Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Courtship Sounds Advertise Species Identity and Male Quality in Sympatric Pomatoschistus spp. Gobies

Acoustic signals can encode crucial information about species identity and individual quality. We recorded and compared male courtship drum sounds of the sand goby Pomatoschistus minutus and the painted goby P. pictus and examined if they can function in species recognition within sympatric populations. We also examined which acoustic features are related to male quality and the factors that affect female courtship in the sand goby, to determine whether vocalisations potentially play a role in mate assessment. Drums produced by the painted goby showed significantly higher dominant frequencies, higher sound pulse repetition rates and longer intervals between sounds than those of the sand goby. In the sand goby, male quality was predicted by visual and acoustic courtship signals. Regression analyses showed that sound amplitude was a good predictor of male length, whereas the duration of nest behaviour and active calling rate (i.e. excluding silent periods) were good predictors of male condition factor and fat reserves respectively. In addition, the level of female courtship was predicted by male nest behaviour. The results suggest that the frequency and temporal patterns of sounds can encode species identity, whereas sound amplitude and calling activity reflects male size and fat reserves. Visual courtship duration (nest-related behaviour) also seems relevant to mate choice, since it reflects male condition and is related to female courtship. Our work suggests that acoustic communication can contribute to mate choice in the sand goby group, and invites further study.
Thymic Self-Antigen Expression for the Design of a Negative/Tolerogenic Self-Vaccine against Type 1 Diabetes

Before being able to react against infectious non-self-antigens, the immune system has to be educated in the recognition and tolerance of neuroendocrine proteins, and this critical process essentially takes place in the thymus. The development of the autoimmune diabetogenic response results from a thymus dysfunction in programming central self-tolerance to pancreatic insulin-secreting islet β cells, leading to the breakdown of immune homeostasis with an enrichment of islet β cell reactive effector T cells and a deficiency of β cell-specific natural regulatory T cells (nTreg) in the peripheral T-lymphocyte repertoire. Insulin-like growth factor 2 (IGF-2) is the dominant member of the insulin family expressed during fetal life by the thymic epithelium under the control of the autoimmune regulator (AIRE) gene/protein. Based on the close homology and cross-tolerance between insulin, the primary T1D autoantigen, and IGF-2, the dominant self-antigen of the insulin family, a novel type of vaccination, so-called “negative/tolerogenic self-vaccination”, is currently developed for prevention and cure of T1D. If this approach were found to be effective for reprogramming immunological tolerance in T1D, it could pave the way for the design of negative self-vaccines against autoimmune endocrine diseases, as well as other organ-specific autoimmune diseases.
Extracellular Ca2+-sensing in cartilage.

410 The development of growth plate cartilage is critical to endochondral bone formation – the process responsible for linear growth in childhood. Cells in the growth plate proliferate and ultimately differentiate into hypertrophic chondrocytes that produce a mineralized matrix and initiate new bone formation. The pace of growth plate development is maintained by systemic hormones and more importantly by local autocrine and paracrine factors produced by chondrocytes. Parathyroid hormone-related protein (PTHrP), Indian hedgehog (Ihh), and their receptors constitute a feedback loop within the growth plate that delays the maturation of chondrocytes 1,2 . In contrast, signaling via insulin-like
Bilateral cerebral hemispheric infarction associated with sildenafil citrate (Viagra®) use

Sildenafil citrate (Viagra®) is one of the frequently prescribed drugs for men with erectile dysfunction. We describe a 52‐year‐old man with bilateral middle cerebral artery (MCA) territory infarction after sildenafil use. He ingested 100 mg of sildenafil and about 1 h later, he complained of chest discomfort, palpitation and dizziness followed by mental obtundation, global aphasia and left hemiparesis. Brain magnetic resonance imaging documented acute bilateral hemispheric infarction, and cerebral angiography showed occluded bilateral MCA. Despite significant bilateral MCA stenosis and cerebral infarction, systemic hypotension persisted for a day. We presume that cerebral infarction was caused by cardioembolism with sildenafil use.
Toward Algorithmic Discovery of Biographical Information in Local Gazetteers of Ancient China

Difangzhi (地方志) is a large collection of local gazetteers complied by local governments of China, and the documents provide invaluable information about the host locality. This paper reports the current status of using natural language processing and text mining methods to identify biographical information of government officers so that we can add the information into the China Biographical Database (CBDB), which is hosted by Harvard University. Information offered by CBDB is instrumental for human historians, and serves as a core foundation for automatic tagging systems, like MARKUS of the Leiden University. Mining texts in Difangzhi is not easy partially because there is litter knowledge about the grammars of literary Chinese so far. We employed techniques of language modeling and conditional random fields to find person and location names and their relationships. The methods were evaluated with realistic Difangzhi data of more than 2 million Chinese characters written in literary Chinese. Experimental results indicate that useful information was discovered from the current dataset.
Characterization of Haemophilus spp. isolated from healthy swine and evaluation of cross-reactivity of complement-fixing antibodies to Haemophilus pleuropneumoniae and Haemophilus taxon "minor group"

