Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Field Testing Peach Rootstocks for Resistance to Armillaria Root Rot

Armillaria root rot is the second leading cause of peach tree mortality (after peach tree short life) in the southeastern United States. Currently, there are no commer- cially available rootstocks for peach with proven resistance to this pathogen in the United States. Since 1983, we have been screening rootstock candidates for resistance to Armillaria utilizing naturally infected field sites. Inoculation of peach ( Prunus persica (L.) Batsch), plum (P. cerasifera J.F. Ehrh., P. munsoniana F.W. Wight & Hedr., P. salicina Lindl. or P. angustifolia Marsh.) x peach and plum x plum hybrid rootstocks with infected plant tissue (such as acorns, Quercus sp.) prior to planting has provided a significantly increased infection and mortality of candidate rootstock lines in comparison with sole reliance on natural inoculum on an infested site. The principal causes of premature tree mortality in the peach growing areas of the southeastern United States are peach tree short life (PTSL), responsible for ≈50% of tree deaths annually (Miller, 1994), and Armillaria root rot (ARR). The latter disease is estimated to be responsible for 35% of annual tree losses with an estimated lifetime production value (value of lost crops through an expected 15 year lifespan) of $5-6 million (Miller, 1994). The peach trees in these areas are propa- gated almost entirely on peach seedling rootstocks, typically 'Lovell', 'Nemaguard', and, more recently, 'Guardian' ® the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture (USDA) and Clemson Univ. in 1993 (Okie et al., 1994a), is rapidly displacing both 'Lovell' and 'Nemaguard'. 'Guardian' ® is clearly more resistant to PTSL than is 'Lovell'. In addi- tion, 'Guardian' ® , unlike 'Lovell', appears to have root-knot nematode resistance compa- rable to that of 'Nemaguard'. Like most peach seedling rootstocks, 'Lovell', 'Nemaguard', and 'Guardian'
A Simulation Model for the Annual Frost Hardiness and Freeze Damage of Scots Pine

Abstract The changes in the frost hardiness of Scots pine were modelled by a dynamic model where the input variables were temperature and photoperiod and the phase of annual development. The damage caused by freezing was described by the sigmoidal relationship between the relative needle damage and freezing temperature. The model simulations were carried out using temperature data from two sites in central Finland—Suonenjoki and Tampere. The validity of the frost hardiness model was tested with measured frost hardiness data from Suonenjoki. The effects of climatic warming were also simulated by increasing temperature of the long-term climatic data. Genotypic differences in chilling requirement, which determines the timing of the reduction of hardening competence, were included in the simulations. The simulated needle damage increased as a result of climatic warming, and the differences in the chilling requirement had a stronger effect on the amount of damage in the warmed climate than in the present climate. A large variation between years was found in the level of damage.
Nitrogen‐use efficiency: trade‐offs between N productivity and mean residence time at organ, plant and population levels

Summary 1. Nitrogen-use efficiency (NUE N ) is often decomposed into the product of N productivity ( A N ) and the mean residence time of N (MRT N ). Theory suggests a trade-off between both components, but direct experimental evidence is still scarce. A field study with young trees of the evergreen Quercus ilex and the marcescent-evergreen Quercus faginea was carried out to test this trade-off through analysis of plant traits at organ, whole-plant and population levels. 2. Specific leaf area (SLA) was the main trait positively related to A N in Q. faginea . By contrast, greater litter production and consumption by caterpillars resulted in larger N losses and shorter MRT N in Q. faginea . Early leaf senescence in Q. faginea produced leaf litter with high N concentration that contributed significantly to N loss. Moreover, Q. ilex had higher plant survivorship. The inverse relationship between leaf longevity and SLA is probably a key component of the trade-off between N losses and plant N productivity. 3. Quercus faginea had greater N uptake from soil, linked to its longer specific root length of fine roots and greater biomass allocation to underground tissues. Smaller N losses in Q. ilex compensated for its smaller N uptake and allowed a similar N balance at whole-plant level. 4. Our results support the hypothesis of a trade-off between A N and MRT N . Quercus ilex had a long MRT N , while Q. faginea has a high A N , and vice versa . The long MRT N in Q. ilex involves not only reduced N loss through long intrinsic leaf life span, but also resistance to harsh environmental factors and defence against herbivores. This suggests that a long MRT N is a potentially successful strategy in nutrient-poor environments.
Allocating Rights to Mine Blocks

