Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Reproductive behaviour of spadefoot toads (Pelobates fuscus): daily sex ratios and males' tactics, ages, and physical condition

In anuran competition over mates, disadvantaged (i.e., less competitive) males are generally known to be the smallest ones, but ages of those males have rarely been documented. In the context of a high level of male competition for mates, disadvantaged males were expected to use alternative mating tactics. To test for alternative tactics in a territorial toad (the spadefoot toad, Pelobates fuscus, Pelobatidae), daily breeding migration patterns were observed during 3 consecutive years. Relationships between migration pattern, operational sex ratio (OSR), and male's age (inferred from skeletochronological analysis), size, and mass were analysed. During 2 of the study years, OSRs were highly male-biased at the beginning of the breeding season and then gradually decreased when male numbers increased. Males with a low body condition index (CI) tend to arrive later and to lose relatively more mass than males with a higher CI. There was a negative relationship between percent mass loss per day and CI as well as.
A pandemic at the Tunisian scale. Mathematical modelling of reported and unreported COVID-19 infected cases

Starting from the city of Wuhan in China in late December 2019, the pandemic quickly spread to the rest of the world along the main intercontinental air routes. At the time of writing this article, there are officially about five million infections and more than 300 000 deaths. Statistics vary widely from country to country, revealing significant differences in anticipation and management of the crisis. We propose to examine the COVID-19 epidemic in Tunisia through mathematical models, which aim to determine the actual number of infected cases and to predict the course of the epidemic. As of May 11, 2020, there are officially 1032 COVID-19 infected cases in Tunisia. 45 people have died. Using a mathematical model based on the number of reported infected cases, the number of deaths, and the effect of the 18-day delay between infection and death, this study estimates the actual number of COVID-19 cases in Tunisia as 2555 cases. This paper analyses the evolution of the epidemic in Tunisia using population dynamics with an SEIR model combining susceptible cases S(t), asymptomatic infected cases A(t), reported infected cases V (t), and unreported infected cases U(t). This work measures the basic reproduction number R0, which is the average number of people infected by a COVID-19 infected person. The model predicts an R0 = 2.73. Strict containment measures have led to a significant reduction in the reproduction rate. Contact tracing and respect for isolation have an impact: at the current time, we compute that Tunisia has an Rt = 0.42 (95% CI 0.14-0.70). These values depend on physical separation and can vary over time depending on the management of suspicious cases. Their objective estimation and the study of their evolution are however necessary to understand the pandemic and to reduce their unintended damage (due to an absence of symptoms, or the confusion of certain symptoms with less contagious diseases, or unavailable or unreliable tests).
A Novel Feature Selection and Classification Method of Alzheimer's Disease based on Multi-features in MRI

In this paper, we describe a novel machine learning method for classifying Alzheimer's disease (AD), Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and Normal Control (NC) subjects based on structural MRI. We first extracted features from MRI scans, including cortical volumes, cortical thicknesses, subcortical volumes, and hippocampal subfields volumes. Then a new feature selection method combining the support vector machine-recursive feature elimination (SVM-RFE), maximal-relevance-minimal-redundancy (mRMR) and random forest (RF) was proposed to select the optimal subsets among all these features. Finally, the SVM classifier was used for AD/MCI/NC classification by 10-fold cross-validation. We applied the proposed method to the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) dataset, and the experimental results show a high degree of accuracy, sensitivity and specificity, which are superior to some other state-of-the-art approaches.
Expression of chemosensory proteins in hairs on wings of Locusta migratoria (Orthoptera: Acrididae)

