Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Studies on inhibitory effect of Eucalyptus oil on sebaceous glands for the management of acne

Acne is the most common disorder virtually seen to affect teenagers and young adults between age of 14-30. It is characterized by inflamed specialized sebaceous follicles which are present at face, back and chest. Some serious factors responsible for generation of acne are abnormal follicular keratinization and desquamation, excessive secretion of sebum, and proliferation of Propionibacterium acnes in follicles. Other factors aggravating or worsening the acne conditions are secondary infections caused by some pathogenic strains of bacteria like Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli, etc. There are various topical and systemic therapies available in market to treat or control the acne but maximum of them have the side effects like itching, redness, skin peeling, stinging and photosensitivity. Again, the development of resistance of available antibiotics for P. acne and other bacterial strains has necessitated the search for new antimicrobial agents. Thus, the current work was designed to gain attention towards the alternate pathway for controlling the acne condition by decreasing the production of sebum from sebaceous glands. The eucalyptus oil, obtained from Eucalyptus globulus Labill. (Myrtaceae) was chosen and its biocide action on various bacterial strains was established using agar-well diffusion technique to prove its efficacy in controlling the secondary infection condition i.e. worsening of acnes. The in vivo rat sebaceous gland model was chosen to show the effectiveness of eucalyptus oil in decreasing the sebum production by reducing the size of sebaceous glands to control the spread of acne. The results were found to be promising for eucalyptus oil in controlling the sebum protection and thus establishing the other pathway for the management of acne.
Effects of habitat type on bird nesting in the desert grasslands of central Mexico: conservation implications

Abstract Populations of North American grassland birds have suffered drastic declines. The causes of these declines are only partially understood and may vary among regions. During the 2004 and 2005 breeding seasons we recorded survival information from 220 nests of four bird species in nine study sites representing three habitat types of the desert grasslands of central Mexico, where grassland birds had not yet been studied. We predicted that land-use change from shortgrass steppe to heavily grazed savannah-type grasslands and agriculture would negatively affect nesting success, number of fledglings and nest abundance. We also examined temporal effects on reproductive success. We found some evidence that nest survival of savannah sparrows Passerculus sandwichensis, loggerhead shrikes Lanius ludovicianus and white-winged doves Zenaida asiatica varied with date, and that nest survival of the dove was lowest in agricultural sites. However, confidence intervals were large, suggesting that other variables were also important. Whereas white-winged dove nests were notably more abundant in agricultural areas compared to the other habitat types, western meadowlark Sturnella neglecta nests were not found in agricultural areas. Ploughing caused the largest proportion of nest failures in agricultural areas and, on average, all species fledged fewer young per nest in agricultural areas. Therefore, minimizing agriculture and adjusting harvest times could enhance conservation of grassland-nesting birds in central Mexico. Our study also suggests that inter-annual variation in rainfall can change the onset of nesting by at least 2 months.
The effect of feeding salmon oil to sows throughout pregnancy on pre-weaning mortality of piglets

Salmon oil (16·5 kg /t), a source of long-chain polyunsaturated n-3 fatty acids, was included in diets offered to multiparous sows during pregnancy and lactation to measure responses in pre-weaning mortality and performance of piglets in two studies. The first study, carried out under commercial conditions, included 196 sows which were offered salmon oil and control diets from immediately post service until weaning. The same diets were also offered to 10 sows per treatment from day 58 of pregnancy in a controlled nutritional study which measured the effects of salmon oil on piglet tissue fatty acid composition. Offering salmon oil to the sow significantly increased gestation length and decreased individual piglet birth weight but had no effect on litter size at birth. Overall, salmon oil reduced pre-weaning mortality from 11·7% to 10·2% mainly by reducing the incidence of deaths from crushing by the sow. More detailed analysis of mortality using a general linear mixed model and 2294 piglet records, demonstrated that the incidence of pre-weaning mortality was significantly decreased with increasing individual piglet birth weight and by inclusion of salmon oil in the diet; the incidence of mortality increased with average piglet birth weight in a litter. Salmon oil inclusion had no effect on weight of litter weaned, sow lactation food intake or subsequent reproductive performance. In both studies, dietary salmon oil increased the proportions of long-chain n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids in colostrum to a similar extent. In the nutritional study, inclusion of salmon oil reduced the proportions of 20: 4 n-6 in piglet liver and brain at birth and increased the proportions of long-chain n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids. Therefore, despite reducing piglet birth weight, offering sows salmon oil reduced pre-weaning mortality of piglets. The nutritional study showed that the amount and type of marine oil used may not have been optimal.
Characterization of feeding behavior traits in steers with divergent residual feed intake consuming a high-concentrate diet.

