Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Case of Mistaken Identity

Studies of improved seed adoption in developing countries almost always draw from household surveys and are premised on the assumption that farmers are able to self-report their use of improved seed varieties. However, recent studies suggest that farmers’ reports of the seed varieties planted, or even whether seed is local or improved, are sometimes inconsistent with the results of DNA fingerprinting of farmers' crops. We use household survey data from Tanzania to test the alignment between farmerreported and DNA-identified maize seed types planted in fields. In the sample, 70% of maize seed observations are correctly reported as local or improved, while 16% are type I errors (falsely reported as improved) and 14% are type II errors (falsely reported as local). Type I errors are more likely to have been sourced from other farmers, rather than formal channels. An analysis of input use, including seed, fertilizer, and labor allocations, reveals that farmers tend to treat improved maize differently, depending on whether they correctly perceive it as improved. This suggests that errors in farmers' seed type awareness may translate into suboptimal management practices. In econometric analysis, the measured yield benefit of improved seed use is smaller in magnitude with a DNA-derived categorization, as compared with farmer reports. The greatest yield benefit is with correctly identified improved seed. This indicates that investments in farmers' access to information, seed labeling, and seed system oversight are needed to complement investments in seed variety development.
Performance of Feedlot Calves Fed Hydroponics Fodder Barley

This experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of barley green fodder produced by hydroponics system on the performance of feedlot calves. In a completely block randomized experiment, 24 cross bred (Holstein× Local) male calves were assigned randomly to one of the two treatments (diets) that were either control (grain barley) or hydroponic barley green fodder (BGF) that was included to provide 22.8 percent of the total diet on dry matter basis. Seed grade barley was grown in a hydroponics chamber system where the growth period was adjusted for 6 days. Body weigh gain was not significantly different between the treatments, but the animals that had received the control diet had higher (P< 0.05) dry matter intake than those fed BGF diet. There was a tendency (P= 0.199) toward differences in feed efficiency due to dietary treatments. From economical point of view, feed cost increased up to 24 percent when the calves were offered BGF, because of the costly production of hydroponics green forage. Although the mass production of fresh fodder was about 4.5 times per kg of barley grain, this was due to water absorption during germination and growth period. Nevertheless, the dry matter obtained was less than the initial barley grain and further dry matter losses were found in the green fodder. These findings suggest that green fodder had no advantage over barley grain in feedlot calves, while it increased the cost of feed.
CMIP5 model simulations of the impacts of the two types of El Niño on the U.S. winter temperature

Thirty Coupled Model Intercomparison Project phase 5 (CMIP5) preindustrial simulations are examined to contrast impacts of the two types of El Niño on the U.S. winter temperatures. The CMIP5 models are found more capable of simulating the observed eastern Pacific (EP) El Niño impacts (a warm northeast, cold southwest pattern over the U.S.) but less capable of simulating the observed central Pacific (CP) El Niño impacts (a warm northwest, cold southeast pattern). During EP El Niño, sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies influence the Walker circulation giving rise to a basin‐wide pattern of outgoing longwave radiation (OLR) anomalies. The modeled atmospheric responses to the EP El Niño are thus less sensitive to the detailed structure of the simulated SST anomalies and can be well simulated by most of the CMIP5 models. In contrast, the SST anomalies during the CP El Niño affect the strength of the Walker circulation less effectively than the EP El Niño. OLR anomalies are local, rather than basin wide. The modeled atmospheric responses to the CP El Niño therefore depend more on how realistically the CP El Niño SST anomalies are simulated in the models. As a result, the CP El Niño's impact on the U.S. winter temperature, controlled by the atmospheric wave train response to the OLR forcing, is less well simulated by the CMIP5 models. This conclusion is supported by an examination of the Pacific North American and tropical/Northern Hemisphere patterns produced by the CMIP5 models in response to the two types of El Niño.
The Phenomenon of Ego-Splitting in Husserl’s Phenomenology of Pure Phantasy

ABSTRACT Husserl’s phenomenology of imagination embraces a cluster of different theories and approaches regarding the multi-faced phenomenon of imaginative experience. In this paper I consider one aspect that seems to be crucial to the understanding of a particular form of imagination that Husserl names pure phantasy. I argue that the phenomenon of Ego-splitting discloses the best way to elucidate the peculiarity of pure phantasy with respect to other forms of representative acts (such as remembering) and to any simple form of act modification (such as neutrality modification). First, I unravel the phenomenological distinctions which, respectively, oppose phantasy to perception, on the one hand, and phantasy to other forms of the so-called “intuitive re-presentations”. Second, I introduce the difference between presentative and representative acts, arguing that this cannot help us to single out the defining feature of phantasy experiences. The third section draws again an important distinction between pure phantasy and neutrality modification, which allows me to finally determine an internal trait of phantasy experiences, which Husserl refers to as the “Ego-splitting” (Ichspaltung). In this way, I hope to contribute to a refined characterization of Husserl’s phenomenology of imagination.
De novo automated design of small RNA circuits for engineering synthetic riboregulation in living cells

