Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Phenotypic and genotypic detection of biofilm formation in Staphylococcus epidermidis isolates from retrieved orthopaedic implants and prostheses.

Background: Most of orthopaedic implant and prosthesis infections are actually biofilm-correlated infections that are highly resistant to antibiotic treatment and to the host immune responses. Staphylococcus epidermidis is considered one of the principal etiologic agents of orthopedic implant infection and prosthetic joint infection (PJI). Moreover, it has strong implant-adhering ability, and its biofilm-forming ability is considered as a serious pathogenic factor. Early detection and management of biofilm-forming S. epidermidis can be one of the essential steps towards the prevention and management of orthopaedic implant and prosthesis infections. the biofilm producing ability of clinical S. epidermidis isolates . Moreover, MtP assay is recommended as a general screening method for detection of biofilm from retrieved orthopaedic implants and prostheses.
DIVERGENT SEXUAL RESPONSES TO DIFFERENT CATEGORIES OF FOREIGN COURTSHIP SONGS IN FEMALE BROWN-HEADED COWBIRDS (MOLOTHRUS ATER)

Abstract Female songbirds generally have an innate ability to distinguish between con-specific and heterospecific song, and may learn to discriminate among variants of conspecific song. By observing female copulation-solicitation displays elicited by playback of perched songs and flight whistles from distant (>2,000 km) widespread populations, we assessed the extent to which responses of female Brown-headed Cowbirds (Molothrus ater) to the two categories of male courtship song depend on experience. We hypothesized that female responsiveness to flight whistles is more dependent on experience than their responsiveness to perched song, because, though both perched songs and flight whistles vary spatially, perched songs always conform to strict species-specific structural and syntactic rules. Flight whistles, in contrast, are so variable that some types may not be recognizable as conspecific vocalizations to birds that have never experienced them. The species-wide structural similarities of perched songs make it possible for females to have innate responsiveness to these songs, as shown by isolate-reared females. In contrast, isolate-reared females do not respond to flight whistles. In the present study, females readily responded to foreign perched-song types, but showed as little response to foreign flight whistles as they did to heterospecific control songs. A previous study had shown that the same females were highly responsive to the local flight whistle. Thus, in accord with our hypothesis, females must have direct experience with a flight-whistle type to become responsive to it, but will respond to any unfamiliar perched-song type. Our findings for females are concordant with results on variation in the role experience plays in development of male production of songs from these two categories.
Validity evidence in a university group oral test

This article investigates a group oral test as administered at a university in Japan to find if it is appropriate to use scores for higher stakes decision making. It is one component of an in-house English proficiency test used for placing students, evaluating their progress, and making informed decisions for the development of the English language curriculum. The implementation of a cut-score for students to advance through the university system has recently been proposed, bringing the group oral test component under increased scrutiny. On two successive occasion 113 participants sat the oral test in groups composed of different interlocutors each time. Rasch analysis shows rater fit within acceptable levels considering the length and nature of the test; however, at correlations of . 74 inter-rater agreements are lower than has been reported in research on commercially available interview tests. Candidates’ scores on the two different test occasions correlate at . 61. A generalizability study shows that the greatest systematic variation in test scores is contributed by the person-by-occasion interaction. Topic, or prompt, was not a significant factor. Candidates’ performances, or how raters perceive an individual candidates’ ability, could be affected to a large degree by the characteristics of interlocutors and interaction dynamics within the group.
Changes in ATP related compounds and IMP-degrading enzyme activity of New Zealand golden snapper [Pagrus auratus]

The amounts of ATP related compounds during storage and some properties of IMP degrading enzyme in the ordinary muscle of the golden snapper Pagrus auratus from waters around New Zealand were examined. When the muscle were stored for five days at 4°C, IMP remarkably decreased and hypoxanthine increased, whereas the amount of inosine was low and scarcely changed during storage. The amounts of IMP in the muscle hardly changed during storage for 43days at-20°C. IMP was degraded optimally at pH6.2 and pH8.4 in dorsal muscle homogenate of golden snapper. The IMP-degrading activity in the minced dorsal muscle decreased by the storage for one day at 4°C, showing 82.5% of initial activity, and since then, the activity decreased rapidly, showing 17.5% after seven days of storage. The IMP-degrading activity of crude enzyme extracted from the golden snapper muscle using the detergent remarkably increased at pH8.0 in the presence of 2mM Mg2+ and stabilized at pH7.0 for 48h (2±1°C).
Comparing the effect of probiotic and chlorhexidine as a mouth rinses in bacterial plaque

