Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Pre-Columbian transregional captive rearing of Amazonian parrots in the Atacama Desert

Significance The brightly colored feathers of macaws, amazons, and other neotropical parrots were one of the most important symbols of wealth, power, and sacredness in the pre-Columbian Americas. Andean highland and coastal societies imported these exotic goods from Amazonian tropical forests by little-understood mechanisms of exchange. The study of 27 complete and partially mummified and skeletonized remains of at least six species of parrots from five archaeological sites in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile provides evidence that capturing, transporting, and keeping macaws, amazons, and conures as pets was part of this provisioning system, likely motivated by their significance for producing and representing relational wealth. The feathers of tropical birds were one of the most significant symbols of economic, social, and sacred status in the pre-Columbian Americas. In the Andes, finely produced clothing and textiles containing multicolored feathers of tropical parrots materialized power, prestige, and distinction and were particularly prized by political and religious elites. Here we report 27 complete or partial remains of macaws and amazon parrots from five archaeological sites in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile to improve our understanding of their taxonomic identity, chronology, cultural context, and mechanisms of acquisition. We conducted a multiproxy archaeometric study that included zooarchaeological analysis, isotopic dietary reconstruction, accelerated mass spectrometry radiocarbon dating, and paleogenomic analysis. The results reveal that during the Late Intermediate Period (1100 to 1450 CE), Atacama oasis communities acquired scarlet macaws (Ara macao) and at least five additional translocated parrot species through vast exchange networks that extended more than 500 km toward the eastern Amazonian tropics. Carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes indicate that Atacama aviculturalists sustained these birds on diets rich in marine bird guano-fertilized maize-based foods. The captive rearing of these colorful, exotic, and charismatic birds served to unambiguously signal relational wealth in a context of emergent intercommunity competition.
Crystal structures of cubic nitroprussides: M[Fe(CN)5NO]·xH2O(M=Fe, Co, Ni). Obtaining structural information from the background

A new structural model is proposed for cubic nitroprussides and the crystal structure for the complex salts of Fe(2+), Co(2+), and Ni(2+) refined in that model. In cubic nitroprussides the building unit, [Fe(CN)5NO]2−, and the assembling metal (M=Fe2+, Co2+, Ni2+), have ¾ occupancy with three formula units per cell (Z=3). This leads to certain structural disorder and to different local environments for the outer metal. The crystallographic results are supported by the Mössbauer and infrared data. The XRD powder patterns, index in a cubic cell (Fm3m space group), show a sinuous background because of diffuse scattering from positional disorder of the metal centers. Because of this, the crystal structures were refined allowing the metal centers to move from the (0,0,0) and (0,0,1/2) positions (away from positional symmetry restrictions). The refinement under these conditions leads to excellent agreement factors (Rwp, Rp, S), good pattern background fitting, and produced a refined structural model consistent with the crystal chemistry of nitroprussides. The studied materials are obtained as hydrates. On heating, the crystal water evolves, and below 100°C an anhydrous phase is obtained, preserving the framework of the original hydrates. The loss of the crystal water leads to cell contraction that represents around 2% of cell volume reduction. On cooling down from room temperature to 77 and 12 K, a slight expansion for the -M-N≡C-Fe-C≡N-M- chain length is observed, suggesting that at low temperature and reduction in the metals charge delocalization on the CN bridges takes place. For M=Fe and Co the crystal structure was also refined for the anhydrous phase at 12, 77, and 300 K.
Stemless total shoulder arthroplasty in elderly patients with primary osteoarthritis of shoulder – a developing country experience

