Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Latitudinal changes in the structure of marine food webs in the Southwestern Atlantic Ocean

Food chain length is known to increase with primary productivity, species richness and environmental stability. Primary productivity and species richness decrease poleward at mid and high latitudes in the Southwestern Atlantic, and hence food chain length of coastal ecosystems is expected to decrease poleward, unless seasonal changes in water temperature destabilise food webs at mid latitude. We used stable isotopes of carbon and nitrogen and SIBER (Stable Isotope Bayesian Ellipses in R) to determine the food chain length and other patterns of interconnections (i.e. topology) of coastal food webs from 3 contrasting regions: the temperate estuarine zone associated with the Rio de la Plata plume, the tidal zone off northern and central Patagonia, and the cold estuarine zone off southern Patagonia. Results indicate that food chain length decreases and trophic redundancy increases as latitude increases in all of the compartments of the food web considered. This is in agreement with results emerging from reconstructions of marine food web length during the late Holocene in the same regions, thus suggesting that they are not artefacts caused by the intense exploitation of top predators in the region since European settlement. Furthermore, differences in primary productivity do not fully explain the observed patterns. Instead, we argue that the latitudinal reduction of species diversity reported for the Southwestern Atlantic may be the primary reason for the observed pattern. The reduction in the diversity of forage fishes and squids at high latitude is proposed to result into a wasp-waist ecosystem, characterised by a high trophic redundancy at high trophic levels.
The Application of Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography in Cerebral Small Vessel Disease, Ischemic Stroke, and Dementia: A Systematic Review

Objective: To investigate the application of optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) in cerebral small vessel disease (SVD), ischemic stroke and dementia. Methods: We conducted a systematic search in MEDLINE (from inception) and EMBASE (from 1980) to end 2019 for human studies that measured retinal parameters in cerebral SVD, ischemic stroke, and dementia using OCTA. Results: Fourteen articles (n = 989) provided relevant data. Ten studies included patients with Alzheimer disease (AD) and mild cognitive impairment (n = 679), two investigated pre-symptomatic AD participants (n = 154), and two investigated monogenic SVD patients with cerebral autosomal dominant arteriopathy with subcortical infarcts and leukoencephalopathy (n = 32) and Fabry disease (n = 124). Methods to reduce bias and risk factor adjustment were poorly reported. Substantial methodological variations between studies precluded a formal meta-analysis. Quantitative measurements revealed significant yet inconclusive changes in foveal avascular zone, perfusion density, and vessel density (VD) in AD, presymptomatic AD, and SVD patients. Two (n = 160) of three studies (n = 192) showed association between decreased VD and increased white matter hyperintensities. In three (n = 297) of seven studies (n = 563), better cognitive function was associated with increased VD. One study (n = 52) suggested increased VD was associated with increased ganglion cell–inner plexiform layer thickness in AD yet with no covariate adjustment. Conclusions: Changes in retinal microvasculature identified using OCTA are associated with monogenic SVD and different stages of AD, but data are limited and partly confounded by methodological differences. Larger studies with risk factors adjustment and more consistent OCTA methods are needed to fully exploit this technology. PROSPERO registration number: CRD42020166929.
Preoperative Predictors of Biochemical Recurrence-Free Survival in High-Risk Prostate Cancer Following Radical Prostatectomy

Background: D'Amico high-risk prostate cancer (Pca) patients experience poor and heterogeneous oncological outcomes. This heterogeneity highlights a need to extensively explore factors associated with poor outcomes to guide decision-making. Objective: To assess predictors of biochemical recurrence (BCR)-free survival in high-risk patients following radical prostatectomy (RP), and subsequently establish a model predicting outcomes. Methods: We retrospectively identified D'Amico high-risk non-metastatic Pca patients who underwent RP between 2013 and 2019 in our hospital. We collected data including PSA level, clinical stage, biopsy Gleason score (GS), number of D'Amico high-risk factors (RF), the inflammatory status (Neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio [NLR], derived NLR [dNLR], platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio [PLR] and LDH). Kaplan–Meier methods were used to analyze BCR-free survival. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed using Cox proportional hazards model to evaluate the association between clinicopathological parameters and BCR-free survival. Results: The median follow-up time for the 101 patients' cohort was 26 months (range: 3–81 months). The number of RF (1RF vs. ≥2RF), biopsy GS (<8 vs. ≥8), clinical stage (≤cT2c vs. >cT2c), pathological stage, and the presence of adverse pathological features were significant predictors of BCR (P < 0.05). Other parameters including inflammatory status (dNLR, NLR, PLR, and LDH) were not of predictive value. On multivariable analysis, biopsy GS (<8 vs. ≥8; HR 2.439) and clinical stage (≤cT2c vs. >cT2c; HR 3.271) were the independent predictors of BCR. Based on these two independent predictors, patients were stratified into three risk subgroups: favorable (0 risk factor; 47% of patients), intermediate (1 risk factor; 42 %), unfavorable (2 risk factors; 11%). The intermediate and unfavorable subgroups have a significantly shorter median BCR-free survival compared to the favorable subgroup (P < 0.001). Conclusion: Several factors are associated with BCR. Clinical stage (≤cT2c vs. >cT2c) and biopsy GS (<8 vs. ≥8) are the independent predictors of BCR. The stratification of high-risk patients into risk subgroups based on these two predictors shows that the intermediate and unfavorable subgroups have a significantly shorter median BCR-free survival compared to the favorable subgroup. The preoperative stratification model may help urologists and patients during decision-making. In non-metastatic high-risk patients, preoperative inflammatory markers (NLR, dNLR, PLR, and LDH) are not of prognostic value.
COVID-19-Related Anosmia: The Olfactory Pathway Hypothesis and Early Intervention

