Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Systematic functional analysis of Rab GTPases reveals limits of neuronal robustness in Drosophila

Rab GTPases are molecular switches that regulate membrane trafficking in all cells. Neurons have particular demands on membrane trafficking and express numerous Rab GTPases of unknown function. Here we report the generation and characterization of molecularly defined null mutants for all 26 rab genes in Drosophila. In addition, we created a transgenic fly collection for the acute, synchronous release system RUSH for all 26 Rabs. In flies, all rab genes are expressed in the nervous system where at least half exhibit particularly high levels compared to other tissues. Surprisingly, loss of any of these 13 nervous-system enriched Rabs yields viable and fertile flies without obvious morphological defects. However, 9 of these 13 affect either developmental timing when challenged with different temperatures, or neuronal function when challenged with continuous stimulation. These defects are non-lethal under laboratory conditions, but represent sensitized genetic backgrounds that reveal limits of developmental and functional robustness to environmental challenges. Interestingly, the neuronal rab26 was previously proposed to function in synaptic maintenance by linking autophagy and synaptic vesicle recycling and we identified rab26 as one of six rab mutants with reduced synaptic function under continuous stimulation conditions. However, we found no changes to autophagy or synaptic vesicle markers in the rab26 mutant, but instead a cell-specific role in membrane receptor turnover associated with cholinergic synapses in the fly visual system. Our systematic functional analyses suggest that several Rabs ensure robust development and function under varying environmental conditions. The mutant and transgenic fly collections generated in this study provide a basis for further studies of Rabs during development and homeostasis in vivo.
Age-Stage, Two-Sex Life Tables of Anthocoris minki pistaciae (Hemiptera: Anthocoridae) Reared on Agonoscena pistaciae (Hemiptera: Aphalaridae) at Three Constant Temperatures

ABSTRACT Agonoscena pistaciae Burckhardt & Lauterer (Hemiptera: Aphalaridae) is the most important pest of pistachio trees in Iran and the world. Anthocoris minki pistaciae Wagner (Hemiptera: Anthocoridae) is a predator of A. pistaciae. Biological characteristics of this predatory bug were determined at three constant temperatures (17, 26 and 30 ± 2°C), 55 ± 5% R.H. , and a photoperiod of 16:8 h (L:D). Data were analyzed by age-stage, two-sex life table to assess the variable developmental rates. Pre-adult developmental time of this predator at 17, 26 and 30°C were 24.5, 15.2 and 14.2 d, respectively. Adult longevities were 61.8, 51.9 and 43.7 d for males, and 60.3, 49.2 and 43 d for females at 17, 26 and 30°C, respectively. Fecundity at 17, 26 and 30°C were 50.3, 51.9 and 41.6 eggs/female, respectively. Intrinsic rates of increase (r) were 0.0707, 0.1042 and 0.1102 d–1 at 17, 26 and 30°C, respectively. The mean generation time (T) was 27.3 d (the shortest time) at 30°C and 42 d (the longest time) at 17°C. The net reproductive rate (R 0), the age-stage-specific fecundity (fxj), age-specific fecundity (mx) and age-specific maternity (lxmx) at 26°C were higher than those at 17 and 30°C. This research suggests that this predator can retain higher population densities at 26°C than at the other temperatures tested. Results of this study provide the biological basis for using A. minki pistaciae in a biological control program against A. pistaciae in pistachio orchards.
Effects of total table salt restriction on blood pressure

The aim of the study was to evaluate the effect of total omission of dietary salt intake on BP. Material and methods The effects of total omission on the consumption of dietary salt over the BP, were evaluated for this study in a group of 30 hypertensive patients between 40-60 years old, uncontrolled, with monotherapy with angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors or angiotensin II receptor antagonists. BP was recorded over three days at the same time, according to the guidelines of the American Heart Association for correct BP measurement in humans. The average of the three registers measurement was taken as baseline for comparison of the data. The only intervention was the total restriction of table salt and sauces with salt. The patients were followed monthly during the first five months recording BP under the same conditions that basal measurement, after this, were indicated to all the patients the consumption of salt 5g/day (provided by the researchers) and were followed for another five months in the same measurement conditions above. Results
Analysis of artefacts in EEG signal registered during anti-G straining maneuvers

