Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinase/Akt Pathway Enhances Smad3-stimulated Mesangial Cell Collagen I Expression in Response to Transforming Growth Factor-β1*

Transforming growth factor (TGF)-β has been associated with renal glomerular matrix accumulation. We previously showed that Smad3 promotes COL1A2 gene activation by TGF-β1 in human glomerular mesangial cells. Here, we report that the PI3K/Akt pathway also plays a role in TGF-β1-increased collagen I expression. TGF-β1 stimulates the activity of phosphoinositide-dependent kinase (PDK)-1, a downstream target of PI3K, starting at 1 min. Akt, a kinase downstream of PDK-1, is phosphorylated and concentrates in the membrane fraction within 5 min of TGF-β1 treatment. The PI3K inhibitor LY294002 decreases TGF-β1-stimulated α1(I) and α2(I) collagen mRNA expression. Similarly, LY294002 or an Akt dominant negative construct blocks TGF-β1 induction of COL1A2 promoter activity. However, PI3K stimulation alone is not sufficient to increase collagen I expression, since neither a constitutively active p110 PI3K construct nor PDGF, which induces Akt phosphorylation, is able to stimulate COL1A2 promoter activity or mRNA expression, respectively. LY294002 inhibits stimulation of COL1A2 promoter activity by Smad3. In a Gal4-LUC assay system, blockade of the PI3K pathway significantly decreases TGF-β1-induced transcriptional activity of Gal4-Smad3. Activity of SBE-LUC, a Smad3/4-responsive construct, is stimulated by over-expression of Smad3 or Smad3D, in which the three C-terminal serine phospho-acceptor residues are mutated. This induction is blocked by LY294002, suggesting that inhibition of the PI3K pathway decreases Smad3 transcriptional activity independently of C-terminal serine phosphorylation. However, TGF-β1-induced total serine phosphorylation of Smad3 is decreased by LY294002, suggesting that Smad3 is phosphorylated by the PI3K pathway at serine residues other than the direct TGF-β receptor I target site. Thus, although the PI3K-PDK1-Akt pathway alone is insufficient to stimulate COL1A2 gene transcription, its activation by TGF-β1 enhances Smad3 transcriptional activity leading to increased collagen I expression in human mesangial cells. This cross-talk between the Smad and PI3K pathways likely contributes to TGF-β1 induction of glomerular scarring.
Cannabinoids and the Coronavirus.

Introduction These are uncertain times as we attempt to manage our lives during the Coronavirus Covid-19 pandemic. It is not surprising, as possible treatments for Covid-19 are discussed, that people wonder about a role for cannabinoids, another topic associated with a lack of clarity about their therapeutic efficacy. Patients commonly ask clinicians about the benefits and risks of cannabinoids and now patients have begun to ask about cannabinoids as they relate to Covid-19. This interest creates an opportunity to strengthen the therapeutic alliance between patients and clinicians and to increase the likelihood that patients receive evidence-based treatments that may help them.
The persistence of Botrytis allii in field soil

Neck rot (Botrytis allii) affected bulbs of onions for 2 successive years when these were grown either in the field in soil from which an infected crop had been cleared 6 months previously or when infected debris was incorporated into field soil 6 months before the first crop was sown. These sources did not continue to cause infection of onion crops grown on the contaminated areas in the four succeeding years. The white storage tissue of onion bulbs (healthy or infected) persisted for less than 6 months in unsterile field soil contained in pots while sclerotia present in similar soil varied in their rate of decay but lost their capacity to produce conidiophores of B. allii after 6 months. In one sample, sclerotia were not recovered after 5 months; Gliocladium roseum, a mycoparasite, was present in this sample and may have affected survival.
Factors Affecting the Color of Herbaceous Peony

