Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Upper-ocean thermal variability controlled by ocean dynamics in the Kuroshio-Oyashio Extension region

To understand the upper-ocean thermal variability in the Kuroshio−Oyashio Extension (KOE) region, the upper 400 m heat budget in the western North Pacific is analyzed for the 1981 − 2013 period using outputs from a high-resolution (1/12°) ocean general circulation model. Winter heat storage rate on interannual to decadal time scales is mainly determined by oceanic heat advection rather than by net air-sea heat flux. The role of heat advection becomes particularly prominent and widely spread over the entire western North Pacific after the 1990 regime shift in association with the reduced variability of surface heat flux caused by weakened SST variability. The net heat flux acts to dampen temperature anomalies caused by the ocean dynamics. The ocean dynamics causing the upper-ocean heat storage rate is principally associated with the meridional shift of the Oyashio Extension front, which is significantly correlated with both the West Pacific and Pacific-North America teleconnection patterns. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Integration of Feature and Decision Fusion With Deep Learning Architectures for Video Classification

Information fusion is frequently employed to integrate diverse inputs, including sensory data, features, or decisions, in order to leverage the advantageous relationships among various features and classifiers. This paper presents a novel approach for video classification using deep learning architectures, including ConvLSTM and vision transformer based fusion architectures, which incorporates the combination of spatial and temporal features, along with the utilisation of decision fusion at multiple levels. The proposed vision transformer based method uses a 3D CNN to extract spatio-temporal information and different attention mechanisms to pay attention to essential features for action recognition and thus learns spatio-temporal dependencies effectively. The effectiveness of the methods proposed in this paper is validated through empirical evaluations conducted on two well-known video classification datasets, namely UCF-101 and KTH. The experimental findings indicate that the utilisation of both spatial and temporal features is essential, with the superior performance gained by using temporal features as the primary source of features in conjunction with two types of distinct spatial features when compared to other configurations. The multi-level decision fusion approach proposed in this study produces results comparable to those of feature fusion methods while offering the advantage of reduced memory requirements and computational costs. The fusion of RGB, HOG, and optical flow representations has demonstrated the best performance compared to other fusion methods examined in this study. It has also been demonstrated that the vision transformer based approaches significantly outperformed the ConvLSTM based approaches. Furthermore, an ablation study was conducted to compare the performances of vision transformer based feature fusion approaches for enhancing the performance of video classification.
Potential Benefits and Risks Associated with the Use of Statins

HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors, commonly known as statins, are the primary treatment choice for cardiovascular diseases, which stand as the leading global cause of mortality. Statins also offer various pleiotropic effects, including improved endothelial function, anti-inflammatory properties, reduced oxidative stress, anti-thrombotic effects, and the stabilization of atherosclerotic plaques. However, the usage of statins can be accompanied by a range of adverse effects, such as the development of type 2 diabetes mellitus, muscular symptoms, liver toxicity, kidney diseases, cataracts, hemorrhagic strokes, and psychiatric complications. These issues are referred to as statin-associated symptoms (SAS) and are relatively infrequent in clinical trials, making it challenging to attribute them to statin use definitively. Therefore, these symptoms can lead to significant problems, necessitating dose adjustments or discontinuation of statin therapy. This review aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the mechanism of action, potential advantages, and associated risks of statin utilization in clinical settings.
The Effect of Particle Size and Mineral Liberation on the Acid Generating Potential of Sulphidic Waste Rock

