Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
High-fat diet withdrawal modifies alcohol preference and transcription of dopaminergic and GABAergic receptors

Abstract The bidirectional and positive relation between the ingestion of fat and alcohol has become the subject of extensive discussion. However, this relation is more studied in animal models of binge eating with intermittent access of high-fat diet or in a model of short period of this diet consumption. Here, we developed a model to elucidate how chronic high-fat diet and its withdrawal influence alcohol intake (two-bottle choice) and anxiety behavior (marble burying test). In the first experimental stage, animals were fed on standard (AIN93G) or high sugar and butter (HSB) diet for 8 weeks. Then, a protocol of free-choice between water and a 10% alcohol solution was introduced, and the HSB diet was replaced with AIN93G in two experimental groups. The result obtained with this model point out that the relation among high-fat diet consumption and alcohol intake appears to depend on the presence or absence of the diet when alcohol intake is evaluated, and that an imbalance in the mesocorticolimbic dopaminergic pathway, observed by the transcriptional regulation of the dopamine receptors (Drd1/Drd2) and GABAB receptors subunit (Gabbr1/Gabbr2), can be driving the alcohol intake.
Climate change and food production in Nigeria: Implication for food security in Nigeria

Food production in Nigeria is largely dependent on natural environmental resources like rainfall, temperature and relative humidity. This study examined the impact of some of these climatic variables on food production in Nigeria from 1975 to 2010. Secondary time series data obtained from FAOSTAT (Food and Agriculture Organization statistics) and Nigerian Meteorological Agency were used for the study. The data were analyzed using some econometric tools such as Augmented Dickey Fuller (ADF) test, Johansen Test and Vector Error Correction (VEC) Estimates. The ADF test reveals that relative humidity integrated at order zero level while rainfall and temperature and agricultural output were stationary after differencing at level 1 thus showing that the variables had relationship. The results of the Johansen co-integrated test revealed that there is one co-integrating equation at 5% showing a co-integrating relationship between agricultural output and the climatic variables. The Vector Error Correction Estimates indicated that rainfall was positively significant at 5% to food production on the short run indicating that vagaries in climate especially rainfall affected food production and output in Nigeria. It was recommended, therefore, that measure that could help to mitigate the adverse effects of inadequate rainfall e.g. irrigation, drought resistant crops varieties among others should be put in place by the government. Farmers should equally be sensitized and trained in the area of adaptation and mitigation of the effect of climate change as this will go a long way to ameliorate large scale failure in food production in the country.
A flexible approach to identify interaction effects between moderators in meta‐analysis

In meta‐analytic studies, there are often multiple moderators available (eg, study characteristics). In such cases, traditional meta‐analysis methods often lack sufficient power to investigate interaction effects between moderators, especially high‐order interactions. To overcome this problem, meta‐CART was proposed: an approach that applies classification and regression trees (CART) to identify interactions, and then subgroup meta‐analysis to test the significance of moderator effects. The aim of this study is to improve meta‐CART upon two aspects: 1) to integrate the two steps of the approach into one and 2) to consistently take into account the fixed‐effect or random‐effects assumption in both the the interaction identification and testing process. For fixed effect meta‐CART, weights are applied, and subgroup analysis is adapted. For random effects meta‐CART, a new algorithm has been developed. The performance of the improved meta‐CART was investigated via an extensive simulation study on different types of moderator variables (ie, dichotomous, nominal, ordinal, and continuous variables). The simulation results revealed that the new method can achieve satisfactory performance (power greater than 0.80 and Type I error less than 0.05) if appropriate pruning rule is applied and the number of studies is large enough. The required minimum number of studies ranges from 40 to 120 depending on the complexity and strength of the interaction effects, the within‐study sample size, the type of moderators, and the residual heterogeneity.
Orthogonal Matrix Decomposition for Adaptive Sparse Grid Density Estimation Methods

In this thesis a new algorithm for adaptive sparse grid density estimation is introduced and analyzed. In an offline/online splitting context an orthogonal decomposition of the underlying system matrix and Sherman-Morrison rank-one updates are used. This allows for regularization, which can be followed by adaptivity. The current implementation’s runtime is analyzed and evaluated with respect to the Cholesky decomposition based algorithm for the same task. The new algorithm reaches faster solving times, while the speed of the other online subroutines stays in the same runtime complexity, though slightly slower. Furthermore, the new algorithm can be optimized through parallelization.
Recommended housing densities for research mice: filling the gap in data-driven alternatives