The objective of this study was to examine differences in feeding behavior patterns of steers with divergent phenotypes for residual feed intake (RFI). Three trials were conducted with 508 Angus-based composite crossbred steers (BW = 309 ± 57 kg) fed a high-concentrate diet in pens equipped with electronic feed bunks (GrowSafe® System). Initial and final carcass ultrasound measurements (intra-muscular fat, backfat depth, rib-eye area) were collected on days 0 and 70, and body weight (BW) measured at 14-d intervals. Individual dry matter intake (DMI) and feeding-behavior traits were collected for 70 d, and RFI calculated as the residual from the regression of DMI on average daily gain (ADG) and mid-test BW0.75. Steers were ranked by RFI and assigned to low-, medium-, and high-RFI classes based on ± 0.5 SD from the mean RFI within trial. The feeding behavior traits evaluated in this study included frequency and duration of bunk visit (BV) and meal events, head-down (HD) duration, mean meal length, time-to-bunk interval, the maximum non-feeding interval, and the day-to-day variation of these traits, defined as the root mean square error (RMSE) from linear regression of each trait on day of trial. Additionally, 3 ratio traits were evaluated: BV events per meal, HD duration per BV event, and HD duration per meal event. Low-RFI (feed-efficient) steers consumed 16% less (P < 0.01) DMI while BW and ADG were not different compared to high-RFI steers. Low-RFI steers had 18% fewer and 21% shorter (P < 0.01) BV events, and 11% fewer and 13% shorter (P < 0.01) meal events per day compared to high-RFI steers. Furthermore, low-RFI steers exhibited less (P < 0.05) day-to-day variance in DMI, as well as in frequency and duration of BV and meal events and HD duration compared to high-RFI steers. Differences in feeding behavior traits due to RFI were minimally affected by covariate adjustment for DMI, indicating that steers with divergent RFI have distinct feeding behavior patterns that are largely independent of differences in DMI. These results suggest feeding behavior traits may be useful biomarkers for the prediction of feed efficiency in beef cattle.
Comparative genomics reveals evolution of a beak morphology locus in a high-altitude songbird.

The Ground Tit (Pseudopodoces humilis) has lived on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau for ∼5.7 million years and has the highest altitudinal distribution among all parids. This species has evolved an elongated beak in response to long-term selection imposed by ground-foraging and cavity-nesting habits, yet the genetic basis for beak elongation remains unknown. Here, we perform genome-wide analyses across 14 parid species and identify 25 highly divergent genomic regions that are significantly associated with beak length, finding seven candidate genes involved in bone morphogenesis and remolding. Neutrality tests indicate that a model allowing for a selective sweep in the highly conserved COL27A1 gene best explains variation in beak length. We also identify two non-synonymous fixed mutations in the collagen domain that are predicted to be functionally deleterious yet may have facilitated beak elongation. Our study provides evidence of adaptive alleles in COL27A1 with major effects on beak elongation of Ps. humilis.
OsHDA710-mediated Histone Deacetylation Regulates Callus Formation of Rice Mature Embryo.

