Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Genome-Wide Identification, Phylogeny and Expression Analysis of Subtilisin (SBT) Gene Family under Wheat Biotic and Abiotic Stress

The subtilisin-like protease (SBT) family is widely known for its role in stress resistance to a number of stressors in different plant species, but is rarely studied in wheat. Subtilisin-like serine proteases (SBTs) are serine proteolytic enzymes that hydrolyze proteins into small peptides, which bind to receptors as signal molecules or ligands and participate in signal transduction. In this study, we identified 255 putative SBT genes from the wheat reference genome and then divided these into seven clades. Subsequently, we performed syntenic relation analysis, exon-intron organization, motif composition, and cis-element analysis. Further, expression analysis based on RNA-seq and tissue-specific expression patterns revealed that TaSBT gene family expression has multiple intrinsic functions during various abiotic and biotic stresses. Analysis of RNA-seq expression assays and further validation through qRT PCR suggested that some of the TaSBT genes have significant changes in expression levels during Pst interaction. TaSBT7, TaSBT26, TaSBT102, and TaSBT193 genes showed increasing expression levels during compatible and non-compatible interactions, while the expression levels of TaSBT111 and TaSBT213 showed a decreasing trend, indicating that these members of the wheat SBT gene family may have a role in wheat’s defense against pathogens. In conclusion, these results expand our understanding of the SBT gene family, and provide a valuable reference for future research on the stress resistance function and comprehensive data of wheat SBT members.
All our relations : native struggles for land and life

W inona LaDuke (Anishanaabeg) is a high-profile environmental activist, director of the White Earth Land Recovery Project, and most recently Ralph Nader’s Green Party vice presidential candidate. LaDuke’s 1999 nonfiction book All Our Relations: Native Struggles for Land and Life consists of overviews of eight distinct native land and environmental struggles taking place in North America and Hawai’i. This book conveys not only her philosophy about the colonial politics of tribal land struggle, but also her own contribution to the tribal identity, culture, and governance wars that currently rage in Indian Country. In keeping with LaDuke’s numerous articles, documented speeches, and interviews, All Our Relations presents a very narrow definition of authentic tribal or indigenous identity, relies on simplistic traditionalist rhetoric emerging from the identity wars, and then conditions legitimate tribal governance on the restrictive definition of authentic indigenity that she assumes her readers will innately accept to be true. All Our Relations has received praise from critics who evidence little complexity in their understanding of the history and politics of Indian Country. The overarching theme of this book seems to be to present LaDuke’s particular brand of native environmentalist as the true and noble native. These natives reject every last assimilationist trapping of modern life—their cultural practices undaunted by the white man’s laws and practices. However, beyond anecdotal references about rejection of brand-name and other nontraditional clothing choices, there is little substantive detail about how a traditionalist life is undaunted by outside influences. Traditionalism is nebulously defined and fits within a picture of a visually uncomplicated life:
Soil property estimation using visible and near-infrared reflectance

Site-specific management of crop production systems holds promise for maintaining high yields while preserving soil quality. This management requires detailed spatial data on soil physical and chemical characteristics but traditional testing can be slow and expensive. Recently, sensor-based approaches including reflectance spectroscopy have been proposed as alternatives for quicker, easier soil analysis. The objectives of this study were to investigate the soil property estimation capabilities of reflectance sensing with a spectrometer and with a mobile two-band sensor. In the spectrometer evaluation using profile (to 1 m) samples collected from 32 plots with varying soil characteristics, several important soil quality properties were successfully estimated. Highest accuracy was for dried and ground soil samples which had an R of 0.97 and 0.91 for total carbon and nitrogen, respectively. Results with field-moist soil were nearly as accurate, showing that this may be a viable, and more efficient, option. The mobile two-band sensor was evaluated in two central Missouri production fields. It showed good accuracy (R = 0.75) for estimating soil organic carbon (SOC) with 20 in-field calibration points. However, this accuracy was not maintained when calibration equations were applied in full-field mapping. Laboratory data collection showed that a sensor with different wavelength bands might provide more accurate results, but this would need to be verified with a wider range of soils.
Las diatomeas de los salares del Altiplano boliviano: singularidades florísticas.