Of 30 sows from a herd believed to be free of Haemophilus pleuropneumoniae infection, 2 had complement-fixing antibodies to H. pleuropneumoniae serotype 5. Necropsy and microbiological examination of the two sows revealed no evidence of H. pleuropneumoniae infection; however, Haemophilus taxon "minor group" and a urease-negative, indole-positive Haemophilus sp. were isolated from numerous respiratory tract sites in both sows. Isolation of these Haemophilus spp. was facilitated by serially diluting specimens in two broth media. Pigs from a closed, respiratory disease-free herd were inoculated with four strains of Haemophilus taxon "minor group" to determine whether the organism induces antibodies which cross-react with H. pleuropneumoniae in the complement fixation test. Antigenic heterogeneity among the taxon "minor group" strains was apparent; however, antibodies cross-reacting between these strains and H. pleuropneumoniae serotypes 1 through 5 and 7 were not detected.
Supporting Linearizable Semantics in Replicated Databases

This paper proposes a novel database replication algorithm that offers strong consistency (linearizable semantics) and allows reads and non-conflicting writes to execute in parallel in multiple replicas. The proposed algorithm supports the use of quorums to trade the availability/efficiency of read and write operations, making a bridge between consensus-based and quorum based solutions for database replication. Furthermore, the algorithm offers better performance for linearizable read-only transactions with a negligible impact on write transactions.
Multiple Drug Hypersensitivity

Multiple drug hypersensitivity (MDH) is a syndrome that develops as a consequence of massive T-cell stimulations and is characterized by long-lasting drug hypersensitivity reactions (DHR) to different drugs. The initial symptoms are mostly severe exanthems or drug rash with eosinophilia and systemic symptoms (DRESS). Subsequent symptoms due to another drug often appear in the following weeks, overlapping with the first DHR, or months to years later after resolution of the initial presentation. The second DHR includes exanthema, erythroderma, DRESS, Stevens-Johnson syndrome/toxic epidermal necrolysis (SJS/TEN), hepatitis, and agranulocytosis. The eliciting drugs can be identified by positive skin or in vitro tests. The drugs involved in starting the MDH are the same as for DRESS, and they are usually given in rather high doses. Fixed drug combination therapies like sulfamethoxazole/trimethoprim or piperacillin/tazobactam are frequently involved in MDH, and 30-40% of patients with severe DHR to combination therapy show T-cell reactions to both components. The drug-induced T-cell stimulation appears to be due to the p-i mechanism. Importantly, a permanent T-cell activation characterized by PD-1+/CD38+ expression on CD4+/CD25low T cells can be found in the circulation of patients with MDH for many years. In conclusion, MDH is a drug-elicited syndrome characterized by a long-lasting hyperresponsiveness to multiple, structurally unrelated drugs with clinically diverse symptoms.
Probing aggressive motivation in a cichlid fish

The duration of startles provides an inverse measure of motivation to resume the previous activity. Here, we use a novel method in which one convict cichlid fish (Amatitlania nigrofasciata) of a competing pair was startled independently of the opponent. Fish were given various opponents and the mean startle duration determined. This mean was negatively correlated with the mean use of highly escalated ‘frontal activities’ such as biting and frontal display, but not the less escalated lateral displays or tail beating. Thus the startle duration was a reliable surrogate measure of the most escalated components of aggressive interactions. That is, it provided a motivational probe for aggressiveness of individual fish. Fight motivation is often determined in terms of fight duration or physiological costs for losers, who reveal the costs they are prepared to pay. We discuss various potential advantages of the motivational probe over previous measures, particularly with respect to winners and losers and different times during the interactions.
Murine Leukemia Virus Uses NXF1 for Nuclear Export of Spliced and Unspliced Viral Transcripts

