Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Neem Tree Azadirachta indica A. Juss. and Other Meliaceous Plants: Source of Unique Products for Integrated Pest Management, Medicine, Industry and Other Purposes. Edited by H. Schmutterer. Weinheim, Federal Republic of Germany: VCH (1995), pp. 716, DM198.00. ISBN 3-527-30054-6.

Bene®cial uses of the neem tree have been known for centuries in countries such as India. Only more recently, however, have westerners begun to appreciate and explore its usefulness. This book brings together many years of research and anecdotal observations, leaving the reader with the impression that neem has an extremely broad range of applications, many of which are in only the early stages of discovery. The largest chapter considers the most familiar uses of neem, namely the pesticidal properties of azadirachtin (the principal active compound of the tree, particularly its seeds). The account reviews activity not only against insects but, for example, antiviral and antibacterial properties and the development of neem-derived compounds to control fungal plant pathogens and plant parasitic nematodes. Regarding insecticidal activity, the physiological targets of azadirachtin and its eects at the hormonal and molecular levels are discussed. Accounts of the insecticidal eects of neem are accompanied by a review of neem application against arthropod pests (for example, of vegetables, grains and stored products). Results varied but suggest that further trials might reveal great economic potential in rural areas of tropical developing countries, especially in integrated pest management systems, because eects on non-target organisms are slight. Although numerous neem-based products are now available there are many problems in supplying azadirachtin-rich neem extracts. Current investigations towards the total synthesis of azadirachtin are described and accompanied by a synopsis of eorts to de®ne its full structure and the needs for further study. The detailed account of the active compound is complemented by information on the ecology of the tree and various sociocultural facts. Azadirachta indica has long held a major role in Indian culture, from its use in warding-o evil spirits to that of a household remedy for common ailments. The extending use of neem is an example of `science learning from culture' which is comprehensively illustrated including neem's uses in modern medicine, soap production, rope making and as shade trees.
Influence of Voluntary Contraction Level, Test Stimulus Intensity and Normalization Procedures on the Evaluation of Short-Interval Intracortical Inhibition

Short-interval intracortical inhibition (SICI) represents an inhibitory phenomenon acting at the cortical level. However, SICI estimation is based on the amplitude of a motor-evoked potential (MEP), which depends on the discharge of spinal motoneurones and the generation of compound muscle action potential (M-wave). In this study, we underpin the importance of taking into account the proportion of spinal motoneurones that are activated or not when investigating the SICI of the right flexor carpi radialis (normalization with maximal M-wave (Mmax) and MEPtest, respectively), in 15 healthy subjects. We probed SICI changes according to various MEPtest amplitudes that were modulated actively (four levels of muscle contraction: rest, 10%, 20% and 30% of maximal voluntary contraction (MVC)) and passively (two intensities of test transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS): 120 and 130% of motor thresholds). When normalized to MEPtest, SICI remained unchanged by stimulation intensity and only decreased at 30% of MVC when compared with rest. However, when normalized to Mmax, we provided the first evidence of a strong individual relationship between SICI and MEPtest, which was ultimately independent from experimental conditions (muscle states and TMS intensities). Under similar experimental conditions, it is thus possible to predict SICI individually from a specific level of corticospinal excitability in healthy subjects.
CHO/LY-B cell growth under limiting sphingolipid supply: correlation between lipid composition and biophysical properties of sphingolipid-restricted cell membranes+

