Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Plant Nitrate Reductases Regulate Nitric Oxide Production and Nitrogen-Fixing Metabolism During the Medicago truncatula–Sinorhizobium meliloti Symbiosis

Nitrate reductase (NR) is the first enzyme of the nitrogen reduction pathway in plants, leading to the production of ammonia. However, in the nitrogen-fixing symbiosis between legumes and rhizobia, atmospheric nitrogen (N2) is directly reduced to ammonia by the bacterial nitrogenase, which questions the role of NR in symbiosis. Next to that, NR is the best-characterized source of nitric oxide (NO) in plants, and NO is known to be produced during the symbiosis. In the present study, we first surveyed the three NR genes (MtNR1, MtNR2, and MtNR3) present in the Medicago truncatula genome and addressed their expression, activity, and potential involvement in NO production during the symbiosis between M. truncatula and Sinorhizobium meliloti. Our results show that MtNR1 and MtNR2 gene expression and activity are correlated with NO production throughout the symbiotic process and that MtNR1 is particularly involved in NO production in mature nodules. Moreover, NRs are involved together with the mitochondrial electron transfer chain in NO production throughout the symbiotic process and energy regeneration in N2-fixing nodules. Using an in vivo NMR spectrometric approach, we show that, in mature nodules, NRs participate also in the regulation of energy state, cytosolic pH, carbon and nitrogen metabolism under both normoxia and hypoxia. These data point to the importance of NR activity for the N2-fixing symbiosis and provide a first explanation of its role in this process.
Hello There! Is Now a Good Time to Talk?

Increasing number of researchers and designers are envisioning a wide range of novel proactive conversational services for smart speakers such as context-aware reminders and restocking household items. When initiating conversational interactions proactively, smart speakers need to consider users' contexts to minimize disruption. In this work, we aim to broaden our understanding of opportune moments for proactive conversational interactions in domestic contexts. Toward this goal, we built a voice-based experience sampling device and conducted a one-week field study with 40 participants living in university dormitories. From 3,572 in-situ user experience reports, we proposed 19 activity categories to investigate contextual factors related to interruptibility. Our data analysis results show that the key determinants for opportune moments are closely related to both personal contextual factors such as busyness, mood, and resource conflicts for dual-tasking, and the other contextual factors associated with the everyday routines at home, including user mobility and social presence. Based on these findings, we discuss the need for designing context-aware proactive conversation management features that dynamically control conversational interactions based on users' contexts and routines.
Accurate Iris Segmentation for at-a-distance Acquired Iris/Face Images under Less Constrained Environment

Iris recognition for at-a-distance acquired iris images under less constrained environment has shown to be challenging due to highly imaging variations such as reflections, motion blur, occlusions etc. This poses challenges for conventional gradient-based iris segmentation methods which are essentially developed to work on high quality iris images acquired in a controlled environment. In this work, we propose an effective encoder-decoder Deep Convolutional Neural Network which can be trained end-to-end to perform iris segmentation for distantly acquired iris/face images. More specifically, the proposed approach is motivated by the recent state-of-the-art semantic segmentation approach -- DeepLabv3/3+. The encoder module adapts the ResNet-50 as base network and extended with additional blocks constructed using multi-grid atrous convolution, and Atrous Spatial Pyramid Pooling to capture multi-scale features, which can better accommodate the segmentation of iris at different scales. To facilitate recovering of the spatial information, refinement module is introduced in the decoder module. We demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach on two public datasets, i.e., UBIRIS.v2 and FRGC, which achieves average improvement of 37.42% and 48.9%, respectively. The trained model is made publicly available at https://gitlab.com/cwtan501/iris_segmentation to encourage reproducible of the reported results.
The Dual Nature of Onuf’s Nucleus: Neuroanatomical Features and Peculiarities, in Health and Disease

