Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The loss of genetic diversity in Dabry's sturgeon (Acipenser dabryanus, Dumeril) as revealed by DNA fingerprinting

1. Dabry's sturgeon, a large, long-lived migratory fish is endemic to the Yangtze River. Over-fishing and habitat destruction have caused large-scale declines in natural stocks in the last two decades. 2. Examining patterns of genetic diversity has become an integral component of many management plans for endangered species. DNA fingerprinting was applied to detect genetic diversity in Dabry's sturgeon collected in 1958–1959, 1980–1981 and 1998–1999. 3. Studies on direct genetic parameters (genetic variability, hypervariable loci and heterozygosity) and indirect parameters (band-sharing coefficient and allelic frequency) showed that the continuous decline in wild populations has caused the loss of genetic diversity in present-day sturgeon. 4. The present-day populations have the lowest genetic variability; thus, effective management is needed to preserve genetic diversity. 5. A conservation strategy is urgently required, comprising artificial rearing facilities coupled with breeding management plans. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Age, growth, and maturity of the whitebrow skate, Bathyraja minispinosa, from the eastern Bering Sea

Ainsley, S. M. , Ebert, D. A. , and Cailliet, G. M. 2011. Age, growth, and maturity of the whitebrow skate, Bathyraja minispinosa, from the eastern Bering Sea. – ICES Journal of Marine Science, 68: 1426–1434.Skates are a common bycatch in groundfish fisheries in the Bering Sea; however, their life-history characteristics are not well known. The study is the first to investigate the age, growth, and age at maturity of Bathyraja minispinosa. Ages were estimated using sectioned vertebrae and several growth models were compared. The Gompertz model was the best fit and no significant differences were detected between sexes for any model. The maximum age estimated was 37 years, and parameter estimates generated from the three-parameter von Bertalanffy model were k = 0.02 year −1 and L ∞ = 146.9 cm total length (TL). Males reached their size at 50% maturity larger than females (70.1 and 67.4 cm, respectively), but no significant differences in the estimated size or age at maturity were found. Whereas B. minispinosa is smaller than many skate species in the eastern Bering Sea, it has a considerably longer estimated lifespan, indicating that size may not be a reliable method of estimating the vulnerability of a rajid species to population declines in the eastern North Pacific.
Outcome of Corrective Dome Osteotomy for Cubitus Varus Deformity

Background: The cubitus varus deformity is one of the most common late complications of fracture supracondylar area of humerus in children. Various corrective osteotomies are used of which lateral closed wedge osteotomy is commonly done which has its own disadvantages like lateral condylar prominence, difficulty in achieving correction and limitation of movement. Dome osteotomy is a versatile technique to achieve correction of deformity in all planes and to overcome these above complications. The aim of this study was to evaluate the results of dome osteotomy for correction of post-traumatic cubitus varus deformity of elbow in children. Materials and Methods: The study included 18 children between 6-13 years of age of both sex with malunited supracondylar fracture of distal humerus having cubitus varus deformity. After appropriate pre- operative assessment, dome osteotomy was done by posterior approach. In pre and post operative x-ray carrying angle and lateral condylar prominence Index (LCPI) were calculated. Patients were re-assessed at complete union and results were calculated. Results: In this study of 18 patients, 12 were males and 6 were females. The age ranged from 6-13 yrs with average of 8.4yrs. The average correction of carrying angle was from -22.4 degree to +10 degree. LCPI changed post operatively ranging from -8.6% to +3.25%, average -2.9%. There were no significant complications. Fifteen patients had excellent outcome and 3 had good outcome. Conclusion: The results in our study concluded that dome osteotomy for cubitus varus is safe and effective method and give cosmetically more acceptable elbow.
Helminth Parasites of Selected Amphibians and Reptiles from the Republic of Ecuador

