Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
“Heirloom” varieties as sources of variation for the improvement of fruit quality in greenhouse-grown tomatoes

Summary Greenhouse-grown tomatoes (Lycopersicon esculentum) often have poor internal organoleptic and nutritional qualities. “Heirloom” (traditional) varieties of tomato possess unique or superior fruit quality characteristics and may be useful for the development of new greenhouse tomato cultivars with improved internal quality. A collection of 55 North American “heirloom” varieties was evaluated for fruit colour, shape, weight, firmness (external quality traits) and total soluble solids (TSS) content, titratable acidity (TA), TSS:TA ratio, flavour intensity (FI; TSS TA) and ascorbic acid (AA) concentration (internal quality traits). The F1 hybrid ‘Daniela’ and pure line ‘NE-1’ were used as controls. A wide diversity was found among “heirlooms” for all traits studied, and several sources of variation (e.g., varieties ‘Moira’, ‘Paragon’, ‘White Queen’, ‘Black Prince’ and ‘Green Zebra’) useful for the improvement of fruit quality were identified. Brightness (L*), hue angle and chroma parameters facilitated the classification of varieties into colour groups (white, yellow, orange, red or black) and the identification of the varieties with better colour characteristics within each colour group. Although all “heirloom” varieties had lower firmness than the delayed ripening cv. ‘Daniela’, some of them (e.g., ‘Moira’ and ‘Paragon’) were very firm. Values obtained for TSS, TA, FI and AA demonstrated that many “heirloom” varieties had better organoleptic and nutritional qualities than modern varieties. As considerable variation was found for most traits, some of the materials studied represent sources of variation of great interest for tomato breeding.
The correlation between 4G/5G polymorphism located in the promoter region of PAI-I gene and breast cancer

Objective: To investigate the relationship between the plasminogen activator inhibitor-1(PAI-1)promoter region gene polymorphism 94G/5G) and breast cancer. Methods: Peripheral blood beulocytes were collected from 146 nomal controls, 53 patients with breast cancer. The 4G/5G allele polymorphism in The PAI-1 gene promoter region of the leukocytes was genotyped by PCR followed by PAGE and silver stains. Results: (1) The frequency of 5G/5G genotype in nomal women was higher than that in nomal men (χ2=6.626 P=0.01) ? (2)There were no significant differences between breast cancer PAI-1 gene polymorphism and controls (P0.05). Conclusion: (1)PAI-1 gene promoter region gene polymorphism (4G/5G0 varies with different races and regions. (2) The 4G/5G polymorphism may not be associated with appearance and/or progression of breast.
The effect of holding bovine oocytes in follicular fluid on subsequent fertilization and embryonic development

The objective of Experiment 1 was to determine the effect of bovine follicular fluid (bFF) on nuclear maturation. Treatment A (Control) oocytes were stained with Hoechst-33342 immediately after aspiration from follicles, whereas, oocytes in Treatment B were held in bFF for 12 hours at 38 C and then stained to determine nuclear status. No significant difference was detected between treatment groups. Results indicate that bFF inhibits resumption of meiosis. The objective of Experiment 2 was to determine the effect of bFF on embryonic development. Oocytes in Treatment A (Control) were placed into in vitro maturation (IVM) for 22 hours followed by in vitro fertilization (IVF). Oocytes in Treatment B were held in bFF for 12 hours at 22 C, followed by IVM and then subjected to IVF. Significantly more (P<0.0001) oocytes cleaved, developed into blastocysts and hatched in Treatment A compared with Treatment B. Results indicate that a 12-hour holding period in bFF does not promote normal embryonic development. The objective of Experiment 3 was to determine the effect of decreased time and concentration of bFF on embryonic development. Treatment A (Control) oocytes were placed into IVM followed by IVF. Oocytes in Treatment B were held in bFF, oocytes in Treatment C were held in Lactated Ringer’s Solution (LRS) and oocytes in Treatment D were held in a combination of bFF and LRS for 6 hours at 22 C, followed by IVM then by IVF. No significant difference was detected between Treatments A and B when analyzing cleavage, blastocyst formation and hatching rates. However, significantly fewer (P<0.0001) embryos reached these stages of development in Treatments C and D. Nevertheless, there were significantly more embryos that
Effects of host plants on development, survival and reproduction of Delphastus catalinae (Horn), a predator of Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius).

