Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Solid Lipid Nanoparticles

There are various formulation techniques that can help overcome these four challenges. Taste masking or protecting an API from degradation often requires encapsulating the API in a tasteless protective material. Improving the solubility and bioavailability of BCS class II and IV APIs can be achieved via particle size reduction1, amorphous solid dispersions, and encapsulation, among other technologies. API targeting of cells and tissues has been demonstrated by incorporating the API within nanoparticles designed to recognize targets by engineering specific molecular interactions between particles and the target. While each of these techniques is valuable, they only solve one or two formulation challenges.
Effect of temperature and leaf age on growth versus moulting time of a generalist caterpillar fed plantain (Plantago lanceolata)

Abstract. 1 The simultaneous effects of daytime temperature (20°C versus 30°C) and leaf age (new versus intermediate‐aged) on a generalist insect herbivore were examined. Fourth‐instar Spilosoma congrua caterpillars were tested on plantain (Plantago lanceolata), one of this lepidopteran species’host plants, for which the major defensive chemicals, iridoid glycosides (aucubin and catalpol), could be quantified. 2 Cool temperature depressed amount of food eaten, amount of frass, and consumption and growth rates, and increased the proportion of time spent in the non‐feeding period (from head‐capsule slippage to ecdysis). 3 Average iridoid glycoside concentration was 2.8% dry weight (d.w.) in new leaves and 1.6% d.w. in intermediate‐aged leaves. When fed new leaves, the caterpillars had a higher efficiency of conversion of ingested food to biomass and a higher growth rate than those fed intermediate‐aged leaves. Furthermore, the proportion of time spent in the non‐feeding period was prolonged by a diet of intermediate‐aged leaves. 4 A second experiment showed that the percentage dry weight of aucubin, catalpol and total iridoid glycosides increased over 24 h in incubated, excised leaves, which meant that the caterpillars in the first experiment experienced somewhat higher iridoid glycoside concentrations than the levels in fresh leaves. 5 Overall, these results indicate that this generalist should prefer new plantain leaves over older leaves even though new leaves contain higher concentrations of iridoid glycosides.
BIOLOGY, CYTOLOGY, AND TAXONOMY OF COCHLIOBOLUS SATIVUS

Cochliobolus sativus (Ito & Kurib. ex Kurib.) Drechs. ex Dast. produced mature ascocarps on seeds of Zea mays L. , previously disinfested with mercuric chloride, boiled one minute to kill the embryo and partly immersed in Sach's agar. Isolates of the conidial state, Helminthosporium sorokinianum Sacc. ex Sorokin (= H. sativum Pamm., King & Bakke), and monoascosporic isolates were hermaphroditic and heterothallic. Uninucleate, spherical spermatia 1.7 μ wide, the sole male agents in plasmogamy, were produced in phialids in slimefilled spermogonia measuring 2.5 × 2.5 mm. Hyphal fusions and conidiation did not initiate the heterokaryon in the ascogonium. Homokaryotic isolates and incompatible crosses produced partially mature ascocarps by differentiation of maternal stroma. Pseudoparaphyses extended downwards from subapical stromatic cells and produced locules. Subsequently in compatible crosses the heterokaryotic ascogenous hyphae grew from the sub-basal pseudoparenchyma and produced a fascicle of asci in the.
Seasonal Changes in Diel CO2 Exchange of Three Central European Moss Species: a One-Year Field Study

: Diel courses of net CO2 gas exchange, water relation parameters and microclimatic conditions of three bryophyte species (Grimmia pulvinata, Schistidium apocarpum, Tortula ruralis) were studied in the Botanical Garden Wurzburg (Franconia, Germany) over the course of one year. At the exposed study site, i.e., the upper surface of an anthropogenic limestone wall, photosynthetic active radiation (PFD) was hardly limiting for carbon gain, while plant water relations were of much greater importance: the time of metabolic activity correlated rather closely with the diurnal carbon budget. Carbon gain was highly seasonal in all three species, with the highest diel carbon budgets (NP24h) being observed in autumn, while near zero NP24h were typical for summer. Annual carbon gain differed considerably between the three species, and Tortula ruralis was by far the most productive. The estimates of annual productivity derived from gas exchange measurements in Grimmia pulvinata were compared with direct measurements of growth: the results of these different approaches yielded quite similar values.
Aproveitamento do nitrogênio (15N) da crotalária e do milheto pelo milho sob plantio direto em Latossolo Vermelho de Cerrado