Abstract Fourteen amphibians (7 species) and 37 reptiles (25 species) collected from 3 sites in the Pastaza Province of the Republic of Ecuador were examined for helminths. A total of 6 (42.7%) individual amphibians and 18 (48.6%) individual reptiles were infected. Five (71.4%) of the amphibian species (4 frogs, 1 toad) and 10 (40.0%) of the reptile species (4 lizards, 6 snakes) were found to harbor 1 species of helminth; 1 amphibian species (14.3%) and 5 reptile species (13.2%) harbored 2 species of helminths each. One species of cestode and 16 species of nematodes, together representing 11 families, were found in the herpetofauna surveyed. Twenty-five new host and 15 new geographic records are documented. When compared to other South American countries, the majority of parasites reported herein for Ecuador have been reported previously in herpetofauna from Brazil.
Current status of the Northern Goshawk Accipiter gentilis in Japan based on mitochondrial DNA

Abstract Although the Northern Goshawk Accipiter gentilis is not designated a threatened species in Japan, it is thought that its population once experienced a decrease. To evaluate the current status of the goshawk, we sequenced the mitochondrial DNA control region and determined its variation among individuals. Considering that part of the Japanese population migrates or moves seasonally, we divided the samples into two categories (breeding and non-breeding season, based on sampling dates) and then calculated indices of genetic diversity and statistics for each category. Among 145 samples, we found ten haplotypes, of which two were dominant in both frequency and range. Haplotype diversity and nucleotide diversity were 0.63±0.04SD and 0.0018±0.0014SD, respectively. Comparing this diversity with those of other species, we concluded that the status of the Northern Goshawk in Japan is neither urgent nor secure. Significant genetic distance was not detected between the breeding and non-breeding groups, thus we could find no evidence of seasonal movement. The long-term effective female population size was estimated at 3,000 to 30,000 individuals. A recent population decline was not detected from the mismatch distribution. Therefore, the past population decline of the goshawk may not have been very serious. Future studies should consider the genetic structure of goshawks that inhabit other areas near Japan.
Low-Voltage High-Speed Ring Oscillator With a-InGaZnO TFTs

This paper presents a high-speed ring oscillator (RO) with amorphous Indium-Gallium-Zinc-Oxide Thin-film transistors (a-IGZO TFTs). The proposed RO reduces the delay of a single stage inverter using intermediate signals generated within the RO, hence, improving the speed. To validate the proposed idea, two conventional ROs (with diode-load load inverter and bootstrapped pseudo-CMOS inverter) and the proposed RO were fabricated at a temperature ≤ 180°C. Measured results of the proposed RO have shown a frequency and power-delay-product (PDP) of 173.2 kHz and 0.7 nJ at a supply voltage of 6V. Further, it shows approximately 155% (44%) increase in frequency and 14% (24.5%) decrease in PDP compared to diode-load inverter (bootstrapped pseudo-CMOS inverter) based ROs. Therefore, the proposed RO finds applications in low-voltage and high speed designs for timing signal generation.
Two pathogens change cuticular hydrocarbon profiles but neither elicit a social behavioural change in infected honey bees, Apis mellifera (Apidae: Hymenoptera)

Social immunity is the cooperation of individual group members towards the control of disease transmission arising from social living. It has been identified as an important mechanism of natural disease control in honey bees, Apis mellifera Linnaeus, which can exhibit hygienic behaviours such as evicting pathogen‐infected or parasitised nest mates. Here, we examine if these bees exhibit a change in behaviour towards nest mates infected by the microsporidian pathogens Nosema apis and N. ceranae. We observed no significant change in the frequency of interactive and non‐interactive behaviours of bees towards Nosema‐infected nest mates, for both N. apis and N. ceranae. Thus, uninfected bees interacted and were exposed to pathogen‐infected bees equally often compared with uninfected bees. This lack of any behavioural modification suggests that bees are unable to recognise Nosema‐infected nest mates. These results were surprising given our analysis indicated that Nosema infection changes the hydrocarbon profiles of the bees, enabling the statistical discrimination of uninfected, N. apis and N. ceranae infected bees. The hydrocarbons we analysed were 16 straight‐chain alkanes ranging from heptadecane (C17H36) to tritriacontane (C33H68). Our results and those of others suggest that hygienic behaviour is currently unlikely to provide resistance towards Nosema pathogens in honey bees. The lack of social immunity was unexpected given the co‐evolution of one of the pathogens and honey bees. However, the modification of cuticular hydrocarbons by these pathogens provides a specific cue that may enable future selection and rearing of bees for Nosema‐related social immunity.
Cranial and dental remains of Deinotherium bozasi (Mammalia: Proboscidea) from East Rudolf, Kenya

