Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Haitian Faculty Perceptions of Students’ Competence at Graduation: An Opportunity for Curricula Modification

The contribution of agricultural universities to long-term food security in developing countries is widely acknowledged. The extent to which these universities in each country are helping students develop the requisite competence to meet employment needs is unknown. The purpose of this study was to explore Haitian faculty members’ perceptions of student competence at graduation. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 37 lecturers who taught at five of the major agricultural universities in Haiti. The results of this revealed that (a) the employment conditions for university graduates were challenging; (b) faculty did not believe it was important for their students to graduate proficient in all the GFRAS New Extensionist competency areas; (c) faculty believed students should have research skills, the ability to be self-directed, and the ability to work in teams; and (d) faculty generally believed their institutions were producing graduates with the competencies needed for employment, although several lecturers identified specific areas for improvement. Recommendations for curricula reform and additional research are suggested.
Plasmid Accumulation Reduces Life Span in Saccharomyces cerevisiae*

Aging in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae is under the control of multiple pathways. The production and accumulation of extrachromosomal rDNA circles (ERCs) is one pathway that has been proposed to bring about aging in yeast. To test this proposal, we have developed a plasmid-based model system to study the role of DNA episomes in reduction of yeast life span. Recombinant plasmids containing different replication origins, cis-acting partitioning elements, and selectable marker genes were constructed and analyzed for their effects on yeast replicative life span. Plasmids containing the ARS1 replication origin reduce life span to the greatest extent of the plasmids analyzed. This reduction in life span is partially suppressed by a CEN4 centromeric element on ARS1 plasmids. Plasmids containing a replication origin from the endogenous yeast 2 μ circle also reduce life span, but to a lesser extent than ARS1 plasmids. Consistent with this, ARS1 and 2 μ origin plasmids accumulate in ∼7-generation-old cells, but ARS1/CEN4 plasmids do not. Importantly, ARS1 plasmids accumulate to higher levels in old cells than 2 μ origin plasmids, suggesting a correlation between plasmid accumulation and life span reduction. Reduction in life span is neither an indirect effect of increased ERC levels nor the result of stochastic cessation of growth. The presence of a fully functional 9.1-kb rDNA repeat on plasmids is not required for, and does not augment, reduction in life span. These findings support the view that accumulation of DNA episomes, including episomes such as ERCs, cause cell senescence in yeast.
Initial size and dynamics of viral fusion pores are a function of the fusion protein mediating membrane fusion

Background information. Protein‐mediated merger of biological membranes, membrane fusion, is an important process. To investigate the role of fusogenic proteins in the initial size and dynamics of the fusion pore (a narrow aqueous pathway, which widens to finalize membrane fusion), two different fusion proteins expressed in the same cell line were investigated: the major glycoprotein of baculovirus Autographa californica (GP64) and the HA (haemagglutinin) of influenza X31.
Effect of natural antioxidants, superoxide dismutase and hydrogen peroxide on capacitation of frozen‐thawed bull spermatozoa

Summary Bovine spermatozoa from frozenthawed semen are sensitive to lipid peroxidation. Vitamin E protects sperm membrane against oxidative damage. Sperm capacitation produces structural changes on the plasma membrane. Reactive oxygen species could be involved in the capacitation process. The aim of this work was to study the influence of natural antioxidants on the plasma membrane and the influence of reactive oxygen species during bovine sperm capacitation. Sperm samples were frozen in a standard diluent, with and without vitamin E (1 mg ml‐1). Heparin (60 μg ml‐1) was used as a sperm capacitation inductor. Sperm capacitation was evaluated by chlorotetracycline assay. Lipid peroxidation was determined by the 2‐thiobarbituric acid assay. A diminution of thiobarbituric acid reactive substances was observed in sperm samples frozen with vitamin E (P < 0.05). The addition of vitamin E to the freezing diluent had no effect on the capacitated pattern (P > 0.05).
Hereditary angioneurotic oedema: characterization of plasma kinin and vascular permeability‐enhancing activities

