Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
What is known and what remains unresolved regarding gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM)

Abstract Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) has become a major public health issue and one of the most discussed topics in contemporary obstetrics. Due to rising prevalence of GDM worldwide impact and importance of this medical condition in good quality antenatal care is growing. GDM is associated with serious adverse perinatal outcomes and unfavorable long-term health consequences for both, mother and her child. Despite a great amount of knowledge accumulated regarding GDM, medical community remains indecisive and still debates the most appropriate diagnostic strategy, screening policy, and treatment options for pregnancies complicated with GDM. These unresolved issues generate controversies, motivate further research and contribute to the growing interest surrounding GDM. In this review we will discuss and try to explain some of them.
Limitations of Energy Acquisition and Energy Use in Small Poikilotherms: Evolutionary Implications

Many fish are typical 'high-risk species' in which a high reproductive output balances the high mortality of the young (or, alternatively, high mortality is the result of high reproductive output). When the mortality of larvae and juveniles reaches 99 99% or more, even stochastic fluctuations of environmental factors may drive populations to extinction and thus determine the fate of regional fisheries (Sale, 1990). It would be of considerable practical and theoretical interest to know what makes these animals so vulnerable to environmental pressure, and how the shapes of the mortality curves of populations might respond to even slight changes in the intensity and combination of environmental factors. Here, I address this question from recent work on the energetics, development, and physiological ecology of larval and juvenile cyprinids which was designed to shed some light on this question. On the basis of morphological and physiological evidence, I suggest that the ecological problems that young fish have to face after hatching are linked to fundamental problems of energy acquisition and energy use of small metazoans. A selection is postulated that would (if sufficient genetic variability were available) tend to increase the flow of metabolic energy through animals, liberating the animals from the constraints of tight energy budgeting. Within the framework of this symposium it is of interest that a completely different hypothesis for explaining the high fecundity/mortality of bony fish has been put forward by Nellen (1986), based on life-cycle theory. According to that author, recruitment in fish is so high because the larvae serve as food for the parental generation, filling the size gap of potential prey organisms between secondary consumers (protozoa, copepods, etc.) and tertiary producers (fish). Thus, 'growing life stages of fish appear to be ideal transfer organisms for biologically bound energy up the weight pyramid' (Nellen, 1986, p. 75). The theory has a group selectionist flavour and it will be interesting to see how it fares in the hands of theoreticians, but there can be no doubt that the problems of the high fecundity and mortality of fish must have both an ecological and a physiological aspect.
Interactions of insecticidal spider peptide neurotoxins with insect voltage- and neurotransmitter-gated ion channels