A grand challenge in synthetic biology is to use our current knowledge of RNA science to perform the automatic engineering of completely synthetic sequences encoding functional RNAs in living cells. We report here a fully automated design methodology and experimental validation of synthetic RNA interaction circuits working in a cellular environment. The computational algorithm, based on a physicochemical model, produces novel RNA sequences by exploring the space of possible sequences compatible with predefined structures. We tested our methodology in Escherichia coli by designing several positive riboregulators with diverse structures and interaction models, suggesting that only the energy of formation and the activation energy (free energy barrier to overcome for initiating the hybridization reaction) are sufficient criteria to engineer RNA interaction and regulation in bacteria. The designed sequences exhibit nonsignificant similarity to any known noncoding RNA sequence. Our riboregulatory devices work independently and in combination with transcription regulation to create complex logic circuits. Our results demonstrate that a computational methodology based on first-principles can be used to engineer interacting RNAs with allosteric behavior in living cells.
Prevalence of coronary artery disease in patients undergoing valvular operation due to rheumatic involvement.

OBJECTIVE Rheumatic heart disease is still a major health problem in developing countries. The impact of coronary artery disease (CAD) on or its relation to rheumatic fever is not well established. We aimed to evaluate the prevalence of CAD and atherosclerotic risk factors in patients who underwent valvular surgery due to rheumatic heart disease. METHODS The records of 346 patients who had undergone rheumatic valvular surgery in a university hospital between 1996 and 2002 were evaluated. RESULTS Coronary angiography was performed in 218 (63%) patients, of whom 41 (18.8%) had CAD. The mean age of the patients having CAD and normal coronary arteries were 57.3 and 50.5 years respectively (p<0.001). In the study population patients with CAD had significantly increased prevalence of diabetes mellitus (14.6% vs. 4.5%; p=0.02), hypertension (36.6% vs. 16.4%; p=0.003), smoking (51.2% vs. 23.2%; p=0.001) and family history of CAD (39.5% vs. 20.0%; p=0.01) compared to patients with normal coronary arteries. However, the prevalence of dyslipidemia was similar in both groups (45.9% vs. 36.4%; p=0.1). CONCLUSION These findings suggest that coronary artery disease prevalence in rheumatic valvular disease patients is similar to the normal population of same age. In cases where invasive assessment of valvular lesions is not indicated we suggest coronary angiography to be performed only in patients having clinical suspicion of CAD or multiple risk factors.
Genetic analysis of an MDR‐like export system: the secretion of colicin V.

The extracellular secretion of the antibacterial toxin colicin V is mediated via a signal sequence independent process which requires the products of two linked genes: cvaA and cvaB. The nucleotide sequence of cvaB reveals that its product is a member of a subfamily of proteins, involved in the export of diverse molecules, found in both eukaryotes and prokaryotes. This group of proteins, here referred to as the ‘MDR‐like’ subfamily, is characterized by the presence of a hydrophobic region followed by a highly conserved ATP binding fold. By constructing fusions between the structural gene for colicin V, cvaC, and a gene for alkaline phosphatase, phoA, lacking its signal sequence, it was determined that 39 codons in the N‐terminus of cvaC contained the structural information to allow CvaC‐PhoA fusion proteins to be efficiently translocated across the plasma membrane of Escherichia coli in a CvaA/CvaB dependent fashion. This result is consistent with the location of point mutations in the cvaC gene which yielded export deficient colicin V. The presence of the export signal at the N‐terminus of CvaC contrasts with the observed C‐terminal location of the export signal for hemolysin, which also utilizes an MDR‐like protein for its secretion. It was also found that the CvaA component of the colicin V export system shows amino acid sequence similarities with another component involved in hemolysin export, HlyD. The role of the second component in these systems and the possibility that other members of the MDR‐like subfamily will also have corresponding second components are discussed. A third component used in both colicin V and hemolysin extracellular secretion is the E. coli host outer membrane protein, TolC.
Understanding the Association Between Relative Sociability Prototypes and University Students' Drinking Intention