Acid Rock Drainage (ARD) prediction is complicated by the number and complexity of influencing parameters. The objective of this study was to determine the effect of particle size and mineral liberation on the production of ARD. This information was used to classify waste rocks from an Australian mine site for their potential use as cover material. Samples were crushed and sieved into different particle size fractions, and were subjected to varying static and kinetic tests including paste-pH, Acid-Neutralization-Capacity tests, kinetic Net Acid Generation tests and Humidity Cell tests. The results showed a strong influence of particle size, which can be attributed to the widely different mineral liberation characteristics of acid generating and neutralizing minerals. Whereas standard Acid Base Accounting (ABA) resulted in an uncertain or Non Acid Forming classification of open-pit waste rocks, the application of modified ABA test procedures using different particle size fractions resulted in an uncertain or Potentially Acid Forming classification of the very same material. The study demonstrated that the standard ABA procedure may lead to erroneous classification with potentially costly environmental consequences by overlooking particle size specific mineral liberation effects. Testing different particle size classes proved to be a practicable method to investigate the ARD characteristics of waste rocks and to gain a clearer insight into the consequences of mineral liberation.
Gallic acid protects the liver in rats against injuries induced by transient ischemia-reperfusion through regulating microRNAs expressions

Objective(s): Gallic acid (GA) is a highly effective antioxidant, which its beneficial effects are well known, but its impact on expression of microRNAs (miRs) following hepatic ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) is not well recognized. Therefore, the current research was designed to specify the beneficial effect of GA on miRs (122 and 34a), liver functional tests, and histopathological alterations beyond I/R-induced hepatic injury. Materials and Methods: Thirty-two rats were randomly divided into four groups (8 per group) including: sham-operated (S), I/R, and GA+I/R pretreated groups. Rats in sham-operated group received physiologic saline (N/S, 2 ml/kg), on a weekly basis, once a day via intraperitoneally route), then a midline abdominal surgery was performed. IR, and GA+IR pretreated groups received physiologic saline (2 ml/kg), and GA (50, and 100 mg per kg) for same time, IP, respectively, before induction of transient ischemia. One hour after reperfusion, biochemical, and histopathological evaluations were performed and expression of miRs were evaluated. Results: The results showed that GA reduced the concentrations of liver enzymes, miR-122, and miR-34a in serum, and preserved liver cells changes induced by I/R injury. Conclusion: These findings showed that GA has beneficial effect on liver damage induced by I/R. Therefore, it is suggested that GA can be administered as an anti-miR before elective hepatic surgeries for prevention of this complication.
A comparison between conservation and conventional tillage systems for Maize production

The experiment entitled "A Comparison Between Conservation and Conventional Tillage Systems For Maize Production" was conducted at Kabete (Nairobi, Kenya) during the short rainy season of 1969/90. A 3x2 factorial experiment consisting of three tillage treatments (no-tillage, minimum tillage and conventional tillage) with two methods of weed control (manual weed control and chemical weed control) was used for the experiment. All treatments were replicated three times on a randomized complete block design. The results showed that the highest draught and fuel requirements were obtained from the conventional tillage treatment; the lowest were from the no-tillage treatment, while minimum tillage was intermediate. As compared to conventional tillage, minimum tillage and no-tillage saved 47.4% and 59.6% per hectare in draught requirements respectively. Moreover, minimum tillage saved 50.3% and no-tillage saved 76.2% of fuel per hectare as compared to conventional tillage. The different tillage systems, when tested for both draught and fuel requirements, showed highly significant differences.
The Effect of Antimicrobial Peptide (PA-13) on Escherichia coli Carrying Antibiotic-Resistant Genes Isolated from Boar Semen

A major global public health concern is antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are a potentially appropriate replacement for conventional antibiotics. The purpose of this research was to investigate the potential of the antimicrobial peptide PA-13, a synthetic AMP with 13 amino acids, to inhibit E. coli isolated from boar semen expressing antibiotic-resistant genes, as well as to determine the mechanism of action of this antimicrobial peptide on the bacterial membrane. The effectiveness of the bacterial inhibitory activity of PA-13 was tested at different concentrations by two fold serial dilutions in the range 0.488–500 µg/mL using the MIC and MBC methods. The impact of PA-13 on the bacterial membrane was examined at different concentrations of 0×, 0.5×, 1×, 2× and 4× of MIC using DNA leakage assay and electron microscopy. The PA-13 antibacterial activity result exhibited the same MIC and MBC values at a concentration of 15.625 µg/mL. When comparing DNA leakage at different MIC values, the results revealed that the maximum amount of DNA concentration was found two and three hours after incubation. For the results of SEM and TEM, the bacterial membrane disruption of this E. coli was found in the PA-13-treated group when compared with the negative control. In conclusion, synthetic PA-13 with its antibacterial properties is an alternative antimicrobial peptide to antibiotics in the pig industry.
Genomic analysis reveals selection signatures of Yucatan miniature pig on its X chromosome during domestication

