Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
EFFECTS OF IRON AND LIGHT STRESS ON THE BIOCHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF ANTARCTIC PHAEOCYSTIS SP. (PRYMNESIOPHYCEAE). II. PIGMENT COMPOSITION

A strain of Phaeocystis sp. , isolated in the Southern Ocean, was cultured under iron‐ and light‐limited conditions. The cellular content of chlorophyll a and accessory light‐harvesting (LH) pigments increased under low light intensities. Iron limitation resulted in a decrease of all light‐harvesting pigments. However, this decrease was greatly compensated for by a decrease in cell volume. Cellular concentrations of the LH pigments were similar for both iron‐replete and iron‐deplete cells. Concentrations of chlorophyll a were affected only under low light conditions, wherein concentrations were suppressed by iron limitation. Ratios of the LH pigments to chlorophyll a were highest for iron‐deplete cells under both light conditions. The photoprotective cycle of diato/diadinoxanthin was activated under high light conditions, and enhanced by iron stress. The ratio of diatoxanthin to diadinoxanthin was highest under high light, low iron conditions. Iron limitation induced synthesis of 19′‐hexanoyloxyfucoxanthin and 19′‐butanoyloxyfucoxanthin at the cost of fucoxanthin. Fucoxanthin formed the main carotenoid in iron‐replete Phaeocystis cells, whereas for iron‐deplete cells 19′‐hexanoyloxyfucoxanthin was found to be the main carotenoid. This shift in carotenoid composition is of importance in view of the marker function of both pigments, especially in areas where Phaeocystis sp. and diatoms occur simultaneously. A hypothesis is presented to explain the transformation of fucoxanthin into 19′‐hexanoyloxyfucoxanthin and 19′‐butanoyloxyfucoxanthin, referring to their roles as a light‐harvesting pigment.
Adjustments of Energy and Water Metabolism to Drought in an Australian Arid-Zone Crab

The Australian arid-zone crab Holthuisana transversa reduces both oxygen consumption and evaporative water loss by one-half when transferred from hydrating to dehydrating conditions. When crabs are placed in artificial burrows subject to progressive drying, oxygen consumption is further reduced by 30%-40% of the initial level, prior to the onset of conditions resulting in weight loss. We interpret these responses to represent a state of physiological dormancy, an energy-conserving device permitting these crabs to withstand long periods of drought in humid burrows where they are without immediate access to food.
Tetramethylguanidinium‐polyallylamine (Tmg‐PA): A new class of nonviral vector for efficient gene transfection

Highly toxic polyallylamine (PA) was reacted with a varying amount of a novel linker, 6-(N,N,N 0 ,N 0 -tetramethylgua- nidinium chloride) hexanoic acid (Tmg-HA), to prepare a series of tetramethylguanidinium-PA (Tmg-PA) polymers, which were used as vectors for gene transfection. The extent of attachment of the linker, Tmg-HA, to the PA backbone was determined by 2,4,6-trinitrobenzene sulfonic acid assay. The modified poly- mers (Tmg-PAs), when complexed with pDNA, exhibited good condensation ability. The nanoparticles, so formed, were char- acterized by their size and zeta potential and were subse- quently evaluated for their toxicity and transfection ability on various mammalian cells, viz., HeLa, CHO, and HEK 293 cells. Mobility shift assay revealed that on increasing the percent substitution of Tmg-HA onto PA (from Tmg-PA1 to Tmg-PA6), relatively higher amounts of modified polymers were required to retard the mobility of a fixed amount of DNA. Besides, Tmg- PA polymers provided sufficient protection (ca. 84-88%) to bound DNA against nucleases and one of the formulations, Tmg-PA2 (ca. 15% substitution) displayed the highest transfec- tion efficiency outcompeting the commercial transfection rea- gent, Lipofectamine TM with minimal cytotoxicity. More impressively, the transfection efficiency increased despite re- cording a decrease in the buffering capacity of the grafted polymers suggesting that buffering capacity is not the sole pa- rameter in determining the gene delivery efficiency of a vector system. V C 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 50: 2344-2355, 2012
Modulation of emotional prosody perception by alexithymia: fMRI evidence