ABSTRACT Background: Evaluations of “the prototypical nondrinker” and of “the prototypical regular drinker” have been demonstrated to hold associations with more harmful drinking behavior, yet the extent to which the relative evaluation of these prototypes is associated with drinking intention remains to be tested. Objectives: To explore whether relatively unfavorable nondrinker prototypes are associated with increased drinking intention and whether this relationship is moderated by personality variables. Methods: Among a student sample (n = 543), alcohol-related sociability prototype measures were used to compute an index of the perceived sociability of regular drinkers relative to nondrinkers (“relative sociability prototypes”). Measures of drinking intention, conscientiousness, extraversion and sensation seeking impulsivity were also taken. Results: Most students perceived the prototypical nondrinker unfavorably relative to the prototypical regular drinker (91%, n = 493). Simple slopes analyses indicated that extraversion moderated the strength of the relationship between relative sociability prototypes and drinking intention such that relatively negative evaluations of nondrinkers were only associated with increased intention to get drunk among more extraverted students. Conclusions/Importance: Prospective data and behavioral measures are needed to substantiate these findings, which suggest links between relative evaluations of nondrinkers, harmful drinking intention and personality traits. Evidence suggests that by challenging prejudicial beliefs concerning nondrinkers (as “unsociable”) and by targeting more extraverted students, safer drinking plans might be encouraged.
The Omentum Is a Site of Protective IgM Production during Intracellular Bacterial Infection

ABSTRACT Infection of mice with the bacterium Ehrlichia muris elicits a protective T cell-independent (TI) IgM response mediated primarily by a population of CD11c-expressing plasmablasts in the spleen. Although splenic marginal zone (MZ) B cells are considered to be important for TI responses to blood-borne pathogens, MZ B cells were not responsible for generating plasmablasts in response to Ehrlichia muris. Moreover, antigen-specific serum IgM was decreased only modestly in splenectomized mice and in mice that lacked spleen, lymph nodes, and Peyer's patches (SLP mice). Both splenectomized and SLP mice were protected against lethal ehrlichial challenge infection. Moreover, we found a high frequency of Ehrlichia-specific plasmablasts in the omentum of both conventional and SLP mice. Omental plasmablasts elicited during Ehrlichia infection lacked expression of CD138 but expressed CD11c in a manner similar to that of their splenic counterparts. Selective ablation of CD11c-expressing B cells nearly eliminated the omental Ehrlichia-specific plasmablasts and reduced antigen-specific serum IgM, identifying the omental B cells as a source of IgM production in the SLP mice. Generation of the omental plasmablasts was route dependent, as they were detected following peritoneal infection but not following intravenous infection. Our data identify the omentum as an important auxiliary site of IgM production during intracellular bacterial infection.
Quantitative changes in the white and red pulp of the spleen during hemolysin formation in x-irradiated and nonirradiated rabbits.

Three series of rabbits received 500 r to the total body, to the body with the appendix shielded, and to the body with the spleen shielded. One day later, these animals were injected intravenously with a single dose of sheep erythrocytes. A fourth series of rabbits was not irradiated and received only antigen. At specified intervals after treatment, groups of 3 to 4 rabbits were sacrificed, and the amount of splenic white and red pulp in these animals was determined by planimetric measurement of microprojected spleen sections. Results are reported and discussed. (C.H.)
Polarised light microscopy: principles and practice for the rheumatologist.

Polarised light microscopy is used to detect and measure matter (in fluids, tissues, or cells) that has crystalline or crystalline-like properties. Because light has electromagnetic properties, it can be influenced by the electromagnetic properties of material through . which it passes. In many materials this influence is equal in whatever direction the light is vibrating. But crystalline material specifically influences the speed of light that passes either along or across it. Variation in the speed of light in one or other direction cannot be detected with normal illumination, in which the light is vibrating in all directions perpendicular to the light path, but only with plane-polarised light-that is, with light in which all the vibrations have been filtered out except for one direction.
The Yeast [PSI +] Prion: Making Sense of Nonsense*

