Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Attentional bias toward fearful faces is associated with maternal postnatal distress and alterations in white matter microstructure in 5-year-old females

The development of face processing system is paramount for social interaction and communication skills. Eye-tracking provides a viable means to investigate face processing even in very young children and can be used to derive indices of affective processing biases that are adaptive in supporting preparedness for emotional encoding. The neural correlates of early-emerging attentional biases have not been explored. In the current study, we gathered diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and eye-tracking data (attention disengagement from neutral, happy, fearful faces, and control pictures towards distractor stimuli) to investigate the association of white matter (WM) microstructural alterations and attentional biases in 117 (55 female) typically developing 5-year-old children. We estimated fractional anisotropy (FA) and used tract-based spatial statistics (TBSS) before conducting voxel-wise analyses testing associations between attentional biases and brain diffusivity. We found that reduced WM integrity (indexed as decrease in FA) in widespread WM regions, including the splenium of corpus callosum, left anterior limb of internal capsule (ALIC), left posterior limb of internal capsule (PLIC), left posterior thalamic radiation and optic tract, predicted higher attentional bias toward fearful expressions in females (adjusted for potential confounders). Further, maternal postnatal anxiety and depressive symptoms were detected to associate positively with attentional bias toward fearful expression, but only in females. Based on these findings and prior results on association between maternal distress and reduced WM integrity in female offspring, it is possible that alterations in WM microstructure may transmit the long-term effects of maternal mental distress during early life to increased vigilance towards negative emotional expressions. These hypotheses and sexual dimorphism in the observed associations require replication and are potential focus areas for future studies.
Reinstatement of RIG-I in chickens via genetic modification reveals new insights into the dynamic evolution of avian immune sensors

Retinoic acid-inducible gene I (RIG-I) activates mitochondrial antiviral signaling proteins, initiating the antiviral response. RIG-I and RNF135, a ubiquitin ligase regulator, are missing in domestic chickens but conserved in mallard ducks. It was long believed that chickens’ RIG-I loss was linked to increased avian influenza susceptibility. We reinstated both genes in chickens and examined their susceptibility to the avian influenza virus H7N1. Uninfected RIG-I-expressing chickens exhibited shifts in T and B cells, while the H7N1 infection led to severe disease, persistent weight loss, and increased viral replication. Conversely, the co-expression of RIG-I and RNF135 reduced the viral replication and was associated with high inflammatory response. Our data indicate that the loss of RIG-I in chickens likely evolved to counteract deleterious inflammation caused by viral infection. We highlight the effects of restoring evolutionary lost genes in birds and suggest a new immunological approach to reduce viral replication and prevent infection. Graphical abstract
Synanthropic Culicidae (Diptera) in three fragments of Atlantic Forest in northern Parana, Brazil

Synanthropic Culicidae were sampled using natural and artificial traps in three forest fragments (Daher Wood, Botanical Garden, and Mata dos Godoy State Park) in Londrina, Paraná, Brazil. To collect Culicidae, six traps were distributed in two separate transects of 70 m each, parallel, with a distance between them of 30 m. Three traps were natural (bamboo) and the other three were artificial (tires). In total, we collected 15,048 specimens distributed in eight species. The peri-urban fragments showed the highest richness. Tires were preferred as breeding sites. The seasons of highest and lowest sampling were summer and winter. The Daher Wood and Botanical Garden showed high similarity, and the Godoy Wood, an intact environment, showed the greatest dominance. The mosquitoes demonstrated varying degrees of synanthropy. Correlations were positive between temperature (0.53) and precipitation (0.40) with Culicid abundance. The Principal Component Analysis indicated that tires were most influenced by temperature, relative humidity, and bamboos by Total Dissolved Solids. Four of the collected species showed potential to be vectors of etiological agents. Abiotic factors directly influence the biology of mosquitoes, which is reflected in higher diversity in warmer and rainy periods. Urban and peri-urban areas showed more synanthropic mosquitoes due to their preference for modified sites. Vector species in these areas are of concern because they can modify disease cycles, and for this reason, it is essential to monitor these areas.
Virological characteristics of the SARS-CoV-2 BA.2.86 variant

