Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Circulating Irisin Levels as a Marker of Osteosarcopenic-Obesity in Cushing’s Disease

Purpose To evaluate circulating irisin levels in patients with active and controlled Cushing’s disease (CD). Design Forty-four patients with CD evaluated during the active phase and after 12 months of biochemical remission and 40 controls were recruited. Methods Phenotypic, anthropometric, hormonal and metabolic parameters, including insulin sensitivity estimation by homeostatic model of insulin resistance, Matsuda ﻿index and oral disposition index and circulating irisin levels were evaluated. Results Patients with active CD showed lower irisin levels compared to controls (p<0.001) and controlled CD (p<0.001). The independent variables significantly associated with irisin were waist circumference (WC) (p=0.025), body fat percentage (BF%) (p=0.009), PTH (p=0.007) and chair rising test (CRT) (p<0.001) in active CD and WC (p=0.013), BF% (p=0.014), PTH (p=0.038), CRT (p=0.029) and urinary-free cortisol (p<0.001) in controlled CD. Conclusion Circulating irisin levels tend to be lower in patients with active CD compared to those with controlled CD and controls. They are strongly associated with osteosarcopenia and central obesity in CD and therefore may be a possible marker of diagnosis.
New species of Rhinoleucophenga, a potential predator of pineapple mealybugs

The objective of this work was to describe a new species of Rhinoleucophenga (Diptera: Drosophilidae). Rhinoleucophenga capixabensis sp. nov. is described based on specimens collected from pineapple (Ananas comosus var. comosus) infested with Dysmicoccus brevipes (Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae) in the state of Espirito Santo, Brazil. Distinguishing characters of R. capixabensis sp. nov. include hyaline wings, a strong seta on the second antennal segment, body length of about 2-3 mm, uniformly dark brown scutellum, one pair of strong prescutellar setae, ventral epandrial lobes with about 17-18 teeth, and female cerci with approximately 20 long setae.
Seasonal Changes in Population Density and Vertical Distribution of Harpacticoid Copepods on an Intertidal sand Beach

An account has been given (Harris, 1972b) of the distribution of interstitial harpacticoid copepods on an intertidal transect at Whitsand Bay, E. Cornwall. The present work describes seasonal changes observed in the copepod species populations over a period of 2 years, from May 1968 to May 1970. Changes in population density and vertical distribution are described, and the relationship between these changes and the physical environment are discussed. A full account of the reproductive activity and lifecycles of the copepod species will be given later (Harris, 1972d). The only detailed accounts of seasonal cycles of individual intertidal harpacticoids are those of Lasker, Wells & Mclntyre (1970) for the sand-dwelling benthic copepod Asellopsis intermedia (T. Scott) and of Barnett (1968, 1970) for two species of Platychelipus Brady on an intertidal mudflat.
Organizational climate and creative performance in the public sector

The aim of this study is to examine the role of organizational climate in employees’ creative performance using the public sector as an empirical context. The employees’ creative performance is divided into two entities and studied as two separate effect variables: individual creativity and individual innovative behavior. ,A conceptual model is developed and tested in a survey in which employees of a public sector organization participated. ,The findings indicate that organizational climate has an important role in employees’ creative performance. The organizational climate showed a positive and significant link to the two creative performance variables included in this study. Moreover, the study revealed that individual creativity mediates the relationship between organizational climate and individual innovative behavior. ,This paper is limited to examining the role of organizational climate on two creative performance variables related to individual employees in the public sector. To trigger individual creativity and individual innovative behavior in the public sector, there is a need for managers to build, develop and maintain an organizational climate that supports both employees’ creativity and enthusiasm in implementing those novel and useful ideas. ,To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is among the first in the public sector to demonstrate the importance of organizational climate for employees’ individual creative performance. The findings of this study adds to our current knowledge and understanding of the value of organizational climate, and its influence on individual creative performance in the public sector.
Structural and Biophysical Studies on Two Promoter Recognition Domains of the Extra-cytoplasmic Function σ Factor σC from Mycobacterium tuberculosis*