How we perceive emotional signals from our environment depends on our personality. Alexithymia, a personality trait characterized by difficulties in emotion regulation has been linked to aberrant brain activity for visual emotional processing. Whether alexithymia also affects the brain’s perception of emotional speech prosody is currently unknown. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging to investigate the impact of alexithymia on hemodynamic activity of three a-priori regions of the prosody network: the superior temporal gyrus, the inferior frontal gyrus, and the amygdala. Twenty-two subjects performed an explicit task (emotional prosody categorization) and an implicit task (metrical stress evaluation) on the same prosodic stimuli. Irrespective of task, alexithymia was associated with a blunted response of the right superior temporal gyrus and the bilateral amygdalae to angry, surprised, and neutral prosody. Individuals with difficulty describing feelings deactivated the left superior temporal gyrus and the bilateral amygdalae to a lesser extent in response to angry compared to neutral prosody, suggesting that they perceived angry prosody as relatively more salient than neutral prosody. In conclusion, alexithymia seems to be associated with a generally blunted neural response to speech prosody. Such restricted prosodic processing may contribute to problems in social communication associated with this personality trait. CHAPTER 3.2: ROLE OF ALEXITHYMIA IN PROSODY PERCEPTION: fMRI 191
Safe Deep Semi-Supervised Learning for Unseen-Class Unlabeled Data

Deep semi-supervised learning (SSL) has been recently shown very effectively. However, its performance is seriously decreased when the class distribution is mismatched, among which a common situation is that unlabeled data contains some classes not seen in the labeled data. Efforts on this issue remain to be limited. This paper proposes a simple and effective safe deep SSL method to alleviate the harm caused by it. In theory, the result learned from the new method is never worse than learning from merely labeled data, and it is theoretically guaranteed that its generalization approaches the optimal in the order O ( (cid:112) d ln( n ) /n ) , even faster than the convergence rate in supervised learning associated with massive parameters. In the experiment of benchmark data, unlike the existing deep SSL methods which are no longer as good as supervised learning in 40% of unseen-class unlabeled data, the new method can still achieve performance gain in more than 60% of unseen-class unlabeled data. Moreover, the proposal is suitable for many deep SSL algorithms and can be easily extended to handle other cases of class distribution mismatch.
Review Study on Antimicrobial Finishes on Textiles – Plant Extracts and Their Application

Assistant Professor, Department of Apparel and Textiles, College of Community Science, PJTSAU, Saifabad, Hyderabad, Telangana, India ------------------------------------------------------------------------***------------------------------------------------------------------------Abstract: Medical textiles are one of the major areas of technical textiles showing promising future in terms of innovations. Antimicrobial property of textiles will find application not only in medical sector, but also in health and hygiene products. Presence of microbes in textiles has many detrimental effects like bad odors, discolouration, spots and stains on textiles. Synthetic antimicrobial agents give efficient performance and durability but they are harmful to the environment. Therefore, research and development of plant based antimicrobial agents is given lot of importance now days. The objective of this article is to review the research done over a long period of time in developing eco-friendly antimicrobial textile finishes and to present the various sources from which the antimicrobial agents were extracted. This article also gives a brief view of the research happening in development of antimicrobial textiles, methods of application and impact of these treatments on health and environment.
Allelopathic effect of aquatic hull extract of rice (Oryza sativa L.) on growth of Silybum marianum and Echinochloa crus-galli

In this research, the allelopathy effect of rice hull extracts (Oryza sativa L.) on Silybum marianum and Echinochloa crus-galli was investigated. The water extracts were gotten from 13 cultivated rice cultivars (Oryza sativa L.) and then used to show their phytotoxicity potential on germination and seedling growth of Silybum marianum and Echinochloa crus-galli. The water hull extracts of Kadus and Chapar sar 3 had the highest inhibitory effect on dry weight and root length of Silybum marianum, respectively. It seemed that not only did the hull extracts have inhibitory effect on germination of Silybum marianum, but also had stimulatory effects on stem length. On the other hand, there was no significant effect on root and stem length and germination of Echinochloa crus-galli. Meanwhile, the extract of Shafagh induced the highest increase in the dry weight of Echinochloa crus-galli. Therefore, it was shown that the various rice cultivars had different effects on the plants, and it may be possible to breed rice cultivars to gain greater allelopathic potential.
Facilitation and interference underlying the association between the woody invaders Pyracantha angustifolia and Ligustrum lucidum

