Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Prevalence of tobacco smoking and KAP about smoking among medical students in a private college in Central Kerala

Background: Smoking is a leading cause of preventable death, killing more than 5 million yearly. Smoking among health care personnel such as medical students is an important public health issue. This study was done to understand and in future find effective measures to reduce tobacco smoking among medical students. Objectives: To find the prevalence and to assess knowledge, attitude and practice of tobacco smoking among students of a Private Medical College in Central Kerala. Material and Methods: Cross-sectional study, using pretested, anonymous questionnaire, was conducted in a private medical college in central Kerala and proportions, test of significance like χ2and t test were used. Results: Out of 342 students, 26 (7.6%) were smokers; Males 25 (21.0%, out of 119), females 1 (0.44% out of 223), 72 (21.1%) had ever smoked; of which 60 were males (50.42%) and 12 (5.38%) were females; 82 (24%) had family members who smoked; 196 (57.3%) had relatives who smoked; and 184 (53.8%) had a smoker in their friend circle. 68.4% of students do not like to socialize or engage in activities with smokers. 17 (53.2% of smokers) want to quit smoking; 17 (51.5% of smokers) claimed to have a relapse. Conclusions: Smokers are predominantly more between 21-26 years of age. Most of students started the habit of smoking between 16-20 years of age, therefore it is necessary to bring positive behavioral changes through adoption of comprehensive awareness programs on harmful effects of smoking among adolescent school going children.
Chlorophyll values as a measure of genetic variation of switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.) populations under cool temperate climate conditions.

The goal of this study was to evaluate the variability of SPAD chlorophyll meter values in switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.) accessions and improve the selection of plants most suitable for biofuel. Chlorophyll values were recorded five times during plant vegetation from stem elongation to seed filling stages for two consecutive years. Chlorophyll content was increasing from the stem elongation to the anthesis and later declined. Chlorophyll values reached the maximal mean values of 36.8 to 42.3 (device units) during anthesis depending on the evaluation year and the nursery evaluated. This shows that Lithuanian climate conditions are favourable for photosynthetic activity of switchgrass. Chlorophyll values were successfully differentiated at the accession and individual plant level. As a cross-pollinating species, switchgrass plants, characterized by high chlorophyll values, should be selected until anthesis. At this stage the differences between chlorophyll value coefficients of variation of the accessions were similar to those during the anthesis. The mean coefficients of the variation of accessions’ chlorophyll values during heading ranged from 4.98% to 15.0%. Such coefficients show low variability within the accessions but a higher possibility for the selection of plants with desirable chlorophyll values from a broad range of accessions. Selection of plants with similar chlorophyll values should accelerate development of new cultivars.
Revision of the common Octocorallia of the Mediterranean circalittoral. III. Stolonifera

Six stoloniferan species (Cornularia cornucopiae, Clavularia crassa, C. ochracea, C. marioni, “Anthelia” inermis and Rolandia rosea) from the Mediterranean circalittoral zone are described, nearly all of them occurring as epizoa on other organisms as well as on rocky substrata. Application of the rule of priority led to the change of one generic name, while several animals previously described as separate species were regrouped under their senior synonyms. A complete description of all these animals is given including colony form, morphology of the living polyps, morphology and morphometry of the sclerites. The latter were observed by means of light microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. A short description is given of the ecology of each species.
The Role of Aquaporin 3 (AQP3) in Breast Cancer

