Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Physiological Adaptation in Desert Birds

Abstract We call into question the idea that birds have not evolved unique physiological adaptations to desert environments. The rate at which desert larks metabolize energy is lower than in mesic species within the same family, and this lower rate of living translates into a lower overall energy requirement in the wild. We argue that selection has reduced oxygen consumption at the tissue level under basal conditions for birds living in deserts. We document that total evaporative water loss—the sum of cutaneous water loss (CWL) and respiratory water loss—is reduced in desert birds, and present evidence that changes in CWL are responsible for this pattern. The diminution in CWL is attributable to changes in the lipid structure of the stratum corneum of the skin, the physical barrier to diffusion of water vapor. Finally, we show linkages between physiology and life-history attributes of larks along an aridity gradient; birds from deserts have not only a reduced rate of metabolism but also a small clutch size and slow nestling development. Hence, attributes of physiology are correlated with traits that directly affect reproductive success. Our hope is that we will prompt students to question the notion that birds do not possess physiological adaptations to the desert environment, and raise the specter of doubt about “preadaptation” in birds living in deserts.
Incorporation of thio-pseudoisocytosine into triplex-forming peptide nucleic acids for enhanced recognition of RNA duplexes

Peptide nucleic acids (PNAs) have been developed for applications in biotechnology and therapeutics. There is great potential in the development of chemically modified PNAs or other triplex-forming ligands that selectively bind to RNA duplexes, but not single-stranded regions, at near-physiological conditions. Here, we report on a convenient synthesis route to a modified PNA monomer, thio-pseudoisocytosine (L), and binding studies of PNAs incorporating the monomer L. Thermal melting and gel electrophoresis studies reveal that L-incorporated 8-mer PNAs have superior affinity and specificity in recognizing the duplex region of a model RNA hairpin to form a pyrimidine motif major-groove RNA2–PNA triplex, without appreciable binding to single-stranded regions to form an RNA–PNA duplex or, via strand invasion, forming an RNA–PNA2 triplex at near-physiological buffer condition. In addition, an L-incorporated 8-mer PNA shows essentially no binding to single-stranded or double-stranded DNA. Furthermore, an L-modified 6-mer PNA, but not pseudoisocytosine (J) modified or unmodified PNA, binds to the HIV-1 programmed −1 ribosomal frameshift stimulatory RNA hairpin at near-physiological buffer conditions. The stabilization of an RNA2–PNA triplex by L modification is facilitated by enhanced van der Waals contacts, base stacking, hydrogen bonding and reduced dehydration energy. The destabilization of RNA–PNA and DNA–PNA duplexes by L modification is due to the steric clash and loss of two hydrogen bonds in a Watson–Crick-like G–L pair. An RNA2–PNA triplex is significantly more stable than a DNA2–PNA triplex, probably because the RNA duplex major groove provides geometry compatibility and favorable backbone–backbone interactions with PNA. Thus, L-modified triplex-forming PNAs may be utilized for sequence-specifically targeting duplex regions in RNAs for biological and therapeutic applications.
Action of colchicine and heavy water on the polymerization of microtubules in wheat root meristem.

The effects of colchicine and heavy water on cell division in wheat roots have been examined by means of mitotic index measurements correlated with an electron-microscope examination of the tissue. Heavy water alone caused an arrest of mitosis both in normal tissue and in roots which had been brought into partial synchrony of division by means of 5-aminouracil. Colchicine alone caused an accumulation of cells at c-metaphase in the synchronized tissue. Colchicine dissolved in heavy water showed variable effects; at high heavy water concentrations (greater then 70%) mitosis was arrested; when the heavy water concentration was less than 70%, the mitotic index was approximately equal to that obtained by treatment of the tissue with colchicine dissolved in ordinary water. These actions of colchicine and heavy water on the mitosis of the cells have been related to the formation and organization of the microtubules in the dividing cells. Heavy-water treatment was characterized by an increase in the number of microtubules found in the preprophase band and in the mitotic spindle. The microtubules of the preprophase band in cells treated with heavy water were arranged in a highly disoriented manner. After colchicine treatment the numbers of microtubules at the preprophase band and in the mitotic spindle were depleted. The preprophase band consisted of a few microtubules situated close to the wall. In the mitotic spindle the microtubules were either not present or visible only in the vicinity of profiles of endoplasmic reticulum or the chromosomes. When the cells were exposed to a solution of colchicine in 70% heavy water microtubules were absent from the mitotic spindle and the preprophase band consisted of a few microtubules which were sometimes found scattered both along the wall and dispersed further into the cytoplasm.
Low Field (0.02 T) Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Imaging of the Brain

