Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Doxycycline improves traumatic brain injury outcomes in a murine survival model

BACKGROUND Traumatic brain injury (TBI) has significant morbidity and cost implications. Primary treatment modalities aim to decrease intracranial pressure; however, therapies targeting the underlying pathophysiology of a TBI are limited. The TBI-induced microvascular leak and secondary injury are largely due to proteolysis of the blood-brain barrier (BBB) by matrix metalloproteinase-9. We previously observed doxycycline's inhibitory affinity on matrix metalloproteinase-9 resulting in preserved BBB integrity in nonsurvival murine studies. This study sought to determine the effect of doxycycline on functional motor and behavioral outcomes in the setting of a TBI murine survival model. METHODS C57BL/6J mice were assigned to a sham, TBI, or TBI with doxycycline arm. A moderate TBI was induced utilizing a controlled cortical impactor. The TBI with doxycycline cohort received a dose of doxycycline (20 mg/kg) 2 hours after injury and every 12 hours until postoperative day (POD) 6. All mice underwent preoperative testing for weight, modified neurological severity score, wire grip, and ataxia analysis (DigiGait). Postoperative testing was performed on POD 1, POD 3, and POD 6 for the same measures. SAS 9.4 was used for comparative analysis. RESULTS Fifteen sham mice, 15 TBI mice, and 10 TBI with doxycycline mice were studied. Mice treated with doxycycline had significantly improved modified neurological severity score and wire grip scores at POD 1 (all p < 0.05). Mice treated with doxycycline had significantly improved ataxia scores by POD 3 and POD 6 (all p < 0.05). There was no significant difference in rate of weight change between the three groups. CONCLUSION Mice treated with doxycycline following TBI demonstrated improved behavioral and motor function suggesting doxycycline's role in preserving murine BBB integrity. Examining the role of doxycycline in human TBIs is warranted given the relative universal accessibility, affordability, and safety profile of doxycycline.
Frequency of Pregnancy-Associated Cancer: A Systematic Review of Population-Based Studies

Despite numerous available resources of evidence, the results about the frequency of pregnancy-associated cancer (PAC) still show poor comparability due to dissimilarities in the study design and methodology, inclusion criteria, incoherent duration of follow-up and a heterogeneous reference population. We conducted a systematic review of population-based studies on PAC published up to December 2019, to provide updated research on this topic, highlighting strengths and limitations. Of the 24 papers included, 11 considered all types of tumors and 13 dealt with specific types of cancer. Differences in the procedures for estimating the frequency of PAC emerged even among population studies. However, we found consistent results for overall frequency of PAC— around 1/1000 pregnancies. Our review suggests that about 25% of PAC cases are diagnosed during pregnancy, confirming the hypothesis of an excess of diagnosis in the postpregnancy period. Sparse and inconsistent results were found regarding a potential increase in the frequency of PAC over calendar years. Alignments in the strategy to identify PAC are needed to overcome methodological weaknesses.
Dormancy break in seeds of Impatiens glandulifera Royle

summary When dormancy is broken by chilling in Impatiens glandulifera Royle anthocyanin appears in the cells of the root cap acting as a marker of the physiological condition of the seeds. This precedes growth of the embryo as indicated by increase in seed weight. Abscisic acid at some concentrations can inhibit dormancy break and anthocyanin synthesis in the root cap. All tissues of the embryo, when excised, responded independently to the cold stimulus. Grafting pieces of dormant and non-dormant seed showed the agent effective in breaking dormancy was not transmissible between a piece of chilled embryo placed in contact with a piece of dormant embryo.
Management implications of western gall rust in precommercially thinned lodgepole pine stands

