Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Lactic Acid Bacteria Isolated from Indigenous Fermented Bamboo Products of Arunachal Pradesh in India and Their Functionality

Ekung, eup and hirring are some common indigenous fermented bamboo products of Northeast India. We have isolated, characterized, and identified the predominant lactic acid bacteria (LAB) from 44 samples of ekung, eup, and hirring and studied their technological properties. The phenotypic characterizations of LAB isolates were based on physiological, biochemical tests and API kits, and were identified as Lactobacillus plantarum, L. brevis, L. casei, L. fermentum, Lactococcus lactis, and Tetragenococcus halophilus. Technological properties of LAB such as acidifying capacity, antimicrobial activities, degradation of phytic acid and oligosaccharides, bile-salt tolerance, enzymatic activities, biogenic amines production, and degree of hydrophobicity also were studied. This study showed that strains of LAB played important roles by their functional properties related to acidifying capacity, degradation of antinutritive factors, tolerance to bile-salt, wide enzymatic activities, and nonproducers of biogenic amines. Understanding the biological and biochemical basis of indigenous knowledge of the ethnic people of Northeast India for production of nonperishable bamboo shoots by lactic acid fermentation has merit. It helps to develop both low-cost functional foods, and understand the functionality of microbial diversity. Some of the LAB strains possess functional properties, which render them interesting candidates for use as LAB starter cultures.
A clinical audit of maternal syphilis in a regional hospital in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Background Despite the availability of screening guidelines and effective treatment for maternal syphilis (MS), its prevalence remains high and is re-emerging in many parts of the world. This might be because of varying screening tests and algorithms for the laboratory diagnosis and treatment of syphilis. In addition, HIV co-infection may compromise the elimination of MS. The present study is a clinical audit of the prevalence of MS in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, using the ‘Traditional Algorithm’ screening. Methods This was a retrospective audit in which data on syphilis testing were obtained over a 1-year period (2016) at a large regional hospital in South Africa. The standard screening test at the study site was the non-treponemal antigen, rapid plasma reagin (RPR). Data on the prevalence of MS and comorbidity with HIV infection were analysed. Results There were 10 680 deliveries in the study period of which 118 were RPR reactive, giving an MS prevalence of 1.1%. MS occurred predominantly in the age groups < 18 and > 35 years (p = 0.001). The prevalence of HIV infection was 41.2% (n = 4451). Seventy-two (61.0%) had both HIV and MS infection, whilst 46 (39.0%) had discordant results (p = 0.001). Conclusion We report an increase in the prevalence of MS compared to previous South African National Antenatal Syphilis Surveillance studies. This may be because of the prozone effect caused by HIV infection on the sensitivity of the RPR. We propose a change in MS screening, using a Rapid DUO (Dual HIV and syphilis point of care test) and Reverse Algorithm for screening that could improve the sensitivity, detection and management of both diseases.
Is your document novel? Let attention guide you. An attention-based model for document-level novelty detection

Abstract Detecting, whether a document contains sufficient new information to be deemed as novel, is of immense significance in this age of data duplication. Existing techniques for document-level novelty detection mostly perform at the lexical level and are unable to address the semantic-level redundancy. These techniques usually rely on handcrafted features extracted from the documents in a rule-based or traditional feature-based machine learning setup. Here, we present an effective approach based on neural attention mechanism to detect document-level novelty without any manual feature engineering. We contend that the simple alignment of texts between the source and target document(s) could identify the state of novelty of a target document. Our deep neural architecture elicits inference knowledge from a large-scale natural language inference dataset, which proves crucial to the novelty detection task. Our approach is effective and outperforms the standard baselines and recent work on document-level novelty detection by a margin of $\sim$ 3% in terms of accuracy.
GHG emissions during the storage of rough pig slurry and the fractions obtained by mechanical separation