Many technical and instrumental alternatives are available to obtain good spatial and contrast resolution in magnetic resonance (MR) imaging. Optimum field strength remains a controversial question. In spite of its inherent low signal-to-noise ratio, low field imaging exhibits some advantages. It is well established that the relaxation times are dependent on the magnetic field strength. In low fields the relaxation times, especially T1, are shorter and the relative differences of T1 between different tissues are larger. Other benefits are the ease of installation of the device, its cost effectiveness, and the obvious avoidance of hazards caused by the magnetic field. In this report we describe six cases of cerebral lesions studied with an MR imager operating at a field strength of 0.02 T (200 G). This is the lowest field strength reported in clinical MR imaging. The information obtained was equal to that of the CT studies performed on the same patients.
Depression in women: windows of vulnerability and new insights into the link between estrogen and serotonin.

OBJECTIVE The purpose of this commentary is to provide an update on the research in both preclinical and clinical models regarding the cross-talk between estrogen and various serotonin molecular markers and the possible implications this may have on female-related mood disorders. CONCLUSIONS Animal and human studies provide strong and consistent evidence suggesting that estrogen is able to regulate the serotonin pathway at various levels. The general trend that emerges is that estrogen administration increases serotonin availability by altering mRNA and protein levels of various serotonin markers and by decreasing serotonin breakdown. These effects may have direct implications on female mood disorders such as premenstrual disorders and depression during pregnancy, postpartum, and during the menopausal transition.
Sulphur-induced polioencephalomalacia in lambs

An outbreak of polioencephalomalacia affected 16 of 46 Swaledale lambs and five of 25 Scottish blackface lambs 15 to 32 days after they were introduced to an ad libitum concentrate ration containing 0.43 per cent sulphur. The clinical signs were acute and included depression, central blindness and head-pressing, but no hyperaesthesia, nystagmus, dorsiflexion of the neck or opisthotonos were observed. Treatment of the affected lambs with vitamin B1, dexamethasone and antibiotics was associated with a prolonged recovery period, though no further cases were identified after vitamin B1 had been given parenterally to all the lambs at risk.
Inheritance and allelism of resistance to soybean mosaic virus in Zao18 soybean from China.

Soybean mosaic disease caused by soybean mosaic virus (SMV) occurs wherever soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr. ] is grown and is considered one of the most important soybean diseases in many areas of the world. Use of soybean cultivars with resistance to SMV is a very effective way of controlling the disease. China has rich soybean germplasm, but there is very limited information on genetics of SMV resistance in Chinese soybean germplasm and reaction of the resistance genes to SMV strains G1-G7. There also is no report on allelic relationships of resistance genes in Chinese soybeans with other named genes at the three identified loci Rsv1, Rsv3, and Rsv4. The objectives of this study were to examine reactions of Chinese soybean cultivar Zao18 to SMV strains G1-G3 and G5-G7, to reveal the inheritance of SMV resistance in Zao18 and to determine the allelic relationship of resistance genes in Zao18 with previously reported resistance genes. Zao18 was crossed with the SMV-susceptible cultivar Lee 68 to study the inheritance of resistance. Zao18 was also crossed with the resistant lines PI96983, L29, and V94-5152, which possess Rsv1, Rsv3, and Rsv4, respectively, to examine the allelic relationship between the genes in Zao18 and genes at these three loci. Our research results indicated that Zao18 possesses two independent dominant genes for SMV resistance, one of which is allelic to the Rsv3 locus; the other is allelic with Rsv1. The presence of both genes (Rsv1 and Rsv3) in Zao18 confers resistance to SMV strains G1-G7.
Planning for the 2040s: everybody's business.

