Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The frequency of Cytochrome P 450 2E 1 polymorphisms in Black South Africans

Polymorphisms in the promoter region of the Cytochrome P4502E1 (CYP2E1) gene reportedly modify the metabolic activity of CYP2E1 enzyme, and have been associated with increased susceptibility to squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the oesophagus in high prevalence areas such as China. To assess the frequency of these polymorphisms in Black South Africans, a population with a high incidence of oesophageal SCC, this study examined genomic DNA from 331 subjects for restriction fragment length polymorphisms in the CYP2E1 (RsaI and PstI digestion). The frequency of the CYP2E1 c1/c1 and c1/c3 genotypes was 95% and 5% respectively. The frequency of the CYP2E1 allele distribution was found to be markedly different between Chinese and South African populations; hence it is important to place racial differences into consideration when proposing allelic variants as genetic markers for cancer.
The Factors Predicting Pre-Service Teachers’ Achievement in Teacher Training Classrooms

Article History: Purpose: This study aimed to predict the achievement of pre-service teachers majoring in education through some learner characteristics like gender, self-directed learning readiness dimensions, and course context (being in the flipped learning class and traditional teaching classes). Research Methods: This study employed a relational survey research design and involved 271 pre-service teachers who were selected according to the purposive sampling method. Data were collected by implementing an achievement test and Self-directed Learning Readiness Scale and analyzed through the Hierarchical Multiple Linear Regression procedure. Received: 23 Nov. 2019 Received in revised form: 05 Feb. 2020 Accepted: 19 May 2020 DOI: 10.14689/ejer.2020. 87.8
Major plant communities of the Marakele National Park

To manage and conserve any national park efficiently, a profound knowledge of the ecology is a prerequisite, and to achieve that an inventory of the biotic and abiotic components must be undertaken. As a contribution to such a program this information was collected for Marakele National Park. The study area covers 290.51 km² in the southwestern part of the Limpopo Province. The underlying parent rock of the study area is sandstone, shale and mudstone with several diabase dykes. The soils range from shallow to deep sandy soils on sandstone and clayey soils on diabase and mudstone. The rainfall varies from 556 mm to 630 mm per annum, mainly during the summer months. The study area experiences warm summers with temperatures of up to 32 oC and cool, dry winters with frost in the low-lying areas. The vegetation of the study area was classified in a hierarchical, plant sociological system by using TWINSPAN and the Braun - Blanquet technique. The floristic data from 130 releves were classified to identify five major plant communities, namely one forest community, three savanna/grassland communities and one wetland community. These plant communities were ecologically interpreted by habitat.The phytosociological table was condensed to a synoptic table to describe the major plant communities.
The Effects of 18 α,β-Glycyrrhetinic Acid on the Hormonal Induction of Tyrosine Aminotransferase in Rat Primary Cultured Hepatocytes

The effects of 18 alpha,beta-glycyrrhetinic acid (18 alpha,beta-GA) on the hormonal induction of tyrosine aminotransferase (TAT) in rat primary cultured hepatocytes were investigated. Dexamethassone or glucagon used alone caused an increase in enzyme activity, and in combination their effects were additive. In the 18 beta-GA hepatocytes pretreated for 6 h, the dexamethasone-induced increase in the enzyme activity was slightly reduced in a dose-independent manner, and the glucagon-induced increase and the combined effects of these two inducers were significantly reduced in a dose-dependent manner. On the other hand, 18 alpha-GA, which was the isomer of 18 beta-GA, exerted no influence on the hormonally mediated increase in enzyme activity. Moreover, 18 beta-GA reduced the glucose release induced by glucagon in a dose-dependent manner and 18 alpha-GA did not. These results suggested that 18 beta-GA reduced the glucagon-mediated cell response in rat hepatocytes.
From Forest Nursery Notes, Winter 2013

