Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Le scolyte du fruit du caféier, Hypothenemus hampei Ferr. : considérations sur la lutte intégrée contre ce ravageur

Le scolyte du fruit du cafeier, Hypothenemus hampei, est un depredateur important. Apres avoir defini les pertes et les degâts dus au scolyte et leurs importances economiques, on envisage les methodes de lutte. La lutte integree dont la premiere etape est la detection du scolyte parait etre le seul moyen de maintenir les populations de scolytes a des niveaux economiquement acceptables, tout en preservant l'environnement. Parmi les methodes de lutte proposees, les methodes culturales (recolte sanitaire, taille reguliere du cafeier et des arbres d'ombrage, controle des mauvaises herbes) sont les plus efficaces dans le maintien des taux d'infestation a un bas niveau. La lutte chimique (calendrier des traitements, produits insecticides, mode d'application) a une action immediate sur les niveaux de populations qu'elle abaisse en dessous des seuils de degât economique. A court terme la lutte biologique (parasitoides : microhymenopteres et champignons entomopathogenes : Beauveria) represente les meilleurs avantages ecologiques et economiques. A long terme la lutte genetique est possible en creant des varietes de cafeiers resistantes ou tolerantes au scolyte
Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 Bound to B Cells: Relationship to Virus Replicating in CD4+ T Cells and Circulating in Plasma

ABSTRACT Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) virions bind to B cells in the peripheral blood and lymph nodes through interactions between CD21 on B cells and complement-complexed virions. B-cell-bound virions have been shown to be highly infectious, suggesting a unique mode of HIV-1 dissemination by B cells circulating between peripheral blood and lymphoid tissues. In order to investigate the relationship between B-cell-bound HIV-1 and viruses found in CD4+ T cells and in plasma, we examined the genetic relationships of HIV-1 found in the blood and lymph nodes of chronically infected patients with heteroduplex mobility and tracking assays and DNA sequence analysis. In samples from 13 of 15 patients examined, HIV-1 variants in peripheral blood-derived B cells were closely related to virus in CD4+ T cells and more divergent from virus in plasma. In samples from five chronically viremic patients for whom analyses were extended to include lymph node-derived HIV-1 isolates, B-cell-associated HIV-1 and CD4+-T-cell-associated HIV-1 in the lymph nodes were equivalent in their divergence from virus in peripheral blood-derived B cells and generally more distantly related to virus in peripheral blood-derived CD4+ T cells. These results indicates virologic cross talk between B cells and CD4+ T cells within the microenvironment of lymphoid tissues and, to a lesser extent, between cells in lymph nodes and the peripheral blood. These findings also indicate that most of the virus in plasma originates from cells other than CD4+ T cells in the peripheral blood and lymph nodes.
Altered plantar-receptor stimulation impairs postural control in those with chronic ankle instability.

CONTEXT Postural control as assessed via time-to-boundary (TTB) measures has been shown to be impaired in those with chronic ankle instability (CAI). Foot orthotics have been shown to improve postural control, although it is not clear if this is via mechanical or sensorimotor mechanisms. OBJECTIVE To assess the effect of textured shoe inserts that provide no mechanical support on postural control as assessed by TTB measures in subjects with CAI. DESIGN A crossover design to examine the effects of a textured insole on postural control in individuals with unilateral CAI. The independent variables were vision (eyes open, eyes closed) and texture (textured insole, sham insole, control). SETTING Laboratory. PARTICIPANTS 20 physically active individuals, 12 men, 8 women, age 18-45 y (21.5 ± 5.51) with self-reported CAI. INTERVENTION Each subject balanced in shod single-limb stance with eyes open and eyes closed under 3 conditions (control, sham, and textured insole). The order of testing under the 3 shoe conditions and 2 vision conditions was counterbalanced. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES The mean of TTB minima and the standard deviation of TTB minima in the mediolateral (ML) and anteroposterior directions. RESULTS There were significant reductions in TTB ML magnitude and variability found in the textured condition compared with the control and sham conditions. In the textured condition, subjects failed significantly more trials than any other condition. CONCLUSIONS Stimulating the plantar surface of the foot, via a textured insole, has an effect in the broad spectrum of postural-control maintenance in individuals with CAI.
Atractiellomycetes belonging to the ‘rust’ lineage (Pucciniomycotina) form mycorrhizae with terrestrial and epiphytic neotropical orchids