A skull, three immature mandibles and a number of isolated teeth belonging to Deinotherium bozasi have been collected from Plio-Pleistocene sediments to the east of Lake Rudolf, Kenya. D. bozasi is the youngest representative of the family Deinotheriidae and the skull is the most complete yet found of this taxon. The East Rudolf specimens are contrasted with comparable specimens of Prodeinotherium hobleyi from East and North Africa and of Deinotherium giganteum from Europe. The size and morphology of the cranial vault of the East Rudolf skull confirms allocation to the genus Deinotherium but other dental and cranial evidence confirms taxonomic differentiation from D. giganteum and direct descent from P. hobleyi. Although the postcranial elements of D. bozasi are poorly known it is considered unlikely that this species developed the cursorial adaptations of D. giganteum. The extinction of D. bozasi is attributable to major changes in ecologic conditions towards the end of the early Pleistocene.
Speech Enhancement Using Masking for Binaural Reproduction of Ambisonics Signals

Speech enhancement in a single channel has been well studied in the literature in applications such as speech communication systems. However, in emerging applications such as virtual reality and spatial audio, in addition to attenuating undesired signals, the ability to preserve the spatial information of the desired signal captured in a noisy environment is of great importance. Nevertheless, there are only a few studies in the literature that propose solutions to this challenge. Most of these studies present solutions that attenuate the undesired signals, while preserving only limited spatial information regarding the desired signal, such as the direction of arrival (DOA). Methods that preserve complete spatial information have only recently been suggested, and have not been studied comprehensively. In this paper, two such methods based on time-frequency masking are investigated with the aim of attenuating the undesired signal, while preserving the spatial components of the desired signal. The first is referred to as spatial masking and is based on masking in the plane wave density (PWD) domain, and the second on masking in the spherical harmonics (SH) domain. The two methods are compared with a reference method, based on beamforming followed by single-channel time-frequency masking. Objective analysis and two listening tests were conducted in order to evaluate the performance of these methods for speech enhancement. It was shown that the spatial masking based method better preserves the desired component of the sound field, while the performance of the SH based method more strongly depends on the sources’ distances. On the other hand, the SH based method better preserves the DOA of the residual noise, while the DOA of the residual noise under the spatial masking based method is strongly affected by the undesired signal.
Host specificity of Gibbago trianthemae Simmons, a Phaeodictyoconidial Hyphomycetes fungus on Trianthema portulacastrum L. (Horse purslane)

Trianthema portulacastrum L. [ Horse purslane (Aizoaceae)] is a branched, prostrate, succulent, annual herb indigenous to South Africa (Adamson, 1962; Jeffrey, 1960, 1961), but is widely distributed in northern India and several other tropical and subtropical areas, including West Asia, Africa, and tropical America, as an invasive weed of cultivated fields and wastelands (Duthie ,1960; Holm et al., 1997).
An Assessment of Work Life Balance Practice of Church Leaders: The Case Study of the Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus (EECMY)

This study assessed the work-life balance practice of church leaders in the case of the Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus (EECMY). Besides, it also evaluated the relationship between work to life conflict, life to work conflict, perceived organizational support, and perceived social support and work life balance. Quantitative research was employed to collect the primary data for the study. The study found that church leaders have low work life balance. Moreover, it discovered that work to life conflict and life to work conflict have strongly negative relationship with work-life balance of the leaders. Again, it also revealed that perceived organizational support and perceived social support have no significant relationship with work life balance. Hence, the study concluded that work to life conflict highly contribute to improper work-life balance of the church leaders than life to work conflict. Hence, the church (EECMY) must initiate work-life balance policies, strategies and family-supportive environments or culture and different mechanisms that are fundamental in enhancing work life balance of the leaders. Besides, church leaders should advocate for family-friendly benefits and supportive culture in the organization, utilize such benefits, fairly allocate and manage their times, and have supportive family members and friends. Keyworks: Work Life Balance, Work to life Conflict, Life to Work Conflict, Perceived Organizational Support, Perceived Social Support. DOI: 10.7176/EJBM/12-4-06 Publication date: February 29 th 2020
SEGMENTATION OF MAMMARY LESIONS IN ULTRASOUND IMAGES APPLYING MASK R-CNN

