Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effect of seasons on blood biochemical parameters in male dromedary camels in Algeria

The present study aimed to investigate the effect of different seasons on blood biochemical parameters of male dromedary camels in Algeria. A total number of 30 clinically healthy camels from five to seven years old were sampled in this study and biochemical analysis were performed using an automatic analyzer. The obtained results showed that the urea, creatine kinase and alanine amino transferase concentrations increased significantly during summer compared to other seasons. However, lactate dehydrogenase concentration increased significantly during winter versus other seasons. On the other hand, no significant effect of season was found on glucose, triglyceride, cholesterol, creatinine, aspartate amino transferase and alkaline phosphatase concentrations.
Impact of microbial variability on food safety and quality

Microbial growth and inactivation kinetics in food can be predicted when the effects of intrinsic food properties and environmental conditions on microbial responses are known. However, the prediction result might not be accurate due to microbial variability. To ensure food safety and quality, knowledge on the sources of variability and the magnitude is needed to prioritize their importance. This thesis focused on various microbial variability aspects including between and within strain variabilities, the effect of growth history and physiological state of the cells, and the effect of food matrix on growth and thermal inactivation kinetics. Listeria monocytogenes and Lactobacillus plantarum were selected as model organisms to represent pathogenic and spoilage microorganisms. The result of this project underlines that many variability factors are important, but some are more important than others. Depending on the process characteristics, microbiological variability, especially strain variability, and in particular for thermal inactivation, will be the most determining factor affecting the final contamination level. This strain variability, however, is inherent to living organisms. Strain variability challenges food processors because strain variability cannot be well controlled unless complete inactivation is realized and no recontamination occurs within the food production chain. The integration of strain variability in prediction of microbial kinetics is, therefore, required in quantitative microbiology to obtain a more realistic prediction; and the most robust strains can be used in parallel or in cocktails to evaluate the efficacy of certain steps along the food production chain in controlling the growth.
The Xenobiotic-Metabolising System in Human Immune Cells

The study “The Xenobiotic-Metabolising System in Human Immune Cells” investigated the cytochrome P450 (CYP)-dependent regulation of the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR) in immune cells. CYP1 inhibition induced AHR-associated parameters such as the interleukin (IL)-22 and the stem cell factor receptor (c-Kit) in cells from healthy donors and patients suffering from chronic mucocutaneous candidiasis disease. Furthermore, it was demonstrated that immune cell subtypes possess a specific transcription profile for xenobiotic-metabolising enzymes indicating that CYPs may have up to date unknown functions in human immune cells.
BIOGEOGRAFÍA DE LOS CORALES PÉTREOS (SCLERACTINIA) DEL

This paper presents a complete list of hermatypic coral species, analyzes the biodiversity lev& and describes<he biogeographic patterns of the group in the Mexican Pacific. The coral fauna of the Mexican Pacitic consists of 23 species, which makes this region one of the highest in terms of specific richness within the tropical eastem Pacitic. In general, the species are grouped in faunistic units that correspond to the traditional zoogeographic provinces recognized in the region. There is no evidente of effective biogeographic barriers throughout the Mexican Pacific region. Local extinction events, likely caused by the narrow distribution of some species, and perhaps dueto the type and frequency of
Root Functional Diversity of Native and Nonnative C3 and C4 Grass Species in Hawai‘i1

Abstract: C3 and C4 plants are often reported to differ in functional traits and resource-use strategies, whereas nonnative plants may differ from native plants in functional traits, leading to different resource-use strategies that facilitate their invasion. In this study, we compared root functional traits of native and nonnative C3 and C4 grasses with the prediction that different resource acquisition strategies would be observed among these groups. We examined five root functional traits [mean diameter, specific root length, root tissue density, fine root percentage (diameter <0.2 mm), and root length density] among natural communities of C3 and C4 grass species along an elevation gradient in Hawai‘i to classify resource-use strategies. We also examined how root functional traits were related to environmental characteristics (mean annual, seasonal, and July soil moisture; mean annual precipitation and temperature; and soil nitrogen percentage) along this elevation gradient. Root traits corresponded broadly to differences in photosynthetic pathway [C3 versus C4 (P < .05)]. However, significant variation occurred within the C3 functional group (P < .05), whereas all C4 species had similar root functional traits. Grass assemblages were associated with differences in seasonal soil moisture, but root traits did not sort consistently along any environmental gradient. Principal component and cluster analyses of root functional traits showed that nonnative C3 species tended to be resource acquisitive whereas the native C3 species was resource conservative, similar to native and nonnative C4 species. Evaluating functional traits of native versus nonnative species will provide a better understanding of invasion dynamics and suggest possible restoration and conservation strategies in grassland communities where native species still persist.
etude des moustiques anthropophiles de France : le cas particulier du genre Coquillettidia.

HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access archive for the deposit and dissemination of scientific research documents, whether they are published or not. The documents may come from teaching and research institutions in France or abroad, or from public or private research centers. L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires publics ou privés. Contribution à l’étude des moustiques anthropophiles de France : le cas particulier du genre Coquillettidia. Julien Sérandour
Effect of soybean meal fermented with Bacillus subtilis BS12 on growth performance and small intestinal immune status of piglets

ABSTRACT This study was aimed to screen a high-efficient strain for degrading antigenic protein in soybean meal (SBM) and evaluate the effect of fermented soybean meal (FSBM) on growth performance of piglets. A Bacillus subtilis strain BS12 was selected through plate and fermentation experiment, which reduced 92.36% less glycinin and 88.44% less β-conglycinin in SBM. A total of 192 piglets were assigned to receive either a diet of SBM with antibiotics (the control group) or a diet containing 10% FSBM without antibiotics. The average daily gain and feed intake of pigs fed FSBM were superior (p < .10) to those fed the control diet. Reduced (p < .05) mRNA expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines was detected in the jejunum and ileum of pigs fed FSBM. These results demonstrated that a diet containing BS12 FSBM improved growth performance by reducing dietary inflammation in piglets.
Utilization of laying-type cockerels as 'coquelets' : influence of genotype and diet characteristics on growth performance and carcass composition

Poultry breeding has undergone enormous changes during the last decades. The antagonistic relationship between meat and laying performance led the poultry industry to the separation of two lines of production: meat production or egg production (SIEGMANN and NEUMANN, 2005). Cocks of layer type chicken lines cannot be used economically for fattening, and thus they are killed at hatch. The present study refers to the announcement of a Directive about advancement of innovations to improve livestock breeding in the context of laying-hen reproduction. In Germany, over 40 million male one-day-old layer chicks are culled every year. This culling presents a serious ethical problem nowadays. Other solutions to this dilemma do not yet exist. In ovo-sex determination is currently not ready for practice. A dual-purpose breed is not economic (BRODMANN et al., 2001), since laying and meat performance are antagonistic. The long fattening period and the unfavourable feed conversion render egg-type cockerels unprofitable. (JAENECKE, 1996, MURAWSKA et al., 2005, SCHÄUBLIN et al., 2005, DAMME and RISTIC, 2003). From an economical point of view under German conditions, standard broiler production is much more remunerative than the rearing of egg-type cockerels. Standard broiler production costs amounted to 0.79 € per kg life weight in 2008/2009 (GEFLÜGELJAHRBUCH, 2011). A technological-economical calculation of laying-type cockerels’ production cost resulted in more than 4 € per kg life weight (unpublished data). In respect of this discrepancy, it is difficult to find an economically rewarding alternative to culling. Such an alternative may be the rearing of the male layer chicks as coquelets. This production implies a shorter fattening period with an acceptable feed conversion (KOENIG et al., 2010). A coquelet is defined as a chicken of less than 650 g carcass weight without giblets, head and feet (cf. marketing standards for poultry meat, Regulation (EC) No. 543/ 2008). A shorter fattening period with an acceptable feed conversion would be a prerequisite to render the fattening of male layer chicks from layer breeds as economical. This study evaluates the conditions to rear male layer chicks and
The Effects of Intermittent Ketogenic Dieting as well as Ketone Salt supplementation on Body Composition and Circulating Health Biomarkers in Exercising Rodents

Low‐carbohydrate ketogenic diets (LCKDs) are a common modality to facilitate weight loss/control; however, the frequency of adherence needed to attain these benefits has not been adequately described. In addition, LCKDs have the propensity to elevate circulating ketone bodies, thus supplementing ketones may confer additional health benefits. The purpose of this study was to examine potential health benefits of an intermittent LCKD diet (AIM 1), and the effects of ketone salt supplementation (AIM 2).
Thermal biology of the New Zealand sea urchin Evechinus chloroticus

• Any use you make of these documents or images must be for research or private study purposes only, and you may not make them available to any other person. • Authors control the copyright of their thesis. You will recognize the author's right to be identified as the author of this thesis, and due acknowledgement will be made to the author where appropriate. • You will obtain the author's permission before publishing any material from their thesis.
Evolinc: a comparative transcriptomics and genomics pipeline for quickly identifying sequence conserved lincRNAs for functional analysis

