Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Serologic and molecular characterization of rotavirus from children with acute gastroenteritis in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India

Background: Rotavirus gastroenteritis is the leading cause of diarrhea in infants and young children worldwide. Although, Rotavirus vaccine has been introduced in 2017 in states like Tamil Nadu, there are reports of the role of Rotavirus as one of high disease burden agents with genetic variants arising, especially from low-income countries like India.Methods: Authors evaluated stool samples from 507 children with acute gastroenteritis Rotavirus A among the hospitalized children (>5 years) to provide baseline information on changing profile in this state. The stool samples were collected and screened for Rotaviral Antigen by Enzyme Immuno Assay and use of semi-multiplex RT PCR technique was conceded out in order to conclude the P and G genotypes of human rotavirus in rotavirus-positive samples from January 2014 to December 2016 in and around Chennai, India.Results: Of 507 samples collected 213 (42.01%) were positive for rotavirus antigen by Enzyme Immuno Assay (EIA). The maximum positivity (75%) was in the age group of one to two years. Rotavirus positives were subjected to further VP7 and VP4 molecular characterization and the predominant genotypes identified were G9P[4] followed by G9P[8], G1P[8], G3P[8], G2P[4] and mixed types of G2G9 with P[4] and G4P[6][11] with few untypable strains.Conclusions: This study had demonstrated the Rota Virus Gastro Enteritis (RVGE) is a common disease affecting the pediatric population and G9P[4], G9P[8] circulating types among the gastroenteritis cases reported in the city and its suburban area. This study in comparison to previous ones shows that the dominant serotypes and circulating genotypes changes from time to time within country. The results have reemphasized the need of rotavirus vaccines with broad serotype coverage which may help in decreasing the disease burden in this region of the country.
Novel evidence for systemic induction of silicon defences in cucumber following attack by a global insect herbivore

1. Silicon (Si) is a beneficial nutrient that has been reported to ameliorate many abiotic and biotic stresses in plants, including insect herbivory. Insect herbivory has been shown to induce Si defences in plants, although the magnitude and nature of induction remain largely ambiguous. In particular, it is unclear whether herbivore induction of Si defences is confined to attacked tissues (local) or occurs elsewhere in the plant (systemic).
A data-driven robust optimization method for the assembly job-shop scheduling problem under uncertainty

ABSTRACT This paper studies the production scheduling problem in an assembly manufacturing system with uncertain processing time and random machine breakdown. The objectives of minimizing makespan and the performance deviation of the actual schedule from the baseline schedule are simultaneously considered. Specifically, a boosting radial basis function network constructed using the data generated by Monte Carlo method, is used as the surrogate model to approximate the performance deviation. After that, a modified master-apprentice evolutionary algorithm (MAE) is developed for robust scheduling. In the design of MAE, we employ an extended adjacency matrix of subassemblies to cope with the sequential constraints of operations in AJSSP. Based on this, effective neighbourhood structures and distance metric of solutions are designed for tabu search and path relinking operators to generate feasible schedules. To evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed method, a series of computational experiments are conducted. The results indicate that, compared with several commonly used algorithms, the suggested method shows good performance in dealing with AJSSP under uncertainty.
A comparison of tillage, direct drilling and lime on springtail communities in a long-term field trial in poland

In 2009 and 2010, we examined the effects of different tillage systems on springtail communities. The study was established on the experimental field, in which tillage and no-tillage cultivation had been conducted since 1975, of the Research Station of the Warsaw University of Life Sciences’ Department of Agronomy, located at Chylice, near Warsaw (52 0 05’N, 20 0 33’E). The treatments considered were conventional tillage with a mouldboard plough (CT) and no-tillage (NT), and each method was divided between with and without liming. In 2009, the fields were sown with winter wheat, and spring barley was planted the following year. During both growing seasons, collembolan densities were higher under NT than CT, but the reverse was true after harvest. However, the time of the season had a significant effect on collembolan densities not only over the whole study period but also in particular years. Additionally, in fields that were limed, collembolan densities varied, with no clear trend. The dominant collembolan species in the CT and NT fields was Isotoma viridis Bourlet, 1839, while Paristoma notabilis (Schaffer, 1896) was prevalent when liming was used. The relative proportion of each of the two species in springtail communities was at least 20 percent. The species diversity of collembolan communities was similar in both study years, and it was higher in CT than in NT fields.The study was financially supported as part of the MNiSW project No. N N305171136.
Hematological and Serum Biochemical Effects of Aflatoxin B1 Intoxication in Broilers Experimentally Infected with Fowl Adenovirus-4 (FAdV-4)