Yucatan miniature pig (YMP), a naturally small breed, has been domesticated in the hot and arid Yucatan Peninsula for a long time. However, its selection signatures on the X chromosome remain poorly understood. In this study, we focused on elucidating the selection signatures of YMP on the X chromosome during its domestication and breeding, using the whole-genome sequencing data. We performed population admixture analyses to determine its genetic relationships with other domesticated breeds and wild boars. Subsequently, we used two approaches, the fixation index (Fst) and π ratios, to identify the selection signatures with 100 kb windows sliding in 10 kb steps. As a result, we found that the ectodysplasin A (EDA) gene was related with hypoplasia or absence of hair and sweat glands. This could uncover the relative lack of odor in YMP and the presence of hypoplasia or absence of hair in pigs. Furthermore, we found several genes under selection in other animals. A bioinformatics analysis of the genes in selection regions showed that they were associated with growth, lipid metabolism, reproduction, and immune system. Our findings will lead to a better understanding of the unique genetic and phenotypic characteristics of YMP and offer a plausible method for their utilization as an animal model for hair and odor disease research.
Unveiling Molecular Signatures in Light-Induced Seed Germination: Insights from PIN3, PIN7, and AUX1 in Arabidopsis thaliana

Light provides seeds with information that is essential for the adjustment of their germination to the conditions that are most favorable for the successful establishment of the future seedling. The promotion of germination depends mainly on environmental factors, like temperature and light, as well as internal factors associated with the hormonal balance between gibberellins (GA) and abscisic acid (ABA), although other hormones such as auxins may act secondarily. While transcriptomic studies of light-germinating Arabidopsis thaliana seeds suggest that auxins and auxin transporters are necessary, there are still no functional studies connecting the activity of the auxin transporters in light-induced seed germination. In this study, we investigated the roles of two auxin efflux carrier (PIN3 and PIN7) proteins and one auxin influx (AUX1) carrier protein during Arabidopsis thaliana seed germination. By using next-generation sequencing (RNAseq), gene expression analyses, hormonal sensitivity assays, and the quantification of indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) levels, we assessed the functional roles of PIN3, PIN7, and AUX1 during light-induced seed germination. We showed that auxin levels are increased 24 h after a red-pulse (Rp). Additionally, we evaluated the germination responses of pin3, pin7, and aux1 mutant seeds and showed that PIN3, PIN7, and AUX1 auxin carriers are important players in the regulation of seed germination. By using gene expression analysis in water, fluridone (F), and ABA+F treated seeds, we confirmed that Rp-induced seed germination is associated with auxin transport, and ABA controls the function of PIN3, PIN7, and AUX1 during this process. Overall, our results highlight the relevant and positive role of auxin transporters in germinating the seeds of Arabidopsis thaliana.
Classiﬁcation of Minimal Immersions of Conformally Flat 3-Tori and 4-Tori in Spheres by The First Eigenfunctions

