Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Systematic Review of Deep Brain Stimulation Targets for Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.

BACKGROUND Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) is a complex neuropsychiatric disease characterized by obsessions and compulsions. Deep brain stimulation (DBS) has demonstrated efficacy in improving symptoms in medically refractory patients. Multiple targets have been investigated. OBJECTIVE To systematically review the current level and quality of evidence supporting OCD-DBS by target region with the goal of establishing a common nomenclature. METHODS A systematic literature review was performed using the PubMed database and a patient/problem, intervention, comparison, outcome search with the terms "DBS" and "OCD. " Of 86 eligible articles that underwent full-text review, 28 were included for review. Articles were excluded if the target was not specified, the focus on nonclinical outcomes, the follow-up period shorter than 3 mo, or the sample size smaller than 3 subjects. Level of evidence was assigned according to the American Association of Neurological Surgeons/Congress of Neurological Surgeons joint guideline committee recommendations. Quality of evidence was assessed using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation approach. RESULTS Selected publications included 9 randomized controlled trials, 1 cohort study, 1 case-control study, 1 cross-sectional study, and 16 case series. Striatal region targets such as the anterior limb of the internal capsule, ventral capsule/ventral striatum, and nucleus accumbens were identified, but stereotactic coordinates were similar despite differing structural names. Only 15 of 28 articles included coordinates. CONCLUSION The striatal area is the most commonly targeted region for OCD-DBS. We recommend a common nomenclature based on this review. To move the field forward to individualized therapy, active contact location relative to stereotactic coordinates and patient specific anatomical and clinical variances need to be reported.
RECENT ADVANCES IN MATURITY AND YIELD OF GRAIN CORN HYBRIDS TESTED IN THE MARITIMES

Hybrids evaluated in six regional grain corn (Zea mays L.) trials in the Maritime Provinces of Canada showed considerable improvement in at-harvest grain maturity and some yield improvement between 1981 and 1987. After adjusting for changes in at-harvest maturity between 1981 and 1987, the average yield potential had increased by 4.4% (SE = 1.96). The improvement in at-harvest maturity was on average 3.7% (SE = 0.82), after adjusting for changes in yield, but was greater for hybrids with less than average yield.Key words: Zea mays L. , hybrid corn, maturity, yield, hybrid evaluation
Are randomized controlled trials being conducted with the right justification?

OBJECTIVE It has been estimated that much of health research may be wasted, resulting in billions of dollars in wasteful research spending worldwide each year. Given the increased use of randomized trials and their influence on medicine, one method to combat research waste is to conduct randomized clinical trials (RCTs) only when a systematic review (SR) suggests more data are needed or when no previous SRs are identified. Here, we analyzed RCTs to determine whether SRs were cited as justification for conducting a trial. METHODS We analyzed phase III RCTs published between 2016 and 2018 in New England Journal of Medicine, Lancet, and JAMA. We performed duplicate and independent data extraction to ensure the accuracy and validity of our data. For each trial, we extracted whether SRs were cited as justification for conducting the clinical trial. RESULTS We examined 637 RCTs that cited 728 SRs. Overall, 38.1% (243/637) of RCTs cited an SR as either verbatim (6.9%, 44/637) or inferred (31.2%, 199/637) for trial justification. The 79 remaining RCTs cited SRs in other ways. Approximately, 49.5% (315/637) of RCTs did not cite a SR. CONCLUSIONS Less than half of the analyzed clinical trials cited a SRs as the basis for undertaking the trial. We believe trialists should be required to present relevant SRs to an ethics or peer review committee demonstrating an unmet need prior to initiating a trial. Eliminating research waste is both a scientific and ethical responsibility.
Sarcopenic obesity in ageing: cardiovascular outcomes and mortality