Vingt-quatre peuplements de pin de Murray (Pinus contorta Dougl. ex Loud. var. latifolia Engelm.), âges de 26 a 32 ans et eclaircis entre l'âge de 15 et 23 ans, ont ete examines dans le centre-ouest de l'Alberta. L'âge du peuplement au moment de l'eclaircie etait le meilleur predicteur individuel de la formation de galles sur les arbres qui en etaient exempts lors de l'eclaircie (infection posterieure a l'eclaircie). La hauteur du peuplement etait aussi un bon predicteur de l'infection posterieure a l'eclaircie apres un ajustement pour les effets de la localisation du peuplement et les annees d'infection severe. Le nombre de galles par arbre au moment de l'eclaircie etait le meilleur predicteur de l'incidence des galles sur tous les arbres, incluant ceux qui avaient des galles au tronc au moment de l'eclaircie (infection totale). Les infections au tronc diminuaient avec l'âge et la hauteur des arbres. Pres de 60% des galles au tronc couvraient 40% ou moins de la circonference du tronc. Il n'y avait pas de relation entre le degre d'encerclement et la hauteur ou l'âge des galles. Dans les endroits ou la rouille-tumeur est commune, les amenagistes devraient considerer la possibilite de retarder l'eclaircie.
The Triguarded Fragment with Transitivity

The triguarded fragment of ﬁrst-order logic is an extension of the guarded fragment in which quantiﬁcation for subformulas with at most two free variables need not be guarded. Thus, it uniﬁes two prominent decidable logics: the guarded fragment and the two-variable fragment. Its satisﬁability problem is known to be undecidable in the presence of equality, but becomes decidable when equality is forbidden. We consider an extension of the tri-guarded fragment without equality by transitive relations, allowing them to be used only as guards. We show that the satisﬁability problem for the obtained formalism is decidable and 2 -ExpTime -complete, that is, it is of the same complexity as for the analogous extension of the classical guarded fragment. In fact, in our satisﬁability test we use a decision procedure for the latter as a subroutine. We also show how our approach, consisting in exploiting some existing results on guarded logics, can be used to reprove some known facts, as well as to derive some other new results on triguarded logics.
A model of northern pintail productivity and population growth rate

Our objective was to synthesize individual components of reproductive ecology into a single estimate of productivity and to assess the relative effects of survival and productivity on population dynamics. We used information on nesting ecology, renesting potential, and duckling survival of northern pintails (Anas acuta) collected on the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta (Y-K Delta), Alaska, 1991-95, to model the number of ducklings produced under a range of nest success and duckling survival probabilities. Using average values of 25% nest success, 11% duckling survival, and 56% renesting probability from our study population, we calculated that all young in our population were produced by 13% of the breeding females, and that early-nesting females produced more young than later-nesting females. Further, we calculated, on average, that each female produced only 0.16 young females/nesting season. We combined these results with estimates of first-year and adult survival to examine the growth rate (λ) of the population and the relative contributions of these demographic parameters to that growth rate. Contrary to aerial survey data, the population projection model suggests our study population is declining rapidly (λ = 0.6969). The relative effects on population growth rate were 0.1175 for reproductive success, 0.1175 for first-year survival, and 0.8825 for adult survival. Adult survival had the greatest influence on λ for our population, and this conclusion was robust over a range of survival and productivity estimates. Given published estimates of annual survival for adult females (61%), our model suggested nest success and duckling survival need to increase to approximately 40% to achieve population stability. We discuss reasons for the apparent discrepancy in population trends between our model and aerial surveys in terms of bias in productivity and survival estimates.
DFT Prediction of Factors Affecting the Structural Characteristics, the Transition Temperature and the Electronic Density of Some New Conjugated Polymers

