Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Sleep patterns, insomnia, and daytime sleepiness between Guangdong and Macau Chinese adolescents: a cross-cultural comparison study

There was limited data on sleep patterns, insomnia, and daytime sleepiness in both south China adolescents and Macau adolescents. A school-based epidemiologic study (861 from Guangdong site and 618 from Macau) was conducted among high school adolescents from both sites. We found that Macau adolescents had slightly shorter nocturnal sleep duration during weekdays [mean (SD) = 7:24 (1:06) vs. 7:31 (0:35), p = 0.008] but longer nocturnal sleep duration during weekends [mean (SD) = 9:56 (1:40) vs. 8:48 (1:23)] than Guangdong adolescents. The rates of overall insomnia were 16.5% and 22.9% for Macau adolescents and Guangdong adolescents respectively (p < 0.001). Macau adolescents had higher scores in modified Epworth Sleepiness Scale than Guangdong adolescents. Multivariate analysis showed that study site was the most robust predictors for most of these variables of interest. Adolescents in Guangdong had shorter sleep duration, increased rates of insomnia, and habitual napping but were less sleepy than adolescents in Macau.
Primate census and habitat evaluation in the Tana delta region, Kenya

Nineteen indigenous forest patches in the Tana River delta region, Kenya were surveyed between October and November 2000 for primates and habitat disturbance. Special emphasis was placed on the endangered Tana River red colobus (Procolobus rufomitratus Peters) and crested mangabeys (Cercocebus galeritus galeritus Peters), both of which are endemic to the region. Habitat disturbances evident in the forests included cutting of trees, harvesting of thatching material, firewood collection, dyke construction, cultivation, palm wine tapping and charcoal burning. A total of 85 groups of five primate species were counted. These comprised eighteen, ten, 22, 31 and four groups of red colobus, crested mangabey, baboons (Papio cynocephalus L.), sykes monkeys (Cercopithecus mitis Wolf) and vervet monkeys (Cercopithecus aethiops L.), respectively. A wider distribution of red colobus and crested mangabeys than was documented previously was noted, implying that they are probably more abundant than hitherto reported. It is hypothesized that extensive studies on some fauna considered endangered world-wide would probably redefine their conservation status. Future studies in the lower Tana River region should cover the previously unsurveyed forests and focus on ways of curbing forest destruction. Resume En octobre et novembre 2000, on a surveille les primates et les perturbation de l'habitat dans dix-neuf ilots de foret indigene de la region du delta du fleuve Tana, au Kenya. On a specialement fait attention au colobe bai du fleuve Tana (Procolobus rufomitratus Peters) et au cercocebe a crete (Cercocebus galeritus Peters) qui sont tout deux endemiques de la region. Les perturbations de l'habitat, evidentes dans la foret, comprennent des coupes d'arbres, la recolte de materiau pour les toitures, le ramassage de bois de feu, la construction de digues, des cultures, la recolte de vin de palme et la preparation de charbon de bois. On a denombre un total de 85 groupes appartenant a 5 especes de primates. Ils comprenaient 18 groupes de colobes bais, 10 de cercocebes a crete, 22 de babouins (Papio cynocephalus L.), 31 de cercopitheques a diademe (Cercopithecus mitis Wolf) et 4 de grivets (Cercopithecus aethiops L.), respectivement. On a note une distribution plus importante de colobes bais et de cercocebes a crete que ne le rapportaient de precedentes etudes, ce qui signifie qu'ils sont probablement plus nombreux qu'on ne l'avait note jusqu'alors. On emet l'hypothese que des etudes approfondies de certaines especes considerees comme etant en danger a l'echelle mondiale conduiraient probablement a en redefinir le statut de conservation. De nouvelles etudes dans la region de la basse-Tana devraient couvrir les forets jusque-la non etudiees et s'interesser aux moyens d'inflechir la destruction de la foret.
STICKLEBACK MALES, ESPECIALLY LARGE AND RED ONES, ARE MORE LIKELY TO NEST CONCEALED IN MACROPHYTES