Bemisia tabaci(Gennadius) on six host plants were respectively provided to Delphastus catalinae(Horn). The results showed that the host plants affected the development,survival and reproduction of D.catalinae significantly.After preying the whitefly on cauliflower,the development rate,survival rate and oviposition of D.catalinae showed obvious superiority.The sequence of the innate capacity of increase(rm) of D.catalinae on six host plants was cauliflower(0.0771)tropic ageratum(0.0722)cowpea(0.0714)poinsettia(0.0677)sweet potato(0.0640)tobacco(0.0540). From the view of mass rearing of D.catalinae,cauliflower is the first choice for the host plant,followed by poinsettia,cowpea and tropic ageratum.
Involvement of Calcium and Calmodulin in the Mechanical Stimulation-induced Heat Tolerance in Tobacco(Nicotiana tabacum L.) Suspension Culture Cells

Mechanical stimulation(MS) obviously enhanced calmodulin(CaM) activity in tobacco(Nicotiana tabacum) suspension cells,induced the heat tolerance in tobacco suspension cells.The MS-induced heat toler-ance in tobacco suspension cells was strengthened with exogenous Ca2+ treatment,but weakened by Ca2+ chelator EGTA,plasmamembrame-channel blocker La3+,intracellular channel blocker ruthenium red(RR) and calmodulin antagonists chlorpromazine(CPZ) and trifluoperazine(TFP),respectively.These results suggested that Ca2+ and CaM were involved in the regulation of MS-induced heat tolerance in tobacco suspension cells.
Genetics: The tyrosine kinase domain of the insulin receptor gene is normal in women with hyperinsulinaemia and polycystic ovary syndrome

: The cause of hyperinsulinaemia in polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is unknown, but two recent reports have implicated mutations of the tyrosine kinase domain of the insulin receptor gene in two patients. We have undertaken amplification of the insulin receptor gene using the polymerase chain reaction and single-stranded conformational polymorphism analysis in 22 hyperinsulinaemic patients with PCOS. Of these patients, 50% were polymorphic in exon 17 of the insulin receptor gene, but none of the alterations in sequence has been associated with insulin resistance. The genomic sequences in exons 18-21 were normal in all patients. We conclude that mutations involving the tyrosine kinase domain of the insulin receptor gene are a rare cause of insulin resistance in the PCOS.
Seasonal variation in the vertical migration of Pontoporeia affinis (Crustacea, Amphipoda)

Vertical migration in Pontoporeia affinis Lindstrom was studied during the years 1974-1978 and 1980 on a location north of the Hanko Peninsula, Gulf of Finland, at a depth of 30 metres. The study was carried out using traps standing on the bottom, with a funnel directed upwards to catch animals descending after excursions from the bottom. The traps were used from the beginning of May to the middle of December. With this method, it was found that vertical migration mainly occurs from the middle of July to the beginning of October. The onset corresponds to the time when cessation of growth occurs, and it may thus be related to a depletion of the locally available food supply. During the main period of vertical migration, large week-to-week fluctuations occur that appear related to outand inward movements of the water caused by changes in the sea level. In many cases, the results indicate that the whole population takes part in the migration.
Steller's Jays Steal Gray Jay Caches: Field and Laboratory Observations

other birds. Bent (1946) referred to them as "notorious nest robbers," and he suspected them of stealing the stores of the California Woodpecker (Acorn Woodpeckerß MeIanerpes formicivorus). Bailey (in Bent 1946) called them "robbers of the first order" and stated that they would "steal anything edible about camp. " Steller's Jays have been observed to rob the seed caches of Clark's Nutcracker (Nucifraga coIumbiana, Tomback 1978). Although nutcrackers are vigilant for other nutcrackers and Steller's Jays before caching in seed storage areas, Tomback (1978) watched jays empty newly made caches just after nutcrackers left the cache sites. These observations uggest hat food-cache pirating may be a frequent foraging behavior on the part of Steller's Jays. We report here field observations of Steller's Jays pursuing Gray Jays (Perisoreus canadensis) and attempting to steal their caches. Gray Jays form boli of saliva-permeated food and store these in various places on conifers, such as on branch crotches, in bark crevicesß and in foliage (Rutter 1969). The Gray Jays we observed, in turnß exhibited evasive behavior and in some cases avoided loss of caches. Because
Estructura y parámetros poblacionales de Callinectes arcuatus Ordway, 1863 (Decapoda: Portunidae), en el sistema lagunar La Joya- Buenavista, Chiapas, México. Julio a diciembre de 2001

