Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Native forest conversion alters soil macroinvertebrate diversity and soil quality in tropical mountain landscapes of northern Ecuador

Land use changes cause soil degradation and loss of biodiversity, thereby affecting ecological processes and soil-associated ecosystem services. However, land use change impacts on soil health have received little attention in the highland landscapes of the tropics. In this research, using the soil health framework, we assessed the impact of native forest conversion to anthropic systems (planted forests, pastures, and monocultures) on two ecosystem services: biodiversity conservation and soil fertility in the highlands of northern Ecuador. The biological dimension of our assessment focused on the diversity, abundance, and biomass of soil macroinvertebrate communities as proxies to soil functions, whereas soil chemical parameters were used to describe the soil fertility. The soil invertebrate communities and soil chemical parameters were studied in topsoil samples using 25 × 25 × 10 cm monoliths, obtained from 10 sampling sites randomly selected in each land use category. We hypothesized that native forests would present more diverse and even soil macroinvertebrate communities, and together with their soil chemical properties would indicate better soil quality than anthropic environments. Our results showed that the structure and composition of the edaphic macroinvertebrate communities significantly differed among the studied land use categories. As predicted, native forests presented greater values for richness, evenness and diversity of soil biota than did the other categories, demonstrating a significant loss of taxonomic biodiversity at order and genus levels. We also found a significant reduction of trophic diversity in native forests converted to anthropic environments. More trophic groups with greater abundances were found in native forests, where predators and detritivores stood out as dominant groups, indicating the good quality of the soil. The results from the soil chemical parameters also confirmed the distinction in soil health between native forests and anthropic environments. Our results highlight the risk associated with current trends of native forest loss and conversion to anthropic systems in high mountain ecosystems in the tropics, illustrating how these alterations could cause biodiversity loss and degradation of the chemical attributes of soil health. The findings of this research could contribute to the conservation and sustainable management of mountain agricultural landscapes in the study region.
Well under control: Control demand changes are sufficient for metacontrol

Metacontrol arises from the efficient retrieval of cognitive control by environmental cues that are predictive of the upcoming control demands. Previous studies have demonstrated that proactive and reactive metacontrol can be indexed by a list-wide switch probability (LWSP) and an item-specific switch probability (ISSP) effect, respectively. However, what triggers metacontrol in the first place has not been clearly articulated. While a “mere-experience” hypothesis attributes metacontrol to changes in control demands, an “affective-signaling” hypothesis suggests that high control demands are aversive and aversiveness drives metacontrol. In two experiments, we adjudicated between these hypotheses by considering the modes of metacontrol (proactive vs. reactive) and temporal dynamics of background valence (sustained vs. transient and positive vs. negative). We induced metacontrol (proactive or reactive) in a task-switching paradigm and created background valence by using positive and negative images as stimuli. With valence being an irrelevant aspect of the task, the design allows us to test whether (task-irrelevant) background valence would modulate metacontrol. While we were able to replicate the LWSP effect in Experiment 1 and the ISSP effect in Experiment 2, we did not find valence modulating either effect, regardless of the background valence being a sustained (Experiment 1) or a transient one (Experiment 2). These findings together suggest that negative valence (i.e., aversiveness) does not necessarily benefit metacontrol, and control demand variations are sufficient to induce metacontrol.
Can the use of digital technology improve the cow milk productivity in large dairy herds? Evidence from China's Shandong Province