This paper studies mechanisms for allocating rights to forge new blocks on a blockchain. The proof of work contest (PoW) where all block generators, or miners, compete for finding the next block is characterized. The central feature of the PoW contest is that no miner has an incentive to participate with multiple identities, a property called sybil proofness. There are several alternatives for the PoW that involve payments and messaging between the miners and the protocol, features that are not used in the PoW contest. A class of mechanisms that generalizes the proof of stake procedure is introduced for allocating multiple rights to carry out the mining of blocks. These mechanisms are characterized by a set of elementary properties. Auctioning the rights to add blocks into a blockchain is also considered.
Partitioning the relative contribution of one‐phase and two‐phase seed dispersal when evaluating seed dispersal effectiveness

Seed dispersal effectiveness (SDE) is a conceptual framework that aims at quantifying the contribution of seed dispersal vectors to plant fitness. While it is well recognized that diplochorous dispersal systems, characterized by two successive dispersal steps performed by two different vectors (Phase I = primary seed dispersal and Phase II = secondary seed dispersal) which are common in temperate and tropical regions, little attention has been given to distinguishing the relative contribution of one‐phase and two‐phase dispersal to overall SDE. This conceptual gap probably results from the lack of a clear methodology to include Phase II dispersal into the calculation of SDE and to quantify its relative contribution. We propose a method to evaluate the relative contribution of one‐phase and two‐phase dispersal to SDE and determine whether two seed dispersers are better than one. To do so, we used the SDE landscape and an extension of the SDE landscape, the Phase II effect landscape, which measures the direction and magnitude of the Phase II dispersal effect on overall SDE. We used simulated and empirical data from a diplochorous dispersal system in the Peruvian Amazon to illustrate this new approach. Our approach provides the relative contribution of one‐phase SDE (SDE1) and two‐phase SDE (SDE2) to overall SDE and quantifies how much SDE changes with the addition of Phase II dispersal. Considering that the seed dispersal process is context dependent so that Phase II depends on Phase I, we predict the possible range of variation of SDE according to the variation of the probability of Phase II dispersal. In our specific study system composed of two primate species as primary dispersal vectors and different species of dung beetles as secondary dispersal vectors, the relative contribution of SDE1 and SDE2 to overall SDE varied between plant species. We discuss the context dependency of the Phase II dispersal and the potential applications of our approach. This extension to the conceptual framework of SDE enables quantitative evaluation of the effect of Phase II dispersal on plant fitness and can be easily adapted to other biotic and/or abiotic diplochorous dispersal systems.
Review of clinical neurorestorative strategies for spinal cord injury: Exploring history and latest progresses

bridges. Clinical neurorestorative therapies recently made great progress for patients with spinal cord injury (SCI). This paper systemically reviews historical perspectives, recent advancements and achievements in SCI through key neurorestorative strategies. In this study, a search was performed in the PubMed, Scopus, and Scholar Google search engines using the keywords “neurorestorative strategies”, “spinal cord injury”, “cell therapy”, “neuromodulation”, and “nerve bridges”. Clinical studies published in the English language were included. It is paramount for academic community involved in this field to take the initiative of a multicenter randomized, double-blind, and placebo-control clinical study with high level of evidence-based treatments for most SCI neurorestorative strategies in patient management. It is of utmost need to establish standard therapeutic methods for patients with SCI as early as
CONTROL OF GLYCEMIA AND CARDIOVASCULAR RISK FACTORS IN PATIENTS WITH TYPE 2 DIABETES IN PRIMARY CARE IN MONTENEGRO