Previous studies have shown (1) that stickleback males enjoy increased mating success when their nest is concealed, (2) that males reduce their courtship in the face of predation risk to a lesser extent when their nest is concealed, and (3) that eggs in concealed nests have higher hatching chances. Here we test the prediction that male sticklebacks prefer to establish a territory at a site with a macrophyte under which they can conceal their nest. We planted macrophytes at half of the potential nest sites at two depths, in a section of a channel in which sticklebacks naturally occur. Subsequently, we found significantly more nests with eggs at the sites concealed by macrophytes than at the control sites, suggesting that wild sticklebacks preferred to build their nests at sites that offer concealment. At the shallow depth, males occupying a site with a macrophyte were larger and redder than males at control sites, but not at the deeper level. This suggests that males of higher competitive ability and greater conspicuousness were more likely to settle at shallow sites where predation risk by the grey heron is high.
Simulated maternal pre-spawning stress affects offspring's attributes in farmed Atlantic salmon Salmo salar (Linnaeus, 1758)

In fish hormones are released into the nutritive yolk sac during oogenesis in quantities that mirror female plasma levels, thus implying a potential for the maternal endocrine state at spawning to affect offspring characteristics. In the present study, mature female Atlantic salmon, Salmo salar, were given intraperitoneal cortisol implants to investigate potential impacts of simulated stress on offspring ontogeny. Maternal cortisol levels reduced fertilization success and affected several offspring characters: lowered initial survival rates, impaired growth early in life and increased prevalence of morphological abnormalities in adult individuals. In addition, offspring from cortisol administered females displayed increased locomotor activity in an acute confinement test. These results suggest that developmental trajectories of salmon offspring can be considerably altered if their mothers experience severe stress during the final stages of gametogenesis. The present findings may have conceptual and applied ramifications as they demonstrate a mechanism that links the maternal environment to subsequent viability of the progeny.
Estimating Energy Density of Fish

Abstract The use of bioenergetics models in fisheries ecology and management has increased rapidly in recent years, but application-specific information on energy content of fish and their prey has lagged behind. We believe this is because the process of directly measuring energy density is very time consuming. In this paper we present and evaluate a series of general empirical models that predict energy density (J/g wet weight) from fish percent dry weight. Data were gathered from the literature, obtained from cooperating investigators, and measured directly. Least-squares models were derived for all species combined and for orders, families, and species. All models were linear; however, logarithmic transformation was necessary to normalize residuals in the combined model. All models with more than four data points were highly significant (P < 0.002) and had coefficients of determination of 0.76 or greater. The model for all species combined (N = 587, r 2 = 0.95) was J/g wet weight = 45.29 DW1.507; DW is.
Comparison of strains of Pseudomonas syringae pv. savastanoi from olive leaves and knots

A collection of strains of Pseudomonas syringae pv. savastanoi was subjected to numeric phenetic analysis of 60 characters using unweighted average linkage on the simple matching coefficient. Most strains recovered by washing random leaves in April and October shared lower similarity values between themselves than with the majority of those isolated from 6‐month‐old knots in October and April, respectively.
Cellular Repair of Complex Cortical Circuitry

