Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Estimación de biomasa y carbono en dos especies arboreas en La Sierra Nevada, México

Se generaron dos ecuaciones para determinar biomasa y carbono en Pinus montezumae y Alnus jorullensis H. B. K. ssp. jorullensis especies de importancia ecologica de los bosques de la Sierra Nevada en el Estado de Mexico. Las ecuaciones que se determinaron son de la forma Y= bXk, donde Y es el contenido de biomasa o de carbono (kg) y X el diametro normal (DN) en cm. Para estimar los valores b y k del modelo para cada especie, se utilizaron 15 arboles de Pinus montezumae y 16 de Alnus jorullensis ssp. jorullensis. En Pinus montezumae el mayor porcentaje de biomasa 77.07 % se estimo en el fuste incluido el tocon, mientras que en las ramas y el follaje presento 8.45 y 9.01%, respectivamente, con la biomasa y el DN de los arboles se obtuvo el ajuste de los parametros b y k del modelo propuesto (B= 0.013 DN3.0462) con una R2= 0.9909. Para el caso de Alnus jorullensis ssp. jorullensis de la misma forma el mayor porcentaje de biomasa 63.77% se estimo en el fuste incluido el tocon, mientras que en las ramas y el follaje presento 20.99 y 11.46%, respectivamente; con la biomasa y el DN de los arboles se obtuvo el ajuste de los parametros b y k del modelo propuesto (B= 0.0195 DN2.7519) con una R2= 0.9311. Despues de analizar el contenido de carbono en las muestra de cada especie, se ajustaron las ecuaciones para Pinus montezumae C= 0.0065DN3. 0484, con una R2= 0.9914, mientras que para Alnus jorullensis ssp. jorullensis C= 0.009DN2. 7522con una R2= 0.9313.
Efficacy of etanercept in patients with ankylosing spondylitis: a double-blind,randomized,placebo controlled trial

Objective:To evaluate the short-term efficacy of etanercept in patients with active ankylosing spondylitis(AS). Methods: In a double-blind,randomized,and placebo controlled 12-week trial,86 patients received placebo or etanercept(randomized in a 1∶1 ratio) in the first 6 weeks,and all the patients were treated with etanercept in the second 6 weeks.The primary outcome measures were the percentages of patients achieving the assessments in ankylosing spondylitis 20% response(ASAS 20). Other outcome measures included the percentage of patients achieving higher ASAS responses,the changes of BASDAI,BASFI,morning stiffness,and nocturnal spinal pain.Results: At week 2,the percentages of patients achieving the ASAS 20 in two groups were significantly different.At week 6,the percentages were 53.5% in etanercept group and 20.9% in the placebo group(P=0.001). At week 12,the percentage of patients achieving the ASAS 20 was 82.9% in etanercept group.Improvements of other measures were significantly greater in etanercept group.Conclusion: Etanercept is a drug with fast and persistent action in patients with active AS.
Some acoustic cues in the detection of the Nepalese aspiration

In terms of laryngeal setting, most languages have only two types of stops. In the Nepalese sound inventory there are four types of stops: voiceless unaspirated, voiced unaspirated, voiceless aspirated, and voiced aspirated (or breathy voiced). The main objective of this paper is to present the prominent and consistent acoustic cues that differentiate the aspirated segments from their unaspirated counterparts of the Nepalese coronals ‐ the dental‐alveolar (t,th,d,dh), retroflex (T,Th,D,Dh) and affricates (ts,tsh,dz,dzh). VOT (Voice Onset Time) (Lisker and Abramson 1964) is the familiar model used to characterize three of these phonation types ‐ voiced, voiceless, and aspiration stops. Some authors have pointed out that this method is not able to distinguish the plain voiced and voiced aspirated stops. An alternative segmentation model proposed by Mikuteit and Reetz (2007) is adopted here. Beside the analysis of the closure duration of segments, measuring the beginning of the burst or its release, we use o.
The Value as Food and Screening for the Nutritional Effects of the Silky