Irregular seed crop in Betula pendula (Silver Birch) is a reason to create seed reserves, ensuring nursery production in years of crop failure. This study investigated the effects of seed moisture content and storage temperature on germinability and seedling emergence in container cultivation. Mature catkins were collected separately from 3 trees. The mixture of winged nuts and scales was dried to 3 levels of moisture content and stored at 3°C, –3°C and –10°C. After storage for 3, 5 and 6 years, the seeds were separated from scales and next dewinged and sorted in acetone into empty and filled seeds. Cleaned nuts were germinated in the Jacobsen germinator. Besides, to assess seedling emergence, seeds were sown on the surface of peat mixed with perlite, in multi-cell trays under a plastic tunnel. Significant differences in germinability were detected depending on the mother tree, seed moisture content and storage time. The viability of seeds stored at –10°C remained unchanged for 6 years regardless of moisture content (ca. 8–12%). Seeds stored at higher temperatures lost their germinability faster. An unexplained increase in seedling emergence was observed after extended seed storage at –10°C, in contrast to a gradual decrease in seedling emergence after extended storage at –3°C. Additional key words: Silver Birch; liquid seed sorting; seed moisture content; storage temperature; container nursery; pH of imbibition water Address: Polish Academy of Sciences, Institute of Dendrology, Parkowa 5, 62-035 Kórnik, Poland, e-mail: ttylkows@man.poznan. pl
Seeds of change: reversing the erosion of traditional agroecological knowledge through a citizen science school program in Catalonia, Spain

Understanding valuation of and access to traditional agroecological knowledge (TAeK) in industrialized countries is key to designing initiatives that can reverse the erosion of TAeK. We explored these issues using a quasi-experimental design. We measured valuation and access to TAeK with a survey before and after an intervention based on a citizen science school program. The participants were Catalan agricultural technical students (N = 173), i.e., rural youth with an interest in agriculture and natural resources. We found that the study population values TAeK quite highly and accesses it relatively frequently outside the classroom. Moreover, the intervention, together with hands-on activities such as home gardening, had a positive effect on how much and how often students valued and accessed TAeK. Education programs such as the one presented here could become allies in agroecological transitions that require TAeK to be accessible and valued by future farmers.
Karyological Studies of Twelve Fritillaria Species from Greece

SUMMARYDetailed karyomorphology of twelve species of Fritillaria from Greece has been studied. Although the karyotype of eleven out of the twelve species showed general uniformity, consisting of 4 V-type chromosomes and 20 I (rod)-type, recognizable differences were noticed in a few marker chromosomes. The data derived from cytological findings are more or less in agreement with those from morphology and confirm previously known relationships.
University of Birmingham Tilings in randomly perturbed dense graphs

A perfect H -tiling in a graph G is a collection of vertex-disjoint copies of a graph H in G that together cover all the vertices in G . In this paper we investigate perfect H -tilings in a random graph model introduced by Bohman, Frieze and Martin [6] in which one starts with a dense graph and then adds m random edges to it. Speciﬁcally, for any ﬁxed graph H , we determine the number of random edges required to add to an arbitrary graph of linear minimum degree in order to ensure the resulting graph contains a perfect H -tiling with high probability. Our proof utilises Szemer´edi’s Regu-larity lemma [29] as well as a special case of a result of Koml´os [18] concerning almost perfect H -tilings in dense graphs
Cortistatin protects against intervertebral disc degeneration through targeting mitochondrial ROS-dependent NLRP3 inflammasome activation

Background: Intervertebral disc (IVD) degeneration is a common degenerative disease that can lead to collapse or herniation of the nucleus pulposus (NP) and result in radiculopathy in patients. Methods: NP tissue and cells were isolated from patients and mice, and the expression profile of cortistatin (CST) was analysed. In addition, ageing of the NP was compared between 6-month-old WT and CST-knockout (CST-/-) mice. Furthermore, NP tissues and cells were cultured to validate the role of CST in TNF-α-induced IVD degeneration. Moreover, in vitro and in vivo experiments were performed to identify the potential role of CST in mitochondrial dysfunction, mitochondrial ROS generation and activation of the NLRP3 inflammasome during IVD degeneration. In addition, NF-κB signalling pathway activity was tested in NP tissues and cells from CST-/- mice. Results: The expression of CST in NP cells was diminished in the ageing- and TNF-α-induced IVD degeneration process. In addition, compared with WT mice, aged CST-/- mice displayed accelerated metabolic imbalance and enhanced apoptosis, and these mice showed a disorganized NP tissue structure. Moreover, TNF-α-mediated catabolism and apoptosis were alleviated by exogenous CST treatment. Furthermore, CST inhibited mitochondrial dysfunction in NP cells through IVD degeneration and suppressed activation of the NLRP3 inflammasome. In vitro and ex vivo experiments indicated that increased NF-κB pathway activity might have been associated with the IVD degeneration observed in CST-/- mice. Conclusion: This study suggests the role of CST in mitochondrial ROS and activation of the NLRP3 inflammasome in IVD degeneration, which might shed light on therapeutic targets for IVD degeneration.
ANTIVIRAL, ANTIBACTERIAL, AND ANTIFUNGAL ACTIVITIES OF CENTAUREA TCHIHATCHEFFII EXTRACTS