ABSTRACT Background We evaluated the imaging and functional outcomes of anatomic stemless shoulder arthroplasty (ECLIPSE) in elderly patients with primary osteoarthritis of the glenohumeral joint in Asian developing countries. Methods Thirty patients were treated using stemless TSA in 26 months period (years 2017 and 2019), and were followed for a minimum of 24 months. Functional outcomes were assessed using Constant and ASES scores. Radiolucent lines and osteopenia were analyzed on radiographs. Results Pre-surgery Constant and ASES scores improved from 27.33(21–38) and 29.67(22–38) to 68(54–78) and 71(71.4(56–79) at final follow up. Around the humeral component, one patient had calcar thinning and a radiolucent line thicker than 2 mm, while six patients had radiolucent lines less than 2 mm. The mean glenoid radiolucency score was 2± 1.1. Conclusion In our setting, stemless total shoulder arthroplasty demonstrated significant improvement in functional scores at short- to mid-term follow-up. Radiographic findings did not correlate with functional scores.
Foodborne pathogens in the omics era

Abstract Outbreaks and deaths related to Foodborne Diseases (FBD) occur constantly in the world, as a result of the consumption of contaminated foodstuffs with pathogens such as Listeria monocytogenes, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella spp, Clostridium spp. and Campylobacter spp. The purpose of this review is to discuss the main omic techniques applied in foodborne pathogen and to demonstrate their functionalities through the food chain and to guarantee the food safety. The main techniques presented are genomic, transcriptomic, secretomic, proteomic, and metabolomic, which together, in the field of food and nutrition, are known as “Foodomics. ” This review had highlighted the potential of omics to integrate variables that contribute to food safety and to enable us to understand their application on foodborne diseases. The appropriate use of these techniques had driven the definition of critical parameters to achieve successful results in the improvement of consumers health, costs and to obtain safe and high-quality products.
Spatial skew‐normal/independent models for nonrandomly missing clustered data

Clinical studies on periodontal disease (PD) often lead to data collected which are clustered in nature (viz. clinical attachment level, or CAL, measured at tooth‐sites and clustered within subjects) that are routinely analyzed under a linear mixed model framework, with underlying normality assumptions of the random effects and random errors. However, a careful look reveals that these data might exhibit skewness and tail behavior, and hence the usual normality assumptions might be questionable. Besides, PD progression is often hypothesized to be spatially associated, that is, a diseased tooth‐site may influence the disease status of a set of neighboring sites. Also, the presence/absence of a tooth is informative, as the number and location of missing teeth informs about the periodontal health in that region. In this paper, we develop a (shared) random effects model for site‐level CAL and binary presence/absence status of a tooth under a Bayesian paradigm. The random effects are modeled using a spatial skew‐normal/independent (S‐SNI) distribution, whose dependence structure is conditionally autoregressive (CAR). Our S‐SNI density presents an attractive parametric tool to model spatially referenced asymmetric thick‐tailed structures. Both simulation studies and application to a clinical dataset recording PD status reveal the advantages of our proposition in providing a significantly improved fit, over models that do not consider these features in a unified way.
Caulerpa wysorii sp. nov., a denuded Caulerpa (Chlorophyta) resembling C. sertularioides when ‘dressed’

ABSTRACT Routine DNA barcoding with the chloroplast gene tufA identified novel records of an unknown and denuded (i.e. lacking branchlets) Caulerpa species previously reported from the Florida Middle Grounds. tufA barcoding not only confirmed the matching molecular identity of this taxon with several newly collected denuded specimens from shallow habitats of the Yucatán shelf, but also with a set of plumose specimens previously collected from mesophotic depths of the West Florida shelf and recorded as Caulerpa sertularioides. Sequencing of two additional, faster-evolving DNA markers, i.e. nuclear ITS and the newly tested chloroplast-encoded rpoA, each confirmed conspecificity of the above morphotypes and the molecular separation of the new taxon from C. sertularioides and filiform species found in the region, namely C. cupressoides f. denudata and C. fastigiata. In light of our sequencing results and review of the early taxonomic history of filiform Caulerpa, we propose the description of Caulerpa wysorii sp. nov. for this new species that exhibits two distinct morphotypes in currently available collections, i.e. filiform or plumose assimilators. We also subsume C. tongaensis within the broadly distributed C. fastigiata, whose lectotype is also designated herein. In addition to Caulerpa wysorii sp. nov., we discovered yet another unknown denuded species from the Campeche Banks represented by a single specimen thus far.
Tuning protein synthesis for cancer therapy