The cultivation of green manure in the fallow ground alter the dynamics and the recovery of the nitrogen by corn in the soil-plant system. The objective of this work was to evaluate the utilization of nitrogen (15N) from sun hemp and millet by corn grown under different N rates in no-tillage in Red Latosol of Cerrado. The research was carried in the Experimental Farm of Faculty of Engineering, Sao Paulo State University (UNESP), Ilha Solteira, located in Selviria-MS, Brazil, during the 2001/02 and 2002/03 growing season. The experimental design was randomized complete blocks, with 15 treatments and four replications in a factorial 5 x 3, constituted by the combination of five N rates (0, 30, 80, 130 and 180kg ha-1), as urea, applied at four leaf stage; and three preceding cover crops: sun hemp, millet and fallow ground. The inorganic N promoted a synergic effect on the amount of absorbed N and utilization of sun hemp and millet N by the corn crop. The sun hemp, in average for two growing season, provided in the corn cultivated without the application of N an equivalent effect of the application of 56.0 and 73.0kg ha-1 as urea, compared to the corn grown in fallow soil and in succession to millet, respectively. The grain yield increased in a quadratic way in function of the N rates, in the two growing season.
Modelling the spread of invasive species across heterogeneous landscapes

Invasive species are well known to cause millions of dollars of economic as well as ecological damage around the world. New Zealand, as an island nation, is fortunate because it has the opportunity to regulate and monitor travel and trade to prevent the establishment of new species. Nevertheless foreign species continue to arrive at the borders and continue to cross them, thus requiring some form of management. The control and management of a new incursion of an invasive species would clearly benefit from predictive tools that might indicate where and how quickly the species is likely to spread after it has established. During the process of spread an invasing species must interact with a complex and heterogeneous environment and the suitability of the habitat in a region determines whether it survives. Many dispersal models ignore such interactions and while they may be interesting theoretical models, they are less useful for practical management of invasive species. The purpose of this study was to create and investigate the behaviour of a spatially explicit model that simulates insect dispersal over realistic landscapes. The spatially explicit model (Modular Dispersal in GIS, MDiG) was designed as am open-source modular framework for dispersal simulation integrated within a GIS. The model modules were designed to model an an approximation of local diffusion, long distance dispersal, growth, and chance population mortality based on the underlying suitability of a region for establishment of a viable population. The spatially explicit model has at its core a dispersal module to simulate long distance dispersal based an underlying probability distribution of dispersal events. This study illustrates how to extract the frequency of long distance dispersal events, as well as their distance, from time stamped occurrence data, to fit a Cauchy probability distribution that comprises the dispersal module. An investigation of the long distance dispersal modules behaviour showed that, in general, it generated predictions of the rate of spread consistent with those of analytical partial differential and integro-difference equations. However, there were some differences. Spread rate was found to be mainly dependent on the measurement technique used to determine the invasion front or
Exposure to Metals through the Consumption of Fish and Seafood by the Population Living Near the Ebro River in Catalonia, Spain: Health Risks

ABSTRACT The health risks due to metal exposure from consuming various fish and seafood species were assessed for the Catalan population living near the Ebro River (Spain). The concentrations of arsenic, cadmium, chromium, copper, mercury, manganese, nickel, and lead were determined in samples of mussel, clam, hake, sole, cuttlefish, sardine, and anchovy randomly acquired in various localities of the zone under evaluation. In general terms, metal concentrations were similar or lower than the levels recently reported in the literature. The current dietary intake of metals is analogous to that recently estimated for the non-exposed population of Catalonia. Metal exposure through fish and seafood consumption would only mean a slight increase of noncarcinogenic and carcinogenic risk for arsenic, whereas the remaining elements showed risk values below the corresponding threshold levels.
Downstream effects of master regulators in two brain diseases.