In the present study, nine extracts of Centaurea tchihatcheffii were screened for their in-vitro antiviral, antibacterial and antifungal activities. Antibacterial and antifungal activities were evaluated against both standard and the isolated strains of Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Proteus mirabilis, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Acinetobacter baumannii, Staphylococcus aureus, Enterococcus faecalis, Bacillus subtilis as well as Candida albicans, Candida parapsilosis by broth microdilution method. Susceptibility testing was performed according to the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI; formerly NCCLS). Furthermore, Herpes simplex virus Type-1 (HSV-1) and Parainfluenza-3 virus (PI-3 virus, were employed for antiviral assessment of the extracts by using Madin-Darby Bovine Kidney and Vero cell lines. Ampicilline, gentamicin, ofloxacin, levofloxacin, ketoconazole, fluconazole, acyclovir and oseltamivir were used as the control agents. As our knowledge, this is the first report on these C. tchihatcheffii extracts that were evaluated for their antimicrobial activities. According to the data obtained, all the extracts appear to have antibacterial activity tested against standard Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria ranging from minimum inhibitory concentrations of 2 to 16 fig/mL, besides they have have antibacterial activity at 32->128 jUg/mL concentrations to isolated strains. Notable activity was observed with the extracts against C albicans and C. parapsilosis fungi at 4 fig/mL and 8 fig/mL concentrations, respectively.The data showed that water-chloroform interpahse (U.i), chloroform (U.2), and ethyl acetate (U.3), have antiviral activity against both DNA (HSV-1) and KNA (PI-3) viruses.
Partitioning growing season water balance within a forested boreal catchment using sap flux, eddy covariance, and a process-based model

Abstract. Although it is well known that evapotranspiration (ET) represents an important water flux at local to global scales, few studies have quantified the magnitude and relative importance of ET and its individual flux components in high-latitude forests. In this study, we combined empirical sapflux, throughfall, and eddy-covariance measurements with estimates from a process-based model to partition the water balance in a northern boreal forested catchment. This study was conducted within the Krycklan catchment, which has a rich history of hydrological measurements, thereby providing us with the unique opportunity to compare the absolute and relative magnitudes of ET and its flux components to other water balance components. During the growing season, ET represented ca. 85 % of the incoming precipitation. Both empirical results and model estimates suggested that tree transpiration (T) and evaporation of intercepted water from the tree canopy (IC) represented 43 % and 31 % of ET, respectively, and together were equal to ca. 70 % of incoming precipitation during the growing season. Understory evapotranspiration (ETu) was less important than T and IC during most of the study period, except for late autumn, when ETu was the largest ET flux component. Overall, our study highlights the importance of trees in regulating the water cycle of boreal catchments, implying that forest management impacts on stand structure as well as climate change effects on tree growth are likely to have large cascading effects on the way water moves through these forested landscapes.
Competition in the real estate brokerage industry: A critical review

3 Acknowledgements . 3 Introduction . 5 Lack of competition and elevated commission fees . 5 Uniform commission fees . 7 Commission fees high relative to other countries and industries. 8 Commissions do not reflect costs . 8 Industry concentration . 10 Contributing factors . 10 Welfare consequences of high commissions . 18 Policy discussion . 19 Digital platforms in the real estate industry . 23 Conclusions . 26 Tables . 27 References . 34 ECONOMIC STUDIES AT BROOKINGS 3 /// Competition in the real estate brokerage industry: A critical review ABOUT THE AUTHOR Panle Jia Barwick is an Associate Professor of Industrial Organization, Applied Econometrics, and Applied Microeconomics in the Department of Economics at Cornell University. She serves as the co-director of Cornell Institute for china Economic Research (CICER). She is a faculty research associate at the National Bureau of Econmic Research (NBER), and editorial board member of VoxChina, and an associate editor of China Economic
Acid pH tolerance in strains of Rhizobium and Bradyrhizobium, and initial studies on the basis for acid tolerance of Rhizobium tropici UMR1899