Onuf’s nucleus is a small group of neurons located in the ventral horns of the sacral spinal cord. The motor neurons (MNs) of Onuf’s nucleus innervate striated voluntary muscles of the pelvic floor and are histologically and biochemically comparable to the other somatic spinal MNs. However, curiously, these neurons also show some autonomic-like features as, for instance, they receive a strong peptidergic innervation. The review provides an overview of the histological, biochemical, metabolic, and gene expression peculiarities of Onuf’s nucleus. Moreover, it describes the aging-related pathologies as well as several traumatic and neurodegenerative disorders in which its neurons are involved: indeed, Onuf’s nucleus is affected in Parkinson’s disease (PD) and Shy-Drager Syndrome (SDS), whereas it is spared in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA), Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD). We summarize here the milestone studies that have contributed to clarifying the nature of Onuf’s neurons and in understanding what makes them either vulnerable or resistant to damage. Altogether, these works can offer the possibility to develop new therapeutic strategies for counteracting neurodegeneration.
Clinical Characteristics and Outcomes of Severe and Critical Patients With 2019 Novel Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) in Wenzhou: A Retrospective Study

Information about severe cases of 2019 novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) infection is scarce. The aim of this study was to report the clinical characteristics and outcomes of severe and critical patients with confirmed COVID-19 infection in Wenzhou city. In this single-centered, retrospective cohort study, we consecutively enrolled 37 RT-PCR confirmed positive severe or critical patients from January 28 to February 16, 2020 in a tertiary hospital. Outcomes were followed up until 28-day mortality. Fifteen severe and 22 critical adult patients with the COVID-19 infection were included. Twenty-six (68.4%) were men. Echocardiography data results suggest that normal or increased cardiac output and diastolic dysfunction are the most common manifestations. Compared with severe patients, critical patients were older, more likely to exhibit low platelet counts and high blood urea nitrogen, and were in hospital for longer. Most patients had organ dysfunction during hospitalization, including 11 (29.7%) with ARDS, 8 (21.6%) with acute kidney injury, 17 (45.9%) with acute cardiac injury, and 33 (89.2%) with acute liver dysfunction. Eighteen (48.6%) patients were treated with high-flow ventilation, 9 (13.8%) with non-invasive ventilation, 10 (15.4%) with invasive mechanical ventilation, 7 (18.9%) with prone position ventilation, 6 (16.2%) with extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), and 3 (8.1%) with renal replacement therapy. Only 1 (2.7%) patient had died in the 28-day follow up in our study. All patients had bilateral infiltrates on their chest CT scan. Twenty-one (32.3%) patients presented ground glass opacity (GGO) with critical patients more localized in the periphery and the center. The mortality of critical patients with the COVID-19 infection is low in our study. Cardiac function was enhanced in the early stage and less likely to develop into acute cardiac injury, but most patients suffered with acute liver injury. The CT imaging presentations of COVID-19 in critical patients were more likely with consolidation and bilateral lung involvement.
Mulberry Leaf Flavonoids Improve Milk Production, Antioxidant, and Metabolic Status of Water Buffaloes

This study was aimed to evaluate the effect of mulberry leaf flavonoids (MLF) on oxidative stress, metabolic hormones, and milk production in Murrah buffaloes. Forty multiparous Murrah buffaloes (4 ± 1 lactations) with similar body weight (average 600 ± 50 Kg) and stage of lactation (90 ± 20 d) were randomly selected for this trial. Four treatment groups (10 buffaloes per group) with different doses of MLF included; control (0 g/d), MLF15 (15 g/d), MLF30 (30 g/d), and MLF45 (45 g/d). Buffaloes were fed with total mix ration consisting of grass (Pennisetum purpureum schum), brewery's grain and concentrate mixture for 5 weeks. Meteorological data including ambient temperature and relative humidity were recorded using the online dust monitoring system to calculate temperature-humidity index (THI). After 1 week of the adaptation, milk yield was recorded daily while physiological parameters (respiratory rate, rectal, and body surface temperature), and milk composition were measured weekly. At the end of the trial, blood samples were collected to analyze serum metabolic hormones including estradiol (E2), growth hormone (GH), prolactin (PRL), Tri-iodothyronine (T3), and Thyroxine (T4). Moreover, serum heat shock proteins (HSP), antioxidants enzymes including malondialdehyde (MDA), total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC), superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) and blood biochemical indices were also analyzed. Results revealed a decrease (P = 0.012) in serum MDA level while increasing (P < 0.01) the HSP and serum GHS-Px contents in supplemented buffaloes. Treatment showed a linear and quadratic decrease (p = 0.001) in the serum T-AOC while reducing CAT contents linearly (p = 0.012) as compared to the control. However, no effect of treatment on serum SOD content was observed. Treatment resulted a linear increase (p = 0.001) in serum GH and PRL hormones while increasing serum E2 levels linearly (P < 0.001) and quadratically (P = 0.025). Treatment increased (p = 0.038) the daily milk yield as compared to the control. However, increase (P < 0.05) in serum T3 and T4 contents, fat corrected milk (4%) and milk protein (%) was observed only in MLF45. Moreover, we observed no change in serum biochemical indices except insulin which linearly increased (p = 0.002) in MLF45. Our findings indicated that MLF at 45 g per day is an appropriate level to enhance milk performance and alleviate heat stress in buffaloes.
EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES OF MICROCRUSTACEAN COMPETITION, COMMUNITY COMPOSITION AND EFFICIENCY OF RESOURCE UTILIZATION'