Anosmia is a well-described symptom of Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). Several respiratory viruses are able to cause post-viral olfactory dysfunction, suggesting a sensorineural damage. Since the olfactory bulb is considered an immunological organ contributing to prevent the invasion of viruses, it could have a role in host defense. The inflammatory products locally released in COVID-19, leading to a local damage and causing olfactory loss, simultaneously may interfere with the viral spread into the central nervous system. In this context, olfactory receptors could play a role as an alternative way of SARS-CoV-2 entry into cells locally, in the central nervous system, and systemically. Differences in olfactory bulb due to sex and age may contribute to clarify the different susceptibility to infection and understand the role of age in transmission and disease severity. Finally, evaluation of the degree of functional impairment (grading), central/peripheral anosmia (localization), and the temporal course (evolution) may be useful tools to counteract COVID-19.
Detection of partial discharges in stator windings of turbine generators

• A submitted manuscript is the version of the article upon submission and before peer-review. There can be important differences between the submitted version and the official published version of record. People interested in the research are advised to contact the author for the final version of the publication, or visit the DOI to the publisher's website. • The final author version and the galley proof are versions of the publication after peer review. • The final published version features the final layout of the paper including the volume, issue and page numbers.
Network Localization of Executive Function Deficits in Patients with Focal Thalamic Lesions

Abstract The human thalamus has been suggested to be involved in executive function, based on animal studies and correlational evidence from functional neuroimaging in humans. Human lesion studies, examining behavioral deficits associated with focal brain injuries, can directly test the necessity of the human thalamus for executive function. The goal of our study was to determine the specific lesion location within the thalamus as well as the potential disruption of specific thalamocortical functional networks, related to executive dysfunction. We assessed executive function in 15 patients with focal thalamic lesions and 34 comparison patients with lesions that spared the thalamus. We found that patients with mediodorsal thalamic lesions exhibited more severe impairment in executive function when compared to both patients with thalamic lesions that spared the mediodorsal nucleus and to comparison patients with lesions outside the thalamus. Furthermore, we employed a lesion network mapping approach to map cortical regions that show strong functional connectivity with the lesioned thalamic subregions in the normative functional connectome. We found that thalamic lesion sites associated with more severe deficits in executive function showed stronger functional connectivity with ACC, dorsomedial PFC, and frontoparietal network, compared to thalamic lesions not associated with executive dysfunction. These are brain regions and functional networks whose dysfunction could contribute to impaired executive functioning. In aggregate, our findings provide new evidence that delineates a thalamocortical network for executive function.
Optimal width of movement corridors for root voles : not too marrow and not too wide

1. The characteristics of male root vole movements as a function of corridor width were tested in a 310 m long habitat corridor connecting two habitat patches. Detailed observations of movements were made by means of radiotelemetry and recording of footprints. 2. The highest connectivity, in terms of transference rate of individuals in the corridor system, was observed in the intermediate of three corridor widths tested (3 m, 1 m and 0.4 m). 3. The behavioural mechanism behind the lower connectivity of the narrowest corridor was a reluctance of voles to enter it, while linear progress in the widest corridor was hampered by a high frequency of cross-directional movements. 4. The relationship between corridor width and movement behaviour was unaffected by the simulated presence of competitors and predators. 5. Our results challenge the 'the-wider-the-better' principle of movement corridor design, and provide elements for an understanding of the behavioural mechanisms underlying the movement ecology of individuals in linear habitats.
Synthesis and characterization of peptidyl-cyclodextrins dedicated to drug targeting

