Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The impact of grazing on plant fractal architecture and fitness of a Mediterranean shrub Anthyllis cytisoides L.

1. We examined natural grazing by livestock (sheep and goats) on Albaida Anthyllis cytisoides L. with the aim of determining whether variation in the allometric relationships between plant parts provides a sensitive indicator of the impact of grazing. 2. The intra-individual variation in translatory symmetry with scale and increased complexity of fractal structures reflect environmental disturbance under heavy grazing pressure and lack of grazing. 3. Fitness consequences of grazing were also investigated. Grazing promotes growth and adult survival, and a drop in seed production as a consequence of consumption. In spite of that, total inclusive fitness (population rate of change) tends to increase with grazing. 4. Moderate grazing, while promoting growth, also enhances stability of vegetative structures. The favourable effect of moderate levels of herbivory on A. cytisoides is reflected in the homeostatic maintenance of its translatory symmetry and in the increased complexity of its fractal structures.
Enhancing Fodder Oat ( Avena sativa ) Production in Problem Soils Using Phosphate Solubilizing Fungi Isolated from Acid and Salt Affected Soils of India

Part of the Plant Sciences Commons, and the Soil Science Commons This document is available at https://uknowledge.uky. edu/igc/23/2-3-1/7 The 23rd International Grassland Congress (Sustainable use of Grassland Resources for Forage Production, Biodiversity and Environmental Protection) took place in New Delhi, India from November 20 through November 24, 2015. Proceedings Editors: M. M. Roy, D. R. Malaviya, V. K. Yadav, Tejveer Singh, R. P. Sah, D. Vijay, and A. Radhakrishna Published by Range Management Society of India
Usefulness of Kawasaki disease risk scoring systems to the Turkish population

Objective: Kawasaki disease (KD) is the most common cause of coronary artery aneurysm (CAA) in children. The available risk scores to predict intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) resistance and CAA were developed in Asian populations in whom their effectiveness has been proven, but data on non-Asian children are limited. This study aimed to evaluate the ability of 5 risk scoring systems to predict IVIG resistance and CAA in Turkey patients with KD. Methods: Patients with KD were retrospectively evaluated with clinical, laboratory, and echocardiographic findings. Data analyses were performed in 5 scoring systems (Harada, Kobayashi, Egami, Formosa, and Sano). Results: A total of 259 patients (Male: Female, 1.7) were treated for KD in our hospital. The mean age of diagnosis in patients with KD, CAA, and IVIG resistance were 3.31, 2.19, and 2.06, respectively. CAA development and IVIG resistance were seen in 11.6% and 12.3% of cases, respectively. IVIG resistance was detected in 35.6% of patients with CAA. In our study, 5 risk scoring systems were applied to our patients. ROC analysis results were found highest in Kobayashi scoring system for IVIG resistance (AUC, 0.864) and in Harada scoring system for CAA development (AUC, 0.727). Conclusion: Harada score was significant in predicting CAA risk, and Kobayashi score was significant in predicting the risk of developing IVIG resistance. It is necessary to determine more specific and sensitive risk scores that increase the risk of IVIG resistance and the development of CAA in Turkey.
Position effect of cross‐strand side‐chain interactions on β‐hairpin formation

Previous conformational analysis of 10‐residue linear peptides enabled us to identify some cross‐strand side‐chain interactions that stabilize β‐hairpin conformations. The stabilizing influence of these interactions appeared to be greatly reduced when the interaction was located at the N‐ and C‐termini of these 10‐residue peptides. To investigate the effect of the position relative to the turn of favorable interactions on β‐hairpin formation, we have designed two 15‐residue β‐hairpin forming peptides with the same residue composition and differing only in the location of two residues within the strand region. The conformational properties of these two peptides in aqueous solution were studied by 1H and 13C NMR. Differences in the conformational behavior of the two designed 15‐residue peptides suggest that the influence of stabilizing factors for β‐hairpin formation, in particular, cross‐strand side‐chain interactions, depends on their proximity to the turn. Residues adjacent to the turn are most efficient in that concern. This result agrees with the proposal that the turn region acts as the driving force in β‐hairpin folding.
Universal Physical Camouflage Attacks on Object Detectors

