Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Evidence of low gene flow in a neotropical clustered tree species in two rainforest stands of French Guiana

The spatial genetic structure of the neotropical, clustered tree species Vouacapoua americana (Aublet) was studied in two natural forest stands (Paracou and Nouragues) in French Guiana. Using eight microsatellite loci, V. americana is characterized by a marked genetic structure at small spatial distances (under 30–60 m), in agreement with the limited seed dispersal by rodent species. Gene flow through pollen is also shown to be mainly restricted to less than 100 m. This result suggests that most pollination events (mediated through small insects) are probably limited to within‐patches of individuals, which might explain the high genetic differentiation among patches (FST = 0.11) separated by less than 2 km. We also assume that stronger genetic structure in Paracou is likely to be due to lower seed dispersal by rodents, large spatial distances separating patches, or a recent recolonization event.
Leukocyte Adhesion as an Indicator of Oxygenator Thrombosis During Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation Therapy?

Thrombosis is the most common technical complication with extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO). Accumulations of leukocytes on the gas exchange membranes within a membrane oxygenator (MO) may initiate thrombosis and influence outcome. MOs (n = 41) were removed routinely from adult patients on ECMO, preserved, and analyzed for their cellular deposits using nuclear (4′,6-diamidino-2-phenylindole) and cell type–specific markers (CD45; von Willebrand factor, vWF). The extent of cellular colonization was correlated with patient data. Blood contact caused adhesion of leukocytes and accumulation of vWF. Six MOs contained “pseudomembranes” (PM). MOs with PM were from younger patients (median [interquartile range {IQR}]; age, 36 [30–47] vs. 61 [51–71] years; p = 0.040) and the leukocyte count before ECMO was on average higher (21 [16–24] vs. 15 [8–18] ×109 per L; p = 0.051) compared with PM-free MOs. The development of PMs did not influence pressure drop across the MO. Data indicating coagulation disorder within the MOs (d-dimers, fibrinogen, and platelets) were not significantly different between the groups. There was only one acute MO thrombosis in a PM-free MO. The support time of the analyzed MOs with PM tended to be longer when compared with PM-free MOs (11 [6–19] vs. 8 [5–11] days). Nevertheless, all patients with MOs with PMs were successfully weaned (6/6 vs. 17/35) and discharged from hospital (6/6 vs. 17/35; p = 0.027) compared with patients with PM-free MOs. In conclusion, elderly people on ECMO showed reduced PM formation that may reduce the risk of MO thrombosis. Younger patients had no negative effect.
Requirement of SH2-containing Protein Tyrosine Phosphatases SHP-1 and SHP-2 for Paired Immunoglobulin-like Receptor B (PIR-B)–mediated Inhibitory Signal

Paired immunoglobulin-like receptor B (PIR-B) (p91) molecule has been proposed to function as an inhibitory receptor in B cells and myeloid lineage cells. We demonstrate here that the cytoplasmic region of PIR-B is capable of inhibiting B cell activation. Mutational analysis of five cytoplasmic tyrosines indicate that tyrosine 771 in the motif VxYxxL plays the most crucial role in mediating the inhibitory signal. PIR-B–mediated inhibition was markedly reduced in the SH2-containing protein tyrosine phosphatases SHP-1 and SHP-2 double-deficient DT40 B cells, whereas this inhibition was unaffected in the inositol polyphosphate 5′-phosphatase SHIP-deficient cells. These data demonstrate that PIR-B can negatively regulate B cell receptor activation and that this PIR-B–mediated inhibition requires redundant functions of SHP-1 and SHP-2.
Defective lymphopoiesis in the bone marrow of motheaten (me/me) and viable motheaten (mev/mev) mutant mice. II. Description of a microenvironmental defect for the generation of terminal deoxynucleotidyltransferase-positive bone marrow cells in vitro.