σ factors are transcriptional regulatory proteins that bind to the RNA polymerase and dictate gene expression. The extracytoplasmic function (ECF) σ factors govern the environment dependent regulation of transcription. ECF σ factors have two domains σ2 and σ4 that recognize the -10 and -35 promoter elements. However, unlike the primary σ factor σA, the ECF σ factors lack σ3, a region that helps in the recognition of the extended -10 element and σ1. 1, a domain involved in the autoinhibition of σA in the absence of core RNA polymerase. Mycobacterium tuberculosis σC is an ECF σ factor that is essential for the pathogenesis and virulence of M. tuberculosis in the mouse and guinea pig models of infection. However, unlike other ECF σ factors, σC does not appear to have a regulatory anti-σ factor located in the same operon. We also note that M. tuberculosis σC differs from the canonical ECF σ factors as it has an N-terminal domain comprising of 126 amino acids that precedes the σC2 and σC4 domains. In an effort to understand the regulatory mechanism of this protein, the crystal structures of the σC2 and σC4 domains of σC were determined. These promoter recognition domains are structurally similar to the corresponding domains of σA despite the low sequence similarity. Fluorescence experiments using the intrinsic tryptophan residues of σC2 as well as surface plasmon resonance measurements reveal that the σC2 and σC4 domains interact with each other. Mutational analysis suggests that the Pribnow box-binding region of σC2 is involved in this interdomain interaction. Interaction between the promoter recognition domains in M. tuberculosis σC are thus likely to regulate the activity of this protein even in the absence of an anti-σ factor.
The role of blood intake in density regulation of populations of Triatoma infestans (Klug) (Hemiptera: Reduviidae)

The growth of populations of Triatoma infestans (Klug) depends on temperature and blood-intake. Experiments are described which demonstrated the density-dependent relationship between population size, blood intake and population growth at different temperatures. The number of bugs feeding and their mean blood intake was lower at high bug densities than at low ones, both with restrained chickens and with unrestrained mice as hosts. When blood intake was restricted, the development times of all nymphal stages were increased, and female fecundity was decreased. Previous work showed also that reduced blood intake led to an increased tendency for adult flight. It is thought that at high bug density the three factors, increased development times, decreased fecundity and increased flight, operate to restore the population to a stable density without promoting an increase in mortality. The mechanism linking population density to nutritional status seemed to depend on host irritability, which interrupted the bugs' feeding. Bugs which passed a certain threshold meal size would not resume feeding if interrupted, even though their blood intake was well below normal. The difference between the minimal threshold meal and a normal meal is thought to provide the nutritional elasticity within which the development processes are regulated. It is suggested that this mechanism is characteristic of K -strategists, whereas r –strategists such as mosquitoes tend to continue attacking, even if interrupted, until they achieve a normal meal.
Winter Habitat Quality, Population Limitation, and Conservation of Neotropical‐Nearctic Migrant Birds

Recent declines in Neotropical-Nearctic migrant songbird populations are often attributed to events during the nonbreeding season, such as tropical habitat conversion and drought. Support for this hypothesis in most species, however, is largely anecdotal or conjectural. There is a dearth of demographic information about migrants on their Neotropical winter grounds. Such data are needed to identify specific ecological factors influencing survival, dispersal, and, ultimately, population abundances aggregated over multiple habitats at regional spatial scales. In this paper, we review several lines of evidence, emphasizing results of our research on paruline warblers in Jamaica, which indicate that migrant passerines often compete intraspecifically in winter for preferred quality habitats and that their populations may be limited at least in part by ecological conditions in winter. The demographic and ecological evidence supporting this hypothesis for migrant passerines includes : (1) differing densities among habitats, suggesting variation in habitat suitability ; (2) strong territoriality, site attachment, and site fidelity ; (3) experimental demonstrations of habitat saturation ; (4) nonrandom distributions of sex and age classes among habitats ; (5) overwinter decline of body mass by individuals occupying the most drought-stressed habitats ; and (6) different residence times among habitats, suggesting differences in survival or dispersal. We review ecological and behavioral explanations for these demographic patterns, and make conservation recommendations based on our understanding of how local demographic circumstances affect broader scale population processes.
Relationships between Meiotic Irregularities and Fertility in Diploid and Triploid Musa L.