In paper one, we investigated how the pharmacological activation and inhibition of the glucocorticoid system affects lifespan and symptoms in a mouse model for RTT. We performed a long-term drug treatment study with the GR activator corticosterone and the GR inhibitor RU486 under which we measured the lifespan and onset of RTT-like symptoms of male Mecp2-null and female Mecp2 heterozygous mice in comparison to untreated mutant and to treated and untreated wild-type animals. We could demonstrate that activation of the glucocorticoid hormone system reduces the lifespan of Mecp2-/y mice and the symptom-free lifetime of Mecp2+/- mice and that treatment with the GR inhibitor RU486 has an opposite effect as it prolongs the lifetime until symptom onset for Mecp2+/- mice and improves motor functions of Mecp2-null male mice. Our findings provide evidence for the contribution of the glucocorticoid hormone system to RTT motor symptoms and suggests this system as a potential therapeutic target for RTT. In paper two and three, we focused on the molecular events that lead to the development of primary malignant brain tumors. In paper two, we performed a series of transplantation experiments with genetically perturbed cells. We could show that the individual over-expression of potent oncogenes in neural stem/progenitor cells of the same cell pool leads to distinct tumor types. Furthermore, we demonstrated that it is possible to convert one tumor type into another one and that this is determined by the order of genetic events. In a second part of this study we could show a hitherto unknown aspect of AT/RT and rhabdoid tumor biology, an activation of the UPR. We provide experimental evidence that AT/RT and rhabdoid tumor cells with reduced or absent SMARCB1 levels are sensitive toward a further increase in ER stress. In paper three, we studied the PcG protein BMI1 and its effect on neural stem/progenitor cells and tumor formation. We observed a strong promotion of self-renewal, expansion and survival in adult neural stem/progenitor cells upon over-expression of Bmi1 in vitro but found it incapable of transforming cells as no tumors developed in intracranial transplantation experiments with Bmi1 over-expressing wild-type cells or Trp53-/- cells. Thus, we assume BMI1 to promote stem cell properties and to act as a facilitator of transforming events induced by other oncogenes. Furthermore, we could identify four novel direct BMI1 target genes whose molecular function may contribute to the known BMI1 effects, thus expanding the BMI1 network. Taken together, the findings presented in this thesis emphasize the key role of master regulators in the pathology of brain diseases and for the development of causal therapies. (Less)
Fine mapping of the genetic locus L1 conferring black pods using a chromosome segment substitution line population of soybean

The colour of plant organs is a useful trait in crop breeding. The pod colours of soybeans primarily include black, brown and tan types, which are controlled by two classical genetic loci, L1 and L2. Most wild soybeans have black pods, which reflect a possible role in adaptation to the natural environment. Here, an improved chromosome segment substitution line (CSSL) population SojaCSSLP3 was established to identify the L1 gene. The segment on the 19th chromosome represented by the SSR marker Satt313 was found to link with locus L1. The region was further delimited three times with increased SSR and InDel markers using a population derived from a heterozygous plant of CSSL124 from SojaCSSLP3. The L1 gene was finally located in a 184.43-kb region between SSR_19p09 and Indel_19P7. Thirteen putative genes in this region were analysed with qRT-PCR. The expression level of Glyma19 g27460, which is a member of the SANT superfamily with a MYB DNA-binding domain, was significantly upregulated in black pods and was recognized to be the most likely candidate for the L1 gene.
Development of Long‐Term Cell Lines from Homozygous Clones of Rainbow Trout

Abstract The objective of this work was to develop syngeneic embryonic cell lines from several homozygous clones of rainbow trout Oncorhynchus mykiss, which had been previously derived by androgenesis, a chromosome manipulation technique. The nine embryonic cell lines were cultured in RPMI-1640 with 10% fetal bovine serum. Seven of the lines exhibited epithelial morphology, and the remaining two were fibroblast-like cell lines. Modal diploid chromosome numbers of each of the lines ranged from 58 to 71, which is near the known chromosome number for rainbow trout (2n = 58–64). Chromosome counts obtained from the leukocytes of the parental fish indicated that 2 parental lines (OSU 142 and Hot Creek 71) were composed of 60 chromosomes, whereas the third parental line (Arlee 12) was composed of 64 chromosomes. Restriction fragment length polymorphisms revealed that the patterns associated with DNA from the cell lines resembled that of the parents. Infectious hematopoietic necrosis virus replicated in all of th.
Interspecific activity of the sex pheromone of the European shore crab (Carcinus maenas)

