitals with tele‐ICU by HRR, weighted by outpatient visits, was 11.3%. Conclusions and Implications We found wide variation in the prevalence of tele‐ICUs across HRRs and states. Future work should continue the evaluation of tele‐ICU effectiveness and, if favorable, explore the variation we identified for improved access to teleintensive care.
Global prevalence of gaming disorder: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Background: Gaming disorder was included in the latest revision of the International Classification of Diseases (11th ed.). Worldwide, prevalence estimates of gaming disorder are considerably heterogeneous and often appear to be exceedingly high. However, few studies have examined the methodological, cultural and/or demographic factors that might explain this phenomenon. This review employed meta-analytic techniques to compute the worldwide-pooled prevalence of gaming disorder and evaluate the potential contributing factors for varied prevalence estimates. Method: Prevalence estimates were extracted from 53 studies conducted between 2009 and 2019, which included 226,247 participants across 17 different countries. Study findings were meta-analyzed using a random-effects model. Subgroup and moderator analyses examined potential sources of heterogeneity, including assessment tool and cut-off, participant age and gender, sample size and type, study region, and year of data collection. Results: The worldwide prevalence of gaming disorder was 3.05% (confidence interval: [2.38, 3.91]); this figure was adjusted to 1.96% [0.19, 17.12] when considering only studies that met more stringent sampling criteria (e.g. stratified random sampling). However, these estimates were associated with significant variability. The choice of screening tool accounted for 77% of the variance, with the Lemmens Internet gaming disorder-9, Gaming Addiction Identification Test and Problematic Videogame Playing scales associated with the highest estimates. Adolescent samples, lower cut-off scores and smaller sample size were significant predictors of higher prevalence. Gaming disorder rates were approximately 2.5:1 in favor of males compared to females. Conclusion: The worldwide prevalence of gaming disorder appears to be comparable to obsessive-compulsive disorder and some substance-related addictions, but lower than compulsive buying and higher than problem gambling. Gaming disorder prevalence rates appear to be inflated by methodological characteristics, particularly measurement and sampling issues.
Corticocuneate projections are altered after spinal cord dorsal column lesions in New World monkeys

Recovery of responses to cutaneous stimuli in the area 3b hand cortex of monkeys after dorsal column lesions (DCLs) in the cervical spinal cord relies on neural rewiring in the cuneate nucleus (Cu) over time. To examine whether the corticocuneate projections are modified during recoveries after the DCL, we injected cholera toxin subunit B into the hand representation in Cu to label the cortical neurons after various recovery times, and related results to the recovery of neural responses in the affected area 3b hand cortex. In normal New World monkeys, labeled neurons were predominately distributed in the hand regions of contralateral areas 3b, 3a, 1 and 2, parietal ventral (PV), secondary somatosensory cortex (S2), and primary motor cortex (M1), with similar distributions in the ipsilateral cortex in significantly smaller numbers. In monkeys with short‐term recoveries, the area 3b hand neurons were unresponsive or responded weakly to touch on the hand, while the cortical labeling pattern was largely unchanged. After longer recoveries, the area 3b hand neurons remained unresponsive, or responded to touch on the hand or somatotopically abnormal parts, depending on the lesion extent. The distributions of cortical labeled neurons were much more widespread than the normal pattern in both hemispheres, especially when lesions were incomplete. The proportion of labeled neurons in the contralateral area 3b hand cortex was not correlated with the functional reactivation in the area 3b hand cortex. Overall, our findings indicated that corticocuneate inputs increase during the functional recovery, but their functional role is uncertain.
Distribution and Abundance of Dacus dorsalis (Diptera: Tephritidae) in Native and Exotic Forest Areas on Kauai

The distribution and relative abundance of the oriental fruit fly, Dacus dorsalis Hendel, were determined in native forests and surrounding areas on Kauai. Generally, relatively low numbers were captured in native forests. Low numbers were trapped at high elevations (>800 m), intermediate numbers at middle elevations (400 to 800 m), and high numbers at low elevations (>400 m). Low populations in areas of native forest appeared to be associated primarily with infestation of (1) strawberry guava, Psidium cattleianum Sabine, in nearby middle and upper elevation localities, and (2) common guava, P. guajava L. , in upland and lowland exotic forest areas.
Synergistic Effect of Chitosan and Selenium Nanoparticles on Biodegradation and Antibacterial Properties of Collagenous Scaffolds Designed for Infected Burn Wounds

A highly porous scaffold is a desirable outcome in the field of tissue engineering. The porous structure mediates water-retaining properties that ensure good nutrient transportation as well as creates a suitable environment for cells. In this study, porous antibacterial collagenous scaffolds containing chitosan and selenium nanoparticles (SeNPs) as antibacterial agents were studied. The addition of antibacterial agents increased the application potential of the material for infected and chronic wounds. The morphology, swelling, biodegradation, and antibacterial activity of collagen-based scaffolds were characterized systematically to investigate the overall impact of the antibacterial additives. The additives visibly influenced the morphology, water-retaining properties as well as the stability of the materials in the presence of collagenase enzymes. Even at concentrations as low as 5 ppm of SeNPs, modified polymeric scaffolds showed considerable inhibition activity towards Gram-positive bacterial strains such as Staphylococcus aureus and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and Staphylococcus epidermidis in a dose-dependent manner.
Dangerous Liaisons: Circulating Tumor Cells (CTCs) and Cancer-Associated Fibroblasts (CAFs)

