Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Volume overload cardiac hypertrophy exhibits decreased expression of Gsα and not of Giα in heart

We have recently reported enhanced levels of G(i)alpha proteins in genetic and other experimentally induced models of hypertension, whereas the levels of G(s)alpha were decreased in hypertensive rats expressing cardiac hypertrophy. The present studies were undertaken to investigate whether the decreased levels of G(s)alpha are associated with cardiac hypertrophy per se and used an aortocaval fistula (AV shunt; volume overload) rat model that exclusively expresses cardiac hypertrophy. Cardiac hypertrophy in Sprague-Dawley rats (200-250 g) was induced under anesthesia, and, after a period of 10 days, the hearts were used for adenylyl cyclase activity determination, protein quantification, and mRNA level determination. A temporal relationship between the expression of G(s)alpha proteins and cardiac hypertrophy was also examined on days 2, 3, 7, and 10 after induction of AV shunt in the rat. The heart-to-body-weight ratio (mg/g) was significantly increased in AV shunt rats after 3, 7, and 10 days of induction of AV shunt compared with sham-operated controls, whereas arterial blood pressure was not different between the two groups. Guanosine 5'-O-(3-thiotriphosphate) (GTPgammaS) stimulated adenylyl cyclase activity in a concentration-dependent manner in heart membranes from both groups; however, the degree of stimulation was significantly decreased in AV shunt rats. In addition, the stimulatory effects of isoproterenol were also diminished in AV shunt rats compared with control rats, whereas glucagon-stimulated adenylyl cyclase activity was not different in the two groups. The inhibitory effects of oxotremorine (receptor-dependent G(i) functions) and low concentrations of GTPgammaS on forskolin-stimulated adenylyl cyclase activity (receptor-independent G(i) functions) were not different in the two groups. In addition forskolin and NaF also stimulated adenylyl cyclase activity to a lesser degree in AV shunt rats compared with control rats. The levels of G(i)alpha-2 and G(i)alpha-3 proteins and mRNA, as determined by immunoblotting and Northern blotting, respectively, were not different in both groups; however, the levels of G(s)alpha(45) and G(s)alpha(47), and not of G(s)alpha(52), proteins were significantly decreased in AV shunt rats by days 7 and 10 compared with control rats, whereas no change was observed on days 2 and 3 after induction of AV shunt. These results suggest that the decreased expression of G(s)alpha proteins may not be the cause but the effect of hypertrophy and that the diminished responsiveness of adenylyl cyclase to GTPgammaS, isoproterenol, NaF, and forskolin in hearts from AV shunt rats may partly be due to the decreased expression of G(s)alpha. It can be concluded from these studies that the decreased expression of G(s)alpha may be associated with cardiac hypertrophy and not with arterial hypertension.
The complete mitochondrial genome of the common dentex, Dentex dentex (perciformes: Sparidae)

Abstract The common Dentex (Dentex dentex, Linnaeus 1758) has a significant economic importance and is a highly valued table fish in the Mediterranean region. The paucity of genetic information relating to sparids, despite their growing economic value, provides the impetus for exploring the mitogenomics of this fish group. Here, we sequenced D. dentex complete mitochondrial genome. The sequence is comprised of 16,652 bp and consists of 13 protein-coding genes, 2 rRNA genes, 22 tRNA genes and a 2 non-coding regions (D-loop and L-origin). The overall nucleotide composition is: 27.5% of A, 28.7% of C, 26.9% of T, and 16.9% of G.
Immuno-toxicological effects of different sub-lethal doses of thiamethoxam (TMX) in broiler birds

Abstract This project was designed to evaluate the immunotoxicological effects of thiamethoxam (TMX). One-day-old broiler chicks (total of 90) were procured and maintained under standard housing conditions and divided into five groups for 45 days. Group A kept as control. Different doses of TMX were administered through crop tube containing 50, 100, 200, and 400 mg/kg bwt/daily to groups B, C, D, and E, respectively. Immunological parameters including response to sheep red blood cells (SRBCs), avian tuberculin responses and carbon clearance assay were accessed. It was observed that response to SRBCs including IgM and IgG, avian tuberculin and phagocytic responses are adversely affected in a dose-dependent manner with TMX toxicity. Hence it was concluded from the results that TMX is responsible for immunosuppression in broiler chicks even at different sub-lethal doses.
Numerical classification of alder carr and riparian alder forests in Slovakia

