Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Oral Bioavailability and Metabolism of Midazolam in Stable Critically Ill Children: A Pharmacokinetic Microtracing Study

Midazolam is metabolized by the developmentally regulated intestinal and hepatic drug‐metabolizing enzyme cytochrome P450 (CYP) 3A4/5. It is frequently administered orally to children, yet knowledge is lacking on the oral bioavailability in term neonates up until 1 year of age. Furthermore, the dispositions of the major metabolites 1‐OH‐midazolam (OHM) and 1‐OH‐midazolam‐glucuronide (OHMG) after oral administration are largely unknown for the entire pediatric age span. We aimed to fill these knowledge gaps with a pediatric [14C]midazolam microtracer population pharmacokinetic study. Forty‐six stable, critically ill children (median age 9.8 (range 0.3–276.4) weeks) received a single oral [14C]midazolam microtracer (58 (40–67) Bq/kg) when they received a therapeutic continuous intravenous midazolam infusion and had an arterial line in place enabling blood sampling. For midazolam, in a one‐compartment model, bodyweight was a significant predictor for clearance (0.98 L/hour) and volume of distribution (8.7 L) (values for a typical individual of 5 kg). The typical oral bioavailability in the population was 66% (range 25–85%). The exposures of OHM and OHMG were highest for the youngest age groups and significantly decreased with postnatal age. The oral bioavailability of midazolam, largely reflective of intestinal and hepatic CYP3A activity, was on average lower than the reported 49–92% for preterm neonates, and higher than the reported 21% for children> 1 year of age and 30% for adults. As midazolam oral bioavailability varied widely, systemic exposure of other CYP3A–substrate drugs after oral dosing in this population may also be unpredictable, with risk of therapy failure or toxicity.
Accurate Heuristic Terrain Prediction in Powered Lower-Limb Prostheses Using Onboard Sensors

<italic>Objective:</italic> This study describes the development and offline validation of a heuristic algorithm for accurate prediction of ground terrain in a lower limb prosthesis. This method is based on inference of the ground terrain geometry using estimation of prosthetic limb kinematics during gait with a single integrated inertial measurement unit. <italic>Methods:</italic> We asked five subjects with below-knee amputations to traverse level ground, stairs, and ramps using a high-range-of-motion powered prosthesis while internal sensor data were remotely logged. We used these data to develop three terrain prediction algorithms. The first two employed state-of-the-art machine learning approaches, while the third was a directly tuned heuristic using thresholds on estimated prosthetic ankle joint translations and ground slope. We compared the performance of these algorithms using resubstitution error for the machine learning algorithms and overall error for the heuristic algorithm. <italic>Results:</italic> Our optimal machine learning algorithm attained a resubstitution error of <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$3.4\%$</tex-math></inline-formula> using 45 features, while our heuristic method attained an overall prediction error of <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$2.8\%$</tex-math></inline-formula> using only 5 features derived from estimation of ground slope and horizontal and vertical ankle joint displacement. Compared with pattern recognition, the heuristic performed better on each individual subject, and across both level and non-level strides. <italic>Conclusion and significance:</italic> These results demonstrate a method for heuristic prediction of ground terrain in a powered prosthesis. The method is more accurate, more interpretable, and less computationally expensive than machine learning methods considered state-of-the-art for intent recognition, and relies only on integrated prosthesis sensors. Finally, the method provides intuitively tunable thresholds to improve performance for specific walking conditions.
A Policy-Sensitive Model of Parking Choice for Commercial Vehicles in Urban Areas