Received: Revised: Accepted: Published online: December 29, 2017 January 12, 2018 January 14, 2018 January 16, 2018 Mycotoxins contamination of poultry feeds is a global issue faced by the poultry industry due to increase demand and provision of poor quality cereal grains. The current experimental study was designed to investigate concurrent administration of aflatoxins and fowl adenovirus in commercial broilers. Fowl adenovirus-4 is reemerging in Pakistan including its horizontal and vertical transmission. A total of 120 one day old birds were divided into six equal groups (A-F). Groups A was kept as control, B and C were fed AFB1 100 and 200 ppb respectively, whereas group D, E and F were administered FAdV-4, AFB1 100 +FAdV-4, AFB1 200 + FAdV-4, respectively. Hemoglobin concentration, erythrocytic count and leukocytic count of all the groups significantly decreased as compared to control group. Hematocrit (%) of group C, E and F was significantly lower as compared to group A. Serum concentration of creatinine, urea, ALT, AST and GGT significantly increased in all groups as compared to control group in a dose dependent manner. It might be concluded that AFB1 intoxication in FAdV-4 infected birds potentiated the hepatic and renal damage as indicated by increased values of urinary and hepatic biomarkers. ©2018 PVJ. All rights reserved
Stand structure and species composition of merbau in logged-over forest in Papua, Indonesia

Pamoengkas P, Siregar IZ, Dwisutono AN. 2018. Stand structure and species composition of merbau in logged-over forest in Papua, Indonesia. Biodiversitas 19: 163-171. Single selective cutting is the most common form of timber extraction in natural forest in the tropics. Although, vast tracts natural forests are already logged-over, the effect of logging on the structure and species composition has been sparsely documented, especially for merbau (Intsia bijuga). Merbau is an excellent timber species and intensively harvested in Papua. The objective of this study was to analyze the structure and species composition of merbau in the several logged-over forests at different ages, i.e., 1, 5, 11, 16, 21 years old after selective logging and primary forest as the reference plot. The study was conducted in February 2016 at Sarmi District, Papua. The distributions of merbau in each plot varies but when they were compared with that in the primary forest that had reached 9.81%. Thus, the decrease of merbau trees in the plots of logged forest areas was not significant. Index of Diversity of all growth stages was high. In general, the number of merbau seedling regeneration in the study plots are above the average value standardized in Selective Cutting and Replanting System (TPTI) regulation. With regard to the condition of sapling regeneration, we concluded that selective logging might not provide enough growing space for regeneration of merbau. Providing appropriate growing space is one of the key factors to achieve adequate merbau natural regeneration.
Prestige and content biases together shape the cultural transmission of narratives

Abstract Abstract Cultural transmission biases such as prestige are thought to have been a primary driver in shaping the dynamics of human cultural evolution. However, few empirical studies have measured the importance of prestige relative to other effects, such as content biases present within the information being transmitted. Here, we report the findings of an experimental transmission study designed to compare the simultaneous effects of a model using a high- or low-prestige regional accent with the presence of narrative content containing social, survival, emotional, moral, rational, or counterintuitive information in the form of a creation story. Results from multimodel inference reveal that prestige is a significant factor in determining the salience and recall of information, but that several content biases, specifically social, survival, negative emotional, and biological counterintuitive information, are significantly more influential. Further, we find evidence that reliance on prestige cues may serve as a conditional learning strategy when no content cues are available. Our results demonstrate that content biases serve a vital and underappreciated role in cultural transmission and cultural evolution. Social media summary: Storyteller and tale are both key to memorability, but some content is more important than the storyteller's prestige.
Effect of Periosteal Flap Augmentation on Outcomes of Modified Broström-Gould Procedure for Chronic Lateral Ankle Instability