The nutrients contained in the raw egg,liver and outer skin of silky and white leghorn were analzyed. The amount of proteins,phosholipids,ƒ¿-tocopherol and retinol in the raw egg of silky were high compared to white leghorn. However,the concentration of cholesterol was lower in silky than white leghorn. Adult male rats were fed a cholesterol diet with 1% egg oil and 5% dried outer skin. After 4 weeks of feeding,serum total cholesterol concentration was significantly lower in rats fed silky egg oil than in those fed white leghorn egg oil.It seems that the ingredient which affects lipid metabolism does not exist in the outer skin of the silky. There was a higher amount of IgG in serum of the outer skin of silky group compared to outer skin of white leghon group. The amount of total proteins and RAN in liver were higher in ratsfed with dried outer skin of the silky. Moreover,the GOT and GPT activity in the liver were found to be higher in the case of outer skin of silky group than the outer skin of white leghon group. We suggest the possible presence of a component in the outer skin of silky which promotes the activation of the liver function.
Producción forzada de duraznero (Prunus persica (L.) Batsch) en el altiplano tropical de Boyacá (Colombia)

El duraznero, originario de China, encuentra condiciones favorables para su produccion continua en los tropicos,sin entrar en una dormancia profunda. En zonas altas de Colombia (1.800-2.700 msnm), variedades de bajo requerimiento de frio y rapido desarrollo del fruto (p.e. ‘Eldorado’ y ‘Diamante’), se manejan por ciclos forzados con tres cosechas en 2 anos. Para este manejo, las practicas culturales, en el orden de secuencia despues de la recoleccion de frutos, son: fertilizacion, control fitosanitario, defoliacion, poda, riego y aplicacion del compensador de frio, que inducen una floracion 3-4 meses despues de la cosecha. En el caso de variedades con un mayor requerimiento de frio y largo desarrollo del fruto (p.e.‘Rubidoux’) se puede cosechar cada 10,5 a 11,0 meses, asi se puede programar cosechas en la segunda mitad del ano con valor en el mercado comparativamente mas alto. Este articulo pretende esclarecer algunas bases de la fisiologia y el desarrollo del duraznero en el tropico, sobre las cuales sera posible implementar un sistema y manejo de cosechas continuas para las condiciones colombianas. Palabras clave adicionales: endormancia, horas frio, cosechas continuadas.
Hydrogel systems and their role in neural tissue engineering

Neural tissue engineering (NTE) is a rapidly progressing field that promises to address several serious neurological conditions that are currently difficult to treat. Selecting the right scaffolding material to promote neural and non-neural cell differentiation as well as axonal growth is essential for the overall design strategy for NTE. Among the varieties of scaffolds, hydrogels have proved to be excellent candidates for culturing and differentiating cells of neural origin. Considering the intrinsic resistance of the nervous system against regeneration, hydrogels have been abundantly used in applications that involve the release of neurotrophic factors, antagonists of neural growth inhibitors and other neural growth-promoting agents. Recent developments in the field include the utilization of encapsulating hydrogels in neural cell therapy for providing localized trophic support and shielding neural cells from immune activity. In this review, we categorize and discuss the various hydrogel-based strategies that have been examined for neural-specific applications and also highlight their strengths and weaknesses. We also discuss future prospects and challenges ahead for the utilization of hydrogels in NTE.
Early Surgery for Traumatic Spinal Cord Injury: Where Are We Now?

