Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Limb abnormality in a neotropical scansorial marsupial, Gracilinanus agilis (Didelphimorphia: Didelphidae)

Abstract In this study, we describe a limb abnormality, possibly ectrodactyly, in a male adult gracile mouse opossum (Gracilinanus agilis), an arboreal species, captured in a fragmented landscape in the Brazilian Cerrado. The captured individual lacked the central rays of the right hindlimb and was the thinnest male adult captured. Despite the abnormality, the scaled mass index of the individual did not differ from other adult males captured in the study. To our knowledge, this is the first described case of limb abnormality for a didelphid marsupial, which indicates that this type of malformation may not negatively affect individual body condition.
Regulation and Function of Directly Repressed Targets of Wnt Signaling in Drosophila.

The Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway plays many important roles in animal development, tissue homeostasis and human disease. Transcription factors of the TCF family mediate many Wnt transcriptional responses, promoting signal-dependent activation or repression of target gene expression. The mechanism of this specificity is poorly understood. Previously, we demonstrated that for activated targets in Drosophila, TCF/Pangolin (the fly TCF) recognizes regulatory DNA through two DNA binding domains, with the High Mobility Group (HMG) domain binding HMG sites and the adjacent C-clamp domain binding Helper sites. Here, we report that TCF/Pangolin utilizes a similar bipartite mechanism to recognize and regulate several Wnt-repressed targets, but through HMG and Helper sites whose sequences are distinct from those found in activated targets. The type of HMG and Helper sites is sufficient to direct activation or repression of Wnt regulated cis-regulatory modules, and protease digestion studies suggest that TCF/Pangolin adopts distinct conformations when bound to either HMG-Helper site pair. This repressive mechanism occurs in the fly lymph gland, the larval hematopoietic organ, where 81 Wnt/β-catenin signaling controls prohemocytic differentiation. Our study provides a paradigm for direct repression of target gene expression by Wnt/β-catenin signaling and allosteric regulation of a transcription factor by DNA. Introduction It is a common theme in gene regulation that the same transcription factor (TF) can directly activate or repress target gene expression, increasing the transcriptional complexity these TFs can achieve [1,2]. There are several mechanisms by which TFs exhibit this dual regulation. These include TFs interfering with the binding of other TFs to DNA or co-activators [3-5] or signal-dependent changes of co-regulators bound to the TF [6-8]. In many cases, specific differences in the nucleotide sequence of the cis-regulatory modules (CRMs) targeted by these TFs influence the transcriptional outcome. The sequence specificity that determines the activation/repression choice of TFs can occur in the TF binding sites themselves, or the surrounding sequences. Several TFs that appear to be intrinsic transcriptional activators can also repress transcription when bound to CRMs in conjunction with other TFs [9-11]. In the case of the Drosophila NF-κB family member Dorsal, mutation of TF sites flanking Dorsal binding sites converts CRM reporters that are repressed by Dorsal into ones that are activated [12,13]. For other CRMs regulated by nuclear receptors [14,15], P53 [16], the POU TF Pit1 [17] and some Smads [18,19], it is the type of the TF binding site itself that determines output. For the latter cases, it has been proposed that the DNA
Consensus thermotolerance ranking for 110 Symbiodinium phylotypes: an exemplar utilization of a novel iterative partial‐rank aggregation tool with broad application potential