Cyclodextrins (CD’s) can be used as molecular carriers dedicated to drug targeting We report here on the grafting of CD’s on the amino fimction(s) of neuropeptides, Substance P (SP), and of a shorter derivative, the SP4-11 fragment. The s- and γ-CD’s rings were first functionalized with a carboxylic acid function by reacting succinic anhydride on 6-monoamino-6-deoxy-s- and γ-CD’s, then coupled on the peptide backbone. Eight new peptidocyclodextrins were obtained and fully characterized by high resolution NMR and electrospray mass spectrometry(2), ESI-MS (high and low resolution). Preservation of the inclusion properties of CD’s moieties of the peptide-cyclodextrins was also demonstrated for these compounds.
Learning & Visualizing Genomic Signatures of Cancer Tumors using Deep Neural Networks

Deep learning for medical diagnosis using genomics is extremely challenging given the high dimensionality of the data and lack of sufficient patient samples. Another challenge is that deep models are conceived as black boxes without much interpretation on how these complex models make predictions. We propose a deep transfer learning framework for cancer diagnosis with the capability of learning the sequence of DNA and RNA in cancer cells and identifying genetic changes that alter cell behavior and cause uncontrollable growth and malignancy. We design a new Convolutional Neural Network architecture with capabilities of learning the genomic signatures of whole-transcriptome gene expressions collected from multiple tumor types covering multiple organ sites. We demonstrate how our trained model can function as a comprehensive multi-tissue cancer classifier by using transfer learning to build classifiers for tumors lacking sufficient human samples to be trained independently. We introduce visualization procedures to provide more biological insight on how our model is learning genomic signatures and accurately making predictions across multiple cancer tissue types.
Flow induced crystallization of polymers : application to injection moulding

• A submitted manuscript is the version of the article upon submission and before peer-review. There can be important differences between the submitted version and the official published version of record. People interested in the research are advised to contact the author for the final version of the publication, or visit the DOI to the publisher's website. • The final author version and the galley proof are versions of the publication after peer review. • The final published version features the final layout of the paper including the volume, issue and page numbers.
Effect of Herbicides on Living Organisms in The Ecosystem and Available Alternative Control Methods

Herbicides are used in agricultural areas to reduce harmful of weeds. Herbicides could decimate some weeds and slow down growth in others. Using herbicide has increased significantly since the mid-20th century. In case that herbicides are not used, significant quantitative and qualitative losses will have occurred in agricultural production. However, the side effects caused by the wide and irrational use of herbicides threaten the environment and human health. Although herbicides are the least harmful among pesticides, many studies have shown the serious negative effects of herbicides on the environment and human health. Every year a list of herbicides that cause cancer or leave large residues in the soil and water are published. However, many herbicides have been banned, but only after they have been used in tons and causing environmental pollution. The chemical structure of herbicides degrades quite slowly in nature, which causes its accumulation in the soil and the environment. The effects of these herbicides have reached rivers, lakes, seas and oceans. Also, the effect of chemically degradation herbicides on living organisms under different environmental conditions is still unknown. Due to the widespread use of herbicides, it also negatively affects the use of traditional control methods, which can be also effective in some cases. In this article, some alternative control methods that can reduce the use of herbicides and reduce some of the herbicide's harm to the living organisms of the ecosystem will be included.
Black aspergilli in tropical infections

Members of the genus Aspergillus are among the filamentous fungal agents frequently causing infections in humans. A. fumigatus is the most commonly isolated fungal pathogen within the genus; however, other species, including A. terreus, A. flavus and A. niger are also of increasing importance. Infections caused by black aspergilli are especially frequent in developing countries with hot, humid, tropical or semitropical climates. Several reports revealed A. niger as the most common causative agent of otomycosis and fungal keratitis in certain geographic regions. Species related to A. niger are difficult to identify on the basis of morphological criteria alone. Recent molecular analyses revealed that apart from A. niger, other black aspergilli, including A. tubingensis and the recently described species A. brasiliensis are also potential causative agents of human infections. In the case of corneal infections, the available data indicate that these species may be responsible for a significant proportion of cases caused by black aspergilli. The aim of this review is to summarize the literature data about the involvement of black aspergilli (members of Aspergillus section Nigri) in human infections under tropical and semitropical climates, including otomycosis and eye infections. Available retrospective studies are summarized with special emphasis on the clinical manifestation, epidemiological aspects and therapeutical possibilities; furthermore, the molecular methods for the exact diagnosis and identification of black Aspergillus strains are also discussed.
Shared Control Templates for Assistive Robotics

Light-weight robotic manipulators can be used to restore the manipulation capability of people with a motor disability. However, manipulating the environment poses a complex task, especially when the control interface is of low bandwidth, as may be the case for users with impairments. Therefore, we propose a constraint-based shared control scheme to define skills which provide support during task execution. This is achieved by representing a skill as a sequence of states, with specific user command mappings and different sets of constraints being applied in each state. New skills are defined by combining different types of constraints and conditions for state transitions, in a human-readable format. We demonstrate its versatility in a pilot experiment with three activities of daily living. Results show that even complex, high-dimensional tasks can be performed with a low-dimensional interface using our shared control approach.
Effect of grazing by greater snow geese on the production of graminoids at an arctic site (Bylot Island, NWT, Canada)