Two families of peptide neurotoxins that target insect large-conductance calcium-activated potassium channels (BKCa) have been isolated from the venom of two unrelated spiders. The ƙ-TRTX-Ec2 toxins are a family of three homologous peptides isolated from the African tarantula, Eucratoscelus longiceps and ƙ-HXTX-Hv1c is the prototypic member of a family of insect-selective neurotoxins isolated from the venom of the Blue Mountains funnel-web spider, Hadronyche versuta. This thesis describes the characterisation of these insecticidal toxins using voltage-clamp and current-clamp analysis of cockroach dorsal unpaired neurons utilising the whole-cell patch-clamp technique. The ability of these toxins to modulate the gating and kinetics of both voltage- and neurotransmitter-gated ion channels were assessed. Insect bioassays were also utilised to validate the insecticidal activities of various toxins that target KV channel subtypes in house crickets. The ƙ-TRTX-Ec2 family of toxins were found to be high affinity blockers of the insect BKCa channel while failing to modify voltage-gated sodium (NaV) and calcium (CaV) channels. ƙ-TRTX-Ec2a, -Ec2b and -Ec2c block cockroach BKCa channels with IC50 values of 3.7, 25.3 and 24.6 nM, respectively. Additionally, ƙ-TRTX-Ec2a was found to inhibit delayed-rectifier KV channel currents (IK(DR)), but only at significantly higher concentrations. ƙ-TRTX-Ec2 toxins induced voltage-independent channel block and are thus proposed to interact with the turret and/or loop region of the external vestibule of the insect BKCa channel. ƙ-HXTX-Hv1c has also been characterised to block the insect BKCa channel, while failing to modulate insect NaV and CaV channels. The unique insect-selective action of ƙ-HXTX-Hv1c involves a rare vicinal disulphide ring (Cys13-Cys14) that has been determined to act as part of the bioactive surface (pharmacophore) interacting with the molecular recognition site on the insect BKCa channel. However, despite the high affinity and selectivity for the BKCa channel it was discovered that the BKCa channel is unlikely to be the lethal target of ƙ-HXTX-Hv1c. Acute toxicity tests of classical non-phylum selective BKCa blockers such as paxilline, charybdotoxin and iberiotoxin did not induce acute toxicity in insects. Furthermore, while ƙ-HXTX-Hv1c was found to prolong action potential repolarisation, increase spontaneous firing frequency and reduce spike afterhyperpolarisation, these results were markedly reduced in the presence of the BKCa channel blocker iberiotoxin. Subsequent testing of cockroach KV channel currents revealed that ƙ-HXTX-Hv1c failed to modify sodium-activated or delayed-rectifier KV channel currents, but 1 µM ƙ-HXTX-Hv1c did produce a 29% block of ‘A-type’ fast-transient KV channel currents (IK(A)). This suggests that ƙ-HXTX-Hv1c additionally targets insect KV1- or KV4-like channel subtypes. The lethal insecticidal action of 4-AP in crickets further supports an action of ƙ-HXTX-Hv1c to block…
Recombination and loss mechanisms in low-threshold InAs/GaAs 1.3 /spl mu/m quantum dot lasers

We show that even in quantum-dot (QD) lasers with very low threshold current densities (J/sub th/=40--50 A/cm/sup 2/ at 300 K), the temperature sensitivity of the threshold current arises from nonradiative recombination that comprises /spl sim/60% to 70% of J/sub th/ at 300 K, whereas the radiative part of J/sub th/ is almost temperature insensitive. The influence of the nonradiative recombination mechanism decreases with increasing hydrostatic pressure and increasing band gap, which leads to a decrease of the threshold current. We also studied, for the first time, the band gap dependence of the radiative part of J/sub th/, which in contrast increases strongly with increasing band gap. These results suggest that Auger recombination is an important intrinsic recombination mechanism for 1.3-/spl mu/m lasers, even in a very low threshold QD device, and that it is responsible for the temperature sensitivity of the threshold current.
The Brewer-Dobson circulation: interannual variability and climate change

A quasi-geostrophic theoretical model for the frequency-dependent response of the zonalmean flow to planetary-wave forcing at Northern Hemisphere (NH) midlatitudes was applied to 4D-Var ECMWF data for six extended winter seasons. Linear regression analyses yielded height-dependent estimates for the thermal damping time, and for a scaling parameter which includes the aspect ratio of the meridional to the vertical length scale of the response. The estimated thermal damping time is ~2 days in the troposphere, 7-10 days in the stratosphere, and 2-4 days in the lower mesosphere. The results indicated that the theoretical model is applicable to midlatitude wintertime conditions. In the low-frequency limit, the response to the wave driving is given by the Brewer-Dobson circulation (BDC), which has been the focus of our further research. ERA-40 reanalysis data for the period 1979-2002 were used to examine several factors that significantly affect the interannual variability of the wave driving. The individual zonal wave-1 and wave-2 contributions to the wave driving at 100 hPa exhibit a significant coupling with the troposphere, predominantly their stationary components. The stationary wave-1 contribution to the total wave driving significantly depends on the latitude of the stationary wave-1 source in the troposphere. The results suggest that this dependence is associated with the varying ability of stationary wave-1 activity to enter the tropospheric waveguide at mid-latitudes. The wave driving anomalies were separated into three parts: one part due to anomalies in the zonal correlation coefficient between the eddy temperature an eddy meridional wind, another part due to anomalies in the zonal eddy temperature amplitude, and a third part due to anomalies in the zonal eddy meridional wind amplitude. It was found that year-to-year variability in the zonal correlation coefficient between the eddy temperature and the eddy meridional wind is the dominant factor in explaining the year-to-year variability of the poleward eddy heat flux. Using the ECHAM middle-atmosphere climate model, it was found that the midwinter NH wave driving exhibits a highly significant increase (12%) if CO2 concentrations are doubled. The magnitude and large statistical significance of the increase due to stationary waves only was found to be comparable to that of the total increase. However, dividing the response into the different wavenumber components yielded a more subtle picture, with a decrease in transient wave-1 to less than 50% of the 1×CO2 value and an increase in transient wave-5 to almost the double value. Although transient wave-5 is usually thought not to contribute substantially to the wave driving of the stratosphere, its increase constitutes about 1/6 of the total increase of the wave driving in a 2×CO2 climate.
THE HABITS AND MOVEMENTS OF THE RAZORSHELL CLAM, ENSIS DIRECTUS, CON