An anti-G straining maneuver (AGSM) is an essential element of training pilots of high-maneuver aircrafts. Electroencephalographic signal (EEG) registered during such maneuvers could be used to detect cerebral ischemia. AGSM involves complicated physical tasks, from stretching certain parts of muscles through adequate breathing. This results in the creation of extremely large muscle artefacts, which significantly disrupt the recorded EEG signals. The presented research concerned EEG signals, recorded during individual AGSM phases, inside an overload centrifuge. The largest artefacts in the EEG band (0.5-300Hz) were observed for the electrodes Fp1, F9, FT9 and EMG1 located on cheek. The signal from the Cz and Pz electrodes appeared to be the least disturbed. Streszczenie. Manewr przeciw-przeciążeniowy (AGSM) jest niezbędnym elementem szkolenia pilotów samolotów wysokomanewrowych. Sygnał elektroencefalograficzny (EEG) zarejestrowany podczas tych manewrów mógłby posłużyć do wykrycia niedokrwienia mózgu. Manewr przeciwprzeciążeniowy, obejmuje skomplikowane zadania fizyczne, od napinania pewnych partii mięśni, poprzez odpowiednie oddychanie. Powoduje to powstanie ekstremalnie dużych artefaktów odmięśniowych, które zakłócają, w sposób znaczący, rejestrowane sygnały EEG. Zaprezentowane badania dotyczyły sygnałów EEG zarejestrowanych podczas wykonywania poszczególnych faz AGSM, we wnętrzu wirówki przeciążeniowej. Największe artefakty w paśmie EEG (0.5-300Hz) zaobserwowano dla elektrod Fp1, F9, FT9 oraz EMG1 ulokowanej na policzku. Najmniej zakłócony okazał się sygnał zarejestrowany z elektrod Cz i Pz. (Analiza artefaktów w sygnale EEG zarejestrowanym w trakcie wykonywania manewru przeciw-przeciążeniowego)
Family support, respect, and empathy as correlates of U.S. Latino/Latina college students’ prosocial behaviors toward different recipients

Cultural developmental and relational theories suggest that multiple social agents influence young adults’ prosocial behavior (i.e., actions intended to benefit others; e.g., helping or comforting others in need). Despite these theoretical foundations, research that examines cultural and multiple relational correlates of prosocial behaviors in U.S. Latino/Latina college students is scarce. Moreover, young adults are socialized to express prosocial behaviors to recipients that have distinct interpersonal relationships. The present study investigated the relations between mothers’, fathers’, and siblings’ support and U.S. Latino/Latina young adults’ prosocial behaviors toward different recipients (family, friends, and strangers) and considered the mediating roles of family respect values, perspective taking, and empathic concern. The sample was 253 U.S. Latino/Latina college students (58.2% female; M age = 21.07, SD =1.98) with at least one sibling. Structural equation modeling showed evidence for cultural values and moral traits as intervening mechanisms in the relations between family support and prosocial behaviors. All forms of family support predicted family respect values, which were associated with prosocial behaviors toward family and friends more so than toward strangers. Family respect values also predicted perspective taking and empathic concern and there was evidence for the mediating role of empathic concern in the relations between perspective taking and prosocial behaviors (across recipient). The current study demonstrates the interplay of multiple family socialization agents in predicting U.S. Latino/Latina college students’ prosocial behaviors toward different recipients, which has implications for theories of prosocial development.
Inequality in Egypt: Age-adjusted Gini coefficient

Egypt’s current ‘youth bulge’ constitutes the majority of its population, which implies that growth in the working-age population is faster than the overall population growth rate. With a fast-growing young population in Egypt, it is important to understand whether this demographic composition has an impact on the current inequality measures, since an individual’s stage in life deems detrimental for understanding his or her wealth holdings. In this light, this paper departs from the basic life-cycle impact on wealth inequality measures, and alternatively proposes an empirical method to adjust for age-effects in cross-sectional inequality for Egypt. The resulting Age-adjusted Gini coefficient (AG), eliminates wealth inequality that is attributed to age, yet it perpetuates inequality arising from other wealth-generating factors. By using wealth equalising measures, results of the Age-adjusted Gini coefficient show that age and household characteristics have no impact on wealth accumulation in Egypt, however, wealth is greatly influenced by increasing levels of education, making way for possible movement up the mobility scale.
Research on the Asymmetrical Multilevel Hybrid Energy Storage System Based on Hybrid Carrier Modulation