Study Design: Narrative review. Objective: There is a strong biological rationale to perform early decompression after traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI). With an enlarging clinical evidence base, most spine surgeons internationally now favor early decompression for the majority of SCI patients; however, a number of pertinent questions remain surrounding this therapy. Methods: A narrative review evaluating the status of early surgery for SCI. In particular, we addressed the following questions: (1) Which patients stand to benefit most from early surgery? 2) What is the most appropriate time threshold defining early surgery? Results: Although heterogeneity exists, the evidence generally seems to support early surgery. While the best evidence exists for cervical SCI, there is insufficient data to support a differential effect for early surgery depending on neurological level or injury severity. When comparing thresholds to define early versus late surgery—including a later threshold (48-72 hours), an earlier threshold (24 hours), and an ultra-early threshold (8-12 hours)—the 2 earlier time points seem to be associated with the greatest potential for improved outcomes. However, existing prehospital and hospital logistics pose barriers to early surgery in a significant proportion of patients. An overview of recommendations from the recent AOSpine guidelines is provided. Conclusion: In spite of increasing acceptance of early surgery post SCI, further research is needed to (1) identify subgroups of patients who stand to derive particular benefit—in particular to develop more evidence-based approaches for central cord syndrome and (2) investigate the efficacy and feasibility of ultra-early surgery targeting more aggressive timelines.
The Multiple Facets of Plant–Fungal Interactions Revealed Through Plant and Fungal Secretomics

The plant secretome is usually considered in the frame of proteomics, aiming at characterizing extracellular proteins, their biological roles and the mechanisms accounting for their secretion in the extracellular space. In this review, we aim to highlight recent results pertaining to secretion through the conventional and unconventional protein secretion pathways notably those involving plant exosomes or extracellular vesicles. Furthermore, plants are well known to actively secrete a large array of different molecules from polymers (e.g. extracellular RNA and DNA) to small compounds (e.g. ATP, phytochemicals, secondary metabolites, phytohormones). All of these play pivotal roles in plant-fungi (or oomycetes) interactions, both for beneficial (mycorrhizal fungi) and deleterious outcomes (pathogens) for the plant. For instance, recent work reveals that such secretion of small molecules by roots is of paramount importance to sculpt the rhizospheric microbiota. Our aim in this review is to extend the definition of the plant and fungal secretomes to a broader sense to better understand the functioning of the plant/microorganisms holobiont. Fundamental perspectives will be brought to light along with the novel tools that should support establishing an environment-friendly and sustainable agriculture.
Recent Advances in Meningioma Immunogenetics

Meningiomas are relatively common, and typically benign intracranial tumors, which in many cases can be cured by surgical resection. However, less prevalent, high grade meningiomas, grow quickly, and recur frequently despite treatment, leading to poor patient outcomes. Across tumor grades, subjective guidelines for histological analysis can preclude accurate diagnosis, and an insufficient understanding of recurrence risk can cloud the choice of optimal treatment. Improved diagnostic and prognostic markers capable of discerning between the 15 heterogeneous WHO recognized meningioma subtypes are necessary to improve disease management and identify new targeted drug treatments. In this review, we show the advances in molecular profiling and immunophenotyping of meningiomas, which may lead to the development of new personalized therapeutic strategies.
Improved Thermoelectric Properties and Environmental Stability of Conducting PEDOT:PSS Films Post-treated With Imidazolium Ionic Liquids

Poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) is one of the most popular conducting polymers and widely used as polymer thermoelectric materials, and its thermoelectric performance could be improved by a variety of post-treatment processes. This paper reported two series of post-treatment methods to enhance the thermoelectric performance. The first series method included pre-treatment of PEDOT:PSS film with formamide, followed by imidazolium-based ionic liquids. The second series method included pre-treatment of PEDOT:PSS film with formamide, followed by sodium formaldehyde sulfoxylate, and finally imidazolium-based ionic liquids. Two series of post-treatment methods significantly improved the power factor of PEDOT:PSS when compared to that of PEDOT:PSS treated with formamide only. For example, using the first series post-treatment method with 40 vol.% ionic liquid 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl) amide, the Seebeck coefficient of the PEDOT:PSS film increased from 14.9 to 28.5 μV/K although the electrical conductivity reduced from 2,873 to 1,701 S/cm, resulting in a substantial improvement in the overall power factor from 63.6 to 137.8 μW/K2m. The electrical conductivity enhancement in the formamide-treatment process was in part ascribed to the removal of the insulating PSS component. Further treatment of PEDOT:PSS film with ionic liquid caused dedoping of PEDOT and hence increased in Seebeck coefficient. In contrast, second series post-treatment method led to the reduction in electrical conductivity from 2,873 to 641 S/cm but a big improvement in the Seebeck coefficient from 14.9 to 61.1 μV/K and thus the overall power factor reached up to ~239.2 μW/K2m. Apart from the improvement in electrical conductivity, the increase in Seebeck coefficient is on account of the substantial dedoping of PEDOT polymer to its neutral form and thus leads to the big improvement of its Seebeck coefficient. The environmental stability of ionic liquid-treated PEDOT:PSS films were examined. It was found that the ionic liquid treated PEDOT:PSS retained more than 70% Seebeck coefficient and electrical conductivity at 75% RH humidity and 70°C for 480 h. The improved long-term TE stability is attributed to the strong ionic interaction between sulfonate anions and bulky imidazolium cations that effectively block the penetration of water and lessen the tendency to take up water from the air.
The Predictive Properties of Psychiatric Diagnoses, Dynamic Risk and Dynamic Risk Change Assessed by the VRS-SO in Forensically Admitted and Released Sexual Offenders

Psychiatric diagnoses, static risk factors, and criminogenic needs at time of admission and release were examined in a mentally ill sample of psychiatrically detained sexual offenders. Although clinically found to be at low or even very low risk at discharge, 12% reoffended sexually over an average follow-up of 7 years. Psychotic disorders were present in only 5% of offenders, whereas 93% had a personality disorder diagnosis and 76% a paraphilic disorder diagnosis. Only exhibitionism and alcohol misuse were associated with relapse. Static risk factors captured by the Static-99 also did not significantly predict recidivism; however, the VRS-SO—a structured risk assessment tool that assesses criminogenic needs and changes in risk from treatment or other change agents, rated retrospectively on the present sample—predicted sexual recidivism as well as any new imprisonment or psychiatric placement. In particular, the sexual deviance factor of the VRS-SO had large in magnitude predictive associations with sexual reoffending, while treatment related changes assessed on this factor were significantly related to non-reoffending. Findings corroborate the advantages of structured risk assessment and structured change monitoring, particularly for complex clientele such as mentally ill sexual offenders.
Functional Characterization of Invertase Inhibitors PtC/VIF1 and 2 Revealed Their Involvements in the Defense Response to Fungal Pathogen in Populus trichocarpa

In higher plants, cell wall invertase (CWI) and vacuolar invertase (VI) were considered to be essential coordinators in carbohydrate partitioning, sink strength determination, and stress responses. An increasing body of evidence revealed that the tight regulation of CWI and VI substantially depends on the post-translational mechanisms, which were mediated by small proteinaceous inhibitors (C/VIFs, Inhibitor of β-Fructosidases). As yet, the extensive survey of the molecular basis and biochemical property of C/VIFs remains largely unknown in black cottonwood (Populus trichocarpa Torr. & A. Gray), a model species of woody plants. In the present work, we have initiated a systematic review of the genomic structures, phylogenies, cis-regulatory elements, and conserved motifs as well as the tissue-specific expression, resulting in the identification of 39 genes encoding C/VIF in poplar genome. We characterized two putative invertase inhibitors PtC/VIF1 and 2, showing predominant transcript levels in the roots and highly divergent responses to the selected stress cues including fusarium wilt, drought, ABA, wound, and senescence. In silico prediction of the signal peptide hinted us that they both likely had the apoplastic targets. Based on the experimental visualization via the transient and stable transformation assays, we confirmed that PtC/VIF1 and 2 indeed secreted to the extracellular compartments. Further validation of their recombinant enzymes revealed that they displayed the potent inhibitory affinities on the extracted CWI, supporting the patterns that act as the typical apoplastic invertase inhibitors. To our knowledge, it is the first report on molecular characterization of the functional C/VIF proteins in poplar. Our results indicate that PtC/VIF1 and 2 may exert essential roles in defense- and stress-related responses. Moreover, novel findings of the up- and downregulated C/VIF genes and functional enzyme activities enable us to further unravel the molecular mechanisms in the promotion of woody plant performance and adapted-biotic stress, underlying the homeostatic control of sugar in the apoplast.
A Comparison of Functional Networks Derived From Representational Similarity, Functional Connectivity, and Univariate Analyses