Sphingolipids (SL) are ubiquitous in mammalian cell membranes, yet there is little data on the behavior of cells under SL-restriction conditions. LY-B cells derive from a CHO line in which serine palmitoyl transferase (SPT), thus de novo SL synthesis, is suppressed, while maintaining the capacity of taking up and metabolizing exogenous sphingoid bases from the culture medium. In the present study LY-B cells were adapted to grow in a fetal bovine serum (FBS)-deficient medium to avoid external uptake of lipids. The lowest FBS concentration that allowed LY-B cell growth, though at a slow rate, under our conditions was 0.04%, i.e. 250-fold less than the standard (10%) concentration. Cells grown under limiting SL concentrations remained viable for at least 72 h. Enriching with sphingomyelin the SL-deficient medium allowed the recovery of control LY-B cell growth rates. Studies including whole cells, plasma membrane preparations, and derived lipid vesicles were carried out. Laurdan fluorescence was recorded to measure membrane molecular order, showing a significant decrease in the rigidity of LY-B cells, not only in plasma membrane but also in whole cell lipid extract, as a result of SL limitation in the growth medium. Plasma membrane preparations and whole cell lipid extracts were also studied using atomic force microscopy in the force spectroscopy mode. Force measurements demonstrated that lower breakthrough forces were required to penetrate samples obtained from SL-poor LY-B cells than those obtained from control cells. Mass-spectroscopic analysis was also a helpful tool to understand the rearrangement undergone by the LY-B cell lipid metabolism. The most abundant SL in LY-B cells, sphingomyelin, decreased by about 85% as a result of SL limitation in the medium, the bioactive lipid ceramide and the ganglioside precursor hexosylceramide decreased similarly, together with cholesterol. Quantitative SL analysis showed that a 250-fold reduction in sphingolipid supply to LY-B cells led to a 6-fold decrease in membrane sphingolipids, underlining the resistance to changes in composition of these cells. Plasma membrane compositions exhibited similar changes, at least qualitatively, as the whole cells with SL restriction. A linear correlation was observed between the sphingomyelin concentration in the membranes, the degree of lipid order as measured by laurdan fluorescence, and membrane breakthrough forces assessed by atomic force microscopy. Concomitant changes were detected in glycerophospholipids under SL-restriction conditions.
A Genomic Perspective on the Potential of Wild-Type Rumen Bacterium Enterobacter sp. LU1 as an Industrial Platform for Bio-Based Succinate Production

Enterobacter sp. LU1, a wild-type bacterium originating from goat rumen, proved to be a potential succinic acid producer in previous studies. Here, the first complete genome of this strain was obtained and analyzed from a biotechnological perspective. A hybrid sequencing approach combining short (Illumina MiSeq) and long (ONT MinION) reads allowed us to obtain a single continuous chromosome 4,636,526 bp in size, with an average 55.6% GC content that lacked plasmids. A total of 4425 genes, including 4283 protein-coding genes, 25 ribosomal RNA (rRNA)-, 84 transfer RNA (tRNA)-, and 5 non-coding RNA (ncRNA)-encoding genes and 49 pseudogenes, were predicted. It has been shown that genes involved in transport and metabolism of carbohydrates and amino acids and the transcription process constitute the major group of genes, according to the Clusters of Orthologous Groups of proteins (COGs) database. The genetic ability of the LU1 strain to metabolize a wide range of industrially relevant carbon sources has been confirmed. The genome exploration indicated that Enterobacter sp. LU1 possesses all genes that encode the enzymes involved in the glycerol metabolism pathway. It has also been shown that succinate can be produced as an end product of fermentation via the reductive branch of the tricarboxylic acid cycle (TCA) and the glyoxylate pathway. The transport system involved in succinate excretion into the growth medium and the genes involved in the response to osmotic and oxidative stress have also been recognized. Furthermore, three intact prophage regions ~70.3 kb, ~20.9 kb, and ~49.8 kb in length, 45 genomic islands (GIs), and two clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) were recognized in the genome. Sequencing and genome analysis of Enterobacter sp. LU1 confirms many earlier results based on physiological experiments and provides insight into their genetic background. All of these findings illustrate that the LU1 strain has great potential to be an efficient platform for bio-based succinate production.
Life table of Phenacoccus solenopsis Tinsley (Pseudococcidae: Hemiptera) on various phenological stages of cotton

