Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The perceived threat of COVID‐19 and its impact on hygienic precautionary behaviors: A multi‐countries study

Abstract Objective(s) To explore the perceived threats of COVID‐19 and how it changed the personal hygienic precautionary behaviors across multiple countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Design A cross‐sectional descriptive design was used to survey the four targeted MENA countries: Jordan, Palestinian territories, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt. Sample A nonprobability convenience sampling design was utilized. The link to the survey questionnaire was distributed through social media groups within Facebook® and Twitter®. The groups are known and accessible by known across the general population at the targeted countries. Measurement Data was collected using The Brief Illness Perception Questionnaire and an adapted instrument that examine the hygienic precautionary behaviors during COVID‐19 pandemic. Results Answers of participants (n = 2604) were valid and included in the study. The results show that a minimal perception of threat among the participants on most of the BIP‐Q5 items (M = 12.9, SD = 7.2). Moreover, the highest compliance rates to recommended hygienic precautionary behaviors were found among populations above the age of 50 years (F = 2.89, p = .04), females (t = 5.18, p = .003), being married (F = 3.09, p = .029), and being a health care professional (t = ‐2.20, p = .028). Conclusion The perceived threat of COVID‐19 and compliance rates with the recommended hygienic precautionary behaviors among Arab societies were found to below and need critically urgent attention.
Independent evaluation of the uses of Espresso online digital resources in primary schools : Final Report – Summary

In 2010, Espresso commissioned an academically-based and fully independent evaluation study to explore outcomes of uses of its online resources in primary schools. The aims of the study were to explore how Espresso resources are used to support teaching and learning, to assess cost and associated benefits arising, and to explore whether levels or types of use in schools might be associated with measures of pupil achievement and school performance. The evaluation that was undertaken drew on a range of different forms of evidence, analysed in ways to match the needs of the specific aims being explored. In order to make the full report of the study and its findings more easily accessible, and to enable the reader to focus on selected aspects of specific interest, the entire report has been divided into four sections. Section 1 Summary – this section contains two main elements, Report Headlines and an Executive Summary. Section 2 School Uses and Learning Impacts – this includes an introduction and background to the study, details of the structure of the study relating to school uses and learning impacts, descriptions of schools providing evidence, details of how Espresso resources are used in schools and learning outcomes related to these, the pedagogies that teachers adopt when using the resources, and key aspects of learning that are impacted by uses of Espresso resources. Section 3 Management, Time and Cost Benefits – this includes an introduction and background to the study, details of the structure of the study relating to management, time and cost benefits, details of benefits arising, and how these are calculated at school and wider levels. Section 4 Attainment and Usage Levels – this includes an introduction and background to the study, details of the structure of the study relating to attainment, performance and usage levels, the forms of data that were gathered and used for this element of the study, and the forms of analysis that were undertaken, together with a range of detailed statistical findings.
A guanosine tetraphosphate (ppGpp) mediated brake on photosynthesis is required for acclimation to nitrogen limitation in Arabidopsis

Guanosine pentaphosphate and tetraphosphate (together referred to as ppGpp) are hyperphosphorylated nucleotides found in bacteria and the chloroplasts of plants and algae. In plants and algae artificial ppGpp accumulation can inhibit chloroplast gene expression, and influence photosynthesis, nutrient remobilization, growth, and immunity. However, it is so far unknown whether ppGpp is required for abiotic stress acclimation in plants. Here, we demonstrate that ppGpp biosynthesis is necessary for acclimation to nitrogen starvation in Arabidopsis. We show that ppGpp is required for remodeling the photosynthetic electron transport chain to downregulate photosynthetic activity and for protection against oxidative stress. Furthermore, we demonstrate that ppGpp is required for coupling chloroplastic and nuclear gene expression during nitrogen starvation. Altogether, our work indicates that ppGpp is a pivotal regulator of chloroplast activity for stress acclimation in plants.
No escape from tradition? Source country culture and gendered employment patterns among immigrants in Sweden