Summary 1.Corals may reduce the effects of heat-induced bleaching through associations with thermotolerant algal symbionts (Symbiodinium). Although hundreds of Symbiodinium genetic types (phylotypes) are known, thermotolerance has been systematically evaluated for small subsamples within individual reports, making consensus a challenging task. 2.Data on 110 phylotypes were aggregated from 35 reports, each assessing 2–24 phylotypes (median 4). One-third of reports include ties (phylotypes with indistinguishable thermotolerance). Between reports, most phylotypes are unique (74% assessed once), most pairwise comparisons are unknown (relative thermotolerance for 15% of the possible 5,995 phylotype pairs are evaluated), and many rankings are inconsistent (52% of 58 phylotype pairs assessed in more than one report are discordantly ranked). 3.Ranking of Symbiodinium phylotypes resulted in 64 thermotolerance cohorts (47 are single phylotypes, 17 contain 2–10 phylotypes with a median of 3 phylotypes) and indicate diverse thermotolerance capabilities within clades and among closely-related phylotypes. 4.The iterative partial-rank aggregation method (with error estimation) introduced here is broadly applicable to any quantitative consensus rank building problem where qualitative input ranks are not fully comprehensive nor resolved. 5.Reconstructions based on simulated data (mirroring an empirical dataset) indicate robust predictive capabilities for resolving rankings (1.28 approximation of the true solution) and inferring unknown pairwise comparisons (83% correctly predicted pair rankings from only 16% known a priori). 6.Application to Symbiodinium phylotypes represents an additional tool to generate testable hypotheses on the role of symbiont thermotolerance in an ecosystem that is collapsing in the face of climate change and provides the first quantitative index of Symbiodinium thermotolerance and its associated uncertainty. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Effect of Blanching Frequency on Physicochemical Properties of Blanch Water of Pleurotus eryngii

Blanching treatment is an important operation for most mushroom processing. Reutilizing the blanch water can avoid environmental pollution and reduce the waste of resources because some nutrients are dissolved into the water during blanching. The effect of blanching frequency on the contents of polysaccharide, soluble protein and soluble solids, conductivity and browning degree of blanch water of Pleurotus eryngii was investigated. The result showed that the contents of polysaccharide, soluble protein and soluble solids, the conductivity and browning degree of blanch water of P. eryngii increased gradually with the enhancement of blanching frequency. Furthermore, the increase rates of polysaccharide, soluble protein, soluble solids and conductivity were high from the first to the forth blanching and then the improvement became gently after the fifth blanching. This indicated the optimal blanching frequency was four times for recycling blanch water at the conditions of 1 cm thickness of mushroom slice and 1/2 ratio of mushroom to water. This study provides an useful basis for utilizing the blanch water of P. eryngii in a rational way.
Mediating effect of psychological ownership on the relationship of servant leadership and organizational citizenship: a conceptual model

This is a conceptual study that proposes examining a mediated model of organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) among employees of Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) Plc. The PHCN Plc is a sole producer and distributor of electricity in Nigeria and plays a vital role in supporting the socio-economic development of Nigeria. If performance of OCB is enhanced among employees of this utility organization, effective functioning of the organization and ultimate realization of its goals and objectives will also be enhanced. Extensive review of relevant literature was done for better understanding of the current development of research involving OCB, servant leadership and psychological ownership that constitute the model of this study. Cross sectional and survey study will be employed as methods for data collection. One stage cluster sampling technique will be employed to obtain representative response from a sample of 322 lower and middle level employees of Kano PHCN Distribution Company. A combination of both descriptive and inferential statistics will be employed to test the hypothesized model. Structural equation modeling (SEM) will be used in the analysis because of its analytical power of testing several relationships simultaneously and reducing measurement error.
Spatial pattern in checkerspot butterfly-host plant association at local, metapopulation and regional scales

Host search behaviour and population dynamics of butterflies interact with host quality and dispersion to generate spatial distributions of insects at local, metapopulation and regional scales. At a local scale, search behaviour causes isolated plants to be more attacked than well-connected individuals. As scale increases this pattern is reversed and hosts in isolated habitat patches are less attacked than those in well-connected patches. In Melitaea cinxia, spatially variable host preferences generated biased colonization of habitat patches containing different hosts. In Euphydryas editha, a metapopulation in anthropogenic evolutionary disequilibrium used a novel host in disturbed patches and the traditional host in intervening habitat. The novel host was less preferred but supported higher fitness. When habitat patches were small, insects achieved higher densities in patches of the preferred host because of biased migration into those patches. When patches were large, density was higher on the less-preferred host because of high survival. Because biased movement of insects among hosts affects gene flow, it should also affect genetic differentiation among insects using different hosts. We investigate this question by describing host-associated genetic differentiation at local and regional scales.
Introducing resprouters to enhance Mediterranean forest resilience: importance of functional traits to select species according to a gradient of pine density