Introduction Improving milk productivity is essential for ensuring sustainable food production. However, the increasing difficulty of supervision and management, which is associated with farm size, is one of the major factors causing the inverse relationship between size and productivity. Digital technology, which has grown in popularity in recent years, can effectively substitute for manual labor and significantly improve farmers' monitoring and management capacities, potentially addressing the inverse relationship. Methods Based on data from a survey of farms in Shandong Province in 2020, this paper employs a two-stage least squares regression model to estimate the impact of herd size on dairy cow productivity and investigate how the adoption of digital technology has altered the impact of herd size on dairy cow productivity. Results According to the findings, there is a significant and negative impact of herd size on milk productivity for China's dairy farms. By accurately monitoring and identifying the time of estrus, coupled with timely insemination, digital technology can mitigate the negative impact of herd size on milk productivity per cow. Discussion To increase dairy cow productivity in China, the government should promote both small-scale dairy farming and focus on enhancing management capacities of farm operators, as well as large-scale dairy farms and increase the adoption of digital technologies.
Post-marketing safety of immunomodulatory drugs in multiple myeloma: A pharmacovigilance investigation based on the FDA adverse event reporting system

Objective: In recent years, the emergence of immunomodulatory drugs (IMiDs) has significantly improved clinical outcomes in patients with multiple myeloma (MM); however, serious adverse events (AEs) have hindered their safe clinical application. This study aimed to characterize the safety profiles and differences in IMiDs through a disproportionality analysis using the U.S. Food and Drug Administration Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS), a post-marketing surveillance database. Methods: This study filtered reports of thalidomide, lenalidomide, and pomalidomide as primary suspect drugs in FAERS files from January 2013 to December 2021. AEs in the reports were retrieved according to the preferred terms (PTs) of the Medical Dictionary for Regulatory Activities. Furthermore, we detected safety signals using the reporting odds ratio (ROR), proportional reporting ratio (PRR), and Bayesian belief propagation neural network (BCPNN). When all three algorithms showed an association between the target drug and the AE, a positive signal was generated. Results: We extracted 9,968 thalidomide, 231,926 lenalidomide, and 55,066 pomalidomide AE reports. AEs were more common in male patients and in those >44 years old. Important safety signals were detected based on the system organ classes (SOC), including thalidomide (cardiac disorders: ROR, 2.87; PRR, 2.79; IC 1.22), lenalidomide (gastrointestinal disorders: ROR, 2.38; PRR, 2.27; IC 0.75), and pomalidomide (respiratory, thoracic, and mediastinal disorders: ROR, 2.14; PRR, 2.09; IC 0.85). Within the PT level, we identified novel risk signals: the thalidomide-induced second primary malignancy (SPM) signal was significant; lenalidomide reduced the success rate of hematopoietic stem cell collection; and three IMiDs may cause human chorionic gonadotropin increase, but this needs to be proven by clinical data. Pneumonia, sepsis, and renal failure are common risk factors for death due to IMiDs. Compared with thalidomide and lenalidomide, pomalidomide has a lower risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE) and is beneficial to patients with renal insufficiency. Conclusion: Mining data from FAERS resulted in novel AE signals, including adenocarcinoma of colon, harvest failure of blood stem cells, and increased levels of human chorionic gonadotropin. Further investigation is required to verify the significance of these signals. Moreover, IMiDs showed differences in safety reports, which should be emphasized by clinicians.
The sense of belonging reduces ingroup favoritism in children

Belonging is an important motive for intergroup behavior. Adults display pronounced ingroup favoritism when the sense of inclusion by an ingroup is decreased or threatened. The present study investigated whether ingroup belonging reduces ingroup favoritism in 6-year-old children in terms of costly sharing. Children were allocated to a novel group in a minimal-group paradigm. In two conditions, children played a brief ball-tossing game and were either included (ingroup-inclusion condition) or excluded (ingroup-exclusion condition) by their ingroup members. Children in a no-interaction condition did not have any interactions with the members of the ingroup. After this manipulation, we tested the extent to which children shared resources with ingroup and outgroup members. We found that children in the ingroup-exclusion and no-interaction conditions shared more resources with their ingroup member than their outgroup member, while children in the ingroup-inclusion condition shared equally with the ingroup and outgroup members. These results could inform interventions aimed at fostering positive intergroup relations.
Effect of β-hydroxybutyrate on behavioral alterations, molecular and morphological changes in CNS of multiple sclerosis mouse model