Conjugated polymers are promising materials for various cutting-edge technologies, especially for organic conducting materials and in the energy field. In this work, we have synthesized a new conjugated polymer and investigated the effect of distance between bond layers, side-chain functional groups (H, Br, OH, OCH3 and OC2H5) on structural characteristics, phase transition temperature (T), and electrical structure of C13H8OS using Density Functional Theory (DFT). The structural characteristics were determined by the shape, network constant (a, b and c), bond length (C–C, C–H, C–O, C–S, C–Br and O–H), phase transition temperatures, and the total energy (Etot) on a base cell. Our finding shows that the increase of layer thickness (h) of C13H8OS–H has a negligible effect on the transition temperature, while the energy bandgap (Eg) increases from 1.646 eV to 1.675 eV. The calculation of bond length with different side chain groups was carried out for which C13H8OS–H has C–H = 1.09 Å; C13H8OS–Br has C–Br = 1.93 Å; C13H8OS–OH has C–O = 1.36 Å, O–H = 0.78 Å; C13H8OS–OCH3 has C–O = 1.44 Å, O–H =1.10 Å; C13H8OS–OC2H5 has C–O = 1.45 Å, C–C = 1. 51Å, C–H = 1.10 Å. The transition temperature (T) for C13H8OS–H was 500 K < T < 562 K; C13H8OS–Br was 442 K < T < 512 K; C13H8OS–OH was 487 K < T < 543 K; C13H8OS–OCH3 was 492 K < T < 558 K; and C13H8OS–OC2H5 was 492 K < T < 572 K. The energy bandgap (Eg) of Br is of Eg = 1.621 eV, the doping of side chain groups H, OH, OCH3, and OC2H5, leads to an increase of Eg from 1.621 eV to 1.646, 1.697, 1.920, and 2.04 eV, respectively.
Shot Boundary Detection: Fundamental Concepts and Survey

—A great part of the Big Data surge in our digital environments is in the form of video information. Hence automatic management of this massive growth in video content seems to be signiﬁcantly necessary. At present researches topic on automatic video analyses includes video abstraction or summarization, video classiﬁcation, video annotation and content based video retrieval. In all these applications one needs to identify shot boundary detection. Video shot boundary detection (SBD) is the process of segmenting a video sequence into smaller temporal units called shots. SBD is the primary step for any further video analyses. This paper presents the fundamental theory of the video shot boundary, and a brief overview on shot boundary detection approaches and their development. The advantages and disadvantages of each approach are comprehensively explored and challenges are presented. In addition to that, we focused on the machine learning technologies such as deep learning approaches for SBD could be directed as new directions for the future.
INCIDENCE OF BACILLUS ANTHRACIS IN SOIL

Interest in anthrax has increased recently due to its use in bioterrorism attacks. Bacillus anthracis, the causative agent of anthrax, is genetically similar to other Bacillus spp. that occur in the environment, and is known to persist in soil for years in the form of spores. In many soils, naturally occurring anthrax infections tend to occur during dry periods following a wet period. The “incubator theory” suggests that spores are concentrated in low-lying areas during rainfall events and animals are subsequently exposed to contaminated soil during foraging in dry periods. It is currently believed that B. anthracis spores require a host for germination, and thus do not undergo proliferation cycles in the soil. There is a potential for B. anthracis spores to be transported as an aerosol, but human infection due to inhalation of spores is unlikely given the high minimum infectious dose required to cause disease. Historically, naturally occurring anthrax infections in humans have most commonly occurred due to contact with diseased animals or animal products. However, B. anthracis has been developed as a biological weapon with accidental and intentional releases resulting in human death. With the development of an anthrax vaccine, anthrax outbreaks have generally been controlled in developed countries; however, anthrax is still a major problem in many parts of the world. The advent of molecular techniques has enhanced the detection of B. anthracis spores, which is now possible in less than 1 h. However, due to the persistence of spores, it is difficult to eliminate B. anthracis contamination from the environment. There remains a need for additional research on anthrax in several areas including evaluation of the conditions that favor B. anthracis survival in soil, determination of whether B. anthracis undergoes a growth cycle in soil, and determination of the potential for transfer of B. anthracis virulence genes to other soil microorganisms.
Laboratory tests for leaf resistance to Botrytis squamosa in onions