In late 2023, a lineage of SARS-CoV-2 emerged and was named the BA.2. 86 variant. BA.2. 86 is phylogenetically distinct from other Omicron sublineages identified so far, displaying an accumulation of over 30 amino acid mutations in its spike protein. Here, we performed multiscale investigations to reveal the virological characteristics of the BA.2. 86 variant. Our epidemic dynamics modeling suggested that the relative reproduction number of BA.2. 86 is significantly higher than that of EG.5. 1. Experimental studies showed that four clinically-available antivirals were effective against BA.2. 86. Although the fusogenicity of BA.2. 86 spike is similar to that of the parental BA.2 spike, the intrinsic pathogenicity of BA.2. 86 in hamsters was significantly lower than that of BA.2. Since the growth kinetics of BA.2. 86 is significantly lower than that of BA.2 in both in vitro cell cultures and in vivo, it is suggested that the attenuated pathogenicity of BA.2. 86 is due to its decreased replication capacity.
Ggnbp2 regulates synaptic development and autophagy in motor neurons

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified numerous candidate ALS risk variants, but their cellular functions are often unknown. Recent studies have identified a variant of GGNBP2 that results in increased expression. To better understand how this gene might contribute to disease, we investigated the function of Drosophila Ggnbp2 (dGgnbp2) in motor neurons. Loss of function studies showed that dGgnbp2 is required for motor neuron synaptic development. A human transgene completely rescued these phenotypes indicating that the gene is functionally conserved between humans and flies. Overexpression of dGgnbp2 caused severe locomotor defects in adult flies, consistent with ALS pathology. At the cellular level, dGgnbp2 regulated autophagy, a process commonly defective in ALS. Both overexpression and removal of dGgnbp2 reduced levels of the phosphorylated lipid, PI(3)P, an essential component of autophagosomes. Our study provides strong evidence that Ggnbp2 functions in motor neurons to regulate a cellular process commonly defective in ALS. Teaser This study investigated the function of the ALS risk variant GGNBP2, in flies, and showed that it regulates autophagy in motor neurons.
Association cortical areas in the mouse contain a large population of fast-spiking GABAergic neurons that do not express parvalbumin

GABAergic neurons represent 10-15% of the neuronal population of the cortex but exert a powerful control over information flow in cortical circuits. The largest GABAergic class in the neocortex is represented by the parvalbumin-expressing (PV-INs) fast-spiking neurons, which provide powerful somatic inhibition to their postsynaptic targets. Recently, the density of PV-INs has been shown to be lower in associative areas of the mouse cortex as compared to sensory and motor areas. Modeling work based on these quantifications linked the low-density of PV-INs with specific computations of associative cortices. However, it is still unknown whether the total GABAergic population of association cortices is smaller or whether another GABAergic type can compensate for the low density of PV-INs. In the present study we investigated these hypotheses using a combination of neuroanatomy, mouse genetics and neurophysiology. We found that the GABAergic population of association areas is comparable to that of primary sensory areas, and it is enriched of fast-spiking neurons that do not express PV and were not accounted for by previous quantifications. We developed an intersectional viral strategy to demonstrate that the synaptic output of fast-spiking neurons is comparable across cortical regions. Our results provide quantifications of the density and output strength of fast-spiking GABAergic neurons and offers new biological constrains to refine current models of cortical computations.
Secure federated Boolean count queries using fully-homomorphic cryptography