The hairs on the wings of Locusta migratoria were observed and mapped using light microscopy, as well as by scanning and transmission electron microscopy. Based on their ultrastructure, we can distinguish four main types of hairs on the wings of adult L. migratoria, viz, short, medium and long hairs, and sensilla chaetica. The long hairs are located only on the ventral surface of the hindwing, whereas the other three types are present both on the dorsal and ventral surfaces of forewing and hindwing in both sexes. Medium hairs and sensilla chaetica are significantly more abundant on the dorsal surface of forewings in both females and males, than on the ventral surface, whereas the opposite was observed for short hairs (P < 0.01). No significant difference between males and females was observed in the density of any type of hairs (P > 0.1). Several dendritic branches, enveloped by a dendrite sheath, are situated in the lymph cavity of sensilla chaetica. Instead, no dendritic structure was observed in the cavity of the other three types of hairs. Immunocytochemical localization of chemosensory proteins (CSPs) was performed on ultrathin sections of hairs on wings. The antiserum against chemosensory proteins from L. migratoria (LmigCSP‐II) strongly labelled sensilla chaetica, with gold granules only found in the outer sensillum lymph. In addition, the epidermal cell membrane of the wing was stained by the antiserum against LmigCSP‐II. The other three types of hairs were never labelled. The results indicate that the wings might involve in contact chemoreception process.
Direct molecular biological analysis of ammonia oxidising bacteria populations in cultivated soil plots treated with swine manure

The application of pig slurry, high in ammonia-nitrogen concentration, to agricultural land is a practice whose effect on soil microbial communities is poorly understood. The autotrophic ammonia-oxidising bacteria are an integral component of the nitrogen cycle in soil, and their activity will be affected by addition of nitrogenous fertilizer. Molecular biological techniques were applied to the direct detection and identification of ammonia-oxidiser populations in cultivated soil plots treated with different amounts of pig slurry. Members of the genus Nitrosospira were shown by 16S rDNA-directed PCR to be present in both unamended and amended soils, regardless of the quantity of pig slurry applied. In contrast, members of the genus Nitrosomonas were detected by the same approach only in those soil plots that had received high loadings of slurry. The fidelity of amplification products was always confirmed by oligonucleotide probing. In addition, we used high stringency PCR and confirmatory gene probing to detect the presence of the ammonia monooxygenase gene (amoA) of Nitrosomonas europaea directly in all amended soil samples, with hybridization signal intensities that increased with the amount of pig slurry applied to plots. Nitrosomonas europaea amoA DNA could not be detected in soil from the untreated plot. These data support the view that nitrosospiras are ubiquitous as important members of nitrifying populations in the environment. The direct detection of nitrosomonad DNA only in amended soils supports the hypothesis that these nitrosomonads become highly competitive under conditions analogous to laboratory enrichment cultures.
A MORPHOMETRIC EVALUATION OF THE SUBSPECIES OF FRAGARIA CHILOENSIS

To evaluate the relationship between the four subspecies of Fragaria chiloensis, 14 characters were measured in 95 plants. F ratios from ANOVA were used to determine and apply the optimal characters for subspecies separation. Discriminant analysis indicated that the Hawaiian ssp. sandwicensis was entirely distinct, differing from the other subspecies in having longer leaflets and longer hairs on the undersurface of the leaflets and more numerous leaflet veins. The South American and North American plants were significantly different but overlapped to a degree. The former differed primarily by having mostly 6-10 petals, instead of having 5-6 (rarely 7) petals. The two North American subspecies overlapped extensively and may be best transferred to a lower taxonomic rank. A key to the subspecies is included.Key words: Fragaria chiloensis, ssp. pacifica, ssp. lucida, ssp.sandwicensis, ssp. chiloensis, Rosaceae, strawberry, taxonomy, classification, morphology, North America, South America, Hawaii.
Protecting from Lunchtime Attack Using an Uncalibrated Eye Tracker Signal