Distinctive groups of fungi are involved in the diverse mycorrhizal associations of land plants. All previously known mycorrhiza-forming Basidiomycota associated with trees, ericads, liverworts or orchids are hosted in Agaricomycetes, Agaricomycotina. Here we demonstrate for the first time that Atractiellomycetes, members of the ‘rust’ lineage (Pucciniomycotina), are mycobionts of orchids. The mycobionts of 103 terrestrial and epiphytic orchid individuals, sampled in the tropical mountain rainforest of Southern Ecuador, were identified by sequencing the whole ITS1-5.8S-ITS2 region and part of 28S rDNA. Mycorrhizae of 13 orchid individuals were investigated by transmission electron microscopy. Simple septal pores and symplechosomes in the hyphal coils of mycorrhizae from four orchid individuals indicated members of Atractiellomycetes. Molecular phylogeny of sequences from mycobionts of 32 orchid individuals out of 103 samples confirmed Atractiellomycetes and the placement in Pucciniomycotina, previously known to comprise only parasitic and saprophytic fungi. Thus, our finding reveals these fungi, frequently associated to neotropical orchids, as the most basal living basidiomycetes involved in mycorrhizal associations of land plants.
Analgesia enhancement and prevention of tolerance to morphine: beneficial effects of combined therapy with omega‐3 fatty acids

Recent evidence associates omega‐3 fatty acids (O3) with pain reduction. The aim of this work was to evaluate the antinociceptive effect of O3, either alone or in combination with morphine after acute and chronic administration in rats. As well, a new pharmaceutical mixture that allows the concomitant administration of O3 and morphine as an oral solution was developed.
Dual‐echo Dixon imaging with flexible choice of echo times

In this work, a new two‐point method for water–fat imaging is described and explored. It generalizes existing two‐point methods by eliminating some of the restrictions that these methods impose on the choice of echo times. Thus, the new two‐point method promises to provide more freedom in the selection of protocol parameters and to reach higher scan efficiency. Its performance was studied theoretically and was evaluated experimentally in abdominal imaging with a multigradient‐echo sequence. While depending on the choice of echo times, it is generally found to be favorable compared to existing two‐point methods. Notably, water images with higher spatial resolution and better signal‐to‐noise ratio were attained with it in single breathholds at 3.0 T and 1.5 T, respectively. The use of more accurate spectral models of fat is shown to substantially reduce observed variations in the extent of fat suppression. The acquisition of in‐ and opposed‐phase images is demonstrated to be replaceable by a synthesis from water and fat images. The new two‐point method is finally also applied to autocalibrate a multidimensional eddy current correction and to enhance the fat suppression achieved with three‐point methods in this way, especially toward the edges of larger field of views. Magn Reson Med, 2010. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Serum CA-15.3 and CEA patterns in postsurgical follow-up, and in monitoring clinical course of metastatic cancer in patients with breast carcinoma.

Serum CA-15.3 and CEA levels were longitudinally determined in 307 patients with breast carcinoma during postsurgical follow-up and/or therapy. Of 120 patients with no apparent disease, the specificity of marker levels fluctuating within the normal range (true-negative) was 98% for CA-15.3 alone (P = 0.004) and about 88% for CEA alone or for the tests combined. However, the false-negative levels in patients with progressive cancer reduced the predictive value of the tandem to around 76%, i.e. normal levels of both markers correctly predicted uneventful postsurgical course in only three fourths of the patients. Of 187 patients with active disease, the sensitivity of raised or increasing marker levels was around 70% for CA-15.3 alone or CEA alone, and 82% for the tests combined (P = 0.006). The 11% false-positive rate of CEA in patients with no apparent disease decreased the predictive value of a positive test from 98% for CA-15.3 alone (P = 0.006) to 91% for CEA alone or the tandem. Serum CA-15.3 or CEA paralleled the site of relapse: at least one marker was found elevated in 60% of patients with locoregional disease or with metastases to the lungs or bones exclusively, and in 90% of those with metastases to the lungs and bones or to the liver. A concurrent decrease of both marker levels reflected response to therapy while an increase of at least one marker level reflected treatment failure. It may be concluded that the marker tandem was better than either marker alone for follow-up aimed at detection of relapse, and that the tests were approximately 80% accurate for follow-up and/or monitoring therapy.
Neoadjuvant and adjuvant treatment in high-risk prostate cancer