A study of the life table of Phenacoccus solenopsis Tinsely on cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) for two constitutive seasons at Entomological Farm, Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) Ludhiana revealed that among three phenophases (vegetative, flowering and maturation stage), gross reproductive rate (GRR), net reproductive rate (Ro), intrinsic rate of increase (rm), precise value of rm and finite rate of increase (λ) were maximum (329.83 and 349.10, 65.29 and 278.46, 0.169 and 0.242, 0.183 and 0.246, 1.184 and 1.274) at vegetative stage during 2008 and 2009, respectively. The total life cycle was completed in 32 days at vegetative stage while took maximum (39.00) days at maturation stage. During 2008, apparent mortality (100qx) was maximum (74.33 and 77.31%) at vegetative and flowering, respectively. Survival rate (Sx) was (0.26 and 0.23) in second instar at vegetative and flowering stage, whereas, at maturation stage the corresponding values for apparent mortality and survival rate were 40.69 and 0.59 in third instar. During 2009, maximum apparent mortality (76.35 and 56.91) and minimum survival rate (0.24 and 0.43) were recorded in adults at vegetative and maturation stage respectively. Heavy rainfall, Aenasius sp. (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae) and Coccinella sp (Coleoptera: coccinellidae) contributed maximum mortality at vegetative and flowering stage, while rain fall and low temperature were major factors for mortality during maturation stage. The study suggested that P. solenopsis population is more affected by the biotic and abiotic factors in the vegetative stage. Therefore, the application of control measures at this stage could be drastically further reduces the population and thus prevents the buildup of population at later in the season. Key words: Life table, Phenacoccus solenopsis, phenological stages, net reproductive rate (Ro), finite rate of increase (λ), intrinsic of increase (rm).
Evaluation and Genetic Polymorphism studies of Jatropha (Jatropha curcus) for Water Stress Tolerance

) is an alternative resource for biodiesel. To boost the rural economy in sustainable manner it is estimated that 30 Million hector plantation may replace current use of fossil fuel. Although Jatropha has an inbuilt ability to grow under water limited conditions, scanty information is available about natural genetic variation for water stress tolerance. Three local genotypes from Pune district were collected and initially screened by imparting artificial stress using PEG – 6000. Seedlings were subjected to increasing concentration of PEG – 6000 (30, 60, 90, 120 and 150 gm/l) to study effect on growth parameters. The root growth, number of secondary roots, true leaf expansion at morphological level and palisade mesophyll height, xylem vessel expansion at anatomical level showed drastic negative impact as compared to control. It is worth to note that local germplasm performance was categorized into susceptible group as compared to tolerant genotype [Chattisgadh Selection] indicating need for genetic improvement. These genotypes were further studied at molecular level with RAPD and ISSR markers to amplify genetic variation. Polymorphic bands from Chattisgadh selection genotype are being evaluated for their usefulness as markers for water stress tolerance.
Influence of Socioeconomic Bias on Emergency Medicine Resident Decision Making and Patient Care.

INTRODUCTION Physician bias impacts clinical decision making, resulting in disparities in patient care. Most existing studies focus on sex and racial bias. This study aimed to investigate disparities in physician decision making among patients of varying socioeconomic status (SES). METHODS Emergency medicine residents (n = 31) participated in 3 consecutive scenarios of similar disease acuity but with standardized patients of varying SES. Following the scenarios, residents met with a standardized participant acting as an attending physician for a handoff to recount their decision-making processes and care recommendations. Blinded raters evaluated clinical performance using an objective assessment tool. We assessed associations between patient SES and resident-ordered imaging, ordered medication, patient-perceived empathy, and clinical performance. We used qualitative analyses to study residents' decision-making processes. RESULTS Quantitative analyses revealed no significant relationship between SES and resident-ordered imaging, ordered medications, patient-perceived empathy, and clinical performance. Qualitative analyses revealed 3 themes regarding clinical decision making: (1) overt diagnostic focus, (2) discharge planning, and (3) risk and exposure. CONCLUSIONS Although quantitative analyses showed that SES did not affect clinical behavior within simulated scenarios, qualitative analyses uncovered 3 themes believed important to physician decision-making processes. Overt diagnostic focus may have resulted from the study environment in addition to organizational factors, policies, and training. Discharge planning, which was not explicitly studied, was often tailored to SES with emphasis placed on risks for patients of low SES. Further research is needed to uncover the nuances of bias, SES, and physician decision making throughout the patient care continuum and within various clinical environments.
Arterial de-stiffing Drugs: Which Promising Therapeutic Agent is Useful?

