Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Assessment of myocardial extracellular volume on body computed tomography in breast cancer patients treated with anthracyclines.

Background Cancer treatment with anthracyclines may lead to an increased incidence of cardiac disease due to cardiotoxicity, as they may cause irreversible myocardial fibrosis. So far, the proposed methods for screening patients for cardiotoxicity have led to only limited success, while the analysis of myocardial extracellular volume (mECV) at cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) has shown promising results, albeit requiring a dedicated exam. Recent studies have found strong correlations between mECV values obtained through computed tomography (CT), and those derived from CMR. Thus, our purpose was to evaluate the feasibility of estimating mECV on thoracic contrast-enhanced CT performed for staging or follow-up in breast cancer patients treated with anthracyclines, and, if feasible, to assess if a rise in mECV is associated with chemotherapy, and persistent over time. Methods After ethics committee approval, female patients with breast cancer who had undergone at least 2 staging or follow-up CT examinations at our institution, one before and one shortly after the end of chemotherapy including anthracyclines were retrospectively evaluated. Patients without available haematocrit, with artefacts in CT images, or who had undergone radiation therapy of the left breast were excluded. Follow-up CT examinations at longer time intervals were also analysed, when available. mECV was calculated on scans obtained at 1, and 7 min after contrast injection. Results Thirty-two female patients (aged 57±13 years) with pre-treatment haematocrit 38%±4%, and ejection fraction 64%±6% were analysed. Pre-treatment mECV was 27.0%±2.9% at 1 min, and 26.4%±3.8% at 7 min, similar to values reported for normal subjects in the literature. Post-treatment mECV (median interval: 89 days after treatment) was 31.1%±4.9%, and 30.0%±5.1%, respectively, values significantly higher than pre-treatment values at all times (P<0.005). mECV at follow-up (median interval: 135 days after post-treatment CT) was 31.0%±4.5%, and 27.7%±3.7%, respectively, without significant differences (P>0.548) when compared to post-treatment values. Conclusions mECV values from contrast-enhanced CT scans could play a role in the assessment of myocardial condition in breast cancer patients undergoing anthracycline-based chemotherapy. CT-derived ECV could be an imaging biomarker for the monitoring of therapy-related cardiotoxicity, allowing for potential secondary prevention of cardiac damage, using data derived from an examination that could be already part of patients' clinical workflow.
Antioxidant Activities of Ethanol Extracts of Hypericum triquetrifolium. and Hypericum scabroides.

Abstract The antioxidative potential of ethanol extracts of Hypericum triquetrifolium. Turra (Hypericaceae) and Hypericum scabroides. Robson & Poulter (Hypericaceae) were investigated for the first time using 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), metal chelating, reducing power, hydroxyl radical, total antioxidant activity, and lipid peroxidation inhibition assays. Both extracts tested were found to be highly active in the DPPH radical scavenging assay. The IC50 values of H. triquetrifolium. (HT) and H. scabroides. (HS) in the DPPH radical scavenging assay were 39.0 and 33.8 μ g/mL, respectively. The amounts of total phenolic compounds were also determined, and total phenolic content of 1 mg H. triquetrifolium. and H. scabroides. ethanol extracts were equivalent to 267 and 333 μ g gallic acid. Metal chelating ability was found to be low compared with EDTA. Both ethanol extracts of Hypericum. species exhibited a high reducing power, suggesting that extracts had strong electron-donating capacity. The degradation of deoxyribose by hydroxyl radicals was shown to be inhibited by Hypericum. extracts, acting mainly by scavenging hydroxyl radicals rather than as chelators of iron ions. Total antioxidant activity of ethanol extracts of HT and HS were tested by using ferric thiocyanate (FTC) and thiobarbituric acid (TBA) methods. Antioxidative activities of both extracts were found to be comparable with vitamin E. Moreover, both extracts showed notable capacity to suppress Fe2 +-induced lipid peroxidation in rat brain homogenate. The results obtained in the current study indicate that ethanol extracts of HS and HT are a potential source of natural antioxidants.
Rhamnolipid production by Burkholderia plantarii DSM 9509T