In this paper, we study physical adversarial attacks on object detectors in the wild. Previous works mostly craft instance-dependent perturbations only for rigid or planar objects. To this end, we propose to learn an adversarial pattern to effectively attack all instances belonging to the same object category, referred to as Universal Physical Camouflage Attack (UPC). Concretely, UPC crafts camouflage by jointly fooling the region proposal network, as well as misleading the classifier and the regressor to output errors. In order to make UPC effective for non-rigid or non-planar objects, we introduce a set of transformations for mimicking deformable properties. We additionally impose optimization constraint to make generated patterns look natural to human observers. To fairly evaluate the effectiveness of different physical-world attacks, we present the first standardized virtual database, AttackScenes, which simulates the real 3D world in a controllable and reproducible environment. Extensive experiments suggest the superiority of our proposed UPC compared with existing physical adversarial attackers not only in virtual environments (AttackScenes), but also in real-world physical environments.
The early evolution of ray‐finned fishes

Ray‐finned fishes (Actinopterygii) constitute approximately half of all living vertebrate species. A stable hypothesis of relationships among major modern lineages has emerged over the past decade, supported by both anatomy and molecules. Diversity is unevenly partitioned across the actinopterygian tree, with most species concentrated within a handful of geologically young (i.e. Cretaceous) teleost clades. Extant non‐teleost groups are portrayed as ‘living fossils’, but this moniker should not be taken as evidence of especially primitive structure: each of these lineages is characterized by profound specializations. Attribution of fossils to the crowns and apical stems of Cladistia, Chondrostei and Neopterygii is uncontroversial, but placements of Palaeozoic taxa along deeper branches of actinopterygian phylogeny are less secure. Despite these limitations, some major outlines of actinopterygian diversification seem reasonably clear from the fossil record: low richness and disparity in the Devonian; elevated morphological variety, linked to increases in taxonomic dominance, in the early Carboniferous; and further gains in taxonomic dominance in the Early Triassic associated with earliest appearance of trophically diverse crown neopterygians.
PINCH-1 promotes Bcl-2-dependent survival signalling and inhibits JNK-mediated apoptosis in the primitive endoderm

The focal adhesion (FA) protein PINCH-1 is required for the survival of primitive endoderm (PrE) cells. How PINCH-1 regulates this fundamental process is not known. Here, we use embryoid bodies (EBs) and isolated EB-derived PrE cells to investigate the mechanisms by which PINCH-1 promotes PrE survival. We report that loss of PINCH-1 in PrE cells leads to a sustained activity of JNK and the proapoptotic factor Bax. Mechanistically, the sustained JNK activation was due to diminished levels of the JNK inhibitory factor Ras suppressor protein-1 (RSU-1), whose stability was severely reduced upon loss of PINCH-1. Chemical inhibition of JNK attenuated apoptosis of PrE cells but failed to reduce Bax activity. The increased Bax activity was associated with reduced integrin signalling and diminished Bcl-2 levels, which were shown to inhibit Bax. Altogether our findings show that PINCH-1 is a pro-survival factor that prevents apoptosis of PrE cells by modulating two independent signalling pathways; PINCH-1 inhibits JNK-mediated apoptosis by stabilising the PINCH-1 binding protein RSU-1 and promotes Bcl-2-dependent pro-survival signalling downstream of integrins.
New inhibitors of poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase and their potential therapeutic targets

Poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) is a DNA-binding protein that is activated by nicks in the DNA molecule. It regulates the activity of various enzymes, including itself, that are involved in the control of DNA metabolism. Evidence obtained with both benzamide and isoquinolinone PARP inhibitors and the PARP-1(-/-) phenotype, clearly indicate that PARP plays an important role in NO/ROS-induced cell damage during inflammation, ischaemia and neurodegeneration. PARP is involved in the maintenance of genomic stability and PARP inhibition may also potentiate the cytotoxic action of agents used in cancer therapy. Benzamides, although not very potent (IC50 ~ 20 – 50 μM) PARP inhibitors, have been widely used to probe PARP functions, because of their lack of toxicity both in vitro and in vivo, even at high doses. In the early 1990s, a new class of very potent PARP inhibitors (i.e., at least 100-fold more potent thatn benzamide), the dihydroisoquinolinones, benzamide derivatives with the carbamoyl group constrained into the antiorientation, was discovered. At the same time, a large structure–activity surevey identified over 13 chemical classes of PARP inhibitors, the most potent calss sharing a common structural feature, the presence of a carbonyl group built into a polyaromatic heterocyclic skeleton or a carbamoyl group attached to an aromatic ring. Recently, a better knowledge of the PARP catalytic domain and the use of its crystal structure have led to the design and synthesis of the tricyclic lactam indoles, active at low nanomolar concentrations, and with favourable physical properties and in vivo characteristics. In the last few years the interest in PARP as a therapeutic target has been rapidly growing. This article reviews the patents filed for new PARP inhibitors over the last three years, up to February 2002, and their development status.
Effects of starvation and oviposition activity on the reproductive physiology of the sweet potato whitefly, Bemisia tabaci

Abstract. We examined the effects of starvation and oviposition on the reproductive physiology of the sweet potato whitefly, Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius) (Homoptera: Aleyrodidae). In a first set of experiments, females were starved as well as denied the opportunity to oviposit. The combined amounts of vitellogenin and vitellin per female increased by 69% when they were removed from plants for 24 h, egg load increased two‐fold in approximately 4.5 h. The lipid content, on the other hand, decreased significantly over an 8 h perod. Thus, vitellogenin synthesis and the formation of mature eggs do not seem to be limited by the lack of nutrient intake or the ability to oviposit. In a second set of experiments, females were restricted to either young leaves of melon plants (Cumis melo), that are preferred oviposition sites, or to old melon leaves, that are non‐preferred oviposition sites. At the end of the experiment, females on the old leaves contained significantly higher amounts of vitellogenins and vitellins than females confined to young leaves. These comparisons were made relative to body weight. The data also indicate that females accumulated both vitellogenins and lipids when confined to old leaves, but did not do so on young leaves. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that females of B. tabaci explicitly discriminate against older leaves for oviposition. We argue that examinations of changes in egg load or the combined vitellogenin and vitellin content that accompany oviposition can provide better insights into the oviposition behaviour of B. tabaci.
Adrenocortical Dysfunction in Androgen Excess

While the majority of patients with hyperandrogenism demonstrate an ovarian source for their high androgen secretion, approximately one-half also display excessive adrenocortical production. Dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DS), an androgen se­ creted almost exclusively by the adrenal cortex, was found to be elevated in over 50% of patients with the polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). Using selec­ tive catheterization of adrenal and ovarian vessels, between 12% and 42% of hyperandrogenic women demonstrated significant adrenal androgen hyper­ secretion, including androstenedione (A4), dehydroepiandrosterone (DA), and Δ5-androstenediol. The mechanisms responsible for the adrenal andro­ gen excess present in women with PCOS have yet to be elucidated. They may include central factors, such as decreased endogenous opioid inhibition of adrenal androgen production, excess catecholamine or adrenocorticotrophic hormone (ACTH) secretion, hyperprolactinemia with direct stimulation of ad­ renal androgen production, or increased secretion of a putative adrenal androgen stimulating hormone. Peripheral factors may include estrogens, andro­ gens, and insulin or alterations in adrenal androgen metabolism and clearance. The exact nature of the adrenocortical dysfunction that results in androgen excess is also unclear, and may include 17-hydroxylase (17-OH) and/or 17,20lyase (i.e., 17,20-desmolase) dysregulation or hyper­ activity, 3β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (3P-HSD) deficiency, or a combination of both, as in "exagge­ rated adrenarche. " Furthermore, increased adrenal sensitivity to ACTH, or a generalized adrenocortical hyperresponsiveness may also result in adrenal an­ drogen excess. Our laboratory has been actively attempting to define the nature of adrenocortical dysfunction in hyperandrogenism, and those fac­ tors which may be responsible for these alterations.
Science Communication Meets Consumer Relations: An Analysis of Twitter Use by 23andMe