As we mark the publication of the 35th issue of the British Journal of Special Education, Peter Mittler, Emeritus Professor of Special Needs Education at the University of Manchester, looks into the future and asks a series of challenging questions: What kind of a future do we want to see for a baby born with a significant disability today? What changes will be needed in society and in our schools both for the child and for the family? What reforms might this year's newly qualified staff bring about in our schools and services and in society as a whole by the time they retire in the 2040s? Professor Mittler proposes that the time is ripe to take advantage of new international and national opportunities to lay the foundations for a society that fully includes disabled people and safeguards their basic human rights. He argues that each one of us can help to determine the values and priorities of the society in which today's baby will grow up and suggests that the Make Poverty History movement has provided powerful evidence that the voice of ordinary citizens can shape policies and set priorities. He encourages us all to think globally and to act locally on a host of issues, including supporting families, planning for transition, promoting quality of life, professional development and challenging inequality.
Agrupamiento escolar y frecuencia de conductas disruptivas en estudiantes de segundo grado de educación secundaria del Callao

El debate sobre el mejor modo de agrupar a los estudiantes (coeducación o educación diferenciada) ha cobrado vigencia en el panorama educativo mundial. El presente estudio procuró aportar evidencia empírica al debate mediante la comparación de la frecuencia de conductas disruptivas de estudiantes de ambos modos de agrupamiento para encontrar una eventual correlación. Se compararon las frecuencias de conductas disruptivas de ochocientos cuarenta y cuatro estudiantes de segundo de secundaria de escuelas públicas del Callao (cinco mixtas; cinco diferenciadas). Los estudiantes de escuelas diferenciadas presentaron una frecuencia menor en las tres categorías analizadas (conductas que interrumpen el estudio, de falta de responsabilidad y perturbadoras de las relaciones sociales en clase). Asimismo, se encontró una correlación débil entre cada una de las categorías y la variable «agrupamiento escolar por sexo». Se controlaron variables intervinientes.
Clinical efficacy of sildenafil citrate and predictors of long-term response.

PURPOSE We assessed the long-term clinical efficacy of sildenafil citrate (SC) and predictors of satisfactory outcome. MATERIALS AND METHODS All patients were evaluated with a self-administered questionnaire or by telephone interview before, and 3 months and 2.5 years following the initiation of SC therapy. Current SC use, other therapies and overall level of sexual satisfaction were assessed. Sexual function was measured using an abbreviated version of the International Index of Erectile Function questionnaire. RESULTS Of the 197 men 97 (49%) were using SC at 2.5 years. Patients with a history of diabetes mellitus or prostate surgery were least likely to be satisfied with SC therapy. Men with vasculogenic etiologies for erectile dysfunction were more likely to be on SC and had better sexual function scores at 2.5 years than men with a history of prostate surgery. The 3-month International Index of Erectile Function questionnaire score was an excellent predictor of sexual satisfaction in men who continued to use SC at 2.5 years. Of the 100 men who discontinued treatment with SC 56% chose not to pursue any other treatment. CONCLUSIONS SC remains a highly effective and durable oral agent for erectile dysfunction. Improved sexual function and sexual satisfaction were well maintained 2.5 years following the initiation of SC therapy, especially in patients with vasculogenic or psychogenic etiologies of erectile dysfunction. Patients who discontinued SC reported significantly decreased sexual function than their counterparts but under used alternative therapies to improve erectile dysfunction.
Use of breath carbon monoxide measurements to assess erythrocyte survival in subjects with chronic diseases