Abstract The study aims to explore whether gendered family roles in the country of origin and the country of destination explain labor market outcomes for immigrants in Sweden. We examine the assumptions of the source country culture literature—that traditional gender norms in immigrants’ source countries drive women’s employment in the new country—by focusing on gender differences and exploring group- and individual-level mechanisms, notably, that of care responsibilities. Using Swedish register data, comprising more than 660 000 individuals from 110 source countries, we analyze the labor market establishment of immigrant women and men in 2016 with multi-level regressions. Findings show that the gender gap in employment is significantly larger among groups from countries with low female labor force participation. Much of this gap is explained by women’s care responsibilities, both at arrival and through continued fertility after arrival. Thus, even in Sweden, with longstanding policies promoting female employment, immigrant women’s employment is conditioned by the gender-traditionality of their source countries. The findings question the gender-equalizing power of welfare state institutions in the face of increasing immigration. However, education crucially affects the implications of cultural background and fertility. In future research, these mechanisms—including the group-level correlations—should be further explored to better pinpoint the obstacles facing women from traditional countries.
Antibacterial activity of silver nanoparticles synthesized using endophytic fungus—Penicillium cinnamopurpureum

Abstract Myconanotechnology is a multidisciplinary field that involves synthesizing nanoparticles at the nanometer scale by combining physics and biology. Many novel nanoparticles have been synthesized using various metals, and silver plays a vital role in multiple fields due to its distinctive property. In this study, silver nanoparticles were synthesized using Penicillium cinnamopurpureum (endophytic fungus) isolated from the medicinal plant Curculigo orchioides. The silver nanoparticles were characterized and subjected to antibacterial activity. Different spectroscopic studies confirmed the formation of spherical and polydispersed silver nanoparticles with an average size of 30 nm, well capped with functional groups. The green silver nanomaterial displayed a potential antimicrobial activity against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. Thus the silver nanoparticles synthesized using P. cinnamopurpureum can be used as a broad-spectrum antimicrobial agent against pathogenic bacteria.
What Are the Interactions Between the Midbrain Dopamine System in Pain?

There is both experimental and indirect clinical evidence that dopaminergic neurons in the ventral tegmental area (VTA) respond to acute painful stimuli and are involved in the perception, modulation, and behavioral response of chronic pain (reviewed in references 1 and 2). However, the precise role of this system remains poorly understood given the functional heterogeneity of these neurons, including their different targets and their differential response to acute painful stimuli, plastic changes in response to nerve injury associated with neuropathic pain, and effects on different forebrain areas involved in emotion, reward processing, and motivation.1-4 Most of the recent insights into the role of dopaminergic VTA neurons in mechanisms of pain result from elegant studies in rodents combining optogenetics, chemogenetics, calcium imaging, viral tracing, single-cell recording, and behavioral measures, both in response to acute noxious stimulation and in experimental models of chronic pain, typically that induced by peripheral nerve injury.5-11 Whereas these results may not be easily extrapolated to clinical situations in humans, they provide evidence that chronic pain is associated with dysfunction of the midbrain dopaminergic system and its targets. This has been demonstrated indirectly using neuroimaging modalities in humans12-14 and is clinically relevant given the function of this system at the interface between pain and reward, motivation, and drug-seeking behavior.4,15,16 This subject has been the topic of comprehensive reviews1,2,15,16 and other concepts are briefly discussed here.
A Central Role for Magnesium Homeostasis during Adaptation to Osmotic Stress

