Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Role of Arabidopsis Class-II TGA Transcription Factors in PAMP-mediated Defense Responses

The redundant class-II TGA transcription factors TGA2, TGA5 and TGA6 are important activators of SA-induced defense response. In this thesis, the influence of class-II TGA factors in PAMP-induced early defense reactions was investigated using the tga2, tga5, tga6 mutant. This mutant shows hyper-induced responses to flg22 peptide as revealed by enhanced root growth inhibition, hyper-induced expression of early defense genes including WRKY transcription factors and increased callose deposition. Hyperinduction of flg22-induced root growth inhibition still occurs in the tga2,5,6/sid2-2. Thus, TGA factors dampen PAMP -triggered immune responses in an SA-independent manner. After flg22 pretreatment, the tga2, tga5, tga6/sid2-2 mutant is more resistant to the hemibiotrophic bacterial pathogen Pseudomonas syringae than the sid2-2 single mutant which is deficient in flg22-induced SA synthesis. However, tga2, tga5, tga6 mutants showed higher susceptibility than the wild type, suggesting an SA-dependent positive function and an SA-independent negative function of class-II TGA factors in defense responses. Inhibition of flg22-induced stomatal closure, a process that is dependent on SA, by the jasmonic acid-isoleucine (JA-Ile) mimic coronatine (COR) depends on the presence of class-II TGA factors, illustrating a role of TGA factors in coronatine-mediated processes. Likewise, wound-induced callose deposition depends on the presence of class-II TGA factors, substantiating their role in JA-induced processes. In contrast, SA-independent flg22-induced FRK1 expression is antagonized by COR in a TGA-independent manner.
Role of Transforming Growth Factor-β in Transdifferentiation and Fibrosis of Lens Epithelial Cells

PURPOSE. To determine the levels of mRNAs encoding markers of fibrosis in lens epithelial cells (LECs) from patients with anterior polar cataracts and to test whether transforming growth factor (TGF)-β enhances the expression of mRNAs for mesenchymal markers in LECs. METHODS. LECs attached to the anterior capsules of patients with nuclear or anterior polar cataracts were analyzed by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) for the expression of mRNAs encoding pathologic extracellular matrix proteins, a marker of myofibroblast transformation, growth factors, and growth factor receptors, and by western blot analysis for the proteins encoded by these mRNAs. Bovine lens epithelial explants and intact rabbit lenses cultured with or without TGF-β1 were also subjected to RT-PCR and western blot analysis. RESULTS. The levels of fibronectin, type I collagen, and α-smooth muscle actin (SMA) mRNAs were higher in LECs from patients with anterior polar cataracts than in those from patients with nuclear cataracts. Expression of mRNAs for TGF-β1, TGF-β2, TGF-β receptor type II, and connective tissue growth factor (CTGF) was significantly greater in anterior polar type than in nuclear type cataracts. In contrast, expression of mRNAs for epidermal growth factor (EGF), epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), fibroblast growth factor (FGF)-2, and FGF receptor-1 was similar in LECs from the two types of cataracts. TGF-β1 markedly increased the levels of fibronectin, type I collagen, and α-SMA mRNA in bovine lens epithelial explants and intact rabbit lenses. CONCLUSIONS. This is the first finding showing altered mRNA expression in LECs from anterior polar cataracts. Enhanced expression of TGF-β and the TGF-β receptor suggests that TGF-β derived from LECs may function in an autocrine fashion as the prime mediator of transdifferentiation and pathogenesis in human LECs. Elevated levels of CTGF mRNA suggest that this growth factor may play a role in the increased deposition of extracellular matrix in metaplastic LECs.
News Sentiment, Credit Spreads, and Information Asymmetry

This paper examines how the sentiment of firm-specific news affects CDS spreads conditional on the degree of information asymmetry. Using a large set of news releases, we document a strong negative relationship between the sentiment of firm-specific news and CDS spreads. More importantly, consistent with the role of public news in reducing information asymmetry, we find evidence that the relation between news sentiment and CDS spreads is stronger for firms with higher information asymmetry. Furthermore, the relation is stronger for news with negative sentiment and during the 2008 financial crisis. Our results are robust to alternative sentiment measures.
SCREENING OF GRAPE GERMPlASM AGAINST ANTHRACNOSE (SPHACELOMA AMPELINUMDE BARY.)