SUMMARY Two laboratory methods of testing for resistance to Botrytis squamosa in Allium cepa, A. fistulosum and hybrid material derived from them were developed. In one method, seedlings were sprayed with conidiospores, incubated for 3 days at 15°C (2 days at 100% r.h.) and the numbers of lesions per leaf assessed. This test was destructive. The second method was non-destructive, the plants being retained for breeding purposes. Leaf segments (25 × 15 mm) or leaf discs (14 mm diameter) were inoculated individually with a drop (0·014 ml) of spore suspension, and maintained at 15°C and 100% r.h. with a 12 h photoperiod. The length of the latent period, denned as the number of days for 50% of the leaf portions to produce lesions bearing visible mycelium, was determined for each onion line in a test. The reciprocal (1/t) of the latent period was used to test for significant differences between lines by analysis of variance. With both test methods, spores were applied at concentrations that discriminated relative resistance most readily. In both seedling and leaf segment tests A. fistulosum was more resistant than A. cepa to B. squamosa. The leaf disc test indicated that cultivars of A. fistulosum differed in their resistance. In hybrid material resistance was intermediate or more like that of A. fistulosum.
GREEN STRIPE, encoding methylated TOMATO AGAMOUS-LIKE 1, regulates chloroplast development and chlorophyll synthesis in fruit.

Fruit development involves chloroplast development, carotenoid accumulation and fruit coloration. Although genetic regulation of fruit development has been extensively investigated, epigenetic regulation on fruit coloration remains largely unexplored. Here, we report a naturally occurring epigenetic regulation of TAGL1, and its impact on chloroplast development and fruit coloration. We used a genome-wide association study in combination with map-based cloning to identify GREEN STRIPE (GS) locus, a methylated isoform of TAGL1 regulating diversified chloroplast development and carotenoid accumulation. Nonuniform pigmentation of fruit produced by GS was highly associated with methylation of TAGL1 promoter, which is linked to a SNP at SL2. 50ch07_63842838. High levels of methylation of TAGL1 promoter down-regulated its expression leading to green stripes. In contrast, low levels of methylation led to light green stripes in gs. RNA-seq and ChIP collectively showed expression of genes involved with chlorophyll synthesis, chloroplast development were significantly up-regulated in green stripes relative to light green stripes. Quantitative PCR and dual luciferase assay confirmed TAGL1 down-regulates expression of SlMPEC, SlPsbQ, SlCAB and up-regulates expression of PSY1, which are associated with chloroplast development and carotenoid accumulation. Altogether, GS locus demonstrates naturally occurring methylation of TAGL1 has diverse effects on plastid development in fruit.
Habitat Preferences of African Ungulates Derived by Uni‐ and Multivariate Analyses

The paper presents a selection of results of a study of habitat preferences of 10 ungulate species on a South African nature reserve. Habitat parameters influencing the distribution of the ungulates were evaluated by incorporating a series of multiple regression analyses and correspondence analysis. The two approaches showed some similarities among preferences of ungulates in relation to the habitat parameters examined. Use of the combination of the broad view provided by the components of the corre- spondence analysis and the power of discrimination of individual parameters given by the multiple regression is suggested. The combination of different analytical approaches aids in overcoming limitations within each analysis and may provide further insights into the composition of the investigated system.
Inflammatory and metabolic markers in patients with mood disorders

Abstract Objectives An increasing bulk of data underlined that mood disorders show alterations that are not confined to the brain, but involve several other systems. The aim of this retrospective study was to explore metabolic/inflammatory profiles, blood pressure, and BMI in patients affected by bipolar disorders (BDs) to better understand the role of peripheral biomarkers in mood disorders. Methods Different metabolic/inflammatory parameters and clinical characteristics were evaluated in 97 BD inpatients from Sicily, a southern Italian region, and compared with normative values from the same area. Results No difference was detected between the assessed parameters and the normative values, or between treated and untreated patients. Interestingly, the mean acid uric levels were at the lowest extreme of the normative values, with men showing higher concentrations than women. Conclusions No metabolic nor inflammatory alterations emerged in BD patients, even if when obese. A possible explanation might be due to their geographical origin, with culinary traditions based on the Mediterranean diet. Therefore, it would be interesting to ascertain whether such a diet might improve the metabolic impairment often associated with mood disorders. Again, the routine assessment of different clinical/chemistry parameters might be helpful to improve the diagnostic stratification and the personalised treatment.
Veratramine suppresses human HepG2 liver cancer cell growth in vitro and in vivo by inducing autophagic cell death