Background: Chronic lateral ankle instability is relatively common after ankle sprains. The modified Broström-Gould procedure (MBG) is the gold standard operative treatment but has a known failure rate of up to 10%, or even more in high-risk groups. Periosteal flap augmentation (PFA) has been proposed to strengthen the repair. This study aimed to compare the outcomes of MBG with and without PFA. Methods: A matched-pair study was performed based on prospectively collected registry data for all patients undergoing lateral ankle ligament reconstruction in a tertiary institution. Patients who underwent the MBG with PFA were matched in a 1:1 ratio with patients undergoing MBG alone, based on age, gender, and body mass index (BMI). Patients with generalized ligamentous laxity or obesity were excluded. Clinical outcome scores were compared preoperatively and 2 years postoperatively. A total of 48 patients were included in the study (24 in each group). The mean age was 24.1 years, mean BMI was 23.1, and all patients were male. The baseline demographics and clinical scores in both groups were similar. Results: At 2 years postoperatively, both groups demonstrated significantly improved AOFAS Ankle-Hindfoot scores (P < .001), but there were no between-group differences in total AOFAS scores (PFA score 90, MBG score 88, P = .79). There were no recurrences of instability or revision surgeries. Conclusion: Routine PFA did not improve the outcomes of MBG for chronic lateral ankle instability in the absence of risk factors for failure. Further studies are warranted to determine if there is a long-term benefit for augmentation in this population. Level of Evidence: Level III, retrospective comparative study.
Nitrogen Use Efficiency (NUE) in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) seedlings in response to treatment with extract of Cymbopogon citratus and mineralization of Tithonia diversifolia leaves and cow dung

The aim of this work was to study the effect of Cymbopogon citratus extract on nitrogen metabolism in relation to the increase of Nitrogen Use efficiency (NUE) in tomato plants. The culture substrates (δ) were prepared with fertilizations of 15g N and 5g N following the formula: δ + tomato plants + treatments (2%). Treatments included, Hydro Ethanol Extract (HEE) of C. citratus (2%), 2% Ridomil (R) and Control (C). The tomato seedlings were transplanted 32 days after sowing and (δ) sampled 12th, 24th, 36th and 48th days after transplanting and the following parameters determined: Total nitrogen, Electrical Conductivity (EC (dS/m)), Total Mineral content (TM (ppm)), pH water, nitrate (NO3- (ppm)), ammonium (NH4+ (ppm)) and NUE (kg-1 DM), using these techniques: Kjedahl, Electrochemistry, Spectrophotometry. The results from the dosage of N revealed that Tithonia diversifolia (Ti), Cow dung (Cd), soil/sand (2:1) mixture and NPK contained 3.32%, 2.13%, 0.23 %, and 23.00% of N respectively. The kinetics of mineralization in the δTi, δCd showed a primary mineralization while that in the δNPK and δC showed a secondary mineralization. The values of NUENPKHEE, NUENPKR, NUETiHEE, NUETiR, NUECdHEE, and NUECdR increased by 38.49%; 37.45%; 27.74%; 52.07%; 93.93%; 70.52%, respectively. The combination of plant spray with HEE of C. citratus and soil amendment with T. diversifolia or cow dung improved significantly the NUE of tomato plants confirming that T. diversifolia and cow dung are slow mineralization nitrogenous biofertilisers.
Numerical Investigation of Methodologies for Cavitation Suppression Inside Globe Valves