In this article, when the cascaded H-bridge topology is used in the asymmetrical multilevel hybrid energy storage system (AM-HESS), the asymmetry of the energy storage components’ types and voltages makes it difficult for traditional modulation methods to realize an independent power control of each energy storage unit. Thus, these methods cannot be directly applied to the realization of the complex working modes of AM-HESS. To this end, an AM-HESS hybrid level shifted pulsewidth modulation (PWM) (HLS-PWM) technique is proposed. According to the directions of supercapacities’ (SCs’) output power and the total output power of the energy storage system, the HLS-PWM is divided into the two fundamental modes—the same (MP) and opposite (MN) modes. Subsequently, the SC charge and discharge control under both the unit power factor and the nonunit power factor is analyzed for the two modes. Furthermore, five operation modes and the power control method of AM-HESS are implemented through the charge and discharge control of the SC. Finally, simulation and experimental results verify that the proposed HLS-PWM can realize an efficient power control of the AM-HESS.
The Economic Feasibility of Floating Offshore Wave Energy Farms in the North of Spain

A technique to analyse the economic viability of offshore farms composed of wave energy converters is proposed. Firstly, the inputs, whose value will be considered afterwards in the economic step, was calculated using geographic information software. Secondly, the energy produced by each wave converter was calculated. Then the economic factors were computed. Finally, the restriction that considers the depth of the region (bathymetry) was put together with the economic outputs, whose value depends on the floating Wave Energy Converter (WEC). The method proposed was applied to the Cantabric and Atlantic coasts in the north of Spain, a region with a good offshore wave energy resource. In addition, three representative WECs were studied: Pelamis, AquaBuoy and Wave Dragon; and five options for electric tariffs were analysed. Results show the Wave Energy Converter that has the best results regarding its LCOE (Levelized Cost of Energy), IRR (Internal Rate of Return) and NPV (Net Present Value), and which area is best for the development of a wave farm.
The Fusion of Competence and Integrity Problems in Transformation of Public Human Resources Management Model

The limited quality of human resource management in the Biak Numfor Regency in Papua requires fundamental transformation. Based on available data, the determinants that reject the transformation process include two categories, namely, lack of competence and integrity. This study uses a post-positivistic interpretive phenomenological philosophy that emphasizes the meaning and descriptive process to understand the process of transformation. Local government leaders who are not trustworthy in applying the concept of human resource management based on the Cakar thesis latently significantly affect the integrity of the domestic apparatus. That has an impact on the lack of credibility of the Biak Regional Human Resources Development Agency. In short, increasing the competency of human resources as an effort to produce adequate human resources in this region becomes an important key for successful transformation.
Evaluation Of The Use Of Daptomycin In Diabetic Foot Infections With Osteomyelitis

Background: Daptomycin has shown efficacy in patients with diabetes in skin and skin structure infections caused by Grampositive pathogens. However, data are limited in patients with osteomyelitis. This study evaluated the safety and clinical response rate of patients treated with daptomycin for moderate to severe diabetic foot infections with osteomyelitis. Methods: This was a retrospective, multicenter study. Standardized case report forms were used to collect available data on each patient. A clinical response of; cure, improvement, failure, clinical relapse, or non-evaluable and microbiologic outcomes of; eradication, presumed eradication, persistence, or presumed persistence was determined by each investigator. Information on adverse events was collected throughout the entire study. Results: Twenty-one patients were identified from 2 clinics in the United States. Patients received a mean daptomycin dose of 6.1 ± 0.4 mg/kg (range, 5.7–7.2 mg/kg) administered every 24 hours. The mean length of outpatient therapy was 28.9 ± 15.3 days (range, 9 to 57 days). The clinical success rate was 81.0% (17/21) at the end of therapy, and the overall clinical success rate ≥10 months following daptomycin therapy was 71.4% (15/21). The adverse event rate requiring daptomycin discontinuation was 4.8%. Three patients experienced adverse events possibly related to daptomycin. Two patients had elevated creatine phosphokinase, 1 to 2 times the upper limit of normal, and one patient had elevated hepatic enzymes. Conclusions: In this study, successful outcomes in patients with moderate to severe diabetic foot infections caused by Gram-positive pathogens suggest that daptomycin has a role for treating these complex infections.
Deep Semantic Reconstruction Hashing for Similarity Retrieval