ABSTRACT Questions: 1. Is there any post-dispersal positive effect of the exotic shrub Pyracantha angustifolia on the success of Ligustrum lucidum seedlings, as compared to the effect of the native Condalia montana or the open herbaceous patches between shrubs? 2. Is the possible facilitation by Pyracantha and/or Condalia related to differential emergence, growth, or survival of Ligustrum seedlings under their canopies? Location: Córdoba, central Argentina. Methods: We designed three treatments, in which ten mature individuals of Pyracantha, ten of the dominant native shrub Condalia montana, and ten patches without shrub cover were involved. In each treatment we planted seeds and saplings of Ligustrum collected from nearby natural populations. Seedlings emerging from the planted seeds were harvested after one year to measure growth. Survival of the transplanted saplings was recorded every two month during a year. Half of the planted seeds and transplanted saplings were cage-protected from rodents. Results: Ligustrum seedling emergence did not differ among treatments while growth was significantly higher in the absence of shrub cover. Sapling survival was significantly higher under the canopy of Pyracantha, intermediate under Condalia, and lowest in the absence of shrub cover. Caging did not affect growth but enhanced seedling emergence and sapling survival. Conclusion: The differential sapling survival in the shrub canopy treatments is consistent with natural sapling distribution. Pyracantha and, less so, Condalia, has a nurse-plant effect on Ligustrum. This results from contrasting effects of the shrubs on different stages of the life cycle of Ligustrum: no effect on seedling emergence, negative on seedling growth, and positive on sapling survival. This suggests that efforts to control the expansion of Ligustrum over the landscape should tackle Pyracantha as well. Nomenclature: Zuloaga & Morrone (1996, 1999).
Viability And In Vitro Germination Of Johnsongrass (Sorghum Halepense) Pollen

A high proportion of viable pollen grains must germinate to study the physiology of pollen growth to reduce the confounding effects of environmental influences on pollen germination. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the nuclear state and develop a suitable medium and culture method for in vitro germination of johnsongrass pollen. Johnsongrass pollen was trinucleate, and in vitro tests for pollen viability using Alexander's stain and a fluorochromatic reaction method (FCR) indicated johnsongrass pollen was viable (92.6 to 98.4%). A factorial treatment arrangement of four concentrations of sucrose, two concentrations of boric acid, and two concentrations of calcium nitrate were used to determine the optimum pollen-germination medium composition in suspension culture, agar culture, and cellophane membrane culture. Germination was highest in a suspension culture with a medium containing 0.3 M sucrose, 2.4 mM boric acid, and 3 mM calcium nitrate. Pollen germination using this medium was 78.9% when anthers were harvested just before anthesis. Nomenclature: Johnsongrass, Sorghum halepense (L.) Pers. SORHA
Knowledge, Attitudes and Practice of Rubber Dam use among dentists working in private clinics in Khartoum City

The aim of this study to evaluate knowledge, attitude and practice of rubber dam use among Sudanese dentists. Descriptive crosssectional study among 250 Sudanese dentists (143 general dental practitioner and 57 specialist) working within Khartoum city. Self administered questionnaire including questions about knowledge, attitude and practice of rubber dam use. Years of experience, gender, speciality and place of graduation were compared and analysed by chi-square test with the level of significance set at p ≤ 0.05. The response rate was 80%. Rubber dam as a routine use practiced by only 4.5%, however 31% used it occasionally. Cotton roll and saliva ejector were the methods of isolation for 40.5% of those doing dental operative procedure. Almost majority (69%); said they received training in rubber dam use during undergraduate period. The most barriers against rubber dam usage, was unavailability (45.5%). In spite of the majority of Sudanese dentists received training on rubber dam use during under graduate, few practiced it regularly and the main barrier was unavailability.
Tissue-specific isotope trophic discrimination factors and turnover rates in a marine elasmobranch: empirical and modeling results