Some observational studies have shown that only a small number of diabetic patients achieve optimum control of glycaemia and cardiovascular risk factors. The aim of this study was to analyze whether patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus treated in primary care achieve adequate control of glycemic levels and cardiovascular risk factors. This was a retrospective, record-based, cross-sectional study that included eligible patients from 35 to 90 years old with type 2 diabetes mellitus treated in Primary Health Care Center in Podgorica. We investigated electronic records of 531 diabetic patients. The observed prevalence of type 2 diabetes mellitus among individuals between ages 35 and 90 years, was 11,84 %. Half of the patients were female. The mean age was 65,88±9,86 years. The mean value of HbA1c was 7,56±1,71. Fifty-nine percents of patients achieved optimal levels of HbA1c ≤ 7 %. Also, more than half of patients achieved target levels of blood pressure while 27.9% achieved LDL ≤ 2.6 mmol/L. Fifty percent of patients were non-smokers and 45.1 % were obese. Among patients on primary prevention only 5.7 % had met all target levels while on secondary prevention that number was even smaller 3.7 %. Our study showed that control of HbA1c and blood pressure was similar to other studies but reaching target levels of LDL was challenging for our patients. Further analysis are needed in order to discover the reasons for poor control of certain CVRF and to develop strategies for its optimal management.
Outcomes and Resource Utilization Among Patients Admitted to the Intensive Care Unit Following Acute Exacerbation of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Purpose: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a common condition, accounting for a significant number of intensive care unit (ICU) admissions. However, little is known about outcomes and costs among ICU patients admitted with acute exacerbations of COPD (AECOPD). We studied predictors of inhospital mortality and costs of ICU admissions for AECOPD. Methods: Data were obtained from a prospectively maintained registry from 2 ICUs from 2011 to 2016, including adult patients (age ≥ 18) with an ICU discharge diagnosis of AECOPD. The primary outcome was hospital mortality. Secondary outcomes included ICU length of stay, resource utilization, total hospital costs, and cost per survivor. Results: We included 390 patients, of which 27.2% died in hospital. Independent predictors of inhospital mortality included age (odds ratio [OR]: 1.95, CI: 1.58-2.67) and the presence of clinical frailty (OR: 4.12, CI: 2.26-6.95). The mean total hospital costs were Can$35 059, with a cost per survivor of Can$48 191. Factors associated with increased cost included transfer from an inpatient setting, severity of illness, and previous ICU admission. Conclusions: Approximately a quarter of patients admitted to ICU with AECOPD died during hospitalization, and these patients accrued significant costs. This study identifies important factors associated with poor outcome in this at-risk population, which has value in risk stratification and patient or family discussions addressing goals of care.
Effect of consumption of ancient grain bread leavened with sourdough or with baker’s yeast on cardio-metabolic risk parameters: a dietary intervention trial

Abstract The aim of this study was to compare the effect of consumption of ancient grain “Verna” bread obtained by two different leavening agents, sourdough (SD) and baker’s yeast (BY), on inflammatory parameters and cardiometabolic risk factors. Seventeen clinically healthy subjects were included to consume SD or BY bread for 4 weeks each, and blood analyses were carried out. The consumption of “Verna” bread obtained with both leavening agents led to a significant improvement of LDL cholesterol. A reduction of −10.6% and −8.53% was observed after replacement with SD and BY bread, respectively. A significant increase in fasting blood glucose (+6%) was observed only after the intervention with BY bread. A 10.7% decrease of vascular endothelial growth factor was found after the SD bread replacement period. The consumption of “Verna” bread resulted significantly associated with an improvement in the cardiometabolic and inflammatory profile. However, only consumption of BY bread determined a significant increase in blood glucose levels. Graphical Abstract
Cell-Based Therapeutic Approaches for Cystic Fibrosis