The recent identification of uridine diphosphate (UDP) as the female sex-pheromone in the European shore crab Carcinus maenas demonstrated not only the link between moult and pheromone production, but also how it may have evolved from a ‘simple’ metabolic byproduct. Consequently, it is expected to be present in other moulting crustaceans, thus raising issues involving species specificity of the female pheromone. Bioassays were conducted using synthetic pheromone (UDP, 10 –3 –10 –4 M) to examine if it induced sexual behaviour in other crustacean species that are neither closely related nor occur in the same ecosystem. The snow crab, Chionoecetes opilio , and the yellowline arrow crab, Stenorhynchus seticornis , both belonging to a different superfamily (Majoidea) and occurring in different habitats than C. maneas (Portunoidea), displayed significant sexual behaviour towards UDP treated objects ( p < 0.005). These and other examples demonstrate that the female sex-pheromone UDP is not species-specific but is present and active in some other decapod crustaceans.
Time, Condition, and the Seasonal Decline of Avian Clutch Size

A seasonal decline in clutch size is typical of bird populations. This phenomenon may result from a conflict between the advantages of early breeding (greater offspring value) and the advantages of delay (greater accumulated condition and hence clutch size). We construct a dynamic model for adaptive seasonal decline in clutch size on the basis of these premises. The model requires a small number of well-supported assumptions; it is formulated and analyzed in both analytical and graphical forms. We outline some novel predictions and suggest tests of our conclusions. Initial comparisons of our predictions with results available from wild birds in the field are favorable. We briefly extend the model to consider the evolution of multiple clutches within a season and the effects of between-season costs of reproduction. Although this work focuses on avian clutch size, the analysis provides a general framework for studies of conditiondependent transitions in life histories. Such transitions between stages (e.g., maturation, metamorpbosis, or reproduction) characterize the ontogeny of organisms. We expect that such conflicts between the advantages of early and late transitions are common to life-history decisions
Is Vegetable Variety Evaluation and Reporting Becoming A Lost Art? An Industry Perspective

Is there a more important component to a grower’s production practices than the choice of the best variety to plant? Probably not, yet there is less public vegetable variety testing than ever before, despite the increasing introduction of new varieties by the seed industry. This article examines the reasons for fewer vegetable variety trials, discusses the benefits of good variety reporting, and considers the keys to conducting a successful vegetable variety trial. Vegetable variety performance could be interpreted best on a regional basis if a standard format for evaluating each species is developed. One such attempt at standardizing watermelon (Citrullus lanatus) evaluation is presented. Finally, several recent vegetable trial reports are discussed to point out the difference of each and what additional data could have been provided.
Conservation planning using resource selection models: altered selection in the presence of human activity changes spatial prediction of resource use

Managing wildlife populations in areas subject to human activity is an increasingly prominent challenge. Estimating resource selection functions for species of conservation concern and developing spatially explicit maps predicting animal use across landscapes is a powerful tool for minimizing negative impacts and enhancing positive influences of human activities. However, if animals modify their selection of resources in response to humans, application of spatially explicit conservation tools based on resource selection among animals exposed to high levels of human activity risks uncertainty in the performance of such tools. This could lead to ineffective conservation action and wasted conservation dollars. To evaluate the magnitude of differences between spatial predictions based on animals exposed to different levels of human activity and develop reliable conservation tools, we used the treatment/control concept and Bayesian hierarchical discrete choice methods to model day time resource selection by female elk in a natural gas field and in areas adjacent to the gas field during winter. We found that female elk showed strong variation in resource selection patterns among years, tended to avoid roads and natural gas wells and consistently showed stronger selection for security cover, steeper slopes and greater distance to edge habitats within the gas field relative to outside of the gas field. Predictive probability of use maps based on ‘within gas field’ models classified probability of use differently in 10–55% of grid cells relative to outside of the gas field models depending on year. Conservation research and applications should consider that models based on resource selection data collected from animals subjected to human activity may not elucidate innate resource selection patterns and therefore may result in reduced effectiveness of management actions.
Role of Nutrient Cycling and Herbivory in Regulating Periphyton Communities in Laboratory Streams