ABSTRACT Intron-containing mRNAs are subject to restricted nuclear export in higher eukaryotes. Retroviral replication requires the nucleocytoplasmic transport of both spliced and unspliced RNA transcripts, and RNA export mechanisms of gammaretroviruses are poorly characterized. Here, we report the involvement of the nuclear export receptor NXF1/TAP in the nuclear export of gammaretroviral RNA transcripts. We identified a conserved cis-acting element in the pol gene of gammaretroviruses, including murine leukemia virus (MLV) and xenotropic murine leukemia virus (XMRV), named the CAE (cytoplasmic accumulation element). The CAE enhanced the cytoplasmic accumulation of viral RNA transcripts and the expression of viral proteins without significantly affecting the stability, splicing, or translation efficiency of the transcripts. Insertion of the CAE sequence also facilitated Rev-independent HIV Gag expression. We found that the CAE sequence interacted with NXF1, whereas disruption of NXF1 ablated CAE function. Thus, the CAE sequence mediates the cytoplasmic accumulation of gammaretroviral transcripts in an NXF1-dependent manner. Disruption of NXF1 expression impaired cytoplasmic accumulations of both spliced and unspliced RNA transcripts of XMRV and MLV, resulting in their nuclear retention or degradation. Thus, our results demonstrate that gammaretroviruses use NXF1 for the cytoplasmic accumulation of both spliced and nonspliced viral RNA transcripts. IMPORTANCE Murine leukemia virus (MLV) has been studied as one of the classic models of retrovirology. Although unspliced host messenger RNAs are rarely exported from the nucleus, MLV actively exports unspliced viral RNAs to the cytoplasm. Despite extensive studies, how MLV achieves this difficult task has remained a mystery. Here, we have studied the RNA export mechanism of MLV and found that (i) the genome contains a sequence which supports the efficient nuclear export of viral RNAs, (ii) the cellular factor NXF1 is involved in the nuclear export of both spliced and unspliced viral RNAs, and, finally, (iii) depletion of NXF1 results in nuclear retention or degradation of viral RNAs. Our study provides a novel insight into MLV nuclear export.
Representation of visual scenes by local neuronal populations in layer 2/3 of mouse visual cortex

How are visual scenes encoded in local neural networks of visual cortex? In rodents, visual cortex lacks a columnar organization so that processing of diverse features from a spot in visual space could be performed locally by populations of neighboring neurons. To examine how complex visual scenes are represented by local microcircuits in mouse visual cortex we measured visually evoked responses of layer 2/3 neuronal populations using 3D two-photon calcium imaging. Both natural and artificial movie scenes (10 seconds duration) evoked distributed and sparsely organized responses in local populations of 70–150 neurons within the sampled volumes. About 50% of neurons showed calcium transients during visual scene presentation, of which about half displayed reliable temporal activation patterns. The majority of the reliably responding neurons were activated primarily by one of the four visual scenes applied. Consequently, single-neurons performed poorly in decoding, which visual scene had been presented. In contrast, high levels of decoding performance (>80%) were reached when considering population responses, requiring about 80 randomly picked cells or 20 reliable responders. Furthermore, reliable responding neurons tended to have neighbors sharing the same stimulus preference. Because of this local redundancy, it was beneficial for efficient scene decoding to read out activity from spatially distributed rather than locally clustered neurons. Our results suggest a population code in layer 2/3 of visual cortex, where the visual environment is dynamically represented in the activation of distinct functional sub-networks.
The Latitudinal Distribution of Clouds on Titan

Clouds have been observed recently on Titan, through the thick haze, using near-infrared spectroscopy and images near the south pole and in temperate regions near 40°S. Recent telescope and Cassini orbiter observations are now providing an insight into cloud climatology. To study clouds, we have developed a general circulation model of Titan that includes cloud microphysics. We identify and explain the formation of several types of ethane and methane clouds, including south polar clouds and sporadic clouds in temperate regions and especially at 40° in the summer hemisphere. The locations, frequencies, and composition of these cloud types are essentially explained by the large-scale circulation.
Use of an in vitro gas production technique to evaluate some Nigerian feedstuffs.

3 Abstract: In vitro gas production techniques stimulate the rumen fermentation process and they have been used to evaluate the potential of feedstuffs to supply nutrients to ruminants. Thus, five agricultural wastes: cassava peels (CPS), maize cobs (MCB), orange pulps (OPL), guinea corn threshed tops (GTH) and yam peels (YPS) were evaluated using an in vitro gas production technique. The gas production was continuously measured by incubating samples in buffered rumen from goats for 96hr. Cumulative gas production was recorded at 3,6,9,12,24,36,48,72 and 96 hr of incubation periods and the organic matter digestibility (OMD), short chain fatty acid (SCFA) and metabolisable energy (ME) were estimated. The chemical analysis of these wastes showed that MCB contained less crude protein (CP) (3.89%) but CP content in YPS was very high (11.14%). GTH had the highest crude fiber (CF) value compared with other feedstuffs. The NDF, ADF and ADL were significantly (p<0.05) different among the different agricultural wastes used in this study. MCB showed the highest level of NDF and ADL. Cumulative gas production at 24, 48 and 72hr was highest in YPS. The fractional rates (c) of gas production were highest in MCB and OPL. There were significant (p<0.05) differences among feedstuffs in terms of OMD, SCFA and ME. The ME ranged from 6.63 to 10.32 MJ/Kg DM while SCFA and OMD ranged from 0.66 to 1.24Mm and 48.32 to 72.10% respectively. YPS recorded the highest values for the estimated parameters. All the agricultural wastes under study revealed that these agricultural wastes could be valuable alternative animal feed sources in ruminant feeding.
Identification of Key Ecosystem Services That Can be Delivered by Water or Wind from Zhangjiakou-Chengde Region to Beijing