ABSTRACT ~50% of colorectal cancers have an activating mutation in KRAS (encoding the KRAS proto-oncogene) and remain difficult to target in the clinic. We have recently shown that activation of KRAS protein alters the regulation of mRNA translation, increasing total protein synthesis, and maintaining elevated c-MYC (MYC proto-oncogene) expression. Targeting these pathways downstream of KRAS reveals a striking dependency that has potential for clinical translation.
Metabolic subtypes of clear cell renal cell carcinoma defined by tobacco smoking

ABSTRACT Tobacco smoking (TS) results in reprogramming of major metabolic pathways, including glycolysis, the citric acid (TCA) cycle, oxidative phosphorylation, and metabolism of aspartate, glutamate and glutamine in clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC). TS alters the distribution and activities of cadmium, arsenic and copper in a manner mechanistically supporting metabolic remodeling. Alterations in metabolism and metal distribution identify new actionable targets for treatment of ccRCC.
Molecular evidence for naturally occurring intra- and inter-generic hybridization in the genus Ecklonia (Laminariales, Phaeophyceae)

ABSTRACT Reports of naturally occurring hybridization between species and genera in Laminariales are limited. Hybrids are mostly identified based on morphological evidence, which is often inadequate to distinguish hybrids from other unusual kelp morphological variants. In the present study, we found morphologically atypical Ecklonia (Ec.), which were suspected of being hybrids between Ec. radicosa (Ecr) and Ec. cava subsp. stolonifera (Eccs) (IKI 09–23) or between Ecr and Eisenia (Ei.) nipponica (Ein) (OWS 07–13), in two localities in Japan. To verify the existence of naturally occurring hybrids in Ec. , we determined their maternal ancestry by mtDNA genotyping and assigned the putative hybrids to four categories (F1, F2 and backcross to parental species) based on microsatellite markers. The morphologically atypical specimens were defined as: F1 generation of Ecr ♂ × Eccs ♀ (IKI 12, IKI 15–17 and IKI 19–22), Ecr ♀ × Eccs ♂ (IKI 11), or Ecr ♂ × Ein ♀ (OWS 07 and OWS 10–13), with relatively high posterior probabilities (>0.700). The remaining specimens were non-hybrids (Eccs: IKI 09, IKI 10 and IKI 13; Ecr: IKI 18), F1 or backcrosses to Ecr (IKI 14, IKI 23 and OWS 08) and F1, F2 or backcrosses to Ecr (OWS 09). Our results provide strong genetic evidence for the existence of intra- and inter-generic hybrids of Ecklonia in the field.
Cladophora rigida sp. nov., a new freshwater species within Cladophoraceae (Ulvophyceae, Chlorophyta) from China

ABSTRACT Cladophora is one of the most species-rich and taxonomically challenging taxa of green algae. Recently, some samples of freshwater filamentous algae were collected from Hubei, Yunnan and Guizhou Provinces, China. The specimens grew attached to solid substrates by basal rhizoids or holdfasts, and their thalli were bright to dark green, long and stiff. They were typically composed of uniseriate unbranched filaments of approximately equal length produced by intercalary and apical cell divisions. We studied the taxonomy of these algae based on morphological and molecular data. Microscopic observations showed that the filaments had some characteristics that differed from those of other species of Cladophora, such as being unbranched, with a large cell diameter (180–429 µm) and smaller length:diameter (L:D) ratio (0.5–3.3) than other species. Phylogenetic trees constructed on the basis of small (SSU) and large (LSU) subunits of ribosomal DNA (rDNA) and the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) sequences showed that all collected specimens belonged to one species. These specimens formed a new clade in the freshwater Cladophora lineage. On the basis of the morphological and phylogenetic analyses, we propose a new species, Cladophora rigida sp. nov.
It takes three to the DNA damage response tango