Studies of perturbed laboratory microcosm communities composed of algae and competing herbivorous microcrustaceans were conducted to assess the role(s) of various species compositions and patterns of resource consumption on the efficiency of resource utilization. Equilibrium microcosm communities, consisting of four competing species, three cladocerans, and an amphipod, were perturbed by different intensities of highly size-specific fish predation that resulted in altered species compositions (two or three additional species) and new equi- librium densities. Analyses of food particle consumption patterns, spatial distributions, and life history characteristics under the different predation intensities indicated the importance of microhabitat and food specializations in permitting coexistence of some species but exclusion of others. Age- and size-specific competition for limiting small (3-6 ,um) particles was especially important among young animals at low predation levels, whereas under high pre- dation, competition for larger particles among adults was more important. Analyses of particle uptake efficiencies in the different communities revealed very uneven use of available resources when the presence of efficient competitors for some foods produced developmental bottlenecks among the young of competing species. Resource utilization efficiencies were much less vari- able at equilibrium when predation reduced competition on the young. The potential general importance of age- and/or size-specific competition in reducing the efficiency of resource utilization in communities of organisms other than terrestrial homeotherms is suggested and contrasted to the current community models of competition.
ヒラタケ(Pleurotus ostreatus)の培養がめん羊による稲わらの自由摂取量と消化率に及ぼす影響

稲わらの栄価を微生物(白色腐朽菌)を利用して改善する可能性を追究するため,水分含量を約65%に調節した稲わらを1kgずつ2l容のきのこ培養ポリプロピレン袋に誌め,高圧滅菌の後,3菌株のヒラタケ(Pleurotus ostrebtus)を接種し,25°Cで培養した. 培養袋は各処理300袋であった. 100～140日の培養の後,去勢雄羊に自由摂取させて,自由摂取量および消化率を測定した. ヒラタケの培養により稲わらのヘミセルロース含量は減少したが,セルロース含量には大きな変化が認められなかった. ADLは減少しておらず. 本試験の培養期間では不十分であると考えられた. 135および140日培養した処理では,培養により自由摂取量が12～13g/kg BWから約20g/kg BWへと大きく増加した. これらの処理では,消化率が低下したものの、自由摂取量が増加したことにより,可消化乾物摂取量が5～6g/kg BWから7～8g/kg BWへと増加した.
Length-weight relationship and condition factor of Leuciscus niloticus (De Joahhis, 1853) from Epe Lagoon, Lagos State, Nigeria

Leuciscus niloticus samples were obtained from Epe lagoon, Lagos state, Nigeria. The fish samples were designated into pooled, male and female sex respectively. Length-weight relationship was carried out to investigate the correlation value, growth pattern and the condition factor (k) of pooled, male and female Leuciscus niloticus . In this study, the growth pattern of pooled, male and female Leuciscus niloticus from Epe lagoon shows that the “b” values were 2.56, 2.62 and 2.38 respectively, showing that all the fish sampled exhibited negative allometric growth pattern. The overall length weight regression equation for pooled was (Log W = -1.679 + 2.559 log TL), (r = 0.898), and also the length-weight equations of males and females (Log W = -1.759 + 2.618 log TL) (r=0.919), (Log W = -1.449 + 2.384 log TL) (r=0.870) respectively. The mean condition factor (k) of Leuciscus niloticus was 0.55 ± 0.08 for pooled, 0.54 ± 0.08 and 0.55 ± 0.09 for both male and female respectively indicate poor adaptation of the fish in the Epe lagoon.
Effect of a honey bee (Hymenoptera : Apidae) gradient on the pollination and yield of lowbush blueberry

