Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Fire regimes and woody biomass dynamics in Australian savannas

Many tropical savannas are undergoing a trend of increasing woody biomass, or ‘woody thickening’. Management to reduce fire frequency and intensity in savannas could substantially increase the amount of carbon stored in woody biomass. We addressed two questions: (1) are northern Australian savannas thickening; and (2) to what extent, and by what demographic processes, does fire affect woody biomass accumulation?
Relationship between diatom communities and environmental conditions at Honghe wetland, China

The relationship between diatom species and measured environmental variables was explored at different sites of Honghe wetland region located in northeastern China. Planktonic and epiphytic diatom assemblages in the wetland were identified from May to October of 2007 and 2008. Their relationships with environmental variables were examined using canonical correspondence analysis with forward selection and Monte Carlo permutation. The test revealed that each of the eight environmental variables, pH, total phosphorus (TP), total nitrogen (TN), total organic carbon (TOC), biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD), dissolved Oxygen (DO) and water temperature (WT) were statistical significant fractions of the variation in diatom taxa. This study reveals that DO was the most important environmental variables affecting diatom communities in the wetland. It also indicated that water quality in Honghe wetland were oligosaprobic and mesosaprobic.
Effect of ascorbic acid in heat-stressed poultry

Two reviews are available in published literature relating to the effects of ascorbic acid on poultry performance. The first review was written by Pardue and Thaxton in 1986 who reviewed the role of ascorbic acid in alleviating the negative effect of heat stress in poultry birds. The second review was presented by Whitehead and Keller in 2003, who detailed the general effects of ascorbic acid in poultry birds, not taking into consideration ‘heat stress’. The first review is deficient in the literature published after 1986, while the second review does not describe the effect of ascorbic acid in heat stressed birds. The present review describes the past and present knowledge of ascorbic acid in alleviating heat stress in poultry birds with new aspects. Heat stress is associated with compromised performance and productivity through a decline in feed intake, nutrient utilisation, growth rate, egg production and quality, feed efficiency and immunity. Heat stress is also characterised by a reduced antioxidant status in birds, resulting in increased oxidative stress. Moreover, male fertility is decreased when birds are exposed to heat stress. Supplementation of 250 mg of ascorbic acid per kg of feed has been found to be optimum to improve feed intake, body weight gain, feed efficiency, egg production and quality, nutrient digestibility, immune response and antioxidant status in poultry birds. This work compiles past and present information about the role of ascorbic acid in heat-stressed poultry.
Current Status of the Gene-For-Gene Concept

One of the most successful means of controlling plant diseases has been the development of varieties with major or vertical resistance genes. This type of resistance is easily manipulated in a breeding program and is efIec­ tive until strains of the pathogen to which it does not confer resistance be­ come established. Then, if another gene that conditions resistance to the new strains of the pathogen is available, this resistance gene may be incorporated into the variety by the plant breeder. In doing this, the breeder either con­ sciously or unconsciously is applying the principle of the gene-far-gene hypothesis. Plants resistant to races that are virulent on old varieties possess the new resistance gene. With the diseases of some crops, this process has becn repeated at relatively frequent intervals (4D, 42, 82). However, in some instances a single gene has conferred adequate resistance for many years 80,82). In plant diseases caused by living organisms, the same phenomena: in­ fection type in rusts, percent of infected plants in smuts of cereals, fleck or lesion in apple scab, are criteria of both the reaction of the host and the pathogenicity of the parasite. They indicate the relative resistance or sus­ ceptibility of the host and the relative avirulence or virulence of the para­ site. The gene-for-gene hypothesis was proposed (20,25) as the simplest ex­ planation of the results of studies on the inheritance of pathogenicity in the . flax rust fungus, M elampsora lini. On varieties of flax, Linum usitatissimum that have one gene for resistance to the avirulent parent race, F 2 cultures of the fungus segregate into monofactorial ratios. On varieties having 2, 3, or 4 genes for resistance to the avirulent parent race, the F2 cultures segregate into bi-, trio, or tetra factorial ratios (20-22) respectively. This suggests that for each gene that conditions reaction in the host there is a correspond­ ing gene in the parasite that conditions pathogenicity. Each gene in either member of a host-parasite system may be identified only by its counterpart in the other member of the system.
Ultrasonographic evaluation of fatty liver disease and cardiovascular disease in type ii diabetics