Most of the widely grown banana cultivars are triploids (2n=3x=33). They are characterized by low male and female fertility and/or complete male and female sterility. On the contrary, diploids are generally both male and female fertile. Banana improvement programs use interploidy crosses to introgress useful genes from wild or improved diploids to triploid landraces. This study investigated the effects of meiotic irregularities on the fertility of diploid and triploid Musa accessions. Our results showed that precocious chromosomes movements, lagging chromosomes and univalents were observed in most of the accessions. In general, a higher incidence of univalent formation was related to low pollen fertility and polyspore formation.
The Role of Ca Equilibrium on the Functional Properties of Cheese: A Review

The functional properties of cheese, such as texture and melt, are known to be controlled by several important parameters. Recently, the characteristics of Ca in cheeses, especially the form of Ca (insoluble (INSOL) or soluble) and the shift in Ca equilibrium (i.e., from INSOL to soluble Ca), during aging has received a lot of attention. The INSOL form of Ca, which is present as a structural form in casein, plays a critical role in determining the functional properties of cheese during the early period of ripening (~1 mon). It seems that there is always a reduction of INSOL Ca content in cheese during ripening and there are also factors that can affect the shift in Ca equilibrium. These factors may include the composition of cheese milk, cheese manufacturing pH, acid development during aging, adopting curd-washing in various methods, pre-acidification of milk, etc. There have been many studies showing that the rheological and melting properties of cheese during ripening were significantly (p
Asymptotic Smiles for an Affine Jump-Diffusion Model

In this paper, we study the asymptotic behaviors of implied volatility of an affine jump-diffusion model. Let log stock price under risk-neutral measure follow an affine jump-diffusion model, we show that an explicit form of moment generating function for log stock price can be obtained by solving a set of ordinary differential equations. A large-time large deviation principle for log stock price is derived by applying the G\"{a}rtner-Ellis theorem. We characterize the asymptotic behaviors of the implied volatility in the large-maturity and large-strike regime using rate function in the large deviation principle. The asymptotics of the Black-Scholes implied volatility for fixed-maturity, large-strike and fixed-maturity, small-strike regimes are also studied. Numerical results are provided to validate the theoretical work.
Desenvolvimento larval de Uca (Minuca) Burgersi Holthuis (Crustacea, Decapoda, Ocypodidae), em laboratório

Uca (Minuca) burgersi Holthuis, 1967 was studied in the laboratory under the morphological and systematical stand points. One experiment was carried out involving 100 larvae, derived from one ovigerous female collected in the north coast of the State of Sao Paulo, Brazil. The experiment were carried out in a climatically controlled room at 25±1oC and steady saltness of 34‰ The larvae were maintened individually and food consisted of rotifers (Brachionus plicatillis) in the first stage and Artemia sp. in the last stages. Uca (Minuca) burgersi have five or six zoeal stages and a megalopa one. All larval stages were drawn and described in detail. Tables where the morphological characteristic of each stage of the studied specie was described are also included. They were compared with the other species found in the bibliography passible of being analyzed. The comparative studies of the larval forms of each species of Uca showed that they presented a great similarity of characteristics whose specific identifications were only possible with the aid of several structures analyzed together. In the other hand, the differences among the genera of Ocypodinae occurring in Brazil are more conclusive, and can be obtained by the analyses of a few characteristics.
Laurencia japonensis sp. nov. (Ceramiales, Rhodophyta)