Emissions of methane (CH4), carbon dioxide (CO2), nitrous oxide (N2O) and ammonia (NH3) during the storage of rough pig slurry and the fractions (solid and liquid) obtained by mechanical separation were investigated in a laboratory-scale study. Manures were stored for a period of 30 days in open vessels (1500 cm3 capacity) within a climate-controlled room which was kept at 25 ± 0.2°C. Gaseous emissions were determined with the dynamic chamber method by infrared photoacoustic detection. The main GHG emission from the liquid manures was CH4. CH4 losses from both liquid and solid fractions together were 3% higher than from the rough slurry. CO2 losses from both liquid and solid fractions together increased by 10% compared with rough pig slurry. Appreciable N2O fluxes were only measured from the solid fraction. Combining the losses during the storage of both liquid and solid fraction, they resulted in reduced NH3 emissions compared with the storage of the rough pig slurry. Evidence from the present study suggests that mechanical separation of pig slurry has the potential to increase up to 25% the emission of CO2-equivalents to the atmosphere during the storage of the separated fractions if compared with the rough slurry.
Starter cultures employed in the manufacture of biofermented milks

The market for fermented milks is expanding as more consumers become interested in the possible health aspects of the product. This paper reviews the types of bacteria that are currently being used in the manufacture of biofermented milks. The requirements of a starter culture in terms of ability to ferment milk to a stable product and to provide the necessary sensory properties for consumer demands are outlined. The paper also discusses and highlights some of the problems encountered in developing milks for the health market using probiotic organisms such as Lactobacillus acidophilus and species of Bifidobacterium.
Genetic variation in the endangered aquatic fern Ceratopteris thalictroides (Parkeriaceae) in China: implications from RAPD and ISSR data

The genetic diversity within and among 13 populations of the endangered aquatic fern Ceratopteris thalictroides from five regions of China was investigated using random amplification of polymorphic DNA (RAPD) and intersimple sequence repeat (ISSR) markers. The percentages of polymorphic bands were 61% for RAPD and 65% for ISSR. The genetic diversity revealed by RAPD and ISSR varied greatly among populations, with the percentages of polymorphic bands ranging from 15% to 39% for RAPD and from 20% to 39% for ISSR. Analysis of molecular variance showed that 36% (RAPD) and 34% (ISSR) of variability was partitioned among populations. The results indicate that C. thalictroides possesses an intermediate level of genetic diversity at the species level and a low level of genetic differentiation among populations. The Mantel test showed no significant correlation between genetic distance and geographical distance (RAPD, r = 0.53; ISSR, r = 0.18) and, similarly, a very poor fit between the two markers (r = 0.24). A number of causes, including inbreeding and clonal growth, may have led to the low genetic diversity within populations. A high gene flow via spore dispersal in an earlier period when C. thalictroides was widely distributed in China is a plausible reason for the low genetic differentiation among populations. Strategies for the conservation of the species in China are discussed. © 2008 The Linnean Society of London, Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 2008, 157, 657–671.
Calculation of Optimal Nitrogen Fertilizer Rates

Agronomists sometimes fail to apply sound economic theory when recommending economically optimal nitrogen fertilizer application rates. Producers' objectives, producers' attitudes toward risk, and the effect of N on second and higher moments of the yield distribution are often left unstated or ignored. If a farmer knew, prior to N application, the future values of all stochastic factors that affect yield response to N during the growing season, optimal N rates could be established for each individual site-year. However, farmers do not have perfect knowledge, so recommended rates should not change from year to year for a given site. We propose a more economically sound method for deriving economically optimal N fertilizer application rate recommendations. Our method maximizes profit on average over observed years for a given site. Long-term field experiments from Illinois demonstrate that our proposed method increases profit from a trivial $0.18 ha-1 yr-1 to a substantial $103.41 ha-1 yr-1, depending on site and cropping sequence. We call for increased collaboration among agronomists and agricultural economists in the economic analysis of fertilizer application.
Inequality in the household and rural–urban migration in Ethiopian farmers

