Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The history and palaeoclimatic significance of subfossil remains of Pinus sylvestris in blanket peats from Scotland

(1) The results of pollen-stratigraphic, radiocarbon and tree-ring evidence from several sites in the Loch Tulla area, southern Rannoch Moor, western Scottish Highlands, indicate the following regional pine history: (i) major expansion of pine woodland at c. 6800-6600 B.P.; (ii) significant reduction in regional pine cover between 6600 and 4970 B.P.; (iii) a second expansion of pine wood and throughout the region at c. 4970-4660 B.P.; (iv) major differences between the sites in the representation of pine after c. 4660 B.P. (2) These data are compared with evidence from Scotland as a whole for radiocarbon- dated pine macrofossils obtained from Holocene peat deposits and for 'pluvial' climatic episodes identified from previously published stable isotope studies. (3) Collectively the available data indicate that the density and distribution of pine varied significantly in Scotland during the Holocene probably as a result of variations in precipitation levels. Stable isotope variations indicate particularly wet conditions at c. 7500, 6250-5800,4250-3870 and 3300 B.P.; histogram plots of radiocarbon dates of pine macrofossils from Scotland indicate significant troughs at 5700-5250, 3800-3500 and post-3250 B.P. A time-lag between climatic change and consequent pine reduction is indicated.
FERMENTATION OF KIVUGUTO, A RWANDESE TRADITIONAL MILK: SELECTION OF MICROBES FOR A STARTER CULTURE

A total of 390 bacterial strains were isolated from four kivuguto samples. Isolates were screened by phenotypic methods and molecular techniques using the PCR and sequencing of 16S rDNA and/or 16S-23S rDNA intergenic transcribed spacer (ITS) region. The rate of milk acidification and ability to grow under extreme environmental conditions were also examined for pre-selected isolates. Fermentation assays with mixed strains were performed to identify microbial formulations that produced milk similar to kivuguto. Such formulated milk was stored at 4°C on 24 days for shelf-life analysis to detect any organoleptic defect. Bacteria identified in kivuguto included Lactococcus lactis (strains CWB-B1466 and CWBI-B1469) and Leuconostoc mesenteroides subsp. mesenteroides (strains CWBI-B1467 and CWBI-B1465) and Leuconostoc pseudomesenteroides (T) (NRIC177) (strains CWBI-B1468, CWBI-B1470 and CWBI-B1471). One Leuconostoc sp. grew at low pH 2.5, in high sodium chloride concentration (up to 6.5%) and was resistant to heat (55°C). Fermentation experiments showed that kivuguto coagulates in 8 hours at 30°C. Three milk formulations produced using mixed strains gave good results. The best-tasting and longest shelf-life (35 days) kivuguto was produced by a mixture of two Leuconostoc spp. and Lactococcus lactis. These strains give kivuguto its characteristic properties.
Caracterização de farinhas de tapioca produzidas no estado do Pará

Tapioca flour is a typical food produced from cassava starch (Manihot esculenta Crantz), widely consumed in the Amazon Region. The aim of this study was to characterize two tapioca flours produced in Para State, Brazil one in the West Region and other in Bragantina Area. Both tapioca flour presented distinct particle-size distribution and significant difference (P 0.05) for majority of the physico-chemical and technological parameters. Flour from West Region presented high moisture (10.7%), this due the greater capacity of water adsorption, attributed at its high specific area (smaller particle-size). The optical microscopy with polarized light and the technologic properties of the products did not showed a standard process for the production of tapioca flour.
Extraction of Auxin from Maize, from Smut Tumors of Maize, and from Ustilago zeae