Syntaxonomy and ecology of the alder carr (alliance Alnion glutinosae) and riparian alder forests (suballiance Alnenion glutinoso-incanae) of Slovakia have not yet been critically revised. Application of numerical approach allowed us to disentangle and resolve syntaxonomical affinities among vegetation units previously reported in Slovakia. The present synthesis was based on analysis of 918 recent and historical phytosociological relevés originating from the Slovak Vegetation Database and available unpublished sources. Three floristically and ecologically interpretable associations of the Euro-Siberian alder carr forests of Alnion glutinosae (Thelypterido palustris-Alnetum glutinosae Klika 1940, Carici elongatae-Alnetum glutinosae Tüxen 1931, Carici acutiformis-Alnetum glutinosae Scamoni 1935) and seven of the European ash-alder riparian forests of Alnenion glutinoso-incanae (Carici remotae-Fraxinetum excelsioris Koch ex Faber 1936, Stellario nemorum-Alnetum glutinoase Lohmeyer 1957, Pruno padiFraxinetum excelsioris Oberdorfer 1953, Matteuccio struthiopteridis-Alnetum glutinosae Magic et Kliment in Kliment et Watzka 2000, Cardamino amarae-Alnetum incanae Šomšák 1961, Piceo abietis-Alnetum glutinosae Mráz 1959, Alnetum incanae Lüdi 1921) have been identified using unsupervised numerical classification. Each association was characterized by list of synonyms, diagnostic, constant and dominant species, overall floristic description, site requirements and chorological aspect. Main environmental gradients responsible for vegetation changes were determined in detrended correspondence analysis and interpreted using the Ellenberg indicator values (EIV) and altitude. Variation in species composition pattern corresponded to the altitudinal gradient and EIV for moisture, nutrients and soil reaction.
Mammalian Innate Host Defense Interplay between Candida albicans and the

speciescolonizeasymptomaticallyinaround30to50% of individuals in a population at any given time, but underconditions when the host defense of the individuals is weakened,they can cause both mucosal and systemic infections (14). Riskfactors, such as neutropenia, systemic antibiotic exposure, a cen-tral venous catheter, and a prolonged intensive care unit (ICU)stay, predispose individuals to invasive and even life-threateningsystemic candidiasis (118). In the past decades, a sustained effort to unravel the interplaybetween the host immune system and
Under‐representation of avian studies in landscape genetics

Landscape genetics is a rapidly growing discipline that examines how heterogeneous landscapes and other environmental factors influence population genetic variation. We conducted a systematic review of the landscape genetic literature which demonstrates that birds are severely under-represented relative to their species diversity and general publication prevalence. Most avian studies were on species that have relatively low dispersal ability, and we suggest that this reflects an assumed high vagility of birds that precludes spatial genetic variation relatable to landscape heterogeneity. However, spatial genetic variation exists in several bird species with very high dispersal ability, but this has not been considered in the context of landscape features. Genetic patterns may also relate to landscape due to breeding habitat selection and territorial behaviour, despite the fact that species may be able to move throughout different landscape elements with minimal movement costs. Habitat loss and fragmentation are continuing globally and are strongly related to declines in bird populations. Landscape genetic studies provide a means to understand, predict and mitigate the effects of anthropogenic landscape change on birds. This review promotes the need for landscape genetic studies of birds, such that a greater understanding of the drivers of their genetic structuring can be developed and generalisations can be made from landscape genetic studies that apply more broadly across taxa. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Curassows, guans and chachalacas : status survey and conservation action plan for Cracids 2000-2004