Probiotic technology represents a breakthrough approach to maintaining oral health by utilizing natural beneficial bacteria commonly found in healthy mouth to provide a natural defense against those bacteria though to be harmful to periodontal tissue. Data are still sparse on the probiotic action in the oral cavity. The aim of study was the present study evaluated clinically the efficacy of probiotic type inarched yeast extract, and chlorhexidine mouth rinses on plaque. Material &method: Four strain of probiotics bacteria were used, Lactobacillus acidophilus, Lactobacillus rhamnosus, Lactobacillus bulgaricus & bifidubacteriu m actiregularis , and grown in skim milk and plus 0.25, 0.5 % yeast extract individually, the cell free extract of each one of those treatments were add 1: 9 todiluted bacterial plaque taken from 5 subjects, to measure the effect of cell free extract on aerobic & anaerobic bacteria. 45 subjects with chronic periodontitis attend periodontal clinic in college of dentistry university of Baghdad (age 25- 35) the trial design as 14 days comparative study between a probiotic and chlorhexidine. Result: add yeast extract increased the total count of 4 probiotic bacteria 16.25 -29.22% , Cell free extract of Lb. acidophilus probiotic skim milk dairy product was the most powerful in reducing both aerobic and anaerobic plaque bacteria among other probiotic bacteria, it reduced 3.38 - 2.17 log cfu/gr aerobic bacteria while the same treatment reducing the anaerobic bacteria 2.5- 2.1 log cfu/gr , the probiotic and chlorhexidine groups had less plaque accumulations compared with the control group at the end of 14day (P<0.001and P<0.001)respectively . Conclusion: the probiotic mouth rinse was found effective in reducing plague accumulation and gingival inflammation, probiotic mouth rinse obviously has a potential therapeutic value and further study is recommended to determine the efficacy.
Effect of herbicide diclofop-methyl on proton extrusion from Lolium multiflorum seedlings differing in resistance and in fungal endophyte (Neotyphodium sp.) infection

Lolium multiflorum (Italian ryegrass), an annual weed invading wheat and barley cropping systems, has evolved resistance to diclofop-methyl (DM) herbicide. Earlier studies on the mode of action of DM in susceptible L. multiflorum and L. rigidum populations have shown that herbicide promotes oxidative stress leading to senescence, a process reversible through the action of auxins. The disruption of cell membrane potential (E m ) appears to be correlated with DM phytotoxicity in susceptible populations, suggesting that the continuous H extrusion from plasmalemma to extracellular space is inhibited. L. multiflorum usually establishes a symbiotic relationship with fungal endophytes of the Neotyphodium genus. This fungus confers to host plants higher survival at sublethal dosages of DM, probably due to the production of auxinic compounds. Our goal was to characterize DM-resistant and DM-susceptible L. multiflorum populations infected (E +) and non-infected (E-) with endophytes, by studying the capacity of H + bumping of plasmalemma of intact roots under DM selection. We correlated the effects of DM on H + disruption with plant survival. DM inhibited acidification markedly more in susceptible than in resistant populations. Continued extrusion of H by DM-resistant cell membranes was positively related to plant survival and growth. There was no detectable difference in the capacity of bumping H + between DM-susceptible E+ and E- seedlings, even though survival was higher in E+ plants. The basis for the differential response in H + extrusion between resistant and susceptible populations of L. multiflorum is discussed.
Direct estimation of the extent of contamination of food residues by microbial matter after incubation within synthetic fibre bags in the rumen