Long intergenic non-coding RNAs (lincRNAs) are an abundant and functionally diverse class of eukaryotic transcripts. Reported lincRNA repertoires in mammals vary, but are commonly in the thousands to tens of thousands of transcripts, covering ~90% of the genome. In addition to elucidating function, there is particular interest in understanding the origin and evolution of lincRNAs. Aside from mammals, lincRNA populations have been sparsely sampled, precluding evolutionary analyses focused on lincRNA emergence and persistence. Here we present Evolinc, a two-module pipeline designed to facilitate lincRNA discovery and characterize aspects of lincRNA evolution. The first module (Evolinc-I) is a lincRNA identification workflow that also facilitates downstream differential expression analysis and genome browser visualization of identified lincRNAs. The second module (Evolinc-II) is a genomic and transcriptomic comparative analyses workflow that determines the phylogenetic depth to which a lincRNA locus is conserved within a user-defined group of related species. Evolinc-II builds families of homologous lincRNA loci, aligns constituent sequences, infers gene trees, and then uses gene tree / species tree reconciliation to reconstruct evolutionary processes such as gain, loss, or duplication of the locus. Here we demonstrate that Evolinc-I is agnostic to target organism by validating against previously annotated Arabidopsis and human lincRNA data. Using Evolinc-II, we examine ways in which conservation can rapidly be used to winnow down large lincRNA datasets to a small set of candidates for functional analysis. Finally, we show how Evolinc-II can be used to recover the evolutionary history of a known lincRNA, the human telomerase RNA (TERC). The analyses revealed unexpected duplication events as well as the loss and subsequent acquisition of a novel TERC locus in the lineage leading to mice and rats. The Evolinc pipeline is currently integrated in CyVerse’s Discovery Environment and is free to use by researchers.
Optimized Targeting in Deep Brain Stimulation for Movement Disorders.

Background/Aims: Indirect targeting of the subthalamic nucleus (STN) is commonly utilized at DBS centers around the world. The superiority of either midcommissural point (MCP)-based or red nucleus (RN)-based indirect targeting remains to be established. Methods: The location of the STN was determined and statistically compared to MCPand RN-based predictions in 58 STN DBS patients, using a validated 3T MRI protocol. The influence of additional neuroanatomical parameters on STN midpoint location was evaluated. Linear regression analysis was utilized to produce an optimized MCP/RN targeting model. Targeting coordinates at 1.5T were compared to results at 3T. Results: Accuracy and precision for RN-based targeting was superior to MCPbased targeting to predict STN midpoint location for each coordinate dimension (p < .01 and p < .05, respectively). RN-based targeting was statistically equivalent to
The Integral Form of D = 3 Chern‐Simons Theories Probing Cn/Γ Singularities

We consider D=3 supersymmetric Chern Simons gauge theories both from the point of view of their formal structure and of their applications to the AdS4/CFT3 correspondence. From the structural view‐point, we use the new formalism of integral forms in superspace that utilizes the rheonomic Lagrangians and the Picture Changing Operators, as an algorithmic tool providing the connection between different approaches to supersymmetric theories. We provide here the generalization to an arbitrary Kähler manifold with arbitrary gauge group and arbitrary superpotential of the rheonomic lagrangian of D=3 matter coupled gauge theories constructed years ago. From the point of view of the AdS4/CFT3 correspondence and more generally of M2‐branes we emphasize the role of the Kähler quotient data in determining the field content and the interactions of the Cherns Simons gauge theory when the transverse space to the brane is a non‐compact Kähler quotient K4 of some flat variety with respect to a suitable group. The crepant resolutions of Cn/Γ singularities fall in this category. In the present paper we anticipate the general scheme how the geometrical data are to be utilized in the construction of the D=3 Chern‐Simons Theory supposedly dual to the corresponding M2‐brane solution.
Pleiotropic Effects of Vitamin D in Kidney Disease

Vitamin D is metabolized in the liver and kidneys and then converted to the active form, 1.25-dihydroxyvitamin D [1.25(OH)2D]. Chronic kidney disease patients usually lack both 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] and 1.25(OH)2D due to impaired renal function and 1 α -hydroxylase deficiency. Chronic kidney disease patients have a high incidence of cardiovascular and infectious morbidities. Increasing evidence indicates a relation- ship between vitamin D deficiency and cardiovascular and infectious mortality risks. Vitamin D may have significant biological effects beyond its traditional roles on mineral and bone metabolism. Many extrarenal cells have the capability to produce local active 1.25(OH)2D in an intracrine or paracrine fashion. Vitamin D has a significant association with nonskeletal diseases, such as immunodeficiency, metabolic syndrome, insulin resistance, diabetes, hyperlipidemia, cardiovascular disease, proteinuria, and acute kidney injury. This article aims to review and summarize the pleiotropic effects of vitamin D in patients with kidney disease, particularly the immunological, metabolic, cardiovascular, and renal effects.
Measuring and modelling dispersal of Coccinellaseptempunctata in alfalfa fields