The family Cracidae is made up of 50 species of guans, curassows and chachalacas - large gregarious game birds, many of which have striking colours. They are important as seed dispersers, biological indicators of the environment, a major protein source for indigenous people, and for ecotourism. Nearly half the species in the family are threatened and several have been pushed to near extinction by wide-spread destruction of tropical forets and over-harvesting. This plan describes the natural history of cracids, outlining threats to the birds, and measures needed to alleviate these. Recommendations include research on status, distribution, effects of habitat disturbance and hunting pressure; assessments of cracids as biological indicators; education and communication programmes; the creation of new reserves; assessment of legislative issues
Distant Supervision Relation Extraction with Intra-Bag and Inter-Bag Attentions

This paper presents a neural relation extraction method to deal with the noisy training data generated by distant supervision. Previous studies mainly focus on sentence-level de-noising by designing neural networks with intra-bag attentions. In this paper, both intra-bag and inter-bag attentions are considered in order to deal with the noise at sentence-level and bag-level respectively. First, relation-aware bag representations are calculated by weighting sentence embeddings using intra-bag attentions. Here, each possible relation is utilized as the query for attention calculation instead of only using the target relation in conventional methods. Furthermore, the representation of a group of bags in the training set which share the same relation label is calculated by weighting bag representations using a similarity-based inter-bag attention module. Finally, a bag group is utilized as a training sample when building our relation extractor. Experimental results on the New York Times dataset demonstrate the effectiveness of our proposed intra-bag and inter-bag attention modules. Our method also achieves better relation extraction accuracy than state-of-the-art methods on this dataset.
Characterization of the complete chloroplast genome sequence of Camellia oleifera in Hainan, China

Abstract Camellia oleifera, an evergreen small tree or shrub with high medicinal and ecological values, is mainly distributed in subtropical montane regions of China. In this study, complete chloroplast genome was reported for Camellia oleifera in Hainan, China. The results showed that the whole genome was 156,996 bp in length, including a pair of inverted repeats (IRs) of 26,025 bp, a large single copy (LSC) region of 86,649 bp and a small single copy (SSC) region of 18,297 bp. The genome contained a total of 115 different genes, including 81 protein-coding genes, 30 tRNA genes, and four rRNA genes. Among these genes, eight genes contain a single intron and two genes contain two introns. The total GC content of Camellia oleifera was 37.29%. The maximum likelihood phylogenetic analysis based on 21 chloroplast genomes showed that Camellia oleifera was similar to Camellia danzaiensis.
Volatile organic compound emissions from Microcystis aeruginosa under different phosphorus sources and concentrations

In eutrophicated water, cyanobacteria massively grow and release an abundance of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that contribute to the water odor. To uncover the effects of different phosphorus (P) nutrients on the formation of cyanobacteria VOCs and water odor, the cell growth and VOC emissions of Microcystis aeruginosa were investigated under different P nutrient conditions. Among K2HPO4, Na4P2O7, and (NaPO3)6, K2HPO4 showed the largest increase in cell density, while a reduction in P concentration decreased the cell density. There were 26, 23 and 22 compounds in M. aeruginosa VOCs with K2HPO4, Na4P2O7 and (NaPO3)6 as the sole P source, respectively, including sulfocompounds, terpenoids, benzenes, hydrocarbons, alcohols, aldehydes, and esters. Non‐P markedly promoted the VOC emission, and six additional compounds were observed: α‐pinene, 1‐phenyl‐1‐butanone, 1H‐1‐ethylidene‐indene, 2,6,10‐trimethyl‐tetradecane, 2‐ethyl‐hexanal, and acetic acid 2‐ethylhexyl ester. It can be deduced that cyanobacteria release different VOC blends using various P forms in eutrophicated waters, and the reduction of P amount promotes VOC emission and increases the water odor.
Soft tissue complications associated with the application of 1% metformin gel around dental implants: A report of two cases

The surface modifications of dental implants have gained an important place in ensuring their long term success. Metformin is one of the first line of drugs for the treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus. Recent discoveries on the effect of metformin on the proliferation of osteoblast have lead the researchers to use this drug in the cases of periodontitis for enhancing bone formation rendering positive results regarding the bone healing. However, little is known about its effect on the soft tissue. The present article reports its use around dental implants as surface modifying agent, and its associated soft tissue complications.
Neuronal populations underlying locomotion in zebrafish