Cavitation inside globe valves, which is a common phenomenon if there is a high-pressure drop, is numerically investigated in this study. Firstly, the cavitation phenomenon in globe valves with a different number of cages is compared. When there is no valve cage, cavitation mainly appears at the valve seat, the bottom of the valve core, and the downstream pipelines. By installing a valve cage, cavitation bubbles can be restricted around the valve cage protecting the valve body from being damaged. Secondly, the effects of the outlet pressure, the working temperature, and the installation angle of two valve cages in a two-cage globe valve are studied to find out the best method to suppress cavitation, and cavitation number is utilized to evaluate cavitation intensity. Results show that cavitation intensity inside globe valves can be reduced by increasing the valve outlet pressure, decreasing the working temperature, or increasing the installation angle. Results suggest that increasing the outlet pressure is the most efficient way to suppress cavitation intensity in a globe valve, and the working temperature has a minimal effect on cavitation intensity.
Profitability Assessment of Sheep Farming Under Field Conditions in Temperate Himalayan Climate of Jammu and Kashmir

Present study was conducted in the hilly district of Bandipora of Jammu and Kashmir. The district was divided into low-lying (Sonawari), medium altitude (Bandipora) and High altitude (Gurez) regions. A total of 477 respondents were considered for the survey. Information on varied aspects of sheep economics was sought from the respondents (sheep rearers) based on a pre-tested questionnaire. The total annual expenditure for 19 ewes and followers under prevailing production system was Rs 75083.63 while it was Rs 153032.24, Rs 291480.5 for a sheep unit of 34 ewes and 1 ram, 63 ewes and 2 rams, respectively. Cost of feeding was the major cost component representing more than 70% of total expenditure. Profitability increased with increase in flock size. Under prevailing production system, a sheep unit consisting of 63 ewes and 2 rams was more profitable than sheep units with lower flock size. Net income/year and net income/animal/year was highest in Sonawari followed by Bandipora and least in Gurez region. Present study showed that annual returns on sheep production increase with increase in flock size and feeding expenses represent the single largest component of expenditure on sheep rearing. Further, a sheep unit of 60 above flock size is more or less sufficient to sustain a medium sized family under prevailing production system.
Prognostic value of cancer stem cell markers and E-cadherin expression in non-small-cell lung cancer

Introduction Non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is a common fatal malignancy worldwide and has a high mortality rate and poor prognosis. Aim The aim was to study the potential prognostic role of markers of cancer stem cells in NSCLC. Materials and methods The associations between the expression of CD44, CD133, and E-cadherin and the clinicopathological variables were evaluated in 65 cases of NSCLC, including 33 adenocarcinoma (ADC), 27 squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), and five cases of large-cell carcinoma using immunohistochemical method. Results CD44 was expressed in all cases of ADC and SCC. In ADC, it was significantly related to low tumor grade and absence of lymphovascular invasion (LVI) (P>0.001, both), whereas in SCC, it was significantly correlated with low grade (P>0.001). CD133 expression was detected in 39.4% of ADC cases and in 40.7% of SCC cases. CD133 expression was significantly associated with low grade and absence of LVI (P = 0.048 and 0.017, respectively). Normal E-cadherin was seen in only 47.7% of cases of NSCLC. In ADC cases, a significant relationship has been observed between abnormal E-cadherin expression and high grade (P=0.005), LVI (P=0.003), lymph node metastasis (P>0.001), and low CD44 expression (P=0.002), whereas in SCC, a significant relationship has been found between abnormal E-cadherin and both grade of differentiation (P=0.028) and low CD44 expression (P=0.02). Conclusion CD44 and CD133 are associated with favorable clinicopathological prognostic factors, whereas E-cadherin expression correlates with high-grade tumor, LVI, lymph node metastasis, and low CD44 expression.
Silicon-Mediated Physiological and Agronomic Responses of Maize to Drought Stress Imposed at the Vegetative and Reproductive Stages