Anemia is very common in patients with chronic diseases. To determine the role of increased red blood cell (RBC) turnover in such subjects, we estimated RBC survival in three groups of chronically ill patients using a simple technique in which RBC life span is estimated via measurements of breath carbon monoxide concentration. The study groups consisted of subjects with: (1) osteoarthritis, (2) rheumatoid arthritis, and (3) anemia who were hospitalized for treatment of a variety of chronic illnesses. None of the anemic subjects had evidence of hemorrhage, a deficiency state, or a marrow abnormality to account for their reduced hemoglobin concentration. Subjects with osteoarthritis had a mean RBC life span (127 ± 25 days) that did not differ significantly from normal (122 ± 23 days). In contrast, RBC life span was significantly reduced (P < 0.001) in both the rheumatoid arthritis subjects (90 ± 15 days) and the anemic, hospitalized patients (87 ± 33 days). The hemoglobin concentration of the rheumatoid patients was near normal (13.5 ± 1.5 g/dl), indicating that the marrow was compensating for the reduced RBC life span, whereas no such compensation was apparent in the anemic, chronically ill subjects. We conclude that a modest (approximately 25%) reduction in RBC life span commonly occurs in patients with chronic disease, and this reduction becomes clinically relevant in subjects whose marrow cannot respond with increased RBC output. Am. J. Hematol. 81:432–438, 2006. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
The Impact of Service-Specific Staffing, Case Scheduling, Turnovers, and First-Case Starts on Anesthesia Group and Operating Room Productivity: A Tutorial Using Data from an Australian Hospital

BACKGROUND:In this tutorial, we consider the impact of operating room (OR) management on anesthesia group and OR labor productivity and costs. Most of the tutorial focuses on the steps required for each facility to refine its OR allocations using its own data collected during patient care. METHODS:Data from a hospital in Australia are used throughout to illustrate the methods. OR allocation is a two-stage process. During the initial tactical stage of allocating OR time, OR capacity (“block time”) is adjusted. For operational decision-making on a shorter-term basis, the existing workload can be considered fixed. Staffing is matched to that workload based on maximizing the efficiency of use of OR time. RESULTS:Scheduling cases and making decisions on the day of surgery to increase OR efficiency are worthwhile interventions to increase anesthesia group productivity. However, by far, the most important step is the appropriate refinement of OR allocations (i.e., planning service-specific staffing) 2–3 mo before the day of surgery. CONCLUSIONS:Reducing surgical and/or turnover times and delays in first-case-of-the-day starts generally provides small reductions in OR labor costs. Results vary widely because they are highly sensitive both to the OR allocations (i.e., staffing) and to the appropriateness of those OR allocations.
The role of proactive coping in the Job Demands–Resources Model: A cross-section study with firefighters

This study analyses the expansion of the Job Demands–Resources (JD-R) model with the introduction of proactive coping, in both health impairment and motivational processes. 1487 rescue mission firefighters from the 18 districts of Portugal participated in the study. Through structural equation modelling the results revealed that proactive coping partially mediated the relationship between job demands and burnout, as well as the relationship between job resources and engagement. The results suggest that this personal resource also has an effect on the promotion of positive occupational well-being indicators, in addition to the mitigation of negative well-being indicators. Practical implications for the field of occupational health psychology are also discussed.
Synaptic and neurochemical characterization of parallel pathways to the cytochrome oxidase blobs of primate visual cortex

The primary visual cortex (V1) of primates is unique in that it is both the recipient of visual signals, arriving via parallel pathways (magnocellular [M], parvocellular [P], and koniocellular [K]) from the thalamus, and the source of several output streams to higher order visual areas. Within this scheme, output compartments of V1, such as the cytochrome oxidase‐ (CO) rich blobs in cortical layer III, synthesize new output pathways appropriate for the next steps in visual analysis. Our chief aim in this study was to examine and compare the synaptic arrangements and neurochemistry of elements involving direct lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) input from the K pathway with those involving indirect LGN input from the M and P pathways arriving from cortical layer IV.
Elaboration of the Relation Between Interest Congruence and Satisfaction