Space recommendations for mice made in the Guide for Care and Use of Laboratory Animals have not changed since 1972, despite important improvements in husbandry and caging practices. The 1996 version of the Guide put forth a challenge to investigators to produce new data evaluating the effects of space allocation on the well‐being of mice. In this review, we summarize many studies published in response to this challenge. We distinguish between studies using ventilated or nonventilated caging systems and those evaluating reproductive performance or general well‐being of adult mice. We discuss how these studies might affect current housing density considerations in both production and research settings and consider gaps in mouse housing density research. Additionally, we discuss reliable methods used to monitor and quantify general well‐being of research mice. Collectively, this large body of new data suggests that husbandry practices dictating optimal breeding schemes and space allocation per mouse can be reconsidered. Specifically, these data demonstrate that prewean culling of litters has no benefit, trio breeding is an effective production strategy without adversely affecting pup survival and well‐being, and housing of adult mice at densities of up to twice current Guide recommendations does not compromise well‐being for most strains. —Svenson, K. L. , Paigen, B. Recommended housing densities for research mice: filling the gap in data‐driven alternatives. FASEB J. 33, 3097–3111 (2019). www.fasebj. org
Determinants and Consequences of Chief Information Officer Equity Incentives

Abstract The chief information officer (CIO) is responsible for bridging the gap between two critical domains—technology and business, making the CIO's job uniquely different from other executives. As digital technologies become increasingly important to firms' competitive success, boards of directors and senior executives seek to align the CIO role with overall firm's objectives. Agency theory suggests that one way to create the alignment between an executive's efforts and firm performance is to implement appropriate equity compensation incentives (i.e., those resulting from stock and stock options) tying the executive's wealth to firm value. To date, research does not address what factors a firm should consider when designing CIO incentives and how these incentives influence firm performance. To address this major gap, we examine both the antecedents and performance consequences of CIO equity incentives. We assess organizational, environmental, and individual factors that influence CIO equity incentives and find that environmental and organizational factors are more important than individual CIO characteristics in the determination of CIO equity incentives. We also find that firms that create higher CIO equity incentives realize greater subsequent accounting and market performance. Our research contributes to the IT personnel literature by showing how firms can use compensation policies to leverage the CIO role to enhance overall business performance.
Predicting Volume and Biomass Change from Multi-Temporal Lidar Sampling and Remeasured Field Inventory Data in Panther Creek Watershed, Oregon, USA

Using lidar for large-scale forest management can improve operational and management decisions. Using multi-temporal lidar sampling and remeasured field inventory data collected from 78 plots in the Panther Creek Watershed, Oregon, USA, we evaluated the performance of different fixed and mixed models in estimating change in aboveground biomass ( ∆ AGB ) and cubic volume including top and stump ( ∆ CVTS ) over a five-year period. Actual values of CVTS and AGB were obtained using newly fitted volume and biomass equations or the equations used by the Pacific Northwest unit of the Forest Inventory and Analysis program. Estimates of change based on fixed and mixed-effect linear models were more accurate than change estimates based on differences in LIDAR-based estimates. This may have been due to the compounding of errors in LIDAR-based estimates over the two time periods. Models used to predict volume and biomass at a given time were, however, more precise than the models used to predict change. Models used to estimate ∆ CVTS were not as accurate as the models employed to estimate ∆ AGB . Final models had cross-validation root mean squared errors as low as 40.90% for ∆ AGB and 54.36% for ∆ CVTS .
Offspring of the crosses of two anti-sense potato plants exhibit additive cellulose reduction

Two transgenic potato lines, csr2-1 and csr4-8, containing two different antisense genes: csr2 and csr4, respectively, were crossed to investigate the possibility of achieving reduction in cellulose content in the tuber cell walls of the progeny. The progeny containing both transgenes (double csr2/csr4 transformant) exhibited reduction of 63% in cell wall cellulose content, while the single transformants csr2 and csr4 had a 44 and 22% reduction in cellulose content, respectively. Key words: Cellulose content, cellulose synthase, double transformant, genetic crossing, Solanum tuberosum.
Distribution of benthic diatoms in Korean rivers and streams in relation to environmental variables

The diatoms are an ecologically important group of algae that have been extensively studied by ecologists and taxonomists. However, the large-scale patterns of diatom distribution and the factors under- lying this distribution are largely unknown. The aims of this study were to identify the large-scale spatial patterns of benthic diatom assemblages in Korean streams and rivers, and to assess the importance of numer- ous environmental factors on diatom distribution. We classified 720 study sites based on diatom flora. Benthic diatoms, water chemistry, altitude, and riparian land cover and use were characterized by multivariate analyses, Monte Carlo permutation tests, and indicator species analysis. In total, we identified 531 diatom taxa. Diatom assemblages were mostly dominated by species of the genera Achnanthes, Navicula, Nitzschia, Cocconeis, Fragilaria (Synedra included), Cymbella, Gomphonema, and Melosira. Cluster analysis partitioned all 720 sites into eight groups based on diatom species composition. Canonical correspondence analysis in- dicated that altitude, land cover and use, current velocity, electrical conductivity, and nutrient levels explained a significant amount of the variation in the composition of assemblages of benthic diatoms. At the national scale, a downstream ecological gradient was apparent, from fast-flowing, mostly oligotrophic highland streams to slow-flowing, mostly eutrophic lowland rivers. Our data suggest that spatial factors explain some of the variation in diatom distribution. The present investigation of the spatial patterns of benthic diatoms, the ecological determinants of diatom occurrence, and the identification of diatom indicator species contributes to development of a program for assessing the biological integrity of lotic ecosystems in Korea.
KDM5B Promotes Drug Resistance by Regulating Melanoma-Propagating Cell Subpopulations