During a biological survey carried out in 2009, epiphytic and phytoplanktonic diatom assemblages of three shallow saline lakes in the South of the Bolivian Altiplano (Lipez Area) (>4100 m asl), were studied. Within the identified taxa, Navicula pseudogracilis, Staurophora vilamae, Halamphora atacamana, Halamphora carvajaliana, Halamphora atacamae, Denticula valida f. major and Surirella chilensis were studied in detail. For each of these, a brief morphologic and morphometric description, a collection of bibliographic references where the taxon is cited or illustrated in the scientific literature, and light and scanning electronic microscopy images are presented. S. vilamae and D. valida f. major are cited for the first time out of their type localities, this last taxa observed for the first time in the world since 1894. Besides, N. pseudogracilis is cited as a new species for Bolivia and the ultrastructure of this taxon and D. valida f. major were illustrated for the first time.
SynthTab: Leveraging Synthesized Data for Guitar Tablature Transcription

Guitar tablature is a form of music notation widely used among guitarists. It captures not only the musical content of a piece, but also its implementation and ornamentation on the instrument. Guitar Tablature Transcription (GTT) is an important task with broad applications in music education, composition, and entertainment. Existing GTT datasets are quite limited in size and scope, rendering models trained on them prone to overfitting and incapable of generalizing to out-of-domain data. In order to address this issue, we present a methodology for synthesizing large-scale GTT audio using commercial acoustic and electric guitar plugins. We procure SynthTab, a dataset derived from DadaGP, which is a vast and diverse collection of richly annotated symbolic tablature. The proposed synthesis pipeline produces audio which faithfully adheres to the original fingerings and a subset of techniques specified in the tablature, and covers multiple guitars and styles for each track. Experiments show that pre-training a baseline GTT model on SynthTab can improve transcription performance when fine-tuning and testing on an individual dataset. More importantly, cross-dataset experiments show that pre-training significantly mitigates issues with overfitting.
Device-independent quantum key distribution with arbitrarily small nonlocality

Device-independent quantum key distribution (DIQKD) allows two users to set up shared cryptographic key without the need to trust the quantum devices used. Doing so requires nonlocal correlations between the users. However, in [Phys. Rev. Lett. 127, 050503 (2021)] it was shown that for known protocols nonlocality is not always sufficient, leading to the question of whether there is a fundamental lower bound on the minimum amount of nonlocality needed for any DIQKD implementation. Here we show that no such bound exists, giving schemes that achieve key with correlations arbitrarily close to the local set. Furthermore, some of our constructions achieve the maximum of 1 bit of key per pair of entangled qubits. We achieve this by studying a family of Bell-inequalities that constitute all self-tests of the maximally entangled state with a single linear Bell expression. Within this family there exist non-local correlations with the property that one pair of inputs yield outputs arbitrarily close to perfect key. Such correlations exist for a range of Clauser-Horne-Shimony-Holt (CHSH) values, including those arbitrarily close to the classical bound. Finally, we show the existence of quantum correlations that can generate both perfect key and perfect randomness simultaneously, whilst also displaying arbitrarily small CHSH violation; this opens up the possibility of a new class of cryptographic protocol.
Optimal Estimation under a Semiparametric Density Ratio Model

In many statistical and econometric applications, we gather individual samples from various interconnected populations that undeniably exhibit common latent structures. Utilizing a model that incorporates these latent structures for such data enhances the efficiency of inferences. Recently, many researchers have been adopting the semiparametric density ratio model (DRM) to address the presence of latent structures. The DRM enables estimation of each population distribution using pooled data, resulting in statistically more efficient estimations in contrast to nonparametric methods that analyze each sample in isolation. In this article, we investigate the limit of the efficiency improvement attainable through the DRM. We focus on situations where one population's sample size significantly exceeds those of the other populations. In such scenarios, we demonstrate that the DRM-based inferences for populations with smaller sample sizes achieve the highest attainable asymptotic efficiency as if a parametric model is assumed. The estimands we consider include the model parameters, distribution functions, and quantiles. We use simulation experiments to support the theoretical findings with a specific focus on quantile estimation. Additionally, we provide an analysis of real revenue data from U.S. collegiate sports to illustrate the efficacy of our contribution.
Extended defects-enhanced oxygen diffusion in ThO2

