Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The risk of major birth defects after intracytoplasmic sperm injection and in vitro fertilization

Although most studies have failed to demonstrate an elevated risk of major birth defects in children conceived by intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) or standard in vitro fertilization (IVF), most past work is methodologically problematic and definitions of major defects may differ from those applied to naturally conceived infants. This study examined the prevalence of major birth defects diagnosed within 12 months after birth in infants conceived either naturally or using ICSI or IVF. All births took place in Western Australia in the years 1993 to 1997. Data from a reproductive technology registry identified all pregnancies of at least 20 weeks' gestation. The study population included 301 infants conceived by ICSI; 837 conceived by standard IVF; and 4000 conceived naturally. Infants conceived with assisted methods were likelier than those conceived naturally to be delivered by cesarean section, to be born before term, and to have low birth weight. Major birth defects were identified by age 1 year in 8.6% of infants conceived with ICSI, 9.0% of the IVF group, and 4.2% of naturally conceived infants. In all, infants conceived using assisted reproductive technology were more than twice as likely as those conceived naturally to have a major defect. The difference remained significant when only singleton infants, or only singletons born at term, were analyzed, and after adjusting for maternal age and parity and infant gender. Approximately two thirds of major defects were diagnosed in the first week of life, and more than 90% by age 6 months. Excluding defects that may have been diagnosed early because of close surveillance, the odds ratio for a major defect was 1.8 in the ICSI group and 2.2 in the IVF group. Major defects remained about twice as frequent in these groups as with natural conception after excluding infants known to have inherited conditions and those with metabolic disorders. Musculoskeletal and chromosomal defects were significantly more prevalent with assisted reproductive technology. The IVF group (but not ICSI infants) had significantly more cardiovascular, urogenital, and other defects. Multiple major defects were significantly more frequent in the IVF and ICSI groups. Minor birth defects were diagnosed by age 12 months in less than 1% of all groups. These findings support the possibility of an excessive risk of major birth defects in infants born with the benefit of assisted reproductive technology. Nevertheless caution is in order when establishing associations with particular birth defects.
An Evaluation of Fetal Renal Function

A B S T R A CT Fetal renal function in the sheep was investigated in a chronic preparation which permitted repeated evaluations of urine flow and osmolality as well as renal clearances in animals which were unanesthetized and remote from acute surgical stress. Measurements of fetal blood pressure, pH, osmolality, fetal growth in utero, and final outcome did not indicate an adverse effect of the experimental procedure on
Clonidine Added to Lidocaine Prolongs the Duration of Anesthesia and Analgesia during Brachial Plexus Block

Background: Clonidine, a selective adrenergic agonist, increases the duration of anesthesia and analgesia when it is used with local anesthetics. This study was undertaken to evaluate whether clonidine, which was mixed with lidocaine for the brachial plexus block (BPB), has a local (peripheral) or a systemic (central) anesthetic effect. Methods: Seventy patients scheduled for upper extremity surgery were randomly allocated to two groups. In group IV (n = 35) an axillary perivascular BPB was performed with 40 ml of 1% lidocaine and 1：200,000 epinephrine, and just after BPB clonidine was administered intravenously. In group BPB (n = 35) the same BPB was performed with 40 ml of 1% lidocaine, 1：200,000 epinephrine and clonidine . The following variables were recorded: onset time, duration of anesthesia and analgesia, and adverse effects. Results: Onset time was comparable in both groups. The duration of anesthesia and analgesia significantly increased to 306 min and 354 min in group BPB, when compared to 119 min and 151 min in group IV, respectively. No side effects such as hypotension, bradycardia, and sedation were reported. Conclusions: The duration of anesthesia and analgesia is prolonged by adding clonidine to lidocaine during brachial plexus block, which suggests that its effect is local rather than systemic.
Prevalence of Obesity Among Children and Adolescents: United States, Trends 1963-1965 Through 2007-2008