Tumor heterogeneity is a major challenge for cancer treatment, especially due to the presence of various subpopulations with stem cell or progenitor cell properties. In mouse melanomas, both CD34+p75− (CD34+) and CD34−p75− (CD34−) tumor subpopulations were characterized as melanoma-propagating cells (MPC) that exhibit some of those key features. However, these two subpopulations differ from each other in tumorigenic potential, ability to recapitulate heterogeneity, and chemoresistance. In this study, we demonstrate that CD34+ and CD34− subpopulations carrying the BRAFV600E mutation confer differential sensitivity to targeted BRAF inhibition. Through elevated KDM5B expression, melanoma cells shift toward a more drug-tolerant, CD34− state upon exposure to BRAF inhibitor or combined BRAF inhibitor and MEK inhibitor treatment. KDM5B loss or inhibition shifts melanoma cells to the more BRAF inhibitor–sensitive CD34+ state. These results support that KDM5B is a critical epigenetic regulator that governs the transition of key MPC subpopulations with distinct drug sensitivity. This study also emphasizes the importance of continuing to advance our understanding of intratumor heterogeneity and ultimately develop novel therapeutics by altering the heterogeneous characteristics of melanoma.
Molecular and Computational Methods for the Detection of Microsatellite Instability in Cancer

Microsatellite instability (MSI) is a genomic alteration in which microsatellites, usually of one to four nucleotide repeats, accumulate mutations corresponding to deletions/insertions of a few nucleotides. The MSI phenotype has been extensively characterized in colorectal cancer and is due to a deficiency of the DNA mismatch repair system. MSI has recently been shown to be present in most types of cancer with variable frequencies (from <1 to 30%). It correlates positively to survival outcome and predicts the response to immune checkpoint blockade therapy. The different methods developed for MSI detection in cancer require taking into consideration two critical parameters which influence method performance. First, the microsatellite markers used should be chosen carefully to ensure they are highly sensitive and specific for MSI detection. Second, the analytical method used should be highly resolute to allow clear identification of MSI and of the mutant allele genotype, and should present the lowest limit of detection possible for application in samples with low mutant allele frequency. In this review, we describe all the different molecular and computational methods developed to date for the detection of MSI in cancer, how they have evolved and improved over the years, and their advantages and drawbacks.
Types of Agglomeration Economies: Effects on Business Innovation

A review of the literature does not provide conclusive results about the effects caused by firm agglomeration on innovation. In order to shed light on this issue, this paper draws a distinction among three kinds of agglomeration economies and empirically tests their respective impact on business innovation. The advantage that external knowledge generated through concentration can bring to each company depends on its absorptive capacity. Hence, it is posited that this dynamic capability acts as a mediator in the relationship between agglomeration and innovation. Using data from a survey conducted in 2013 by the Technological Innovation Panel (PITEC), an analysis of these ideas was performed using a sample of 2,906 high and medium-high technology companies. The results obtained indicate that several types of agglomeration economies exist and that the net effect each one of them has on innovation is different. More specifically, only urban ization economies favor innovation. Additionally, all of our findings reveal that firms increase their greater absorptive capacity in the context of agglomeration.
Papaya extract upregulates the immune and antioxidants‐related genes, and proteins expression in milk somatic cells of Friesian dairy cows

Carica papaya is a perennial plant containing bioactive constituents with free radical-scavenging and immune-modulating activities. In contrast, the immune suppression is predominant in the periparturient period, where oxidative stress has a substantial impact on the mammary gland health. The aim of the experiment reported here was to determine the potential effect of C. papaya aqueous extract (CPE) on milk production traits, and expression of genes and proteins related to immune and antioxidant status in dairy milk somatic cells (MSCs). Forty Friesian dairy cows were divided equally between a control and CPE-treated groups (orally drenched 250 µg/kg bwt, once weekly a month before expected parturition and continued until 5 months post-partum). CPE did not affect milk yield or composition but upregulated the expression of β13-defensin (DEFB13), cathelicidin 2 (CATHL2), cathelicidin antimicrobial peptide (CATHL3), hepcidin (HAMP), lysozyme (LYZ), catalase (CAT) and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) in MSCs. The environmental micro-organisms did not influence the levels of the transcripts. The DEFB13, CATHL2, CATHL3, HAMP and LYZ, but not β1-defensin (DEFB1) transcripts and proteins were constitutively expressed in MSCs obtained from pathogen-free udders. It could be concluded that CPE has immunostimulant and antioxidant activities; thereby, it could be utilized to minimize the occurrence of mastitis.
Effects of Personal Protective Equipment on Metabolism and Performance During an Occupational Physical Ability Test for Federal Highway Police Officers.

