Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Global Trend of Microplastic Research in Freshwater Ecosystems

The study of microplastics and their impact on aquatic ecosystems has received increasing attention in recent years. Drawing from an analysis of 814 papers related to microplastics published between 2013 and 2022 in the Web of Science Core Repository, this paper explores trends, focal points, and national collaborations in freshwater microplastics research, providing valuable insights for future studies. The findings reveal three distinct stages of microplastics: nascent development (2013–2015), slow rise (2016–2018), and rapid development (2019–2022). Over time, the focus of research has shifted from “surface”, “effect”, “microplastic pollution”, and “tributary” to “toxicity”, “species”, “organism”, “threat”, “risk”, and “ingestion”. While international cooperation has become more prevalent, the extent of collaboration remains limited, mostly concentrated among English-speaking countries or English and Spanish/Portuguese-speaking countries. Future research directions should encompass the bi-directional relationship between microplastics and watershed ecosystems, incorporating chemical and toxicological approaches. Long-term monitoring efforts are crucial to assessing the sustained impacts of microplastics.
Effects of disturbances and environmental changes on an aridland riparian generalist

Anthropogenic climate change and ecosystem disturbances can detrimentally affect habitats and species. Areas with concentrated biodiversity, such as aridland riparian zones, often yield the greatest number of vulnerable species. A better understanding of ecological and environmental relationships can guide more effective conservation strategies. We used both visual transects and external (tape) radio telemetry to study the behavioral and spatial ecology of black-necked gartersnakes (Thamnophis cyrtopsis; n = 81)—a dietary generalist yet aquatic habitat specialist—in a heterogenous aridland riparian zone of lower Sabino Canyon, Tucson, Arizona, between 2018 and 2021. Our objectives were to (1) understand how extrinsic conditions influence population ecology dynamics, including immediately prior to and after major disturbances and environmental extremes; (2) analyze behavioral activity and microhabitat usage in relation to environmental factors; and (3) assess the efficacy of a less-invasive telemetry strategy. Between late spring 2020 and early summer 2021, ecosystem disturbances included near-record heat and drought, wildfire, and low overwinter precipitation. Many aquatic habitats either completely dried or were spatially disjunct; gartersnake prey species were noticeably sparse. Extreme drought rapidly shifted to excessive flooding during the 2021 monsoon that brought above-average streamflow magnitude and duration. Between 2019 and 2021, we observed a dramatic decline in T. cyrtopsis; odds of detection reduced by 92.8% (CI [56.0–99.1%]). Strong spatiotemporal links relative to the extent and timing of available surface water appear important. Prior to the onset of monsoonal stream recharge in early summer, shallow and drying aquatic habitats are used as parturition sites and foraging grounds; all age classes took advantage to corral fishes trapped in isolated and shrinking pools. Ambient conditions had varying effects on gartersnake behaviors. Variation in microhabitat assemblages occurred with distance from water, activity level, and developmental age class. Interestingly, associations remained consistent across seasons and years, which suggests a reliance on heterogenous habitat structure. Sampling techniques complemented each other, however, bioclimatic parameters rendered limitations and should be considered in methodological decisions. Overall, disadvantageous responses to major disturbances and climatic extremes by a presumably adaptable generalist like T. cyrtopsis are concerning. Insights from long-term monitoring of responses by common yet environmentally sensitive species such as T. cyrtopsis may serve to more broadly highlight demographic challenges that other taxa with similar semi-aquatic life histories may face in changing systems. Such information could inform more effective conservation management strategies in warming and drying ecosystems.
Single anastomosis sleeve ileal (SASI) bypass as a primary and revisional procedure: a single-centre experience