Cystic Fibrosis (CF) is a chronic autosomal recessive disease caused by defects in the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator gene (CFTR). Cystic Fibrosis affects multiple organs but progressive remodeling of the airways, mucus accumulation, and chronic inflammation in the lung, result in lung disease as the major cause of morbidity and mortality. While advances in management of CF symptoms have increased the life expectancy of this devastating disease, and there is tremendous excitement about the potential of new agents targeting the CFTR molecule itself, there is still no curative treatment. With the recent advances in the identification of endogenous airway progenitor cells and in directed differentiation of pluripotent cell sources, cell-based therapeutic approaches for CF have become a plausible treatment method with the potential to ultimately cure the disease. In this review, we highlight the current state of cell therapy in the CF field focusing on the relevant autologous and allogeneic cell populations under investigation and the challenges associated with their use. In addition, we present advances in induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cell approaches and emerging new genetic engineering methods, which have the capacity to overcome the current limitations hindering cell therapy approaches.
Time-Restricted Feeding Improves Body Weight Gain, Lipid Profiles, and Atherogenic Indices in Cafeteria-Diet-Fed Rats: Role of Browning of Inguinal White Adipose Tissue

Time-restricted feeding (TRF) showed a potent effect in preventing obesity and improving metabolicoutcomes in several animal models of obesity. However, there is, as of yet, scarce evidence concerning its effectiveness against obesogenic challenges that more accurately mimic human Western diets, such as the cafeteria diet. Moreover, the mechanism for its efficacy is poorly understood. White adipose browning has been linked to body weight loss. Herein, we tested whether TRF has the potential to induce browning of inguinal white adipose tissue (iWAT) and to attenuate obesity and associated dyslipidemia in a cafeteria-diet-induced obesity model. Male Wistar rats were fed normal laboratory chow (NC) or cafeteria diet (CAF) for 16 weeks and were subdivided into two groups that were subjected to either ad libitum (ad lib, A) or TRF (R) for 8 h per day. Rats under the TRF regimen had a lower body weight gain and adiposity than the diet-matchedad lib rats, despite equivalent levels of food intake and locomotor activity. In addition, TRF improved the deranged lipid profile (total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TG), high-density lipoprotein (HDL-c), low-density lipoprotein (LDL-c)) and atherogenic indices (atherogenic index of plasma (AIP), atherogenic coefficient (AC), coronary risk index (CRI) in CAF-fed rats. Remarkably, TRF resulted in decreased size of adipocytes and induced emergence of multilocular brown-like adipocytes in iWAT of NC- and CAF-fed rats. Protein expression of browning markers, such as uncoupling protein-1 (UCP1) and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma coactivator 1-alpha (PGC1α), were also up-regulated in the iWAToftime-restricted NC- or CAF-fed rats. These findings suggest that a TRF regimen is an effective strategy to improve CAF diet-induced obesity, probably via a mechanismthe involving WAT browning process.
Wing Design in Flies: Properties and Aerodynamic Function

The shape and function of insect wings tremendously vary between insect species. This review is engaged in how wing design determines the aerodynamic mechanisms with which wings produce an air momentum for body weight support and flight control. We work out the tradeoffs associated with aerodynamic key parameters such as vortex development and lift production, and link the various components of wing structure to flight power requirements and propulsion efficiency. A comparison between rectangular, ideal-shaped and natural-shaped wings shows the benefits and detriments of various wing shapes for gliding and flapping flight. The review expands on the function of three-dimensional wing structure, on the specific role of wing corrugation for vortex trapping and lift enhancement, and on the aerodynamic significance of wing flexibility for flight and body posture control. The presented comparison is mainly concerned with wings of flies because these animals serve as model systems for both sensorimotor integration and aerial propulsion in several areas of biology and engineering.
Enhanced recognition of vocal emotions in individuals with naturally good musical abilities.