Understanding factors that drive the parking choice of commercial vehicles at delivery stops in cities can enhance logistics operations and the management of freight parking infrastructure, mitigate illegal parking, and ultimately reduce traffic congestion. In this paper, we focus on this decision-making process at large urban freight traffic generators, such as retail malls and transit terminals, that attract a large share of urban commercial vehicle traffic. Existing literature on parking behavior modeling has focused on passenger vehicles. This paper presents a discrete choice model for commercial vehicle parking choice in urban areas. The model parameters were estimated by using detailed, real-world data on commercial vehicle parking choices collected in two commercial urban areas in Singapore. The model analyzes the effect of several variables on the parking behavior of commercial vehicle drivers, including the presence of congestion and queueing, attitudes toward illegal parking, and pricing (parking fees). The model was validated against real data and applied within a discrete-event simulation to test the economic and environmental impacts of several parking measures, including pricing strategies and parking enforcement.
Ultrastructure and relationships of spermatozoa of the freshwater crabs Potamon fluviatile and Potamon ibericum (Crustacea, Brachyura, Potamidae)

The spermatozoa of Potamon fluviatile and P. ibericum are virtually indistinguishable and do not support separate subgeneric rank (Potamon and Pontipotamon, respectively). Synapomorphic with the spermatozoa of the South African freshwater crab Potamonautes perlatus sidneyi are the elongation of the two centrioles and disposition of the centrioles almost parallel to each other, unknown elsewhere in the Brachyura, and reduction of the thickened ring (homoplasic with grapsids and gecarcinids). Other, probably synapomorphic, similarities of Potamon and Potamonautes include the wide inner acrosome zone, absence of a definite acrosome ray zone (homoplasic in other families) and the cleistospermial spermatophores. Further similarities, of questionable polarity, are the simple, not multilaminar, nuclear membrane and the tendency of the nuclear arms to wrap around the nucleus. Differences of Potamon from Potamonautes, which possibly support their present generic separation and give weak support to their former separate familial placement in the Potamidae and Potamonautidae respectively, are perforation of the operculum and the weak, rather than strong, development of a periopercular rim. Absence in Potamon and Potamonautes of an accessory opercular ring and a xanthid ring separates them from xanthids. No close affinities with other heterotreme families are seen but their assignment to the Heterotremata is not in doubt. Their spermatozoa lack two of the distinctive features of thoracotreme spermatozoa (apical button on the operculum and concentric lamellation of the outer acrosome zone). No clear correlates of spermatozoon structure with a freshwater existence are recognizable but reduction of the thickened ring possibly relates to peculiarities of the acrosome reaction. However, the production of spermatophores with single spermatozoa (cleistospermia) is possibly a device to prevent polyspermy and wastage of the small number of lecithotrophic eggs produced in potamids.
Histochemistry of lignin and suberin deposition in boundary layers formed after wounding in various plant species and organs

Wound responses in a variety of injured plant tissues were assessed using conventional lignin tests and fluorescence techniques for suberin detection in tissues present at the time of wounding. The tissue assessed included twigs of four conifer species, barley and cherry foliage, fern rachis, potato tuber, carrot root, musksmelon cotyledons, and cucumber hypocotyl. Apple leaves infected by a leaf spotting fungus (Botryosphaeria obtusa) were also examined. All tissues, except barley and apple foliage and fern rachis, formed a morphologically distinct lignosuberized boundary layer from cells present at the time of wounding. The boundary layer consisted initially of cells with lignified walls which with time developed suberin lamellae. In the fern rachis, the boundary layer was suberized in the absence of lignin. In the wounded barley and infected apple foliage, neither lignin nor suberin was detected histochemically.
Urinary Trypsin Inhibitor : Production in the Liver and Reabsorption in the Kidney of the Rat

microscopic immunohistochemistry, not only the hepatocytes but also the Kupffer cells of liver and the proximal tubules of kidney were immunostained with anti-UTI antibody. Immunoelectron microscopy further demonstrated that hepatocyte UTI-immunoreactivity is localized primarily on the cell surface facing the sinusoidal capillary and is also found in the Golgi apparatus. In contrast, the reactivity of Kupffer cell and
ESTIMATION OF BIOAVAILABLE AMINO ACIDS IN FEEDINGSTUFFS FOR POULTRY AND PIGS: A REVIEW WITH EMPHASIS ON BALANCE EXPERIMENTS