The Burkholderia plantarii type strain DSM 9509T was shown to produce extracellular rhamnolipids that clearly differ in structure and properties from the Pseudomonas aeruginosa rhamnolipids. The type strain has not been previously described as rhamnolipid producer. B. plantarii DSM 9509 T was cultivated in a parallel bioreactor system and produced up to 45.74 mg/L of rhamnolipids when grown in glucose supplemented rich medium. The structure of the main rhamnolipid Rha 2 -C 14 -C 14 ( L -rhamnopyranosyl-L-rhamnopyranosyl-β-hydroxytetradecanoyl-β-hydroxytetradecanoate) was verified by MS/MS. The purified rhamnolipid Rha 2 -C 14 -C 14 lowered the equilibrium surface tension of distilled water to 29.4 mN/m. The CMC was between 15 and 20 mg/L. In this study, growth and product formation were investigated under biotechnological aspects. Practical applications: B. plantarii DSM 9509 T produces a rhamnolipid that differs in structure from P. aeruginosa rhamnolipids and exhibits excellent surfactant properties. An essential advantage in comparison to P. aeruginosa is that B. plantarii DSM 9509 T is a Biosafety Level 1 microorganism and is not pathogenic in humans. A biotechnological production of the Burkholderia rhamnolipids could lead to their application in detergents, pharmaceuticals, and other industries providing new products on the biosurfactant market.
Resource allocation: a conflict in the fig/fig wasp mutualism?

Conflicts of interest are omnipresent between mutualist species. In the monoecious fig/pollinator wasp mutualism, each female flower produces either a seed or a pollinator offspring (which has fed on a single seed). Pollen from a syconium (i.e. fig, a closed urn‐shaped inflorescence) is only dispersed by female pollinator offspring born in this syconium. Thus the fig tree is selected to produce both seed and pollinator offspring whereas for the pollinator there is no short term advantage in seed production. Using controlled pollination experiments (pollen injection, and foundress introduction), we show that 1) The relative proportion of seeds and pollinator offspring produced (i.e., the effective allocation between female and male function) depends mainly on the number of foundresses that entered the syconium. 2) Many female flowers within every syconium mature neither a seed nor a wasp (from 25% to 33%). 3) All the female flowers within a syconium that are not vacant at maturity have the potential to produce a seed, and at least 80% of them can produce a pollinator. Several hypotheses concerning mechanisms that govern the partitioning between seed and wasp production are discussed, and their evolutionary consequences are considered.
Biomass, carrageenan yield and reproductive state of Hypnea musciformis (Rhodophyta: Gigartinales) under natural and experimental cultivated condition

Cultivation of the macroalga Hypnea musciformis (Wulfen) Lamouroux was conducted from April 1987 to January 1988 at Praia do Forte (State of Bahia, Brazil), utilizing floating racks, Biomass, reproductive state, carrageenan yield and viscosity of algae artificially grown in situ were compared with those from natural populations. Temperature, salinity, pH, dissolved oxygen, organic and inorganic suspended matter and phosphate in surface waters were similar in all experimental phases. Algae growing on the racks exhibited significantly higher daily biomass increase (0·94-9·69g/m2day dw) than plants from natural reefs (1·39-1·74g/m2/day dw). Cultivated algae presented a dominance of tetrasporic stages, while algae from the reefs had a high occurrence of vegetative stages. Both cultivated and natural plants showed higher numbers of cystocarpic specimens during the summer. Carrageenan yield of cultivated plants was significantly higher than those growing under natural conditions only during summer-time experiments, presenting values of 3972% and 38-28% for experiments and a range of 22·7-34·88% for the reef plants. However, carrageenan viscosity of cultivated algae was always higher (40·33 ± 4·62 centipoise) and less variable than that found for the reef growing algae (35·71 ± 19·92 centipoise).
Silage and milk production: a comparison between unwilted and wilted grass silages