Oxygen self-diffusion is key to understanding stoichiometry and defect structures in oxide nuclear fuels. Experimentally, low activation-barrier oxygen migration was found in ThO$_2$, a candidate nuclear fuel, possibly due to short-circuit diffusion mechanisms. Here, we perform extensive molecular dynamics simulations to show that various types of extended defects can enhance oxygen self-diffusion with a much-reduced activation barrier in ThO$_2$. In this work, we consider extended defects including 1D (dislocation), 2D (grain boundary), and 3D (void) defects. Due to the distinct characteristics of each type of extended defect, the modulation of oxygen diffusion varies. These results provide a quantitative description of oxygen transport, which is significantly enhanced within a close distance (nanometer scale) from the extended defects. Among all these defects, grain boundary, particularly the $\Sigma 3$ twin boundary with a low formation energy, exhibits the strongest effect on increasing oxygen transport.
PENGARUH PRODUK DOMESTIK BRUTO (PDB) DAN INDEKS PEMBANGUNAN MANUSIA (IPM) TERHADAP ANGKA KEMISKINAN DI INDONESIA

Poverty is classic issue faced by most developing countries and is one of economic indicators to view public welfare level in any region. The research aimed to analyze effect of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and human development index on poverty in Indonesia. Analysis used quantitative with Random Effect Model (REM) method in Panel Data with time series year 2006 to 2008. Anaysis result concluded that all independent variable simultaneously had significant effect on poverty variable in Indonesia and partially Gross Domestic Product (GDP) variable had significant negative influence on poverty with α 20%, and Human Development Index (HDI) variable had significant negative influence on poverty with α 5%.
Quality of life and self-esteem in patients submitted to surgical treatment of skin carcinomas: long-term results*

BACKGROUND Cancer is a multifactorial disease and skin carcinomas are the most common type of cancer. Assessing quality of life and self-esteem outcomes in skin cancer patients is important because these are indicators of the results of the treatment, translating how patients face their lives and their personal relationships. OBJECTIVE To assess the late impact of the surgical treatment of head and/or neck skin carcinomas on quality of life and self-esteem of the patients. METHODS Fifty patients with head or neck skin carcinomas were enrolled. Their age ranged between 30 and 75 years, 27 were men and 23 were women. Patients were assessed with regard to quality of life and self-esteem, preoperatively and five years postoperatively. Validated instruments were used: the MOS 36-item Short-form Health Survey (SF-36) and the Rosenberg Self-esteem/EPM-UNIFESP Scale. The Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used for the statistical analysis. RESULTS Twenty-two patients completed the five-year follow-up, 54.5% women and 45.5% men. Compared to the preoperative assessment, patients had an improvement in mental health (p=0.011) and in self-esteem (p=0.002). There was no statistical difference with regard to the other domains of the SF-36. CONCLUSION Patients submitted to surgical treatment of skin carcinoma improved mental health and self-esteem in the late postsurgical testing.
Marchiafava-Bignami Disease: A Less Known Neurological Complication of Alcoholism

Marchiafava-Bignami disease (MBD) is a disorder associated with chronic alcohol consumption and characterized by demyelination and necrosis of the corpus callosum. Patients may have reduced consciousness, psychotic symptoms, apathy, hemiparesis, ataxia and coma. Although some cases of recovery have been reported, the outcome is poor, with disability or dead. We reported a case of a 56-year-old woman with chronic alcoholism admitted to our hospital with impaired consciousness and a history of gait disturbance. On examination, she was in a coma, with increased muscle tone and left arm paresis. Laboratory studies showed a folic acid deficiency and the CT scan was normal. Magnetic resonance imaging revealed lesions in periventricular white matter and the entire corpus callosum with restriction of water diffusion consistent with the diagnosis of MBD. Despite treatment with B vitamin complex, the patient died. Coma and radiological involvement of the entire corpus callosum are compatible with type A MBD and associated with poor prognosis. Although being a rare alcoholism complication, it should not be forgotten since an early diagnosis and prompt supportive therapy may enable a better outcome. J Med Cases. 2016;7(5):171-173 doi: http://dx.doi. org/10.14740/jmc2477w
Challenging age-structured and first order transition cell cycle models of cell proliferation

Uncontrolled cell proliferation is the key feature of tumours. Because experimental measures provide only a partial view to the underlying proliferative processes, such as cell cycling, cell quiescence and cell death, mathematical modelling aims to provide a unifying view of the data with a quantitative description of the contributing basic processes. Modelling approaches to proliferation of cell populations can be divided in two main categories: those based on first order transitions between successive compartments and those including a structure of the cells’ life cycle. Here we challenge basic models belonging to the two categories to fit time course data sets, from our laboratory experience, obtained observing the proliferative phenomenon with different experimental techniques in a cancer cell line. We disclose the limitations of too simple models. At the minimal complexity level accounting for all available data the two approaches converge and suggest similar scenarios for the underlying proliferation process, in both untreated conditions and after treatment.
Helminth ecological requirements shape the impact of climate change on the hazard of infection