Abstract Abstract Parental investment theory predicts that biases in investment favour migration by driving some of the sibling group to disperse for resources. Here we test hypotheses arising from this theory to explain patterns of rural–urban migration in south-central Ethiopia considering familial and individual strategies. We focus on the migration of low-skilled men, predicting two scenarios based on a low level of resource availability. Firstly, last-born sons will be more likely to migrate in order to offset their intra-household disadvantage when resources are limited (sibling competition). Alternatively, in households facing livelihood insecurity, older sons will migrate in order to free resources for their younger dependant brothers (reflecting sibling cooperation). Demographic, economic and relational data were collected from 217 families of male migrants, including information for 830 male adults. We performed multivariate analyses, including Bayesian generalised linear models and mixed models, to analyse quantitative data with a focus on household and individual likelihood of out-migration. Consistent with the predictions from parental investment theory, migration is dependent on intra-household resource allocation. Depending on the stage of the family cycle and livelihood context, families and individuals present different strategies: labour migration may result from sibling competition or from cooperation for resource enhancement.
Response of a mixed Philippine seagrass meadow to experimental burial

The effect of burial due to sudden sediment loading was examined in a mixed Philippine seagrass meadow through the experimental deployment of sediment (0. 2. 4 , 8, and 16 cm deposited over the experimental plots). The responses in shoot density, vertical growth, and branching of the species present were assessed 2. 4, and 10 mo following disturbance. Shoot density responses were strongly species-specific. The large Enhalus acoroides maintained shoot density at all burial treatments, and only showed evidence of decline by the end of the expenment. Thalassia hempnchiiand, to a lesser extent. Cymodocea rotundata showed a sharp decllne In shoot density even at moderate burial treatments, from which they faded to recover. The accompanying species (Halodule uninervis, Syringodiurn isoetifolium, and Cyrnodocea serrulata) showed an initial decline In shoot density followed by recovery. The small Halophila ovalis showed an opportunistic growth in plots receiving intermediate (buried by 4 and 8 cm sediment) disturbance, reaching shoot densities well in excess of those on control plots. The results suggest a pattern of species loss following disturbance by sediment burial corresponding to the sequence, T hemprichii + (C. rotundata. S. isoetifolium, H uninervis) + C. serrulata + E. acoroides. Vertical growth increased significantly for all species with differentiated vertical shoots, except C, serrulata. The examination of the time course of vertical growth imprinted on the shoots of the dominant species, T hemprichii, revealed a rapid response to bunal through increased internodal length, which was maintained over 8 mo following the disturbance. The resulting cumulative vertical growth along the experiment was linearly correlated with the degree of burial in~posed on the plants. Branching of vertical shoots also increased significantly (73 to 96%, depending on the species) with burial. Experimental burial induced changes in shoot age distribution of some of the species, involving rearrangements, through selective mortality or recruitment, of the contribution of young shoots to the populations. The results obtained show major differences in species response to small-scale disturbance, closely linked to predictions derived from consideration of species growth rate and size, and provide evidence of the importance of small-scale disturbance in the maintenance of multispecific seagrass meadows.
Inter-annual fluctuations in rainfall shift the functional structure of Mediterranean grasslands across gradients of productivity and disturbance

This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Journal of Vegetation Science 26.3 (2015): 538-551, which has been published in final form at http://dx.doi. org/10.1111/jvs.12260. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving.
The use of random amplified polymorphic DNA to evaluate the genetic variability of Ponkan mandarin (Citrus reticulata Blanco) accessions

RAPD analysis of 19 Ponkan mandarin accessions was performed using 25 random primers. Of 112 amplification products selected, only 32 were polymorphic across five accessions. The absence of genetic variability among the other 14 accessions suggested that they were either clonal propagations with different local names, or that they had undetectable genetic variability, such as point mutations which cannot be detected by RAPD.
Phytate and mineral content in different milling fractions of some Pakistani spring wheats