Three grass silages made in sunny weather in early July from second-harvest perennial ryegrass were compared in a 16-week feeding experiment with twelve Ayrshire cows. The silages were either unwilted or wilted with and without conditioning, and had mean dry matter (DM) concentrations of 201, 261 and 272 g kg−1, and in vitro DOMD concentrations of 650, 669 and 672 g kg−1 DM respectively. All the silages had formic acid (‘Add-F’) applied at a rate of 2.6 litres t−1 and were offered ad libitum plus 6 kg concentrates per cow per d. The daily intakes of silage DM were 905 kg per cow on the unwilted treatment and 9.86 and 9.65 kg on the wilted treatments with and without conditioning respectively. Daily milk yields were 171, 17.6 and 17.4 kg per cow on the unwilted, and wilted with and without conditioning treatments respectively and were not significantly different. Fat concentrations in the milk were not affected significantly by treatment, whereas the crude protein and solids-not-fat concentrations were significantly higher on the wilted than on the unwilted treatment. The efficiency of utilization of metabolizable energy for lactation was 6–7% lower with the wilted than with the unwilted silages and it is concluded that the unwilted silage was superior to the wilted silages as a feed for dairy cows.
Inhibition of Transcription Initiation buIacRepressor

Initiation of transcription of thelacoperon by RNA polymerase (R) is inhibited by binding oflacrepressor (L) to an operator site which overlaps thelacpromoter (P). We have investigated repression of thelacUV5 promoterin vitrofor a choice of the repressor|mdash|operator binding constant and ranges of thermodynamic activities of L and R which appear to be relevantin vivo. Effects of [L] on the extent of formation and the kinetics of association and dissociation of abortively-initiating open complexes (RPinit) were examined using fluorescence detected abortive initiation and KMnO4chemical probing. The nitrocellulose filter assay was used to measure the dissociation rate constant and the equilibrium constant for binding for L to its operator site in the absence of R. For the chosen solution conditions, we find that both the observed velocity of abortive RNA oligomer synthesis and the KMnO4reactivities of bases in the open region are functions of [L] and [R], demonstrating that formation of both RPinitand the repressor–operator complex (PL) are reversible processes under these conditions, and requiring the use of a relaxation-to-equilibrium analysis to interpret the kinetics. The agreement between dissociation rate constants of RPinitwhen challenged with eitherlacrepressor or heparin, and the dependences on [L] and [R] of abortive synthesis velocities at binding equilibrium and of relaxation rate constants for reversible formation of RPinitfrom PL, all provide evidence for a simple competition mechanism. In this mechanism, and in contrast to recent proposals from other laboratories,lacrepressor inhibits formation of RPinitand hence the observed rate of abortive product synthesis by reducing the equilibrium extent of formation of the first closed complex (RPcl), without affecting either the nature of RPinitor steps in formation of RPinitfrom RPcl.
Learning and support assistants in inclusive education: a transnational analysis of assistance services in Europe

ABSTRACT This paper presents results of a comparative study about assistance services for supporting students with disabilities in regular schools in five European countries (Austria, Bulgaria, Portugal, Slovakia and the UK). Besides the analysis of relevant documents on assistance services, semi-structured interviews and focus groups with learning and support assistants (LSAs), teachers and stakeholders from the Ministries of Education were conducted. The context of the study was the Erasmus+ project ‘Improving Assistance in Inclusive Education Settings’ (IMAS). The aim of the study was to reveal good-practices, strengths and weaknesses of this service in the five countries. One of the most interesting findings is that Slovakia is the only country with formal and domain-specific qualification requirements for working as an LSA. In line with previous research, further results showed that in all investigated countries, LSAs legally defined roles and responsibilities often do not correspond to their activities performed in practice. Based on these findings, recommendations for improving assistance services have also been provided. These recommendations could support relevant decision-makers in further developing assistance services to ensure adequate support for students with disabilities in regular schools.
Resistance to, and Accumulation of, Uranium by Bacteria from a Uranium-Contaminated Site