Music training is widely assumed to enhance several nonmusical abilities, including speech perception, executive functions, reading, and emotion recognition. This assumption is based primarily on cross-sectional comparisons between musicians and nonmusicians. It remains unclear, however, whether training itself is necessary to explain the musician advantages, or whether factors such as innate predispositions and informal musical experience could produce similar effects. Here, we sought to clarify this issue by examining the association between music training, music perception abilities and vocal emotion recognition. The sample (N = 169) comprised musically trained and untrained listeners who varied widely in their musical skills, as assessed through self-report and performance-based measures. The emotion recognition tasks required listeners to categorize emotions in nonverbal vocalizations (e.g., laughter, crying) and in speech prosody. Music training was associated positively with emotion recognition across tasks, but the effect was small. We also found a positive association between music perception abilities and emotion recognition in the entire sample, even with music training held constant. In fact, untrained participants with good musical abilities were as good as highly trained musicians at recognizing vocal emotions. Moreover, the association between music training and emotion recognition was fully mediated by auditory and music perception skills. Thus, in the absence of formal music training, individuals who were "naturally" musical showed musician-like performance at recognizing vocal emotions. These findings highlight an important role for factors other than music training (e.g., predispositions and informal musical experience) in associations between musical and nonmusical domains. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).
Urban Stress Indirectly Influences Psychological Symptoms through Its Association with Distress Tolerance and Perceived Social Support among Adults Experiencing Homelessness

Traditionally, intrapersonal characteristics (distress tolerance) and interpersonal characteristics (social support) have been studied separately rather than simultaneously. In the current study, we address this gap by simultaneously examining these characteristics as potential indirect associations linking established urban stress–depression and urban stress–Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) relationships. Adults experiencing homelessness were recruited from six homeless shelters in Oklahoma City (n = 567). Participants self-reported urban life stress (Urban Life Stress Scale), distress tolerance (Distress Tolerance Scale), social support (Interpersonal Support Evaluation List 12), major depressive disorder (Patient Health Questionnaire-8), and PTSD symptoms (Primary Care Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder screener). Covariate-adjusted structural equation models indicated a significant indirect effect of distress tolerance on the urban stress–depression (b = 0.101, 95% CI = 0.061, 0.147) and urban stress–PTSD (b = 0.065, 95% CI = 0.023, 0.112) relationships. Additionally, a significant indirect effect of social support on the urban stress–depression (b = 0.091, 95% CI = 0.053, 0.133) and urban stress-PTSD relationships (b = 0.043, 95% CI = 0.006, 0.082) was evident. Further, both the urban stress–depression (b = 0.022, 95% CI = 0.011, 0.037) and urban stress–PTSD relationships (b = 0.014, 95% CI = 0.005, 0.026) were associated indirectly through social support to distress tolerance. Interventions that aim to increase social support may also increase distress tolerance skills and indirectly reduce depressive and PTSD symptoms in the context of urban stress among adults experiencing homelessness.
Assessment of Attitudes Toward Physical Education by the Implementation of an Extracurricular Program for Obese Children

The World Health Organization (WHO) identifies the importance of implementing physical activity programs such as physical education (PE) classes in schools. This study identifies the attitudes of obese children toward PE, before and after participation in a vigorous-intensity physical exercise program without the participation of normal-weight peers using a questionnaire on Attitudes toward Physical Education (CAEF). 98 children between 8–11 years of age were randomized in an Experimental Group (GE) (n = 48) and a Control Group (CG) (n = 47). They were assessed using a questionnaire on Attitudes toward Physical Education (CAEF). All the study participants exhibited a BMI Z-score ≥ 2. Before the intervention, the only difference between boys and girls was “empathy to teacher and physical education subject” (p = 0.001, d de Cohen = 0.72, r = 0.34). The interaction between gender and training was only present in empathy for the teacher, with a medium effect size (η2 = 0.055). The implementation of PE with two hours per week elicits only a few effects over the attitude of obese children, even though with a certain engagement of gender through training in the adjustment of empathy for teachers and the PE class.