Abstract Obesity is a major public health issue with prevalence increasing worldwide. Obesity is a well-established risk factor for CVD and mortality in adult populations. However, the impact of being overweight or obese in the elderly on CVD and mortality is controversial. Some studies even suggest that overweight and obesity, measured by BMI, are apparently associated with a decreased mortality risk (known as the obesity paradox). Ageing is associated with an increase in visceral fat and a progressive loss of muscle mass. Fat mass is positively associated and lean mass is negatively associated with risk of mortality. Therefore, in older adults BMI is not a good indicator of obesity. Sarcopenia has been defined as the degenerative loss of muscle mass, quality and strength with age and is of major concern in ageing populations. Sarcopenia has previously been associated with increased risks of metabolic impairment, cardiovascular risk factors, physical disability and mortality. It is possible for sarcopenia to co-exist with obesity, and sarcopenic obesity is a new class of obesity in older adults who have high adiposity levels together with low muscle mass, quality or strength. Therefore, sarcopenia with obesity may act together to increase their effect on metabolic disorders, CVD and mortality. This review will discuss the available evidence for the health implications of sarcopenic obesity on CVD and mortality in older adults.
Taxonomic reassessment of the genus Mychonastes (Chlorophyceae, Chlorophyta) including the description of eight new species

Krienitz L. , Bock C. , Dadheech P.K. and Pröschold T. 2011. Taxonomic reassessment of the genus Mychonastes (Chlorophyceae, Chlorophyta) including the description of eight new species. Phycologia 50: 89–106. DOI: 10.2216/10-15.1 The generic concept of the chlorophycean green algae Mychonastes (preferably living solitary) and Pseudodictyosphaerium (preferably living in colonies) is evaluated by means of small-subunit and internal transcribed spacer (ITS) rRNA gene sequence analyses and microscopical observations. Members of these genera belong to the most common chlorophycean algae of the picoplankton and small-sized nanoplankton of fresh and brackish waters. The morphological difference solitary vs colonial life form is not reflected by molecular phylogenetic data, and it is therefore systematically irrelevant. Consequently, all taxa of the two genera are combined under the generic name Mychonastes. The genus Mychonastes is emended. The synonymy of Mychonastes homosphaera (formerly Chlorella homosphaera) and Chlorella minutissima is confirmed. Eight new species are described from inland waters of Europe, Africa, Asia and South America. Besides certain morphological criteria such as shape and size of the cells and appearance and organization of the mucilaginous strands among the cells of colonies, the main diacritic features are of genetic nature. Comparing the secondary structure of ITS-2, compensatory base changes are found to discriminate the new species. The species of Mychonastes form a monophyletic clade within the Sphaeropleales sensu lato.
Disease-associated keratin mutations reduce traction forces and compromise adhesion and collective migration

ABSTRACT Keratin intermediate filament (IF) proteins constitute the major cytoskeletal components in epithelial cells. Missense mutations in keratin 5 (K5; also known as KRT5) or keratin 14 (K14; also known as KRT14), highly expressed in the basal epidermis, cause the severe skin blistering disease epidermolysis bullosa simplex (EBS). EBS-associated mutations disrupt keratin networks and change keratinocyte mechanics; however, molecular mechanisms by which mutations shape EBS pathology remain incompletely understood. Here, we demonstrate that, in contrast to keratin-deficient keratinocytes, cells expressing K14R125C, a mutation that causes severe EBS, generate lower traction forces, accompanied by immature focal adhesions with an altered cellular distribution. Furthermore, mutant keratinocytes display reduced directionality during collective migration. Notably, RhoA activity is downregulated in human EBS keratinocytes, and Rho activation rescues stiffness-dependent cell–extracellular matrix (ECM) adhesion formation of EBS keratinocytes. Collectively, our results strongly suggest that intact keratin IF networks regulate mechanotransduction through a Rho signaling pathway upstream of cell–ECM adhesion formation and organized cell migration. Our findings provide insights into the underlying pathophysiology of EBS. This article has an associated First Person interview with the first author of the paper. Summary: An epidermolysis bullosa simplex-associated keratin mutation causes defects in mechanotransduction. Keratin networks regulate traction force generation through a Rho signaling pathway upstream of cell–ECM adhesion formation and organized cell migration.
Parental (non‐)pain attending verbalizations moderate the relationship between child attention and memory bias for pain