Heterotrophic bacteria were isolated from an acidic uranium-contaminated site. Five isolates and one reference strain, Deinococcus radiodurans, were studied for uranium accumulation and resistance to uranium. Cells were incubated in a pH 4 solution containing 80 ppm of U(VI) in the form of (UO2)2+ for 1 hr. Three isolates closely related to high G+C gram-positive bacteria were resistant to (UO2)2 +. One of the high G+C Gram-positive isolates, closely related to Arthrobacter ilicis, accumulated uranium intracellularly as precipitates closely associated with polyphosphate granules. It is interpreted that sequestration of uranium into polyphosphate is a detoxification mechanism. Deinococcus radiodurans, the most radiation resistant organism known, was vulnerable to chemical toxicity of (UO2)2+. D. radiodurans precipitated nanocrystals of a uranyl phosphate mineral extracellularly, probably as the result of phosphate release during cell lysis. It is possible that Arthrobacter spp. play important roles in natural attenuation and stimulated bioremediation of sites contaminated with radionuclides and toxic organic compounds.
Karyotype and Allozyme Characterization of the Iberian Leptynia attenuata Species Complex (Insecta Phasmatodea)

Abstract Karyological and allozymatic characterizations of recently collected samples of the Iberian Leptynia attenuata complex support the occurrence of three genetically differentiated groups, for which parallel morphological observations evidenced only partially diagnostic characters. The groups are: the Portuguese population of Fóia (Serra de Monchique), referred to as the nominal taxon, L. attenuata; the Spanish populations of the Sistema Central, referred to as L. montana; the populations of the Toledo district, referred to as L. caprai. These taxa seem to represent a case of incipient speciation, with chromosomal and genetic differentiation ahead of the morphological one. Chromosome repatternings, affecting autosomes as well as sex chromosomes, appear to go together with the evolutionary events.
Daily rhythmicity of circulating melatonin is not endogenously generated in the horse

Melatonin secretion exhibits daily rhythmicity in many vertebrate species. In mammals, the rhythmicity is believed to result from two related processes: inhibition of pineal activity by environmental light during the day and stimulation of pineal activity by the master circadian clock at night. While circadian modulation of melatonin secretion under constant environmental conditions has been documented in numerous mammalian species, no extensive survey has been conducted. In this study, we investigated daily/circadian rhythmicity of plasma melatonin concentration, as well as of body temperature and of plasma sodium concentration, in horses maintained under a light–dark cycle and in extended darkness. All three variables exhibited robust 24-h rhythmicity under the light–dark cycle. Whereas rhythmicity of body temperature and sodium concentration persisted in extended darkness, rhythmicity of melatonin concentration did not. These findings strongly suggest that melatonin secretion in the horse is not under circadian control and is modulated only by environmental light.
Differences in Drought Resistance between Two Corn Hybrids. II. Component Analysis and Growth Rates1