This paper is devoted to the study of minimal immersions of ﬂat n -tori into spheres, especially those immersed by the ﬁrst eigenfunctions (such immersion is called λ 1 -minimal immersion), which also play important roles in spectral geometry. It is known that there are only two non-congruent λ 1 -minimal 2-tori in spheres, which are both ﬂat. For higher dimensional case, the Cliﬀord n -torus in S 2 n − 1 might be the only known example in the literature. In this paper, through discussing the general construction of homogeneous minimal ﬂat n -tori in spheres, we construct many new examples of λ 1 -minimal ﬂat 3-tori and 4-tori. It turns out that these examples exhaust all λ 1 -minimal immersions of conformally ﬂat 3-tori and 4-tori in spheres. The classiﬁcation involves some detailed investigations of shortest vectors in lattices. In contrast to the rigidity of λ 1 -minimal immersions of constantly curved n -spheres, 2-tori and conformally ﬂat 3-tori, we show that there exists a 2-parameter family of non-congruent λ 1 -minimal ﬂat 4-tori. A class of λ 1 -minimal ﬂat n -tori are also presented.
The Role of Pocus in Acute Respiratory Failure: A Narrative Review on Airway and Breathing Assessment

Acute respiratory failure (ARF) is a challenging condition that clinicians, especially in emergency settings, have to face frequently. Especially in emergency settings, many underlying diseases can lead to ARF and life-threatening conditions have to be promptly assessed and correctly treated to avoid unfavorable outcomes. In recent years, point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) gained growing consideration due to its bedside utilization, reliability and reproducibility even in emergency settings especially in unstable patients. Research on POCUS application to assess ARF has been largely reported mainly with observational studies showing heterogeneous results from many different applications. This narrative review describes the wide potentiality of POCUS to face airways and breathing life-threatening conditions such as upper airway management, pulmonary and pleural pathologies and diaphragm impairment. We conducted extensive research of the literature to report from major studies to case reports deemed useful in practical clinical utilization of POCUS in ARF. Due to the huge amount of the literature found, we focused on airways and breathing assessment trying to systematize the evidence according to clinical care of ARF in emergency settings. Further studies, possibly trials, should determine how POCUS is crucial in clinical practice in terms of standard of care improvements, patient safety and cost-benefit analysis.
Psammophytes Alyssum desertorum Stapf and Secale sylvestre Host Are Sensitive to Soil Flooding

While morphological and functional traits enable hydrophytes to survive under waterlogging and partial or complete submergence, the data on responses of psammophytes—sand plants—to flooding are very limited. We analyzed the effect of 5- and 10-day soil flooding on the photosynthetic apparatus and the synthesis of alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH), heat shock proteins 70 (HSP70), and ethylene in seedlings of psammophytes Alyssum desertorum and Secale sylvestre using electron microscopy, chlorophyll a fluorescence induction, and biochemical methods. It was found that seedlings growing under soil flooding differed from those growing in stationary conditions with such traits as chloroplast ultrastructure, pigment content, chlorophyll fluorescence induction, and the dynamics of ADH, HSP, and ethylene synthesis. Although flooding caused no apparent damage to the photosynthetic apparatus in all the variants, a significant decrease in total photosynthesis efficiency was observed in both studied plants, as indicated by decreased values of φR0 and PIABS,total. More noticeable upregulation of ADH in S. sylvestre, as well as increasing HSP70 level and more intensive ethylene emission in A. desertorum, indicate species-specific differences in these traits in response to short-term soil flooding. Meanwhile, the absence of systemic anaerobic metabolic adaptation to prolonged hypoxia causes plant death.
Measuring Pleasure from Food—Validation of the Food Pleasure Scale by Multiple Techniques and Mixed Methods

The development of scales and questionnaires to assess pleasure perception has gained prominence, particularly for evaluating anhedonia in mental disorders. The Food Pleasure Scale is a comprehensive tool exclusively dedicated to measuring pleasure perception from food and food-related experiences. This study aimed to evaluate the face validity and consistency reliability of the Food Pleasure Scale using a mixed methods approach. Twenty-two participants completed the Food Pleasure Scale questionnaire and participated in in-depth interviews to understand their interpretation of the scale items. The interview data underwent thematic analysis, and the quantitative survey data was compared to the qualitative interview responses. Results indicated a high level of understanding of all items in the Food Pleasure Scale, confirming its face validity and applicability. The mixed methods approach supported the consistency reliability, showing consistency between quantitative measures and participants’ explicit and implicit expressions of food pleasure. Furthermore, the study revealed a novel aspect related to food pleasure: the concept of “making an effort”. Overall, this study highlights the comprehensibility, validity, and potential of the Food Pleasure Scale in consumer studies. It effectively captures the subjective experience of pleasure derived from food and food-related encounters, making it a valuable tool for further research in this domain.
New method for estimation of the scale of fluctuation of geotechnical properties in natural deposits