Healthy People 2010 identified overweight and obesity as 1 of 10 leading health indicators and called for a reduction in the proportion of children and adolescents who are overweight or obese, but the United States has made little progress toward the target goal. Progress toward reducing the national prevalence of overweight and obesity is monitored using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). Results from the 2007–2008 NHANES, using measured heights and weights, indicate that an estimated 16.9% of children and adolescents aged 2–19 years are obese. Between 1976–1980 and 1999–2000, the prevalence of obesity increased. Between 1999–2000 and 2007–2008, there was no significant trend in obesity prevalence for any age group. Table 1 shows the increase in obesity that has occurred since 1976–1980. Among preschool children aged 2–5, obesity increased from 5.0% to 10.4% between 1976–1980 and 2007–2008 and from 6.5% to 19.6% among those aged 6–11. Among adolescents aged 12–19, obesity increased from 5.0% to 18.1% during the same period. Figure 1 shows the trends since the 1960s by age group. Body mass index (BMI), expressed as weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared (kg/m 2 ), is commonly used to classify obesity among adults, and is also recommended in children. Cutoff criteria are based on the 2000 CDC BMI-for-age-growth charts for the United States. Based on current recommendations of expert committees, children with BMI values at or above the 95th percentile of the sex-specific BMI growth charts are categorized as obese. This is different from previous years where children above this cutoff were labeled overweight. This change in terminology reflects the labels used by organizations such as the Institute of Medicine and the American Academy of Pediatrics. For more information see Krebs NF, Himes JH, Jacobson D, Nicklas TA, Guilday P, Styne D. Assessment of child and adolescent overweight and obesity. Pediatrics 120:S193–228. 2007. Although this cutpoint is not diagnostic, elevated BMI among children indicates increased risk for future adverse health outcomes or development of disease. Racial and ethnic disparities in adolescent obesity
Study of Novel Endophytic Bacteria for Biocontrol of Black Pepper Root-knot Nematodes in the Central Highlands of Vietnam

Black pepper is an industrial crop with high economic and export value. However, black pepper production in Vietnam has been seriously affected by the root-knot nematodes, Meloidogyne spp. The purpose of this study was to select active endophytic bacteria (EB) for the cost-effective and environmentally friendly management of Meloidogyne sp. Thirty-four EB strains were isolated. Of these, five isolates displayed the highest activity, demonstrating 100% mortality of J2 nematodes. These active EB were identified based on sequencing and phylogenetic analysis of the 16S rRNA gene; notably, all the potential endophytic bacterial strains belong to the genus of Bacillus. In greenhouse tests, Bacillus megaterium DS9 significantly reduced nematodes in the soil and pepper plant roots with great inhibition values of 81.86% and 73.11%, respectively, with the lowest rate of nematodes built up at 0.23. This active antinematodes strain also showed good effect on promoting pepper plant growth. Some enzymatic activities, including chitinase and protease activity related to the biocontrol of Meiloidogyne sp. , were also detected. The results investigated in the current study suggested that these selected EB strains may be good candidates for biocontrol agents of Meloidogyne sp. , and plant promoting effects. The results also enhanced the novel active antinematode endophytic bacterial communities.
ClinCNV: novel method for allele-specific somatic copy-number alterations detection

Motivation Large somatic copy number alterations (CNA), short indels and single nucleotide variants (SNVs) are playing important role in cancer development and can serve as a predictor for targeted therapy selection as well as prognostic factor. Genomic microarrays, FISH, MLPA and many other technologies are widely used for detection of CNAs. Whole-genome sequencing (WGS), whole-exome sequencing (WES) and targeted panel sequencing (TPS) are well established, highly accurate tools for detection of SNVs and small indels, but detection of larger structural variants using WGS, WES and TPS data remains challenging. We developed a tool for high-resolution allele-specific detection of somatic CNAs in NGS data using statistical approach. Results We have developed a new method for read-depth and B-allele frequency (BAF) based multi-sample detection of copy-number changes in paired normal-tumor NGS data and showed its performance using large cohorts of WES and TPS sequenced samples. Availability ClinCNV is freely available on https://github.com/imgag/ClinCNV.
Stress and Body Composition of Juvenile Alligator Snapping Turtles (Macrochelys temminckii)