Silicon (Si) enhances maize resistance to drought. While previous studies have mainly focused on the seedling stage, the mediation of drought stress by Si imposed at the vegetative and reproductive stages has been rarely investigated. A soil-column experiment was thus conducted under a rainproof shelter to quantify the effect s of Si application on the physiological and agronomic responses of maize to drought stress imposed at the 6-leaf (D-V6), 12-leaf (D-V12), and blister (D-R2) stages. The observed parameters included plant growth, photosynthesis, osmolytes, antioxidant activity, and grain yield. The results showed that drought stress strongly decreased the leaf area, leaf water content, photosynthetic rate, chlorophyll content, and antioxidant activity (superoxide dismutase (SOD), peroxidase (POD), and catalase (CAT)) and markedly increased lipid peroxidation. D-V6, D-V12, and D-R2 decreased grain yields by 12.9%, 28.9%, and 44.8%, respectively, compared to the well-watered treatment (CK). However, Si application markedly increased leaf area, chlorophyll content, photosynthetic rate, osmolyte content, and enzymatic antioxidant activities (SOD, POD, and CAT), and decreased malondialdehyde (MDA) and superoxide radical accumulation, ultimately improving maize yields by 12.4%, 69.8%, and 80.8%, respectively, compared to the non-Si treated plants under drought stress at the V6, V12, and R2 stages. Furthermore, maize yields had a significant positive correlation with chlorophyll content and SOD and POD activity during the three stages. Our findings suggest that Si-induced changes in chlorophyll content and antioxidant activity might constitute important mechanisms for mitigating drought stress. In conclusion, this study provides physico-biochemical evidence for the beneficial role of Si in alleviating drought-induced yield reduction in maize, particularly during the late vegetative or early reproductive stages. Thus, Si application constitutes an effective approach for improving maize yield in rain-fed agricultural systems.
A new Devonian harvestman from the Rhynie chert (Arachnida: Opiliones)

With over 6,600 described species, harvestmen represent a morphologically and ecologically diverse group of arachnids with a cosmopolitan distribution. Although members of the order Opiliones are believed to have been among some of the earliest terrestrial arthropods, the Palaeozoic fossil record of harvestmen is sparse. Herein, a new harvestman, Devonopilio hutchinsoni gen. et sp. nov., is described based on a penis preserved in Lower Devonian Rhynie chert from Aberdeenshire, Scotland (Pragian, ca. 407 Ma). Together with Eophalangium sheari , another Early Devonian harvestman known from the Rhynie chert, the new species represents the earliest member of the order Opiliones in the fossil record and one of the oldest terrestrial animals. The new species differs significantly from E. sheari in penis morphology, indicating that harvestmen began to diversify before the Early Devonian. Devonian harvestman
Antimalarial Activity of Ethanolic Extract of Root Bark of Salacia nitida L. Benth in Mice Infected with Plasmodium berghei

Aim: This study was designed to evaluate the in vivo antimalarial activity of ethanolic extract of root bark of Salacia nitida in mice infected with Plasmodium bergei. Methods: Prophylactic and curative antimalarial activity of ethanolic extract of root bark of S. nitida was studied using sixty-six healthy mice infected with chloroquine sensitive Plasmodium berghei. 430 mg/kg body weight/day of the extract was given orally infected mice in the prophylactic test for 11 days, while 280 – 580 mg/kg body weight/day of extract was orally administered to the malaria infected mice in the curative test for 5 days, against 4 mg/kg body weight/day of artesunate drug. The antimalarial effect of the ethanolic extract of root bark of S. nitida on the parasites was determined. Results: The ethanolic extract of root bark of S. nitida at a dose of 430 mg/kg body weight/day caused 89.77% inhibition in the levels of parasitaemia in the prophylactic test and 33.78% 88.45% inhibitions of parasitaemia levels in the curative tests. Original Research Article Nwiloh et al.; JOCAMR, 3(3): 1-9, 2017; Article no.JOCAMR. 32655 2 Conclusion: The results showed that the ethanolic extract of root bark of S. nitida possessed significant (p < 0.05) antimalarial activity, thus supporting its traditional use in the treatment of malaria.