In two meta-analyses (Assouline & Meir, 1987; Tranberg, Slane, & Ekeberg, 1993) of studies investigating Holland's (1985) theory of congruence, the mean congruence-satisfaction correlations were found to be around . 20. It is argued that this relation is meaningful (a) despite the lack of statistical significance in each of these studies, and (b) because adequate breakdown of the correlations by content and methodological moderators reveals statistically significant mean correlations ranging from . 29 to . 42, p < . 05.
Enclosed Electronic System for Force Measurements in Knee Implants

Total knee arthroplasty is a widely performed surgical technique. Soft tissue force balancing during the operation relies strongly on the experience of the surgeon in equilibrating tension in the collateral ligaments. Little information on the forces in the implanted prosthesis is available during surgery and post-operative treatment. This paper presents the design, fabrication and testing of an instrumented insert performing force measurements in a knee prosthesis. The insert contains a closed structure composed of printed circuit boards and incorporates a microfabricated polyimide thin-film piezoresistive strain sensor for each condylar compartment. The sensor is tested in a mechanical knee simulator that mimics in-vivo conditions. For characterization purposes, static and dynamic load patterns are applied to the instrumented insert. Results show that the sensors are able to measure forces up to 1.5 times body weight with a sensitivity fitting the requirements for the proposed use. Dynamic testing of the insert shows a good tracking of slow and fast changing forces in the knee prosthesis by the sensors.
Systematic Mapping Study of Ensemble Effort Estimation

Ensemble methods have been used recently for prediction in data mining area in order to overcome the weaknesses of single estimation techniques. This approach consists on combining more than one single technique to predict a dependent variable and has attracted the attention of the software development effort estimation (SDEE) community. An ensemble effort estimation (EEE) technique combines several existing single/classical models. In this study, a systematic mapping study was carried out to identify the papers based on EEE techniques published in the period 2000-2015 and classified them according to five classification criteria: research type, research approach, EEE type, single models used to construct EEE techniques, and rule used the combine single estimates into an EEE technique. Publication channels and trends were also identified. Within the 16 studies selected, homogeneous EEE techniques were the most investigated. Furthermore, the machine learning single models were the most frequently employed to construct EEE techniques and two types of combiner (linear and non-linear) have been used to get the prediction value of an ensemble.
« Les approches utilisant des exercices de méditation de type "mindfulness" ont-elles un rôle à jouer ? »

La mindfulness (en francais pleine conscience) represente le denominateur commun qui est a la base des differents courants de pratique de meditation bouddhiste. Par pleine conscience, on entend le fait de porter son attention d’une maniere particuliere, deliberement, au moment present et sans jugement de valeur. Au cours de ces dernieres annees, plusieurs approches therapeutiques integrant la pratique de la meditation (Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction ; Dialectical Behavior Therapy ; Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy) ont ete developpees et evaluees. Dans cet article nous examinons les mecanismes pouvant expliquer pourquoi cette pratique peut conduire a une reduction symptomatique et/ou a un changement comportemental dans le cadre de divers troubles emotionnels et plus particulierement dans le traitement des troubles anxieux.
Novel image classification based on decision-level fusion of EEG and visual features

This paper presents a novel image classification based on decision-level fusion of EEG and visual features. In the proposed method, we extract the EEG features from EEG signals recorded while users stare at images, and the visual features are computed from these images. Then the classification of images is performed based on Support Vector Machine (SVM) by separately using the EEG and visual features. Furthermore, we merge the above classification results based on Supervised Learning from Multiple Experts to obtain the final classification result. This method focuses on the classification accuracy calculated from each classification result. Therefore, although classification accuracy based on EEG and visual features are different from each other, our method realizes effective integration of these classification results. In addition, we newly derive a kernelized version of the method in order to realize more accurate integration of the classification results. Consequently, our method realizes successful multimodal classification of images by the object categories that they contain.