Herbaceous peony (Paeonia lactiflora Pall.) is a well-known ornamental plant with abundant flower colors. However, our understanding of the underlying mechanisms of flower color formation is limited. In this study, a wild sample of herbaceous peony (collected from Heze, China) and eight cultivars with different colors were selected for experimental investigation. The Royal Horticultural Society Color Chart was used to determine flower color, and the anatomic structure; cell sap pH value; moisture content (MC); condensed tannin content (Ct); soluble sugar and soluble protein content of the petals; and content and composition of anthocyanin, flavonoids, and carotenoids in the petals were examined. 1) In the white, pinkish white, pale purple, purplish pink, and reddish purple cultivars, deeper color was associated with greater total amounts of anthocyanin (TA). Hypochromic effects were observed for kaempferol-7-O-glucoside (Km7G), myricetin-3-rhamnoside (My3R), and luteolin-7-O-glucoside (Lu7G). The accumulation of quercetin-3-O-glucoside (Qu3G) and lutein affected yellow color formation in the petals. 2) There are papillate epidermal cells in the petals of the wild P. lactiflora sample, ‘Lanyucangjin’, and ‘Dongjingnvlang’. 3) Cell sap pH and MC of the petals of white, pinkish white, pale purple, and purplish pink cultivars were greater than those of the purplish red and most of the reddish purple cultivars. 4) The Ct was greatest in the purplish red cultivars, whereas no condensed tannins were detected in the white, pinkish white, and pale purple cultivars. 5) There were no significant correlations among soluble sugar content, soluble protein content, and the other physiological indications.
Anatomy of the Vegetative Organs of the Pineapple, Ananas comosus (L.) Merr. (Continued) II. The Leaf

The leaf: Initiation and early development The leaves of the pineapple originate acropetally as lateral projections of the apical growing region of the stem axis (figs. 2 I-23, 3 2) . The initiating cells arise close to the apex of the stem from cells which are several cell generations removed from the initials in the main axis, as is the case in most plants (33). Both the surface layer of the meristem, the dermatogen, and the deeper, subdermatogen layers of cells are involved (fig.
The keto-carotenoids of two marine coccoid members of the Eustigmatophyceae

In addition to previously reported major xanthophylls, Nannochloropsis (Nannochloris) oculata (Droop) Hibberd and Nannochloropsis (Monallantus) salina (Bourrelly) Hibberd were found to produce minor amounts of cryptoxanthin epoxides, zeaxanthin, antheraxanthin, neoxanthin, and eight to ten keto-carotenoids during photoautotrophic growth in culture. Five of the keto-carotenoids were identified as echinenone, canthaxanthin, astaxanthin and its monoester, and astacene. Culture ageing of both algal species from about 2 to 14 weeks caused a three- to fivefold increase in the proportions of both canthaxanthin and the astaxanthin family, and this increase was accompanied by a corresponding decrease in the combined zeaxanthin-antheraxanthin-violaxanthin group. However, the keto-carotenoids never achieved ageing-associated predominance in the total carotenoid mixture, where violaxanthin and vaucheriaxanthin ester persisted as the major xanthophylls. Astaxanthin and astacene have not been previously recorded from a.
A Study on the Relationship between Land Use Change and Water Quality of the Mitidja Watershed in Algeria Based on GIS and RS

Many catchments in northern Algeria, including the coastal Mitidja Basin in the north central part of the country have been negatively affected by the deterioration of water quality in recent years. This study aims to discover the relationship between land use change and its impact on water quality in the coastal Mitidja river basin. Based on the data of land use and water quality in 2000, 2010 and 2017, the relationship between land use change and surface water quality index in the Mitidja Watershed was discussed through GIS and statistical analysis. The results show that the physical and chemical properties of the Mitidja river basin have obvious spatial heterogeneity. The water quality of upstream was better than that of downstream. There was a significant spatial relationship between the eight water quality indicators and three land use types, including urban residential land, agricultural land and vegetation. In most cases, settlements and agricultural land are the dominant factors leading to river pollution, and higher vegetation coverage helps to improve water quality. The regression model revealed that percentage of urban settlement area was a predictor for NH4-N, BOD5, COD, SS, PO4-P, DO and pH, while vegetation was a predictor for NO3-N. The analysis also showed that during this period, urban settlement areas increased sharply, which has a significant impact on water quality variables. Agricultural land only had a significant positive correlation with PO4-P. The results provide an effective way to evaluate river water quality, control water pollution and land use management by landscape pattern.
Indirect Mutual Interference in Parasitoids