There are very few studies reporting isotopic trophic discrimination factors and turnover rates for marine elasmo- branchs. A controlled laboratory experiment was conducted to estimate carbon and nitrogen isotope trophic discrimination factors and isotope turnover rates for blood, liver, muscle, cartilage tissue, and fin samples of neonate to young-of-the-year leopard sharks (Triakis semifasciata). Trophic discrimination factors varied (0.13‰-1.98‰ for d 13 C and 1.08‰-1.76‰ for d 15 N). Tissues reached or were close to isotopic equilibrium to the new diet after about a threefold biomass gain and 192 days. Liver and blood exhibited faster isotope turnover than muscle, cartilage tissue, and fin samples, and carbon iso- topes turned over faster than those of nitrogen. Metabolic turnover contributed substantially to isotopic turnover, which dif- fers from most reports for young marine teleosts. We modeled the relationship between muscle turnover rates and shark size by coupling laboratory results with growth rate estimates for natural populations. Model predictions for small, medium, and large wild leopard sharks indicate the time to isotopic equilibrium is from one to several years. Resume : Il y a tres peu d'etudes qui indiquent les facteurs de discrimination isotopiques et les taux de renouvellement tro- phiques chez les elasmobranches marins. Nous avons mis au point une experience controlee en laboratoire afin d'estimer les facteurs de discrimination trophique des isotopes de carbone et d'azote et les taux de renouvellement des isotopes dans des echantillons de sang, de foie, de muscle, de cartilage et de nageoires chez des requins leopards (Triakis semifasciata), des nouveau-nes jusqu'aux jeunes de l'annee. Les facteurs de discrimination trophique sont variables (0,13-1,98 ‰ pour d 13 C et 1,08-1,76 ‰ pour d 15 N). Les tissus atteignent l'equilibre isotopique avec le nouveau regime alimentaire ou s'en appro- chent apres environ un gain de biomasse de trois fois et au bout de 192 jours. Le foie et le sang ont un taux de renouvelle- ment des isotopes plus rapide que le muscle, le cartilage et les echantillons de nageoires; les taux de renouvellement des isotopes de carbone sont plus rapides que ceux de l'azote. Le taux de renouvellement metabolique contribue de maniere im- portante au renouvellement des isotopes, ce qui differe de ce que l'on rapporte generalement chez les jeunes teleosteens ma- rins. Nous modelisons la relation entre les taux de renouvellement du muscle et la taille des requins en couplant des resultats de laboratoire a des estimations du taux de croissance pour les populations naturelles. Les predictions du modele pour les requins leopards sauvages de petite, moyenne et grande tailles indiquent que le temps necessaire pour atteindre l'equilibre isotopique est d'une a plusieurs annees. (Traduit par la Redaction)
Effectiveness of Student Mediation Program to decrease behavioural and emotional problems in Palestinian children affected by war and trauma in the Gaza Strip

Background: There are few psychosocial interventions program s to address children psychosocial needs among Palestinian children area of war and conflict. Aim : The aim of the study was to evaluate the effectiven ess of student mediation program in improving mental health status of Palest inian children in the Gaza Strip. Method : Participants of the study were 304 schoolchildren a ged 6-16 (Mean age = 10.62 years) from grades one tenth from three schools sel ected randomly from schools registration lists provided by the Ministry of Educ ation. From each school, classes were randomly assigned to the prevention. Pretest and assessment scales (Sociodemographic scale and Gaza Child Mental Health Scale) were applied to children one week before sta rting the student mediation sessions on Sep 2007 by 8 psychologists and psychi atric nurses working the field of children victims of trauma and war and at the end of scholas tic year on May 2008. Results : According to children report, the results showed th at there was statistically significant decrease in total scores of child mental health and hyperactivity symptoms after student school mediati on program. According to parents, the results showed that there was statistically sig nificant decrease in obsessive and overanxious symptoms after student mediation progra m. Conclusion : Our f indings that using student mediation program in tim e of war and trauma could improve children mental health. This h ighlight the need for more long acting and new methods of intervention for children living in area of war and conflict such as cognitive beha viour therapy and social skills training to enable children cope with trauma and stress.
The influence of spring frosts, ash bud moth (Prays fraxinella) and site factors on forking of young ash (Fraxinus excelsior) in southern Britain