Abstract. Structure and population parameters of Callinectes arcuatus Ordway 1863 (Decapoda: Portunidae), in La Joya-Buenavista Lagoon System, Chiapas, Mexico. July to December of 2001. This paper contains the results of an investigation carried out (July through December 2001) in La Joya-Buenavista lagoon system, Chiapas, Mexico. The goal of this work was to know the population structure of the crab Callinectes arcuatus, with the purpose to desingn strategies of conservation and management of the resource. Biweekly sampling was done, coinciding with the periods of new and full moon, using "aros jaiberos" like fishing method. At the end of the sampling period 1, 345 length and weight records were obtained, which of them 77.4 % were females and the remaining 22.6 % males (p < 0.05). The mean sexual proportion was 3.4 female/male (f/m), with extreme values of 1:1 and 16.7:1 f/m. The equations that defined the potentials relationships between the width of carapace and the total weight have the form: Pt = 0,00011(AC) 2.92±0,072 for males, Pt = 0,00033(AC) 2.66±0,078 females and Pt = 0,00019(AC) 2.79±0,052 for combined sexes. The set of the von Bertalanffy growth model are K = 0.3524, t0 = -0.307, AC∞ =140.3 mm and PT∞ = 186 g. The length at first capture was estimated in 87 mm and it is propose that this settles down in 100 mm with the purpose to protect the 89 % of the C. arcuatus population.
Post-acute COVID-19 associated with evidence of bystander T-cell activation and a recurring antibiotic-resistant bacterial pneumonia

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought with it the largest ever cohort of patients requiring mechanical ventilation. Here we describe such a patient who developed a recurring ventilator-associated pneumonia caused by a strain of Pseudomonas aeruginosa that acquired increasing levels of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in response to treatment. Metagenomic analysis recovered whole genomes of the bacterium directly from samples, revealing the AMR genotype. While immunological analysis of longitudinally-collected blood samples revealed escalating levels of T-cell activation targeting both bacteria and virus, with evidence of bystander-activation, a feature which may have contributed to the continuing inflammation and prolonged requirement for ventilation.
OXTR rs53576 variation with breast and nipple pain in breastfeeding women

Purpose: To evaluate associations among breast and nipple pain sensitivity and candidate pain sensitivity single-nucleotide polymorphisms [SNPs], (COMT rs6269, rs4633, rs4818, rs4680 and OXTR rs2254298, rs53576) in breastfeeding women. Design: A secondary analysis of sixty women participating in a pilot randomized controlled trial of a pain self-management intervention. Methods: All participants underwent standardized mechanical somatosensory testing for an assessment of pain sensitivity and provided baseline buccal swabs for genetic analysis. At 1, 2, and 6 weeks postpartum, women self-reported breast and nipple pain severity using a visual analogue scale. Results:- Women with the minor allele OXTR rs53576 reported 8.18-fold higher breast and nipple pain severity over time. For every 1-unit increase in mechanical detection threshold and windup ratio, women reported 16.51-fold and 4.82-fold higher breast and nipple pain severity respectively. Six women with the OXTR rs2254298 minor allele reported allodynia. Discussion: The presence of OXTR alleles in women with enhanced pain sensitivity suggests a phenotype of genetic risk for ongoing breast and nipple with potential for pain-associated breastfeeding cessation. Somatosensory testing identified women who reported higher breast and nipple pain during the first weeks of breastfeeding. Clinical Implications: Pain sensitivity testing can help to identify women at risk of intolerable and/or ongoing breastfeeding pain who may benefit from additional support to mitigate early breastfeeding cessation. Targeted interventions are needed to address breastfeeding pain, including management of infant latch, positioning, and infection as well as support for self-management of breastfeeding pain.
Sharing a household with children and risk of COVID-19: a study of over 300 000 adults living in healthcare worker households in Scotland