The alligator snapping turtle (Macrochelys temminckii), is a species of conservation concern that is the subject of multiple head-start and reintroduction efforts across its range. In captive propagation programs, producing offspring that are in optimal physiological condition maximizes the likelihood of success after release. The purpose of my study was to compare stress and body composition between one free-ranging reintroduced population and two captive populations. The two captive populations were both housed in southern Oklahoma, but one group was reared indoors whereas the other inhabited outdoor ponds at a national fish hatchery. I used circulating glucocorticoid (corticosterone) concentrations as an indicator of stress level and dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) to estimate body composition. Corticosterone concentrations did not differ between captive and free-ranging populations, possibly suggesting that corticosterone is a poor predictor of stress in this species or under chronically stressful conditions. DXA accurately and precisely estimated fat mass (FM), lean tissue mass (LTM), and bone mineral mass (BMM). The captive-outdoor and free-ranging populations exhibited greater BMM than the captive-indoor population. However, both captive populations exhibited higher FM and lower LTM than turtles in the free-ranging population. A body condition index calculated by regressing log-transformed mass on length did not correlate with FM or BMM, but did correlate significantly with LTM.
The vitality of the Serbian spruce (Picea omorika) pollen during the long-term cryopreservation

Abstract This article studies differences in the vitality (germination rate and pollen tube length) of fresh pollen and pollen stored at −20 °C for 14 years of Serbian spruce (Picea omorika [Pančić] Purkyne). Fresh pollen was sampled from 24 trees from a Serbian spruce seed stand area on the site of Bela zemlja (43° 48′ 32″ N, 19° 44′ 25″ E) in the area of Mount Zlatibor (Serbia) in two successive years. Six nutrition media with different sucrose concentrations (0%, 5%, 10%, 15%, 20% and 25% aqueous solution) were used to assess the vitality of the pollen. Variance analysis shows significant differences among years of pollen sampling, years of cryopreservation, trees, and sucrose treatments for pollen germination for both germination rate and pollen tube length. The results indicate that climate conditions preceding the pollen maturation period had an impact on the pollen quality as well as on the pollen vitality during the years of cryopreservation. Inter-individual variability (differences between trees genetic variability) was very pronounced and enabled selection of pollinator trees that retained their initial vitality during the period of cryopreservation. This periodicity in Serbian spruce full flowering might have significant practical application in the breeding of this important species.
Effects of Incubator Carbon Dioxide and Oxygen Levels, and Egg Weight on Broilers’ Hatchability of Fertile Eggs

08/March/2019 Approved: 26/June/2019 ABSTRACT This study investigated the effects of incubator carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) and oxygen (O 2 ) levels, and egg weight (EW) on embryo mortality (EM) and hatchability of fertile eggs (HFE). A total of 1920 hatching eggs were obtained from a middle-aged (41 weeks) ROSS 308 broiler breeder flock. The eggs were classified according to EW as heavy (69.63 ± 0.09 g), medium (65.20 ± 0.04 g) and light (61.11 ± 0.08 g) and randomly allocated to four separate identical incubators. To these incubators, four different incubator ventilation programmes (IVP) classified as control (C; 0.7% CO 2 and 20.9% O 2 ), high CO 2 (HC; 1.1% CO 2 and 20.3% O 2 ), high O 2 (HO; 0.6% CO 2 and 22.0% O 2 ), and high CO 2 + O 2 (HCO; 0.9% CO 2 21.0% O 2 ) were applied, and EM and HFE were examined. IVP affected EM and HFE; a higher rate of early EM and a lower rate of HFE were obtained from the HO group compared to the HCO group, and a lower rate of HFE was observed in the HO group than to the C group ( p <0.05). An association was found between EW and IVP ( p <0.05), being more evident in early EM for light eggs. Consequently, IVP; i.e., different CO 2 and O 2 levels in the incubator affected the hatching results. This is considered to be due to the altitude of the experiment (724m) and the uniform eggs being obtained from the same middle-aged flock, and incubator O 2 levels should be taken into consideration, as well as
Bio-activities of Tetracycline and Algae Food Supplement Algo-Bio® on Escherichia coli Antimicrobial Resistance Isolated from Piglet’s Intestinal Flora