Breast cancer is the most frequent malignant tumor in women and one of the most common in the world. One of the most important issues in this condition is early detection. Computer-aided diagnostic (CAD) systems are objects of research, aiming to provide a second opinion to the health professional. A fundamental aspect within the CAD system is the segmentation of the lesion, allowing an adequate extraction of the lesion characteristics. The use of a computerized segmentation method helps eliminate human variability and, consequently, improve the performance of the lesion classifier. Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) are being used in segmentation problems, such as various types of medical imaging, people and road signs detection, for example. So inspired by these promissing results, the present work has as main objective to analyze and implement the Mask R-CNN as a tool of segmentation of mammary lesions in images obtained by ultrasound, to propose an efficient method of segmentation, aiding in the classification process of the CAD systems.
In Vitro Metabolism Studies of Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers Using Rat and Human Liver Microsomes

A number of studies have recently reported the bioaccumulation of the commonly used fire retardants, Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers (PBDEs), in humans and wildlife. Exposure of animals to PBDEs has been shown to result in developmental neurological, reproductive abnormalities and the disruption of endocrine function. Thyroid hormone equilibria was also shown to be altered by PBDE exposure. There is evidence that hydroxylated metabolites of PBDEs are directly involved in some of these adverse effects. Although metabolites of PBDEs have been isolated and characterized during in vivo studies, the identification of metabolites from an in vitro system has been problematic. We investigated the in vitro metabolism of four PBDEs, with varying numbers of bromine atoms, in rat and human liver microsomes. The addition of small amounts of a nonionic surfactant to the reaction mixture was necessary to obtain measurable amounts of metabolites due to the low aqueous solubility of the PBDEs. Using gas chromatography/mass spectroscopy, mono and/or dihydroxylated metabolites were identified from three of the four PBDEs with phenobarbitol- and β-naphthoflavone-induced rat liver microsomes. When using uninduced rat or human liver microsomes, metabolites were found with only one of the PBDEs. The ease of PBDE metabolism appears to be inversely related to the number of bromine atoms on the parent compound.
Influência da adubação silicatada no teor de clorofila em folhas de roseira

A realizacao de estudo da adubacao silicatada em roseiras e justificada com o intuito de reduzir o numero de aplicacoes de defensivos agricolas, podendo aumentar a produtividade e a qualidade dos botoes florais na colheita e pos-colheita. A absorcao de silicio difere entre as especies vegetais. Ha evidencias de que o envolvimento dos silicatos na inducao de resistencia pode ocorrer pela participacao do proprio silicio, fortificando estruturas da parede celular, conferindo aumento da lignificacao. Baseando nos beneficios desse elemento, realizou-se o experimento para avaliar o efeito da adubacao silicatada no teor de clorofila, em folhas de roseiras. O experimento foi instalado em casa de vegetacao, em chacara comercial de producao de rosas, da variedade Versilia®. Os tratamentos testados consistiram da aplicacao de silicio utilizando-se como fonte o silicato de potassio, acrescido ou nao de fosfito. Utilizaram-se 4 doses de silicio: 0, 427,5; 855 e 1282,5 mg L-1, que corresponde a 0; 0,25; 0,5 e 0,75% na calda de pulverizacao. O delineamento utilizado foi em blocos casualizados, em esquema fatorial (2x4). As aplicacoes das doses 0,25 e 0,50% de silicato de potassio na calda foliar em roseira influenciaram os teores de clorofila a, b e clorofila total das folhas, proporcionando maiores teores em comparacao com os demais tratamentos.
Antimicrobial Susceptibility and Distribution of TEM and CTX-M Genes among ESBL-producing Klebsiella pneumoniae and Pseudomonas aeruginosa Causing Urinary Tract Infections