The artificial fibre bag technique has been widely used in studies of forage dry-matter digestibility (Van Keuren & Heinemann, 1962) and of the release of a range of plant constituents during fermentation in the rumen (Playne, McLeod & Dekker, 1972). More recently, the technique has been promoted as a simple means of estimating the rate and extent of food protein degradability in the rumen (θrskov & Mehrez, 1977; Mathers, Horton & Miller, 1977).
The cheesemaking potential of milk concentrated up to four-fold by ultrafiltration and heated in the range 90–97 °C

Summary Properties of interest to cheesemaking were investigated with milks concentrated by ultrafiltration and heated at 90 °C or 95–97 °C for 15 s. The effects of light homogenization before concentration and of addition of CaCl2 after heating were assessed. No changes in casein–fat or casein–whey protein interactions were detected by electron microscopy. The heat denaturation of whey protein increased linearly as the milk became more concentrated. Coagulability by rennet after heat treatment increased with concentration to close to the unheated value in 3·5 to 4-fold concentrates. The decrease in curd firming rate by heat treatment was slightly affected by concentration and addition of CaCl2 restored some of the difference. Heat treatment reduced the rate of whey loss and slightly improved the curd structure but did not affect fat losses. Light homogenization slightly reduced heat denaturation of whey protein and whey loss.
DETERMINATION OF CAFFEIC AND CHLOROGENIC ACIDS IN THE LEAVES AND FRUITS OF VITEX AGNUS-CASTUS

A high performance liquid chromatographic method was applied to the determination of caffeic and chlorogenic acids in the leaves and fruits of Vitex agnus-castus collected from three different region of Turkey. Caffeic and chlorogenic acids were known to be potent antioxidants and the two phenolic acids were investigated in Turkish Vitex agnus-castus samples for the first time. The qualitative and quantitative analysis of six extracts of the plant were performed by RP-HPLC method. The linear range of detection for caffeic and chlorogenic acids were between 1.02-400 (r2 0.9999) and 1.08-476 (r2 0.9948) jig/mL, respectively. Marmaris and Antalya leaf samples display the highest content of caffeic acid as 0.277%(w/w) and 0.266%(w/w) while Marmaris fruit and Isparta fruit samples were rich in chlorogenic acid as 0.343%(w/w) and 0.303%(w/w), respectively.
IMPORTANCE OF PREBIOTICS IN AQUACULTURE

Keywords: Prebiotic, probiotic, aquaculture. ABSTRACT The aquaculture industry is one of the fastest growing animal husbandry industries in the world with its annual growth rate. However, several disease outbreaks are posing a problem to the development of this sector. These problems constitute the largest single cause of economic losses in aquaculture. Therefore, new methods are needed to overcome disease problems. In the last decades, many fish farmers have attempted to use food additives and antibiotics to cope with fish disease problem. However, the use of antibiotics in fish farming is restricted in many countries due to occurrence of antibiotic residues in aquaculture products that threat human health. Antibiotics also cause immune-saving effect in aquatic pathogenic bacteria. Therefore, several new environment-friendly preventive and prophylactic methods are being developed nowadays to control such diseases and to maintain a healthier microbial environment in aquaculture systems. One of the methods used are probiotic supplementation to the aquatic animal in order to manipulate the gut flora and to control the microbial activity. The probiotics are described as live microorganisms which have beneficial effects on the health and physiology of host organisms. Prebiotics are also defined as non-digestible materials which provide host isolation by inhibiting the activity of harmful pathogenic microorganisms in the environment as well as supporting the development of beneficial probiotic bacteria by dint of mechanisms of various actions in the environment. The studies of prebiotics in fish have mainly researched the effect on growth, feed conversion, gut microbiota and resistance against pathogenic bacteria. Considering these components, the results have been obtained from previous scientific studies were investigated, advantages and disadvantages have been highlighted in this study.
REPRODUCTIVE CHARACTERISTICS OF BROWN BEARS ON THE OSHIMA PENINSULA, HOKKAIDO, JAPAN