Environments with high concentrations of salt or other solutes impose an osmotic stress on cells, ultimately limiting viability by dehydration of the cytosol. A very common cellular response to high osmolarity is to immediately import high levels of potassium ion (K+), which helps prevent dehydration and allows time for the import or synthesis of biocompatible solutes that allow a resumption of growth. ABSTRACT Osmotic stress is a significant physical challenge for free-living cells. Cells from all three domains of life maintain viability during osmotic stress by tightly regulating the major cellular osmolyte potassium (K+) and by import or synthesis of compatible solutes. It has been widely established that in response to high salt stress, many bacteria transiently accumulate high levels of K+, leading to bacteriostasis, with growth resuming only when compatible solutes accumulate and K+ levels are restored to biocompatible levels. Using Bacillus subtilis as a model system, we provide evidence that K+ fluxes perturb Mg2+ homeostasis: import of K+ upon osmotic upshift is correlated with Mg2+ efflux, and Mg2+ reimport is critical for adaptation. The transient growth inhibition resulting from hyperosmotic stress is coincident with loss of Mg2+ and a decrease in protein translation. Conversely, the reimport of Mg2+ is a limiting factor during resumption of growth. Furthermore, we show the essential signaling dinucleotide cyclic di-AMP fluctuates dynamically in coordination with Mg2+ and K+ levels, consistent with the proposal that cyclic di-AMP orchestrates the cellular response to osmotic stress. IMPORTANCE Environments with high concentrations of salt or other solutes impose an osmotic stress on cells, ultimately limiting viability by dehydration of the cytosol. A very common cellular response to high osmolarity is to immediately import high levels of potassium ion (K+), which helps prevent dehydration and allows time for the import or synthesis of biocompatible solutes that allow a resumption of growth. Here, using Bacillus subtilis as a model, we demonstrate that concomitant with K+ import there is a large reduction in intracellular magnesium (Mg2+) mediated by specific efflux pumps. Further, it is the reimport of Mg2+ that is rate-limiting for the resumption of growth. These coordinated fluxes of K+ and Mg2+ are orchestrated by cyclic-di-AMP, an essential second messenger in Firmicutes. These findings amend the conventional model for osmoadaptation and reveal that Mg2+ limitation is the proximal cause of the bacteriostasis that precedes resumption of growth.
Associations of Chronic Kidney Disease With Dementia Before and After TIA and Stroke

Background and Objectives Individuals with chronic kidney disease (CKD) appear to be at increased risk of cognitive impairment, with both vascular and neurodegenerative mechanisms postulated. To explore the vascular hypothesis, we studied the association between CKD and dementia before and after TIA and stroke. Methods In a prospective, population-based cohort study of TIA and stroke (Oxford Vascular Study; 2002–2012), pre-event and new postevent dementia were ascertained through direct patient assessment and follow-up for 5 years, supplemented by review of hospital/primary care records. Associations between pre-event dementia and CKD (defined as an estimated glomerular filtration rate [eGFR] <60 mL/min/1.73 m2) were examined using logistic regression and between postevent dementia and CKD using Cox and competing risk regression models, adjusted for age, sex, education, stroke severity, prior stroke, white matter disease, diabetes mellitus, and dysphasia. Results Among 2,305 patients with TIA/stroke (median [interquartile range] age, 77 [67–84] years, 1,133 [49%] male, 688 [30%] TIA), 1,174 (50.9%) had CKD. CKD was associated with both pre-event (odds ratio [OR] 2.04 [95% confidence interval (CI) 1.52–2.72]; p < 0.001) and postevent dementia (hazard ratio [HR] 2.01 [95% CI 1.65–2.44]; p < 0.001), but these associations attenuated after adjustment for covariates (OR 0.92 [0.65–1.31]; p = 0.65 and HR 1.09 [0.85–1.39]; p = 0.50). The results were similar when a competing risk model was used (subdistribution HR [SHR] 1.74 [1.43–2.12]; p < 0.001, attenuating to 1.01 [0.78–1.33]; p = 0.92 with adjustment). CKD was more strongly associated with late (>1 year) postevent dementia (SHR 2.32 [1.70–3.17]; p < 0.001), particularly after TIA and minor stroke (SHR 3.08 [2.05–4.64]; p < 0.001), but not significantly so after adjustment (SHR 1.53 [0.90–2.60]; p = 0.12). Discussion In patients with TIA and stroke, CKD was not independently associated with either pre- or postevent dementia, suggesting that renal-specific mechanisms are unlikely to play an important role in aetiology.
Intraspecific Variation of Myotis emarginatus (Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae) Inferred from Mitochondrial and Nuclear Genetic Markers