The mammalian neocortex is a highly complex structure that consists of a large number of distinct cell types and connections unparalleled throughout the rest of the mammalian central nervous system (CNS). The neocortex is responsible for high-level functions including sensorimotor integration, associative behavior, and cognition. Although many studies demonstrate that embryonic tissue or precursor cells transplanted into the embryonic or neonatal cortex can integrate and connect with a wide variety of targets, such connectivity in most studies using adult recipients has been quite limited (1, 2). In contrast, relatively recent advances in transplantation paradigms from our laboratory and other laboratories have made apparent the possibility of successful reconstruction of complex cortical circuitry in the adult mammalian brain by transplantation or by manipulation of endogenous precursors in situ. These advances include the ability to isolate increasingly specific populations of immature neurons and precursors from donor animals, and the establishment of a highly selective model of targeted degeneration in the neocortex (3-10, Leavitt, unpublished observations). Such advances now allow both the transplantation of more defined and specific populations of immature neocortical neuroblasts and precursors, and also make it possible to study the cellular, anatomic, and functional efficacy of both transplantation and manipulation of endogenous precursors in situ (9, 11) in increasingly refined models of neocortical degeneration. The neocortex has become a model system for studying circuitry formation, regional specification, cell specification, and cell autonomous versus environmental influences on neuronal development and function in the CNS. Although neocortical transplantation paradigms have proven very useful for elucidating how complex circuits and CNS cytoarchitecture evolve in the mammalian brain, more recent work using cell transplantation has made apparent the possibility of cell replacement and complex circuit repair in the neocortex. Our most recent results (9, 11) suggest that neuronal replacement therapies for neurodegenerative disease and other CNS injury may even some day be possible via molecular manipulation of endogenous neural precursors in situ, without transplantation. Although only fanciful just several years ago, it now appears that studies of cellular repopulation and circuitry reconstruction in the neocortex may provide a foundation toward developing cellular therapies for degenerative or acquired disease in neocortex and other regions of the CNS.
Tracking the rapid loss of tidal wetlands in the Yellow Sea

In the Yellow Sea region of East Asia, tidal wetlands are the frontline ecosystem protecting a coastal population of more than 60 million people from storms and sea-level rise. However, unprecedented coastal development has led to growing concern about the status of these ecosystems. We developed a remote-sensing method to assess change over ~4000 km of the Yellow Sea coastline and discovered extensive losses of the region's principal coastal ecosystem – tidal flats – associated with urban, industrial, and agricultural land reclamations. Our analysis revealed that 28% of tidal flats existing in the 1980s had disappeared by the late 2000s (1.2% annually). Moreover, reference to historical maps suggests that up to 65% of tidal flats were lost over the past five decades. With the region forecast to be a global hotspot of urban expansion, development of the Yellow Sea coastline should pursue a course that minimizes the loss of remaining coastal ecosystems.
Long‐term modulation of glucose utilization by IL‐1α and TNF‐α in astrocytes: Na+ pump activity as a potential target via distinct signaling mechanisms

Interleukin‐1α (IL‐1α) and tumor necrosis factor‐α (TNF‐α) markedly stimulate glucose utilization in primary cultures of mouse cortical astrocytes. The mechanism that gives rise to this effect, which takes place several hours after application of cytokine, has remained unclear. Experiments were conducted to identify the major signaling cascades involved in the metabolic action of cytokine. First, the selective IL‐1 receptor antagonist (IL‐1ra) prevents the effect of IL‐1α on glucose utilization in a concentration‐dependent manner, whereas it has no effect on the action of TNF‐α. Then, using inhibitors of three classical signaling cascades known to be activated by cytokines, it appears that the PI3 kinase is essential for the effect of both IL‐1α and TNF‐α, whereas the action of IL‐1α also requires activation of the MAP kinase pathway. Participation of a phospholipase C‐dependent pathway does not appear critical for both IL‐1α and TNF‐α. Inhibition of NO synthase by L‐NAME did not prevent the metabolic response to both IL‐1α and TNF‐α, indicating that nitric oxide is probably not involved. In contrast, the Na+/K+ ATPase inhibitor ouabain prevents the IL‐1α‐ and TNF‐α‐stimulated 2‐deoxyglucose (2DG) uptake. When treatment of astrocytes with a cytokine was followed 24 h later by an acute application of glutamate, a synergistic enhancement in glucose utilization was observed. This effect was greatly reduced by ouabain. These data suggest that Na+ pump activity is a common target for both the long‐term metabolic action of cytokines promoted by the activation of distinct signaling pathways and the enhanced metabolic response to glutamate. GLIA 39:10–18, 2002. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Endogenous cytokinin accumulation and cytokinin oxidase activity during shoot organogenesis of Petunia hybrida