Abstract We investigated reproductive characteristics of brown bears (Ursus arctos yesoensis) in the Oshima Peninsula, Hokkaido, Japan, based on the study of individuals harvested from 1983 to 1987. Analyses were based on age-class and reproductive status data determined for 196 females killed during the study period. The minimum age at 1st parturition was 4 years, but frequency of reproductive success among females <6 years old was notably lower than that among females ≥6 years of age. Females <6 years old were more apt to produce single offspring and lose them during the 1st year. There appeared to be few changes in frequency of reproducing cubs among females 6–20 years of age. Females typically separated from young when young were 15–27 months old. For mature adult females, mean litter size was 1.8, and interval between births was 2.3–3.0 years. Embryo loss and neonatal mortality were uncommon.
VISUAL CONTROL OF VELOCITY OF APPROACH BY PIGEONS WHEN LANDING

Films of pigeons flying to a perch were analysed to test a theory of how speed of approach and timing of foot extension in preparation for landing are visually controlled. Rapid neural computation of distance to perch and of speed and deceleration would seem to be required. However, according to the theory, none of this is necessary. Simpler control is possible based solely on the value of the tau function of certain optic variables x, where the tau function of × is × divided by its rate of change; i.e. tau(x)=x/x˙˙ tau(x) is a first-order approximation of time to contact with the perch and so could be used for timing foot extension. Controlled braking is possible by simply keeping tau(x), the rate of change of tau(x), constant. The results indicated that pigeons did regulate their braking when approaching the perch by keeping tau(x) constant and initiated foot extension when tau(x) reached a threshold value of approximately 150 ms. They followed this procedure even when they had one eye covered, and so binocular vision was not necessary for regulating braking or timing foot extension. It is shown that an optic variable that the pigeons could be using is the width of the optic projection of the gap between foot and perch. It is further shown that they could be using the same optic variable for controlling the trajectory of their feet to contact the perch.
Extreme sensitivity of biological function to temperature in Antarctic marine species

1. Biological capacities to respond to changing environments dictate success or failure of populations and species over time. The major environmental feature in this context is often temperature, and organisms across the planet vary widely in their capacity to cope with temperature variation. With very few exceptions, Antarctic marine species are more sensitive to temperature variation than marine groups elsewhere, having survivable temperature envelopes between 5degreesC and 12degreesC above the minimum sea temperature of -2degreesC. 2. Our findings show that in biological functions important to long-term survival these animals are even more tightly constrained. The Antarctic bivalve mollusc Laternula elliptica and limpet Nacella concinna both survive a few days in experiments at 9-10degreesC, but suffer 50% failure in essential biological activities at 2-3degreesC and complete loss at 5degreesC. The Antarctic scallop Adamussium colbecki is even more sensitive, and loses the ability to swim as temperature approaches 2degreesC. 3. These failures of activity are caused by a loss of aerobic capacity, and the animals investigated are so sensitive that a 2degreesC rise in sea temperature could cause population or species removal from the Southern Ocean.
Estimating Sustainable Harvest in Wolverine Populations Using Logistic Regression

Abstract Population viability analysis (PVA) is a common tool to evaluate population vulnerability. However, most techniques require reliable estimates of underlying population parameters, which are often difficult to obtain and PVA are, therefore, best used in a qualitative context. Logistic regression is a powerful alternative to traditional PVA methods but has received surprisingly limited attention. Logistic regression fits regression equations to binary output from PVA models at a specific point in time to predict probability of a binary response over a range of parameter values. We used logistic regression on output from stochastic population models to evaluate the relative importance of demographic parameters for wolverine (Gulo gulo) populations and to estimate sustainable harvest in a wolverine population in Alaska. Our analysis indicated that adult survival is the most important demographic parameter to reliably estimate in wolverine populations because it had a greater effect on population persistence than did both fecundity and subadult survival. In accordance with this, harvest rate had a greater effect on population persistence than did any of the other harvest- and migration-related variables we tested. Furthermore, a high proportion of harvested females strengthened the effect of harvest. Hypothetical wolverine populations suffered high probabilities of both extinction and population decline over a range of realistic population sizes and harvest regimes. We suggest that harvested wolverine populations must be regarded as sink populations and that source populations in combination with sufficient dispersal corridors must be secured for any wolverine harvest to be sustainable.
A Radical Solution to the Species Problem