Simple Summary Circulating tumor cell clusters (CTC clusters) seem to play a primary role in the metastatic spread of cancer, the main cause of death associated with this disease. The metastatic potential of CTCs can be enhanced by the presence within the clusters of cancer-associated fibroblast (CAFs), known to promote cancer invasion and dissemination. In this review, the authors summarize the role of CTC clusters and CAFs on the metastatic process and the current knowledge about the contribution of CAFs to the genesis and metastasis initiating ability of CTC clusters. In addition, they discuss the potential of therapeutically interfering with the CAFs within CTC clusters, as a strategy to reduce their metastatic competency. Lastly, the authors highlight some relevant questions about the biology of these clusters that need to be answered in order to fully understand and be able to limit their contribution to metastasis. Abstract The crosstalk between cancer cells and the tumor microenvironment (TME) is a key determinant of cancer metastasis. Cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs), one of the main cellular components of TME, promote cancer cell invasion and dissemination through mechanisms including cell-cell interactions and the paracrine secretion of growth factors, cytokines and chemokines. During metastasis, circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are shed from the primary tumor to the bloodstream, where they can be detected as single cells or clusters. The current knowledge about the biology of CTC clusters positions them as key actors in metastasis formation. It also indicates that CTCs do not act alone and that they may be aided by stromal and immune cells, which seem to shape their metastatic potential. Among these cells, CAFs are found associated with CTCs in heterotypic CTC clusters, and their presence seems to increase their metastatic efficiency. In this review, we summarize the current knowledge on the role that CAFs play on metastasis and we discuss their implication on the biogenesis, metastasis-initiating capacity of CTC clusters, and clinical implications. Moreover, we speculate about possible therapeutic strategies aimed to limit the metastatic potential of CTC clusters involving the targeting of CAFs as well as their difficulties and limitations.
Non-adherence to hemodialysis regimens among patients on maintenance hemodialysis in sub-Saharan Africa: an example from Cameroon

Abstract Background Non-adherence (NA) to hemodialysis regimens is one of the contributors to the high morbidity and mortality observed in patients with end-stage kidney disease (ESKD). We aimed to determine the prevalence and predictors of NA to hemodialysis (HD) regimens among patients on maintenance HD in Cameroon. Methods A cross-sectional study in two HD centers in Cameroon was conducted from January to February 2016. Consenting patients on HD for ≥3 months were included. NA to fluid restriction was defined as a mean interdialytic weight gain (IDWG) in the past month >5.7% of the dry weight, NA to dietary restriction as a pre dialysis serum phosphorus >5.5 mg/dl in a patient on phosphate binders and who is well-nourished, and NA to HD sessions as skipping at least one session in the past month. The study was approved by the institutional ethics board. Results A total of 170 (112 males) participants with a median age of 49 years (range 14–79) were included. The median dialysis vintage was 35 months (range 3–180 months). The prevalence of NA was 15.3% to fluid restriction, 26.9% to dietary restriction, and 21.2% to dialysis sessions. Age ≤49 years (p = .006, OR: 5.07, 95% CI: 1.59–16.20) and unmarried status (p = .041, OR: 2.63, 95% CI: 1.04–6.66) were independently associated with NA to fluid restrictions. No factor was associated with NA to dietary restrictions and HD sessions. Conclusions NA to HD regimens is common amongst patients in Cameroon. Younger age and being unmarried were the predictors of NA to fluid restriction.
Alternating Cationic‐Hydrophobic Peptide/Peptoid Hybrids: Influence of Hydrophobicity on Antibacterial Activity and Cell Selectivity

The influence of hydrophobicity on antibacterial activity versus the effect on the viability of mammalian cells for peptide/peptoid hybrids was examined for oligomers based on the cationic Lys‐like peptoid residue combined with each of 28 hydrophobic amino acids in an alternating sequence. Their relative hydrophobicity was correlated to activity against both Gram‐negative and Gram‐positive species, human red blood cells, and HepG2 cells. This identified hydrophobic side chains that confer potent antibacterial activity (e. g., MICs of 2–8 μg/mL against E. coli) and low toxicity toward mammalian cells (<10 % hemolysis at 400 μg/mL and IC50>800 μg/mL for HepG2 viability). Most peptidomimetics retained activity against drug‐resistant strains. These findings corroborate the hypothesis that for related peptidomimetics two hydrophobicity thresholds may be identified: i) it should exceed a certain level in order to confer antibacterial activity, and ii) there is an upper limit, beyond which cell selectivity is lost. It is envisioned that once identified for a given subclass of peptide‐like antibacterials such thresholds can guide further optimisation.