Biomedical data is often distributed between a network of custodians, causing challenges for researchers wishing to securely compute aggregate statistics on those data without centralizing everything—the prototypical ‘count query’ asks how many patients match some multifaceted set of conditions across a network of hospitals. Difficulty arises from two sources: (1) the need to deduplicate patients who may be present in the records of multiple hospitals and (2) the need to unify partial records for the same patient which may be split across hospitals. Although cryptographic tools for secure computation promise to enable collaborative studies with formal privacy guarantees, existing approaches either are computationally impractical or support only simplified analysis pipelines. To the best of our knowledge, no existing practical secure method addresses both of these difficulties simultaneously. Here, we introduce secure federated Boolean count queries using a novel 2-stage probabilistic sketching and sampling protocol that can be efficiently implemented in off-the-shelf federated homomorphic encryption libraries (Palisade and Lattigo), provably ensuring data security. To this end, we needed several key technological innovations, including re-encoding the LogLog union-cardinality sketch and designing an appropriate sampling for intersection cardinalities. Our benchmarking shows that we can answer federated Boolean count queries in less than 2 CPU-minutes with absolute errors in the range of 6% of the total number of touched records, while revealing only the final answer and the total number of touched records. With modern core-parallelism, we can thus answer queries on the order of seconds. Our study demonstrates that by computing on compressed and encrypted data, it is possible to securely answer federated Boolean count queries in real-time.
Bifurcation of the Subtropical South Equatorial Current against New Caledonia in December 2004 from a Hydrographic Inverse Box Model

The South Equatorial Current (SEC), the westward branch of the South Pacific subtropical gyre, extends from the equator to 30°S at depth. Linear ocean dynamics predict that the SEC forms boundary currents on the eastern coasts of the South Pacific islands it encounters. Those currents would then detach at the northern and southern tips of the islands, and cross the Coral Sea in the form of jets. The Fiji Islands, the Vanuatu archipelago, and New Caledonia are the major topographic obstacles on the SEC pathway to the Australian coast. Large-scale numerical studies, as well as climatologies, suggest the formation of three jets in their lee: the north Vanuatu jet (NVJ), the north Caledonian jet (NCJ), and the south Caledonian jet (SCJ), implying a bifurcation against the east coast of each island. The flow observed during the SECALIS-2 cruise in December 2004 between Vanuatu and New Caledonia is presented herein. An inverse box model is used to provide quantitative transport estimates with uncertainties and to infer the pathways and boundary current formation. For that particular month, the 0–2000-m SEC inflow was found to be 20 4S v (1 Sv 10 6 m 3 s 1 ) between Vanuatu and New Caledonia. Of that, 6 2 Sv bifurcated to the south in a boundary current against the New Caledonia coast (the Vauban Current), and the remainder exited north of New Caledonia, feeding the NCJ. The flow is comparable both above and below the thermocline, while complex topography, associated with oceanic eddy generation, introduces several recirculation features. To the north, the NCJ, which extends down to 1500 m, was fed not only by the SEC inflow, but also by waters coming from the north, which have possibly been recirculated. To the south, a westward current rounds the tip of New Caledonia. A numerical simulation suggests a partial continuity with the deep extension of the Vauban Current (this current would then be the SCJ) while the hydrographic sections are too distant to confirm such continuity.
Meteorologically-induced circulation on the northwest european continental-shelf - from a 3-dimensional numerical-model

A three-dimensional hydrodynamic numerical model is used to compute the annual and seasonal meteorologically induced residual circulation on the North West European continental shelf. Meteorologically induced currents are subsequently used to compute turn-over times for various regions of the North Sea. Sorne of these times are found to be shorter than the three month period over which the meteorological data has been averaged. The usefulness of the concept of a turn-over time in North Sea pollution studies is questioned. It is suggested that wind events on time scales of the order ofafew days could be particularly important in determining the rate at which a pollutant is dispersed, particularly a pollutant which resides near the sea surface. ·
JOURNAL OF BOTANY Aquatic plant communities in the catchment area of the Ipeľ river in Slovakia and Hungary. Part I. Classes Lemnetea and Charetea fragilis