The object of this study was to establish the relationship between a gradient of honey bees, Apis mellifera L. , and fruit production of low bush blueberry, Vaccinium angustifolium Aiton and V. myrtilloides Michaux. Five hundred colonies of honey bees were grouped at one end of a blueberry culture, and pollinator counts as well as fruit sampling were made between 0.5 and 5.0 km from the hives, thus obtaining fruit production data from plots with many to no observed honey bees. Four parameters were estimated to assess blueberry production: seed set, fruit set, berry weight, and maturation rate. All parameters were significantly and positively correlated with an increase in the density of honey bees.
The Changes in IAA and ABA Concentrations and Ethylene Evolution during Fruit Development in Blueberry

To elucidate the roles of plant growth regulators during fruit development in highbush blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum L.), we investigated indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) and abscisic acid (ABA) concentrations, ethylene evolution in fruits during fruiting to ripening in ‘Berkeley’, and the ABA concentration and ethylene evolution at color stages of fruits in ‘Earliblue’, ‘Berkeley’, and ‘Jersey’. The IAA concentration increased during seed enlargement. During the maturation stage, the change in the ABA concentration resembled that of ethylene evolution. Ethylene evolution peaked at the same or one color stage earlier than the ABA concentration. The ABA concentration increased simultaneously with ethylene evolution in ‘Earliblue’ and ‘Berkeley’, and the ABA concentration increased later than ethylene evolution in ‘Jersey’. Furthermore, color stages with each of the ABA concentration and respiration rate peak, which is earlier, differed among cultivars. The relationship between ABA and anthocyanin concentrations seems to differ among cultivars. It was found that the ABA concentration changed simultaneously with fruit firmness as well as total soluble solid contents.
Contribution of phase durations to canola (Brassica napus L.) grain yields in the High Rainfall Zone of southern Australia

Abstract. In the High Rainfall Zone (HRZ) of southern Australia, long-season winter canola types have been commercially available only since 2011. Experiments in this region show that these varieties can provide improvements in grain yield over spring types of >20% because of their ability to make better use of the longer growing season. However, within this longer crop duration, the optimum length and timings of the critical growth phases to maximise grain production are unknown. Data from eight field experiments conducted between 2010 and 2014 at Hamilton, in the HRZ of south-western Victoria, were analysed to determine whether different phases within the crop’s life cycle vary in their contribution to grain yield and, if so, how this is influenced by climatic conditions. The dataset provided 536 genotype–environment–management combinations including 60 varieties ranging in total crop duration from 186 to 236 days. Over the 5 years, seasons were highly variable with annual rainfall ranging between 479 and 981 mm and spring rainfall (September–November) between 84 and 199 mm. The range of crop maturity types (i.e. winter and spring types) and environmental conditions provided a wide spread in growth, development and grain yield. The analysis showed a positive association between longer duration from flowering to maturity and grain yield, and showed that the duration was influenced by both environmental and genetic factors. Pre-flowering reserves made an important contribution to grain yield, and remobilisation of reserves from the pre-flowering period was greatest for winter types, presumably due to less favourable conditions for growth during grain-filling. Optimising flowering to produce sufficient pre-flowering reserves for remobilisation while ensuring that environmental conditions post-flowering are such that the grain-filling duration is maximised may provide a strategy to increase yields in this environment.
Knowing About Identify and Mode of Damage by Insect Pests Attacking Winter Vegetables and Their Management.