Ghiselin, M. T . (Department of Zoology and Bodega Marine Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, P. 0.Box 247, Bodega Bay, California 94923). 1975. A radical solution to the species problem. Syst. 2001.23:536-544. -Traditionally, species (like other taxa) have been treated as classes (universals). In fact they may be considered individuals (particular things). The logical term "individual" has been confused with a biological synonym for "organism. " If species are individuals, then: 1) their names are proper, 2 ) there cannot be instances of them, 3 ) they do not have defining properties (intensions), 4 ) their constituent organisms are parts, not members. "Species" may be defined as the most extensive units in the natural economy such that reproductive competition occurs among their parts. Species are to evolutionary theory as firms are to economic theory: this analogy resolves many issues, such as the problems of "reality" and the ontological status of nomenclatorial types. [Biological species; systematics; philosophy. ] It would appear that the philosophy of taxonomy is about to undergo a major upheaval. Symptomatic is its Gordian knot, the species problem. Some years ago (Ghiselin, 1966a) I attempted to cut it with the sword, casually remarking that, in the logical sense, species are individuals, not classes. So entrenched had the habit become of treating species as universals rather than as particular things, and their names as general rather than proper, that it took some time before this pronouncement was taken seriously. The position in question is hardly new. It goes back at least to Buffon, but I believe this was the first explicit use of it against what has been misleadingly called the nominalistic species concept. Even Ruse ( 1973), a philosopher who cites the foregoing work, passes the notion over in silence. On the other hand Hull (1974) has lately endorsed the idea that, from the point of view of evolutionary theory, biological species and monophyletic taxa are individuals. And Mayr (1969a), while not going so far, strongly emphasizes the point that species are more than just nominal classes. It would appear that the subject deserves further analysis and comment.
An alternative to slurry mixing to minimise sample preparation variance for determination of ochratoxin A in wheat.

Many countries have established maximum limits for ochratoxin A (OTA) in cereal grains and implemented surveillance programs for OTA in wheat shipments. For shipment to some countries, certification for OTA content is mandatory. These control activities require the capability to measure OTA in bulk grain shipments with accuracy and precision. It is known that the nugget effect caused by the heterogeneous nature of mycotoxin contamination in agricultural commodities creates major challenges for generating representative test results due to the potential for high variances in the sampling / sample preparation phases of the analytical process. The water-slurry mixing approach to sample preparation has greatly minimises variances associated with this phase of the analytical process, but this is not a practical technique for all laboratories. The potential magnitude of variances for subsampling raw and ground grain for the dry-milling approach to sample preparation and the means for reducing variances to accep.
Embryonic and post-emergence changes of acid and alkaline phosphatases in the cotton leaf worm, Spodoptera littoralis (Boisd.)

The acid and alkaline phosphatase activities were studied in the de veloping egg of the cotton leaf worm, Spodoptera littoralis at different time intervals (ages, 0 72 h). The activities of these enzymes were also studied in aging ovary and testi s of post-emerged adult at the same intervals (ages, 0 – 72 h). The post-emerged adults were grouped into mated and non-mated females and males. Acid phosphatase activity was noticed to be cyclic with the embryonic development and was higher than that of alkaline phosphatase. Alkaline phosphatase activity was slightly increased in the freshly laid egg s but decreased more sharply than acid phosphatase during embryonic development. In all groups of post -emerged adults, acid phosphatase activities were much greater than those of the alkaline phosphatase at any given stage of progressively increasing age. Acid and alkaline phosphatase activities were also noticed to be cyclic in the post -emerged mated and non-mated adults. A conspicuous difference was noted between the activities of these enzymes in ovaries and testes of mated and non-mated adults. This phenomenon could be due to the periods of spermatozoa production in the testes and yolk accumulation in oocytes and ovulation. Mating could be also a factor that affected the phosphatases in both males and females.