Materials and methods: Study was carried out on 151 diabetic patients and 150 age and sex matched controls on whom ultrasonographic evaluation was performed by single radiologist and the following parameters were examined: Liver echogenicity, Portal vein doppler study, Mesenteric fat pad thickness, Carotid artery grey-scale study for assessing atherosclerotic changes.
Techniques for trapping and tracking stoats (Mustela erminea); a review, and a new system

Systematic direct observations of the small, fast‐moving, and wide‐ranging stoat are rarely practicable. The simplest indirect methods of observation are kill‐trapping, live‐trapping, and footprint recording. The data obtainable and the advantages and disadvantages of these methods are reviewed. Two new kinds of traps and a footprint recording system are described; they are especially suitable for use in rugged field conditions far from base facilities. When operated together in suitable habitat, these techniques can provide useful information on the population structure, feeding habits, and natural movements of stoats. Together or singly they also have potential as management tools, especially in identification of nest predators and in faunal surveys of islands.
Comparative evaluation of Gram-positive membrane components in activating the innate immune system

• Rockel, C. , and Hartung, T. (2009): " A systematic review of Gram-positive membrane components inducing human monocyte / macrophage cytokine release ". Prepared for submission. " Lipoteichoic acid from a Staphylococcus aureus wildtype or a lipoprotein diacylglycerol transferase deletion mutant possess similar immune stimulatory activity in human monocytes but not cell lines ". Prepared for submission. bacteria mutated in putative pro-inflammatory membrane components have similar cytokine-inducing activity. " Submitted. and Tannock GW. (2007): " D-alanyl ester depletion of teichoic acids in Lactobacillus reuteri 100-23 results in impaired colonization of the mouse gastrointestinal tract. contributes to the protective effect of probiotic in experimental colitis. " submitted ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Acknowledgements The work presented in this thesis was this interesting project, for his motivation, advice, scientific help and continuous interest in my work despite being on the other side of the Alps and now even on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean for most of the time. Special thanks go to my supervisor PD Dr. Corinna Hermann for her continuous and precious guidance and her invaluable advices during the last years, for many beneficial scientific discussions, for reading my manuscripts and for being a friend throughout the years. Many thanks go to Prof. Dr. Albrecht Wendel for welcoming me into his chair, for the marvellous working conditions and for his help and continued interest in my projects. He exemplified impressively the successful fusion of science and other aspects of life. I am grateful for the excellent working facilities provided at the Chair of Biochemical Pharmacology, for the opportunities I had to attend conferences and for the experience gained by being in contact with so many cooperation partners. Tobias Speicher and Marina Borisova all contributed to this work with helpful advice, inspiring discussions and mental support at any time. Thank you for the unforgettable time in-and outside the lab! My thanks go to all co-authors and collaborators for their valuable contributions to this work. Especially I want to thank help with difficult questions in the field of chemistry. Special thanks go to the skilful team of technicians for their excellent technical assistance. Especially I thank Margarete Kreuer-Ullmann for her help with the mice and the endless culturing of bacteria and Leonardo Cobianchi for numerous LTA preparations. I also thank Josepha Ittner for her organizational work and help. Most of all I want to thank Claudia for her continuous patience, encouragement, for her faithful …
Functional osteology of the forelimb digging apparatus of badgers