Histone deacetylases (HDACs) play important roles in the regulation of eukaryotic gene expression. The role of HDACs in specialized transcriptional regulation and biological processes is poorly understood. In this study, we evaluated the global expression patterns of genes related to epigenetic modifications during callus initiation in rice. We found that the repression of HDAC activity by trichostatin A (TSA) or by OsHDA710 mutation (hda710) results in impaired callus formation of rice mature embryo and increased global histone H3 acetylation levels. The HDAC inhibition decreased auxin response and cell proliferation in callus formation. Meanwhile, the transcriptional repressors OsARF18 and OsARF22 were upregulated in the callus of hda710. The ChIP-qPCR analysis demonstrated that the callus of hda710 exhibited enhanced histone H3 acetylation levels at the chromatin regions of OsARF18 and OsARF22. Furthermore, we found that OsARF18 and OsARF22 were regulated through the OsHDA710 recruitment to their target loci. Additionally, overexpression of OsARF18 decreased the transcription of downstream genes PLT1 and PLT2, and inhibited callus formation of mature embryo. These results demonstrate that OsHDA710 regulates callus formation by suppressing repressive OsARFs via histone deacetylation during callus formation of rice mature embryo. This indicates that OsHDA710-mediated histone deacetylation is an epigenetic regulation pathway for maintaining auxin response during cell dedifferentiation.
Persistence of Bacteriophage Phi 6 on Porous and Nonporous Surfaces and the Potential for Its Use as an Ebola Virus or Coronavirus Surrogate

Understanding the persistence of enveloped viruses helps inform infection control practices and procedures in health care facilities and community settings. These data convey to public health investigators that enveloped viruses can persist and remain infective on surfaces, thus demonstrating a potential risk for transmission. Under these laboratory-simulated Western indoor hospital conditions, we assessed the suitability of phi 6 as a surrogate for environmental persistence research related to enveloped viruses, including EBOV and coronaviruses. ABSTRACT The infection of health care workers during the 2013 to 2016 Ebola outbreak raised concerns about fomite transmission. In the wake of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, investigations are ongoing to determine the role of fomites in coronavirus transmission as well. The bacteriophage phi 6 has a phospholipid envelope and is commonly used in environmental studies as a surrogate for human enveloped viruses. The persistence of phi 6 was evaluated as a surrogate for Ebola virus (EBOV) and coronaviruses on porous and nonporous hospital surfaces. Phi 6 was suspended in a body fluid simulant and inoculated onto 1-cm2 coupons of steel, plastic, and two fabric curtain types. The coupons were placed at two controlled absolute humidity (AH) levels: a low AH of 3.0 g/m3 and a high AH of 14.4 g/m3. Phi 6 declined at a lower rate on all materials under low-AH conditions, with a decay rate of 0.06-log10 PFU/day to 0.11-log10 PFU/day, than under the higher AH conditions, with a decay rate of 0.65-log10 PFU/h to 1.42-log10 PFU/day. There was a significant difference in decay rates between porous and nonporous surfaces at both low AH (P < 0.0001) and high AH (P < 0.0001). Under these laboratory-simulated conditions, phi 6 was found to be a conservative surrogate for EBOV under low-AH conditions in that it persisted longer than Ebola virus in similar AH conditions. Additionally, some coronaviruses persist longer than phi 6 under similar conditions; therefore, phi 6 may not be a suitable surrogate for coronaviruses. IMPORTANCE Understanding the persistence of enveloped viruses helps inform infection control practices and procedures in health care facilities and community settings. These data convey to public health investigators that enveloped viruses can persist and remain infective on surfaces, thus demonstrating a potential risk for transmission. Under these laboratory-simulated Western indoor hospital conditions, we assessed the suitability of phi 6 as a surrogate for environmental persistence research related to enveloped viruses, including EBOV and coronaviruses.
A rapid volume of interest-based approach of radiomics analysis of breast MRI for tumor decoding and phenotyping of breast cancer