Hashing has shown enormous potentials in preserving semantic similarity for large-scale data retrieval. Existing methods widely retain the similarity within two binary codes towards their discrete semantic affinity, i.e., 1 or −1. However, such a discrete reconstruction approach has obvious drawbacks. First, two unrelated dissimilar samples would have similar binary codes when both of them are the most dissimilar with an anchor sample. Second, the fine-grained semantic similarity cannot be shown in the generated binary codes among data with multiple semantic concepts. Furthermore, existing approaches generally adopt a point-wise error-minimizing strategy to enforce the real-valued codes close to its associated discrete codes, resulting in the well-learned paired semantic similarity being unintentionally damaged when performing quantization. To address these issues, we propose a novel deep hashing method with pairwise similarity-preserving quantization constraint, termed Deep Semantic Reconstruction Hashing (DSRH), which defines a high-level semantic affinity within each data pair to learn compact binary codes. Specifically, DSRH is expected to learn the specific binary codes whose similarity can reconstruct their high-level semantic similarity. Besides, we adopt a pairwise similarity-preserving quantization constraint instead of the traditional point-wise quantization technique, which is conducive to maintain the well-learned paired semantic similarity when performing quantization. Extensive experiments are conducted on four representative image retrieval benchmarks, and the proposed DSRH outperforms the state-of-the-art deep-learning methods with respect to different evaluation metrics.
Analysis of admissions in a West African urology centre: A crux in urologic capacity building

Background: Adequate acquaintance with urologic admissions and interventions offered to patients in a community over a span of time is an invaluable framework for capacity building and health care planning. We undertook a 3-year appraisal of admissions with interventions as a tool for further urologic capacity building at the Abubakar Imam Urology Centre Kano, Nigeria. Patients and Methods: Records of all the admissions between January 2012 and December 2014 were retrieved. The suitable data were extracted, analyzed, and displayed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 21. Results: One thousand five hundred and four patients were admitted and treated; male-to-female ratio was 13:1. The patient's mean age was 50.1 years (±23.3). The most common admitting diagnosis was benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) followed by urethral stricture then urolithiasis. Malignancies and congenital anomalies were 4th and 5th, respectively. The mean hospital stay was 9.77 (±6.1) days. Overall mortality recorded was 8.17%. Conclusion: The study recognized BPH and its complications as the dominating determinants of admissions and mortality, respectively. Heightened health awareness is required to subdue the strain of delayed complicated presentations to the center. The study underscores the need for further capacity building in the center to advance minimal hospital stay, morbidity, and mortality among the inpatients.
PS 08-76 CONTROLLABLE FACTORS FOR A REDUCTION OF LEFT VENTRICULAR MASS IN PEDIATRIC PATIENTS WITH END STAGE RENAL DISEASE