Geoffroy's bat, Myotis emarginatus, is the only species of the African clade of the genus Myotis distributed in the south-western part of the Palaearctic. Due to its extensive distribution range, stretching across several ecologic zones from the European and African Mediterranean, Central Europe, through the Levant and Caucasus to West Turkestan and south-eastern Middle East, this bat is traditionally considered to be a variable and polytypic species. While one subspecies was recognized in Europe and North Africa, up to four subspecies were reported from the Asian part of the species range. Nevertheless, the systematic positions of different populations and the validity of particular taxa remained unclear. Our aim was to revise the phylogenetic status of M. emarginatus and, for the first time, genetically analyse samples from the Asian part of its range to provide new insight into its intraspecific variation. We analysed sequences of two mitochondrial and three nuclear markers from more than 130 samples from all parts of the species range, together with sequences from other species from the African clade of the genus Myotis. According to the previous morphometric results of body and skull dimensions, M. emarginatus can be divided into two groups of populations: the small-sized and more variable bats of Europe, the Maghreb and Levant; and the large-sized bats of the rest of the Asian range. This division was well supported by mitochondrial genes, which separated two main lineages within the species: the western lineage from Europe, the Maghreb and Levant; and the eastern lineage from the eastern Middle East and West Turkestan. Both mitochondrial lineages were further divided into two sublineages: the western lineage to sublineages from the Holy Land and the rest of the Mediterranean range; and the eastern lineage to sublineages from Oman and southern Iran, and northern Iran and West Turkestan. In contrast, the nuclear genes reconstructed only one lineage through the whole distribution range, suggesting M. emarginatus to be a monophyletic species. Nevertheless, on the basis of previously described geographical variability in morphology and the newly described mitochondrial variation, we recognize two subspecies within M. emarginatus: small-sized M. e. emarginatus distributed in the Mediterranean, western and central Europe and Levant; and large-sized M. e. desertorum in the eastern Middle East, from Oman to West Turkestan.
Seasonality in the Emission of Contact Calls in Spix's Disc-Winged Bats (Thyroptera tricolor) Suggests a Potential Role in Mate Attraction

Multiple studies show that animals exhibit consistent individual differences in behavior, but they also experience short-term changes in their behavioral responses associated with seasonal events, most notably reproduction. We compare calling rates between the breeding and non-breeding seasons, and between males and females, in Spix's disk-winged bats (Thyroptera tricolor). This species performs an exchange of inquiry and response calls in a context of social coordination and these vocalizations are used by individuals to signal roost location. Our results indicate that during the breeding season all males vocalize and also emit a greater number of response calls. In females, we found that there is no significant difference in their vocal behavior during the breeding and non-breeding seasons. Even though being vocal leads to greater energy costs and risk of predation, males were more vocal and emitted more vocalizations when females are known to be ovulating. Therefore, our results suggest that response calls may not only facilitate group cohesion, as found in previous studies, but that it may also play a role in courtship.
Inter-Taxon and Seasonal Variations of Mineral Concentrations in Soft Tissues of Frugivorous Phyllostomid Bats in a Mineral-Limited Ecosystem