Introduction To achieve effective weight loss and remission of comorbidities, various surgical methods are used in the treatment of obesity. The most common procedures performed worldwide are followed by the newest ones. Aim To present the results of the first group of patients from a high-volume bariatric centre in central Europe and to compare single anastomosis sleeve ileal (SASI) as a primary and revisional procedure. Material and methods We retrospectively analysed patients who underwent SASI for obesity from December 2018 to June 2022 by the same team of surgeons. There were 2 groups of patients. The first group consisted of patients who underwent SASI as their first bariatric procedure (primary group – PG). The second group consisted of patients who underwent SASI after previous SG procedure due to weight regain and/or symptoms of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) (revisional group – RG). Results There were 15 patients (80% female) in the PG, and 14 patients (88% female) in the RG. In the PG, %TWL 12 and 36 months after surgery was 37.8% and 43.9% respectively. In the RG, %TWL 12 and 24 months after surgery was 13.8% and 20.9%, respectively. Most patients had complete remission of T2D and HT after surgery. In the RG, 9 (81.8%) patients had remission of GERD. The worsening of GERD was reported in 4 (40%) patients in the PG. Conclusions SASI may be an effective and safe method of treatment of obesity. SASI may be an effective method of revisional bariatric surgery performed for GERD, but not for weight regain.
Use of Pre-Operative Hemoglobin A1c to Predict Early Post-Operative Renal Failure and Infection Risks in Patients who are not Diabetics and Undergoing Elective off Pump Coronary Artery Bypass Graft Surgery

ABSTRACT Background: Recent studies have indicated that patients, both with and without diabetes with an increased HbA1c, have a higher rate of adverse outcomes following cardiac surgeries. Our study is focused on to evaluate the prognostic impact of admission value of HbA1c in non-diabetic patients for postoperative renal failure and infections. Materials and Methods: Plasma HbA1c levels were collected from 200 consecutive nondiabetic patients who got admitted for elective off pump coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) procedure over a 2-year period under two groups, Group A whose HbA1c was < 6% at admission and Group B whose HbA1c was ≥6% and ≤6.4% at admission. After surgery, patients were followed up to see if they have got infection or renal failure as postoperative complication. Student’s unpaired t test was used to test the significance of difference between the quantitative variables, Yate’s and Fisher’s chi square tests were used for qualitative variables. Results: We found early postoperative renal failure in 14 (3/96 in Group A and 11/104 in Group B) out of 200 patients (7%) and infection in 21 (8/96 in Group A and 13/104 in Group B) out of 200 patients (10.5%). After data analysis, it was noted that there is a positive correlation between HbA1c and postoperative renal failure (P = 0.0213) whereas no association was found between HbA1c and postoperative infections (P = 0.175) in patients undergoing off-pump CABG surgery. Conclusion: In patients without diabetes, a plasma HbA1c ≥6% was a significant independent predictor for early postoperative renal failure.
Effect of reproductive indices and bovine somatotropin on milk yield in Holstein cows experiencing climatic sub-fertility

This study aimed at determining the association between reproductive indexes and the total milk yield in non-planed lactations ≥600 days in sub-fertile Holstein cows treated or not with recombinant bovine somatotropin (rbST) and experienced prolonged hyperthermia. A total of 1141 cows with a single lactation were enrolled in the study: 622 were not treated with rbST (control) and 519 were treated with rbST (500 mg every 14 days throughout lactation). Across parities, control cows with >480 days open, produced 5642 kg more milk (p<0.01) than cows with <380 days open. rbST-treated cows produced 5994 more (p<0.01) kg of milk during the entire lactation than cows with <380 days open. In control cows receiving ≥10 services, the average total milk yield was 1811 kg higher (p<0.01) than in cows receiving ≤10 services. In rbST-treated cows, the average total milk yield was 1680 kg higher (p<0.01) in cows receiving ≥10 services, compared to cows receiving ≤10 services. The overall conception rate for all services was 51% and 73% (p<0.01) for control and rbST-treated cows, respectively. In conclusion, the greater the delay to get pregnant and the greater the number of services per lactation the higher the total milk yield per lactation were observed. Thus, in this unusual situation where sub-fertile cows are retained with >380 days open and they continue to be inseminated after 10 unsuccessful services, the impact of delayed conception is not entirely negative as this disadvantage is more than outweighed by the extra milk that is produced when lactation is extended.
Physical parameters of rich LMC clusters from modeling of deep HST colour-magnitude diagrams