The increasing prevalence of breast cancer (BC) in different parts of the world, particularly in the UK, highlights the importance of research into the aetiology and pathology of the disease. BC is the most common malignancy affecting women worldwide. Aquaporins (AQPs) are membrane protein channels that regulate cellular water flow. Recently, studies have demonstrated that expression of AQP3 is up-regulated in cancerous breast tissue. The present study examines the role of AQP3 in BC cell biology. Examination of clinical cases of BC showed higher AQP3 gene and protein expression in cancer tissues compared to healthy border tissues. In distinct clinicopathological groups however there were no differences observed with regards to AQP3 expression, suggesting that AQP3 expression may not be a predictor of lymph node infiltration or tumour grade. shRNA technology was used to knockdown gene expression of AQP3 in the invasive MDA-MB-231 BC cellular model. Cellular proliferation, migration, invasion, adhesion and response to the 5- fluorouracil (5-FU) based chemotherapy treatment were investigated in parental and knockdown cell line. AQP3 knockdown cells showed reduction in cellular proliferation, migration, invasion and increase in cell sensitivity to 5-FU compared with wild type (WT) or scrambled control (SC) cells. The effects of AQP3 knockdown on cellular glycolytic ability and ATP cellular content were quantified. Indirect glucose uptake was also measured by quantifying reconditioned media. AQP3 knockdown cells showed significantly lower levels of glucose uptake as compared to WT or SC. However there was no difference in the glycolytic ability and ATP content of the cells suggesting AQP3 has no role in cancer cell energetics. These data collectively suggest AQP3 expression is associated with the BC disease clinically and plays a role in multiple important aspects of BC pathophysiology, thus AQP3 represents a novel target for therapeutic intervention.
Evolución de los manglares neotropicales: la crisis del Eoceno

PALABRAS CLAVE / Manglares / Palinologia / Biogeografia / Evolucion / Extincion / Neotropico / Eoceno /Valenti Rull es Palinologo en PDVSA. Licenciado en Ciencias Biologicas (Universitat deBarcelona, Catalunya, Espana), M. Sc. y Ph. Sc. en Biologia (Ecologia) (Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Cientificas,IVIC, Caracas, Venezuela). Intereses profesionales: Paleoecologia, Ecologia evolutiva, Bioestratigrafia. Direccion: PDVSAExploracion y Produccion, Ap. 829, Caracas 1010-A, Venezuela, e-mail epxg134@ep.pdv. com
Azuki bean: botany, production and uses.

Azuki is one of the 12 most important grain legumes in the world, grown widely in the Far East and Southeast Asia. This comprehensive work on this crop draws extensively on the Chinese, Japanese and other East Asian literature. As a reference work, it should interest researchers working on grain legumes, as well as others in agronomy and science. The text covers: species origin, domestication and taxonomy; morphological and physiological characteristics; production; reproductive mechanisms, cytology and heritability; germplasm resources and new variety development; pests and diseases; uses, products and processing; and future development of the crop and its area of production.
Individual heterogeneity in life history processes: Estimation and applications of demographic models to stage-structured arthropod populations

Life history variation is a general feature of natural populations. Most studies assume that local processes occur identically across individuals, ignoring any genetic or phenotypic variation in life history traits. In part, this is because a realistic treatment of individual heterogeneity results in very complex population models. Fitting models with individual heterogeneity to real data is further complicated by random effects in groups of the data, observations set at specific intervals, and the non-independence of data following a cohort of individuals through time. In this dissertation, I assume that individuals differ in the duration they spend in each developmental stage and also in the amount of time they live. Stage durations and survival times follow probability distributions with parameters specific to populations and stages. Parameters of these distributions may also include random effects when considering a subset of sampled populations and covariates such as temperature. In the first chapter I formulate a model and likelihood for variable development, using the time-to-event model framework. In the second chapter I use this model to ask whether field populations of herbivorous arthropods (Tetranychus pacificus) form host-associations on different cultivars of the same host species. In the third chapter I incorporate variable development with variable survival and ongoing reproduction in a stage-structured population model. I explore the ability of the approximate Bayesian computation framework to fit such a complex model to data, evaluating posterior distributions and model performance.
Effect of Peganum harmala seeds on productive performance, immune responses and liver function in broiler chickens