The author reports on the results of the studies on aquatic plant communities of the classes Lemnetea and Charetea fragilis in the catchment area of Ipeľ river in Slovakia and Hungary. In 1993-2000, thirteen aquatic plant communities were identified in this region. Only the occurrence of Hydrocharitetum morsus-ranae, which had been mentioned in the related literature, was not confirmed. The basic synecological, synmorphological and syn- chorological characteristics are presented for each of the plant communities identified in the studied region. The notes of their occurrence in Slovakia and Hungary are mentioned as well.
Equatorially Trapped Rossby-gravity Wave Propagation in the Gulf of Guinea

Equatorially trapped vertically propagating Rossby-gravity waves have been observed in the Gulf of Guinea. Analyses of their kinematics, dynamics, and energetics are presented. The particular packet considered had band central values for period, zonal wavelength, and vertical wavelength of 31 days, 1220 km, and 990 m respectively. The phase propagation was westward and upward while the energy flux was eastward and downward. The calculated trapping (efolding) scale was 210 km. Therefore, the waves were unaffected by the zonal African coast situated some 500 km to the north. The waves were linear, energetic, and persistent showing that the equator is a waveguide for planetary scale oscillations.
Moment magnitude – local magnitude relationship for the earthquakes of the Shillong-Mikir plateau, Northeastern India Region: a new perspective

An attempt has been made to examine the empirical relationship between moment magnitude (M W) and local magnitude (M L) of earthquakes recorded in the Shillong-Mikir Plateau of Northeastern India. Moment tensor solutions of 106 earthquakes recorded during the period 1976–2009 are used. The focal mechanism solutions of these earthquakes include 1 Harvard-CMT solution (M W ≥ 4.0), 54 solutions from different publications and 51 solutions obtained for the local earthquakes (2.0 ≤ M L ≤ 5.0) recorded by a 20-station permanent broadband network during 2001–2009 in the region. The moment tensor solutions of these local earthquakes are obtained by the discrete wave number method. The M W –M L relationship in the region is determined by generalized orthogonal regression analysis, which is found to be M W = M L (1.00 ± 0.02) + (0.02 ± −0.05). It is observed that, on average, M W is equivalent to M L with an uncertainty of about (0.02 ± −0.05) magnitude units for earthquakes of the Shillong-Mikir Plateau. Conversion of M L to M W is recommended for seismic hazard analysis and tectonic studies in the region.
Fish, Farmers, and Floods: Coordinating Institutions to Optimize the Provision of Ecosystem Services

This paper investigates the role of coordinating institutions on the returns to ecosystem services in the context of fisheries and habitat management. It examines the trade-offs between the production of crops and habitat for juvenile salmon in relation to flood events on a California floodplain. A bioeconomic model of the floodplain agriculture, salmon population, and California ocean fishery is developed to estimate the farmers’ and fishers’ economic surpluses. The results reveal large total surpluses gains for producers from coordinating the institutions to jointly manage the freshwater and marine ecosystems. The gains from improving habitat management exceed those from optimally setting the harvest. These findings provide important insights for fisheries management where efforts have traditionally focused on improving harvest levels.
THREE－DIMENSIONAL NUMERICAL MODELLING OF TIDAL WAVES IN THE BOHAI, YELLOW AND EAST CHINA SEAS