A bioavailable nutrient has the potential to be utilized when ingested. Ideally, the nutrient requirements of animals and the nutrient concentrations of feedingstuffs should be expressed in terms of bioavailable units. Bioavailability is an abstract concept which cannot be measured but it can be estimated. The purpose of this review is to describe, evaluate and compare procedures used to estimate the concentrations of bioavailable amino acids (BAA) in feedingstuffs for pigs and poultry. Accurate and precise measurement of total amino acid (AA) concentrations is of fundamental importance to many assays. Problems are encountered both in making the AA available for measurement (hydrolysis) and in the measurement procedures. There is need for standardization of methodology but until this is achieved caution must be exercised when comparing data obtained by different techniques or even from different laboratories. In vitro assays for BAA are relatively fast and can be made without access to animals. Enzymic di.
RAPD differentiation between Borderea pyrenaica and B. chouardii (Dioscoreaceae), two relict endangered taxa

As currently circumscribed, the genus Borderea Mieg. comprises two narrowly distributed European taxa, Borderea pyrenaica (Bub.) Mieg. and B. chouardii (Gaussen) Heslot. An accumulation of facts such as that both species share a very close overall morphology, that only a single population of Borderea chouardii is known, and that they live in contrasting environments has led some authors to suggest that B. chouardii is a mere ecotype of the more widespread B. pyrenaica. We tested this hypothesis using RAPD markers in four populations of Borderea, three of them identified as B. pyrenaica and the other one representing the only known population of B. chouardii. Eleven out of twenty assayed primers yielded consistent and reproducible polymorphims between accessions. Overall, 145 reproducible bands were scored, 116 of which (80.0%) were variable between samples. Mean similarity values within Borderea pyrenaica populations were lower (0.78) than those obtained for B. chouardii (0.94); pairwise similarities amon.
Response of mannitol-producing Arabidopsis thaliana to abiotic stress.

In celery, mannitol is a primary photosynthetic product that is associated with celery's exceptional salt tolerance. Arabidopsis plants transformed with celery's mannose-6-phosphate reductase (M6PR) gene produce mannitol and grow normally in the absence of stress. Daily analysis of the increase in growth (fresh and dry weight, leaf number, leaf area per plant and specific leaf weight) over a 12-day period showed less effect of salt (100 mm NaCl) on the M2 transformant than wild type (WT). Following a 12-day treatment of WT, M2 and M5 plants with 100 or 200 mm NaCl the total shoot fresh weight, leaf number, and leaf area were significantly greater in transformants than in WT plants. The efficiency of use of energy for photochemistry by PSII was measured daily under growth conditions. In WT plants treated with 100 mm NaCl, the PSII yield begin decreasing after 6 days with a 50% loss in yield after 12 days, indicating a severe loss in PSII efficiency; whereas, there was no effect on the transformants. Under atmospheric levels of CO2, growth with 200 mm NaCl caused an increase in the substomatal levels of CO2 in WT plants but not in transformants. It also caused a marked decrease in carboxylation efficiency under limiting levels of CO2 in WT compared with transformants. When stress was imposed and growth reduced by withholding water for 12 days, which resulted in a similar decrease in relative water content to salt-treated plants, there were no differences among the genotypes in PSII yields or growth. The results suggest mannitol, which is known to be a compatible solute and antioxidant, protects photosynthesis against salt-related damage to chloroplasts.
Using infrared imagery to test for quadrat‐level temperature variation and effects on the early life history of a rocky‐shore barnacle