Children's negatively biased pain‐related memories (i.e. recalling pain as being more intense or fearful than initially reported) have been recognized as a key factor in explaining child pain development. While mechanisms underlying children's pain memory development remain poorly understood, attention biases and parent language have been implicated in conceptual models. This study examined the association between child pain‐related attention and memory biases and the moderating role of parental pain and non‐pain attending verbalizations.
The impact of sterile populations on the perception of elevational richness patterns in ferns

Dispersal may influence the spatial distribution of species richness through mass or source-sink effects, but the extent of sink populations at the community level remains largely unknown due to difficulties of identifying such populations. We compared the richness patterns of ferns in 333 plots along six tropical elevational gradients in America, the Mascarenes, and southeast Asia, using sterile populations as an indication of sink populations. First, we tested whether sterile fern records were more common towards the elevational range limits of the individual species, but found this pattern in only one out of ten cases. It is therefore uncertain if sterile records correspond to marginal sink populations. Second, we compared the elevational richness patterns of sterile and fertile species. In several cases, elevational trends for sterile and fertile records were quite similar, but in others they differed distinctly. The percentage of sterile records per plot decreased with elevation among epiphytic ferns along all six transects, whereas terrestrials showed mixed results (decrease, increase, and U-shaped patterns). The percentage of sterile species records per plot relative to the number of species per plot recovered four significant patterns among the twelve cases analysed: higher percentages at higher species numbers among terrestrial ferns on two transects and lower percentages among epiphytes on two others. Despite the problems with equating sterile records to sink populations, we thus found distinct elevational patterns of sterile records that clearly affected our perception of the overall richness patterns. Ignoring the impact of population dynamics on diversity patterns is thus liable to result in misinterpretations of the diversity patterns.
Transforming Growth Factor- (cid:1) 1 Impairs Endothelin-1-Mediated Contraction of Brain Vessels by Inducing Mitogen-Activated Protein (MAP) Kinase Phosphatase-1 and Inhibiting p38 MAP Kinase

Brain levels of transforming growth factor- (cid:1) 1 (TGF- (cid:1) 1) are increased in Alzheimer’s disease and have been implicated in the associated cerebrovascular pathology. We recently reported that transgenic mice that overexpress TGF- (cid:1) 1 (TGF (cid:1) mice) display, with aging, selectively reduced endothelin-1 (ET-1)- mediated contractions. Because ET-1 is a key regulator of cerebrovascular tone and homeostasis, we investigated how increased levels of TGF- (cid:1) 1 could selectively alter this contractile response. We found that ETA receptors, via activation of p38 mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase, mediate the ET-1-induced contraction in mouse cerebral arteries, a response significantly decreased in aged TGF (cid:1) mice ( (cid:2) 39%; p (cid:3) 0.01) despite unaltered ETA receptor levels or affinity. In cerebrovas- cular smooth muscle cell cultures, long-term treatment with TGF- (cid:1) 1 significantly decreased ( (cid:4) 50%; p (cid:3) 0.05) the ET-1-induced activation of the p38 MAPK/27-kDa heat shock protein (HSP27) signaling pathway. This occurred with no effect upstream to p38 MAP kinase but with the concomitant induction of mitogen-activated protein kinase phosphatase-1 (MKP-1) expression. Inhibition of MKP-1 expression with Ro-31-8220 or suppression of MKP-1 expression by short interfering RNA restored the ET-1-mediated p38 MAP kinase response. These results disclose a new role for long-term increases transduction that 1 activation of the p38 MAPK/27-kDa shock protein (HSP27) pathway via expression of the transcriptionally regulated mitogen-activated protein kinase phosphatase-1 (MKP-1).
Nutritional management for enteric methane abatement: A review