We have presented evidence in a previous paper that the development of prothymocytes, pre-B cells, and TdT+ lymphoid precursor cells in the bone marrow of motheaten (me/me) and viable motheaten (mev/mev) mice is defective. In the present study, we have used a selective culture system that supports the generation of rat- and mouse-origin TdT+ bone marrow lymphoid cells in vitro to further investigate the early stages of lymphopoiesis in me/me and mev/mev mice. The results demonstrate that bone marrow stromal cell feeder layers derived from me/me and mev/mev mice do not support the growth of rat TdT+ cells in vitro, whereas stromal cell feeder layers from heterozygous (+/-) littermates and wild type (+/+) control mice do. Moreover, composite feeder layers formed by mixing as few as one part me/me and mev/mev bone marrow cells with 7 to 9 parts +/- littermate bone marrow cells also fail to effectively support the generation of TdT+ cells in vitro. In contrast to me/me and mev/mev mice, other mutant mouse models of autoimmune (NZB, NZB/W), immunodeficient (nu/nu), and hemopoietic (W/Wv, Sl/Sld) disorders form feeder layers that support normal to elevated levels of TdT+ cell growth in vitro. Thus, to date, only the me/me and mev/mev mutant mice have been found to lack the appropriate microenvironment for the generation of TdT+ bone marrow cells. Histologic analysis of the stromal cell feeder layers that are formed in our culture system shows that multilayered cellular patches, which normally are the most active sites of TdT+ cell development in vitro, are absent in feeder layers of me/me and mev/mev cells. Moreover, feeder layers from mev/mev mice contain a population of MAC 1+, basophilic, nonvacuolated, macrophage-like cells; whereas feeder layers from control mice contain MAC 1+, eosinophilic, vacuolated macrophage-like cells. Stromal cell feeder layers formed by mixtures of me/me or mev/mev and control mouse bone marrow cells contain numerous multilayered cellular patches and vacuolated mononuclear cells, but also contain large numbers of basophilic mononuclear cells. These composite feeder layers have a disproportionately reduced capacity to support the generation of TdT+ cells in vitro. Although the stromal microenvironment of me/me and mev/mev bone marrow does not support the growth of TdT+ cells in vivo or in vitro, the bone marrow from these mutant mice contains detectable numbers of pre-TdT+ cells. Thus, when cultured on normal mouse feeder layers, mutant mouse bone marrow rapidly generates TdT+ cells in vitro, albeit at significantly reduced levels as compared to +/- littermate controls. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
Spatial and temporal control of Rho GTPase functions

Rho family GTPases control almost every aspect of cell physiology and, since their discovery, a wealth of knowledge has accumulated about their biochemical regulation and function. However, each Rho GTPase distributes between multiple cellular compartments, even within the same cell, where they are controlled by multiple regulators and signal to multiple effectors. Thus, major questions about spatial and temporal aspects of regulation remain unanswered. In particular, what are the nano-scale dynamics for their activation, membrane targeting, diffusion, effector activation and GTPase inactivation? How do these mechanisms differ in the different cellular compartments where Rho GTPases function? Addressing these complex aspects of Rho GTPase biology will significantly advance our understanding of the spatial and temporal control of cellular functions.
The effect of genetic and environmental variation on metabolic gene expression

What is the relationship between genetic or environmental variation and the variation in messenger RNA (mRNA) expression? To address this, microarrays were used to examine the effect of genetic and environmental variation on cardiac mRNA expression for metabolic genes in three groups of Fundulus heteroclitus: (i) individuals sampled in the field (field), (ii) field individuals acclimated for 6 months to laboratory conditions (acclimated), or (iii) individuals bred for 10 successive generations in a laboratory environment (G10). The G10 individuals have significantly less genetic variation than individuals obtained in the field and had a significantly lower variation in mRNA expression across all genes in comparison to the other two groups (P = 0.001). When examining the gene specific variation, 22 genes had variation in expression that was significantly different among groups with lower variation in G10 individuals than in acclimated individuals. Additionally, there were fewer genes with significant differences in expression among G10 individuals vs. either acclimated or field individuals: 66 genes have statistically different levels of expression vs. 107 or 97 for acclimated or field groups. Based on the permutation of the data, these differences in the number of genes with significant differences among individuals within a group are unlikely to occur by chance (P < 0.01). Surprisingly, variation in mRNA expression in field individuals is lower than in acclimated individuals. Relative to the variation among individual within a group, few genes have significant differences in expression among groups (seven, 2.3%) and none of these are different between acclimated and field individuals. The results support the concept that genetic variation affects variation in mRNA expression and also suggests that temporal environmental variation associated with estuarine environments does not increase the variation among individuals or add to the differences among groups.
Immunogenicity and Protective Efficacy of a Recombinant Subunit West Nile Virus Vaccine in Rhesus Monkeys