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic inflammatory and degenerative disease of central nervous system (CNS). Aging is the most significant risk factor for the progression of MS. Dietary modulation (such as ketogenic diet) and caloric restriction, can increase ketone bodies, especially β-hydroxybutyrate (BHB). Increased BHB has been reported to prevent or improve age-related disease. The present studies were performed to understand the therapeutic effect and potential mechanisms of exogenous BHB in cuprizone (CPZ)-induced demyelinating model. In this study, a continuous 35 days CPZ mouse model with or without BHB was established. The changes of behavior function, pathological hallmarks of CPZ, and intracellular signal pathways in mice were detected by Open feld test, Morris water maze, RT-PCR, immuno-histochemistry, and western blot. The results showed that BHB treatment improved behavioral performance, prevented myelin loss, decreased the activation of astrocyte as well as microglia, and up-regulated the neurotrophin brain-derived neurotrophic factor in both the corpus callosum and hippocampus. Meanwhile, BHB treatment increased the number of MCT1+ cells and APC+ oligodendrocytes. Furthermore, the treatment decreased the expression of HDAC3, PARP1, AIF and TRPA1 which is related to oligodendrocyte (OL) apoptosis in the corpus callosum, accompanied by increased expression of TrkB. This leads to an increased density of doublecortin (DCX)+ neuronal precursor cells and mature NeuN+ neuronal cells in the hippocampus. As a result, BHB treatment effectively promotes the generation of PDGF-Ra+ (oligodendrocyte precursor cells, OPCs), Sox2+ cells and GFAP+ (astrocytes), and decreased the production of GFAP+ TRAP1+ cells, and Oligo2+ TRAP1+ cells in the corpus callosum of mouse brain. Thus, our results demonstrate that BHB treatment efficiently supports OPC differentiation and decreases the OLs apoptosis in CPZ-intoxicated mice, partly by down-regulating the expression of TRPA1 and PARP, which is associated with the inhibition of the p38-MAPK/JNK/JUN pathway and the activation of ERK1/2, PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling, supporting BHB treatment adjunctive nutritional therapy for the treatment of chronic demyelinating diseases, such as multiple sclerosis (MS).
WRF Simulations of the Urban Circulation in the Salt Lake City Area for CO2 Modeling

AbstractA recent National Research Council report highlighted the potential utility of atmospheric observations and models for detecting trends in concentrated emissions from localized regions, such as urban areas. The Salt Lake City (SLC), Utah, area was chosen for a pilot study to determine the feasibility of using ground-based sensors to identify trends in anthropogenic urban emissions over a range of time scales (from days to years). The Weather Research and Forecasting model (WRF) was combined with a Lagrangian particle dispersion model and an emission inventory to model carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations that can be compared with in situ measurements. An accurate representation of atmospheric transport requires a faithful modeling of the meteorological conditions. This study examines in detail the ability of different configurations of WRF to reproduce the observed local and mesoscale circulations, and the diurnal evolution of the planetary boundary layer (PBL) in the SLC area. Observations from th.
Experimental investigation of dynamical coupling between density gradients, radial electric fields and turbulent transport in the JET plasma boundary region

The dynamical interplay between turbulent transport, density gradients and radial electric fields has been investigated in the plasma boundary of magnetic confined plasmas. Experimental results show that there is a dynamical relationship between gradients and turbulent transport. Fluctuations on gradients, which turns out to have a rather Gaussian probability density function (PDF), and turbulent transport, which has a non-Gaussian PDF, are strongly coupled. Also, the size of turbulent events increases when the plasma deviates from the average gradient. This increase is particularly significant when the gradient increases above its average value. The system relaxes to the most probable state in a time comparable to the correlation time of turbulence. The present results emphasize the importance of the characterization of fluctuations in the terms of PDFs to test critically edge turbulence models.