Mutual interference, i. e. any kind of interaction between predators or parasitoids reducing searching efficiency, is potentially able to stabilize the dynamics of predator-prey or parasite-host systems. It is often considered to be the result of direct behavioural interaction between adults in which search time is wasted. Due to this loss of time, such "direct" mutual interference has an immediate effect on the searching efficiency in the patch. Here, we show that the solitary parasitoid Leptopilina heterotoma, in contrast to earlier findings, does not exhibit direct mutual interference. Yet, because of the occurrence of superparasitism and the consequent increase in patch time, searching efficiency at the population level clearly decreases. This we call indirect mutual interference, because it is not reflected in a decrease in the searching efficiency at the patch level. Using a simple population model we show that it is different from pseudo-interference. Other forms of indirect mutual interference are sex ratio shifts and decreasing fecundity. If such phenomena are to be included into the concept of interference, other criteria than the classical searching efficiency should be developed in order to assess the significance of these phenomena on the dynamics of populations.
Clinical Characteristics of Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis Who have Sustained High Erythrocyte Sedimentation Rates after Clinical Remission

pISSN: 2093-940X, eISSN: 2233-4718 Copyright c 2014 by The Korean College of Rheumatology This is a Free Access article, which permits unrestricted non-commerical use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Clinical Characteristics of Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis Who have Sustained High Erythrocyte Sedimentation Rates after Clinical Remission
EXPERIMENTS ON THE ACCURACY OF SURFACE DROP BACTERIAL COUNTS

SUMMARY: A statistical experiment has shown that no significant proportion of the errors of determination of bacterial populations by the surface drop method could be attributed to the dropping technique employed. With both pure and mixed cultures the numbers of colonies/drop followed a Poisson distribution very closely. It is suggested that in order to determine bacterial populations at a consistent level of accuracy a constant number of colonies should be counted rather than a constant number of drops. Whenever it is justified, the confidence limits for the results of counts should be quoted.
Extreme host specificity by Microdon mutabilis (Diptera: Syrphiae), a social parasite of ants

Larvae of the syrphid fly Microdon mutabilis are social parasites which live up to two years, feeding on ant brood in nests of Formica lemani ants. We questioned why M. mutabilis is extremely localized when its host is widespread and abundant. Like endoparasitic diseases, social parasites must penetrate formidable defences before ‘infecting’ their hosts. This occurs during the egg stage of M. mutabilis: females are sedentary and oviposit at F. lemani nest entrances, which workers treat as part of their nest, leaving the thin-shelled eggs vulnerable to attack for 10 to 14 days before hatching. We describe experiments which show a strong maternal effect in M. mutabilis. New–laid eggs had > 95% survival when introduced to the individual ant colony that reared each mother fly or to its close neighbours, but survival declined as a sigmoidal logistic function of distance from the mother nest, with F. lemani colonies from 2 and 30 km away killing 80 and > 99% of eggs, respectively, within 24 h. Attacks on eggs also increased in proportion to the delay before introduction to laboratory nests. We suggest that they may be coated with a mimetic chemical disguise that lasts for three to four days after oviposition. The results indicate extreme local adaptation by an M. mutabilis population not simply to one species of host, but to an individual host population and possibly to local strains or family groups within an F. lemani population. This conclusion is discussed in terms of virulence, transmission and coevolution in parasitic diseases.
Floristic Diversity and Natural Regeneration Status of Entoto Mountain and the Surrounding Area in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