Marins, EF, Cabistany, L, Farias, CB, Dawes, J, and Del Vecchio, FB. Effects of personal protective equipment on metabolism and performance during an Occupational Physical Ability Test for Federal Highway Police officers. J Strength Cond Res XX(X): 000-000, 2018-Federal Highway Police (FHP) officers perform their duties while wearing personal protective equipment (PPE). Given the need for officers to wear PPE, it is important to understand the effects this additional load can have on occupational performance. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of load carriage on physiological, perceptual, and performance responses during an Occupational Physical Ability Test (OPAT). Thirteen male FHP officers completed an OPAT with PPE (WPPE, load = 12.0 kg) and without PPE (NPPE, load = 5.2 kg) in 2 separate sessions in a randomized and counterbalanced order. Metabolic responses (heart rate [HR] and its variability, and blood lactate concentration [Lac]), perceptual (rating of perceived exertion [RPE]), and OPAT performance were measured. Paired t and Wilcoxon tests were used to identify differences between conditions, and 2-way analysis of variance with Bonferroni post hoc was performed to analyze the results of Lac between the conditions. Occupational Physical Ability Test completion time was significantly greater in the WPPE condition compared with the NPPE condition (125.9 ± 13.8 vs. 118.3 ± 11 seconds, p < 0.01). Lac after the OPAT was higher in the NPPE condition compared with the WPPE (respectively 11.7 ± 2.7 vs. 9.6 ± 1.5 mmol·L, p < 0.05). The HRmax (NPPE = 180.5 ± 8.9 vs. WPPE = 178.3 ± 6.6 b·min, p = 0.44) and RPE (NPPE = 8.6 ± 0.8 vs. WPPE = 8.7 ± 1.0, p = 0.77) were not different between conditions. Personal protective equipment reduces performance in specific occupational circuit, changing Lac but without affecting HR and RPE. Strength and conditioning programs for FHP should aim to reduce the negative impact of additional load associate with wearing PPE.
The Role of Elders in the Wellbeing of a Contemporary Australian Indigenous Community.

Background and Objectives Traditional Elders are integral to the social structure of Australian Indigenous communities. Due to progressive loss of traditional way of life, however, the role of Elders has been eroding. This study aims to develop a conceptual model of the role of Elders in an Australian Indigenous community, with the goal of attaining strategies to strengthen the role of Elders. Research Design and Methods The study, conducted in a regional Indigenous community in Australia, adopted a community-based participatory approach. Design and focus of the project were informed by a community forum (Yarning Circle). One-on-one semistructured interviews and focus groups with community members were conducted by Indigenous researchers. Group concept mapping (GCM) was applied to elicit major themes in qualitative data, from the point of view of community members, and to derive a conceptual model of the role of Elders. Results Fifty members of the Indigenous community took part in interviews and focus groups. The participants' median age was 45 years (range 18-76 years); 31 (62%) were female. An additional 24 Indigenous community members took part in the data sorting task of GCM. GCM identified seven major aspects of the role of Elders, including Community relations, Passing down the knowledge, Dealing with racism and oppression, Building a better resourced community, Intergenerational connectedness, Safeguarding our identity, and Caring for our youth. Discussion and Implications Elders fulfill many important roles in contemporary Indigenous communities. Our results can be used to assist the community to codesign a program to increase community wellbeing.
Profitability and Efficiency of Foreign and Domestic Banks: A Case Study of Pakistan

This study examines the profitability and efficiency of domestic and foreign banks of Pakistan during 2006-2010. The type of ownership of banks was divided into domestic and foreign banks. To measure the profitability and efficiency, we used interest spread, net interest margin, return on equity and return on assets and non-interest income to total assets and net interest income to total assets ratios. This study used the secondary data obtained from Financial Statements Analysis of Financial Sectors 2006-2010 published by State Bank of Pakistan. By applying different tests, we have found that although foreign banks are performing very good but the net result show that the profitability of domestic banks was higher and better as compared to foreign banks in Pakistan. Keywords: Profitability Efficiency, Domestic Banks, Foreign Banks