1. The extraction of auxin by ether and by water from smut tumors of corn and other materials, frozen and vacuum dried, was studied. For a given weight of smut tumors, water extraction yields the greater amount of auxin. Dry ether extracts are not active. Water is necessary for the liberation of auxin from the tissues. Its action may be hydrolytic. 2. Smut tumors of corn yield auxin slowly with either water or ether extraction. The auxin is almost completely removed from the fungus, Ustilago zeae, in one ether extraction. 3. Smut tumors from corn leaves or stems yield more auxin than healthy leaves or stems. 4. Strains of U. zeae grown on a synthetic medium containing neither proteins nor amino acids are able to produce auxin. 5. Extracts of both types of medium upon which U. zeae had grown for 2 months contained much auxin and practically the same amount in each case. 6. The pathogenicity of strains of U. zeae seems to be correlated with their ability to produce auxin in a bacto-tryptone or a synthetic medium.
Bacterioplankton in a subarctic estuary: the Gulf obf Bothnia (the Baltic Sea)

The magnitude and control of the bacterioplankton standing stock and its growth in the Bothnian Bay and Bothnian Sea, 2 basins in the Gulf of Bothnia, a subarctic estuary, were evaluated by measuring bacterial numbers, biovolumes, thymidine incorporation rate and turnover time of the biomass during 4 cruises. Cell numbers averaged 0.84 X 106 cells ml-I in winter, 1.66 X 106 cells ml-l in June and 1.60 X 106 cells ml-' in August. Thymidine incorporation rates were 0.17, 5.0 and 7.8 pm01 1-I h-' respectively (all depths included). Mean cell volumes were within the ranges 0.026 to 0.090 pm3 in winter, 0.029 to 0.129 pm3 in June and 0.018 to 0.051 pm%n August. The shortest turnover time was ca 1 mo in winter and ca 5 d in June and August. Bacterial numbers and thymidine incorporation rate showed a positive correlation to temperature. Thynlidine incorporation rate (growth) and temperature did not correlate with mean cell volume. The results indicated that part of the bacterioplankton production in the Bothnian Bay was supported by allochthonous sources. In addition, the bacterial cell volumes in August were probably controlled by predators. However, it is suggested that in the Gulf of Bothnia the available resources control bacterioplankton.
Light Microscopic Diagnosis of Wood Decay

Light micrographs of the anatomical features of brown rot, white rot and soft rot are presented here to facilitate easy identification of each type of decay in birch and pine. This paper presents the light-microscopic observations made during the course of several broad studies of wood deterioration by fungi. A key aids the identification of brown rot, white rot and soft rot in wood and wood products. Features used for identification include bore hole size and frequency, shape of erosion channels and cavities, cell separations and changes in birefringence as observed on unstained sections with polarized light or differential interference contrast microscopy. Included are descriptions of white-rot and soft-rot erosion patterns at several decay stages.
COMPARISON OF A REAL-TIME POLYMERASE CHAIN REACTION ASSAY WITH A CULTURE METHOD FOR THE DETECTION OF SALMONELLA IN RETAIL MEAT SAMPLES

A real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method developed in this study was compared with a conventional International Organization for Standardization culture method for the detection of Salmonella in Irish beef, chicken, pork and turkey. This also provided a snapshot of the incidence of Salmonella in such products. After selective enrichment, all meat samples (n = 100) were: (1) subjected to DNA extraction and real-time PCR analysis using primers against Salmonella spp. specific gene (16S rRNA) or the invA virulence gene; and (2) plated on differential media and identified as Salmonella using immunological and sub-typing methods. Retail samples (5/100) were shown to contain Salmonella using the 16S rRNA gene-based real-time PCR assay and the standard culture method. However, only two (of five) samples were shown to contain Salmonella using the invA gene-based real-time PCR assay. For the sample set examined, the developed 16S rRNA gene-based real-time PCR assay demonstrated comparable specificity and sensitivity to the currently used standard culture method but was considerably more rapid.
Denning ecology of the striped skunk in the Canadian prairies: implications for waterfowl nest predation