A variety of nutritional management strategies that reduce enteric methane (CH4) production are discussed. Strategies such as increasing the level of grain in the diet, inclusion of lipids and supplementation with ionophores (>24 ppm) are most likely to be implemented by farmers because there is a high probability that they reduce CH4 emissions in addition to improving production efficiency. Improved pasture management, replacing grass silage with maize silage and using legumes hold some promise for CH4 mitigation but as yet their impact is not sufficiently documented. Several new strategies including dietary supplementation with saponins and tannins, selection of yeast cultures and use of fibre-digesting enzymes may mitigate CH4, but these still require extensive research. Most of the studies on reductions in CH4 from ruminants due to diet management are short-term and focussed only on changes in enteric emissions. Future research must examine long-term sustainability of reductions in CH4 production and impacts on the entire farm greenhouse gas budget.
ANNOTATED LIST OF FISHES REPORTED FROM THE MARINE WATERS OF NEW YORK

Abstract The marine waters of New York State (excluding the Hudson River) are home to a large and diverse ichthyofauna that includes pelagics, migratory coastal fishes, resident species, anadromous and catadromous fishes, euryhaline-estuarine forms, and freshwater and deep-ocean strays. This diversity is attributable, in part, to the broad variety of habitats composing New York's marine waters. Also, although New York is located near the center of the Virginian biogeographic province, seasonal representatives of the Acadian and Carolinian provinces increase the breadth of its ichthyofauna. We record 338 fishes (114 families) reported from these waters, with annotations where warranted. Rare and unusual specimens are documented where possible with museum and literature citations.
Ur-Technical Debt

Discusses the term "technical debt". It’s so prevalent that we shorten it to tech debt or even just TD. What counts as technical debt has expanded over the years, which has caused many people to lose sight of the interesting phenomena that Ward Cunningham was talking about when he coined the term in 1992. Today, any code that a developer dislikes is branded as technical debt. Tech debt is also hacky code, code written by novices, code written without consideration of software architecture (so-called big balls of mud), and code with antipatterns flagged by static analysis tools.
Global change and carnivore body size: data are stasis.

Aim Global warming and other anthropogenic changes to the environment affect many aspects of biology and have often been invoked as causing body size changes in vertebrates. Here we examine a diverse set of carnivore populations in search of patterns in body size change that could reflect global warming (in accord with Bergmann's rule). Location Global. Methods We used > 4400 specimens representing 22 carnivore species in 52 populations collected over the last few decades to examine whether size changed with collection date when geography and sex are accounted for. We then examined several factors related to global warming, body mass, diet, and the attributes of the different datasets, to see whether they affect the standardized slope (β) of the size versus time regression. Results Six of 52 populations we examined show a significant effect of year of collection on body size at the 0.05 probability level. The response of size to global warming does not reflect spatial patterns of size variation, nor do diet or body mass affect tendency of populations to change in body size. Size changes are no more pronounced in populations that have been sampled more recently. However, change, where it occurs, is rapid. Main conclusions There may be a tendency in the literature to report only cases where recent changes are prevalent. Although in our data only a minority of populations show body size changes, we may see changes accelerating in the future in response to more drastic climatic changes and other anthropogenic changes.
Oligo GEArray® Human Toll-Like Receptor Signaling Pathway Microarray

The Oligo GEArray® Human Toll-Like Receptor (TLR) Signaling Microarray profiles the expression of 113 genes related to TLR-mediated signal transduction. This array includes members of the TLR signaling family as well as key mediators of the TLR signaling pathway including adaptors and proteins that interact with toll-like receptors. Effectors of TLR signaling are represented. Members of the NFκB, JNK/p38, NF/IL6, and IRF signaling pathways downstream of TLR signaling are also included on this array. Through a simple side-by-side hybridization experiment you can determine differential gene expression between your samples.
Biological Delineation of Terrestrial Buffer Zones for Pond‐Breeding Salamanders