The animal is very active, burrows with great rapidity, and may also swim and leap.In burrowing, the foot is worked into the mud as it is protruded, the end is then swelled into a knob, and by its sudden withdrawal the shell is drawn to the position of the anchored end of the foot. Simultaneous with the retraction of the foot, a strong jet of water is thrown from the anterior end of the shell, so the mud is soft-ended or even washed away as the shell descends, an action similar to that of some of the modern pile drivers. A collar, formed by the anterior end of the mantle, surrounds the foot and acts as a scraper that prevents mud from being drawn into the shell with the foot.The animal is able to swim by throwing jets of water from the anterior end of the shell, thus progressing backward by a series of jerks.By the uncommon activity of the foot the animal is able to throw itself about on the bottom.
Estimation of Greater Sage-Grouse Survival in North Park, Colorado

We estimated survival rates of greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) in North Park, Colorado, USA, from band-recovery data of 6,021 birds banded during spring, 1973-1990, with recoveries through 1993. Average annual adult female survival (S = 0.59, SE = 0.011) was greater than average adult male survival (S = 0.37, SE = 0.007), and average subadult (<1 yr old at time of banding) female survival (S = 0.77, SE = 0.030) was greater than average subadult male survival (S = 0.63, SE = 0.034). Four weather covariates (spring and winter precipitation and temperature) did not contribute to predicting annual survival.
Can the metacommunity data matrix predict changes in species incidence and abundance?

Metacommunity matrices contain data on species incidence or abundance across sites, compactly portraying community composition and how it varies over sites. We constructed models based on an initial metacommunity matrix of either species incidence or abundance to test whether such data suffice to predict subsequent changes in incidence or abundance at each site. We then tested these models against extensive empirical data on vascular plant incidence and abundance collected from 156 forested sites in both the 1950s and 2000s. Predictions from these models parallel observed changes in species incidence and abundance in two distinctly different forest metacommunities and differ greatly from null model predictions. The abundance model shows greater power than the incidence model reflecting its higher information content. Predictions were more accurate for the more diverse forests of southern Wisconsin which are changing faster in response to succession and fragmentation. Simulations demonstrate that these results are fairly robust to variation in sampling intensity. These models, based only on the metacommunity matrix, do not require data on site conditions or species' characteristics. They thus provide a useful baseline for assessing more complex models incorporating data on species' functional traits, local site conditions, or landscape context. They may also prove useful to conservation biologists seeking to predict local population declines and extinction risks.
knowledge transfer in R&D outsourcing (and Linux versus Windows)

Why did Microsoft not hire all those smart programmers who ended up developing Linux through the internet? Because, we answer, the value of the information about its operating system that Microsoft should have transferred to any of them to render her productive would have been too high compared to her expected individual contribution, so that after writing a contract with Microsoft the typical developer would have run away to sell the acquired knowledge on the market. On the other hand, knowledge transfer in R&D outsourcing is not always so critical, and for example in the pharmaceutical and chemical industries research contracts are extensively used, usually in the context of a long term relationship between firm and innovator. We analyze this kind of repeated interaction, and find that when the knowledge–transfer problem is not blocking, the firm should transfer to the innovator as much information as it is compatible with the latter’s incentive constraints. JEL Classification System: .
Osmoregulation in three species of Ambassidae (Osteichthyes: Perciformes) from estuaries in Natal