The mediator(s) responsible for localized enhanced vascular permeability that characterizes an exacerbation of hereditary angioneurotic oedema (HAE) is thought to be a product of either contact or complement system activation. In contrast to normal individuals, plasma from these patients generates both kinin and vascular permeability‐enhancing activity following incubation at 37°C. Depletion of C1 inhibitor in both normal and C2‐deficicnt plasma, but not in contact factor‐deficient plasmas, resulted in generation of these activities. The kinin activity from incubated HAE plasma was susceptible to kininase inactivation and was blocked by a Bk2 receptor antagonist. Furthermore, this activity was isolated from HAE plasma; amino acid sequence analysis proved it to be bradykinin. Similarly, the vasopermeability‐enhancing activity from ethanol‐fractionated or boiled HAH plasma, collected during either attack or remission, co‐eluted with bradykinin on reverse‐phase high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). These studies conclusively demonstrate that bradykinin is the major kinin and mediator of enhanced vascular permeability generated during incubation of HAE plasma. The role of other bioactive products, such as the C2 kinin, at local sites of oedema formation remains lo be further defined.
Performance of tomographic SAR estimation techniques at low image resolution

SAR tomography is a remote sensing technique that allows three-dimensional imaging of volumetric targets. It allows, for example, to analyse the vertical structure of vegetation layers or other targets with significant penetration of the sensor's radiation (e.g., dry soil and ice layers). Due to its unique capabilties and potential, SAR tomography has gained significant attention during the last years and has become an established technique for analysis of all kinds of three-dimensional backscattering scenarios. For future space-borne SAR sensors operating in longer wavelength, like BIOMASS or TanDEM-L, it is planned to employ tomographic imaging modes on an operational basis. Since the tomographic resolution is achieved not in the vertical direction but perpendicular to the line of sight, the sensor's range resolution has significant influence on the capability of resolving horizontally layered structures, like for example forest scenarios. This paper reviews the different state-of-the-art signal processing methods for three-dimensional SAR imaging with respect to their performance in case of low image resolution, with focus on imaging parameters as to be expected for upcoming space-borne missions. The expected imaging capabilities are demonstrated using real air-borne data acquired by DLR's E-SAR sensor. Special attention is also paid to illustrating the potential of the techniques to operate with low numbers of input images and under conditions of temporal decorrelation.
Two new drugs for rheumatoid arthritis

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic, progressive autoimmune disease that causes inflammation and destruction of the joints.1-3 It can also affect the eyes, the heart and the lungs and is associated with significant disability and increased mortality. RA is estimated to affect just under 1% of the population aged over 16 years, equating to more than 400,000 people in the UK.4 ▼Baricitinib (Olumiant) and ▼tofacitinib (Xeljanz) were launched in the UK in April 2017 and represent a new therapeutic class of medicines known as targeted synthetic disease modifying antirheumatic drugs.5,6 Here, we review the evidence for the safety and effectiveness of these new oral agents.
[On the history of vitamin K, dicoumarol and warfarin].

The history of the discovery and development of vitamin K and its antagonists, the oral anticoagulants dicoumarol and warfarin, are fascinating, triumphant landmarks in the annals of medicine. Vitamin K was found by Carl Peter Henrik Dam and Fritz Schønheyder from the University of Copenhagen. The discovery was initiated by Dam, by a lucky choice of chicks in the dissertation of sterol metabolism, since the vitamin is not formed by intestinal bacteria in these animals. In these experiments the lack of an unknown factor in the synthetic diet caused internal bleeding similar to that found in scurvy, but the bleeding was not reversed by vitamin C and it could not be explained by the lack of classical vitamins. In 1935 the unknown antihaemorrhagic factor was named vitamin K and a few months later the phenomenon was also observed by H.J. Almquist and E.L. R. Stokstad in Berkeley. The activity of the factor was determined by bioassay in different extracts of green vegetables and alfalfa by Dam and Schønheyder. Vitamin K was isolated in 1939 by Dam and Paul Karrer in Zurich and the structure was determined by Edward Adelbert Doisy. Dam and Doisy were awarded the Nobel Prize in 1943. A dramatic story starts the discovery of dicoumarol. In the 1920s cattle in Canada began dying of internal bleeding with no obvious precipitating cause. Frank W. Schofield, a veterinary pathologist in Alberta, found that the mysterious disease was connected to the consumption of spoiled sweet clover hay and noted a prolonged clotting time. Ten years after a farmer traveled in a blizzard with his dead cow and a milk can of the unclotted blood to the University of Wisconsin. Only the door to the biochemical department of Karl Paul Link was open. This event started the isolation of the anticoagulant agent dicou- marol which was formed by microbial induced oxidation of coumarin in the mouldy sweet clover hay. More than hundred dicoumarol-like anticoagulants were synthesized by Link and his co-workers. A potent hemorrhagic agent named warfarin was first used as an effective rat poison. However, warfarin became the drug of choice and the break- through in the treatment of thromboembolic diseases. Today new oral anticoagulants are competing with warfarin.
Specific Newborn Individualized Developmental Care and Assessment Program movements are associated with acute pain in preterm infants in the neonatal intensive care unit.