Vegetables are the important component of our daily diet and these provide a cheap source of proteins, vitamins and other elements essential for health and wellbeing of human. Most vegetables are available during the whole year, but the vegetables in winter season have a special attraction, and are juicy and freshest. Pest problem is one of the major constraints for achieving higher production in these crops. Among the insects observed, the frequently seen pests affecting the vegetables are several different species of order Lepidoptera, Homoptera, Hemiptera, Coleoptera, Orthoptera, Diptera, Thynanoptera and Acarina. The high levels of incidence of these pests cause so many changes in vegetable plants and also affect crop production. Most vegetable crops are subjected to pest damage, and seeds, roots, stems, leaves and fruit are all susceptible. Insect damage ranges from reduced plant vigor to plant death and heavy crop losses occur. Insects injury plants by chewing foliages, sucking juices, laying eggs and transmitting diseases. Managing and controlling insect pests is one of the keys to successful vegetable farming, and their identification is an essential first step. Therefore, an up to date knowledge about the incidence pattern of major insect pests and their identification on particular crop is a prerequisite for implementation of an effective and successful management tactics. This testimony describes the most common insect pests of winter vegetables and several control methods are combined in order to minimize damage. The growers need to quickly recognize insect problems, and practice early control to prevent their buildup and keep pests from getting out of control.
One-Minute Alkali Denaturation-Precipitation Method for Haemoglobin F Determination : Agreement with Spectrophotometric Method

I n studies on radioiron kinetics in early infancy [3] attempts were made to measure the incorporation of the labelled iron into both newly formed haemoglobin A and haemoglobin F. I n healthy infants, the amount of radioactivity that could be injected was limited for safety reasons. On the other hand, the total volume of any solution that could be measured in our well-type scintillation counter was limited to 5 ml. I n order to obtain a sufficient amount of isolated haemoglobin F for radioactivity measurements, the oneminute alkali denaturation-precipitation method of Singer, Chernoff & Singer [7] was considered to be the simplest and most efficient procedure. However, in the original method, 5 ml of haemoglobin Fcontaining filtrate corresponded to the amount of haemoglobin F present in only 0.1 ml of a 10% haemoglobin solution, which was not sufficient t o allow accurate radioactivity measurements in our experiments. An attempt was therefore made to work with considerably smaller amounts of reagents, thereby reducing the dilution.
Environmental adaptations in the retina of the Magellanic Penguin: Photoreceptors and outer plexiform layer

-The retina of the Magellanic Penguin (Spheniscus magellanicus) was studied with light and electron microscopy. Rods, double and single cones were observed. Rods showed a uniform density over the entire retina, whereas cones gradually decreased from center to periphery. Cone-to-rod ratio was 2.0 in the center and 1.1 at the margin of the retina. Rods had a large outer segment (26.6 ? 2.8 pm long, and 2.1 ? 0.4 pm wide). About 80% of the cones were double. Principal members had a yellowish-green oil droplet and their outer segment was larger than that of rods (27.2 ? 2.5 gtm, and 3.3 ? 0.6, tapering to 2.2 ? 0.3 pm wide). The accessory member had a short outer segment and was devoid of an oil droplet. Single cones had either a transparent or orange oil droplet and a very long and thin outer segment. The large size of rod and principal cone outer segments might be correlated with increased sensitivity of the retina, perhaps as an adaptation to low illumination levels in deep oceanic waters. Their large diameter also implies that image focusing in the Magellanic Penguin eye would not be very sharp. However, the structure of the outer plexiform layer suggests that the penguin retina would be adapted to the extreme changes in illumination and contrast conditions encountered by diving penguins. Received 20 September 1998, accepted 25 January 1999.
Is the Song of Black Redstart Males an Honest Signal of Status

We analyzed song differences between adults and subadults of the Black Redstart (Phoeni-curus ochruros) breeding in the Western Alps and found differences both among individuals and between the two age categories. The song parameters utilized for differentiation of individuals were different from those used for adults and subadults. A playback experiment simulating territory intrusion revealed that adults reacted more quickly to the broadcast of an adult song, whereas the reverse was found for subadults. Females did not react to the playback. The results of this study do not support the hypothesis that subadult males mimic female or juvenile behavior (Female or Juvenile Mimicry Hypothesis) nor the Non-adaptive Hypothesis which predicts an equal response to adult and subadult intrusions. We suggest that subadult Black Redstarts honestly signal their status with both visual and acoustic cues. The Status Signaling and the Polyterritorial Deception Hypotheses both seem to explain the data collected for this species.