The invention of representational similarity analysis [RSA, following multi-voxel pattern analysis (MVPA)] has allowed cognitive neuroscientists to identify the representational structure of multiple brain regions, moving beyond functional localization. By comparing these structures, cognitive neuroscientists can characterize how brain areas form functional networks. Univariate analysis (UNIVAR) and functional connectivity analysis (FCA) are two other popular methods to identify functional networks. Despite their popularity, few studies have examined the relationship between networks from RSA with those from UNIVAR and FCA. Thus, the aim of the current study is to examine the similarities between neural networks derived from RSA with those from UNIVAR and FCA to explore how these methods relate to each other. We analyzed the data of a previously published study with the three methods and compared the results by performing (partial) correlation and multiple regression analysis. Our findings reveal that neural networks resulting from RSA, UNIVAR, and FCA methods are highly similar to each other even after ruling out the effect of anatomical proximity between the network nodes. Nevertheless, the neural network from each method shows unique organization that cannot be explained by any of the other methods. Thus, we conclude that the RSA, UNIVAR and FCA methods provide similar but not identical information on how brain regions are organized in functional networks.
Sepia, Tarsier, and Chameleon: A Modular C++ Framework for Event-Based Computer Vision

This paper introduces an new open-source, header-only and modular C++ framework to facilitate the implementation of event-driven algorithms. The framework relies on three independent components: sepia (file IO), tarsier (algorithms), and chameleon (display). Our benchmarks show that algorithms implemented with tarsier are faster and have a lower latency than identical implementations in other state-of-the-art frameworks, thanks to static polymorphism (compile-time pipeline assembly). The observer pattern used throughout the framework encourages implementations that better reflect the event-driven nature of the algorithms and the way they process events, easing future translation to neuromorphic hardware. The framework integrates drivers to communicate with the DVS, the DAVIS, the Opal Kelly ATIS, and the CCam ATIS.
A Pretraining-Retraining Strategy of Deep Learning Improves Cell-Specific Enhancer Predictions

Deciphering the code of cis-regulatory element (CRE) is one of the core issues of today’s biology. Enhancers are distal CREs and play significant roles in gene transcriptional regulation. Although identifications of enhancer locations across the whole genome [discriminative enhancer predictions (DEP)] is necessary, it is more important to predict in which specific cell or tissue types, they will be activated and functional [tissue-specific enhancer predictions (TSEP)]. Although existing deep learning models achieved great successes in DEP, they cannot be directly employed in TSEP because a specific cell or tissue type only has a limited number of available enhancer samples for training. Here, we first adopted a reported deep learning architecture and then developed a novel training strategy named “pretraining-retraining strategy” (PRS) for TSEP by decomposing the whole training process into two successive stages: a pretraining stage is designed to train with the whole enhancer data for performing DEP, and a retraining strategy is then designed to train with tissue-specific enhancer samples based on the trained pretraining model for making TSEP. As a result, PRS is found to be valid for DEP with an AUC of 0.922 and a GM (geometric mean) of 0.696, when testing on a larger-scale FANTOM5 enhancer dataset via a five-fold cross-validation. Interestingly, based on the trained pretraining model, a new finding is that only additional twenty epochs are needed to complete the retraining process on testing 23 specific tissues or cell lines. For TSEP tasks, PRS achieved a mean GM of 0.806 which is significantly higher than 0.528 of gkm-SVM, an existing mainstream method for CRE predictions. Notably, PRS is further proven superior to other two state-of-the-art methods: DEEP and BiRen. In summary, PRS has employed useful ideas from the domain of transfer learning and is a reliable method for TSEPs.