Whole blood osmotic regulation was evaluated in three co-occurring, estuarine species of Ambassis exposed to ambient salinities from fresh water (0,13%.) to 53%°/00. Blood molality of all three species, acclimated to fresh water, showed significant increases over the range of ambient salinities from fresh water through 5%« and stabilized only in the range 18%°-35%. ). Osmotic concentrations of all three species rose abruptly at salinities above 35%. and no species survived direct transfer into ambient salinities above 53%°/00 A productus, collected in fresh water, required 24 h prior acclimation at 18%. for survival in sea water (35%°). A. gymnocephalus acclimated in sea water showed the least tolerance of the three species to low salinities and experienced a 42% decrease in blood osmotic concentration when exposed to fresh water whereas the decrease for A. natalensis and A productus was only 20% and 23% respectively. Histological investigation of Ambassis kidneys indicated that all three species have stru.
Palaezoic Petroleum Systems in the Ghadamis Basin, Libya

P006 PALAEOZOIC PETROLEUM SYSTEMS IN THE GHADAMIS BASIN LIBYA 1 Summary The intra-cratonic Ghadamis Basin of NW Libya (Fig. 1) contains a significant amount of basal Silurian (Tanezzuft Formation ‘hot’ shale) sourced oil and gas in Ordovician Upper Silurian (Acacus Formation) basal Devonian (Tadrart Formation) Middle-Upper Devonian/Lower Carboniferous and basal Triassic sandstones. Three petroleum systems have been recognized: • The Acacus-Tanezzuft System to the north in fault and subcrop traps A.M. DARDOUR D.R. D. BOOTE and A.W. BAIRD Kingston University Kingston upon Thames Surrey KT1 2EE United Kingdom • A central basin Tanezzuft-sourced system with Upper Silurian Devonian and Lower Carboniferous
Rearranging the Family? Income Support and Elderly Living Arrangements in a Low Income Country

Despite the importance of living arrangements for well-being and production, the effect of changes in household income on living arrangements is not well understood. This study overcomes the identification problems that have limited the study of the link between income and living arrangements by exploiting a discontinuity in the benefit formula for the social pension in South Africa. In contrast to the findings of the existing literature from wealthier populations, we find no evidence that pension income is used to maintain the independence of black elders in South Africa. Rather, potential beneficiaries alter their household structure. Prime working age women depart, and we observe an increase in children under 5 and young women of child-bearing age. These shifts in co-residence patterns are consistent with a setting where prime age women have comparative advantage in work away from extended family relative to younger women. The additional income from old age support may induce a change in living arrangements to exploit this advantage.
Perspectives for biological education-challenge for biology instruction at the end of the 20th century

ABSTRACf: Some surveys of over 200 beginning semester students preparing for a teacher's certificate in biology at the Technical University of Berlin indicate that biology instruction is not considered a very popular subject. Biology instruction in Germany is too abstract and theoretical, too cumbersome and inaccessible to the normal student. Biology instruction is approaching its lowest standard in history in most federal states since the majority of these states have taken biology instruction out of grades 7, 8 and 9. The methods of biology instruction, the objectives and the content are among the central issues related to biology instruction in Germany. A paradigmatic model expansion and/or change by necessity is needed to enhance the current curricula of biology instruction.
POLLEN FLORA OF PAKISTAN -LVI. CUCURBITACEAE

Pollen morphology of 10 species representing 7 genera of the family Cucurbitaceae from Pakistan has been examined by light and scanning electron microscope. Pollen grains are usually radially symmetrical, isopolar, oblate-spheroidal to prolate-spheroidal rarely sub-prolate or sub- oblate. Sexine slightly thicker or thinner than nexine. Tectum mostly coarsely reticulate or reticulate-rugulate rarely verrucate-scabrate. On the basis of exine pattern and apertural types three distinct pollen types are recognized viz., Cucumis melo-type, Momordica charantia-type and Solena amplexicaulis-type.
Short Communication Seroreactivity to Human Papillomavirus (HPV) Types 16, 18, or 31 and Risk of Subsequent HPV Infection: Results from a Population-Based Study in Costa Rica