The neural networks that underlie locomotion are complex and require integration of sensory input and physiological state. However, how these networks function during active locomotion to incorporate sensory input from the environment and the internal state of the animal remains poorly understand. The zebrafish larva is an ideal vertebrate to study these questions thanks to its simple locomotor repertoire, transparency, and amenability to genetic manipulation. In Chapter 1, I describe a program to track behavior at high speeds and automatically characterize locomotor patterns in a high-throughput manner. V2a interneurons are excitatory interneurons in the spinal cord and hindbrain identified by the chx10 transcription factor. In Chapter 2, I validated the use of a genetically-encoded botulinum toxin to silence the chx10 population in vivo. Using fictive locomotor recordings and calcium imaging, I demonstrated that silencing V2as leads to decreased activity in primary motor neurons during fast swimming, corresponding to a lower swimming frequency in V2a-silenced larvae. Cerebrospinal fluid-contacting neurons (CSF-cNs) are intraspinal neurons that relay sensory information to motor circuits. CSF-cNs in diverse species express GABA and the transient receptor potential channel PKD2L1. In Chapter 3, I used genetic targeting, calcium imaging, pharmacology, and electrophysiology to investigate the role of spontaneous activity in CSF-cNs. I showed that single channel opening of PKD2L1 represents an intrinsic source of spontaneous activity in CSF-cNs. These tools and results will allow a more complete picture of how dynamic interactions shape locomotor output in vivo.
Phylogeny in Echinocereus (Cactaceae) based on combined morphological and molecular evidence: taxonomic implications

Echinocereus is a morphologically diverse genus that includes 64 species grouped into eight taxonomic sections based on morphological traits. In previous molecular phylogenetic analyses, the relationships amongst Echinocereus species were not entirely revealed and useful characters to recognize clades were not provided. The inclusion of several sources of evidence in a phylogenetic analysis is likely to produce more supported hypotheses. Therefore, we performed a combined phylogenetic analysis with a set of 44 morphological characters and six chloroplast DNA sequences. Topologies from parsimony and Bayesian analyses were mostly congruent. However, the relationships of E. poselgeri were not consistent between analyses. A second Bayesian analysis using a long-branch extraction test resulted in a topology with the morphological position of E. poselgeri congruent with that in parsimony analysis. Parsimony and Bayesian analyses corroborated the monophyly of Echinocereus, which included eight monophyletic groups. The combined phylogeny integrated into different clades those taxa that were not determined in previous analyses and changed the relationships of some recognized clades. The clades did not recover the recent infrageneric classification. In the present study, a new sectional classification for Echinocereus is proposed based on the eight recovered clades, which is supported by a combination of morphological and molecular characters. An identification key for sections in the genus is included.
Retrospective study of pathology-based investigative techniques for the assessment of diet-induced changes in liver and intestine of flatfish

Abstract This article proposes a systematic evaluation of methods pertaining to the pathology discipline (histology, histochemistry, ultrastructure, in situ techniques, image analysis including morphometry and fractal dimension analysis) employed to study liver and intestine status during a series of nutritional trials performed on flatfish species (common sole, Solea solea; Senegal sole, Solea senegalensis and turbot, Scophthalmus maximus) of commercial interest. Histology is the first step able to detect the normal architecture of the tissues or the possible occurring changes related to inflammation, degeneration and cell death. The evaluation of liver should include a scoring system to obtain semi-quantitative numerical data that are statistically analysable; histochemisty is a valid tool for identifying the type of cell content, together with ultrastructure that also permits the detection of even mild signs of cell damage. For the evaluation of the intestine, in situ techniques are useful together with fractal dimension analysis to determine the mucosal trophism, while ultrastructure can demonstrate cell injury. These considerations were resumed in a methodological flowchart as a valid tool to assess the fish health status when nutritional trials are planned.
Litterfall in relation to stand parameters and climatic factors in Pinus brutia forests in Turkey