Background Recently, radiomics has emerged as a non-invasive, imaging-based tissue characterization method in multiple cancer types. One limitation for robust and reproducible analysis lies in the inter-reader variability of the tumor annotations, which can potentially cause differences in the extracted feature sets and results. In this study, the diagnostic potential of a rapid and clinically feasible VOI (Volume of Interest)-based approach to radiomics is investigated to assess MR-derived parameters for predicting molecular subtype, hormonal receptor status, Ki67- and HER2-Expression, metastasis of lymph nodes and lymph vessel involvement as well as grading in patients with breast cancer. Methods A total of 98 treatment-naïve patients (mean 59.7 years, range 28.0–89.4) with BI-RADS 5 and 6 lesions who underwent a dedicated breast MRI prior to therapy were retrospectively included in this study. The imaging protocol comprised dynamic contrast-enhanced T1-weighted imaging and T2-weighted imaging. Tumor annotations were obtained by drawing VOIs around the primary tumor lesions followed by thresholding. From each segmentation, 13.118 quantitative imaging features were extracted and analyzed with machine learning methods. Validation was performed by 5-fold cross-validation with 25 repeats. Results Predictions for molecular subtypes obtained AUCs of 0.75 (HER2-enriched), 0.73 (triple-negative), 0.65 (luminal A) and 0.69 (luminal B). Differentiating subtypes from one another was highest for HER2-enriched vs triple-negative (AUC 0.97), followed by luminal B vs triple-negative (0.86). Receptor status predictions for Estrogen Receptor (ER), Progesterone Receptor (PR) and Hormone receptor positivity yielded AUCs of 0.67, 0.69 and 0.69, while Ki67 and HER2 Expressions achieved 0.81 and 0.62. Involvement of the lymph vessels could be predicted with an AUC of 0.8, while lymph node metastasis yielded an AUC of 0.71. Models for grading performed similar with an AUC of 0.71 for Elston-Ellis grading and 0.74 for the histological grading. Conclusion Our preliminary results of a rapid approach to VOI-based tumor-annotations for radiomics provides comparable results to current publications with the perks of clinical suitability, enabling a comprehensive non-invasive platform for breast tumor decoding and phenotyping.
Sentinel Node Biopsy in Early Breast Cancer Patients with Palpable Axillary Node

Background: Sentinel lymph node biopsy is a reliable method for evaluation of the axillary lymph node status in early stage breast cancer patients with non-palpable lymph nodes. The present study evaluated the status of sentinel and non-sentinel lymph nodes in T1T2 patients with palpable axillary lymph nodes. Materials and Methods: One hundred and two women with early breast cancer were investigated in this study. Patients were selected for axillary sentinel lymph node biopsy and then surgery . Then the rates of false negative and true positive, and diagnostic accuracy of sentinel lymph nodes biopsy were evaluated. In addition, the hormone receptors status of the tumor was determined through IHC and data was analyzed in SPSS21. Results: In this study, the mean age of the patients was 49 years, 85% had invasive ductal carcinoma in their pathology reports, 77% were ER/PR positive, 30% HER2 positive and 9.8% triple negative and 69% had KI67<14%. In frozen pathology, 15.7 and 84.3% were sentinel positive and negative, respectively, and in the final pathology, 41 and 58.8% were sentinel positive and negative, respectively. This difference arises from the false negative rate of the frozen pathology, which was about 31.3%. The sensitivity, specificity, and diagnostic accuracy of the frozen section were 24, 90 and 43%, respectively. Lymphovascular invasion is an important effective factor in the involvement of sentinel and non-sentinel lymph nodes. Statistical analysis showed that the probability of sentinel and non-sentinel lymph nodes involvement was higher in receptor positive patients and those with KI67>14% (p<0.002) whereas the rate of involvement was lower in triple negative patients. Conclusion: Sentinel node biopsy can be used in a significant percentage of breast cancer patients with palpable and reactive axillary lymph nodes.
Terpene Synthases and Terpene Variation in Cannabis sativa1[OPEN]