One of the main distinctions between geomaterials and other engineering materials is the spatial variation of their properties in different directions. This characteristic of geomaterials -so called heterogeneityis studied herewith. Several spatial distributions are introduced to describe probabilistic variation of geotechnical properties of soils. Among all, the absolute normal distribution was adopted as appropriate distribution which best represents these properties in the horizontal direction. Variation of geotechnical parameters in the vertical direction is however conceived to follow a deterministic trend. With the aid of random field theory and local average subdivisions (LAS) formulation and using MATLAB Mathworks, virtual data with different correlations were produced and by employing the autocorrelation function, a trend for this function was invoked for different predetermined values of scales of fluctuation. It was found that the autocorrelation function has a deterministic trend as long as the scale of fluctuation is not exceeded. It is concluded that for distances further than the specified scale of fluctuation the behavior is chaotic and this can be an index to calculate the scale of fluctuation of the experimental data.
Large-scale serological survey on Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis infection in sheep and goat herds in Sicily, Southern Italy

Introduction Paratuberculosis (PTB) is a worldwide chronic, contagious enteric disease caused by Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis (MAP) mainly affecting ruminant species. PTB is a WOAH-listed disease with direct and indirect economic losses in the livestock sector, negative impact on animal welfare and significant public health concerns. In spite of this, MAP prevalence in small ruminants is still unknown and the prevalence appears to be underestimated in many countries. The aim of this study is providing a first large-scale serological survey on MAP infection in small ruminants in Sicily, a region of Southern Italy with the 11.3 and 8.9% Italian national heritage of sheep and goats, respectively. Methods For this purpose, we analyzed a total of 48,643 animals reared in 439 flocks throughout Sicily. MAP seroprevalence was estimated both at herd-level and animal-level within breeds reared in all the nine sampled provinces. Results Our results revealed a high overall apparent prevalence at herd-level of 71.8% in sheep and 60.8% in goat farms with an animal-level prevalence of 4.5 and 5.1% in sheep and goats, respectively. Significant statistical differences were found between the provinces and within the breeds both in sheep and goats. Discussion Our study provides the first large-scale serological survey on PTB infection in small ruminants in Sicily and showed a high prevalence of disease depending to the species, breed and province. This study represents the first step to better understand the MAP epidemiology in a typical Mediterranean breeding context, suggesting the need of in-depth study on the herds risk factors, including the eventual presence of candidate genes for resistance/susceptibility to PTB in native breeds.
Digital Examination vs. 4D Transperineal Ultrasound—Do They Compare in Labour Management? A Pilot Study

The aim was to compare transperineal ultrasound (TPU) with parameters of the Bishop Score during the first stage of labour and evaluate how TPU can contribute towards improving labour management. Digital examination (DE) and TPU were performed on 42 women presenting at the labour ward with regular contractions. TPU measurements included the head–symphysis distance, angle of progression, diameter of the cervical wall, cervical dilation (CD) and cervical length (CL). To examine if TPU can monitor labour progress, correlations of TPU parameters were calculated. Agreement of DE and TPU was examined for CL and CD measurements and for two groups divided into latent (CD < 5 cm) and active stages of labour (CD ≥ 5 cm). TPU parameters indicated a moderate negative correlation of CD and CL (Pearson: r = −0.667; Spearman = −0.611). The other parameters showed a weak to moderate correlation. DE and TPU measurements for CD showed better agreement during the latent stage than during the active stage. The results of the present study add to the growing evidence that TPU may contribute towards an improved labour management, suggesting a combined approach of TPU and DE to monitor the latent first stage of labour and using only DE during the active stage of labour.