ABSTRACT The DNA damage response is robustly activated by DNA double-strand breaks and controlled by three apical protein kinases of the PI3-kinase-related protein kinase (PIKK) family: ataxia-telangiectasia, mutated (ATM), ataxia-telangiectasia and Rad3-related (ATR) and DNA-dependent protein kinase (DNA-PK). Phosphoproteomic analysis reveals the relative share of these PIKKs in coordinating this network, and compensation by ATR and DNA-PK for ATM absence in the genetic disorder, ataxia-telangiectasia (A-T).
Spent Refinery Catalyst as a Flame Retardancy Enhancer in an Intumescent Polymeric System

Spent oil refinery catalyst from the FCC unit has been evaluated as an additive in intumescent flame retardant formulations containing ammonium polyphosphate (APP) and pentaerythritol (PER) in an ethylene– butyl acrylate–maleic anhydride terpolymer matrix. UL-94, LOI and cone calorimetry analyses were carried out and the results show that the addition of small amounts of the catalyst to the additive system greatly enhances flame retardancy performance of the intumescent formulations. All materials containing intumescent formulations were V0 rated according to the UL-94 standard. A ten unit increase in LOI values was observed by the addition of 5 wt. % of catalyst to the APP/PER formulations, and significant lowering in the rate of heat release, total heat evolved, smoke, CO and CO2 emission were detected by cone calorimetry.
Studies of Silicon Podand Solvents

Three types of silicon podands, Me2Si(OR)2, EtSi(OR)3 and PhSi(OR)3, where R is a polyoxaethylene chain with different numbers of oxygen atoms (two, three or four), were obtained and studied by 1H, 13C and 29Si NMR methods. NMR spectra of 1H, 7Li, 13C, 23Na and 29Si nuclei were also used for the study of lithium, sodium and rubidium complexes with the silicon podands. Theoretical calculations were performed using the PM3 hamiltonian. The heats of reactions between the compounds obtained and SbCl5 were determined.
Time and the dynamics of entrepreneurial ecosystems

ABSTRACT In this article, we are primarily concerned with the influence and role of time on an entrepreneurial ecosystem (EE). Hence, the dynamics incorporated into the conception of the EE comes into focus. The recent work on this aspect has generally observed time as an evolutionary element for shaping and forming the context for entrepreneurial outcomes or that time is related to the change in entrepreneur and network profiles within a region. Other scholars have also noted how certain aspects of an EE will be affected by dimensions of size over time or that the profile of resources will alter the EE attractiveness for entrepreneurs. Time itself as a dynamic influence has not been explicitly examined and here we seek to draw out the multiple perceptions of time that influence the different rates of start-up, firm growth, change and evolution. We conclude by drawing attention to the simultaneous interaction of the different perceptions of time and outline the contributions to this Special Issue on the dynamics of the entrepreneurial ecosystem.
Controlled convective self-assembly of silver nanoparticles in volatile organic solvent and its application in electronics

Fabricating functional materials with uniform properties and desired geometries using inorganic nanoparticles could offer us the ability to manufacture nanomaterial-built circuits or devices in a low-cost manner. In this work, we demonstrate a fabrication route combining nanoparticle assembly and sintering to produce uniform coatings and predefined patterns with high conductivity. Homogeneous coatings of monodisperse silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) were assembled from their dispersion onto flat and non-functionalized substrates by convective self-assembly. The use of dodecylamine-capped 4.5 nm Ag NPs dissolved in chloroform ensures a low sintering temperature and a high evaporation rate. The introduction of a syringe pump in the assembly process expedites the assembly rate in a controlled way as well as improves the surface morphology of the coatings. Heat treatment under facile conditions (200 °C, 15 min, in air) triggers nanoparticle sintering, making the Ag NP coating conductive. By changing experimental parameters, conductive coatings with different thicknesses (200–600 nm) and different conductivities (1–3 × 104 S cm−1) could be produced on Si substrates. Wire bonding and flexible substrate tests show that the conductive coating is suitable for conventional electronics and flexible electronics. Conductive patterns of Ag NPs were fabricated by preparing conductive coatings on a polyimide substrate with laser-engraved patterns. Application of the conductive patterns in electronics was demonstrated by connecting them as flexible electrodes to a magnetic field sensor. This controlled CSA technique expands the competencies of the nanoparticle assembly, in terms of the size of the deposition materials, the range of dispersing solvents, and the scope of potential applications.
Whole Child Education in the Context of Islamic Schools in the United States: Principals’ Perspectives