Investigations were carried out during 1994 and 1995. Forty eight gepotypes were tested for field reaction against anthracnose and categorised into resistant, moderately resistant and susceptible. Out of 48 genotypes H-144 (Cheema Sahebi x Catwaba) (per cent disease index of 4.23), Vitis parviflora (7.49) and its hybrids were resistant while Banqui-Abyad x Beauty Seed1ess 74–10 (75.81) was the most susceptible in both the years indicating the utility of the former as source of resistance. The per cent disease index showed high heritability. There was high correlation of disease index on leaf and canes (0.974) showing that the same set of genes control disease resistance which express either on leaves or on canes.
Food perception and food liking with age

The elderly population is rapidly growing worldwide. In sensory and nutrition research, age-associated losses in sensory function are believed to change the perception of food, to decrease food liking and consequently to decrease food intake of the elderly, although data in support of this line of assumptions are currently scarce. Consequently, there is a growing need to understand more about age related changes both in food perception and food liking. Therefore, the present thesis describes research on food perception, food liking and sensory acuity with increasing age. The results demonstrate that the elderly indeed perceive foods differently compared to the young, mainly as less intense in flavour and in creaminess/fattiness. However, their food liking is not reduced, despite these age-related changes in perception. It is concluded that decreased sensory acuity, although causing losses in perception of the elderly, is obviously not causing a reduced food liking and thus may not be the predominant reason for a diminished food intake.
Benefit Distribution of Community-Based Infrastructure: Agricultural Roads in Indonesia

Infrastructure development is believed to provide economic benefits, but the distribution of these benefits is still a subject of discussion. Previous studies generally discussed the distribution of benefits of large-scale and top-down infrastructure. In contrast, this paper aims to explore the existence and distribution of the benefits of community-based infrastructure development. This study uses a case study approach with quantitative and qualitative methods. The study reveals that agricultural roads provide time saving and cost reduction. However, the benefits obtained by farmers vary depending on the location of agricultural land in relation to the road. Although the distribution of benefits differs, farmers do not perceive this as an injustice since the route of the road is determined by the farmer group. Moreover, the greater benefits received have to be compensated by certain amounts of contributions by each farmer in terms of land release. This study also reveals that the physical-environmental conditions of the road contribute to the variation of benefits. The results of this study provide an insight into the benefit distribution from small-scale and community-based infrastructure. Such community-based infrastructure development has been proven to be effective as a model for investing in local infrastructure development.
Probiotics : the scientific basis

History and development of probiotics bacterial interactions in the gut metabolic interactions in the gut translocation and the indigenous gut flora gut flora and disease resistance factors affecting the microecology of the gut probiotics and the immune state genetic manipulation of gut micro-organisms selection of strains for probiotic use probiotics for chickens probiotics for pigs probiotics for ruminants probiotics for humans problems and prospects.
Influence of surface footing loading on soil arching above multiple buried structures in transparent sand

Constructing a new buried structure nearby an existing one or constructing multiple buried structures in close proximity may change overburden stresses, induce ground movement, and affect soil–structure interaction. Such issues become more complex when these nearby buried structures are subjected to surface cyclic footing loading. Cyclic loading is expected to have different influences on the buried structures from static loading. This paper presents two-dimensional trapdoor tests with transparent soil to investigate the influences of static versus cyclic surface loading, number of trapdoors, overburden soil height, and load frequency on soil arching above single or multiple adjacent buried structures. The particle image velocimetry technique was adopted to monitor soil movements during testing. The test results showed that soil arching degraded more under cyclic loading than under static loading. The interaction of buried structures, the thin overburden soil, and the high load frequency accelerated soil arching degradation and induced larger ground surface displacement.
Gender Equality and Women Business of Framework 5Ms in Kazakhstan: Analysis and Basic Directions