Six Pakistani wheat cultivars, namely C-273, Inqulab-91, Pasban-90, Parwaz-94, Shahkar-95 and Rohtas-90, were included in the present study. The kernel weight of the wheat cultivars varied from 31.43 to 36.76 g (per thousand kernels), Parwaz-94 having the highest and Rohtas-90 having the lowest. The test weight of cultivars ranged from 70.23 (Shakar-95) to 76.13 kg hL 1 (Pasban-90). The bran contained the highest amount of phytic acid (6.12%) in C-273 followed by whole-wheat flour (2.23%) in Inqulab-91, and straight-grade flour (0.24%) in Parwaz-94. The phytate content was reduced during the baking of bread and chapati. The bread scores and other quality characteristics varied significantly among cultivars. The total bread scores ranged from 35.20 to 42.00, out of a possible fifty, with Parwaz-94 being the highest. The concentration of minerals varied widely in different milling fractions of various wheat cultivars. The concentration of Cu, Fe, Mn and Zn ranged from 5.00 to 52.50, 26 to 147.50, 0.00 to 97.00, 9.0 to 80.80 ppm, respectively, in different milling fractions of the wheat cultivars. The total chapati scores ranged from 22.40 to 24.20 of a possible score of 30. The minimum chapati scores were found in Rohtas-90 and Parwaz-94, while Inqulab-91 produced the maximum score. Le ble est un aliment de base au Pakistan et sa production est en augmentation depuis 30 ans. Cette etude evalue 6 nouvelles varietes de ble de printemps pakistanais pour leurs teneurs en phytate et mineraux. Le son contient la teneur la plus importante en acide phytique (6,12%) dans la variete C-273, suivie par la farine entiere (2,23%) dans le Inqulab-91. Cette teneur est reduite pendant la cuisson du pain et du chapati. Les concentrations en mineraux varient beaucoup dans les differentes fractions des bles.
Estudos anatômicos e histológicos sôbre a subfamília Triatominae (Heteroptera, Reduviidae): VIII parte: observações sôbre a superfície dos ovos das espécies mais importantes

Nesta comunicacao analisa-se a formacao do corio e a amostra da sua superficies do ovo maduro. As amostras superficiais do corio, apresentadas em esquemas, sao caracteristicas para cada especie examinada, de maneira que estas estruturas servem para a classificacao das especies.
Prevalence of temporomandibular disorders among Palestinian medical students

Temporomandibular joint disorder (TMD) is a collective term that involves alterations in the temporomandibular joint, muscles of mastication and the occlusion. The TMD disorder is a common health problem which affects about 33% of the population within their lifetime. The aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of TMDs among university students in Palestine. The role of various risk factors in the etiology of TMD symptoms was also addressed. This is a cross sectional study based on a self-administered questionnaire. The study sample consisted of 416 dental and medical field students from all cities of Palestine studying at Arab American University of Palestine (with an age range of 18 – 27 years). In this study, 63.5% (n = 264) of the investigated students had at least one TMD symptom; clenching was the most prevalent TMD (35.6%) followed by joint noise (33.4%) while locked jaw was the least prevalent (10.6%) symptom. In the conclusion high prevalence of TMD among Palestinian medical students was reported, females reported more pain on TMJ area than males, age group (23 to 25) years reported more frequency of clenching than the other age groups, and strong correlation was found between stress, headache and TMD.
Cultivo de embriões imaturos de citros em diferentes concentrações de carvão ativado e ácido giberélico

Adicao de carvao ativado e giberelina no meio de cultura podem proporcionar melhores condicoes no desenvolvimento de embrioes imaturos de citros. Objetivou-se avaliar o efeito de carvao ativado e GA3 (acido giberelico) no cultivo de embrioes imaturos provenientes do cruzamento entre laranjeira 'Pera Rio' x tangerineira 'Ponca'. Apos 118 dias da polinizacao, frutos imaturos, com 3 a 4 cm de diâmetro, foram coletados, suas sementes removidas e tratadas com alcool (70%) por cinco minutos, hipoclorito de sodio (2%) por 20 minutos e, posteriormente, lavadas tres vezes em agua destilada e autoclavada. Em condicoes assepticas, os tegumentos das sementes foram separados, os embrioes globulares excisados e inoculados em tubos de ensaio contendo 15 mL do meio MT, acrescido de carvao ativado (0; 0,5; 1; 1,5 e 2 g L-1) e GA3 (0; 0,01; 0,1; 1 e 10 mg L-1). Apos a inoculacao, os embrioes permaneceram por 90 dias em sala de crescimento a 27+1oC, fotoperiodo de 16 horas e irradiância de 32 mmol m-2 s-1. Maior comprimento da parte aerea foi obtido em meio MT, acrescido de 0,1 e 1 mg L-1 de GA3, combinado com 2 g L-1 de carvao ativado. Maior comprimento do sistema radicular, massa da materia fresca e numero de folhas de plântulas foram obtidos em meio MT, acrescido de 0,01 mg L-1 de GA3, na ausencia de carvao ativado. A adicao de carvao ativado influenciou na concentracao de acido giberelico acrescido no meio de cultura.
T-Dagum: A Way of Generalizing Dagum Distribution Using Lomax Quantile Function