Sevetal pieces of artjcle were reported on the numrical simulation in the Bohai,Yellow and East China Seas. The models simplified to different extent produced results satisfyingwith the data to different extent. The author believed that a numerical simulation with a modelincluded all dynamics items and in a fine net could bring a result beder. Many Problems concemedwith tidal movement were not resolved for want of a sufficiently precise knowledge about tidalmovement.In application of the three－dimensional POM model, the tidal movement in the Bohai,Yellowand East China Seas were numerically simulated. The obnined tidal conshtuent constants werecompared with the data observated from seventy－seven tidal stations, which gave the mean ofabsolute error: 1.92cm for the amplitude of conshtuent m1 and 4.39° for its Phase; 4.70cm for theamplitude of constituent M2 and 5.08°for its phase. It was also shown tha there were eight tidalcurrent non－phase ponints for M2 and nine for m1 altogether. Among these tidal curent non－phasePoints, one of M2, which located at the Zhejiang outer sea and near the Zhoushan island, and twoof m1, which located north to Yellow Sea and in the Taiwan stalt respechvely, were firsUy foundby this numerical work, with the rest acknowledged by other researehers. The distribuhon ofturbulent eddy coefficient was also given and its relationship with the topography and the waterdepth was discussed, as well as. The rough result firsuy obtrined here show: 1) the horizontalturblent eddy coefficient doesn' t vare notablly in venical direchon but apparently in horizontaldirection and the topography is another key factor influencing its distribution;2) the vertical turbulenteddy coefficient is bigger and bigger from the surface toward the bottom or from the shollow Placeto the deep.
RECENT RESEARCH ON DIRECTIONALITY OF EARTHQUAKE GROUND MOTIONS

: Earthquake ground motion intensity varies significantly with changes in orientation. Response spectral ordinates in the direction in which the maximum intensity occurs are on average, depending on the period, between 36% and 127% higher than those in the perpendicular direction. However, this directionality has historically been ignored or not properly accounted in ground motion models or in seismic provisions. Recent studies to quantify and model directionality are summarized. First, results from a statistical study of the directionality are presented. The study was based on computed using 5,065 pairs of horizontal ground motions taken from the database of ground motions recorded in crustal earthquakes in active tectonic regions. Using these results, a fully probabilistic model was developed that provides models for the geometric median, variability and probability distribution of two different parameters that describe the directionality of horizontal components of earthquake ground motions. An alternate measure on intensity referred to as MaxRotD50 is then presented and discussed. The new measure of intensity is particularly well suited for earthquake-resistant design where a major concern for geotechnical and structural engineers is the probability that the design ground motion intensity is exceeded in at least one of the two principal horizontal components of the structure. In the final part, a summary of recent investigations of the orientation in which the maximum spectral occurs is presented. It is shown that style of faulting of the earthquake plays an important role in the directionality of ground motions. In particular, for strike-slip earthquakes the maximum ground motion spectral intensity tends to occur close to the transverse direction. This means that for strike-slip earthquakes, current ground motion models tend to underestimate ground motion intensity in the transverse direction and overestimate ground motion intensity in the radial direction .
Australia's world heritage properties

Abstract The planning and management arrangements for Australia's world heritage areas (WHAs) are diverse because while the Common‐wealth government is ultimately responsible for the management of these areas, it shares this responsibility with other levels of government. The aims of this paper are to review the management arrangements for all 15 Australian WHAs, to describe the nature of development pressures on these areas, to explain how development proposals potentially affecting world heritage values are assessed and approved at the Commonwealth government level, and finally to provide an overview of the development assessment and approval process for the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area. These aims are fulfilled by way of a literature review and preliminary empirical investigation, undertaken within a qualitative research framework. There are four styles of WHA management, with varying levels of Commonwealth involvement in day‐to‐day management. Most of Australia's WHAs are subject to existing or potential pressure from tourism development and some are also experiencing other types of development pressure such as mining, fishing, and urban/residential development Development proposals wtih the potential to affect the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area are assessed in accordance with a process outlined in the management plan for the property. Some development proposals may also require assessment under the Commonwealth's Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 and Tasmania's land use planning legislation.
Elimination of Micro-organisms by Drinking Water Treatment Processes: A Review

The overall aim of this book is to present default values for the micro-organisms elimination or inactivation credit of universally used processes in water treatment (MEC or MIC). These MEC or MIC values have been calculated from international literature data which revealed a high variation in capacities or logremoval. The parameters and process control parameters affecting the presented capacities are described. This new edition describes the state-of-the-art progress in research on conventional treatment, coagulation and flocculation, rapid granular filtration, slow sand filtration and UV disinfection. This title belongs to KWR Watercycle Research Institute Series . ISBN: 9781843393733 (Print) ISBN: 9781780401584 (eBook)