Resprouter species are important for Mediterranean ecosystem resilience, but they are scarce in landscapes dominated by pioneer pines. Sound knowledge of resprouter seedling functional responses and establishment success across different pine habitats would help guide forest restoration efforts. Four broadleaved resprouter species, that is two shrubs - Arbutus unedo and Pistacia terebinthus - and two trees - Fraxinus ornus and Sorbus domestica - were planted under an experimentally created gradient of pine cover from totally open conditions to dense pine cover. Seedling survival and growth were monitored for 5years. Phenological, physiological and morphological traits were measured to gain insight into the mechanisms of pine-seedling interaction. Interaction outcomes varied according to species identity, pine cover treatment and time. Light-to-moderate pine cover induced greater height growth and little or no effects on diameter and survival of the two trees. Competition was always detected for shrubs, whereas competition and facilitation were noted for trees. Within pine stands, negative interactions increased with tree cover, making dense stands the most limiting. Interactions were only detectable after 2-3years, but increased in intensity with time. Functional responses to increasing pine cover indicated a seedling strategy of carbon gain optimization in the shade (increased specific leaf area and leaf area, decreased leaf dry matter content), particularly in tree species seedlings. Increasing pine cover induced higher water stress, but lower photochemical stress. The deciduous species had a longer vegetation season under pine canopies, whereas the evergreen shrub Arbutus unedo showed a lower polycyclism rate and flower production.Synthesis and applications. Moderate pine cover facilitates the establishment of deciduous trees at the expense of shrubs. This pattern can be attributed to a higher shade tolerance of the trees than the shrubs combined with a low tolerance of trees to photoinhibition. We therefore recommend using evergreen shrubs for the restoration of open land and high-specific-leaf-area deciduous trees for pine stand diversification. However, in dense forests, thinning is needed to increase light availability prior to seedling introduction. Moderate pine cover facilitates the establishment of deciduous trees at the expense of shrubs. This pattern can be attributed to a higher shade tolerance of the trees than the shrubs combined with a low tolerance of trees to photoinhibition. We therefore recommend using evergreen shrubs for the restoration of open land and high-specific-leaf-area deciduous trees for pine stand diversification. However, in dense forests, thinning is needed to increase light availability prior to seedling introduction.
Exhaled breath condensate: adenosine, ATP and other purines

An overwhelming body of in vitro and in vivo evidence underscores the importance of purinergic signalling pathways in the regulation of crucial airway mechanisms, such as mucociliary clearance, airway inflammation and smooth muscle reactivity. Purinergic mediators have been measured in airway samples from patients with asthma, cystic fibrosis and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Adenosine triphosphate (ATP) and its metabolites, especially adenosine, have also been detected in exhaled breath condensate (EBC) to aid diagnosis and follow-up of patients who present with airway pathology. EBC is an ideal biological fluid for measuring purinergic molecules, as factors confounding mediator concentrations in other airway samples do not influence measurements in the condensate fluid. Recently, the simultaneous measurements of purines and a dilution marker have been validated to overcome the varying dilution of airway droplets in EBC. The use of these mediators as disease biomarkers, however, needs further evaluation. This chapter discusses the physiological and pathophysiological effects of ATP and adenosine in the airways, and the methodological issues, together with the most recent findings of their measurements in EBC.
Utilisation d'aptamères impliqués dans des complexe « kissing » pour la détection de petits ligands

Pour aider a la protection de l’environnement et au diagnostic de maladies, il est necessaire de disposer de methodes d’analyse performantes. Ces methodes doivent etre rapides et peu couteuses afin d’analyser un grand nombre d’echantillons et detecter la presence eventuelle de la molecule recherchee. C’est dans ce cadre qu’un bio-essai a double reconnaissance dedie aux petites molecules a ete developpe. Il repose sur l’utilisation d’aptameres comme element de reconnaissance moleculaire et sur la formation de « kissing complex ». Les aptameres sont des oligonucleotides qui possedent une grande specificite et une grande affinite pour leur cible. Les « kissing complexes » designent, quant a eux, l’interaction de deux sequences au niveau de leur boucle apicale. L’objectif de la these est de continuer l’etude et l’optimisation de ce schema d’analyse, puis montrer sa potentialite et sa versatilite. Dans un 1er temps, la detection en multiplexe de plusieurs petites molecules a ete mise en place. L’optimisation du systeme de detection a ensuite ete effectuee pour la detection de l’adenosine avec le developpement d’une nouvelle strategie de detection. Enfin, un test colorimetrique base sur l’utilisation de nanoparticules d’or a ete decrit.
Nitric Oxide Involvement in Bermudagrass Response to Salt Stress