This experiment was designed to study the effects of feeding different levels of Peganum harmala seeds (PHS) and antibiotic on the performance, immune responses and liver function of Ross broiler chickens. A total of 240 one-d-old unsexed broiler chickens were randomly allocated to each of the 4 treatment groups, each with 4 replicate pens of 15 chicks. The dietary treatments included of control (C) - without PHS and antibiotic - the diet contains 300 mg/Kg Lincomycin 0.88% (A) and the diets contain 20g/kg (H1) and 40g/kg (H2) PHS. The performance parameters were measured during the experimental period. The chicks were raised on floor pens and received diets and water ad libitum for 6 weeks. Blood samplings were performed for determine of antibody titer against Newcastle disease virus (NDV) on 14 and 21 days and for liver function test on 42 days of age. The using of PHS at rate of 20g/kg feed improved some traits such as live body weight and FCR, but the consumption of 40g/kg had undesirable effect on these traits. Antibody titer against NDV was not affected by experimental treatments, but the relative weight of bursa and spleen increased by dietary treatments of antibiotic and H2. Broilers receiving 40g/kg PHS had a significantly higher activity of SGOT, SGPT and SALP in serum compared to control group. It can be concluded that Peganum harmala seeds cannot be applied as alternatives to in-feed antibiotics, but 20 g/kg inclusion of it in diet can improve production efficiency of broiler chickens.
Interspecific fertile hybrids of haplochromine Cichlidae (Teleostei) and their possible importance f

A method and apparatus for removing redundancy of scan data of pictures by coding it to reduce the transmission time or compress the transmission bandwidth. The edge states between white and black areas on the preceding line and the current line are classified into a First state in which the edge on the preceding line continues to the current line, a Second state in which the edge on the preceding line turns up on the same line, and a Third state in which the edge on the current line turns down on the same line. In the First state, the difference in the location of the edge between adjacent lines is coded; in the Second state, coding is effected only by a state code; and in the Third state, the distance between the position of the previous state and the position of the first edge and the distance between the later and the position of the next edge are coded. Since the current line can be coded only processing the preceding line and the current line one-directionally and simultaneously, implementation of a coder becomes simple. Further, since correlation between adjacent scan lines is utilized, redundancy can be effectively removed regardless of whether the document is simple or complicated.
Probe Level Analysis of Affymetrix Microarray Data

PROBE LEVEL ANALYSIS OF AFFYMETRIX MICROARRAY DATA By Richard Ellis Kennedy, Ph.D. A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Virginia Commonwealth University. Virginia Commonwealth University, 2008 Major Director: Kellie J. Archer, Ph.D. Assistant Professor Department of Biostatistics The analysis of Affymetrix GeneChip R © data is a complex, multistep process. Most often, methods condense the multiple probe level intensities into single probeset level measures (such as robust multi-chip average (RMA), dChip and Microarray Suite version 5.0 (MAS5)), which are then followed by application of statistical tests to determine which genes are differentially expressed. An alternative approach is a probe-level analysis, which tests for differential expression directly using the probe-level data. Probe-level models offer the potential advantage of more accurately capturing sources of variation in microarray experiments. However, this has not been thoroughly investigated, since current research efforts have largely focused on the development of improved expression summary methods. This research project will review current approaches to analysis of probe-level data and discuss extensions of two examples, the S-Score and the Random Variance xiii xiv Model (RVM). The S-Score is a probe-level algorithm based on an error model in which the detected signal is proportional to the probe pair signal for highly expressed genes, but approaches a background level (rather than 0) for genes with low levels of expression. Initial results with the S-Score have been promising, but the method has been limited to two-chip comparisons. This project presents extensions to the S-Score that permit comparisons of multiple chips and “borrowing” of information across probes to increase statistical power. The RVM is a probeset-level algorithm that models the variance of the probeset intensities as a random sample from a common distribution to “borrow” information across genes. This project presents extensions to the RVM for probe-level data, using multivariate statistical theory to model the covariance among probes in a probeset. Both of these methods show the advantages of probe-level, rather than probeset-level, analysis in detecting differential gene expression for Affymetrix GeneChip data. Future research will focus on refining the probe-level models of both the S-Score and RVM algorithms to increase the sensitivity and specificity of microarray experiments. Chapter
Marine Mammals: Hearing and Echolocation at Coconut Island