This study aims to analyze of existing concepts of female entrepreneurship, evaluation of women‟s entrepreneurship in Kazakhstan and development of recommendations for its development in the country. This paper begins by reviewing research on female entrepreneurship. In this research, authors proposed the methodological tools based on systematic approach using economic and statistic methods and 5Ms concept. Analysis algorithm consists of four stages: evaluation of women entrepreneurship scale and business directions, analysis of employment in women's enterprises and business environment in Kazakhstan. The main limitation of this study was the lack of some gender-related indicators on the development of entrepreneurship. Further, the obtained results showed strong and weak points of female entrepreneurship in Kazakhstan. According to the results, there has observed increase in contribution of women in social-economic development of the republic, women's entrepreneurial activity is increasing, and the number of enterprises headed by them is growing. However, the growth of female entrepreneurship occurs while maintaining their insignificance in terms of turnover and number of employees. There is a pronounced industry specificity of female entrepreneurship: the service sector. In accordance with this, there were identified priority areas and there were developed recommendations for the development of female entrepreneurship in Kazakhstan.
Sexual size dimorphism and the relationship between timing of breeding and size-assortative mating in a monogamous, marsh-nesting bird

Question: Can the process of mutual mate choice be inferred from patterns of size-assortative pairing? Hypothesis: Mutual mate choice should result in a strong pattern of assortative mating early in the breeding season, with assortative pairing becoming weaker as the season progresses. Organism: Black tern (Chlidonias niger), a semi-colonial, monogamous, marsh-nesting bird with substantial male parental care. Study sites and dates: Wetland breeding sites throughout Wisconsin (USA) from 2000 to 2009. Methods: Mated pairs (n = 277) of adults were captured and measured during incubation. I compared measures of body size between males and females to test for within-pair sexual size dimorphism. I used canonical correlation to test for size-assortative mating, with the sample divided into early (≤ 1 June) and late (≥ 2 June) breeding pairs. Results: Males were larger than females (1–5%) for all measures of body size. Evidence for size-assortative mating was found in mated pairs, but only among late breeders. Hatching success did not depend on timing of breeding, total clutch mass or degree of size-assortative pairing. Conclusions: Early breeding is not an expression of individual or pair quality. Black terns may exhibit mutual mate choice, but body size does not appear to be an important criterion for it. The pattern of size-assortative mating among late breeders only is difficult to reconcile with existing theoretical models.
Long‐term effects of warming and nutrients on microbes and other plankton in mesocosms

Summary 1. We followed microbial and other planktonic communities during a 4-month period (February–May) in 12 outdoor flow-through mesocosms designed to elucidate the effect of global warming and nutrient enrichment. The mesocosms were established in 2003. 2. Warming had a smaller effect than nutrients on the biomass of the microbial and planktonic communities, and warming and nutrients together exhibited complex interactions. 3. We did not find direct effects of warming on the biomass of bacterioplankton or ciliates; however, warming significantly added to the positive effect of nutrients on these organisms and on heterotrophic nanoflagellates (HNF). No warming effects on any of the other planktonic groups analysed were detected. 4. The zooplankton: phytoplankton biomass ratio was lowest, and the HNF: bacteria and rotifer: bacteria biomass ratios highest in the heated, nutrient-rich mesocosms. We attribute this to higher fish predation on large-bodied zooplankton, releasing the predation on HNF and competition for rotifers. 5. The proportion of phytoplankton to the total plankton biomass increased with nutrients, but decreased with warming. The opposite pattern was observed for the proportion of phytoplankton to the total microbial biomass. 6. As climate warming may lead to eutrophication, major changes may occur in the pelagic food web and the microbial community due to changes in trophic state and in combination with warming.
Efficacy of the Metropolis Algorithm for the Minimum-Weight Codeword Problem Using Codeword and Generator Search Spaces