A BSTRACT . Bermudagrass [ Cynodon dactylon (L.) Pers. ] is a warm-season turfgrass that has the potential to improve saline and alkaline soils. However, its utilization is severely limited by high salinity. Therefore, it is urgent to enhance its tolerance to salt stress. Previous studies have proved that nitric oxide (NO) plays a vital role in various biological processes. However, the role of NO in bermudagrass response to salt is unknown. Our objective here was to investigate whether and how NO contributes to the protection of bermudagrass against salt stress in bermudagrass. In this study, sodium nitroprusside (SNP) served as the NO donor, while 2-phenyl-4,4,5,5-tetramentylimidazoline-l-oxyl-3-xide (PTIO) plus NG-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME) acted as the NO inhibitor. The treatment of bermudagrass with 400 m M salt solution occurred under different regimes: control, SNP, PTIO D L-NAME (PL). The results showed that 400 m M salinity caused signiﬁcant toxicity to bermudagrass. However, SNP alleviated damage effect on plant growth and ionic balance as indicated by higher water content, chlorophyll content, higher chlorophyll a ﬂuorescence (OJIP) curves and K D :Na D , Mg 2 D :Na D , and Ca 2 D :Na D ratios. Also, lower levels of electrolyte leakage, malonaldehyde, H 2 O 2 , superoxide dismutase, peroxidase, and ascorbate peroxidase activities suggested that NO reduced the membrane injury and lipid peroxidation under salt treatment, while PL regime showed severe damage. In summary, our results suggest that NO has some beneﬁcial effects on the maintenance of cell membrane stability, alleviation of oxidative damage and maintenance of ion homeostasis and plant photosythesis when bermudagrass is exposed to high salinity condition.
A Comparative Study on Bushmeat Consumption Patterns in ten Tribes in Tanzania

Bushmeat hunting is an important driver of wildlife depletion in Tanzania, but national-wide estimates of its consumption are lacking. We compare bushmeat consumption frequencies and determinants in ten tribes in different ecoregions in Tanzania, four of these within biodiversity hotspots of global conservation importance. Bushmeat consumption is examined in terms of ethnicity, selected indicators of wealth, and distance to and protection level of nearest protected area. Forty six percent of the respondents (n=300) belonging to nine of the ten tribes reported consuming bushmeat during the past 12 months, and 14% admitted that at least one household member hunted illegally. Significant differences in bushmeat consumption frequencies and species consumed were observed among ethnic groups. Regression revealed that the presence of a hunter in the household increased significantly the prevalence of bushmeat consumption, while distance to and protection level of nearest protected area had the most significant negative effect. Anti-poaching patrols are an effective deterrent to illegal bushmeat consumption, whilst access to domestic animal protein and other selected indicators of wealth do not reduce bushmeat consumption. The results emphasise the importance of strengthening anti-poaching services and the integration of cultural differences in preference for bushmeat into policies aimed at reducing bushmeat consumption and conserving wildlife.
Development of a dendritic cell-based vaccine to enhance CD4+ T-cell responses to a breast tumour antigen