Aims: This study aimed at evaluating the effect of Algo-Bio® use on Escherichia coli resistance strains isolated from piglets intestinal flora. Study Design: Bacteriological study. Place and Duration of Study: Laboratory of the National Reference Center for antibiotics at Institute Pasteur Côte d’Ivoire, between March 2018 and June 2018. Methodology: A breeding of three batches of two piglets was carried out, then treatments with tetracycline and Algo-Bio® were administered to them. Enterobacteria was isolated on Mac Conkey medium added up with tetracycline and resistance rates were determined. Escherichia coli resistant strains have been identified and antibiotic susceptibility test was performed using disk diffusion method on Müller-Hinton agar. Results: Enterobacteria resistance rates increased ranging from 18.4% (D0) to 81.5% (D4) to tetracycline-treated piglets and respectively from 25.7% (D0) to 29% (D4) and from 22.3% (D0) to 24.5% (D4), in control piglets and those treated with Algo-Bio®. Antibiotic susceptibility test of Escherichia coli strains isolated from piglets treated with tetracycline showed high resistance to ceftazidime (83.3%), amoxicillin (76.9%) and tetracycline (92.3%) with 39.4% strains producing ESBL, 23.7% producing PHL and 5.2% of producing CHP on D4. Escherichia coli strains isolated from control piglets and Algo-Bio® treated piglets revealed a decrease of ESBL respectively from 17.6% (D0) to 13.7% (D4) and from 12.5% ​​(D0) to 6.4% (D4). Conclusion: The study showed that the use of Algo-Bio® does not induce an evolution of antimicrobial resistance in Microbiota strains and consequently this dietary supplement can be used as a good alternative to antibiotics.
Field evaluation of biocontrol agents and biopesticides against spotted pod borer, Maruca vitrata (Geyer) on lablab

Microplot field trial was conducted from March to May 2017 to assess the efficacy of various biopesticides, pathogen, predator and parasitoid against M. vitrata on lablab (var. Co Gb 14). The experiments were carried out in a randomized block design (RBD) with nine treatments and three replications. Results revealed that spinosad 45% SC @ 75 ml ha-1 was significantly superior to all other treatments by recording a cumulative mean population reduction of 72.58 per cent. The next in the order of efficacy were emamectin benzoate 5% SG @ 200 ml ha-1 (65.16 %) > sequential application of emamectin benzoate (200 ml ha-1) + Bracon brevicornis (2000 adults ha-1 released after fortnight) (63.70%) > emamectin benzoate (100 ml ha-1) + B. brevicornis (1000 adults ha-1) @ half the dose each (62.06 %) > azadirachtin 0.03% @ 2.5 L ha-1 (39.33 %) > B. brevicornis @ 2000 adults ha-1(32.77 %) > Crude suspension of B. bassiana (Bb 112) @ 108 Spores ml-1 (25.95 %) > Xylocoris flavipes @ 40,000 adults ha-1 (20.22 %).
Pomegranate’s Ellagitannins: Metabolism and Mechanisms of Health Promoting Properties

The health benefits of pomegranate consumption have been known since the antiquity. More recently, the biological activities of pomegranate, including its anti-bacterial, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and anticarcinogenic properties, have raised great interests in the scientific community and they have been the subject of a large number of scientific studies. Several phenolic compounds are present in various parts of the fruit, of which ellagitannins, hydrolysable tannins considered responsible for most health benefits of pomegranate. Despite all these efforts, the actual effectors remain unidentified and the mechanisms of action only partially elucidated. This is probably due to the complex catabolic pathway of these molecules that takes place in the gastrointestinal tract, involving both microbial and cellular modifications before entering the bloodstream. The diversity of the intestinal microbiota in the human population leads to the production of different metabolites in individuals, contributing to the heterogeneity of the response to dietary pomegranate assumption. This complex situation determines the need for special attention in designing studies on the action of ellagitannins on both cell cultures and animal models.
Prefrontal deep projection neurons enable cognitive flexibility via persistent feedback monitoring