For-profit organizations play a considerable role in the dissemination of scientific research and information. In the case of direct-to-consumer genetic testing, this is important because how consumers learn about genetic science can influence health decisions and support for science. Through a content analysis of Twitter posts (N = 1,000), this study examined how 23andMe balances traditional promotion, communicating product benefits, and sharing scientific research. Results indicated that about half of all posts share science news but sharing science has declined over time. Far fewer posts communicate about the products or their benefits, but these posts garner more retweets and replies.
Fledgling production and population trends in Finnish common eiders (Somateria mollissima mollissima) — evidence for density dependence

We present a 57-year time series of a common eider, Somateria mollissima mollissima (L., 1758), population from one of the core monitoring areas in the Baltic Sea, the Soderskar bird sanctuary, Gulf of Finland. We applied permutation tests to inspect the relationships between breeding parameters and population density. Of the parameters studied, only fledging rate (during a 34-year period) showed a significant negative relationship with population size, indicating density dependence. Furthermore, the fledging rate responded strongly to the population growth rate and to the rate of recruitment. Clutch size and duckling (downy young entering the water) rate did not show negative density dependence. Thus, losses during brood rearing seem to be the regulatory factor. The population decline at Soderskar is similar to those recorded in many other monitoring sites around the southern coast of Finland. Compared with data from more productive sea districts in northwestern Europe (Dutch Wadden Sea and Scottish Nort.
Accomplishing leadership-in-interaction by mobilizing available information and communication technology objects in a virtual context

Leadership-in-interaction is a somewhat underdeveloped area of research which to date has concentrated on talk-in-interaction to the detriment of other modalities. Consequently, this paper seeks to illustrate how social actors make use of different modalities to accomplish leadership, which we conceptualize as the creation of direction, alignment, and commitment. Through multimodal conversation analysis this paper explores interactions between actors in virtual contexts, a particularly interesting empirical setting as the context offers specific constraints on everyday workplace interaction. By zooming in on the interaction using transcripts of naturally occurring interaction, we find that the accomplishment of leadership, direction, alignment, and commitment, in a constrained virtual context can appear mundane. However, at the same time the accomplishment of leadership calls for the mobilization of several multimodal resources (both talk and information and communication technology objects). The analysis makes it evident that the actors mobilize objects to draw on their situated affordances, in the accomplishment of direction, alignment, and commitment. With a fine-grained analysis of naturally occurring data, we illustrate that leadership is a collective achievement. We also expand the understanding of leadership in practice, especially in virtual contexts, by demonstrating how actors utilize objects and verbal resources in the co-production of leadership.
A Novel Biomarker MicroRNA-92a-3p as a Link between Cardiovascular Disease and Chronic Kidney Disease

The emergence of microRNAs (miRNA) as significant regulators of pathophysiological processes has provided new therapeutic strategies in atherosclerotic status. Recently, the author has described that microRNA-92a-3p (miR-92a-3p), having pleiotropic manner is a potential therapeutic target in atherosclerosis-related diseases. The author has previously described that mild renal dysfunction was associated with endothelial dysfunction in women and that the cardio-renal interrelationship may be also suggested under mild renal dysfunction. Shang et al. suggested mcroiRNA-92a (miR-92a) as a crucial link between chronic kidney disease (CKD) and cardiovascular disease (CVD) by mediating uremia-impaired endothelial dysfunction. On the evidences of relationships between miR-92a and flowmediated vasodilation (FMD) and between miR-92a and estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) level, the author indicates that miR-92a gene expression profile in endothelial cell and the circulating level reflecting FMD study and eGFR level which were established indicators may be an early diagnostic biomarker in atherosclerosis-related CKD, having a link between CVD and CKD. Shang et al. also indicated miR-92a as a link among CKD-induced uremia, oxidative stress, and endothelial dysfunction. On the proof of the interrelationship among miR-92a profile, FMD study, and eGFR level, the author suggests that atherosclerosis-related CKD cause oxidative stress, leading to miR-92a expression, endothelial dysfunction, and renal dysfunction. In CKD with advanced stage, oxidative stress derived from uremic toxin mainly contributes to miR-92a gene expression profile, endothelial dysfunction, and renal failure. Wiese et al. showed that renal injury significantly increased endothelial miR-92a-3p and dual inhibition of miR-92a-3p and miR-489-3p significantly reduced atherosclerotic lesion compared to control, thereby, suggesting that miR-92a-3p and/or miR-489-3p are potential therapeutic targets in atherosclerosis-related CKD. The author emphasizes that clinically and genetically, the studies have provided a link between CVD and CKD mediated by endothelial dysfunction even at early stage.
Seasonal Harvest, Exploitation, Size Selectivity, and Catch Preferences Associated with Winter Yellow Perch Anglers on South Dakota Lakes