Eye movement-based biometric has been developed for over 15 years, but for now - to the authors’ knowledge - no commercial applications utilize this modality. There are many reasons for this, starting from still low accuracy and ending with the problematic setup. One of the essential elements of this setup is the calibration, as nearly every eye tracker needs to be calibrated before its first usage. This procedure makes any authentication based on eye movement a cumbersome and lengthy process. The main idea of the research presented in this paper is to perform authentication based on a signal from a cheap remote eye tracker but - contrary to the previous studies - without any calibration of the device. The uncalibrated signal obtained from the eye tracker is used directly, which significantly simplifies the enrollment process. The experiment presented in the paper aims at protection from a so-called ”lunchtime attack” when an unauthorized person starts using a computer, taking advantage of the absence of the legitimate user. We show that such an impostor may be detected with an analysis of the signal obtained from the eye tracker when the user clicks with a mouse objects on a screen. The method utilizes the assumptions that: (1) users usually look at the point they click, and (2) an uncalibrated eye tracker signal is different for different users. It has been shown that after the analysis of nine subsequent clicks, the method is able to achieve the Equal Error Rate lower than 15% and may be treated as a valuable and difficult to counterfeit supplement to classic face recognition and password-based computer protection methods.
Exploitation of motion capture data for improved synthetic micro-doppler signature generation with adversarial learning

A critical limitation in the application of deep learning to radar signal classification is the lack of sufficient data to train very deep neural networks. The depth of a neural network is one of the more significant network parameters that affects achievable classification accuracy. One way to overcome this challenge is to generate synthetic samples for training deep neural networks (DNNs). In prior work of the authors, two methods have been developed: 1) diversified micro-Doppler signature generation via transformations of the underlying skeletal model derived from video motion capture (MOCAP) data, and 2) auxiliary conditional generative adversarial networks (ACGANs) with kinematic sifting. While diversified MOCAP has the advantage of greater accuracy in generating signatures that span to the probable target space of expected human motion for different body sizes, speeds, and individualized gait, the method cannot capture data artifacts due to sensor imperfections or clutter. In contrast, adversarial learning has been shown to be able to capture non-target related artifacts, however, the ACGANs can also generate misleading signatures that are kinematically impossible. This paper provides an in-depth performance comparison of the two methods on a through-the-wall radar data set of human activities of daily living (ADL) in the presence of clutter and sensor artifacts.
Knowledge, attitude, and practice toward Lassa fever prevention and control among health care providers in Sabon Gari local government area, Kaduna State, Nigeria

Background: Lassa fever is an acute viral hemorrhagic disease of public health concern causing recurrent outbreaks that often involve healthcare providers. Effective hospital infection control limits the impact of this disease. Objective: To assess the knowledge, attitude, and practice of health care providers toward Lassa fever prevention and control in Sabon Gari local government area, Kaduna State, Nigeria. Materials and methods: It was a cross-sectional descriptive study in which data were collected using a self-administered semi-structured questionnaire and analyzed using SPSS version 20.0. Associations between practice and other variables were tested using chi-square at P < 0.05. Results: A total of 131 health care providers participated in the study. Of these, 119 (96.0%) respondents were aware of Lassa fever. Overall a good knowledge of Lassa fever was only in 46 (35.1%) of them, while attitude toward prevention and control of Lassa fever was good in 110 (84.0%). However, only 91 (69.5%) had good practice of prevention and control of Lassa fever. Practice of prevention and control showed statistically significant association with knowledge (P = 0.01) and ethnicity (P = 0.006), but not with the other factors tested. Conclusion and recommendations: Despite the fairly good knowledge of Lassa fever, attitude and practice toward Lassa fever prevention and control were good. There is a need for continuous awareness of prevention and control among the health care providers.
Psychoactive substance use and its predictors among commercial tricycle operators in Jos north local government area of Plateau State