Most rocky intertidal studies examine early life‐history processes at the quadrat level, but few, if any, have measured temperature variation at this scale in the field. This is surprising because the early life stages of rocky‐shore invertebrates are considered particularly vulnerable to thermal and desiccation stresses and recruitment processes play a key role in structuring adult populations. We used infrared imagery to quantify in situ variation in rock temperatures during aerial exposure among 35 to 50 400‐cm2 quadrats (a typical size utilized in intertidal studies). We test whether natural variation in or experimental manipulation of free space, a potential limiting resource, influences temperature variability among quadrats. We then ask whether quadrat‐scale temperature variability and the availability of free space influence the early life‐history processes of the habitat‐forming barnacle Tesseropora rosea in southeastern Australia. Rock temperatures within quadrats separated by tens of meters differed by up to 8.2°C and temperatures within both natural and manipulated quadrats were positively related to free space. Early postsettlement performance was significantly related to this quadrat‐scale temperature variability. In unmanipulated quadrats with 100% free space, settlers in consistently “warmer” quadrats displayed reduced early growth and survival compared with settlers in consistently “cooler” quadrats (growth: r2 = 0.48, p = 0.001, n = 18; survival: r2 = 0.41, p < 0.01, n = 17). Although rock temperatures varied significantly with free space, early postsettlement growth and survival did not. Our results highlight both the strong response of early life stages to large natural variation in rock temperatures and the consequent importance of considering quadrat‐scale temperature variation in future manipulative experiments.
Age-Groups from Size-Frequency Data: A Versatile and Efficient Method of Analyzing Distribution Mixtures

For estimating age-group parameters from size-frequency data, conventional efficient statistical methods, such as maximum likelihood, can be more effective than the commonly used graphical methods of dissecting a mixed distribution. Fisheries size-frequency data are usually grouped over size intervals and the efficient methods are easily programmed on a computer for this case. We show that several published alternatives offer no computational advantages over our method. We describe an interactive computer program that assists the user in determining which parameters may be estimated from a set of data. The program alternates between constrained direct-search optimization and fast iterative calculations. Two examples of fisheries length-frequency data show that fitting is made easier by employing a subsample aged by biological methods for the preliminary starting values of parameters, and that the best fit may involve a trade-off between statistical precision and biological plausibility. The value of mixtu.
A Microsatellite Marker and a Codominant PCR‐Based Marker for Marker‐Assisted Selection of Submergence Tolerance in Rice

Submergence tolerance is an important trait for rice (Oryza sativa L.) in rainfed lowland conditions and is being evaluated as a weed control strategy for rice seeded directly into standing water. The trait is largely controlled by a major gene designated Subl. The present study was conducted to assess the use of the microsatellite marker RM219 and the codominant PCR-based marker RM464A (derived from a microsatellite marker, RM464) to select for submergence tolerance. The two markers RM219 and RM464A were found to be linked to Subl by 3.4 and 0.7 cM, respectively. These two markers were further tested in 55 diverse indica and japonica rice cultivars and breeding lines. RM219 was highly polymorphic in this set of cultivars, showing 14 different alleles, and none of the 55 cultivars had the same allele as the submergence tolerance source IR40931-26. RM464A showed three different alleles in the 55 cultivars. The allele of RM464A of most japonica genotypes was 231 bp in size, 5 bp larger than that of IR40931-26, whereas the allele of most indica rice samples was the same as that of IR40931-26. This indicated that the marker RM219 could be used in breeding programs to select for the Subl gene in a wide range of backgrounds, whereas RM464A was more useful in selection for the Subl gene in japonica rice background. The two markers were used to identify lines from backcrossing a submergence tolerance donor to the temperate japonica cultivar M-202. Several lines were identified that were homozygous for RM219, RM464A, and Subl, and were otherwise genetically similar to M-202. Near isogenic lines (NILs) developed from these sources will be a valuable tool for genetic and physiological studies of submergence tolerance and will also be valuable for evaluating submergence tolerance as a useful trait in water-seeded temperate rice production.
Feeding Habits And Natural Diet of the Intertidal Crab Pachygrapsus marmoratus: Opportunistic Browser or Selective Feeder?