Objective Children are relatively protected from COVID-19, due to a range of potential mechanisms. We investigated if contact with children also affords adults a degree of protection from COVID-19. Design Cohort study based on linked administrative data. Setting Scotland. Study population All National Health Service Scotland healthcare workers and their household contacts as of March 2020. Main exposure Number of young children (0–11 years) living in the participant’s household. Main outcomes COVID-19 requiring hospitalisation, and any COVID-19 (any positive test for SARS-CoV-2) in adults aged ≥18 years between 1 March and 12 October 2020. Results 241 266, 41 198, 23 783 and 3850 adults shared a household with 0, 1, 2 and 3 or more young children, respectively. Over the study period, the risk of COVID-19 requiring hospitalisation was reduced progressively with increasing numbers of household children—fully adjusted HR (aHR) 0.93 per child (95% CI 0.79 to 1.10). The risk of any COVID-19 was similarly reduced, with the association being statistically significant (aHR per child 0.93; 95% CI 0.88 to 0.98). After schools reopened to all children in August 2020, no association was seen between exposure to young children and risk of any COVID-19 (aHR per child 1.03; 95% CI 0.92 to 1.14). Conclusion Between March and October 2020, living with young children was associated with an attenuated risk of any COVID-19 and COVID-19 requiring hospitalisation among adults living in healthcare worker households. There was no evidence that living with young children increased adults’ risk of COVID-19, including during the period after schools reopened. Many parents know that having young children in the house means they get frequent respiratory viral infections. Is this the same for COVID, which is less frequent and less severe in children? This cohort study finds that having young children in the house reduces the risk of COVID.
Aerosol transmission of COVID-19 and infection risk in indoor environments

The role of aerosolized SARS-CoV-2 viruses in airborne transmission of COVID-19 is debated. The transmitting aerosol particles are generated through the breathing and vocalization by infectious subjects. Some authors state that this represents the dominant route of spreading, while others dismiss the option. Public health organizations generally categorize it as a secondary transmission pathway. Here we present a simple, easy-to-use spreadsheet algorithm to estimate the infection risk for different indoor environments, constrained by published data on human aerosol emissions, SARS-CoV-2 viral loads, infective dose and other parameters. We evaluate typical indoor settings such as an office, a classroom, a choir practice room and reception/party environments. These are examples, and the reader is invited to use the algorithm for alternative situations and assumptions. Our results suggest that aerosols from highly infective subjects can effectively transmit COVID-19 in indoor environments. This "highly infective" category represents about one fifth of the patients tested positive for SARS-CoV-2. We find that "super infective" subjects, representing the top few percent of positive-tested ones, plus an unknown fraction of less, but still highly infective, high aerosol-emitting subjects, may cause COVID-19 clusters (>10 infections), e.g. in classrooms, during choir singing and at receptions. The highly infective ones also risk causing such events at parties, for example. In general, active room ventilation and the ubiquitous wearing of face masks (i.e. by all subjects) may reduce the individual infection risk by a factor of five to ten, similar to high-volume HEPA air filtering. The most effective mitigation measure studied is the use of high-quality masks, which can drastically reduce the indoor infection risk through aerosols.
A New Theoretical Interpretation of Measurement Error and Its Uncertainty

The traditional measurement theory interprets the variance as the dispersion of a measured value, which is actually contrary to a general mathematical concept that the variance of a constant is 0. This paper will fully demonstrate that the variance in measurement theory is actually the evaluation of probability interval of an error instead of the dispersion of a measured value, point out the key point of mistake in the traditional interpretation, and fully interpret a series of changes in conceptual logic and processing method brought about by this new concept.
Analysis on heterotic groups and heterotic patterns of high oil corn inbred lines