Acid pH limits the persistence of Rhizobium strains in soil, and the nodulation and nitrogen fixation of legumes. To identify acid-tolerant strains, we tested the ability of 45 Rhizobium, Azorhizobium, and Bradyrhizobium strains to produce isolated colonies on agar medium of pH 4.00 to pH 7.00. Only Rhizobium tropici UMR1899 (=CIAT899) grew at pH 4.00 in unbuffered medium, though 6 strains of R. tropici and 3 Bradyrhizobium strains grew at pH 4.25, and 15 strains grew at pH 4.50. Tolerance to acid pH in R. tropici UMR1899 was not an adaptive response, nor was it plasmid mediated, correlated with the production of extracellular polysaccharide, or related to synthesis of polyamines in the cell. When UMR1899 was grown in buffered medium at acid pH, it maintained a ΔpH (measured using 31P-NMR) of up to 1.7 pH units. However, when this strain was subjected to acid shock, it showed only limited ability to regulate cytoplasmic pH in the short term. Cells of UMR1899 accumulated glutamate under pH stress, and were.
On Bridging the Gap between Mean Field and Finite Width in Deep Random Neural Networks with Batch Normalization

Mean field theory is widely used in the theoretical studies of neural networks. In this paper, we analyze the role of depth in the concentration of mean-field predictions, specifically for deep multilayer perceptron (MLP) with batch normalization (BN) at initialization. By scaling the network width to infinity, it is postulated that the mean-field predictions suffer from layer-wise errors that amplify with depth. We demonstrate that BN stabilizes the distribution of representations that avoids the error propagation of mean-field predictions. This stabilization, which is characterized by a geometric mixing property, allows us to establish concentration bounds for mean field predictions in infinitely-deep neural networks with a finite width.
Human motion in cooperative tasks: Moving object case study

This paper describes results obtained in a preliminary investigation of a cooperative task consisting, for a pair of human operators, in moving a handle-shaped object between two predefined locations on a table. Seated, the operators use only upper body with single hand and arms in achieving this task. In a first step, each subject realized the task in a standalone mode. In a second step, pairs of subjects realized a similar task in a cooperative way. We used standalone results as a reference model to be compared with results obtained from cooperative experiments. Obtained results revealed that it is difficult to fit the minimum jerk model as a task motion characterization in both standalone and cooperative modes. However, we found an invariant velocity shape both for standalone and cooperation situations that can be used as a basic model for a robotic implementation. We noticed that the shape of the parabolic trajectory is always higher in cooperative tasks, although the weight of the object used in cooperative mode is exactly twice the one used in a standalone mode.
Karyotypes of Three Tanakia Bitterlings (Pisces, Cyprinidae) from East Asia

Silver stained-NOR patterns as well as routine Giemsa stained karyotypes of 3 Tanakia species/subspecies from East Asia, T. himantegus himantegus, T. h. chii, and T. somjinensis, were described. This is the first description of karyotypes for T. h. himantegus and T. somjinensis. Tanakia h. himantegus (2n=48: 8M+20SM+18ST+2A) and T. h. chii (2n=48: 8M+20SM+18ST+2A) had distinct acrocentric chromosomes. In T. somjinensis (2n=48: 8M+20SM+20ST), acrocentric chromosomes were not found and Ag-NORs on the terminal region of the long arm were more prevalent than those on the terminal region of the short arm, being a characteristic that is unusual in bitterlings.
Proficiency Of Teachers In The Use Of ICT In Teaching Social Studies: A Case Of Selected Senior High Schools In The Amansie West District In The Ashanti Region Of Ghana