The [PSI] element was first described by Brian Cox in 1965 (1) in the course of his studies of a Mendelian nonsense suppressor. The efficiency with which this suppressor could misread UAA stop codons as sense was dependent upon the presence of a non-Mendelian factor, which Cox named [PSI]. Nearly 30 years of intriguing investigations followed, but the molecular nature of [PSI] remained unclear (see Refs. 2 and 3 for excellent reviews of this period). Recent reviews (e.g. Refs. 4–9) incorporate these data with current results in the context of the startling hypothesis (Ref. 10 and see below) that [PSI] is a prion. Discovery of [PSI] Although the original suppressor mutation acted on by [PSI] was in a tRNA gene and was specific for UAA codons, [PSI] was later shown to enhance the efficiency of suppression caused by other nonsense and frameshift tRNA suppressors or by aminoglycoside antibiotics (allosuppression). Eventually [PSI] was shown to be an “omnipotent” suppressor because it could cause readthrough of certain UAA, UAG, and UGA codons in the absence of other suppressors or drugs (11). Similar allosuppressor and omnipotent suppressor phenotypes were also associated with different sup35 and sup45 mutant alleles. However, whereas the sup35 and sup45 mutations were recessive and showed the 2:2 segregation pattern expected of Mendelian genes, the [PSI] factor was dominant and segregated 4:0, i.e. to all meiotic progeny. Consistent with this non-Mendelian segregation, the [PSI] factor appeared to be located in the cytoplasm because it was transmitted by cytoduction when the cytoplasm of a [PSI] donor haploid was transferred to a [psi] recipient haploid without altering the recipient’s nucleus (2). Thus it was possible that a cytoplasmic nucleic acid encoded [PSI], although it was shown not to depend upon mitochondrial DNA, 2m DNA, killer viruses, or 20 S RNA (2, 12, 13). The findings that “mutations” of [PSI] to [psi] were induced by conventional mutagens with single-hit kinetics and that UV mutagenesis was dependent upon DNA repair genes and was reduced by photoreactivation suggested that [PSI] was encoded by singlecopy DNA (14). However, growth in the presence of the mild protein denaturant guanidine hydrochloride or various stress-inducing agents, none of which cause the mutation of nuclear genes, caused the efficient loss of [PSI]. The kinetics of loss suggested that [PSI] was encoded by a multicopy element. Another important [PSI] paradox was the observation that although [PSI] was dominant in vivo, it was recessive in vitro, because mixtures of [PSI] and [psi] lysates used in a cell-free translation system did not exhibit the high level of readthrough of nonsense codons characteristic of [PSI] lysates (15).
Prevalence of psychosocial problems among adolescents in district Dehradun, Uttarakhand.

OBJECTIVE To find out the prevalence of psychosocial problems among adolescents. METHODS A cross sectional study was conducted at Doiwala block, Dehradun during 2006-2007 among 840 adolescents, selected by multistage random sampling. Data was collected on a structured and pre-tested questionnaire by interviewing the adolescents and conducting their thorough clinical examination. Epi Info statistical software package version 3.4. 3 was used for analysis. RESULTS The overall prevalence of psychosocial problems among the adolescents was found to be 31.2%. The psychosocial problems were more in males (34.77%) as compared to females (27.6 %). CONCLUSIONS There is need of strengthening the existing "package" of services for adolescents in various initiatives and programmes.
Barley Hv CIRCADIAN CLOCK ASSOCIATED 1 and Hv PHOTOPERIOD H1 Are Circadian Regulators That Can Affect Circadian Rhythms in Arabidopsis

Circadian clocks regulate many aspects of plant physiology and development that contribute to essential agronomic traits. Circadian clocks contain transcriptional feedback loops that are thought to generate circadian timing. There is considerable similarity in the genes that comprise the transcriptional and translational feedback loops of the circadian clock in the plant Kingdom. Functional characterisation of circadian clock genes has been restricted to a few model species. Here we provide a functional characterisation of the Hordeum vulgare (barley) circadian clock genes Hv CIRCADIAN CLOCK ASSOCIATED 1 (HvCCA1) and Hv PHOTOPERIODH1, which are respectively most similar to Arabidopsis thaliana CIRCADIAN CLOCK ASSOCIATED 1 (AtCCA1) and PSEUDO RESPONSE REGULATOR 7 (AtPRR7). This provides insight into the circadian regulation of one of the major crop species of Northern Europe. Through a combination of physiological assays of circadian rhythms in barley and heterologous expression in wild type and mutant strains of A. thaliana we demonstrate that HvCCA1 has a conserved function to AtCCA1. We find that Hv PHOTOPERIOD H1 has AtPRR7-like functionality in A. thaliana and that the effects of the Hv photoperiod h1 mutation on photoperiodism and circadian rhythms are genetically separable.
RNA Interference as a New Tool in Therapeutics

Summary The basic principle of RNA interference, a possible new therapeutic tool, involves destruction of messenger RNA upon interaction with homologous double-stranded RNA present in the cell cytoplasm. Studies have shown that both viral and non-viral small interfering RNA delivery methods and delivery of chemically synthesized small interfering RNAs to the cell can provide selective gene suppression through this mechanism, both in vitro and in vivo. Before becoming a functional therapeutic tool, there are a number of problems concerning RNA interference that should be solved. Major problems involve off-target effects, insertional mutagenesis and malignant transformation, as well as problems of delivery methods and reduction of toxicity.
Linear-Quadratic Optimal Actuator Location

In control of vibrations, diffusion and many other problems governed by partial differential equations, there is freedom in the choice of actuator location. The actuator location should be chosen to optimize performance objectives. In this paper, we consider linear quadratic performance. Two types of cost are considered; the choice depends on whether the response to the worst initial condition is to be minimized; or whether the initial condition is regarded as random. In practice, approximations are used in controller design and thus in selection of the actuator locations. The optimal cost and location of the approximating sequence should converge to the exact optimal cost and location. In this work conditions for this convergence are given in the case of linear quadratic control. Examples are provided to illustrate that convergence may fail when these conditions are not satisfied.