Abstract: Rapid urbanization causing serious air pollution and ecological risks in the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei region in North China has attracted worldwide attention. This study estimates the key ecosystem services of land covers in Zhangjiakou and Chengde, and analyzes their main contributions and the effects of ecosystem service flows to Beijing. Results indicated that the total economic value of key ecosystem services in the Zhangjiakou–Chengde region was CNY 189.5 billion in 2013, and that these services were generated mainly from the forestlands, grasslands, and farmlands of Chengde and the eastern region of Zhangjiakou. However, nearly half of land covers provided low ecosystem service values and thus should be enhanced. In addition, approximately 21% of key ecosystem services were delivered from the Zhangjiakou–Chengde region into Beijing, and the flow feasibilities of ecosystem services delivered by water and wind reached 34% and 12%, respectively. Chicheng, Zhuolu, Chongli, Huailai, Xuanhua and Guyuan counties contributed 61% of the ecosystem services flowing into Beijing, and each service showed high regional relationships with Beijing (flow index ≥ 40%). Thus, these services should be prioritized in terms of ecological compensation funds and policies from Beijing.
Schooling Relates to Mental Health Problems in Adolescents with Cochlear Implants—Mediation by Hearing and Family Variables

Aim of this multicenter study was to investigate whether schooling relates to mental health problems of adolescents with cochlear implants (CI) and how this relationship is mediated by hearing and family variables. One hundred and forty secondary school students with CI (mean age = 14.7 years, SD = 1.5), their hearing parents and teachers completed the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). Additional audiological tests (speech comprehension tests in quiet and noise) were performed. Students of special schools for hearing impaired persons (SSHIs) showed significantly more conduct problems (p < 0.05) and a significantly higher total difficulty score (TDS) (p < 0.05) compared to students of mainstream schools. Mental health problems did not differ between SSHI students with sign language education and SSHI students with oral education. Late implanted students and those with indication for additional handicaps were equally distributed among mainstream schools and SSHIs. However, students in SSHIs were more restricted to understand speech in noise, had a lower social background and were more likely to come from single-parent families. These factors were found to be partial mediators of the differences in mental health problems between the two school types. However, no variable could explain comprehensively, why students of SSHIs have more mental health problems than mainstream pupils.
Efficacy of Interferon and Placebo in the Treatment of Recurrent Genital Herpes: A Double‐blind Trial

One hundred patients experiencing recurrence of genital herpes were randomly assigned to treatment with either recombinant DNA-derived human leukocyte interferon (interferon alfa-2a, Roferon-A, Hoffmann-LaRoche & Co., Ltd.) or placebo in a double-blind study. All patients were given a three-day course of treatment by subcutaneous injection within 24 hr after the first signs of recurrence. Interferon alfa-2a was given according to one of two daily regimens (6 X 10(6) or 18 X 10(6) units), either as a single dose followed by two doses of placebo or as three consecutive doses. In comparison with placebo, interferon alfa-2a reduced the duration of a single recurrent episode of genital herpes by approximately 50% (P less than .05) compared with placebo. As compared with pretreatment episodes, a reduction of greater than 50% in healing time was observed in 81% of those receiving interferon alfa-2a in comparison with only 10% of placebo recipients. Response was not related to size of dose, and treatment did not significantly prolong the interval between the first and second recurrences. No serious adverse reactions were observed, but most patients developed flu-like symptoms after the subcutaneous injection. Leukopenia and thrombocytopenia were minimal and transient. On the basis of overall efficacy and adverse effects, the single dose of 6 X 10(6) units of interferon alfa-2a was considered optimal, and this regimen may be of value in the routine treatment of recurrent herpes.
A Comparative Study of Algorithms for Realtime Panoramic Video Blending

Unlike image blending algorithms, video blending algorithms have been little studied. In this paper, we investigate six popular blending algorithms—feather blending, multi-band blending, modified Poisson blending, mean value coordinate blending, multi-spline blending, and convolution pyramid blending. We consider their application to blending realtime panoramic videos, a key problem in various virtual reality tasks. To evaluate the performances and suitabilities of the six algorithms for this problem, we have created a video benchmark with several videos captured under various conditions. We analyze the time and memory needed by the above six algorithms, for both CPU and GPU implementations (where readily parallelizable). The visual quality provided by these algorithms is also evaluated both objectively and subjectively. The video benchmark and algorithm implementations are publicly available. <xref rid="fn1" ref-type="fn"><sup>1</sup></xref><fn id="fn1"><label><sup>1</sup></label><p><uri>http://cg.cs. tsinghua.edu. cn/blending/</uri></p></fn>