ABSTRACT With this study we investigated the effective factors on annual amount of total litterfall and needle litterfall in Pinus brutia forests and estimated them with a regression model based on certain stand parameters. We studied 27 permanent plots representing different stand structure and environmental conditions in South-Western Turkey. Litterfall was collected in three month intervals corresponding to each of four seasons for a three-year period. We found a significant relationship between litterfall and stand properties such as crown closure (%), basal area (m2 ha−1), stand stem volume (m3 ha−1), above-ground biomass (t ha−1), mean annual volume increment (m3 ha−1 yr−1) and site index (T = 75). Similar relationships also hold true between litterfall and each of such climatic factors as seasonal mean temperature (°C), relative humidity (%) and temperature/precipitation ratio (dimensionless). The mean annual litterfall considerably varied depending on stand characteristics and certain environmental factors. Both needle litterfall and total litterfall may be predicted for long term by regression models using certain stand parameters. Models developed for litterfall of P. brutia forests in this study may be used for national C inventory in Turkey.
Neighbouring plants and perception of predation risk modulate winter browsing by white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus)

The presence of neighbouring plants and predation risk can affect trophic interactions between plants and herbivores. We hypothesized that the relative preference for neighbouring species would determine winter herbivory and that predation risk would modulate browsing pressure. We tested these hypotheses using feeding trials in two regions with high white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus (Zimmermann, 1780)) densities: Outaouais and Anticosti Island (Quebec, Canada). In each, we selected a species of interest and compared browsing rates and time spent foraging with neighbours relatively preferred or avoided. In a subexperiment, we included coyote (Canis latrans Say, 1823) urine to test for threat-sensitive foraging and interactions with neighbour effects. In Outaouais, time spent foraging on the focal species was reduced by the presence of potentially avoided neighbours and deer reduced browsing with increased perceived predation risk. On Anticosti, browsing rates on the focal species increased with avo.
Quantitative relationships for radiation induced chromosome instability: data analysis

The experimental observations demonstrate that different cell lines reveal various shape of dynamic curves for radiation-induced chromosomal instability (RICI). We analyzed our own and published data on RICI for three cell lines, CHO-K1, V79 and TK6, on the basis of the mechanistic RICI model. We demonstrate that all three dynamic curves can be successfully described by the proposed model with partially cell line specific parameters.
Ecological impacts of predator gigantism : experimental studies using cannibalistic salamanders [an abstract of dissertation and a summary of dissertation review]

Title Ecological impacts of predator gigantism : experimental studies using cannibalistic salamanders [an abstract of dissertation and a summary of dissertation review] Author(s) 髙津, 邦夫 Citation 北海道大学. 博士(環境科学) 甲第12677号 Issue Date 2017-03-23 Doc URL http://hdl.handle. net/2115/65311 Rights(URL) http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.1/jp/ Type theses (doctoral abstract and summary of review) Additional Information There are other files related to this item in HUSCAP. Check the above URL. File Information Kunio_Takatsu_abstract. pdf (論文内容の要旨)
Geometry-dependent instabilities in electrically excitable tissues

Little is known about how individual cells sense the macroscopic geometry of their tissue environment. Here we explore whether long-range electrical signaling can convey information on tissue geometry to influence electrical dynamics of individual cells. First, we studied an engineered electrically excitable cell line where all voltage-gated channels were well characterized. Cells grown in patterned islands of different shapes showed remarkably diverse firing patterns under otherwise identical conditions, including regular spiking, period-doubling alternans, and arrhythmic firing. A Hodgkin-Huxley numerical model quantitatively reproduced these effects, showing how the macroscopic geometry affected the single-cell electrophysiology via the influence of gap junction-mediated electrical coupling. Qualitatively similar geometry dependent dynamics were experimentally observed in human induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived cardiomyocytes. The cardiac results urge caution in translating observations of arrhythmia in vitro to predictions in vivo where the tissue geometry is very different. We present simulation results and scaling arguments which explore how to extrapolate electrophysiological measurements between tissues with different geometries and different gap junction couplings.