The terpene synthase gene family contributes to variations in cannabis metabolite profiles. Cannabis (Cannabis sativa) resin is the foundation of a multibillion dollar medicinal and recreational plant bioproducts industry. Major components of the cannabis resin are the cannabinoids and terpenes. Variations of cannabis terpene profiles contribute much to the different flavor and fragrance phenotypes that affect consumer preferences. A major problem in the cannabis industry is the lack of proper metabolic characterization of many of the existing cultivars, combined with sometimes incorrect cultivar labeling. We characterized foliar terpene profiles of plants grown from 32 seed sources and found large variation both within and between sets of plants labeled as the same cultivar. We selected five plants representing different cultivars with contrasting terpene profiles for clonal propagation, floral metabolite profiling, and trichome-specific transcriptome sequencing. Sequence analysis of these five cultivars and the reference genome of cv Purple Kush revealed a total of 33 different cannabis terpene synthase (CsTPS) genes, as well as variations of the CsTPS gene family and differential expression of terpenoid and cannabinoid pathway genes between cultivars. Our annotation of the cv Purple Kush reference genome identified 19 complete CsTPS gene models, and tandem arrays of isoprenoid and cannabinoid biosynthetic genes. An updated phylogeny of the CsTPS gene family showed three cannabis-specific clades, including a clade of sesquiterpene synthases within the TPS-b subfamily that typically contains mostly monoterpene synthases. The CsTPSs described and functionally characterized here include 13 that had not been previously characterized and that collectively explain a diverse range of cannabis terpenes.
Sleep slow oscillations favour local cortical plasticity underlying the consolidation of reinforced procedural learning in human sleep

We investigated changes of slow‐wave activity and sleep slow oscillations in the night following procedural learning boosted by reinforcement learning, and how these changes correlate with behavioural output. In the Task session, participants had to reach a visual target adapting cursor's movements to compensate an angular deviation introduced experimentally, while in the Control session no deviation was applied. The task was repeated at 13:00 hours, 17:00 hours and 23:00 hours before sleep, and at 08:00 hours after sleep. The deviation angle was set at 15° (13:00 hours and 17:00 hours) and increased to 45° (reinforcement) at 23:00 hours and 08:00 hours. Both for Task and Control nights, high‐density electroencephalogram sleep recordings were carried out (23:30−19:30 hours). The Task night as compared with the Control night showed increases of: (a) slow‐wave activity (absolute power) over the whole scalp; (b) slow‐wave activity (relative power) in left centro‐parietal areas; (c) sleep slow oscillations rate in sensorimotor and premotor areas; (d) amplitude of pre‐down and up states in premotor regions, left sensorimotor and right parietal regions; (e) sigma crowning the up state in right parietal regions. After Task night, we found an improvement of task performance showing correlations with sleep slow oscillations rate in right premotor, sensorimotor and parietal regions. These findings suggest a key role of sleep slow oscillations in procedural memories consolidation. The diverse components of sleep slow oscillations selectively reflect the network activations related to the reinforced learning of a procedural visuomotor task. Indeed, areas specifically involved in the task stand out as those with a significant association between sleep slow oscillations rate and overnight improvement in task performance.
Variation in Egg Sizes of Pied Flycatchers Ficedula hypoleuca in Central Poland: A Long-Term Decreasing Trend

Abstract. Sequentially laid eggs of small songbirds are built from the current income of resources and therefore can be subject to different environmental influences on the short-term and long-term time scales. In this paper we study variation in egg length, breadth, volume and shape in Pied Flycatchers Ficedula hypoleuca in Łódź, central Poland, during 2002–2012, in relation to climatic and habitat-related factors. We found a significant decreasing trend in egg length, breadth and volume across the study years and a slight tendency for eggs to be a little more elongated in a forest site than in an urban parkland site. Even though mean monthly temperature in May is known to have increased since the 1970s in the area of Łódź, the average ambient temperature during the time of formation of eggs in particular clutches tended to decrease, with increasing variability at the same time, in 2002–2012. Egg size traits showed a positive association with average temperature and a negative relation with variability in temperature during egg formation. In spite of a general trend for spring temperature to increase, mean clutch-specific temperature during egg formation decreased and variation in this temperature increased over the years of this study, which explains the overall decreasing trend in egg sizes. We also found that fledging success was positively correlated with egg length, but not any other trait. Therefore, a decrease in egg sizes resulting from climate changes may influence nestling performance, with potentially negative consequences for the Pied Flycatcher population.