ABSTRACT The immunogenicity and protective efficacy of a recombinant subunit West Nile virus (WNV) vaccine was evaluated in rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta). The vaccine consisted of a recombinant envelope (E) protein truncated at the C-terminal end, resulting in a polypeptide containing 80% of the N-terminal amino acids of the native WNV protein (WN-80E), mixed with an adjuvant (GPI-0100). WN-80E was produced in a Drosophila melanogaster expression system with high yield and purified by immunoaffinity chromatography using a monoclonal antibody specific for flavivirus E proteins. Groups of monkeys were vaccinated with formulations containing 1 or 25 μg of WN-80E antigen, and both humoral and cellular immunity were assessed after vaccination. The results demonstrated potent antibody responses to vaccination, as determined by both enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and virus-neutralizing antibody assays. All vaccinated animals responded favorably, and there was little difference in response between animals immunized with 1 or 25 μg of WN-80E. Cellular immunity was determined by lymphocyte proliferation and cytokine production assays using peripheral blood mononuclear cells from vaccinated animals stimulated in vitro with WN-80E. Cell-mediated immune responses varied from animal to animal within each group. About half of the animals responded with lymphoproliferation, cytokine production, or both. Again, there was little difference in response between animals immunized with a 1- or 25-μg dose of WN-80E in the vaccine formulations. In a separate experiment, groups of monkeys were immunized with the WN-80E/GPI-0100 vaccine or an adjuvant-only control formulation. Animals were then challenged by inoculation of wild-type WNV, and the level of viremia in each animal was monitored daily for 10 days. The results showed that whereas all animals in the control group had detectable viremia for at least 3 days after challenge, all of the vaccinated animals were negative on all days after challenge. Thus, the WN-80E vaccine was 100% efficacious in protecting monkeys against infection with WNV.
Fish Immunoglobulins

The B cell receptor and secreted antibody are at the nexus of humoral adaptive immunity. In this review, we summarize what is known of the immunoglobulin genes of jawed cartilaginous and bony fishes. We focus on what has been learned from genomic or cDNA sequence data, but where appropriate draw upon protein, immunization, affinity and structural studies. Work from major aquatic model organisms and less studied comparative species are both included to define what is the rule for an immunoglobulin isotype or taxonomic group and what exemplifies an exception.
Do I measure up

N ITS broader aspects, the question of a supervising teacher's worth has as many facets as the relationships which the supervising teacher has to the student-teacher, to the school situation in its total gestalt, and to the profession in his effort to create and maintain conditions for carrying out effectively the purposes of student teaching. Viewing the question in its narrow relationship of the supervising teacher as the key person who critically influences the prospective teacher at a strategic point in his career, the thing of prime importance becomes whether or not the supervising teacher can capably guide the student-teacher through a creative undertaking in an experience-centered program, leaving him competent to assume responsibility in the total aspects of the teaching profession. Educators are looking increasingly to student teaching as the crucial stage in the preservice curriculum, and increasingly the student teaching experience is shifting from the laboratory school to the off-campus center. With this important trend toward full time student teaching and with the use of more and more classroom teachers who haven't had specific courses to prepare them for this type of work, the situation requires us to study seriously procedures which could serve as a basis for the improvement of services rendered by the supervising teacher. The practice of self appraisal is a vital part of the supervising teacher's professional experience and growth. The following check list entitled "Self-Rating Scale for Supervising Teachers" is a diagnostic self-device containing suggestions intended to be helpful in forming a clearer conception of the role and responsibilities of the supervising teacher as well as alerting him to his strong and weak areas. Its purpose is to give helpful guidance both in recognition of strong points and in constructive suggestions for both beginning and experienced supervising teachers who may look at its important phases and then ask themselves the questions which it raises, "Have I done this? Did I do that? " Then self scrutinization will become a meaningful experience in which one of the most important fields will assume the distinction of being the most self-satisfying.
The Effect of Ethanol Leaf Extract of Jatropha curcas on Chloroform Induced Hepatotoxicity in Albino Rats