The marine red alga Laurencia japonensis sp. nov. (Rhodomelaceae, Ceramiales) is described from the warm temperate region of Japan. It is characterized by the following combination of features: (1) terete, rigidly cartilaginous, upright axes arising from a primary discoid holdfast and stolon-like branches; (2) tristichous branching; (3) penultimate and ultimate branches showing pronounced adaxial bending; (4) adventitious branches formed chiefly in the axils; (5) the production of four periaxial cells per vegetative axial segment; (6) the presence of longitudinally oriented secondary pit connections between contiguous superficial cortical cells; (7) the absence of projecting superficial cortical cells; (8) the absence of a radially elongated cortical layer; (9) the presence of abundant lenticular thickenings in the walls of medullary cells; (10) the presence of a single corps en cerise per superficial cortical cell and trichoblast cell; (11) a parallel arrangement of tetrasporangia; (12) broadly ovoid cys.
Low-Power Laser Graphitization of High Pressure—High Temperature Nanodiamond Films

Laser-induced graphitization of 100 nm monocrystals of diamond particles synthesized by high-pressure high-temperature (HP-HT) methods is not typically observed. The current study demonstrates the graphitization of 150 nm HP-HT nanodiamond particles in ca. 20-μm-thick thin films formed on a glass substrate when the intensity of a focused 633 nm He-Ne laser exceeds a threshold of ~ 33 kW/cm2. Graphitization is accompanied by green luminescence. The structure and morphology of the samples were investigated before and after laser excitation while using X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy, atomic force (AFM), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). These observations are explained by photoionization of [Ni-N]- and [N]-centers, leading to the excitation of electrons to the conduction band of the HP-HT nanodiamond films and an increase of the local temperature of the sample, causing the transformation of sp3 HP-HT nanodiamonds to sp2-carbon.
CSR Policies on Community Relationships as Value Drivers of Spanish Firms

This paper provides empirical evidence of efforts to enable Spanish manufacturing companies to boost their economic profitability rates through the development of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) policies. This study aims to develop new approaches and sensibilities towards work from an ethical, values (virtues) and CSR perspective, showing how internal and external dimensions of CSR - such as those related to relationships with employees, relationship with the community and responsibility in process quality management - contribute to improve the economic profitability of the company (ROA) in addition to improving society. The results of a sample of 6,186 businesses show that, in general, the implementation of collaboration policies have increased relationships with the community. Alliances with competitors, institutions and suppliers had a significant positive effect on increased ROA. Nevertheless, as we anticipated, cooperation with customers had a negative impact on ROA. In addition, to improve relationships with employees, the implementation of quality policies had a positive and relevant impact on the ROA.
Role of Structural Dynamics in Selectivity and Mechanism of Non-heme Fe(II) and 2-Oxoglutarate-Dependent Oxygenases Involved in DNA Repair

AlkB and its human homologue AlkBH2 are Fe(II)- and 2-oxoglutarate (2OG)-dependent oxygenases that repair alkylated DNA bases occurring as a consequence of reactions with mutagenic agents. We used molecular dynamics (MD) and combined quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics (QM/MM) methods to investigate how structural dynamics influences the selectivity and mechanisms of the AlkB- and AlkBH2-catalyzed demethylation of 3-methylcytosine (m3C) in single (ssDNA) and double (dsDNA) stranded DNA. Dynamics studies reveal the importance of the flexibility in both the protein and DNA components in determining the preferences of AlkB for ssDNA and of AlkBH2 for dsDNA. Correlated motions, including of a hydrophobic β-hairpin, are involved in substrate binding in AlkBH2–dsDNA. The calculations reveal that 2OG rearrangement prior to binding of dioxygen to the active site Fe is preferred over a ferryl rearrangement to form a catalytically productive Fe(IV)=O intermediate. Hydrogen atom transfer proceeds via a σ-channel in AlkBH2–dsDNA and AlkB–dsDNA; in AlkB–ssDNA, there is a competition between σ- and π-channels, implying that the nature of the complexed DNA has potential to alter molecular orbital interactions during the substrate oxidation. Our results reveal the importance of the overall protein–DNA complex in determining selectivity and how the nature of the substrate impacts the mechanism.
Atmospheric new particle formation characteristics in the Arctic as measured at Mount Zeppelin, Svalbard, from 2016 to 2018