Changes in endogenous cytokinin content and cytokinin oxidase activity were characterized in leaf explants from two Petunia hybrida Vilm. genetic lines which differed in their shoot organogenic response to exogenous N 6 -benzyladenine (BA). Endogenous cytokinin content in leaf explants of the highly shoot organogenic line, St40, increased 1.7-fold during the shoot induction phase (days 6-10) and had an additional 2.6-fold cytokinin increase correlated with the shift from induction to the shoot development phase. The cytokinins isopentenyl adenine (iP) and isopentenyl adenosine (iPAR) increased, while the cytokinins zeatin, zeatin riboside and dihydrozeatin remained at consistently low levels. In contrast, isoprenoid cytokinins did not accumulate in petunia TLV1 leaf explants which were incapable of shoot induction during 12 days of culture with BA. Cytokinin oxidase activity continuously increased in leaf explants of both petunia genotypes in response to BA, with a larger increase in St40. These results suggest that the differences in organogenic response in the two petunia genotypes may be the result of differences in BA uptake and metabolism which subsequently affects the accumulation of isoprenoid cytokinins and the activity of cytokinin oxidase in the early stages of shoot development.
Fatty acid incorporation is decreased in astrocytes cultured from α‐synuclein gene‐ablated mice

Because α‐synuclein may function as a fatty acid binding protein, we measured fatty acid incorporation into astrocytes isolated from wild‐type and α‐synuclein gene‐ablated mice. α‐Synuclein deficiency decreased palmitic acid (16:0) incorporation 31% and arachidonic acid [20:4 (n‐6)] incorporation 39%, whereas 22:6 (n‐3) incorporation was unaffected. In neutral lipids, fatty acid targeting of 20:4 (n‐6) and 22:6 (n‐3) (docosahexaenoic acid) to the neutral lipid fraction was increased 1.7‐fold and 1.6‐fold, respectively, with an increase in each of the major neutral lipids. This was consistent with a 3.4‐ to 3.8‐fold increase in cholesteryl ester and triacylglycerol mass. In the phospholipid fraction, α‐synuclein deficiency decreased 16:0 esterification 39% and 20:4 (n‐6) esterification 43% and decreased the distribution of these fatty acids, including 22:6 (n‐3), into this lipid pool. α‐Synuclein gene‐ablation significantly decreased the trafficking of these fatty acids to phosphatidylinositol. This observation is consistent with changes in phospholipid fatty acid composition in the α‐synuclein‐deficient astrocytes, including decreased 22:6 (n‐3) content in the four major phospholipid classes. In summary, these studies demonstrate that α‐synuclein deficiency significantly disrupted astrocyte fatty acid uptake and trafficking, with a marked increase in fatty acid trafficking to cholesteryl esters and triacylglycerols and decreased trafficking to phospholipids, including phosphatidylinositol.
Quantifying historical, contemporary, and anthropogenic influences on the genetic structure and diversity of lake sturgeon (Acipenser fulvescens) populations in northern Ontario

Summary Lake sturgeon (Acipenser fulvescens) are a species of conservation concern across their range, with impoundments and exploitation acting as significant impediments to their recovery. Northern Ontario contains some of the few remaining intact systems with healthy lake sturgeon populations because of low exploitation and undammed, unregulated watersheds. Although preliminary research suggests that northern Ontario lake sturgeon are genetically distinct from depleted sturgeon populations in the Great Lakes basin, this region represents a large gap in our understanding of genetic diversity of lake sturgeon. Recent identification of hydroelectric development potential in four major rivers in northern Ontario may pose future threats to these populations. The two goals of this study were to address the lack of genetic information from a significant portion of the species range, and to compare levels of local and regional diversity between relatively intact systems and more intensively studied (and fragmented) areas to the south. Comparison of 23 putative populations from three major drainages identified three divergent genetic groups which corresponded with historical drainages more than contemporary watersheds. The three groups reflected colonization from Mississippian and Missourian glacial refugia, as well as a novel third group in western Ontario characterized by low genetic variability. Diversity within populations similarly reflected historical influences more than anthropogenic stressors, including impoundments and population abundances resulting from harvest. Genetic similarities among geographically separated populations within major drainages underscore their historical connections, reflecting lake sturgeon dispersal abilities and the importance of habitat connectivity.
Seasonal history, plant interactions and egg parasitism of the variegated caper bug Stenozygum coloratum Klug (Heteroptera: Pentatomidae)