We present the analysis of deep colour-magnitude diagrams (CMDs) of five rich LMC clusters. The data were obtained with HST/WFPC2 in the F555W (∼V) and F814W (∼I) filters, reaching V555 ∼ 25. The sample of clusters is composed of NGC 1805 and NGC 1818, the youngest ones ( τ 1200 Myr). We discuss and apply a statistical method for correcting the CMD for sampling incompleteness and field star contamination. Efficient use of the CMD data was made by means of direct comparisons of the observed to model CMDs. The CMD modeling process generates a synthetic Main Sequence (MS), where we introduce as model inputs the information about age, chemical composition, present day mass function (PDMF), fraction of unresolved binaries, distance modulus and light extinction. The photometric uncertainties were empirically determined from the data and incorporated into the model as well. Statistical techniques of CMD comparisons using 1 and 2 dimensions are presented and applied as an objective method to assess the compatibility between model and data CMDs. By modeling the CMDs from the central region we infer the metallicity (Z), the intrinsic distance modulus ((m−M)0) and the reddening value (E(B−V)) for each cluster. We also determined the age for the clusters with τ> 400 Myr. By means of two-dimensional CMD comparisons we infer the following values: for NGC 1805, Z = 0.007 ± 0.003, (m − M)0 = 18.50 ± 0.11, E(B −V) = 0.03 ± 0.01; for NGC 1818, Z = 0.005 ± 0.002, (m − M)0 = 18.49 ± 0.14, E(B − V) ∼ 0.00; for NGC 1831, Z = 0.012 ± 0.002, log(τ/yr) = 8.70 ± 0.03, (m −M)0 = 18.70 ± 0.03, E(B −V) ∼ 0.00; for NGC 1868, Z = 0.008 ± 0.002, log(τ/yr) = 8.95 ± 0.03, (m −M)0 = 18.70 ± 0.03, E(B −V) ∼ 0.00; for Hodge 14, Z = 0.008 ± 0.004, log(τ/yr) = 9.23 ± 0.10, (m − M)0 = 18.51 ± 0.13, E(B −V) = 0.02 ± 0.02. Taking into account the uncertainties, these values are in accordance with the ones obtained applying the one-dimensional CMD analysis, adding reliability to these determinations.
Effects of the Co-Overexpression of the BCL and BDNF Genes on the Gamma-Aminobutyric Acid-Ergic Differentiation of Wharton’s-Jelly-Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells

One of the problems with using MSCs (mesenchymal stem cells) to treat different neurodegenerative diseases of the central nervous system is their low ability to spontaneously differentiate into functional neurons. The aim of this study was to investigate how the co-overexpression of the BCL and BDNF genes affects the ability of genetically modified MSCs to differentiate into GABA-ergic neurons. A co-overexpression of two genes was performed, one of which, BCL, was supposed to increase the resistance of the cells to the toxic agents in the brain environment. The second one, BDNF, was supposed to direct the cells onto the neuronal differentiation pathway. As a result, the co-overexpression of both BCL2 + BDNF and BCLXL + BDNF caused an increase in the MAP2 gene expression level (a marker of the neuronal pathway) and the SYP gene that is associated with synaptogenesis. In both cases, approximately 18% of the genetically modified and then differentiated cells exhibited the presence of the GAD protein, which is characteristic of GABA-ergic neurons. Despite the presence of GAD, after both modifications, only the BCL2 and BDNF co-overexpression correlated with the ability of the modified cells to release gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) after depolarization. Our study identified a novel model of genetically engineered MSCs that can be used as a tool to deliver the antiapoptotic proteins (BCL) and neurotrophic factor (BDNF) directly into the brain microenvironment. Additionally, in the investigated model, the genetically modified MSCs could easily differentiate into functional GABA-ergic neurons and, moreover, due to the secreted BCL and BDNF, promote endogenous neuronal growth and encourage synaptic connections between neurons.
A heat source reconstruction formula from single internal measurements using a family of null controls

