Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Activation of the Farnesoid X Receptor (FXR) Suppresses Linoleic Acid-Induced Inflammation in the Large Yellow Croaker (Larimichthys crocea).

BACKGROUND High linoleic acid (LA) intake leads to inflammation that adversely influences health in fish. However, whether the farnesoid X receptor (FXR) could be an effective target for regulating LA-induced inflammation remains unknown. OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of FXR in the regulation of LA-induced inflammation in large yellow croakers. METHODS Large yellow croakers (initial weight of 10.03 ± 0.02 g) were allocated to 4 groups and fed a fish oil diet (6% FO), a soybean oil diet (6% SO), or the SO diet supplemented with 300 or 900 mg chenodeoxycholic acid (CDCA)/kg for 10 wk. The cultured kidney cell line PCK and primary hepatocytes from large yellow croakers were stimulated by LA (50 μM) after pretreatment with an FXR ligand (GW4064 or CDCA) or transfection with fxr-small interfering RNA (siFXR). mRNA expression of proinflammatory genes in the head kidney and liver tissues, PCK cells, and primary hepatocytes was determined by qPCR. The luciferase reporter assay, electrophoretic mobility shift assay, and immunoprecipitation assay were conducted in HEK 293T cells to determine the transcriptional activity of P65 and protein interactions between P65 and FXR or the small heterodimer partner (SHP). RESULTS Proinflammatory genes were 93-1180% higher in the SO group compared with the FO group. CDCA supplementation decreased mRNA expression of proinflammatory genes by 17-87% while increasing fxr and shp expression by 120-460%. In PCK cells and primary hepatocytes, ligand-mediated activation of FXR decreased the LA-induced expression of proinflammatory genes by 18-67%, whereas siRNA-mediated knockdown of FXR increased the LA-induced expression of proinflammatory genes by 64-96%. FXR bound to the promoter of shp and regulated its mRNA expression. Both FXR and SHP could bind to P65 to suppress the transcriptional activity of P65. CONCLUSIONS These results indicate that FXR has anti-inflammatory properties in large yellow croakers by directly and indirectly suppressing NFκB activity.
Untangling lifespan and body mass discrepancies in canids: Phylogenetic comparison of oxidative stress in blood from domestic dogs and wild canids.

Canids are a morphological and physiological diverse group of animals, with the most diversity found within one species, the domestic dog. Underlying the observed morphological differences must be cellular-level differences that could lead to elucidating aging rates and lifespan disparities between wild and domestic canids. Furthermore, small breed dogs live significantly longer lives than large breed dogs while having higher mass-specific metabolic rates and faster growth rates. At the cell level, a clear mechanism underlying whole-animal traits has not been fully elucidated, though, oxidative stress has been implicated as a potential culprit of the disparate lifespans of domestic dogs. We used separated blood from known age domestic dogs and wild canids, and measured several oxidative stress variables: total antioxidant capacity (TAC), lipid damage, and enzymatic activities of catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD), and glutathione peroxidase (GPx). We used phylogenetically corrected analysis and non-phylogenetically corrected analysis. We found that lipid damage increases with age in domestic dogs; whereas TAC increases with age and TAC and GPx activity increase as a function of age/Maximum lifespan (MLSP) in wild canids, which may partly explain longer potential lifespans in wolves. As body mass increases TAC and GPx activity increases in wild canids, but not domestic dogs, highlighting that artificial selection may have decreased antioxidant capacity in domestic dogs. We found that small breed dogs have significantly higher circulating lipid damage compared with large breed dogs, concomitant to their high mass-specific metabolism and higher growth rates, but in opposition to their long lifespans.
MALE REPRODUCTIVE SUCCESS IS CORRELATED WITH BLOOD PARASITE LEVELS AND BODY CONDITION IN THE PROMISCUOUS AQUATIC WARBLER (ACROCEPHALUS PALUDICOLA)