3 Abstract: In this study, ethanol leaf extract of Jatropha curcas were selected for their hepatoprotective activity on experimentally induced hepatotoxicity in rats. The leaves of Jatropha curcas were sun-dried, ground and then extracted with ethanol. LD was carried out and found to be between the ranges of 1900mg/kg to 50 2600mg/kg body weight and thus, the lethal dose was calculated to be 2222.6 mg/kg. Wistar strain albino rats were used for assessment of hepatoprotective activity and hepatotoxicity was induced by the administration of chloroform. Ethanol extract was administered on the rats by oral intubation method for 14 days, also chemiron was the standard drug administered. Blood was collected by ocular puncturing and various biochemical parameters alanine amino transferase (ALT), aspartate amino transferase (AST) and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) were studied. Treatment with ethanol leaf extract of Jatropha curcas showed a significant decrease (p<0.05) in the levels of elevated ALT, ALP and AST when the results of the experimental groups were compared with the negative control (group 4). The results suggest that the leaves of Jatropha curcas could serve as a promising source of drug for the treatment of liver related complications of oxidative stress.
Discriminative generalized hough transform for object dectection

This paper present a part-based approach for detecting objects with large variation of appearance. We extract local image patches as local features both from the object and from the background in training images to learn an object part model discriminatively. Our object part model discriminates the local features whether they are an object part or not. Based on the discrimination results, each local feature casts probabilistic votes for the object location and size which are learned from the training images. Our object part model also requires regression performance for predicting the object location and size through the voting procedure. We build such an object part model with an ensemble of randomized trees trained by splitting each tree node so as to reduce the entropy of class label distribution and the variance of object location and size. Experimental results on hand detection with large pose variation show that our approach outperforms conventional generalized Hough transform. We verified the performance on a public dataset of side-view cars.
The molecular link between auxin and ROS-Mediated polar root hair growth

Root hair polar growth is endogenously controlled by auxin and sustained by oscillating levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS). These cells extend several hundred-fold their original size toward signals important for plant survival. Although their final cell size is of fundamental importance, the molecular mechanisms that control it remain largely unknown. Here, we show that ROS production is controlled by the transcription factors RSL4, which in turn is transcriptionally regulated by auxin through several Auxin Responsive Factors (ARFs). In this manner, auxin controls ROS-mediated polar growth by activating RSL4, which then upregulates the expression of genes encoding NADPH oxidases (also known as RBOHs, RESPIRATORY BURST OXIDASE HOMOLOG proteins) and Class-III Peroxidases (PER), which catalyse ROS production. Chemical or genetic interference with the ROS balance or peroxidase activity affect root hair final cell size. Overall, our findings establish a molecular link between auxin regulated ARFs-RSL4 and ROS-mediated polar root hair growth. Significance Statement Tip-growing root hairs are excellent model systems to decipher the molecular mechanism underlying reactive oxygen species (ROS)-mediated cell elongation. Root hairs are able to expand in response to external signals, increasing several hundred-fold their original size, which is important for survival of the plant. Although their final cell size is of fundamental importance, the molecular mechanisms that control it remain largely unknown. In this study, we propose a molecular mechanism that links the auxin-Auxin Response Factors (ARFs) module to activation of RSL4, which directly targets genes encoding ROS-producing enzymes, such as NADPH oxidases (or RBOHs) and secreted type-III peroxidases (PERs). Activation of these genes impacts apoplastic ROS homeostasis, thereby stimulating root hair cell elongation.
PHENOTYPIC PLASTICITY IN POLYGONUM PERSICARIA. II. NORMS OF REACTION TO SOIL MOISTURE AND THE MAINTENANCE OF GENETIC DIVERSITY