Resumo/Abstract: We consider the inverse problem of determining the spatial dependence f(x) of the source term in a heat equation ut−γ∆u = f(x)σ(t) in Ω × (0, T ) assuming σ(t) known, from a single partial internal measurement of the solution in O × (0, T ), O ⊂ Ω. The purpose of this paper is to establish a reconstruction formula for f(x) using exact controls, and that could be generalized for general parabolic equations. The reconstruction formula is associated to a family of exact controls v(τ) indexed by τ ∈ (0, T ). We perform numerical simulations in order to illustrate the feasibility, accuracy and stability of the proposed reconstruction formula. Ref: G. Garcia, A. O, M.
Local structure of analytic transformations of two complex variables

Let T be a holomorphic mapping defined on a neighborhood V of the origin 0 of the space C2 o f two complex variables into C2 which leaves 0 invariant. By a local analytic transformation we will mean either such a mapping T or th e germ o f T a t O . T he purpose of the present and the forthcoming papers is to investigate the structure of these local analytic transform ations. Specifically we will study the following subjects, which are closely related to each other : ( i) description of the behavior of the points near the fixed point 0 under the transformation T and its iterates Tn, n=1, 2, •-• ; (ii) intrinsic characterization of the structure of T, j . e . , a characterization which does not rely on local coordinates around O. We treat these problems, especially for semi-attractive transformations of type (1, b)„ i . e . , transformations which can be expressed in the form (6.1), in section 6, w ith the conditions 0 < b I <1, a 2 0 * 0 . T he study of transformations of this type is considered a s a generalization of the result o f Voronin [19] for the case of one complex variable. In Part A (sections 1-5) of the present paper, we recall some known results a n d make some additional remarks for general local analytic transformations. These observations will serve to give a proper perspective of our main subject. The reader may begin with P art B and use Part A as reference. In Part B (sections 6-10), a transformation T of type (1, b), is investigated. We study the structure of the set of points P in the vicinity o f the fixed point 0 such that the sequence T (P ), T 2 (P), ••• converges to 0 pointwise or uniformly in a neighborhood of P . The invariant curve of Poincaré lies on the boundary of the domain of uniformly convergent points. On this domain we introduce a system of coordinates so that the transformation T is reduced to a simple form, i. e. , translation. As an application we will give, in sec tion 10, a n analogous re su lt to th e example o f Bieberbach [2], which shows that there is a proper subdomain in C2 w hich is biholomorphic to C2 . It m ay be of some interest that by the present method can be so constructed that th e boundary ÔT contains a complex line. In the forthcoming paper II, we will give a complete solution for the prob-
The San Angelo, Texas, Supercell of 31 May 1995: Visual Observations and Tornadogenesis

Abstract Airborne radar analysis combined with cloud photogrammetry of a supercell that formed on 31 May 1995 near San Angelo, Texas, is presented. The superposition of the Doppler wind syntheses with the cloud pictures provides a unique view of the relationship between the low-level mesocyclone and the developing lowered cloud base. The mesocyclone accompanying the storm went through two periods of intensification. The end of the first period of intensification did not lead to the formation of a tornado. An occlusion downdraft formed but was primarily driven by negative buoyancy rather than a downward-directed perturbation pressure gradient. Recent studies have suggested that cold downdrafts inhibit the formation of tornadoes. The present study supports this hypothesis and provides the first quantitative view of the vertical structure of this downdraft. The mesocyclone evolved through a second period of intensification that produced a weak tornado that was visually apparent from the aircraft. No occlusio.
Genetic Diversity and Maternal Phylogenetic Relationships among Populations and Strains of Arabian Show Horses