The aim of this study was to identify the feeding habits of the European intertidal crab Pachygrapsus marmoratus. Since this species is widely distributed in southern Europe, four south-western European sites far apart from each other were selected: southern Portugal, central Portugal, central Tyrrhenian coast, Italy, and northern Adriatic coast, Istria. In summer, crabs were collected and the contents of their stomachs were assessed in the laboratory. In parallel, at each collection site the relative abundance of algae species and of sessile and slow-moving animals was assessed for comparison with the relative frequency of the same items in the P. marmoratus diet. The detailed analysis of its feeding habits showed that this species is omnivorous but that it cannot simply be considered an opportunistic feeder. In all populations, algal and animal diet components were almost equally abundant; thus these crabs actively regulate their feeding to cope with the dietary needs of their fast-moving, semi-terrestrial life-style. Descriptive and quantitative analyses showed that P. marmoratus has definite preferences for animal prey and algae. Limpets and mussels proved to be the commonest prey, followed by conspecific crabs. The highly preferred plant item was filamentous algae, although corticated macroalgae and articulated calcareous algae were also common in the diet. Cyanobacteria were preferred only at the Atlantic sites and crustose algae were represented only by Ralfsia sp. , a species with high protein and lipid contents. Both univariate and multivariate statistical methods confirmed that the different populations of P. marmoratus were minimally influenced by the relative abundance of the food items within their environment and their diet composition was constant throughout the sampled area. In conclusion, the relative abundance of different ingested foods can best be explained by considering the diet of P. marmoratus to be related mainly to its population structure and, for some food items, to the feeding physiology of the crab itself.
Meal distribution across the day and its relationship with body composition

Evidence has suggested that meal distribution across the day may influence body composition. This study aimed to evaluate the distribution of energy and macronutrient intake in healthy men and women, and to correlate it with body composition. Fifty-two healthy volunteers (24 men), aged 20–45 years old, participated in the study. Food intake was analyzed by a three-day food record and anthropometric measurements included body mass, height, body mass index, body fat percentage, and waist circumference. Positive correlations were found in men between night fat intake and body mass index, body fat percentage and waist circumference and negative correlations were seen between morning energy and macronutrient intake and the same anthropometric variables. These data suggest that fat intake at night is associated with higher values in anthropometric variables while morning food intake can be associated with lower values in anthropometric variables.
Ethanol fermentation of enzymatically hydrolysed pretreated wood fractions using Trichoderma cellulases, Zymomonas mobilis, and Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Several highly cellulolytic fungi were initially screened for their cellulase and β-glucosidase activities. Culture filtrates from Trichoderma E58 demonstrated the highest β-glucosidase activity, giving a value of 1.0 IU/mg protein. A variety of different cellulose and pretreated wood substrates were hydrolysed by various cellulase preparations. The importance of the pretreatment conditions and ensuing chemical extractions of the cellulosic substrates was demonstrated by the range of sugar and ethanol values obtained after saccharification and fermentation of the liberated sugars. The rate of hydrolysis of the cellulosic substrate by Trichoderma E58 culture filtrates, concentrated culture filtrates, and whole cell cultures was compared. An ethanol value of 2.2% (w/v) could be obtained after hydrolysis of 5% Solka floe by concentrated culture filtrates of Trichoderma E58 and fermentation of the liberated sugars by Zymomonas mobilis or Saccharomyces cerevisiae.
Development and characterization of microsatellite markers for a monoecious Ficus species, Ficus insipida , and cross- species amplification among different sections of Ficus

The animal-mediated pollination and seed-dispersal mutualisms of Ficus species give them key roles in tropical ecosystems, but may make them vulnerable to habitat fragmentation. The development of highly polymorphic markers is needed to analyse their genetic diversity and investigate the effects of fragmentation on gene flow. Of thirteen microsatellite loci isolated from Ficus insipida, a monoecious species in French Guiana, eleven were polymorphic (two to six alleles each). High levels of variation were found among loci; expected heterozygosities ranged from 0.151 to 0.715. All markers revealed a broad cross-species affinity when tested in 23 other Ficus species.
Chitosan-induced defence responses in tomato plants against early blight disease caused by Alternaria solani (Ellis and Martin) Sorauer

The in vitro antifungal properties of chitosan and its role in protection of tomato from early blight disease were evaluated. Chitosan inhibited the radial and submerged growth of Alternaria solani at 1 mg/ml, and controls tomato plants from blight pathogen. Chitosan induces the level of chitinase activity and new isoforms of chitinase resulting in the reduction of early blight disease severity in tomato leaves. These results suggested the role of chitosan in activation of defence responses as well as protecting tomato plants from A. solani infection.