: The study seeks to determine the proficiency level of teachers in the use of ICT in teaching social studies. It further looked at the perception of teachers toward the use of ICT in teaching social studies. The last objective was to find the problems teachers face in incorporating ICT in teaching social studies. A total of 28 teachers were sampled to respond to the questionnaire. A census approach was used to sample the teachers for the study. A questionnaire was used to collect the data, and the descriptive statistic was used to analyse the data with SPSS Version 22. The findings show that most of the teachers were very proficient in the use of ICT in teaching. The results also indicate that most teachers have a good view of ICT in teaching . Again the study revealed that a more significant number of the teachers suggest that there are factors that prevent them from incorporating ICT in teaching their subject. The research recommended among others that Ghana Education Service must team up with the heads and teachers of the various SHS to make adequate time for teachers to incorporate ICT in their lessons.
GENETIC CHARACTERIZATION OF MANGO ACCESSIONS THROUGH RAPD AND ISSR MARKERS IN VIETNAM

Molecular markers have been used to study the genetic diversity in mango (Mangifera indica L.) through characterization worldwide. In this study, 10 RAPD and 10 ISSR markers were used to characterize the genetic richness of 10 mango accessions from different provinces in Vietnam. High polymorphic levels were found in both RAPD (91.9%) and ISSR (98.1%) markers in which a total of 162 and 145 loci were generated, respectively. Both markers revealed high polymorphism information content (PIC) (0.89 for RAPD and 0.91 for ISSR), suggesting that these methods are equally effective for determining genetic variation of mango. However, the Mantel test showed no correlation between these two markers. The dendrograms generated by cluster and PCA analysis of both markers were able to distinguish the cultivars genetically. The obtained results provide molecular biological information for classification, identification plant origins, breeding, and conservation programs; furthermore, utilization of molecular marker analysis could provide new insights to breeders for molecular assisted selection of mango.
Ecophysiological Factors on Phytic Acid Concentration in Soybean Seed

phytic acid is the major form of p in crop seeds. To reveal the correlations between phytic acid concentration (pAC) in soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr. ] seed and ecophysiological factors, the soybean cultivar Yudou25 was planted at five locations of Henan, China, on 13 different sowing dates in 2009 and 2010. results showed that six ecophysiological factors were highly correlated with pAC, including four soil nutrition factors (available K [AK], available p [Ap], hydrolyzable N [HN], and S in soil) and two meteorological factors (diurnal temperature range at blooming and podding [DTrBp] and mean temperature at seed filling and maturity [MTFM]) from high to low in the contribution to the pAC difference. phytic acid concentration was negatively correlated with AK and HN but positively correlated with Ap and available S, DTrBp, and MTFM. These results have potentially wide applications for the production of lower pAC soybean seeds. H. Li, Z. Wen, J. Li, H. Zhang, Y. Wu, C. Lei, S. Wang, J. Wang, W. Li, and W. Lu, Institute of Industrial Crops/Zhengzhou National Subcenter for Soybean Improvement/Key Laboratory of Oil Crops in Huanghuaihai Plains, Ministry of Agriculture, P R China, Henan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Zhengzhou, 450002, China; X. Wang, Dep. of Life Science, Zhoukou Normal Univ., Zhoukou 466000, China; Y. Ma, Research Center of Agricultural Quality Standards and Testing Techniques, Henan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Zhengzhou 450002, China; Z. Geng, Zhoukou Agricultural Institute, Zhoukou 466001, China; C. Yang, Puyang Agricultural Institute, Puyang 457000, China. This work was supported by the China Agriculture Research System (nycytx-004), Zhengzhou leading scientists training program (096SYJH14103), functional quality of new varieties of genetically modified soybean cultivation (2011ZX08004-003), and national science and technology support program (2011BAD35B06). Received 2 Feb. 2012. *Corresponding author (123bean@163.com). Abbreviations: AK, available K; AP, available P; DTRBP, diurnal temperature range at blooming and podding; HN, hydrolyzable N; MTFM, mean temperature at seed filling and maturity; PA, phytic acid; PAC, phytic acid concentration. Published in Crop Sci. 53:2195–2201 (2013). doi: 10.2135/cropsci2012.02. 0068 © Crop Science Society of America | 5585 Guilford Rd., Madison, WI 53711 USA All rights reserved. No part of this periodical may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Permission for printing and for reprinting the material contained herein has been obtained by the publisher.