Dispersal of the sevenspotted lady beetle, Coccinella septempunctata, was measured in a series of mark-release-recapture experiments in Utah alfalfa. In three experiments, samples were taken in a radial pattern around the release point. Released beales for the most part left the 0.36 ha (68 m diameter) sample area within 24 hours, and their average residence time in the sample area was calculated as 12, 6 and 1.6 h in the three experiments, respectively. The spatial distribution of beetles around the point of release could be described with normal distributions whose variance increased linearly in time with 3.8. 1.1 and 0.34 m2 per hour. In three additional field experiments the departure of marked beetles was compared between sugar-sprayed plots and control plots. Residence time was 20-30␕onger in sugar-sprayed plots than in control plots, with mean residences of 5.3, 3.6, and 2.9 h in the sugar-sprayed plots in the three experiments, respectively, and means of 4.4, 2.7, and 2.4 h in the control plots. The density of unmarked beales rose by a factor of 10-20 in the sugar sprayed plots during the first 4 to 6 hours following early morning spraying of sugar. This rapid and substantial increase in density cannot be explained by the slightly longer residence time in sugar-sprayed plots. We hypothesize that the aggregation in sugar-sprayed plots is mostly due to greatly increased immigration into those plots, in response to volatiles produced by the plant-pest-predator assembly.
Influence of various environmental factors on dairy production and adaptability of Holstein cattle maintained under tropical and subtropical conditions.

Milk yield and adaptability of Holstein are factors of major concern under tropical and subtropical conditions. Under these conditions the focus had always been on milk production and the adaptability and survival are often overlooked. Genotype by environment interactions pose a potential challenge for HolsteinFriesian cattle raised in tropical and subtropical environments by hampering the production and adaptability and predispose the cattle forinvoluntary culling.The present review was aimed at comparing milk yield, influence of various non-genetic factors and adaptability of Holstein dairy cattle under different environmental conditions with special focus on tropical and sub-tropical conditions. The milk production in tropical and subtropical conditions was 40% to 60% lower than the temperate conditions. This wide discrepancy in the milk production in different environmental conditionswasmainly the outcome of influence of non-genetic factors and most importantly the management of the farm under which the animals were kept. The management role was obvious in tropical and subtropical conditions, the more the country was technologically advance the better was the management and the higher was the production.Noticeably, in tropics and sub-tropics milk yield was significantly higher in cooler part of the year than the hotone. Environmental and physiological adaptability of Holstein needs considerable attentionin tropics and sub-tropics. In near future global warming is assumedto be even more disastrous to the dairy animals in tropics; therefore, selection for genetic merit of both production and adaptability should be of concern. Breeding systems, which include proxy indicators for adaptability and genetic markers in the evaluation program to assist the selection for higher accuracy and efficiency, are proposed to improve both milk yield and adaptability of dairy cattle under tropical and sub-tropical conditions.The future challenge is to maintain high producing dairy cattle performance in hot and humid climatic conditions. To avoid this alarm,considering integrated approach by improving cooling capability, efficient ration formulation and improved genetic potential for heat resistance through genetic manipulation are supposed to be promising approachestoimprove the production and survivability of lactating Holstein under these conditions.
Contributions of Epstein-Barr Nuclear Antigen 1 (EBNA1) to Epithelial Cell Infections

Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) latent infection is associated with lymphoid and epithelial tumours, including nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) and gastric carcinoma (GC). Since EBNA1 protein is expressed in all EBV tumours, I explored whether EBNA1 alters the cellular environment in ways that would contribute to the development of these epithelial tumours. I have shown that EBNA1 disrupts nuclear bodies (NBs) formed by the PML tumor suppressor and degrades PML proteins in a proteasome dependent manner in NPC and GC cell lines. I have verified the role of EBNA1 in disrupting PML NBs through overexpression and silencing of EBNA1 and shown that EBNA1 alone is sufficient to mediate these effects. Using EBNA1 mutants I found that USP7 and protein kinase CK2 (two enzymes that negatively regulate PML NBs) are important for EBNA1-mediated disruption of PML NBs. Furthermore, I have shown that EBNA1 localizes to PML NBs, and interacts with PML IV, which mediates the enrichment of USP7 and CK2β with PML NBs and increases CK2 phosphorylation of PML proteins, a known prerequisite for PML degradation. Consequently, functions downstream of PML were impaired in the presence of EBNA1. In particular, cells expressing EBNA1 had decreased levels of p53acetylation, p21 and apoptosis in response to DNA damage. Furthermore, DNA repair was markedly impaired in these cells, despite the fact that they survived better after induction of DNA damage than cells lacking EBNA1. In keeping with these observations, immunohistochemistry staining of GC biopsies showed that EBV-positive GC biopsies had lower PML staining compared to EBV-negative samples. These results show that EBNA1 directly affects host cell processes that would be expected to promote malignant transformation. Additionally, I have shown that EBNA1's ability iii to disrupt PML NBs is important for reactivation of EBV from latency; hence, is required for efficient spread of EBV from host to host.