Degeneration of medial layer of elastic arteries with deposition of collagen is termed arterial stiffness, and considered as a risk factor of cardiovascular events. Several mechanisms are involved in the pathogenesis of arterial stiffness, and there are a lot of diseases that associated with arterial stiffness. Drugs that reverse the arterial stiffness should be producing their effect on the medial layer independent on their effects on the blood pressure, and other risk factor. Moreover, their effects should be sustainable without producing harmful adverse reactions. This review discusses the property of each class of drugs that showed destiffness effect.
Effect of non-genetic factors on replacement rate and its components in Murrah buffaloes of Tamil Nadu

The average value (in %) for abnormal birth, male birth, female birth, death of female calves, culling of female calves, replacement rate on basis of total pregnancies and total female calves born were 2.82, 51.4, 48.6, 38.8, 21.2, 19.4 and 40.0 respectively. On an average 4 to 5 pregnancies were required for one female calf to reach milking herd. Among the non-genetic factors, period of birth contributed for major variation in replacement rate and its components. The effects of different non-genetic factors (viz. season, periods and parity) affecting replacement rate and its components revealed that period of birth affected the replacement rate and its components highly significantly (P<0.01). Beyond fifth lactation the efficacy of cows to replace a heifer decreased gradually.
Nutrient Intake and Digestibility of West African Dwarf Bucks Fed Poultry Waste-Cassava Peels Based Diets

The effect of feeding poultry waste-cassava peel based diets on the nutrient intake and digestibility were evaluated using four West African Dwarf (WAD) bucks. The animals were confined individually in metabolism cages and offered the treatment diets (A-D) in a 4 x 4 Latin Square Design. The diets were formulated from poultry waste, cassava peel, palm kernel cake, molasses, bone meal and common salt. The percent compositions of Dried Poultry Waste (DPW) and cassava peel in the diets were 0, 56.5; 10, 53.5; 20, 43.5 and 30, 33.5% respectively. Each animal received each diet for 24 days. Daily feed intake was determined. Urine and faecal samples were taken and analyzed. The dry matter intake, nitrogen intake, N- balance and absorbed -N increased as the percentage of dried poultry waste in the diets increased. The faecal -N values differed significantly (p<0.05). The digestibility coefficients of crude fibre, nitrogen-free-extract and energy were significantly (p<0.05) different among experimental animals. All the diets promoted positive N-balance.
EFFECT OF DIFFERENT RHIZOBIUM STRAINS ON THE GROWTH ATTRIBUTES OF BLACK GRAM

Effects of three different Rhizobium strains on the growth attributes of two black gram varieties ( Vigna mungo L. Hepper) revealed differential varietal response due to inoculation with two types of Rhizobium strains. Treatment T 5 showed higher values compared to the rest of the treatments. Different growth parameters such as RGR, LAR, RLGR, LAD, LAI, SLA and LWR indicated better results with the inoculation of nodule organism. Key words : Growth attributes; black gram ; Vigna mungo; Rhizobium strains DOI: 10.3329/jles.v3i0. 7438 J. Life Earth Sci., Vols. 3-4: 7-11, 2009
Multi-View Joint Graph Representation Learning for Urban Region Embedding

The increasing amount of urban data enable us to investigate urban dynamics, assist urban planning, and eventually, make our cities more livable and sustainable. In this paper, we focus on learning an embedding space from urban data for urban regions. For the first time, we propose a multi-view joint learning model to learn comprehensive and representative urban region embeddings. We first model different types of region correlations based on both human mobility and inherent region properties. Then, we apply a graph attention mechanism in learning region representations from each view of the built correlations. Moreover, we introduce a joint learning module that boosts the region embedding learning by sharing cross-view information and fuses multi-view embeddings by learning adaptive weights. Finally, we exploit the learned embeddings in the downstream applications of land usage classification and crime prediction in urban areas with real-world data. Extensive experiment results demonstrate that by exploiting our proposed joint learning model, the performance is improved by a large margin on both tasks compared with the state-of-the-art methods.
Antioxidant Potential of Ecklonia cavaon Reactive Oxygen Species Scavenging, Metal Chelating, Reducing Power and Lipid Peroxidation Inhibition