Abstract The Aquatic Warbler (Acrocephalus paludicola) has a unique mating system. Males are free of any parental duties and can fertilize many females during a single breeding season. Females also usually copulate with more than one male, and nestlings in a single nest may be sired by as many as five males. Paternal success of 33 Aquatic Warbler males in a Polish population was determined by microsatellite polymerase-chain-reaction analysis. Males infected by blood parasites (trypanosomes) sired fewer offspring, weighed less, and probably arrived later to breeding grounds than uninfected males. Number of nestlings sired by a male correlated positively with its fat deposits and wing length. These findings indicate that male body condition directly influences paternal success. Number of sired nestlings per individual male ranged from one to eight. Reproductive success among males was uneven, with six males (18%) fathering 44% of nestlings in the study area. Males with high reproductive success arrived at the breeding grounds earlier in spring than males with low reproductive success.
Wide-Scale Population Sampling Identifies Three Phylogeographic Races of Basin Wildrye and Low-Level Genetic Admixture with Creeping Wildrye

Basin wildrye ( Leymus cinereus (Scribn. & Merr.) A. Love) and creeping wildrye ( Leymus triti- coides (Buckley) pilg. ) are outcrossing peren - nial grasses native to western North America. These divergent species are generally adapted to different habitats but can form fertile hybrids. Cultivars of both species are used in agricul - ture and conservation, but little is known about genetic diversity and gene flow among these species. Therefore, multilocus amplified frag - ment length polymorphism (AFLp) genotypes and chloroplast DNA sequences were evaluated from 536 L. cinereus and 43 L. triticoides plants from 224 locations of western United States and Canada. Bayesian-cluster analysis detected three L. cinereus races corresponding to the Columbia, rocky Mountain, and Great Basin regions. possible admixture between species was detected in specific areas, but only 2.2% of the plants showed more than 10% introgres - sion. The Columbia and Great Basin races were predominantly octoploid whereas most of the rocky Mountain accessions were tetraploid. Approximately 36 and 7% of the AFL p variation was apportioned among species and races, respectively, but no discrete marker differences were detected among these groups. Although species can be distinguished using a relatively small set of AFLp markers showing divergent allele frequencies, at least 30 markers were needed to classify plants by race. Approximately 8 and 11% of the chloroplast DNA sequence variation was apportioned among species and races, but these markers were not practically useful for species or race identification.
Gender determination using odontometric diagonal measurements of teeth: An analytical study

Background: Gender determination is one of the prime parameters in forensic identification. The feasibility of the nonreactive, mineralized part of teeth to resist mutilation and to survive deliberate, accidental, or natural change has led forensic experts to focus on the teeth as a possible source as forensic data in cases of fragmentary and mutilated human remains. Aim: The aim of this study is to determine gender using odontometric diagonal measurements of permanent maxillary and mandibular teeth. Objectives: To measure and evaluate sexual dimorphism by odontometric diagonal measurement of teeth. Materials and Methods: The study sample included a total of 80 maxillary and mandibular dental casts obtained by alginate impression from 40 participants (20 males and 20 females) in the age range of 19–35 years selected from the Central Indian population. Mesiobuccal-distolingual (MBDL) and distobuccal-mesiolingual (DBML) measurements of the right permanent maxillary and mandibular teeth excluding third molars were taken separately. All the measurements were taken using a Digital Vernier Caliper. Data were analyzed using discriminant function analysis. Results: It is found that the diagonal measurements are significantly greater in males than females. The highest percentage of overall accuracy rate of maxillary MBDL is followed by maxillary DBML, mandibular MBDL, and mandibular DBML. All the values of the mean tooth dimension of MBDL were greater than DBML. The overall accuracy rate of maxillary MBDL is 97.2% and mandibular MBDL is 95.2%. The overall accuracy rate of maxillary DBML is 96.56% and mandibular DBML is 94.21%. Conclusion: Diagonal measurements of teeth can be used for sex determination. The most significant variable is found to be MBDL measurements of maxillary and mandibular second premolars. It is the strongest predictor for gender determination.
Rapid anti-tumor effects of gelatin sponge/nano-β-TCP construct on SKOV-3 human ovarian cancer cells in vitro