Development of a dendritic cell-based vaccine to enhance CD4+ T-cell responses to a breast tumour antigen Joanne Louise Carter With 570,000 new cases in the world each year, breast cancer remains the commonest malignancy in women and comprises 18% of all female cancer. The failure of current therapies for the treatment of women with metastatic breast cancer has culminated in the emergence of immunotherapy as a potential means of eradicating residual disease following surgery. The study sought to develop a dendritic cell-based vaccine which was capable of generating CD4+ T-cell proliferative responses against a known breast tumour antigen. p53 was selected as the antigen to be manipulated due to increasing evidence of T-cell responses to both mutant and wild type forms in breast cancer patients. As it is favourable to pulse dendritic cells with nucleic acids rather than recombinant protein or peptides it was necessary to target endogenous p53 to the MHC class II pathway to enhance presentation of p53 to CD4+ T-cells. cDNA encoding the signal peptide motif, YTPL, present in the cytoplasmic tail of HLA-DMp, known to target HLA-DM to MHC class II compartments, was appended to the 3’ terminus of p53. Experiments assessed the ability of YTPL to target p53 to the lysosomal compartment in transfected HeLa cells. Control constructs encoding p53 targeted to other cellular compartments were analysed. In order to transfect DC with nucleic acids, experiments were also performed to establish optimal transfection conditions utilising non-viral methods. This study has successfully targeted p53 to the lysosomal compartment of HeLa cells by virtue of YTPL and has investigated the use of many non-viral techniques to transfect DC. Further work is necessary to determine which construct encoding p53 provides optimal access to the MHC class II pathway and to improve transfection efficiencies of dendritic cells. Thus, this study has paved the way for a dendritic cell based vaccine for breast cancer.
Food of northwest Atlantic fishes and two common species of squid / Ray E. Bowman ... [et al.].

v Taxonomic Index of Fish and Squid Species Sampled, Including for Each Species the Number of Stomachs Examined, Percentage of Stomachs Found Empty, and Associated Appendix Table Number . vii Alphabetic Index of Fish and Squid Species Sampled, Including for Each Species the Geographic Areas Where Collected, Types of Data Listed, and Associated Appendix Table Number . x
An electrochemical study of interaction of an anticancer alkaloid ellipticine with DNA

Ellipticine (5,11-demethyl-6H-pyridol(4,3-b)carbazole) and its derivates belong to prototype compounds acting predominantly by DNA-damaging mechanisms and serving as cytatoxic agents. The aim of this work was to study the intercalation of the ellipticine into DNA. For this purpose we utilized adsorptive transfer stripping technique (AdTS) coupled with square wave voltammetry (SWV). Primarily, we investigated the influence of ellipticine on genomic DNA electrochemical signals. Decrease in redox signal of cytosine/ adenine (at -1.4 V) was observed as a result of ellipticine intercalation into DNA. The decrease was proportional to increasing concentration of ellipticine. In additional experiments we investigated the changes in the reduction signal of cytosine/adenine (CA) in a genomic dsDNA, dsDNA treated with ellipticine in vitro and dsDNA isolated from UKF-NB-3 neuroblastoma cells treated with 1 μM ellipticine. In the mentianed cases, the changes were determined.
Metagenomics analysis of methane metabolisms in manure fertilized paddy soil

Under flooded rice fields, methanogens produce methane which comes out through rice stalks, thus rice fields are known as one of the anthropogenic sources of atmospheric methane. Studies have shown that use of manure increases amount of methane emission from rice. To investigate mechanisms by which manure boosts methane emission, comparative soil metagenomics between inorganically (NPK) and pig manure fertilized paddy soils (PIG) were conducted. Results from taxonomy analysis showed that more abundant methanogens, methanotrophs, methylotrophs, and acetogens were found in PIG than in NPK. In addition, BLAST results indicated more abundant carbohydrate mabolisetm functional genes in PIG. Among the methane metabolism related genes, PIG sample showed higher abundance of methyl-coenzyme M reductase (mcrB/mcrD/mcrG) and trimethylamine-corrinoid protein Co-methyltransferase (mttB) genes. In contrast, genes that down regulate methane emission, such as trimethylamine monooxygenase (tmm) and phosphoserine/homoserine phosphotransferase (thrH), were observed more in NPK sample. In addition, more methanotrophic genes (pmoB /amoB / mxaJ ), were found more abundant in PIG sample. Identifying key genes related to methane emission and methane oxidation may provide fundamental information regarding to mechanisms by which use of manure boosts methane emission from rice. The study presented here characterized molecular variation in rice paddy, introduced by the use of pig manure.