Abstract. We conducted continuous measurements of nanoparticles down to 3 nm size in the Arctic at Mount Zeppelin, Ny Ålesund, Svalbard, from October 2016 to December 2018, providing a size distribution of nanoparticles (3–60 nm). A significant number of nanoparticles as small as 3 nm were often observed during new particle formation (NPF), particularly in summer, suggesting that these were likely produced near the site rather than being transported from other regions after growth. The average NPF frequency per year was 23 %, having the highest percentage in August (63 %). The average formation rate (J) and growth rate (GR) for 3–7 nm particles were 0.04 cm−3 s−1 and 2.07 nm h−1, respectively. Although NPF frequency in the Arctic was comparable to that in continental areas, the J and GR were much lower. The number of nanoparticles increased more frequently when air mass originated over the south and southwest ocean regions; this pattern overlapped with regions having strong chlorophyll a concentration and dimethyl sulfide (DMS) production capacity (southwest ocean) and was also associated with increased NH3 and H2SO4 concentration, suggesting that marine biogenic sources were responsible for gaseous precursors to NPF. Our results show that previously developed NPF occurrence criteria (low loss rate and high cluster growth rate favor NPF) are also applicable to NPF in the Arctic.
Plasma YKL-40 as a biomarker in patients with nonmetastatic bone and soft tissue sarcomas: a prospective exploratory clinical study

Purpose: YKL-40 is a glycoprotein with a role in inflammation, tissue remodeling, tumor angiogenesis, and protection against apoptosis. We hypothesized that high preoperative plasma YKL-40 in patients with nonmetastatic bone and soft tissue sarcoma (STS) is associated with short overall survival (OS), and that plasma YKL-40 is an independent predictor for OS. Materials and methods: Plasma was collected preoperatively from 65 patients with nonmetastatic bone (n=14) or STS (n=51) in the lower extremities (n=43), the upper extremities (n=16) or the trunk wall/spine (n=6). All patients underwent surgical cancer treatment. Twenty patients developed metastases during the follow-up period (minimum 5 y). The plasma concentration of YKL-40 was determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Results: Twenty-seven patients died [mean: 3.2 (range: 0.2–7.3) y postoperatively] and 38 patients were still alive after a follow-up of mean 6.9 (5.8–8.2) years postoperatively. Plasma YKL-40 was higher in patients who died during follow-up (P=0.008), in males (P=0.007) and in patients 61 years of age and above (P=0.001). The 5-year OS was 68% and OS was lower in patients with high (≥95% percentile age-corrected) plasma YKL-40 (P=0.021), age 61 years and above (P=0.013), high histologic malignancy grade (P=0.047) and male sex (P=0.051). Multivariable analysis showed that only plasma YKL-40 (age-corrected (hazard ratio=2.80, 95% confidence interval: 1.13–6.91, P=0.026) and malignancy grade (hazard ratio=9.9×107, 95% confidence interval: 0–∞, P=0.007) remained independent prognostic factors for OS. Conclusions: High preoperative plasma YKL-40 was related to short OS in patients with nonmetastatic bone and STS and plasma YKL-40 (age-corrected) was an independent prognostic risk factor for OS.
Self-Supervised Learning Based Anomaly Detection in Online Social Media

: Online Social Media (OSM) produce enormous data related to the human behaviours based on their interactions. One such data is the opinions expressed and posted for any specific issue addressed in the OSM. Majority of the opinions posted would be categorized as positive, negative and neutral. The lighter group’s opinions are termed anomalous as it is not conforming the regular opinions posted by other users. Though, lot of conventional classification and clustering based learning algorithms works well under supervised and un-supervised environment, due to the inherent ambiguity in the tweeted data, anomaly detection poses a bigger challenge in text mining. Though the data is un-supervised, for the learning purpose it is treated as Supervised Learning by assigning class labels for the training data. This paper attempts to give an insight into various anomalies of OSM and identify behavioural anomalies for a Twitter Dataset on user’s opinions on demonetization policy in India. Through Self-Supervised learning, it is observed that 86% of the user’s opinions did agree to the demonetization policy and the remaining have posted negative opinions for the policy implemented.