Relatively little research has been conducted to evaluate differing responses to water stress among genotypes of the same species. The objective of this study was to identify differences in growth and development of plant parts resulting from water stress imposed on two corn (L.) hybrids that had been observed to differ in their sensitivity to water stress. During 1983 and 1984, two corn hybrids (Pioneer Brands 3192 and 3165) were subjected to three water management treatments: optimal irrigation, rainfed, and stress during vegetative (1983) or early reproductive (1984) growth. Growth analysis revealed few differences between hybrids for leaf area index, and crop and seed growth rates when well-watered or stressed during vegetative growth, except that hybrid 3192 showed more rapid early growth. When well-watered, grain yield of hybrid 3192 was the same (1983) or higher (1984) than grain yield of hybrid 3165. However, the two hybrids differed in their ability to resist severe water stress. The greater grain yield of hybrid 3165 in the rainfed treatment was associated with relatively smaller reductions in crop growth rate, total biomass accumulation, seed number, effective filling period, and harvest index with stress when compared to hybrid 3192. The greater crop growth rate and final biomass and grain yield of hybrid 3165 during severe stress most likely resulted from the maintenance of higher leaf water and turgor potentials and lower leaf diffusive resistances that were apparently mediated by higher root length densities in deeper zones of the soil profile as described in a companion paper.
A Deep Learning Network for Cloud-to-Ground Lightning Nowcasting with Multisource Data

Precise and timely lightning nowcasting is still a great challenge for meteorologists. In this study, a new semantic segmentation deep learning network for cloud-to-ground (CG) lightning nowcasting, named LightningNet, has been developed. This network is based on multisource observation data, including data from a geostationary meteorological satellite, Doppler weather radar network, and CG lightning location system. LightningNet, with an encoder–decoder architecture, consists of 20 three-dimensional convolutional layers, pooling and upsampling layers, normalization layers, and a softmax classifier. The central–eastern and southern China was selected as the study area, with considerations given to the topography and spatial coverage of the weather radar and lightning observation networks. Brightness temperatures (TB) of six infrared bands from the Himawari-8 satellite, composite reflectivity mosaic, and CG lightning densities were used as the predictors because of their close relationships with lightning activity. The multisource data were first interpolated into a uniform spatial/temporal resolution of 0.05° × 0.05°/10 min, and then training and test datasets were constructed, respectively. LightningNet was trained to extract the features of lightning initiation, development, and dissipation. The evaluation results demonstrated that LightningNet was able to achieve good performance of 0–1-h lightning nowcasts using the multisource data. The probability of detection, the false alarm ratio, the area under relative operating characteristic curve, and the threat score (TS) of LightningNet with all three types of data reached 0.633, 0.386, 0.931, and 0.453, respectively. Because geostationary meteorological satellite and radar both possess the capability of capturing lightning initiation (LI) features, LightningNet also showed good performance in LI nowcasting. When all three types of data were used, more than 50% LI was predicted accurately and the TS exceeded 0.36. LightningNet’s nowcast performance using triple-source data was clearly superior to that using only single-source or dual-source data, and these findings indicate that LightningNet has good capability of combining multisource data effectively to produce more reliable lightning nowcasts.
Performance of supplemented heifers on Marandu grass pastures in the wet-to-dry transition and dry seasons

The objective of the present study was to evaluate the characteristics of the sward canopy of Marandu grass during the rainy season, the wet-to-dry transition and the dry seasons, between March and September 2004, under intermittent grazing, and to correlate those characteristics with the performance of crossbred heifers receiving mineral supplements ad libitum or protein supplements. The experiment consisted of a randomized block design with three blocks (set of 13 paddocks), each containing five crossbred heifers per experimental unit, totaling 15 replicates. The heifers were given protein supplements daily in individual stalls and received an average 4 g/kg/day of the supplement during the rainy season and 5 g/kg/day during the dry season. Their weight gain was assessed monthly. The pasture structure was assessed through destructive sampling, and the bromatological composition of esophageal extrusa samples was also assessed. Analysis of variance was used to assess performance, and regression analysis was used to evaluate the sward canopy characteristics in relation to the months of the year. A cluster procedure was used to determine the similarity between the months of the year under assessment. Two different groups were formed for pasture evaluation: one group including the months of March to July and another group including the months of August and September. The first group exhibited a better canopy structure than the second group. This fact was corroborated by the animal performance, which was lower during the months of the second group. Low-intake protein supplementation was effective in increasing the performance of the grazing heifers. Pasture structure is critical for animal performance in a grazing environment, regardless of the type of supplementation.