The western Amazon is characterized by a shortage of available minerals. Chemical analysis of food items and feces of frugivorous bats has shown that they may experience inadequate mineral intake. Assessing the inter-taxon and seasonal variations in mineral loads of wild frugivorous bats may help determine the mineral constraints in their diets. Our sampling was based on bats from the genus Carollia (n = 19 specimens) and the tribe Stenodermatini (n = 20; mainly genera Platyrrhinus and Artibeus) from highland tropical forests in Peru collected during the dry and wet seasons throughout a year. We analyzed the total concentrations of eight minerals in combined samples of liver and spleen for each bat, and compared concentrations between taxa and seasons. Our findings regarding manganese, iron, copper, zinc, and magnesium concentrations were generally consistent with those reported in the literature, while the sodium, potassium, and calcium concentrations would be the first reported in bats. We observed higher mineral concentrations in Carollia than in Stenodermatini bats, which may be linked with differences in their dietary preferences and inherent physiological characteristics. Seasonal mineral variations of frugivorous bats reported here were associated with temporal differences in the food items consumed and availability of mineral licks. Given that bats we studied come from a mineral-limited ecosystem, we suggest that Stenodermatini bats may face greater dietary limitations for sodium and potassium, and that frugivorous bats may exhibit seasonal constraints for copper and calcium. Recognition of potentially limited minerals, coupled with future studies on plant products that contain them, would be useful in the restoration programs for highland forests, which is one of the most threatened ecosystems in the Neotropics.
Going Bald — The Hairy Affair of Timing in Telemetry Studies: Moulting Activity in European Bat Species

Telemetry is a widely used method for radio-tracking bats. To minimize negative effects of attaching a tag, like bald spots during hibernation and nursery period, narrowing down the timing of the moult of bats is important. In this study, we investigated the moulting of 11 European bat species with a focus on Myotis daubentonii, Myotis myotis and Pipistrellus pipistrellus. Telemetry data were taken from a 20 years data base. For moulting activity bats were caught with mist nests during their activity period in 2019 and 2020. During data acquisition the condition of the hair was categorized using two different methods: visual hair growth and shed hair pulled off the bats' pelage. Both methods revealed the same results. In general, bats moulted once a year in mid-June (first moult: 17.06) until mid-August (last moult: 13.08), with a significant difference between adult males, reproductive females and non-reproductive females. Adult males (n = 197) and non-reproductive females (n = 60) moulted from mid-June (first moult: 17.06) to end of July (last moult: 27.07), while reproductive females (n = 216) moulted from beginning of July (first moult: 02.07) to mid-August (last moult: 17.08). This variance is probably caused by sex-specific energetic processes like pregnancy, lactation and spermatogenesis. When tagged before moulting season bats could regrow fur in the same year. As seen in recaptured bats (n = 31), tagged in or after this period bats stayed bald during hibernation and reproduction period until the following moulting season. Further studies are needed to specifically assess the impact of bald spots on hibernation and reproductive success. A preceding cost-benefit analysis of the expected knowledge gain versus the potential negative impact on individual and colony scale is recommended.
Hierarchical Sliding Inference Generator for Question-driven Abstractive Answer Summarization

Text summarization on non-factoid question answering (NQA) aims at identifying the core information of redundant answer guidance using questions, which can dramatically improve answer readability and comprehensibility. Most existing approaches focus on extracting query-related sentences to construct a summary, where the logical connection of natural language and the hierarchical interpretable semantic association are often neglected, thus degrading performance. To address these issues, we propose a novel question-driven abstractive answer summarization model, called the Hierarchical Sliding Inference Generator (HSIG), to form inferable and interpretable summaries by explicitly introducing hierarchical information reasoning between questions and corresponding answers. Specifically, we first apply an elaborately designed hierarchical sliding fusion inference model to determine the most relevant question sentence-level representation that provides a deeper interpretable basis for sentence selection in summarization, which further increases computational performance on the premise of following the semantic inheritance structure. Additionally, to improve summary fluency, we construct a double-driven selective generator to integrate various semantic information from two mutual question-and-answer perspectives. Experimental results illustrate that compared with state-of-the-art baselines, our model achieves remarkable improvement on two benchmark datasets and specifically improves the 2.46 ROUGE-1 points on PubMedQA, which demonstrates the superiority of our model on abstractive summarization with hierarchical sequential reasoning.