The primary objective of this study was to estimate heterotic groups and heterotic pattern of a set of 20 newly elite high oil corn inbred lines from four high oil corn populations named BHO(Beijing High oil), ALEXHO(Alexander High Oil), RYDHO(Reid Yellow Dent High Oil) and SYN DO( Synthetic Diseased Oil). Five normal corn inbred lines Dan340, Mo17, 7922, 8701, K12 were adopted as testers, which were the typical representatives of five main heterotic groups named Luda Red Cob, Lancaster, Reid, Exotic germplasm and Tangsipingtou in China. 100 crosses from NCⅡ design were grown in a randomized complete-block design experiment with three replications at three locations in 2002. The combining ability of 20 high oil corn inbred lines derived from four high oil corn populations was analyzed based on the data from the experiment. Cluster analysis was done based on SCA (Special combining ability) data. The results showed that the 20 lines could be classified into two heterotic groups. Inbred lines from RYD and SYN DO could be taken as one group, whose heterotic performance was similar to that of Reid, inbred lines from BHO and ALEXHO as another, whose heterotic performance was similar to that of Lancaster. The heterotic patterns among normal corn and high oil maize population were also analyzed. ALEXHO×Exotic germplasm, ALEXHO×Reid, ALEXHO×L&uumlda Red Cob, BHO×Exotic germplasm, and BHO×Reid were valuable heterotic patterns in high oil corn breeding.
Denoised Smoothing: A Provable Defense for Pretrained Classifiers

We present a method for provably defending any pretrained image classifier against $\ell_p$ adversarial attacks. This method, for instance, allows public vision API providers and users to seamlessly convert pretrained non-robust classification services into provably robust ones. By prepending a custom-trained denoiser to any off-the-shelf image classifier and using randomized smoothing, we effectively create a new classifier that is guaranteed to be $\ell_p$-robust to adversarial examples, without modifying the pretrained classifier. Our approach applies to both the white-box and the black-box settings of the pretrained classifier. We refer to this defense as denoised smoothing, and we demonstrate its effectiveness through extensive experimentation on ImageNet and CIFAR-10. Finally, we use our approach to provably defend the Azure, Google, AWS, and ClarifAI image classification APIs. Our code replicating all the experiments in the paper can be found at: this https URL.
Dynamics of hydraulic and contractile wave-mediated fluid transport during Drosophila oogenesis

Significance Fluid flow plays an important role during oogenesis. From insects to mice, oocytes mature by acquiring cytoplasm from sister germ cells, yet the biological and physical mechanisms underlying this transport process remain poorly understood. To study the dynamics of “nurse cell dumping” in fruit flies, we combined direct imaging with flow-network modeling and found that the intercellular pattern and time scale of transport are in accordance with a fundamental hydraulic pressure law. Changes in actomyosin contractility are observed only in the second phase of nurse cell dumping as surface waves that drive transport to completion. These results show that tandem physical and biological mechanisms are required for complete and directional cytoplasmic transport into the egg cell. From insects to mice, oocytes develop within cysts alongside nurse-like sister germ cells. Prior to fertilization, the nurse cells’ cytoplasmic contents are transported into the oocyte, which grows as its sister cells regress and die. Although critical for fertility, the biological and physical mechanisms underlying this transport process are poorly understood. Here, we combined live imaging of germline cysts, genetic perturbations, and mathematical modeling to investigate the dynamics and mechanisms that enable directional and complete cytoplasmic transport in Drosophila melanogaster egg chambers. We discovered that during “nurse cell (NC) dumping” most cytoplasm is transported into the oocyte independently of changes in myosin-II contractility, with dynamics instead explained by an effective Young–Laplace law, suggesting hydraulic transport induced by baseline cell-surface tension. A minimal flow-network model inspired by the famous two-balloon experiment and motivated by genetic analysis of a myosin mutant correctly predicts the directionality, intercellular pattern, and time scale of transport. Long thought to trigger transport through “squeezing,” changes in actomyosin contractility are required only once NC volume has become comparable to nuclear volume, in the form of surface contractile waves that drive NC dumping to completion. Our work thus demonstrates how biological and physical mechanisms cooperate to enable a critical developmental process that, until now, was thought to be mainly biochemically regulated.