Abstract Badgers (Carnivora, Mustelidae) constitute a nonmonophyletic assemblage of mammals that are characterized by a general similarity of appearance and a broad geographic distribution. A comparative analysis of the forelimb osteology of badgers was performed to assess how observed differences in their scratch-digging behavior are related to variation of forelimb structure. We measured forelimb bone proportions of 87 skeletal specimens and calculated 8 functional indexes that were analyzed using analysis of variance and principal component analysis to identify the osteological correlates of fossorial ability in this clade. The indexes that best characterize forelimb specialization for scratch-digging in badgers are related to a robust humerus, large humeral epicondyles, and a long olecranon process, and these features increase from digger to semifossorial forms. A large scapular area for muscle attachment and a robust ulna also are correlated with fossorial ability. Semifossorial forms are indicated to have greater forelimb muscle mass, increased mechanical advantage of the elbow extensors, and the ability of the elbow extensor and carpal and digital flexor muscles to apply high out-force to the substrate. Digger forms are indicated to have relatively less robust and longer distal limb bones, and lower limb out-force capability. This study reveals that for badgers there is a distinct relationship between the proportions of the forelimb bones and fossorial ability. The indexes tested that relate to mechanical advantage of the elbow extensors and mass and force production capacity of the musculature have the discriminatory ability to distinguish between degrees of forelimb specialization and fossorial ability of badgers.
Postinsemination Associations Between Males and Females in Insects: The Mate-Guarding Hypothesis

A major goal of evolutionary biologists is to identify the evolved function of particular traits. In developing hypotheses about the possible adaptive value of a characteristic of interest, researchers now typically employ a cost-benefit analysis. This approach rests on the assumption that a trait will only persist in a population if the net fitness benefits this attribute conveys to individuals are greater on average than the net benefits associated with other hereditarily distinct alternatives. That this idea focuses on the repro­ ductive consequences for individuals (not for the species as a whole) reflects the demise of the group selectionist thinking (103) that had been adopted informally by entire generations of biologists before the mid 1960s. The emphasis on the individual stems from recognition that natural selection should tend to eliminate all attributes that decrease individual reproductive success (relative to competing traits), no matter how useful these charac­ teristics might be to the species as a whole (8, 47, 101). Indeed, a focus on the fitness consequences for individuals led GA Parker (62) to reassess several attributes of insect reproductive behavior in his classic 1970 paper on sperm competition. Parker was the first to point out that the reproductive success of individual males could potentially be
Evolutionary History of the Monocot Flower1

Abstract This paper reviews monocot flower structure and gynoecium development and evaluates these data to clarify the evolutionary history of the monocot flower. Despite some congruence between molecular and morphological data regarding the delimitation and phylogenetic relationships of monocots, there is currently no universally accepted view on the morphology of the ancestral monocot flower, reflecting a high degree of parallelism in monocot floral evolution. We focus on two character suites that encompass the key features of monocot flowers: (1) the typical monocot groundplan of trimerous-pentacyclic flowers, and (2) a character suite related to carpel fusion, including postgenital fusion between carpels and the presence of septal nectaries. It is likely that the trimerous-pentacyclic flower represents a major synapomorphy of monocots; this flower groundplan is virtually absent from the closest relatives of monocots. Such close correlation of a particular groundplan with a phylogenetic group is analogous with the absence of the typical eudicot flower groundplan in basal eudicots, though in both instances the underlying constraints are obscure. In monocots, morphogenetic studies and analysis of character correlations lead us to favor a hypothesis that the ancestral monocot conditions were postgenital fusion between carpels and presence of septal (gynopleural) nectaries. This character-suite optimization contrasts with optimizations of individual morphological characters, which suggest that the ancestral monocot flower possessed congenitally united carpels (with no contribution of postgenital fusion) and lacked septal nectaries. Among extant early divergent monocots, flowers of Japonolirion Nakai (Petrosaviaceae s.l. or Japonoliriaceae, Petrosaviales) appear to most closely resemble those of the ancestral monocots. A gynoecium with free carpels represents a derived condition in monocots; it evolved independently in three unrelated groups (Triuridaceae, Arecaceae, Alismatales), with several gains of apocarpy in Alismatales and palms. All three monocot groups that include free-carpellate species show significant variation in their individual floral groundplans.
Fixed-dose combination of abacavir, lamivudine and zidovudine for HIV therapy