1 Arctic ecosystems are sensitive to grazing because of their low overall net primary production. We therefore studied the effect of greater snow geese on the production of arctic graminoids. 2 At Bylot Island, NWT (73? N), breeding snow geese graze Eriophorum scheuchzeri and Dupontiafisheri in lowland polygon fens. Vegetation in seasonal exclosures was sampled at 2-week intervals from mid-June to mid-August 1990, 1991 and 1993 (ungrazed areas) and compared with plant growth in short-term exclosures set up over grazed areas. Standing crop (above-ground biomass), net above-ground primary production (NAPP) and nitrogen content were determined for both plant species. 3 Goose faeces were used as an index of grazing intensity. Cumulative faeces counts increased from 2.2 faeces m-2 in 1990-9.9 faeces m-2 in 1993. 4 Peak above-ground dry biomass of ungrazed areas averaged 33 g m2. In all years, goose grazing significantly reduced the above-ground biomass of Eriophorum and Dupontia. Over the 3 years, we estimated that geese consumed from 65 to 113% of the cumulative NAPP of Eriophorum, and from 30 to 78% of the cumulative NAPP of Dupontia. Consumption of Dupontia, but not Eriophorum, was related to grazing intensity. 5 Cumulative NAPP of grazed areas was slightly lower than that of ungrazed areas at the end of the summer. On an individual plant basis, cumulative NAPP of Dupontia, but not of Eriophorum, was reduced by grazing. Nitrogen content of plants after grazing was higher than in ungrazed plants. 6 Although grazed plants were able to grow new foliage, goose grazing did not enhance NAPP at Bylot Island as has been reported elsewhere. This could be either because grazing occurs too late in the season when the regrowth capacity of plants is low or because nutrients released from goose faeces are absorbed by mosses and are not immediately available to graminoids.
Exploring Constraints on a Wetland Methane Emission Ensemble
(WetCHARTs) using GOSAT Satellite Observations

Abstract. Wetland emissions contribute the largest uncertainties to the current global atmospheric CH4 budget and how these emissions will change under future climate scenarios is also still poorly understood. Bloom et al. (2017b) developed WetCHARTs, a simple, data-driven, ensemble-based model that produces estimates of CH4 wetland emissions constrained by observations of precipitation and temperature. This study performs the first detailed global and regional evaluation of the WetCHARTs CH4 emission model ensemble against 9 years of high-quality, validated atmospheric CH4 observations from the GOSAT satellite. A 3-D chemical transport model is used to estimate atmospheric CH4 mixing ratios based on the WetCHARTs emissions and other sources. Across all years and all ensemble members, the observed global seasonal cycle amplitude is typically underestimated by WetCHARTs by −7.4 ppb, but the correlation coefficient of 0.83 shows that the seasonality is well-produced at a global scale. The Southern Hemisphere has less of a bias (−1.9 ppb) than the Northern Hemisphere (−9.3 ppb) and our findings show that it is typically the North Tropics where this bias is worst (−11.9 ppb). We find that WetCHARTs generally performs well in reproducing the observed wetland CH4 seasonal cycle for the majority of wetland regions although, for some regions, regardless of the ensemble configuration, WetCHARTs does not well-reproduce the observed seasonal cycle. In order to investigate this, we performed detailed analysis of some of the more challenging exemplar regions (Parana River, Congo, Sudd and Yucatan). Our results show that certain ensemble members are more suited to specific regions, either due to deficiencies in the underlying data driving the model or complexities in representing the processes involved. In particular, incorrect definition of the wetland extent is found to be the most common reason for the discrepancy between the modelled and observed CH4 concentrations. The remaining driving data (i.e. heterotrophic respiration and temperature) are shown to also contribute to the mismatch to observations, with the details differing on a region-by-region basis but generally showing that some degree of temperature dependency is better than none. We conclude that the data-driven approach used by WetCHARTs is well-suited to produce a benchmark ensemble dataset against which to evaluate more complex process-based land surface models that explicitly model the hydrological behaviour of these complex wetland regions.
Does vocational education pay off in China? Instrumental-variable quantile-regression evidence

As China’s firms upgrade their position in the quality ladder, vocational education may become more important. In this paper, we study returns to secondary vocational education in China paying attention to individual heterogeneity. We use instrumental variables based on geographical and longitudinal changes in enrolment to address the selection between the two types of education. We find that vocational education provides a wage premium vis-à-vis academic education of over 30% but which applies only for individuals at the middle of the conditional wage distribution.