This article studies the efficacy of the Metropolis algorithm for the <italic>minimum-weight codeword problem</italic>. The input is a linear code <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$C$ </tex-math></inline-formula> given by its generator matrix and our task is to compute a nonzero codeword in the code <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$C$ </tex-math></inline-formula> of least weight. In particular, we study the Metropolis algorithm on two possible search spaces for the problem: 1) the <italic>codeword space</italic> and 2) the <italic>generator space</italic>. The former is the space of all codewords of the input code and is the most natural one to use and hence has been used in previous work on this problem. The latter is the space of all generator matrices of the input code and is studied for the first time in this article. In this article, we show that for an appropriately chosen temperature parameter the Metropolis algorithm mixes rapidly when either of the search spaces mentioned above are used. Experimentally, we demonstrate that the Metropolis algorithm performs favorably when compared to previous attempts. When using the generator space, the Metropolis algorithm is able to outperform the previous algorithms in most of the cases. We have also provided both theoretical and experimental justification to show why the generator space is a worthwhile search space to use for this problem.
Porphyromonas gingivalis W83 traffics via ICAM1 in microvascular endothelial cells and alters capillary organization in vivo

ABSTRACT Objective: Microvascular dysfunction is a feature of periodontal disease. P. gingivalis, one of the most common oral bacteria present in gingival tissue biofilms, has also been identified in the gingival capillaries of patients with chronic periodontitis. We sought to determine the effect of P. gingivalis W83 infection on microvascular endothelium in vivo and in vitro. Methods and Results: Interdental papillae of rats with P. gingivalis-induced alveolar bone loss had a more dilated and denser subepithelial capillary network than uninfected controls. P. gingivalis W83 was detected in the epithelial layers, the subepithelial connective tissue matrix, and subgingival capillaries. P. gingivalis invaded human dermal microvascular endothelial cells (HD-MVECS) and persisted up termination (24 h). Colocalization analysis at 2.5, 6, and 24 h post-inoculation showed that 79–88% of internalized bacteria were in ICAM-1 positive endosomes, and 10–39% were in Rab5, Rab7, or LAMP1 positive compartments, but never in autophagosomes. Antibody-based blockade of ICAM-1 significantly reduced W83 invasion in HD-MVECS. P. gingivalis infected HD-MVECS were unable to form vascular networks in Matrigel. Conclusions: P. gingivalis perturbs microvascular endothelial function and invasion of these cells via ICAM-1 may be important for microbial persistence within tissues.
ELIMINATION OF Cucumber Mozaic Virus (CMV) FROM A RANGE OF CHRYSANTHEMUM CULTIVARS THROUGH MERISTEM CULTURE FOLLOWING HEAT TREATMENT

Cucumber Mosaic Virus (CMV) is one of pathogenic viruses that commonly found and has caused significant losses in many chrysanthemum growers in Indonesia. Efforts have been made to get healthy plant source through eliminating virus from infected plants and one of the promising methods was the combination of thermotherapy and meristem culture. The research was conducted to find out the effect of meristem culture following heat treatments on the existence of CMV in infected chrysanthemum plantlets. The experiment was carried out in the laboratory of tissue culture and virology at The Indonesian Ornamental Crops Research Institute (IOCRI) from August 2007 until June 2008. A complete factorial with ten replications was designed to accomplish the combination of two factors. The first factor was three chrysanthemum cultivars, namely Stroika, Dewi Sartika and White Fiji, while the second dealt with the durations of heat treatment i.e. one, two and three weeks. The results showed that plantlet survival decreased, yet improved plantlet performance by faster bud initiation with lengthened heat duration. The percentage of virus-free planlets also increased along with the duration of treatment and three weeks heat treatment followed by meristem culture effectively eliminated CMV from infected planlets.
DNA mismatch repair and the cellular response to UVC radiation