ABSTRACT Introduction: High-risk prostate cancer (HRPCa) represents a heterogeneous disease with potential risk for local and distant progression. In these patients, a multi-modal approach consisting of neoadjuvant and/or adjuvant systemic therapies has been proposed. The aim of this review is to summarize the emerging roles of neoadjuvant and adjuvant therapies in HRPCa patients. Areas covered: This review collects the most relevant phase III randomized controlled trials (RCTs) testing the effect of neoadjuvant and adjuvant systemic therapies in combination with radical prostatectomy (RP) or radiotherapy (RT) for HRPCa patients. Specifically, the review examines the benefit provided by androgen deprivation therapy (ADT), chemotherapy (CHT), and novel antiandrogen agents in this setting. A search of bibliographic databases for peer-reviewed literature was conducted. Expert commentary: Three decades of RCTs demonstrated that adjuvant ADT is fundamental in HRPCa treated with RT. Conversely, ADT and CHT did not improve the survival of HRPCa patients managed with RP. The recent introduction of novel antiandrogen agents combined with an appropriated selection of patients at risk of cancer progression, may ultimately extend the indication of neoadjuvant and adjuvant therapy in surgical- and radio-treated patients.
Dental phobia in dentistry patients.

AIM This study evaluated the presence of current and general phobia and anxiety symptoms in periodontology patients just before treatment in relation to specific dental fears and to general health status and quality of life. METHODS The study population was all consecutive outpatients attending the Periodontics and Implantology Services, School of Dentistry, University of Bologna, over a 12-month period in 2007. Data collection instruments were psychological questionnaires (State-Trait Anxiety Inventory [STAI]-Y1, Marks-Sheehan Phobia Scale [MSPS], World Health Organization Quality of Life [WHOQOL] short form) plus supplementary items investigating specific dental fears, patient's dental history, and the dentist's clinical assessment of the patient. RESULTS In all, 250 consecutive patients were recruited. Most (86%) presented with very mild anxiety and phobia symptoms; 13.2% and 13% presented with psychological symptoms of anxiety and phobia, respectively, independently of those subjects with specific dental fears who were significantly younger. The most common dental fears were fear of pain (48.8%) and of receiving an injection (29.9%). The patients' quality of life did not appear to be affected by these fears. CONCLUSIONS In the dental outpatients seeking treatment for moderate-to-severe dental pathology at a university periodontics and implantology clinic and referring good general health and psychosocial functioning, levels of anxiety and phobia were usually low or absent; but when present, they were independent of ascertained specific dental fears.
Clinical assessment of hip strength using a hand‐held dynamometer is reliable

Hip strength assessment plays an important role in the clinical examination of the hip and groin region. The primary aim of this study was to examine the absolute test–retest measurement variation concerning standardized strength assessments of hip abduction (ABD), adduction (ADD), external rotation (ER), internal rotation (IR), flexion (FLEX) and extension (EXT) using a hand‐held dynamometer. Nine subjects (five males, four females), physically active for at least 2.5 h a week, were included. Twelve standardized isometric strength tests were performed twice with a 1‐week interval in between by the same examiner. The test order was randomized to avoid systematic bias. Measurement variation between sessions was 3–12%. When the maximum value of four measurements was used, test–retest measurement variation was below 10% in 11 of the 12 individual hip strength tests and below 5% in five of the 12 tests. No systematic differences were present. Standardized strength assessment procedures of hip ABD, ER, IR, FLEX, with test–retest measurement variation below 5%, hip ADD below 6% and hip EXT below 8%, make it possible to determine even small changes in hip strength at the individual level.
Protective Effect of Curcumin Against Nicotine-induced Damage on Reproductive Parameters in Male Mice