Liver cancer is the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths. Traditional therapeutic strategies, such as chemotherapy, targeted therapy and interventional therapy, are inefficient and are accompanied by severe side effects for patients with advanced liver cancer. Therefore, it is crucial to develop a safer more effective drug to treat liver cancer. Veratramine, a known natural steroidal alkaloid derived from plants of the lily family, exerts anticancer activity in vitro. However, the underlying mechanism and whether it has an antitumor effect in vivo remain unknown. In the present study, the data revealed that veratramine significantly inhibited HepG2 cell proliferation, migration and invasion in vitro. Moreover, it was revealed that veratramine induced autophagy-mediated apoptosis by inhibiting the PI3K/Akt/mTOR signaling pathway, which partly explained the underlying mechanism behind its antitumor activity. Notably, the results of in vivo experiments also revealed that veratramine treatment (2 mg/kg, 3 times a week for 4 weeks) significantly inhibited subcutaneous tumor growth of liver cancer cells, with a low systemic toxicity. Collectively, the results of the present study indicated that veratramine efficiently suppressed liver cancer HepG2 cell growth in vitro and in vivo by blocking the PI3K/Akt/mTOR signaling pathway to induce autophagic cell death. Veratramine could be a potential therapeutic agent for the treatment of liver cancer.
Comparative Study of SPA Mud from “Bacino Idrominerario Omogeneo dei Colli Euganei (B.I.O.C.E.)–Italy” and Industrially Optimized Mud for Skin Applications

The term “Salus per aquam (SPA) therapies” refers to therapeutic pathways that includes mud therapy. The therapeutic efficacy of a peloid depends on its chemical and mineralogical composition, as well as its technological properties. Considering the increasing use of clay-based products, it becomes essential to characterize peloids from a qualitative and quantitative point of view. Therefore, this research project aimed to develop a protocol that allows characterization of the chemical-physical composition of sludges collected from different areas of the Homogeneous Euganean Hills Hydromineral Basin (B.I.O.C.E.). The study established a comparative study both between different matrices and between the same matrices at different maturation times, including also a comparison with an industrialized product, that can be used at home, which maintains the characteristics of a natural mud. This research was developed studying the pH, grain size distribution, and chemical and mineralogical composition. Peloids are characterized by a neutral/basic pH and are divided into two categories from a granulometric point of view: The chemical composition allowed observation of numerous correlations between oxides present in the samples and to quantify the presence of heavy metals. Mineralogical analysis made it possible to identify and compare the composition of each sample, also according to the maturation time. Thanks to the methods adopted, important correlations were achieved.
An attempt to estimate the predatory pressure exerted by the lesser weever, Trachinus vipera Cuvier, in the southern North Sea

In order to evaluate the impact of the lesser weever on the ecosystem of the southern North Sea, geographical distribution, density, growth, production and food requirements have been estimated. High densities were found on and around the Brown Ridge, an area with high tidal current velocities, medium grain-size of the sediment and a poor benthic fauna. Growth is restricted to the months of June October. During the winter cessation of growth a considerable loss of weight (about 20%) takes place. Mortality has been estimated by using the average size frequency distribution of all catches made from 1972 to 1984. The resulting convex type of survival curve indicates a high survival rate of the II to IV-group fishes. The production (estimated with Allen's graphical method) of a population of 100 individuals including all age groups (0-VI) amounts to 123.7 g AFDW-year‘. In areas with highest densities, consequently, production amounts to 0.018–0.078 g AFDW-m2 -year-1. With an assumed transfer efficiency of 10% through the year, food requirements amounts to 0.18–0.78 g AFDW-m 2 -year -1. Since the lesser weever feeds mainly on fish (85.6%), almost exclusively on gobies (Pomatoschistus sp.), and with an assumed transfer efficiency of approximately 10%, the indirect predatory pressure exerted by it may amount to 1.6 6.7g AFDW-m 2.year -1. A possible feeding by gobies on pelagic organisms (calanoids, mysids) is discussed.