Triple-nucleoside therapy with abacavir (ABV)/lamivudine (3TC)/zidovudine (ZDV) combination tablets provides simple, nonfood-dependent, twice-daily, well-tolerated therapy with the potential to improve long-term adherence at a lower cost than other triple-drug regimens. Of all the triple nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor combinations currently available, ABV/3TC/ZDV is most extensively studied. Although ABV/3TC/ZDV is possibly less potent than other treatment options when used alone, other attributes described in this review make it an attractive option for selected patients. This combination spares the use of protease inhibitors and their associated side effects, such as metabolic abnormalities, which may contribute to premature cardiovascular disease. Furthermore, by using only one drug class, it may maintain a greater number of future treatment options. Data from ongoing clinical trials may result in expanding the use of ABV/3TC/ZDV as a component of multidrug, highly active antiretroviral the.
Chemical Evaluation Of Co-Products Of Cocoa And Kola As Livestock Feeding Stuffs

Many by – products that are considered as wastes in Nigeria have great potentials as animal feed ingredients if properly handled, processed and incorporated into rations. Some of such wastes are cocoa bean shell (CBS), cocoa pod husk (CPH), kola testa (KOT) and kola pod husk (KPH). Nigeria is one of the world largest producers of cocoa and kola and hence the by-products of these crops are abundantly wasted and constitute nuisance at farmstead and/or processing factory sites. Evaluating the chemical values of these byproducts will offer possibility of effectively utilizing them as feed ingredients. The present study investigated the proximate contents, fibre fractions, mineral and amino acid profiles and energy values of CBS, CPH, KOT and KPH in order to assess their various potentials as feed resources. The components that were analysed included the crude protein, ash, crude fat, crude fibre, acid detergent fibre, neutral detergent fibre, caffeine, calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, potassium, sodium, iron, zinc, copper, manganese, molybdenum, sulphur, chloride ion, cobalt, taurine, proline, hydroxyproline, aspartic acid, threonine, serine, glutamic acid, lanthionine, glycine, alanine, cysteine, valine, methionine, isoleucine, leucine, tyrosine, phenylalanine, lysine, hydrolysine, ornithine, histidine, arginine, tryptophan and energy. The results of the chemical determinations revealed that CBS, CPH, KOT and KPH have a fairly good chemical composition suitable for use as animal feed ingredients. The fibre contents may however dictate the level of the co-products that can be incorporated in the rations, particularly for the non-ruminants.
Community analysis of ammonia-oxidising bacteria, in relation to oxygen availability in soils and root-oxygenated sediments, using PCR, DGGE and oligonucleotide probe hybridisation

The rhizosphere of oxygen-releasing wetland plants provides a niche for oxygen-consuming microorganisms such as chemolithotrophic ammonia-oxidising bacteria. These bacteria are adapted to oxygen limitation with respect to their affinity for oxygen, ability to survive periods of anoxia, and immediate response to the appearance of oxygen. In this study the techniques of specific amplification of ammonia oxidiser 16S rDNA fragments by PCR, separation of mixed PCR samples by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE), and band identification by specific hybridisation with oligonucleotide probes were combined to allow for the comparison of the community composition of multiple samples over space and time. DGGE bands of interest were also excised for DNA isolation, reamplification, sequence determination and phylogenetic analysis. We compared monthly samples from both the root zone and the bare sediment of a shallow lake inhabited by the emergent macrophyte Glyceria maxima to determine the seasonal effects that the plant roots and the oxygen availability might have on the β-subgroup ammonia-oxidiser populations present. Similarly, five soil or sediment samples, varying in oxygen availability, from different locations in the Netherlands were compared. Although the presence of two previously defined Nitrosospira sequence clusters could be differentially detected in the samples examined, there was no evidence for a particular group which was specific to periodically anoxic environments.
Forecasting the benefits of no-take human-made reefs using spatial ecosystem simulation