1. From 1993 to 1995, we studied the summer denning ecology of 40 radio-collared striped skunks Mephitis mephitis (32 females, eight males) during the waterfowl nesting season in Saskatchewan, Canada. 2. Forty-seven natal dens were used by 30 females. Natal den sites were either underground burrows (55%) or holes underneath buildings (45%), and were preferably located in farmsteads. 3. Male and female striped skunks used similar resting sites which consisted of above-ground retreats (57%), underground burrows (23%), buildings (17%) and culverts (3%). 4. Habitat preferences for resting sites did not differ between males and females: both sexes preferred farmsteads and wetlands, whereas managed waterfowl nesting areas, woodland and miscellanous habitats were avoided. Cropland was avoided for both natal dens and resting sites. 5. Females did not simultaneously share natal dens or resting sites, but both types of retreats were occupied by different females over time. Natal dens were occupied for 47 ± 3 days for females using a single den vs. 60 ± 3 days for females using >1 natal dens. Den switching may have been induced by a build-up of faeces. 6. Management of natal den sites such as abandoned farmsteads and buildings may provide an avenue of non-destructive predator management that is less expensive and controversial than exclusion or control.
Molecular phylogenetics and character evolution of Cannabaceae

Cannabaceae includes ten genera that are widely distributed in tropical to temperate regions of the world. Because of limited taxon and character sampling in previous studies, intergeneric phylogenetic relationships within this family have been poorly resolved. We conducted a molecular phylogenetic study based on four plastid loci (atpB-rbcL, rbcL, rps16, trnL-trnF) from 36 ingroup taxa, representing all ten recognized Cannabaceae genera, and six related taxa as outgroups. The molecular results strongly supported this expanded family to be a monophyletic group. All genera were monophyletic except for Trema, which was paraphyletic with respect to Parasponia. The Aphananthe clade was sister to all other Cannabaceae, and the other genera formed a strongly supported clade further resolved into a Lozanella clade, a Gironniera clade, and a trichotomy formed by the remaining genera. Morphological ancestral state reconstructions indicated the complex evolution pattern of most analyzed morphological characters, and it is difficult to identify morphological synapomorphies for most clades within Cannabaceae.
Mutagenicity of chemicals in genetically modified animals

The strategy for assessing human health risks of chemicals consists of a large number of tests in different research disciplines. Tests include acute and chronic toxicity, genotoxicity, reproduction toxicity and carcinogenicity. Genotoxic properties of chemicals are assessed in short-term in vitro and in vivo genotoxicity tests. There are two main endpoints for genotoxicity: gene mutations and chromosome aberrations. Under in vitro conditions, there are sufficient assays for both endpoints. Testing under in vivo conditions is essential to confirm in vitro data since it is impossible to mimic, in a petri dish, all the complex factors determining whether a chemical will induce mutations in a specific tissue in animals in vivo. Moreover, in a regulatory context, a relevant negative in vivo result from an adequately performed test overrules positive in vitro results. There are appropriate assays in existence to investigate in vivo chromosome aberration; however, problems occur when a compound induces gene mutations in vitro. In the absence of reliable in vivo gene mutation assays, a justified assessment of the genotoxic potential of chemicals may be hampered. Introduced in this report, based open literature data up to August 2000, are several promising new in vivo gene mutation assays. The report is not restricted to assays with the commercially available transgenic models; all assays - whether using transgenes or endogenous genes as reporter genes - are incorporated. In reviewing the current state of the art in evaluating these assays, the advantages and the disadvantages of the assays are discussed. This is to determine the feasibility of the routine use of these new in vivo gene mutation tests for health risk estimation. Gene mutation assays with transgenic animals have already been used on a small scale for legislation of chemicals. However, to allow the routine use of these assays for regulatory purposes, they will have to be validated further and an official OECD guideline prepared.
Observations on the structure of kefir grains and the distribution of the microflora

The mixed flora of yeasts and lactobacilli of kefir is held together in non-dispersible structures which build up into large grains. The fibrillar extracellular material of the matrix in which the microflora is embedded was stained by ruthenium red and periodic acid-thiosemicarbazide silver proteinate, indicating that it was largely composed of carbohydrate. It is suggested that the carbohydrate is of bacterial origin and that this is produced by a population of lactobacilli which resides within the matrix and which separates non-carbohydrate-producing populations of lactobacilli and yeasts so that sheet-like structures are formed which show asymmetry, with yeasts predominating on one side and lactobacilli on the other.
The sampling efficiency of electrofishing for Neogobius species in a riprap habitat: a field experiment