Nanosized β-tricalcium phosphate (nano-β-TCP) particles were synthesized and characterized by transmission electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction. A surface coating was used to fabricate a medical absorbable gelatin sponge (GS) with nano-β-TCP biocomposite (GSN). The nano-β-TCP particles were ~150 nm in diameter and GSN was highly porous with pore diameter of ~200 μm. Modification via nano-β-TCP coating endowed the biocomposite with actual inhibitory effects on human ovarian cancer SKOV-3 cells. The systematic in vitro evaluations including ultrastructural observation, MTT assay, cell cycle analysis, apoptosis detection, and assessment of proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) expression data confirm that rapid internalization of nano-β-TCP, cell growth inhibition, G1/S phase cell cycle arrest, apoptosis, and suppression of PCNA expression play important roles in the rapid anti-tumor effects of GNS on SKOV-3 cells. Currently, in vitro and in vivo research work are in progress, including special anti-neoplastic drug delivery and synergistic effects of GSN and chemotherapeutic agents.
A Multichannel fNIRS System for Prefrontal Mental Task Classification with Dual-level Excitation and Deep Forest Algorithm

This paper presents a multichannel functional continuous-wave near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) system, which collects data under a dual-level light intensity mode to optimize SNR for channels with multiple source-detector separations. This system is applied to classify different cortical activation states of the prefrontal cortex (PFC). Mental arithmetic, digit span, semantic task, and rest state were selected as four mental tasks. A deep forest algorithm is employed to achieve high classification accuracy. By employing multigrained scanning to fNIRS data, this system can extract the structural features and result in higher performance. The proposed system with proper optimization can achieve 86.9% accuracy on the self-built dataset, which is the highest result compared to the existing systems.
The role of the Weberian Reform in European Rubus research and the taxonomy of locally distributed species – which species should we describe?

After Sudre published his treatment of European Rubi in the early 20th century, Rubus taxonomy in Europe suffered from a scholastic phase and a longer period of stagnation. The so-called ‘Weberian Reform’ initiated the necessary revival of European batology. It rests on four major pillars: 1) mapping projects over larger areas, 2) evaluation of type material, 3) visits to loci classici, and 4) evaluation of the status of species by means of their distribution areas. Subsequently, it has become widely accepted in European batology that only species with a distribution area over 50 km should be described. Although this pragmatic species concept has been useful in making a continent-wide overview of brambles, we argue that it is lacking a scientific basis, and should thus be rejected. There are at least four distinctive problems when treating locally distributed brambles: 1) primary hybrids, 2) locally distributed stabilised apomicts, 3) intraspecific variation in species with a larger distribution range, and 4) unstabilised swarms of hybridogenic biotypes and the derivates thereof (mainly in the montane regions). When facing the problems in Rubus systematics, we argue that all independently evolving lineages should be described as species, including apomictic lineages with very small distribution ranges, both from the mountain-dwelling glandular series and from the lowlands. Neither primary hybrids (which are not stabilised by apomixis), nor biotypes without an independent and coherent distribution area are independently evolving lineages, and should thus not be described as species. We advocate a restrained attitude when describing new species with limited distribution areas.
Relationship between mental health and parenting stress among intact families

The study was conducted to know the relationship between mental health and parenting stress among intact families in University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad in the year of 2013-2014. The sample comprised 60 intact (dual parent) families working in Dharwad campus. The self-structured questionnaire was used to collect personal information of the respondents. The mental health inventory developed by Jagdish and Srivastava (1983) and the parenting stress scale by Abidin (1995) were used to assess the stress related to life roles and life events experienced by parents. The results revealed that 63.6 per cent fathers and 40.4 per cent mothers from intact families had very poor mental health irrespective of age. No association was observed between the age of fathers and mothers from intact families with respect to mental health. None of the parents from intact families expressed very good, good and average levels of mental health. The correlation between occupation and mental health of both fathers and mothers was negative but not-significant. There was no significant difference and also no association found between the fathers and the mothers of intact families with respect to parenting stress. It was interesting to note that in case of fathers from intact families there was positive but non-significant relationship between mental health and parenting stress to the general health status. In case of mothers however there was positive but non-significant relationship. This indicates that increase in parenting stress increases the mental health problems.
Standardization of the Arabic version of Beck anxiety inventory in Egyptian population