Forking is one of the major stem deformities in ash (Fraxinus excelsior L.). Ash is prone to such damage because the terminal bud is flanked by a pair of lateral buds in the axils of the uppermost leaves of the shoot. If the terminal bud is lost or damaged and fails to elongate in the spring there are two possible successors which, if both develop, will form a fork. If production of quality timber is an important objective of management, forking is tolerable above 6 m in height as most of the timber value is in the lower part of the stem; below 6 m it is a major defect. Silviculturists have traditionally aimed to reduce the effects of forking on the final crop by planting many more trees than required and removing forked and other poorer trees by thinning. In some species, e.g. beech, production of forks is part of natural morphological The influence of spring frosts, ash bud moth (Prays fraxinella) and site factors on forking of young ash (Fraxinus excelsior) in southern Britain
Comparison of Postmortem Proteolysis between Breast and Leg Muscles in Chiayi Native Chickens

Postmortem Proteolysis of breast (BM) and leg (LM) muscles in Chiayi native chickens at 5°C were compared. Myofibrils were purified from BM and LM samples that were randomly taken from carcasses after 0, 1, 3, 7 and 14 days of storage at 5°C. Fragmentation of myofibrils were determined, and degradation of myofibrillar proteins were analyzed by the SDS-PAGE and western blots. The results showed that myofibril fragmentation index (MFI) was significantly (p<0.05) higher in BM than in LM samples. Disappearance of titin and nebulin and appearance of the 30 kDa component were more rapidly as seen on SDS-PAGE in BM than in LM samples. Western blots labeled with a monoclonal antibody to desmin also demonstrated that desmin degraded more quickly in BM samples. Our data suggested that postmortem proteolysis occurred more rapidly in breast muscles in Chiayi native chickens. (Asian-Aust. J. Anim. Sci. 2002. Vol 15, No. 5 : 721-724)
Influence of water abstraction on the macroinvertebrate community gradient within a glacial stream system: La Borgne d'Arolla, Valais, Switzerland

1. Water abstraction from glacial rivers is an important characteristic of hydroelectric power schemes in Alpine regions. Streams in the Valais region of Switzerland have been particularly affected. 2. Invertebrate distributions are described in La Borgne d'Arolla, a glacial stream with icemelt-, snowmelt- and groundwater-dominated tributaries. The icemelt-dominated streams have been affected by abstractions for more than 30 years. 3. The glacial streams contain only Chironomidae (Diamesa), and are devoid of fauna for between 200 and 500 m below the glacier snouts. 4. Immediately below the water intakes the streams are intermittent, flowing only during system purges and high floods, and are devoid of fauna for short distances (<1.5km). 5. Further downstream, abstraction of glacial meltwater increases the importance of snowmelt and groundwater, increasing water temperatures, improving water clarity and increasing the length of krenal/rhithral streams at the expense of kryal streams. 6. A community including Chironomidae, Simuliidae, Baetidae, Nemouridae, Limnephilidae and Chloroperlidae occurs as soon as a permanent flow is maintained by tributary runoff, and the channel becomes stable. 7. A wide range of taxa inhabit snowmelt- and groundwater-dominated tributary streams with stable channels, often at much higher altitudes than the main river. The tributaries provide sources for rapid colonization of the main channel following ice retreat or physical disturbance. 8. Purges and high floods are important disturbances within the main channel. Recovery may be rapid because of drift from tributaries, but sites influenced by frequent disturbances have reduced faunas in comparison to stable channel sites. 9. This study supports the model proposed by Milner & Petts (1994) and shows that deterministic responses of macroinvertebrate communities may be observed to changes of temperature, turbidity, flow regime and channel stability.
Robustness of Power-law Behavior in Cascading Failure Models

Inspired by reliability issues in electric transmission networks, we use a probabilistic approach to study the occurrence of large failures in a stylized cascading failure model. In this model, lines have random capacities that initially meet the load demands imposed on the network. Every single line failure changes the load distribution in the surviving network, possibly causing further lines to become overloaded and trip as well. An initial single line failure can therefore potentially trigger massive cascading effects, and in this paper we measure the risk of such cascading events by the probability that the number of failed lines exceeds a certain large threshold. Under particular critical conditions, the exceedance probability follows a power-law distribution, implying a significant risk of severe failures. We examine the robustness of the power-law behavior by exploring under which assumptions this behavior prevails.