Summary Even though electrofishing is commonly used to sample Neogobius spp. and other swimbladder-lacking benthic fishes, its efficiency is considered poor especially in habitats with abundant interstitial spaces. To determine the efficiency of electrofishing Neogobius spp. and quantitatively estimate sampling bias in a riprap (shot rock used to armor shorelines against water erosion) mesohabitat, riprap fragments were set up in a natural riverine environment. The experimental setting enabled us to collect all fish remaining in the riprap fragments after these areas had been electrofished. The sampling efficiency of electrofishing Neogobius spp. (dominated by Neogobius melanostomus) varied between 17.6 and 47.4% (mean 29.7%), while percids (possessing a well-developed swim bladder) were collected with 74.6% efficiency. Fish size had no effect on the probability of capturing Neogobius spp. by electrofishing. Within Neogobius spp. , N. melanostomus was less susceptible to electrofishing than Neogobius gymnotrachelus (23.7% and 50.1%, respectively). Decreased electrofishing efficiency in areas of rocky substrate should be considered in estimates of total abundance of Neogobius spp. , especially if they are to be compared with catches of other species possessing swim bladders.
Physiological studies on acid metabolism in green plants IX. The distribution of 14C in malate of darkened Kalanchoё leaf fragments after infiltration with labelled pyruvate

When carboxyl-, carbonyl- or methyl-labelled pyruvates are supplied to darkened fragments of Kalanchoё crenata Haw. leaves, malate usually becomes the most heavily labelled metabolite. To help in elucidating the processes involved in the labelling, the distribution of 14C within the malate molecule has been determined. Investigations were made for leaves in which dark acidification led to a net synthesis of malate and for leaves in which dark deacidification led to a net consumption of malate. Some experiments were carried out in the presence of aerobic atmospheres containing 20 % CO2. The results are consistent with the oxidation of the pyruvate by pyruvic oxidase and enzymes associated with the conventional TCA cycle. In addition to such slight net synthesis of malate as may have occurred by this sequence there appeared to be two other distinct synthetic processes involving β-carboxylations. In one of these, 14CO2 that arose from pyruvate or a labelled product thereof was fixed into malate by the enzymic system responsible for the massive CO2fixation and resulting acidification in darkened Kalanchoё leaves. In this reaction, apparently, the carbon skeleton of pyruvate was not directly incorporated into the malate. In the other carboxylative synthesis the carbon skeleton of labelled pyruvate appeared to be incorporated as a whole into malic acid. Only a very small proportion of the total fixation of 14CO2 by the leaves was attributable to this synthesis. It is suggested that the first of these carboxylations involves phosphoenolpyruvic carboxylase acting in conjunction with other enzymes Support is provided for the concept that most of the malate synthesized when CO2 is fixed during dark acidification is transferred to a storage pool. The present analyses suggest that malate synthesized from the labelled pyruvate by action of malic enzymeor in oxidative reactions of the TCA cycle is relatively rapidly metabolized. The implications of the possible occurrence of the acids in Kalanchoё leaves partly in storage pools, where they are not subject to metabolic transformations, and partly in active pools, where they are rapidly transformed in metabolic reactions, are discussed briefly with respect to the interpretation of results observed when labelled metabolites are supplied to plant tissues.
Regulation of Pollen Production in Anthriscus sylvestris, an Andromonoecious Species

Pollen production per anther was investigated in relation to the gender and biomass of the flowers, their positions in the umbel, the number of flowers, the proportion of male flowers, and the sequence of flower development (order of umbel) in the common European andromonoecious species Anthriscus sylvestris. Male flowers have significantly less pollen per flower than perfect flowers. Both in male and in perfect flowers, pollen amount per flower does not change much with the sequence of flower development while, at the same time, the proportion of male flowers significantly increases, to almost 100% in quaternary umbels. Pollen production per flower does not depend on the position of the flower in the inflorescence and is weakly correlated with the investigated variables, except for the rudimentary quaternary umbels. The pollen production per flower in quaternary umbels is significantly lower, and flower mass explains up to 80% of the variation. The data support the hypothesis that in andromonoecious species pollen output is regulated at the level of flower production rather than pollen per flower.
PAR conversion efficiencies of a tropical rain forest