Abstract We evaluated harvest patterns, exploitation, size selectivity, and angler catch preferences associated with winter fisheries for yellow perch Perca flavescens (i.e., ice fishing) on South Dakota lakes. Seasonal trends in the percentage of anglers targeting yellow perch and in yellow perch harvest were apparent in creel surveys on seven lakes; trends varied among lakes. Exploitation of yellow perch was estimated on two lakes through tag-return studies. Nonreporting rates estimated from surrogate postcards varied between angler groups (19–52%). On East 81 Slough, where the relative stock density (RSD) of yellow perch of 254 mm or longer (RSD-254) was low (RSD-254 = 10), exploitation was only 7% during the winter of 2000–2001; much of the total annual mortality (48%) in the population was attributed to natural causes (40%). Conversely, the estimated exploitation rate on Pelican Lake, where size structure was dominated by larger fish (RSD-254 = 92), was 61% from December to June. Anglers on East 81 S.
Sex Hormones and Their Relationship with Leptin and Cardiovascular Risk Factors in Pre and Post - Menopausal Nigerian Women with Metabolic Syndrome

ABSTRACT Metabolic Syndrome (MS), which affects 33.1% of Nigerians, predisposing them to cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk, has been associated with the female gender. The cardioprotective effect of oestradiol against CVD is now controversial and was investigated in premenopausal with MS (PRMMS) and postmenopausal women with MS (POMMS). A total of 191 women (44 PRMMS, 126 POMMS and 21 premenopausal women without MS (PRM) (controls) with mean (s.d) age of 40.0 (6.9), 57.0 (8.8), 29.0 (6.8) years were participants of this study. Demography, blood pressure (BP), anthropometry, hormones, fasting plasma glucose (FPG) and lipids were obtained by standard methods. Data were significant at (P<.05). Age, parity, all anthropometric measures, FPG, leptin, ET ratio and FSH were significantly higher while HDLC, testosterone and prolactin were significantly lower in PRMMS compared with controls (P<.03). In comparison of POMMS with PRMMS, age, parity, WHR, systolic BP, TG, FSH and LH were significantly higher while body weight, HC, and leptin were lower in POMMS compared with PRMMS (P<.05). DBP positively predicted oestradiol in PRM only (P=.044) while oestradiol positively predicted testosterone in PRMMS only (P<.001). In POMMS only, DBP positively predicted testosterone; testosterone, ET ratio and FSH positively predicted oestradiol while LDLC and oestradiol positively predicted the ET ratio (P<.03). Metabolic syndrome may predispose both pre and postmenopausal women to the risk cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes mellitus. Oestradiol may protect against cardiovascular diseases in women without metabolic syndrome only. Keywords: Sex hormones; metabolic syndrome; cardiovascular disease; menopause; leptin.
Systematic Review of Smart Tourism Research

In recent decades, smart tourism has been attracting attention from practitioners and scholars. The current study used multiple analysis methods to conduct a systematic review of 124 related articles on smart tourism. Qualitative analysis was conducted to identify 10 categories of smart tourism articles. Results showed that the largest proportion focus on the influence of technology on tourists’ perceptions, behaviors, and experiences. Co-occurrence analysis was performed to investigate the development trend of keywords used by academics in the last five years, while co-authorship (country) analysis was conducted to examine the collaborative relationship between different countries. The research regions, industries, methods, and theories applied in these articles were also analyzed. Theoretical and practical/managerial implications, as well as future research directions, were provided.