Objective: The aim of this study is to investigate a practically controllable factor for a reduction of increased left ventricular mass in children with end stage renal disease. Design and Method: Thirty five subjects dependent on peritoneal dialysis were enrolled. Clinical data were obtained through a review of medical records. Two serially followed echocardiographic data were obtained through off-line analysis. The averaged value of blood pressure and result of laboratory examinations which obtained from before 6 months to the day of echocardiography at each echocardiographic examinations, were adopted as data. The value of blood pressure and left ventricular mass index (LVMI) were indexed through a division of them by the reported 95 percentile value of normal pediatric population. The difference of laboratory and echocardiographic data between two data sets was additionally calculated. Results: The age of subjects was 12.9 ± 4.6 years at enrollment. Twelve (34%) among them were female. The predictive variables for left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) were the starting age of peritoneal dialysis (OR 1.26, 95% CI 1.03–1.54, R = 0.023), indexed systolic blood pressure (OR 5978.93, 95% CI 4.16–8584490.46, P = 0.019), and left ventricular end diastolic dimension (OR 1.42, 95% CI 1.07–1.88, P = 0.014). The correlation analysis showed that the difference of indexed LVMI was significantly related to the difference of blood urea nitrogen levels (R = 0.421, P = 0.012) and the difference of the septal E/E’ (R = 0.447, P = 0.017). Conclusions: All of predictive variables of LVH would be not the practically controllable factors for a reduction of LVMI. Although the level of blood urea nitrogen was not predictive for LVH, its reduction was related to the reduction of indexed LVMI. This result implicates that a sufficient dialysis is also important in the management of patients with LVH. In addition, left ventricular diastolic function seems to be sensitively associated with LVMI.
Melanopsin Carboxy-terminus phosphorylation plasticity and bulk negative charge, not strict site specificity, achieves phototransduction deactivation

Melanopsin is a visual pigment expressed in a small subset of ganglion cells in the mammalian retina known as intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells (ipRGCs) and is implicated in regulating non-image forming functions such as circadian photoentrainment and pupil constriction and contrast sensitivity in image formation. Mouse melanopsin’s Carboxy-terminus (C-terminus) possesses 38 serine and threonine residues, which can potentially serve as phosphorylation sites for a G-protein Receptor Kinase (GRK) and be involved in the deactivation of signal transduction. Previous studies suggest that S388, T389, S391, S392, S394, S395 on the proximal region of the C-terminus of mouse melanopsin are necessary for melanopsin deactivation. We expressed a series of mouse melanopsin C-terminal mutants in HEK293 cells and using calcium imaging, and we found that the necessary cluster of six serine and threonine residues, while being critical, are insufficient for proper melanopsin deactivation. Interestingly, the additional six serine and threonine residues adjacent to the required six sites, in either proximal or distal direction, are capable of restoring wild-type deactivation of melanopsin. These findings suggest an element of plasticity in the molecular basis of melanopsin phosphorylation and deactivation. In addition, C-terminal chimeric mutants and molecular modeling studies support the idea that the initial steps of deactivation and β-arrestin binding are centered around these critical phosphorylation sites (S388-S395). This degree of functional versatility could help explain the diverse ipRGC light responses as well as non-image and image forming behaviors, even though all six sub types of ipRGCs express the same melanopsin gene OPN4.
A Dynamic Blending Scheme to Mitigate Large‐Scale Bias in Regional Models

Several blending methods have been developed in dynamic downscaling and rapid cycled data assimilation. Blending the large‐scale part of the global model (GM) analysis or forecast has led to improvement in regional model (RM) simulations. However, in previous studies the blended waveband of the GM has generally been determined using a fixed, arbitrarily chosen cutoff wave number. Here we introduce a new dynamic blending (DB) scheme with a dynamic cutoff wave number computed according to the spectral characteristics of GM forecast quality and the spectral distribution of errors in the RM. The DB scheme is described and applied to eight‐day summertime and seven‐day wintertime cycled Weather Research and Forecasting Model forecasts over a regional domain in the continental United States. The scheme can determine a cutoff wave number with significant temporal variations. The temporal variation results from the error growth property of the RM and has a clear diurnal oscillation, suggesting that fewer (more) GM waves should be introduced into the RM at noon (night). The cutoff wave number difference between the two periods indicates seasonal variation of the cutoff wave number with larger day‐to‐day change in winter. Comparison among no blending experiment, two fixed wave number blending experiments, and two DB experiments with and without vertically varying cutoff wave number suggests that the DB scheme with vertically averaged but temporally varying cutoff wave number results in less model bias and less disturbance to the RM dynamic balance. By reducing the forecast background error, the DB scheme can potentially provide improved first guess for a rapid‐update‐cycle weather forecast system.