El consumo de nicotina puede disminuir la fertilidad en los hombres mediante la induccion de estres oxidativo y dano del ADN. El color de la curcuma se debe a una sustancia llamada curcumina en la cual se han identificado algunas propiedades anti-oxidantes y anti-inflamatorias. En este estudio se administraron diferentes dosis de curcumina (10, 30 y 60 mg/kg) y de curcumina mas nicotina (10, 30 y 60 mg/kg) por via intraperitoneal a ratones machos durante 28 dias consecutivos y se determinaron los parametros reproductivos. La administracion de nicotina (0,5 mg/kg) disminuyo significativamente el nivel de testosterona, el numero y motilidad de los espermatozoides, y peso de los testiculos en comparacion con el grupo control. Sin embargo, el incremento de la dosis de curcumina aumento significativamente los indices reproductivos en la mayoria de los grupos. Este estudio sugiere que la curcumina inhibe los efectos adversos inducidos por la nicotina sobre los parametros reproductivos.
From rodent glial precursor cell to human glial neoplasia in the oligodendrocyte‐type‐2‐astrocyte lineage

With only a few exceptions, the precursor cells representing the normal counterparts of human tumours are unknown. The comparative lack of information about the lineages involved in tissue development, and difficulties in growing many human tumors in a manner suitable for cellular biological analysis, together often make it difficult to study the differences between normal and tumor and tumor cells and to develop many of the model systems that would be useful in the study of human cancer. By applying techniques previously utilized to study glial progenitor cells, we have isolated a human glioblastoma multiforme (GBM)‐derived population that expresses many properties otherwise uniquely expressed by oligodendrocyte‐type‐2 astrocyte (O‐2A) progenitor cells. Hu‐O‐2A/Gb1 (for Human O‐2A lineage Glioblastoma number 1) cells responded to similar mitogens and differentiation modulators as rodent O‐2A progenitors, and generated cells with features of precursor cells, oligodendrocytes and astrocytes. Moreover, 1H‐NMR analysis of amino acid composition demonstrated a striking conservation of types and quantities of free amino acids between the human tumour cells and the rodent primary cells. Hu‐O‐2A/Gb1 cells represent the first human glioma‐derived population for which unambiguous lineage assignment has been possible, and our results indicate that the human O‐2A lineage can contribute to one of the most malignant of glial tumours. In addition, the highly diagnostic 1H‐NMR spectrum expressed by Hu‐O‐2A/Gb1 cells raises the possibility of eventual non‐invasive identification of tumors of this lineage. © 1995 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Analyzing students performance using Academic Analytics

In this research study, our major interest is to test the significant association between selected variables which otherwise invisible. These variables have indirect impact on performance of students. We have devised out our own dataset for the experimental purpose. Our study has made these variables and their relationship visible. The results enable us to determine characteristics of learning environment related with performance.
Stream macroinvertebrate response to catchment urbanisation ( Georgia ,

1. The effects of catchment urbanisation on water quality were examined for 30 streams (stratified into 15, 50 and 100 km ± 25% catchments) in the Etowah River basin, Georgia, U.S.A. We examined relationships between land cover (implying cover and use) in these catchments (e.g. urban, forest and agriculture) and macroinvertebrate assemblage attributes using several previously published indices to summarise macroinvertebrate response. Based on a priori predictions as to mechanisms of biotic impairment under changing land cover, additional measurements were made to assess geomorphology, hydrology and chemistry in each stream. 2. We found strong relationships between catchment land cover and stream biota. Taxon richness and other biotic indices that reflected good water quality were negatively related to urban land cover and positively related to forest land cover. Urban land cover alone explained 29–38% of the variation in some macroinvertebrate indices. Reduced water quality was detectable at c. >15% urban land cover. 3. Urban land cover correlated with a number of geomorphic variables such as stream bed sediment size (–) and total suspended solids (+) as well as a number of water chemistry variables including nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations (+), specific conductance (+) and turbidity (+). Biotic indices were better predicted by these reach scale variables than single, catchment scale land cover variables. Multiple regression models explained 69% of variation in total taxon richness and 78% of the variation in the Invertebrate Community Index (ICI) using phi variability, specific conductance and depth, and riffle phi, specific conductance and phi variability, respectively. 4. Indirect ordination analysis was used to describe assemblage and functional group changes among sites and corroborate which environmental variables were most important in driving differences in macroinvertebrate assemblages. The first axis in a non-metric multidimensional scaling ordination was highly related to environmental variables (slope, specific conductance, phi variability; adj. R 1⁄4 0.83) that were also important in our multiple regression models. 5. Catchment urbanisation resulted in less diverse and more tolerant stream macroinvertebrate assemblages via increased sediment transport, reduced stream bed sediment size and increased solutes. The biotic indices that were most sensitive to environmental variation were taxon richness, EPT richness and the ICI. Our results were largely consistent over the range in basin size we tested.
Alexander von Humboldt and British artists: the Oriental taste