Whether antibodies to human papillomavirus (HPV) capsids, elicited by natural infection, are protective is unknown. This question was addressed in a populationbased cohort of 7046 women in Costa Rica by examining the association between baseline seroreactivity to HPV-16, HPV-18, or HPV-31 virus-like particles and the risk of subsequent HPV infection at a follow-up visit 5–7 years after enrollment. Seropositivity to HPV-16, HPV-18, or HPV-31 was not associated with a statistically significant decreased risk of infection with the homologous HPV type [relative risk (RR) and [95% confidence interval (CI)], 0.74 (0.45–1.2), 1.5 (0.83–2.7), and 0.94 (0.48 –1.8), respectively]. Seropositivity to HPV-16 or HPV-31 was not associated with a decreased risk of infection with HPV-16 or its genetically related types [RR (95% CI), 0.82 (0.61–1.1) and 0.93 (0.68 –1.2), respectively]. Seropositivity to HPV-18 was not associated with a decreased risk of infection with HPV-18 or its genetically related types (RR 1.3; 95% CI 1.0 –1.8). Thus, we did not observe immunity, although a protective effect from natural infection cannot be excluded because of the limits of available assays and study designs.
Gene Action Studies in the Inheritance of Economic Traits in Diallel Cross of Lentil (Lens culinaris Medik)

The present study was conducted in 4 × 4 half diallel cross fashion using the genotypes named as NL-2002, NL-2006, Punjab Masoor-2009 and Markaz-2009 for the evaluation of gene action in the inheritance of economic traits of lentil by following the Griffing (1956) Method of analysis. Minirap 13.1 Copyright© 2000, Minitab inc. Method II, Model I was used for the analysis and gene action was computed by variance component analysis using Mixed Model with GLM (general linear model) procedure. The F1 direct crosses along with the parental genotypes were then evaluated by framing the experiment in RCBD in 3 replications. The data were recorded for the characters which are under the study are, plant height (cm), number of primary branches, number of secondary branches, number of pods per plant, number of seed per pod, seed yield per plant, biomass (gram), 100 seeds weight (gram), harvest index (%), yield per plant. The simple ANOVA for all the characters revealed that difference among genotypes was highly significant. As significant differences were present between the genotypes, it permitted subsequent analysis of the data. The Combining Ability (CA) results showed that value of variance for GCA (General Combining Ability) was significantly higher than that of those of the values of variance of SCA (Specific Combining Ability). Hence current results clearly depicted the role of additive type of gene action governing the characters under study.
Effects of combined or single exogenous auxin and/or cytokinin applications on growth and leaf area development in Epipremnum aureum

SUMMARY We have analysed the effects of combined auxin and cytokinin treatments on whole plant growth and leaf development in Epipremnum aureum and compared both morphological and physiological variables to those obtained with a single hormone application. Rooted cuttings of E. aureum were sprayed with 0, 5, 50, or 100 mg I−1 indole-3- acetic acid (IAA) 7 d after transplanting. One week later, they were then sprayed with 0, 5, 50, or 100 mg I−1 benzylaminopurine (BAP). Whole plant growth, leaf development, carbon fixation, and leaf anatomy were recorded for 6 months after these sequential treatments. Following a single application of IAA or BAP, we observed an increase in the accumulation of whole-plant biomass, which reached a plateau at the highest concentration of either plant hormone. The promotion of growth was associated with increased rates of net C-assimilation and net photosynthesis, as well as with increased leaf thickness and the relative proportion of intracellular spaces in the mesophyll layer. The effect on leaves of applying both hormones, in different combinations and concentrations, resembled the results on whole plants obtained by spraying either the auxin or the cytokinin (at 50 or 100 mg I−1 BAP). Similarities in plant and leaf responses to the auxin and/or the cytokinin suggest that both hormones may act via the same pathway, which agreed with the well-known promotional effect of auxins on the development of new lateral roots, as root apices are the main site of cytokinin biosynthesis. Conversely, our results did not support the occurrence of a significant auxin-driven inhibition of cytokinin synthesis in root apices, at least for E. aureum, as reported in other species.