OBJECTIVE The Newborn Individualized Developmental Care and Assessment Program (NIDCAP) is widely used in neonatal intensive care units and comprises 85 discrete infant behaviors, some of which may communicate infant distress. The objective of this study was to identify developmentally relevant movements indicative of pain in preterm infants. METHODS Forty-four preterm infants were assessed at 32 weeks' gestational age (GA) during 3 phases (baseline, lance/squeeze, and recovery) of routine blood collection in the neonatal intensive care unit. The NIDCAP and Neonatal Facial Coding System (NFCS) were coded from separate continuous bedside video recordings; mean heart rate (mHR) was derived from digitally sampled continuous electrographic recordings. Analysis of variance (phase x gender) with Bonferroni corrections was used to compare differences in NIDCAP, NFCS, and mHR. Pearson correlations were used to examine relationships between the NIDCAP and infant background characteristics. RESULTS NFCS and mHR increased significantly to lance/squeeze. Eight NIDCAP behaviors also increased significantly to lance/squeeze. Another 5 NIDCAP behaviors decreased significantly to lance/squeeze. Infants who had lower GA at birth, had been sicker, had experienced more painful procedures, or had greater morphine exposure showed increased hand movements indicative of increased distress. CONCLUSIONS Of the 85 NIDCAP behaviors, a subset of 8 NIDCAP movements were associated with pain. Particularly for infants who are born at early GAs, addition of these movements to commonly used measures may improve the accuracy of pain assessment.
GUIDELINES FOR COLORECTAL CANCER SCREENING - A PUZZLE OF TESTS AND STRATEGIES

Abstract Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a leading cause of cancer death around the World. An effective way to reduce colorectal cancer mortality is to screen for it and its precursor, the adenoma. In industrialized countries the mortality related to CRC is decreasing probably due to better screening programmes in average-risk individuals as well as changes in risk factors. Screening procedures are various including faecal screening tests – which primarily detect colon cancer – and structural tests (endoscopy – flexible sigmoidoscopy or colonoscopy –, Barium enema, Computed Tomography Colonography) that may detect not only cancer but also its precursors. Video-colon capsule is a new tool for exploring the colon but needs further studies before becoming a screening test. The choice of a screening test includes several factors as cost, invasiveness, acceptability, adherence to repeat testing and acceptance referral for colonoscopy for positive tests as well as local financial resources. Every screening programme has advantages and limitations. Enhancing use and quality of CRC screening programmes is mandatory.
Flicking through page-based documents with thumbnail sliders and electronic dog-ears

Current interfaces for electronic page-based documents, such as books or magazines, offer support for navigation based on explicit reference (hyperlinks) or page-numbers. These methods don't resemble the view of page-content a reader has when browsing paper documents. In this paper we describe a method for navigation based on the coarse mental image readers have of a page they have seen before. We discuss experience from using two implementations and ongoing work on a Designer's Sketchbook, where the method is further developed.
Hypersensitivity to contact inhibition provides a clue to cancer resistance of naked mole-rat