Many semi‐aquatic organisms, such as salamanders, depend on both aquatic and terrestrial habitats to complete their life cycle and maintain viable populations. But current U.S. federal and state regulations protect only the wetland itself or arbitrarily defined portions of terrestrial habitat, if any. Part of the reason terrestrial habitats adjacent to wetlands are not protected is the lack of a clear understanding of the distances from shorelines that are biologically relevant to wetland fauna. Such information is critical for delineation of terrestrial “buffer zones” for wetlands, and thus for the conservation of semi‐aquatic organisms. I summarized data from the literature on terrestrial habitat use by one group of pond‐breeding salamanders, especially distances individuals traveled away from ponds. The results provide a basis for setting terrestrial buffer zones determined from actual habitat use by adult and juvenile salamanders. The mean distance salamanders were found from the edge of aquatic habitats was 125.3 m for adults of six species and 69.6 m for juveniles of two of these species. Assuming that the mean distance encompasses 50% of the population, a buffer zone encompassing 95% of the population would extend 164.3 m (534 ft) from a wetland’s edge into the terrestrial habitat. Data from other amphibians suggest that this buffer zone is applicable to a range of species, but caution should be taken for taxa suspected to be more vagile. Wetland managers and policymakers must recognize the special needs of semi‐aquatic organisms during their entire life cycle, not just during the breeding season. To maintain viable populations and communities of salamanders, attention must be directed to the terrestrial areas peripheral to all wetlands. Data on habitat use from salamanders and other semi‐aquatic species make it increasingly apparent that maintaining the connection between wetlands and terrestrial habitats will be necessary to preserve the remaining biodiversity of our vanishing wetlands.
A coupled model of stomatal conductance, photosynthesis and transpiration

A model that couples stomatal conductance, photosynthesis, leaf energy balance and transport of water through the soil–plant–atmosphere continuum is presented. Stomatal conductance in the model depends on light, temperature and intercellular CO2 concentration via photosynthesis and on leaf water potential, which in turn is a function of soil water potential, the rate of water flow through the soil and plant, and on xylem hydraulic resistance. Water transport from soil to roots is simulated through solution of Richards’ equation. The model captures the observed hysteresis in diurnal variations in stomatal conductance, assimilation rate and transpiration for plant canopies. Hysteresis arises because atmospheric demand for water from the leaves typically peaks in mid-afternoon and because of uneven distribution of soil matric potentials with distance from the roots. Potentials at the root surfaces are lower than in the bulk soil, and once soil water supply starts to limit transpiration, root potentials are substantially less negative in the morning than in the afternoon. This leads to higher stomatal conductances, CO2 assimilation and transpiration in the morning compared to later in the day. Stomatal conductance is sensitive to soil and plant hydraulic properties and to root length density only after approximately 10 d of soil drying, when supply of water by the soil to the roots becomes limiting. High atmospheric demand causes transpiration rates, LE, to decline at a slightly higher soil water content, θs, than at low atmospheric demand, but all curves of LE versus θs fall on the same line when soil water supply limits transpiration. Stomatal conductance cannot be modelled in isolation, but must be fully coupled with models of photosynthesis/respiration and the transport of water from soil, through roots, stems and leaves to the atmosphere.
Sperm competition effects on sperm production and expenditure in sailfin mollies, Poecilia latipinna

Sperm competition risk (SCR) models predict that if there is a low probability a male's ejaculate will compete with another male, individuals should invest less sperm in a mating, whereas if the probability of competition is high, males should invest more sperm. Alternatively, models of sperm competition intensity (SCI) predict that increased intensity of sperm competition leads to maximal sperm investment when a male faces a single competitor. Few studies have examined predictions of these models for males of varying size, and none have examined effects of sperm competition on both sperm production and expenditure. To examine effects of sperm competition on these variables, male sailfin mollies (Poecilia latipinna) from 3 size classes were randomly assigned to one of 3 treatments that manipulated SCR and SCI: 1) no risk, low intensity; 2) risk present, medium intensity; and 3) risk present, high intensity. Male sailfin mollies produced more sperm in the high-intensity treatment than in the low-intensity treatment. Sailfin mollies in the risk present treatments expended more sperm than those males in the risk absent treatment. There was no significant difference in sperm expenditure between the medium intensity and the high-intensity treatment, indicating that maximal sperm investment does not occur when the number of competing males is one. Furthermore, small males expended more sperm than medium and large males. These results suggest that male sailfin mollies respond as predicted to SCR, but not to SCI. I suggest that male size effects and sperm production should be considered in theoretical treatments of optimal male sperm investment strategies. Copyright 2007, Oxford University Press.