In this thesis the role of DNA mismatch repair (MMR) in the cellular response to several genotoxic agents is described. We show that MMR plays an important role in the protection against UVC-induced mutagenesis in mouse embryonic stem (ES) cells. UVC was shown to induce six times more mutations in mouse ES cells deficient for the mismatch recognition dimer MutSalpha compared to wild type cells. The Hprt mutational spectrum of UVC-induced mutations was similar in MutSalpha-proficient and MutSalpha-deficient mouse ES cells. We subsequently tried to gain insight into the mechanism by which MMR mediates protection against UVC-induced mutagenesis. We found that UVC induces a late S/G2-phase arrest which partially depends on the presence of MutSalpha. The MutSalpha-dependent late S/G2-phase arrest coincided with the appearance of phosphorylated Chk-1 of which the levels were higher in MutSalpha-proficient cells compared to MutSalpha-deficient cells. Importantly, abolishment of the UVC-induced late S/G2-phase arrest in both MutSalpha-proficient and MutSalpha-deficient cells did not result in a smaller difference in mutation induction between both genotypes after UVC treatment. We propose that MMR removes mismatches from UVC-induced compound lesions and that the MutSalpha-induced late S/G2-phase arrest is the result of the appearance of DNA single stranded regions arising during this process of MMR.
Land Trusts as Conservation Boundary Organizations in Rapidly Exurbanizing Landscapes: A Case Study from Southern Appalachia

Abstract Exurban development is occurring in many formerly rural areas nationwide, often outpacing the ability of institutions to update land use regulations. These pressures can negatively impact local ecosystems and natural resources, including reduced biodiversity and degraded water quality. Local nongovernmental organizations play an important role in promoting conservation in exurban landscapes, where there is relatively little regulatory and institutional infrastructure. Here, we draw on boundary organization theory to discuss how land trusts can function as boundary organizations, by using boundary objects and working as a bridge between community members, scientists, and governments to navigate complex conservation challenges. Mainspring Conservation Trust in southern Appalachia serves as a case study to explore methods for engaging and connecting diverse stakeholders. We show that land trusts can provide a flexible and necessary alternative to regulations for meeting conservation objectives by working at the boundary between science and local action.
Coastal Students' Tense on Grammar Tense(s): A Rasch Model Analysis

Coastal students' tense on grammar really affects their grammar mastery. Mostly the factors of the tense are neither from their relationship, environment, nor personal matters. It is from their perception on grammar itself. The purposes of this study are (1) to identify the stressors; (2) to describe the impacts of the stressors on grammar ability. The method used was descriptive quantitative. The setting of the research was in one of the universities in Tanjungpinang, Riau Archipelago, Indonesia. The population of this research was the second semester students comprising 78 students in the academic year of 2018/2019. Questionnaire and grammar test were used to collect the data, and it was analyzed by using Rasch Model. This study revealed (1) from the 30 items of the questionnaire about the students' tense in academic and non-academic factors, only two items were the dominant stressors i.e. having grammar difficulties and facing grammar examinations and they were from the academic factors; (2) Those whose stress was high on grammar difficulties i.e. 29 (37.18%) students showed bad performance at grammar tenses but interestingly those whose stress was high on grammar difficulties i.e 17 (21.79%) students also had good performance at grammar tenses. There were 1 (1.28%) and 15 (19.23%) students who claimed that the grammar difficulties never and rarely stressed her or him but s/he went bad performance at grammar tenses. In fact, those whose claimed that the grammar difficulties rarely made them stressed had good performance at grammar tenses i.e. 16 (20.51%) students. Then, those whose stress was high on facing grammar examination i.e. 32 (41.03%) students had bad ability at grammar tenses. In contrary, those whose stress is high on facing grammar examination i.e. 17 (21.79%) students had also good performance at grammar tenses. The other students claimed that facing grammar examination rarely stressed her or him i.e. 1 (1.28%) got bad performance at grammar tenses; the other 2 (2.56%) students made good performance at grammar tenses. Facing grammar examination, 12 (15.38%) students who never stressed showed bad performance at grammar tenses and the other 14 (17.95%) students went good performance at grammar tenses. Therefore, students' tense on grammar tense(s) is the matter of perception which should be changed for better grammar mastery.