Outbreaks and spread of infectious diseases are often associated with seasonality and changes caused by global warming. Free-living stages of soil-transmitted helminths are highly susceptible to environmental drivers, however, how multiple climatic variables affect helminth species, and the long-term consequences of these interactions, is poorly understood. We used experiments on nine trichostrongylid species to develop a temperature- and humidity-dependent model of infection hazard, which was then implemented at the European scale under climate change scenarios. Intestinal and stomach helminths exhibited contrasting climatic responses, with the former group strongly affected by temperature while the latter primarily impacted by humidity. These differences generated seasonal changes in the timing and intensity of the infection hazard and spatial heterogeneities within and between the two groups. A future range expansion of both groups toward northern latitudes is expected to create new opportunities for the co-circulation of the studied helminth species.
Demographic responses of oceanic island birds to local and regional ecological disruptions revealed by whole-genome sequencing

Disentangling the effects of ecological disruptions operating at different spatial and temporal scales in shaping past species’ demography is particularly important in the current context of rapid environmental changes driven by both local and regional factors. We argue that volcanic oceanic islands provide useful settings to study the influence of past ecological disruptions operating at local and regional scales on population demographic histories. We investigate potential drivers of past population dynamics for three closely related species of passerine birds from two volcanic oceanic islands, Reunion and Mauritius (Mascarene archipelago), with distinct volcanic history. Using ABC and PSMC inferences from complete genomes, we reconstructed the demographic history of the Reunion Grey White-eye (Zosterops borbonicus (Pennant, 1781)), the Reunion Olive White-eye (Z. olivaceus (Linnaeus, 1766)), and the Mauritius Grey White-eye (Z. mauritianus (Gmelin, 1789)), and searched for possible causes underlying similarities or differences between species living on the same or different islands. Both demographic inferences strongly support ancient and long-term expansions in all species. They also reveal different trajectories between species inhabiting different islands, but consistent demographic trajectories in species or populations from the same island. Species from Reunion appear to have experienced synchronous reductions in population size during the Last Glacial Maximum, a trend not seen in the Mauritian species. Overall, this study suggests that local events may have played a role in shaping population trajectories of these island species. It also highlights the potential of our conceptual framework to disentangle the effects of local and regional drivers on past species’ demography and long-term population processes.
Advances in Drug Therapy: Alternative Treatments for the Control of Motor Fluctuations and Dyskinesias

The treatment of Parkinson s Disease (PD) remains largely symptomatic and it controls effectively motor symptoms of the disease for some years. This is a treatment that is considered basically substitute, which only acts on the nigrostriatal pathway but does not provide adequate plasma levels 24 hours a day in most cases. As a result, conventional medication, especially levodopa, produces pulsatile stimuli that with the progression of the disease is associated with the development of motor complications (Markham & Diamond, 1986). In recent years new formulations and alternative therapies (dopamine receptor agonists extended release, rotigotine patch, continuous infusion of apomorphine and continuous duodenal infusion of Duodopa) have been introduced in order to avoid pulsatile stimulation and thus prevent the "peaks " and "valleys" and achieve continuous dopaminergic stimulation to avoid, reduce or control the motor fluctuations and dyskinesias. Thus concept of continuous dopaminergic stimulation is born, which is not intended to restore modulatory physiological role exerted by dopamine on striatal function but to explain the benefits of using drugs that provide a more uniform and consistent dopamine stimulation, which has proven to be most appropriate and in practice more beneficial than traditional treatments. This review focuses on the treatment for symptomatic control of Parkinson's disease and complications from chronic treatment, the usefulness of new dopamine agonists and the beneficial effect of Duodopa as a possible alternative in the treatment of advanced PD compared with subcutaneous apomorphine infusion or deep brain stimulation of the subthalamic nucleus, this latter effective to control of motor complications but applicable to a very selective population with no cognitive or behavioral complications. It is clear that oral Levodopa combined with peripheral inhibitory amino-acid decarboxylase remains still the gold standard in the treatment of PD 40 years later after their use by Cotzias. However, chronic treatment with levodopa (LD) is related to the onset of motor complications in form of fluctuations in the response with wearing-off phenomenon and dyskinesia, which may occur after 3 to 5 years after the start of the LD (Markham & Diamond, 1986; Marsden, 1994). This variability in motor response is correlated with the