Objective The aim was to diagnose anxiety in patients with tinnitus using Beck anxiety inventory (BAI) after modification and standardization on the Egyptian population. Background Tinnitus is a common complaint that can affect life aspects, such as emotions, increasing anxiety. Early diagnosis of anxiety helps treatment of tinnitus. The aim of this study was to standardize the Arabic version of BAI in the Egyptians and apply the standardized form on patients with tinnitus. Patients and methods BAI was modified to suite Egyptians. It was backtranslated and judged by an expert committee. It was then applied on 100 healthy adult participants, and then on 30 patients with anxiety for standardization. It was then applied on 30 patients with tinnitus for diagnosis. Examination of reliability and the validity was done. The authors used the receiver operating characteristic curve for getting the possible cutoff value. Results It showed a good reliability by Cronbach's α of 0.73 among controls and patients with anxiety and 0.84 among patients with tinnitus. Test-retest reliability was done after 1 week. Repeatability was significant for the total score using Spearman's correlation. The mean value of the items of Arabic BAI was higher among patients than controls. The discriminant validity found that patients with tinnitus and patients with anxiety scored higher than controls. The authors found that 73.3% of patients with tinnitus experienced anxiety. Conclusion This study confirms that anxiety is a commonly associated complaint with patients with tinnitus. The modified-Arabic version of BAI was found to be a reliable and effective scale for diagnosis of anxiety among Egyptians.
Small Angle Neutron Scattering Reveals the Structural Details of Thermosensitive Polymer-grafted Cellulose Nanocrystals Suspensions.

Thanks to the use of small-angle neutron scattering (SANS), a detailed structural description of thermosensitive polymer-grafted cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) was obtained and the behavior of aqueous suspensions of these derivatized biosourced particles upon temperature increase was revealed. Although literature data show that the surface grafting of thermosensitive polymers drastically enhance the colloidal properties of CNCs, direct space microscopic investigation techniques fail in providing sufficient structural information on these objects. In the case of CNCs decorated with temperature-sensitive polyetheramines following a peptide coupling reaction, a qualitative and quantitative analysis of SANS spectra show that CNCs are homogeneously covered by a shell comprising polymer chains in a Gaussian conformation with a thickness equal to their radius of gyration in solution, thus revealing a mushroom regime. An increase of the temperature above the lower critical solution (LCST) of the polyetheramine results in the formation of finite size bundles whose aggregation number depends on the particle concentration and suspension temperature deviation from the LCST. SANS analysis further reveals local changes at the CNC surface corresponding to a release of water molecules and related denser polymer shell conformation. Noticeably, data show a full reversibility at all length-scales when a sample was cooled down below the LCST after being heated above it. Overall, results obtained by SANS allow an in-depth structural investigation of derivatized CNCs that is of high interest for the design of functional materials comprising these biosourced colloids.
Crabs Potamonautes perlatus in diet of Otter Aonyx capensis and Water mongoose Atilax paludinosus in a freshwater habitat in South Africa

Studied the feeding ecology of sympatric Cape clawless otter and water mongoose at the Olifants River, Cape Province. Crab was an important prey in the diet of both species and faecal analysis was used to determine the extent of dietary overlap. Mean crab size taken by water mongoose was larger than that taken by Otters. Fish was the second most important prey in the diet of Otters, whereas terrestrial prey comprised a major part of the diet of the water mongoose. Different foraging patterns of the predators and habitat selection by crabs of different sizes could explain the observed Variation.
An Empirical Investigation of CDS Spreads Using a Regime-Switching Default Risk Model