Background: According to United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) around 243 million people, aged 15–64 consumed an illicit substance making this a public health problem of global dimensions with attendant physical, social, and psychological problems. Studies have shown that 59.5% of road traffic accident among commercial tricycle operator has been associated with the use of psychoactive substances. Hence, this study was conducted to assess the prevalence and pattern of psychoactive substance use and its predictors among tricycle operators in Jos north local government area of Plateau State. Methodology: This was a cross sectional study conducted among 220 commercial tricycle operators selected from a cluster of five operational units of Tricycle Riders Union using quantitative data collection instrument consisted of three sections through an interviewer’s administration method. Results: The mean age of the respondents in the study was 34 ± 10 years with the prevalence of current use of psychoactive substance being 43.2%. The predictors of psychoactive substance use were tertiary level of education (AOR = 0.06; 95% CI = 0.0074–0.4806) and family history of use of psychoactive substance (AOR = 3.30; 95% CI = 1.7164–6.3611). Conclusion: This study has demonstrated a high level of illicit psychoactive substance use among commercial tricycle operators with higher level of education negatively influence its use and a positive family history potentiating it.
Differential Expression of Heat Shock Protein 27 in Oral Epithelial Dysplasias and Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Background: Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is the most devastating neoplasm with dramatic increase in morbidity and mortality. The detection and prognostic evaluation of precancerous lesions could aid in early control of cancer. Heat shock protein (HSP) 27 has found to be a biomarker and therapeutic target in different types of cancer. Aim: This study aims to investigate the role of HSP 27 as prognostic molecular indicator of malignant transformation in oral epithelial dysplasias. Materials and Methods: Thirty samples of epithelial dysplasia (10 mild dysplasia, 10 moderate dysplasia, and 10 severe dysplasia/carcinomain situ cases), 10 samples each of well-differentiated OSCC and normal oral mucosa were routinely processed, formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded, and analyzed for HSP27 expression by immunohistochemistry. Statistical analysis was done by one way-ANOVA and Mann–Whitney test to assess the differences between two individual groups. Results: Normal mucosa showed intense, but nonuniform, expression of HSP27. An initial decline was noted in dysplasias. A significant correlation of HSP27 expression was observed with the severity of dysplasia and well-differentiated OSCC (P < 0.05). Conclusion: Low HSP 27 expression can be considered as early molecular indicator of initial dysplastic change in normal mucosa. An overexpression of HSP 27 in clinically and histologically confirmed dysplasia could indicate likely transformation to well-differentiated OSCC and could be of prognostic value. However, further studies with a larger sample size are required to confirm the role of HSP 27 as predictive indicator.
Relative Taste Intensities of Selected Sugars and Organic Acids

SUMMARY A highly trained taste panel was used to establish the concentrations of fructose, glucose, and lactose equivalent in sweetness to sucrose at threshold and suprathreshold concentrations. The same panel established the sourness of lactic, tartaric, and acetic acids equivalent to that of citric acid at threshold and suprathreshold concentrations. There was no relation between pH, total acidity, and relative sourness. Results obtained from determinations made in water solutions agreed favorably with values reported in the literature. The threshold measurements are considered to be of limited value since the relative taste intensity of these compounds is not a constant but is materially affected by the absolute concentration chosen for comparison. The presence of a slight bitterness in glucose, and a slight, unidentifiable flavor in lactose, appeared to influence the threshold determinations. When the sweetness of sucrose and fructose were compared in pear nectar, fructose was less sweet than sucrose at all concentrations (1.0–20.0% sucrose). Increasing the total acidity of the pear nectar had little or no effect on the relative sweetness of these two sugars.
Pre-treatment allostatic load and metabolic dysregulation predict SSRI response in major depressive disorder: a preliminary report