Article history: Received: 15 Feb 2013 Accepted: 17 Apr 2013 Available online: 15 May 2013 ZJRMS 2014; 16(4): 1-5 Background: Extended spectrum beta lactamases (ESBLs) have been observed in nearly all the species of family Enterobacteriaceae. The enzymes are plasmid mediated and are derived from broad-spectrum beta lactamase TEM and CTXM by a limited number of mutations. This study was undertaken to characterize ESBL producers among Klebsiella pneumoniae and Pseudomonas aeruginosa by PCR, which were initially screened by phenotypic method. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was performed to evaluate 180 strains (30 K. pneumoniae and 150 P. aeruginosa) isolated from urine culture of hospitalized patients (Amir Al-Momenin Hospital, Zabol, south-eastern Iran) suffered from urinary tract infections during a period of six months. The prevalence of ESBL producing K. pneumoniae and P. aeruginosa was evaluated by disk diffusion test and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) by detecting TEM and CTX-M gene. Results: The results of the study revealed that the prevalence of ESBL producing P. aeruginosa and K. pneumoniae by disk diffusion test was 13.3% for P. aeruginosa and 66.6% for K. pneumoniae. Seventy five percent and 65% of K. pneumoniae harboured the gene TEM and CTX-M, respectively. Forty five percent of P. aeruginosa isolates harboured the gene TEM but none of them demonstrated the gene CTX-M using PCR method. Conclusion: ESBL producing P. aeruginosa and K. pneumoniae isolates showed a high prevalence in this study. Therefore it seems that continuous surveillance is essential to monitor the ESBLs producing microorganisms in hospitals and community. Copyright © 2014 Zahedan University of Medical Sciences. All rights reserved.
Genetic Differentiation of Lineages of Tubifex tubifex from the San Juan River, New Mexico

Abstract Among sympatric populations of lineages I, III, and VI of Tubifex tubifex, lineage VI recently was shown to exhibit resistance to Myxobolus cerebralis, the causative agent of whirling disease in salmonids. Determining the genetic differentiation exhibited among T. tubifex from different habitats and among lineages is key to understanding the etiology of whirling disease. This study examined genetic divergence within two lineages (III and VI) of T. tubifex from shallow and deep habitats in a tailwater at Navajo Dam in the San Juan River, New Mexico. Starch-gel electrophoresis was used to delineate alleles of T. tubifex from deep and shallow habitats. Cellulose-acetate electrophoreses was used to delineate alleles of lineages III and VI of T. tubifex. Of the seven allozymes analyzed, leucine aminopeptidase (LAP) differentiated between lineages III and VI. The LAP allele ‘A’ was exhibited only within lineage III whereas both alleles ‘A’ and ‘B’ were exhibited within lineage VI. Furthermore, lineages III and VI exhibited a genetic distance of 0.124, but were more similar to each other than to T. tubifex from the Great Lakes. Genetic divergence between lineages III and VI of T. tubifex, when coupled with differences in resistance to M. cerebralis, provide support to the hypothesis that populations of T. tubifex are members of a cryptic-species complex.
Molecular-Phylogenetic Characterization of Arrestin-2 from Maruca vitrata (Lepidoptera: Crambidae)

ABSTRACT Most physiological processes to external stimulants rely upon intracellular signal transduction mediated by ligand binding of G-protein-coupled receptors. The G-protein signaling pathway is deactivated by arrestin-2 binding, which is indispensable for receptor internalization and recycling. We identified the full-length cDNA encoding arrestin-2 in Maruca vitrata F. using rapid amplification of cDNA ends. The open reading frame of MaviArr2 is 1,221 bp in length, encoding 407 amino acids. The alignment of the known arrestin-2 amino acid sequences from other insects revealed that MaviArr2 has the highest similarity (98.8%) to the monarch butterfly, but shows low homology (53.9–60.7%) with ants and bees. A certain number of highly conserved protein-binding motifs were identified from the deduced MaviArr2 amino acids, demonstrating their function as receptor deactivators in signal transduction pathways in cells. The genomic DNA sequence of MaviArr2, amplified by polymerase chain reaction, is 1,779 bp in size and is composed of six exons. Real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction assay demonstrated a relatively higher expression of MaviArr2 mRNA in the late pupal stages, suggesting multiple developmental functions. Phylogenetic analysis showed the lepidopteran arrestin-2 protein sequence is closely related to that of Diptera, but distant from Hymenoptera arrestin-2. Intraspecific genomic sequence comparisons of MaviArr2 show a greater conservation of the gene in M. vitrata from Africa than those from geographical locations in Asia. These findings are a significant step forward in our understanding of arrestin-2 gene architecture and functions, which may provide a possibility to manage M. vitrata through molecular and phylogenetic techniques.