Abstract In light of calls for renewal in Islamic schooling in the West, this study reconceptualizes the notion that Islamic education promotes wholeness through tarbiyah. The author conducted interviews with twenty principals of Islamic schools in the United States to understand these principals’ perspectives regarding wholeness in education. The findings suggest that the principals strive for wholeness in education but may not be unified in understanding the components and implementation of whole child education from an Islamic perspective. An Islamic whole child education framework needs to be developed that encompasses the comprehensiveness and wholeness of tarbiyah as a framework for renewal.
Toward Machine Learning Optimization of Experimental Design

The eﬀective design of instruments that rely on the interaction of radiation with matter for their operation is a complex task. A full optimization of the many parameters involved may still be sought by leveraging recent progress in computer science. Key to such a goal is the deﬁnition of a utility function that models the true goals of the instrument. Such a function must account for the interplay between physical processes that are intrinsically stochastic in nature and the vast space of possible choices for the physical characteristics of the instrument. The construction of a diﬀerentiable model of all the ingredients of the information-extraction procedures, including data collection, detector response, pattern recognition
What if risk factors influenced the variability of health outcomes as well as the mean? Evidence and implications

Risk factors may affect the variability as well as the mean of health outcomes. Understanding this can aid aetiological understanding and public health translation, in that interventions which shift the outcome mean and reduce variability are preferable to those which affect only the mean. However, few statistical tools routinely test for differences in variability. We used GAMLSS (Generalised Additive Models for Location, Scale and Shape) to investigate how multiple risk factors (sex, childhood social class and midlife physical inactivity) related to differences in health outcome mean and variability. The 1970 British birth cohort study was used, with body mass index (BMI; N = 6,025) and mental wellbeing (Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale; N = 7,128) as outcomes. For BMI, males had a 2% higher mean than females yet 28% lower variability. Lower social class and physical inactivity were associated with higher mean and higher variability (6% and 13% respectively). For mental wellbeing, gender was not associated with the mean while males had 4% lower variability. Lower social class and physical inactivity were associated with lower mean yet higher variability (-7% and 11% respectively). This provides empirical support for the notion that risk factors can reduce or increase variability in health outcomes. Such findings may be explained by heterogeneity in the causal effect of each exposure, by the influence of other (typically unmeasured) variables, and/or by measurement error. This underutilised approach to the analysis of continuously distributed outcomes may have broader utility in epidemiological, medical, and psychological sciences.
Novel brain gene-expression patterns are associated with a novel predaceous behaviour in tadpoles

Novel behaviours can spur evolutionary change and sometimes even precede morphological innovation, but the evolutionary and developmental contexts for their origins can be elusive. One proposed mechanism to generate behavioural innovation is a shift in the developmental timing of gene-expression patterns underlying an ancestral behaviour, or molecular heterochrony. Alternatively, novel suites of gene expression, which could provide new contexts for signalling pathways with conserved behavioural functions, could promote novel behavioural variation. To determine the relative contributions of these alternatives to behavioural innovation, I used a species of spadefoot toad, Spea bombifrons. Based on environmental cues, Spea larvae develop as either of two morphs: ‘omnivores' that, like their ancestors, feed on detritus, or ‘carnivores' that are predaceous and cannibalistic. Because all anuran larvae undergo a natural transition to obligate carnivory during metamorphosis, it has been proposed that the novel, predaceous behaviour in Spea larvae represents the accelerated activation of gene networks influencing post-metamorphic behaviours. Based on comparisons of brain transcriptional profiles, my results reject widespread heterochrony as a mechanism promoting the expression of predaceous larval behaviour. They instead suggest that the evolution of this trait relied on novel patterns of gene expression that include components of pathways with conserved behavioural functions.