Recently, different distributions have been generalized using the - R { Y } framework but the possibility of using Dagum distribution has not been assessed. The - R { Y } combines three distributions, with one as a baseline distribution, with the strength of each distribution combined to produce greater effect on the new generated distribution. The new generated distributions would have more parameters but would have high flexibility in handling bimodality in datasets and it is a weighted hazard function of the baseline distribution. This paper therefore generalized the Dagum distribution using the quantile function of Lomax distribution. A member of - Dagum class of distribution called exponentiated-exponential-Dagum {Lomax} (EEDL) distribution was proposed. The distribution will be useful in survival analysis and reliability studies. Different characterizations of the distribution are derived, such as the asymptotes, stochastic ordering, stress-strength analysis, moment, Shannon entropy, and quantile function. Simulated and real data are used and compared favourably with existing distributions in the literature.
First report of recombination in Potato yellow vein virus (PYVV) in Colombia

Potato yellow vein virus (PYVV) is currently one of the most important viruses that infects potatoes in Colombia and other Andean countries, causing losses in the production of tubers ranging from 25% to 50%. This study analyzed the genetic variability of different viral isolates collected in the department of Narino, Colombia, through bioinformatics analysis of the sequences of three genes encoding the capsid protein (CP), the heat-shock protein 70 (Hsp70) and the minor capsid protein (CPm). We found that CPm is the gene that shows greater diversity, with higher values of nucleotide substitution and evidence of recombination. Based on an analysis of the haplotype map using nucleotide sequences of the CPm, we propose a model of putative recombination in this genomic region. The non-recombinant segments are supported by the results of the program GARD (Genetic Algorithm for Recombination Detection), phylogenetic trees and the paired values of genetic distances of each non-recombinant segments. The model clearly shows that the amino region of the CPm is prone to recombination. To our knowledge, this is the first report of genetic recombination as an evolutionary strategy in the CPm of PYVV.
Hybridization, Unisexuality, and Polyploidy in the Teleost Poeciliopsis (Poeciliidae) and Other Vertebrates

The discovery of a second gynogenetic, triploid "species" in the genus Poeciliopsis is reported. This all-female form is part of a five-fish hybrid complex from the Rio Fuerte of northwestern Mexico. The complex consists of two bisexual species, P. monacha and P. lucida, and three unisexual derivatives, two of which are triploid and one of which is diploid. The 2n unisexual approximates 1n of P. monacha and 1n of P. lucida. During oogenesis the paternally derived P. lucida chromosomes are lost; thus it is primarily the P. monacha set that is transmitted to the egg. Since the allfemale form mates mainly with males of P. lucida, the hybrid nature of this fish is maintained. The term "hybridogenesis" is applied to this mode of reproduction. The two triploid forms apparently stem from the occasional failure of this mechanism and the subsequent production of 2n ova. Such ova, when combined with P. lucida sperm, result in a triploid form that morphologically appears to be 2n of P. lucida and 1n of P. monacha; but when combined with P. monacha sperm, the ova result in a triploid that is 2n of P. monacha and 1n of P. lucida. All three of the unisexual forms are abundant in nature. The discovery of this hybrid complex along with recent discoveries of similar complexes in other vertebrates suggests that hybridization, unisexuality, polyploidy, hybridogenesis, gynogenesis, and parthenogenesis are related. This relationship makes it possible to explain how large changes in DNA levels took place during the evolution of vertebrates. A reconsideration of the importance of polyploidy to animal evolution is presented.