Humboldtian landscape is the best result of a close relationship between artists and scientists in the context of the Enlightenment. Many artists inspired Humboldt to develop his concept of landscape as the best way of representing Nature, but some British artists in particular were a strong reference for him. Thomas Daniell and William Hodges had travelled to Asia creating a particular imagery, which inspired the desire to travel and the feeling of the exotic taste in Humboldt. Around Humboldt, mainly two types of artists have been studied: on the one hand, painter travellers who received direct instructions from Humboldt after his experience in America, and on the other, artists who started their trips by themselves after reading his works. However, this paper is focused on the links between Humboldt and these British painters of the Orient, whom he met on a European tour with Georg Forster, before making his trip to America.
TOPP goes Rapid The OpenMS Proteomics Pipeline in a Grid-Enabled Web Portal

Proteomics, the study of all the proteins contained in a particular sample, e.g., a cell, is a key technology in current biomedical research. The complexity and volume of proteomics data sets produced by mass spectrometric methods clearly suggests the use of grid-based high-performance computing for analysis. TOPP and OpenMS are open-source packages for proteomics data analysis, however, they do not provide support for Grid computing. In this work we present a portal interface for high-throughput data analysis with TOPP. The portal is based on Rapid, a tool for efficiently generating standardized port lets for a wide range of applications. The web-based interface allows the creation and editing of user-defined pipelines and their execution and monitoring on a Grid infrastructure. The portal also supports several file transfer protocols for data staging. It thus provides a simple and complete solution to high-throughput proteomics data analysis for inexperienced users through a convenient portal interface.
Low voltage and low power aspects of data converter design

Low voltage design is becoming an important issue for analogue circuits expected to operate around 1 V supply in sub 100 nm CMOS technologies. This contribution discusses the impact of low voltage on circuit architecture, opamp configuration to maintain speed and DC gain, common-mode feedback and its stability, switching speed, as well as trends in achievable signal to noise ratio and speed for a given power consumption.
Multi-perspective terrestrial LiDAR point cloud registration using planar primitives

Registering terrestrial LiDAR data points faces many challenges. Limited overlap between data sets, occlusions, and data density divergence greatly affect the registration performance. In this paper, we propose a method to identify the homologous points in different LiDAR acquisitions and join small but related primitives to maximize the correspondence between two data sets. Experiments were conducted with data sets collected using a Riegl VZ-400 terrestrial laser scanner. Our method greatly reduces the matching complexity from raw point measurements to planar primitives to clusters of spatially related structure features. The automatic registration method is able to achieve satisfactory results that put sets of LiDAR point clouds into correspondence with great accuracy.
A new implementation of Asymptotic Waveform Evaluation for fast frequency analysis

A pseudo-spectral method is adopted instead of conventionally finding the derivative formulations before discretization in Asymptotic Waveform Evaluation (AWE) procedure. The complexity of Method of Moments(MOM) conjunction with this new implementation is generally much less than the conventional one. Furthermore, this pseudo-spectral method does not require finding the derivative of green functions with respect to frequency so that AWEcan be applied to the hybrid finite element - boundary integral - multilevel fast multipole algorithm (FE-BI-MLFMA).