The variegated caper bug Stenozygum coloratum Klug is common in the Middle East, where it is a minor agricultural pest. Recently, it was found that S. coloratum is an alternative host for the egg parasitoid Ooencyrtus pityocampae Mercet, an important natural enemy of the pine processionary moth Thaumetopoea wilkinsoni Tams, a major pest of pines. This discovery, coupled with the general lack of knowledge of S. coloratum, prompted the present study, which focused on seasonal activity of S. coloratum in Israeli pine forests, bidirectional interactions between the bug and its host the caper plant Capparis spp. , and parasitism of its eggs. Stenozygum coloratum activity lasted mainly from May to October, and was followed by an adult winter diapause. Individuals formed large aggregations, causing early withering of plants and a shortening their annual growth periods. Reproductive activity peaked in August and ended in September. Egg parasitism rates increased throughout this period. Several Ooencyrtus spp. , including known natural enemies of various pests, parasitized the eggs of S. coloratum and other associated pentatomids found on the caper plants. Thus, capers probably serve as a refuge for these potentially important egg parasitoids. The potential of caper plants and their fauna for biological control programmes is discussed.
Evaluation of Semipurified Test Diets for Tilapia zillii Fingerlings

An experiment was conducted to evaluate semipurified test diets for Tilapia zillii fingerlings. Four isocaloric (300 kcal dietary energy/100 g) diets containing casein (at 30 and 39%). casein supplemented with L-arginine (Arg) and casein/gelatin mixture as protein sources were fed to triplicate groups of T. zillii fingerlings at a daily rate of 3% of their body weight for 6 weeks. When casein was fed as the sole dietary protein source at 30% level, fish growth, feed conversion efficiency (FC) and protein efficiency ratio (PER) were significantly reduced. Those variables were significantly improved when casein was supplemented with Arg. The group of fish fed casein/gelatin diet showed the best growth and feed utilization. When casein was increased to 39% to meet the Arg requirement, fish growth and feed conversion were not significantly different from those of fish fed casein/gelatin diet, while PER and protein production value (PPV) were significantly reduced. These results indicated that casein/gelatin is superior to casein or casein/Arg as a protein source in semipurified test diets for T. zillii fingerlings.
A highly spatially resolved ecosystem model for the North West European Continental Shelf

Abstract This paper outlines an approach to complex spatio-temporal marine ecosystem modelling as applied to the North Western European Continental Shelf. The model presented here goes further than previous work, as we combine a higher resolution hydrodynamic model, the POL-3DB baroclinic model with the European Regional Seas Ecosystem Model. This combination of models includes many of the processes (benthic-pelagic coupling, dynamic zooplankton and nitrogen, phosphorous and silicate cycling) previous authors have identitied as missing from their models and partially responsible for the inadequacies of their simulations. Spatial distributions of key physical and ecological variables taken from the three dimensional high resolution hydrodynamic/ecological simulations are presented to illustrate how spatial and temporal variations in physical processes determine the onset of the spring bloom in the North Sea. A basic validation of these simulations is presented, which indicates the model reproduces many of the features of the seasonal cycles of nutrients and phytoplankton, but fails to simulate mesozooplankton biomass in a convincing manner. The reasons for this are discussed along with potential new research directions.