Abstract : The ability to obtain hearing data on new species requires opportunistic motivated action. A permit from the NMFS to test the hearing of stranded animals, and to keep in touch with the stranding networks in the United States allows us opportunities for testing stranded animals when they become available. Animals in public display facilities also occasionally become available for hearing examination, especially if the audiometric tests are conducted for short periods of time, like those for AEP measures. The AEP measures also can be used on boats so that temporarily caught animals can be tested. All of these approaches allow us to increase the species and the number of animals tested. We work closely with Alexander Ya. Supin from the Russian Academy of Sciences to test the hearing of new species of animals, especially those that require a new technique or adaptations to new procedures. We primarily use the envelope following response (EFR) auditory evoked potential approach in which we present amplitude modulated sounds to the animals and monitor the brain wave patterns in response to the amplitude modulation rate. We measured the audiogram of a stranded beaked whale and showed that its best hearing was the same as its published echolocation return frequencies at 40 to 50 kHz. We continued the measurement of hearing during echolocation on the false killer whale, demonstrating the ability of the whale to change hearing during echolocation. We completed comparative measurements of hearing during echolocation on the bottlenose dolphin and the harbor porpoise. Both demonstrated control of hearing in a manner similar to the false killer whale. We then examined whether or not there were additional automatic gain control mechanisms in the hearing of the false killer whale during echolocation. We also tested the comparative hearing pathways of the bottlenose dolphin and the false killer whale.
Mutability and survival of pseudomonas aeruginosa in multi-species drinking water biofilm communities

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is an important opportunistic pathogen of humans and also has the ability to form biofilms in drinking water. However, the survival, persistence and the control of this pathogen within mixed-species bacterial communities in drinking water distribution systems remains poorly understood. Strains of P. aeruginosa obtained from natural and pathogenic biofilms are often hypermutable due to defective DNA error repair systems. However, the role of mutation in determining survival and fitness of P. aeruginosa within the environment has not been explored. This work, investigated the mutability, persistence and survival of hypermutable mutS, wild type and environmental strains of P. aeruginosa within mixed species drinking water consortia and the effects of oxidative stress and water treatment practices including chlorination and UV irradiation on their mutability and persistence within these biofilms using a flow cell continuous culture system. Our results show that P. aeruginosa hypermutator strains integrated and persisted within the biofilm more readily than the wild type and environmental strains. Moreover, growth of P. aeruginosa within a multi-species biofilm led to a 5-fold increase in the mutation frequency (resistance to rifampicin, RifR) of the wild type strain compared to monospecies P. aeruginosa biofilms, suggesting that interactions within polymicrobial communities may promote genetic diversification. Our results also show that antioxidants (L-proline and N-acetyl-cysteine) had an average of 4-fold reduction effect in the mutation frequency of the wild type P. aeruginosa within the mixed species biofilms. However, the mutation frequency exhibited by the mutS strain within the biofilms is independent of oxidative stress. UV irradiation of P. aeruginosa cells, but not exposure to chlorine, led to increases in P. aeruginosa RifR mutation frequency and enhanced the persistence of surviving P. aeruginosa cells within drinking water biofilms. These findings therefore have provided new insights into mechanisms by which drinking water biofilms may harbour important pathogenic micro-organisms and how these interactions within the multispecies biofilms can enhance genetic adaptation and evolution of microbial pathogens.
Estimating pasture production by use of grass length and sward density.