Default risk in equity returns can be measured by structural models of default. In this article we propose a credit warning signal (CWS) based on the Merton Default Risk (MDR) model and a Regime-Switching Default Risk (RSDR) model. The RSDR model is a generalization of the MDR model, comprises regime-switching asset distribution dynamics, and thus produces more realistic default probability estimates in cases of deteriorating credit quality. Alternatively, it reduces to the MDR model. Using a dataset of U.S. credit default swap (CDS) contracts around the 2007-8 crisis we construct rating-based indices to investigate the MDR and RSDR implied probabilities of default in relation to the market-observed CDS spreads. The proposed CWS measure indicates an increase in implied default probabilities several months ahead of notable increases in CDS spreads.
Pyrenophora teres f. maculata, the cause of Pyrenophora leaf spot of barley in South Africa

Net blotch caused by Pyrenophora teres is a serious disease of barley in many cereal production areas world-wide, including the Western Cape province of South Africa. The pathogen occurs as two forms, P. teres f. teres, which produces net-blotch symptoms, and P. teres f. maculata which produces leaf spots. Pyrenophora japonica and P. hordei, which have also been reported in South Africa, also produce spots on susceptible barley cultivars. Using RAPD markers, spot-forming isolates from the South African population were found to be relatively uniform. Single ascospores were obtained from pseudothecia after in vitro mating had occurred between a verified P. teres net-blotch isolate from Denmark and a representative Pyrenophora leaf spot isolate from South Africa. Using amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) and RAPD markers, recombination was demonstrated in the progeny which had DNA banding patterns different from the two parental isolates. Pathogenicity trials also confirmed that recombination had taken place during mating. Inoculations were conducted on differential cultivars susceptible to the net-blotch or leaf spot forms. The two parents induced typical net-blotch or leaf spot symptoms whereas the progeny mostly induced a jagged spot symptom on each cultivar. Fungicide sensitivity tests using the ergosterol biosynthesis inhibitors triademinol, bromuconazole and triticonazole showed that, due to recombination, some progeny could have increased resistance to these fungicides. Due to mating and subsequent recombination between a net blotch isolate of P. teres and a representative leaf spot isolate, it was concluded that the latter was P. teres f. maculata. These results contrast with the earlier belief that Pyrenophora leaf spot isolates in the Western Cape are P. japonica and P. hordei.
The eyes reflect an internal cognitive state hidden in the population activity of cortical neurons

Decades of research have shown that global brain states such as arousal can be indexed by measuring the properties of the eyes. Neural signals from individual neurons, populations of neurons, and field potentials measured throughout much of the brain have been associated with the size of the pupil, small fixational eye movements, and vigor in saccadic eye movements. However, precisely because the eyes have been associated with modulation of neural activity across the brain, and many different kinds of measurements of the eyes have been made across studies, it has been difficult to clearly isolate how internal states affect the behavior of the eyes, and vice versa. Recent work in our laboratory identified a latent dimension of neural activity in macaque visual cortex on the timescale of minutes to tens of minutes. This ‘slow drift’ was associated with perceptual performance on an orientation-change detection task, as well as neural activity in visual and prefrontal cortex (PFC), suggesting it might reflect a shift in a global brain state. This motivated us to ask if the neural signature of this internal state is correlated with the action of the eyes in different behavioral tasks. We recorded from visual cortex (V4) while monkeys performed a change detection task, and the prefrontal cortex, while they performed a memory-guided saccade task. On both tasks, slow drift was associated with a pattern that is indicative of changes in arousal level over time. When pupil size was large, and the subjects were in a heighted state of arousal, microsaccade rate and reaction time decreased while saccade velocity increased. These results show that the action of the eyes is associated with a dominant mode of neural activity that is pervasive and task-independent, and can be accessed in the population activity of neurons across the cortex.