In this study we examined the role of nutrient cycling and herbivory in regulating stream periphyton communities. Population, community, and ecosystem—level properties were studied in laboratory stream channels that had nutrient inputs reduced compared to channels where ambient nutrient levels were maintained. We reduced nutrient inputs in four of eight channels by recirculating 90% of the flow, whereas the other four channels received once—through flow of spring water. We examined the interaction between herbivory and nutrients by varying the number of snails (Elimia clavaeformis) among streams with different nutrient input (circulation) regimes. Reduction in nutrient input viar recirculation resulted in lower concentrations of nutrients in the water but did not result in significant differences in biomass, carbon fixation, or algal taxonomic composition. However, herbivory had large effects on these characteristics by reducing biomass and areal rates of carbon fixation and simplifying periphyton taxonom.
Combinations of β chain abnormal hemoglobins with each other or with β-thalassemia determinants with known mutations: influence on phenotype

Hematological and hemoglobin (Hb) data are presented for numerous patients with compound heterozygosities for different β chain variants and for a β chain variant with different β-thalassemia (β-thal) alleles. Considerable variations, which result from the type of β chain variant and β-thal mutation, can be noted. The comparison again emphasizes the importance of determining the diagnoses at the molecular level to aid the physician in the management of patients with different combinations of abnormalities. Simplification and commercialization of modern technology may make the introduction of this approach in some clinical chemistry laboratories possible.
Novel Players in Female Fertility: The Long Pentraxin PTX3 and the Chemokine Decoy Receptor D6

The foetal-maternal interaction results in the induction of a local inflammatory response and a state of systemic inflammation. Several factors are involved in successful embryonic implantation, including hormones, growth factors, cytokines, chemokines, adhesion molecules, extracellular matrix components, and matrix-degrading enzymes. The enriched cytokine milieu associated to implantation is likely to control trophoblast migration and differentiation, leukocyte influx and activation, complement activation, as well as angiogenic and angiostatic processes in the implantation site. Finally, these mediators play a key role in tuning the immune responses to protect the foetus from infections as well as from maternal rejection. Here, the role of two new players involved in regulating inflammation at the maternal-foetal interface will be discussed: the long pentraxin PTX3 and the decoy receptor for inflammatory chemokines D6.
Effects of cisplatin on testicular enzymes and Sertoli cell function in rats

Cisplatin (CP) is one of important tumour chemotherapeutic agents in humans. Previous reports claim that CP can cause testicular toxicity. The aim of this study was to evaluate the potential effects of CP in the testes of rats. Male Wistar rats were intraperitoneally administered CP at 1.0, 2.5, and 5.0 mg/kg for three consecutive days. After exposure, CP significantly inhibited the testicular activities of succinate dehydrogenase (SDH) and malate dehydrogenase (MDH), but it significantly elevated the activities of acid phosphatase (ACP), alkaline phosphatase (AKP), and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) in the 5.0 mg/kg group. The decreased levels of superoxide dismutase (SOD), total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC), and metallothionein-1 (MT-1) mRNA as well as the increased levels of malondialdehyde (MDA) and haemoxygenase-1 (HO-1) mRNA showed that CP could increase oxidative stress in rat testes. Western blot analysis showed that the levels of transferrin, vimentin, androgen binding protein (ABP) and inhibinβ-B decreased significantly in the CP 2.5 and 5.0 mg/kg groups compared with the control group. These findings indicated that the inhibited enzymes, oxidative stress, and the down-regulation of Sertoli cell function-related proteins play pivotal roles in CP-induced testicular damage.