It was investigated to what extent in the determination of pasture yields clips can be replaced by estimates of the sward density and length of the herbage. In view of the results there is no preference for a logarithmic or a non logarithmic processing. Assuming that the variance about the regression line is independent on the estimation values, the results in 1959 at a yield level of about more than 4000 kg/ha were reasonable good. The reliability was not so good on fields of which the sward contained more than 10% of dicotyls. By combining a small number of clips with a larger number of sward density and/or length estimates ("double sampling") it was found that a fairly considerable improvement could be effected in the reliability of the yield determination as compared to clipping only, without increasing the time needed for yield determination.
Molecular Basis of GATA-4 Expression During the Early Commitment Stage of Cardiomyogenesis

Cardiovascular diseases are among the leading causes of death in North America. Currently, there are no effective treatment options for directly repairing the damaged myocardial tissue. Therefore, cell-based therapies utilizing cardiomyocytes generated from stem cells to replace necrotic tissue will be a promising approach. However, the molecular mechanisms regulating stem cell differentiation into cardiomyocytes are not fully understood. Since GATA-4 is one of the primary regulators of cradiomyogenesis, we investigated the molecular basis of GATA-4 expression during the early stages of stem cell differentiation. Using chromatin immunoprecipitation, we have observed the direct involvement of p300 in GATA-4 gene expression. We have also examined the importance ofhHistone acetylation and acetyltransferase activity on GATA-4 expression during the early stage of cardiomyogensis using the histone deactylase inhibitor Valproic Acid and the acetyltransferase inhibitor Curcumin respectively.
Perfiles de susceptibilidad/resistencia a antibióticos en bacterias del ácido láctico y bifidobacterias. Caracterización molecular de genes de resistencia

Los agentes antimicrobianos son altamente eficaces en el tratamiento y erradicacion de las enfermedades infecciosas, sin embargo su eficacia se ha visto membrana por la aparicion de mecanismos de resistencia. Las bacterias del acido lactico (BAL) y bifidobacterias presentes en los productos fermentados y en el tracto gastrointestinal (TGI) de hombres y animales podrian actuar como reservorios de genes de resistencia que, en ultimo termino, podrian transmitirse a microorganismos patogenos, bien en la matriz de los alimentos o en el propio TGI. Por tanto, la presencia de genes de resistencia adquiridos, con un alto grado de capacidad infectiva, deberia examinares minuciosamente al menos en aquellas cepas que vayan a ser utilizadas en un sistema alimentario como cultivos indicadores o como probioticos. Hasta el momento, no se ha prestado demasiada atencion a el estudio de la susceptibilidad a antibioticos en el grupo de las BAL y bifidobacterias, no existiendo siquiera puntos de corte claros para la mayoria de los antibioticos y la mayoria de las especies. En esta tesis se han examinado los perfiles de susceptibilidad-ressitencia a un grupo representativo de antibioticos en diversas especies de BAL y bifidobacterias de origen lacteo y gastrointestinal. Tambien se analizaron a nivel molecular diversos determinantes geneticos intrinsecos y adquiridos que determinan las resistencias. En el caso de un gen ter(M) presente en un transposon en dos cepas de Lactococcus lactis, estimamos, por ultimo, la capacidad de transferencia de los genes de resistencia.
Kuantitas dan kualitas telur ayam arab (Gallus turcicus) silver dan gold

This research was conducted to examine egg quantity and quality of Silver and Gold Arabic chicken ( Gallus turcicus ). The materials used in this study were 30 Silver and 30 Gold Arabic chicken aged 8-9 months which had mean of initial body weight were 1,93±0,13 and 2,00±0,15 kg respectively. The method was experiment on two groups of Arabic chicken based on feather color ( Silver and Gold). Data was analyzed by unpaired t test. The study shows that egg weight of Gold Arabic chicken (46.81±2.41 g) was significantly heavier (P<0.01) than that of Silver Arabic chicken (42.75±2.22 g). However, there were no significant difference on egg number, egg index, yolk color eggs, yolk protein content, yolk fat content, and Haugh units among these two chickens. It could be concluded that Gold Arabic chicken could produce heavier egg weight than the Silver one although there were no differences on egg number, egg index, yolk color eggs, yolk protein content, yolk fat content, and Haugh units . The study suggests breeding Gold Arabic chickens due to its egg weight production. Keywords: Arabic chicken, feather color, quantity and quality eggs