Saldarriaga et al. (1986) investigated forest succession at 23 sites representing a chronosequence ranging from recently abandoned areas after slash-and-burn agriculture to mature rain forest. Aboveground and belowground living phytomass, litter and root production, standing dead mass, and leaf area indices were estimated with allometric regression relationships using diameter, height, dry weight and wood density data from each of the 23 sites. Recently available data for 1 and 3 yr regrowth forest stands were also included in this analysis. Regression equations for converting leaf phytomass to leaf area were used with number of
Testing the ecomorphological hypothesis in a headwater riffles fish assemblage of the rio São Francisco, southeastern Brazil

The ecomorphology of 14 fish species resident in a headwater riffles area of the Sao Francisco river, southeastern Brasil, was analyzed and combined with diet and feeding behavior data, previously obtained by us. The three larger species groups formed in the ecomorphological analysis were found to reflect primarily microhabitat occupation in the following manner: a) nektonic characids with compressed bodies, lateral eyes and lateral pectoral fins, with diurnal and opportunistic feeding habits (Astyanax rivularis, Bryconamericus stramineus, and Bryconamericus sp.); b) nektobenthic characiforms and siluriforms with fusiform bodies and expanded pectoral fins, including sit-and-wait characidiins, predators of aquatic insect larvae (Characidium fasciatum and Ch.zebra), as well as the algae grazing parodontids (Apareiodon ibitiensis and Parodon hilarii), and also the heptapterid and trichomycterid catfishes that practice substrate speculation and feed on benthic aquatic insect larvae (Cetopsorhamdia iheringi, Imparfinis minutus, Rhamdia quelen, and Trichomycterus sp.); c) benthic species with depressed bodies, suctorial oral discs, dorsal eyes, and horizontal pectoral fins, represented by the periphytivorous loricariid catfishes (Hisonotus sp., Harttia sp., and Hypostomus garmani). Correlation between diet and general morphology was not significant in our analysis, unless when the analyzed set included only nektonic and benthic species, indicating that the lack of correlation between these factors is most pronounced in the group of nektobenthic species. The unequivocal case of morphological convergence found between the nektobenthic Characidiinae and Parodontidae is a clear example of the integration between phylogenetic information and ecomorphology, and provides a way to objectively identify cases of morphological and adaptive convergence and divergence. Furthermore, the general congruence between the ecomorphological results and the independently obtained ecological data about the analyzed fish species in their natural environment seems to be strong evidence in favor of the proposed predictive capabilities of the ecomorphological hypothesis.
Permeability of a novel β‐lactamase inhibitor LK‐157 and its ester prodrugs across rat jejunum in vitro

Objectives LK‐157 is a novel 10‐ethylidene tricyclic carbapenem that resembles the structure of the broad‐spectrum antibiotic sanfetrinem and acts as a potent inactivator of β‐lactamases of classes A, C and D. LK‐157 is a highly soluble but poorly permeable drug. Since most of the β‐lactams are poorly absorbed, ester prodrugs LK‐159, LK‐157E1 and LK‐157E2 were designed to enhance membrane permeability. This study investigated the permeability of LK‐157 and the three ester prodrugs across rat intestine in vitro. The morpholinoethyl ester of sanfetrinem was also investigated.
SURFACE BROWNING OF CARROTS

It was established that oxidative browning was confined to the carrot root surface tissue. Phenolic content was determined in carrot tissue at various depths. The phenolic content was highest in tissue nearest the root surface, and phenol content at various depths paralleled the observed potential browning.Paper chromatographic separation of carrot tissue extracts showed complicated patterns of phenolics and blue-fluorescent compounds. Twelve compounds were separated, four of which discolored when treated with tyrosinase. The compound corresponding to chlorogenic acid was the primary oxidative browning substrate, and that corresponding to L-tyrosine was of secondary prominence.