Adaptive phenotypic plasticity is the predicted evolutionary response to fine‐grained fluctuation in major environmental factors, such as soil moisture in plant habitats. This study examines genotypes from two natural populations of Polygonum persicaria, one from a relatively homogeneous, moderately moist site, and one from a site in which severe drought and root flooding occur within single growth seasons. Norms of reaction (phenotypic response curves) were determined for a random sample of eight and ten cloned genotypes, respectively, from each of the populations over a controlled moisture gradient ranging from drought to flooding.
Leistungsbewertung der Cloud-Plattform Apache Hadoop am Anwendungsbeispiel verteilter Simulationen

Zusammenfassung Dieser Artikel beschreibt, wie die Cloud-Plattform Apache Hadoop für verteilte Simulationen eingesetzt werden kann („Howto“) und präsentiert zugehörige Leistungsbewertungen sowie Nutzungserfahrungen. Diskrete ereignisbasierte Simulationen benötigen typischerweise beträchtliche Rechenkapazitäten, da die zugehörigen Modelle in der Regel einen großen zu explorierenden Parameterraum besitzen. Bislang wurden zumeist dedizierte Cluster für die Bewältigung dieser Aufgaben verwendet. Cloud Computing bietet nun immense Rechenressourcen in einer flexiblen und kosteneffizienten Art und Weise an. Folglich kann Cloud Computing eine potentielle Basis für die verteilte Durchführung von Simulationsstudien bieten, ohne dabei ein Rechencluster vor Ort besitzen zu müssen. Jedoch ist die manuelle Verteilung von hundert oder tausend Simulationsläufen sehr aufwendig. Daher wird in dieser Arbeit ein Ansatz vorgestellt, der es ermöglicht, die Verteilung von Simulationsläufen automatisiert unter Verwendung des sogenannten MapReduce-Konzepts durchzuführen. MapReduce ermöglicht es, sehr rechenintensive Aufgaben in kleinere unabhängige Teilaufgaben zu unterteilen und ist im Umfeld des Cloud Computing etabliert. Der Fokus dieser Arbeit liegt auf der Verteilung von untereinander unabhängigen und somit trivial parallelisierbaren Simulationsläufen, d. h. beispielsweise Läufe mit unterschiedlichen Parameterwerten. Zunächst wird die Umsetzung der beiden benötigten Funktionen Map und Reduce präsentiert. Die anschließende Leistungsbewertung erfolgte unter Verwendung der Open-Source Implementierung Apache Hadoop sowie der Cloud-Umgebung Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2).
Energy aware unicast geographic routing

In this paper, we are investigating the optimal radio range minimizing the energy globally consummed by a geographical routing process. Considering a geographical greedy routing protocol and a uniform distribution of nodes in the network area, we analytically evaluate the energy cost of a multi-hop communication. This cost evaluation corresponds to the asymptotic behavior of the routing protocol and turns out to be very accurate compared to the results obtained by simulations. We show that this cost is function of the node intensity and we use this result to deduce the optimal radio range. We evaluate this range with two energy consumption models, the first one considering the energy consumed by transmission operations only and the second one considering both transmission and reception operations. These results can be used in two ways. First, the nodes range can be tuned in advance as a function of the expected node intensity during an off-line planning. Second, we propose an adaptative algorithm where nodes tune their powers according to an on-line evaluation of the local node intensity.
Battery/supercapacitor based grid integrated microgrid with improved power quality features

In this paper, application of battery and supercapacitor units based hybrid energy storage system (HESS) integrated to the grid interactive microgrid environment is presented. HESS is nowadays most widely used in the electric vehicles, energy reserves, renewable energy sources (RES)based applications. These energy storage systems can also be added to the existing power conditioning units to improve their inherent compensation capabilities. Effective voltage and current compensation are achieved using a single inverter topology with the usage of HESS into the system. Also the current stresses occurred due to dynamic changes in load and RES are diverted to supercapacitor packs, which relieves the battery units and improves its lifespan. The participation of these HESS is controlled based on the state of charge (SoC) status to have safe and reliable operation. A control strategy is being formulated to tackle the compensation performance using the HESS units. The proposed strategy is tested and validated using MATLAB based simulink environment.