Abstract Background Major depressive disorder (MDD) is associated with increased allostatic load (AL; a measure of physiological costs of repeated/chronic stress-responding) and metabolic dysregulation (MetD; a measure of metabolic health and precursor to many medical illnesses). Though AL and MetD are associated with poor somatic health outcomes, little is known regarding their relationship with antidepressant-treatment outcomes. Methods We determined pre-treatment AL and MetD in 67 healthy controls and 34 unmedicated, medically healthy MDD subjects. Following this, MDD subjects completed 8-weeks of open-label selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) antidepressant treatment and were categorized as ‘Responders’ (⩾50% improvement in depression severity ratings) or ‘Non-responders’ (<50% improvement). Logistic and linear regressions were performed to determine if pre-treatment AL or MetD scores predicted SSRI-response. Secondary analyses examined cross-sectional differences between MDD and control groups. Results Pre-treatment AL and MetD scores significantly predicted continuous antidepressant response (i.e. absolute decreases in depression severity ratings) (p = 0.012 and 0.014, respectively), as well as post-treatment status as a Responder or Non-responder (p = 0.022 and 0.040, respectively), such that higher pre-treatment AL and MetD were associated with poorer SSRI-treatment outcomes. Pre-treatment AL and MetD of Responders were similar to Controls, while those of Non-responders were significantly higher than both Responders (p = 0.025 and 0.033, respectively) and Controls (p = 0.039 and 0.001, respectively). Conclusions These preliminary findings suggest that indices of metabolic and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal-axis dysregulation are associated with poorer SSRI-treatment response. To our knowledge, this is the first study to demonstrate that these markers of medical disease risk also predict poorer antidepressant outcomes.
CONCHOCELIS GROWTH AND PHOTOPERIODIC CONTROL OF CONCHOSPORE RELEASE IN PORPHYRA TORTA (RHODOPHYTA) 1

We have determined the conditions which give optimal growth and conchospore release in laboratory cultures of free conchocelis of the red alga Porphyra torta Krishnamurthy. With cool white fluorescent light on a 16L.8D photoregime, the fastest sustained growth (5% volume increase d−1) was observed from 10–15°C and 25–100 μE‐m −2.s−1; slightly faster growth was observed at 15°C and 300 μE. m−2.s−1, but such conditions are close to lethal. Conchoporangin will form under a wide range of conditions in conchocelis of this species. However, conchospores will mature and release only when the cultures are exposed to a short day photoperiod. The critical pholoperiod is just shorter than 12 h, The minimum number of photoinductive cycles for complete conchospore release is four for a range of conditions but can be just one depending on pretreatment.
Lung function changes in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and asthma exposed to secondhand smoke in outdoor areas

Abstract Background Further evidence is needed on the effects that short- and long-term exposure to secondhand smoke (SHS) have on the respiratory health of patients with lung disease. Within the TackSHS project we aimed to assess the acute respiratory effects in lung function that result from short-term SHS exposure among patients with asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Methods The study design was an intervention trial with measurements before/after exposure to SHS in legal outdoor smoking areas. We studied patients with asthma or COPD from Czechia, Ireland, and Spain. Forced spirometry, peak flow and carbon monoxide (CO) measurements were performed pre- and 24 h post- exposure. Results Overall, 60 patients were studied, 30 with asthma, and 30 with COPD; 35 (58.3%) were female. There were no significant differences observed in exhaled CO between pre- and 24 h post-exposure neither in women (p = 0.210), nor in men (p = 0.169). A statistically significant decrease in forced vital capacity (FVC) was seen, overall, in asthma participants (p = 0.02) and in forced expiratory volume in the first second (FEV1), (p = 0.02), FVC (p = 0.04) and peak expiratory flow rate (PEFR) (p = 0.04) in female asthmatic participants. The observed decreases in respiratory measurements in COPD were not significant. There were no reported increases in symptoms, respiratory medication, or use of health services 24 h after the exposure. Conclusion We conclude that acute, short-term SHS exposure had a statistically significant effect on spirometry in female asthma patients but did not significantly modify spirometric indices 24 h later in COPD patients.
Examining core self-management skills among adolescents with celiac disease

A strict gluten-free diet is the only treatment for celiac disease, and it is especially challenging among adolescents. Participation in food-related activities and self-managing the chronic health condition involve use of cognitive skills. This cross-sectional study examined how executive functions might be associated with participation in food-related activities. Adolescents aged 12–18 years (N = 65; Mage = 14.67) with celiac were interviewed about participation, and their parents completed an executive function questionnaire. Poorer participation significantly correlated with poorer executive abilities. Identifying executive function profiles may contribute to understanding and advancing resourceful daily functioning and participation in daily food-related activities.