The study was carried out at Entoto Mountain and its surrounding area, about 10 km north of the center of Addis Ababa. The purpose of this study was to assess the floristic composition and regeneration status of woody species and recommend further conservation methods. Ten transect lines were laid from south-north at 1 km interval. Along these transect lines, 62 sample plots of 400 m2 (20 m × 20 m) were laid at 1 km interval. A total of 179 plant species belonging to 107 genera and 60 families were recorded. Asteraceae (30 species) was the most dominant family. Of 179 plant species, 73 were naturally regenerated woody species representing 48 genera and 34 families. Herbs account for the largest growth form (91, 50.84%), indicating the fact that disturbance favors herb species. For the analysis of vegetation diversity, woody species composition, and density, the study area was classified into five land-use types. Of the five land-use types, degraded land-use type had low species diversity and evenness (1.48 and 0.295), and it had a low density of economically and ecologically important larger trees. However, the density of seedlings and saplings showed the normal regeneration status for the herbs and shrubs. Therefore, responsible stakeholders should give high priority for the conservation of ecologically and economically important large trees using appropriate conservation methods in the study area.
Enhanced biogas production from penicillin bacterial residue by thermal-alkaline pretreatment

In this study, the orthogonal experimental design was used to determine the optimum conditions for the effect of thermal-alkaline pretreatment on the anaerobic digestion of penicillin bacterial residue. The biodegradability of the penicillin bacterial residue was evaluated by biochemical methane potential tests in laboratory. The optimum values of temperature, alkali concentration, pretreatment time and moisture content for the thermal-alkaline pretreatment were determined as 70 °C, 6% (w/v), 30 min, and 85%, respectively. Thermal-alkaline pretreatment could significantly enhance the soluble chemical oxygen demand solubilization, the suspended solid solubilization and the biodegradability. Biogas production was enhanced by the thermal-alkaline pretreatment, probably as a result of the breakdown of cell walls and membranes of micro-organisms, which may facilitate the contact between organic molecules and anaerobic microorganisms.
Glr, a glutamate racemase, supplies d‐glutamate to both peptidoglycan synthesis and poly‐γ‐glutamate production in γ‐PGA‐producing Bacillus subtilis

Poly-gamma-glutamate (gamma-PGA)-producing Bacillus subtilis contains two glutamate racemase genes, glr and yrpC, as does gamma-PGA-nonproducing B. subtilis strain 168. glr and yrpC on the chromosome of gamma-PGA-producing strain r22 were separately disrupted by means of gene replacement with an erythromycin resistance determinant. yrpC-disruption caused no effects on growth or gamma-PGA-production, whereas glr was disrupted only when an exogenous glr copy was present on a plasmid. In addition, the D-glutamate content of gamma-PGA produced by the yrpC-disruptant was the same as that produced by the parental strain r22. Glr in strain r22 is therefore responsible for the supply of D-glutamate to the synthesis of both peptidoglycan and gamma-PGA. Consistent with this idea, glr was transcribed actively during the exponential growth phase for peptidoglycan synthesis and continuously at a low, but distinct, level during the stationary phase for gamma-PGA production, whereas yrpC was transcribed at a very low level throughout growth. Phylogenetic analysis of glutamate racemases from eubacteria showed that YrpC is distinct from other glutamate racemases.
ADAPTATION OF HEMAGGLUTINATION INHIBITION TECHNIQUE (HI) FOR THE DIAGNOSIS OF NEWCASTLE DISEASE IN OSTRICHES (Struthio camellus)

The breeding of ratites (ostriches, emus and rheas) has expanded considerably all over the world in recent years. The hemagglutination inhibition (HI) test is considered to be the standard serology test, for detection of antibodies against Newcastle Disease Virus (NDV). However, HI test tends to give false positive results in serum samples of some species, including ostriches. In this study, kaolin was used to eliminate the nonspecific hemagglutination inhibitors in ostrich serum samples. Twenty-seven non-kaolin-treated ostrich samples reacted to the test and the titres ranged from 2 to 64. However, these samples did not react when they were kaolin-treated. The controls did not show any variance on antibodies titres, regardless of treatment with kaolin. The use of kaolin in the routine serodiagnosis of ND not only relieves adsorption of serum samples with avian erythrocytes, but also contributes to the reduction in the maintenance of red blood cells donor birds. DOI: http://dx.doi. org/10.17525/vrr.v13i1-2.3
Development of a hemp ( Cannabis sativa L.) simulation model 2. The Flowering response of two hemp cultivars to photoperiod