Cognitive flexibility, the ability to alter one’s strategy in light of changing stimulus-response-reward relationships, is a critical tool for acquiring and executing learned behavior. In order to adapt to novel, uncertain, or dynamic contexts, it is often necessary to abandon previously successful rules, and explore new rules, based on trial and error. One form of cognitive flexibility, commonly referred to as set-shifting, entails ignoring a previously relevant stimulus feature in favor of a newly relevant features. Successful performance of set-shifting behavior has been shown through previous work to involve the prefrontal cortex (PFC), and impairments in set-shifting behavior are associated with multiple psychiatric disorders. In spite of the translational importance of this behavior, it remains unclear which cell types within PFC are responsible for conveying information critical to set-shifting to downstream brain regions. To address this question, we used a novel set-shifting task in head-fixed mice to test the role of two major PFC projections, the cortico-striatal and cortico-thalamic pathways, in set-shifting. Using optogenetics and 2-photon calcium imaging, we found that these cell types robustly and persistently encoded feedback from the outcomes of recent trials, and that the activity of both cell types during the inter-trial interval was critical to successfully switching between task rules. Moreover, we found that both cell types displayed a topological gradient, with neurons located further from the pial surface representing more task-critical information. Together, these findings suggest that deep PFC projection neurons enable set-shifting through trial feedback monitoring.
Novel neural signal features permit robust machine-learning of natural tactile- and proprioception-dominated dorsal column nuclei signals

Neural prostheses enable users to effect movement through a variety of actuators by translating brain signals into movement control signals. However, to achieve more natural limb movements from these devices, restoration of somatosensory feedback and advances in neural decoding of motor control-related brain signals are required. We used a machine-learning approach to assess signal features for their capacity to enhance decoding performance of neural signals evoked by natural tactile and proprioceptive somatosensory stimuli, recorded from the surface of the dorsal column nuclei in urethane-anaesthetised rats. We determined signal features that are highly informative for decoding somatosensory stimuli, yet these appear underutilised in neuroprosthetic applications. We found that proprioception-dominated stimuli generalise across animals better than tactile-dominated stimuli, and we demonstrate how information that signal features contribute to neural decoding changes over a time-course of dynamic somatosensory events. These findings may improve neural decoding for various applications including novel neuroprosthetic design.
Potential and restrictions of Poincianella pyramidalis (Tul.) L. P. Queiroz as native forage in the Brazilian semi-arid region

Poincianella pyramidalis (catingueira) is a endemic plant of the Caatinga, selected by animals grazing on native pasture. With the aim of evaluating characteristics indicative of its nutritional quality, 10 plants were selected and identified, sampled at five different ages, were used to determine dry matter (DM), crude protein (CP), neutral detergent fibre (NDF), mineral matter (MM), DM degradability (Deg DM), NDF degradability (Deg NDF) and in situ and in vitro leaf-tissue degradability. Phytochemical prospection was performed, and 1H and 13C nuclear magnetic resonance applied to detect the presence of secondary compounds. The data were submitted to analysis of variance and Tukey’s test at 5%, and correlation analysis was carried out on the variables for leaf maturity in days. The levels of CP, NDF and Deg NDF showed a negative correlation with the increases in leaf age. Leaf-tissue degradation was restricted due to a physical barrier developed in the leaf fragments, which can be attributed to plant defence mechanisms. The in situ degradability of the cell wall components decreased with the increase in leaf age. The high levels of tannins and lignin, and the strong presence of flavonoids, should be considered for their anti-nutritional and pharmacological potential.
Fungi Associated With Post-harvest Avocado Fruit Rot at Jimma Town, Southwestern Ethiopia

The poor post-harvest handling of avocado in and around Jimma was contribute its part for Post-harvest decay of avocado fruits and loss in quality of avocado. Besides, Post-harvest disease can limit the storage period for the fruit. The aim of this study was to identify Post-harvest pathogens affecting avocado fruits in Jimma town. A total of 35 avocado fruits categorized as apparently healthy (20), diseased (10) and decayed (5) avocado fruits were sampled from wholesalers, local market and farmers' field during 2017. A total of 30 fungal isolates were recovered and grouped into nine fungal species under eight genera. Botryotinia was the most frequently isolated genus (26.67%) followed by Colletotrichum (23.33%) and Aspergillus (10%). Thus, requests the need of management strategy that targets in reducing factors that facilitates the occurrence of fungal infection such options are avoidance of avocado fruit damaging practices by using locally available cushioning materials during loading to cars, avoiding loading of people and other materials together with avocado fruits on the same car, improving avocado storage houses to allow air circulation and avoiding damping of avocado fruits in the storage house.