The antioxidative potential of different fractions (respective organic and aqueous fractions of n-hexane, chloroform and ethyl acetate) of 70% methanol extract of Ecklonia cava(a brown seaweed) was evaluated using 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), superoxide anion, hydrogen peroxide, hydroxyl radical, nitric oxide, ferrous ion chelating, reducing power and lipid peroxidation inhibition (conjugated diene hydroperoxide and thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances production) assays. The 70% methanol extract showed significant (p< 0.05) activities in all antioxidant assays and contained a high level of total phenolic content. It was observed that the level of hydrophilic phenolic content was higher than that of hydrophobics. Among those organic solvent fractions, ethyl acetate fraction exhibited significant activities due to the highest level of total phenolic content and their IC50 values were 0.013mg/mL, 0.009mg/mL and 0.33mg/mL in DPPH, hydrogen peroxide and nitric oxide radical inhibition, respectively. These activities were superior to those of a commercial synthetic and natural antioxidants tested. The aqueous chloroform and ethyl acetate fractions also exhibited significant (p< 0.05) activities in reactive oxygen species (ROS) scavenging and metal chelating, attributed to the high amount of hydrophilic phenolics. Moreover, E. cava extracts showed strong reducing power and a notable capacity to suppress lipid peroxidation.
Characterizing the Fused TvG6PD::6PGL Protein from the Protozoan Trichomonas vaginalis, and Effects of the NADP+ Molecule on Enzyme Stability

This report describes a functional and structural analysis of fused glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase dehydrogenase-phosphogluconolactonase protein from the protozoan Trichomonas vaginalis (T. vaginalis). The glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (g6pd) gene from T. vaginalis was isolated by PCR and the sequence of the product showed that is fused with 6pgl gene. The fused Tvg6pd::6pgl gene was cloned and overexpressed in a heterologous system. The recombinant protein was purified by affinity chromatography, and the oligomeric state of the TvG6PD::6PGL protein was found as tetramer, with an optimal pH of 8.0. The kinetic parameters for the G6PD domain were determined using glucose-6-phosphate (G6P) and nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADP+) as substrates. Biochemical assays as the effects of temperature, susceptibility to trypsin digestion, and analysis of hydrochloride of guanidine on protein stability in the presence or absence of NADP+ were performed. These results revealed that the protein becomes more stable in the presence of the NADP+. In addition, we determined the dissociation constant for the binding (Kd) of NADP+ in the protein and suggests the possible structural site in the fused TvG6PD::6PGL protein. Finally, computational modeling studies were performed to obtain an approximation of the structure of TvG6PD::6PGL. The generated model showed differences with the GlG6PD::6PGL protein (even more so with human G6PD) despite both being fused.
7-Acetoxycoumarin Inhibits LPS-Induced Inflammatory Cytokine Synthesis by IκBα Degradation and MAPK Activation in Macrophage Cells

Acetylation involves the chemical introduction of an acetyl group in place of an active hydrogen group into a compound. In this study, we synthesized 7-acetoxycoumarin (7AC) from acetylation of umbelliferone (UMB). We examined the anti-inflammatory properties of 7AC in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-treated RAW 264.7 macrophage cells. The anti-inflammatory activity of 7AC on viability of treated cells was assessed by measuring the level of expression of NO, PGE2 and pro-inflammatory cytokines, namely interleukin-1β (IL-1β), interleukin-6 (IL-6) and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) in 7AC-treated RAW 264.7 macrophages. The 7AC was nontoxic to cells and inhibited the production of cytokines in a concentration-dependent manner. In addition, its treatment suppressed the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines in a dose-dependent manner and concomitantly decreased the protein and mRNA expressions of inducible NO synthase (iNOS) and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2). Moreover, the levels of the phosphorylation of mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) family proteins such as extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK), c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK), p38 and nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) were reduced by 7AC. In conclusion, we generated an anti-inflammatory compound through acetylation and demonstrated its efficacy in cell-based in vitro assays.