Simple Summary The Arabian horse is probably one of the most historic horse breeds worldwide. It has been selectively bred by the Bedouin tribes in the steppes of Arabia for over 2000 years. Bedouin tribes have created their own classification of strains based on maternal lines. The aim of our study was to investigate genetic differentiation at the level of (i) the current populations (Desert-Bred, Straight Egyptian and Polish Arabians) and (ii) the traditional Bedouin strains. Two hundred and eleven Arabian individuals, representing 12 strains, were sampled. Mitochondrial DNA D-loop analysis showed higher genetic diversity in the Egyptian and Polish Arabian populations than in the Desert-Bred. No genetic markers distinguishing the traditional strains were highlighted in this study, a fact probably due to the lack of interest in this component in modern breeding programs. Some Polish Arabian individuals, who could not be traced back to the Bedouin tribes, appeared to be genetically distinct from the other studied horses, requiring more in-depth study. This research, complemented by future SNP and Y-chromosome analyses, may provide a more accurate evaluation of the relationships between Arabian horse populations′ genetic and traditional classification. Abstract Genetic diversity and phylogenetic relationships within the Arabian show horse populations are of particular interest to breeders worldwide. Using the complete mitochondrial DNA D-loop sequence (916 pb), this study aimed (i) to understand the genetic relationship between three populations, the Desert-Bred (DB), a subset of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain (BAH), the Straight Egyptian (EG) and the Polish bloodline (PL), and (ii) to assess the accuracy of the traditional strain classification system based on maternal lines, as stated by the Bedouin culture. To that end, we collected 211 hair samples from stud farms renowned for breeding Arabian show horses from Nejd KSA, Bahrain, Egypt, Qatar, Morocco, UAE, and Poland. The phylogenetic and network analyses of the whole mitochondrial DNA D-loop sequence highlighted a great genetic diversity among the Arabian horse populations, in which about 75% of variance was assigned to populations and 25% to strains. The discriminant analysis of principal components illustrated a relative distinction between those populations. A clear subdivision between traditional strains was found in PL, in contrast to the situation of DB and EG populations. However, several Polish horse individuals could not be traced back to the Bedouin tribes by historical documentation and were shown to differ genetically from other studied Bedouin strains, hence motivating extended investigations.
Nasofacial Morphometry of Ekpeye Tribe in Rivers State, Nigeria

Background: Nasofacial Anthropometry is concerned with the measurements of the proportions, size and shape of the human nose and face [1]. This study was aimed at investigating the nasofacial dimensions in Ekpeye tribe in Rivers state. Methods: Nasofacial parameters of 362 adults were measured using vernier calliper. The nasal length was measured as the distance between the nasion and the nasopinale; nasal width was measured as the distance between ala to ala. The morphological facial length was measured as the distance from the nasion to gnathion and morphological facial width was measured as the distance between right and left zygomatic arches. Results: Data obtained was analyzed using SPSS version 26.0 and Microsoft Excel 2013. The mean nasal index for the males was 95.03±17.31 while females presented with 91.04±10.39, this is statistically significant. The mean facial index for the males was 101.72±59.52 while females presented with 93.18±12.65. Conclusion: In this study, it was observed that the Ekpeye people have platyrrhine type of nose and Hyperleptoprosopic category of face. Hence the data in this study has provided anthropometric data for the Ekpeye people, which will be beneficial in forensic science and nasofacial reconstructive surgeries.
Band Engineering of Magnetic (Ga,Mn)As Semiconductors by Phosphorus Doping

The impact of P and Mn incorporation into GaAs layers on their electronic and band structures as well as magnetic and structural properties has been studied. A set of the homogenous (Ga,Mn)(P,As) layers with 8% of Mn and 0%–27% of P contents of high structural perfection have been grown by low-temperature molecular-beam epitaxy (LT-MBE). Embedding P ions into the GaAs crystal lattice leads to an increase in the bandgap, while Mn impurities lead to its decrease. A significant impact of Mn interstitial impurities on the structural and magnetic properties of the films was observed. We observe an enhancement of charge density in the presence of Mn. Higher energy interband transitions involving energy band structure that includes the split-off valence band and the L-point bands remained nearly unchanged.