Pitcher, T. J., Buchary, E. A. , and Hutton, T. 2002. Forecasting the benefits of no-take human-made reefs using spatial ecosystem simulation. – ICES Journal of Marine Science, 59: S17–S26. To forecast resource and fishery responses to artificial reefs deployed within no-take marine protected areas, we discuss an application of E, a policy evaluation tool based on spatially explicit simulation of ecosystem dynamics. We analyse a recent initiative to establish human-made reefs inside Marine Special Areas in Hong Kong. Simulations commence with a static mass-balanced model of trophic flows among he functional groups of an ecosystem (E), which is then used to structure dynamic simulations of the biomass fluxes in response to fishing (E). Spatial modelling is achieved through definition of dispersion, foraging, and predator avoidance parameters for each group in relation to a range of defined habitats (E). The ecosystem model comprised 27 functional groups and 7 sectors of the Hong Kong fishery, which were assumed to increase their catching power by 3% year 1 . Seven fishery sectors and gear types are defined, and their operations are simulated spatially to maximize operating profit within the areas where they are allowed to fish. Parameters for E ,E , fishery, and habitats were obtained from recent surveys and assessments. Additional parameter values were obtained from meta-analyses and other literature on fishes of the South China Sea. More than 250 fish species were assigned to reef-associated and non-reef-associated functional groups with the help of an expert consultation. Results express average spatial responses to fishing and protected reefs. First, E was used to evaluate biomass responses and catch returns from a range of artificial reefs/marine protected area complexes in which size, perimeter, and corridor design were varied according to biogeographical theory. Benefits that might be deliberately forgone to obtain the cooperation of fishers by allowing them to fish designated reefs were also estimated. Secondly, five specific policy scenarios were evaluated using a spatial map of Hong Kong waters. Gains and losses to different fishery sectors were tracked, along with shifts in the species composition of the catches. While small protected areas with human-made reefs achieve little to avert collapse of the fisheries or a shift towards catches of low-value species, larger protected areas can do much to restore valuable fisheries for reefassociated fish. Precise results, but not the overall patterns, are sensitive to uncertainties in many model parameters.
Selective Anticancer Activity of Pure Licamichauxiioic-B Acid in Cultured Cell Lines

Abstract The cytotoxic activities of crude extract and pure licamichauxiioic-B compound from stem and root parts of Licania michauxii Prance (LMP) plant were evaluated against brine shrimp larvae and cell cultures. Under in vivo. shrimp assay, both crude extract and the purified compound were active with ED50 values of 122.5 and 32.1 µg/ml, respectively. When tested in four human cancer cell lines, namely, CL-187 (colon adenocarcinoma), MCF-7 (hormone-dependent breast carcinoma), MDA-MB-231 (hormone-independent breast carcinoma), and CRL-2547 (pancreatic carcinoma), the pure compound exhibited 1.5- to about 3-times greater cytotoxic activity than the crude extract. In all cancer cell lines, the LD50 values of crude extract ranged from 33.8 ± 0.9 to 88.1 ± 3.6 µg/ml, while with pure compound the values ranged from 21.6 ± 1.2 to 31.8 ± 4.2 µg/ml. In a noncancerous normal mouse adipose areolar (CCL-1 NCTC clone 929) cell line, the pure compound was found to have an LD50 value greater than 100 µg/ml. Comparison of cytotoxic results of cell cultures revealed that the pure licamichauxiioic-B compound was relatively inactive in noncancerous cell line. The selectivity index for the pure licamichauxiioic-B compound is greater than 3.14 in all cancer cell lines tested.