The duration from sowing to flowering is an important determinant of fibre yield potential in hemp, since maximum stem yield occurs shortly after flowering. As a short-day plant, daylength has a key influence on the timing of flowering in hemp. This paper reports on studies into the effect of photoperiod on the thermal time duration from sowing to flowering for 2 hemp cultivars, and develops parameters to enable simulation of post-emergent phenology in the hemp model described in the final paper of this series. The hemp model divides the post-emergent period into a vegetative phase that ends at floral initiation, aflower development phase (FDP) between flower initiation and appearance, and a short phase between first flower appearance and harvest maturity (male anthesis). The vegetative phase is further divided into a temperature-dependent basic vegetative phase (BVP) and a daylength-dependent photoperiod induced phase (PIP). For a short-day plant, the duration of PIP is assumed to be zero degree days at daylengths below a base or maximum optimum photoperiod (MOP). Daylengths in excess of the MOP lead to an increase in thermal time within PIP, the duration of which is determined by a genotype’s photoperiod sensitivity (PS). Two hemp genotypes, Kompolti and Futura 77, were exposed to 6 different photoperiod regimes ranging from 8 to 16 h in a growth chamber. Thermal time durations from emergence to flower initiation and first flower formation (harvest) were calculated from thermograph plots. The flowering responses for the 2 cultivars were typical for a short-day plant, with flowering occurring rapidly in daylengths less than about 14 h and with increasing delay at longer photoperiods. With the exception of a longer thermal time duration from flower formation to harvest maturity in the case of Kompolti, the 2 cultivars had similar values for the key phenology parameters. Respectively, for Futura and Kompolti: BVP was 383˚Cd and 390˚Cd, MOP was 14 h and 13.8 h, PS was 266˚Cd/h and 252˚Cd/h, and FDP was 76.8˚Cd and 80.2˚Cd.
Comparative efficiency of functional gene-based markers, start codon targeted polymorphism (SCoT) and conserved DNA-derived polymorphism (CDDP) with ISSR markers for diagnostic fingerprinting in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)

Three molecular markering techniques: inter-simple sequence repeat (ISSR); start codon targeted (SCoT), conserved DNA-derived polymorphism (CDDP) markers were compared for fingerprinting of 40 varieties of bread wheat. The number of scoreable and polymorphic bands produced using the ISSR, SCoT and CDDP primers for varieties was more than that of genotypes. Average polymorphism information content (PIC) for ISSR, SCoT and CDDP markers was 0.39, 0.41 and 0.34, respectively, and this revealed that three different marker types were equal for the assessment of diversity amongst genotypes. Cluster analysis for three different molecular types revealed that genotypes taken for the analysis can be divided in three and four distinct clusters. There were no significant differences among these markers in terms of the evaluation of genotypes. These results suggest that efficiency of SCoT, CDDP and ISSR markers was relatively the same in fingerprinting of genotypes but SCoT and CDDP analysis are more effective in fingerprinting of wheat genotypes. To our knowledge, this was the first detailed report of a comparison of performance among two targeted DNA region molecular markers (SCoT and CDDP) in comparision with ISSR technique on a set of samples of wheat cultivars. Overall, our results indicate that SCoT, ISSR and CDDP fingerprinting could be used to detect polymorphism for genotypes of wheat.
A Taxonomy of Supervised Learning for IDSs in SCADA Environments

Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems play an important role in monitoring industrial processes such as electric power distribution, transport systems, water distribution, and wastewater collection systems. Such systems require a particular attention with regards to security aspects, as they deal with critical infrastructures that are crucial to organizations and countries. Protecting SCADA systems from intrusion is a very challenging task because they do not only inherit traditional IT security threats but they also include additional vulnerabilities related to field components (e.g., cyber-physical attacks). Many of the existing intrusion detection techniques rely on supervised learning that consists of algorithms that are first trained with reference inputs to learn specific information, and then tested on unseen inputs for classification purposes. This article surveys supervised learning from a specific security angle, namely SCADA-based intrusion detection. Based on a systematic review process, existing literature is categorized and evaluated according to SCADA-specific requirements. Additionally, this survey reports on well-known SCADA datasets and testbeds used with machine learning methods. Finally, we present key challenges and our recommendations for using specific supervised methods for SCADA systems.