The naked mole-rat is the longest living rodent with a maximum lifespan exceeding 28 years. In addition to its longevity, naked mole-rats have an extraordinary resistance to cancer as tumors have never been observed in these rodents. Furthermore, we show that a combination of activated Ras and SV40 LT fails to induce robust anchorage-independent growth in naked mole-rat cells, while it readily transforms mouse fibroblasts. The mechanisms responsible for the cancer resistance of naked mole-rats were unknown. Here we show that naked mole-rat fibroblasts display hypersensitivity to contact inhibition, a phenomenon we termed “early contact inhibition. ” Contact inhibition is a key anticancer mechanism that arrests cell division when cells reach a high density. In cell culture, naked mole-rat fibroblasts arrest at a much lower density than those from a mouse. We demonstrate that early contact inhibition requires the activity of p53 and pRb tumor suppressor pathways. Inactivation of both p53 and pRb attenuates early contact inhibition. Contact inhibition in human and mouse is triggered by the induction of p27Kip1. In contrast, early contact inhibition in naked mole-rat is associated with the induction of p16Ink4a. Furthermore, we show that the roles of p16Ink4a and p27Kip1 in the control of contact inhibition became temporally separated in this species: the early contact inhibition is controlled by p16Ink4a, and regular contact inhibition is controlled by p27Kip1. We propose that the additional layer of protection conferred by two-tiered contact inhibition contributes to the remarkable tumor resistance of the naked mole-rat.
Biomimetics: lessons from nature–an overview

Nature has developed materials, objects and processes that function from the macroscale to the nanoscale. These have gone through evolution over 3.8 Gyr. The emerging field of biomimetics allows one to mimic biology or nature to develop nanomaterials, nanodevices and processes. Properties of biological materials and surfaces result from a complex interplay between surface morphology and physical and chemical properties. Hierarchical structures with dimensions of features ranging from the macroscale to the nanoscale are extremely common in nature to provide properties of interest. Molecular-scale devices, superhydrophobicity, self-cleaning, drag reduction in fluid flow, energy conversion and conservation, high adhesion, reversible adhesion, aerodynamic lift, materials and fibres with high mechanical strength, biological self-assembly, antireflection, structural coloration, thermal insulation, self-healing and sensory-aid mechanisms are some of the examples found in nature that are of commercial interest. This paper provides a broad overview of the various objects and processes of interest found in nature and applications under development or available in the marketplace.
Fronto‐occipital EEG power gradients in human sleep

The brain topography of power spectra along the antero‐posterior (A‐P) axis was studied in the all‐night human sleep EEG. Spectra (0.25–25.0 Hz) were computed for an anterior (A; F3‐C3), a middle (M; C3‐P3) and a posterior (P; P3‐O1) bipolar derivation, and the spectral gradients between two adjacent derivations were expressed by power ratios (A/M and M/P). At NREM‐REM sleep transitions a power shift from A to M was present over almost the entire frequency range, while the direction of shifts between M and P differed between frequency bands. Within NREM sleep, frequency specific power gradients were present: In the low delta band power in both A (0.25 Hz bin) and P (0.25–1.0 Hz bins) was higher than in M. In the 4–9 Hz range the relation was A>M>P, and in the 15–25 Hz range power was largest in M. Power in the spindle frequency range was highest at 11.75 Hz in M, and at 13.5–13.75 Hz in A. Topographical differences were seen also in the temporal changes of power across and within NREM sleep episodes. Whereas NREM sleep power in the 2‐Hz bin was higher in A than in M in the first episode, this difference vanished in the course of the night. This result points to a specific involvement of frontal parts of the cortex in sleep homeostasis. The regional differences in sleep EEG spectra indicate that sleep is not only a global phenomenon but also a local brain process with a different regional involvement of neuronal populations.
Association between tobacco smoking and cognitive functioning in young adults.

BACKGROUND Tobacco smoking represents a considerable public health burden globally. Smoking in older adults is associated with cognitive impairment and more rapid age-associated cognitive decline, but there is a paucity of studies in younger people. METHOD Adults aged 18-29 years were recruited from a longitudinal study investigating impulsivity in young people. Exclusion criteria were presence of any axis-I morbidity or cannabis use. Subjects undertook neurocognitive assessment using the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery (CANTAB). Demographic, clinical, and cognitive differences between smokers (N = 37) and nonsmokers (N = 177) were characterized. RESULTS Groups were well matched in terms of age, education, income, and gender. In comparison to nonsmokers, nicotine users showed significant cognitive impairments on sustained attention (target detection: p= .005), spatial working memory (errors: p= .023, strategy use: p= .004), executive planning (p= .002), and did not appropriately adjust behavior as a function of risk (Gamble task risk adjustment: p= .004). Smokers were intact on general response speeds and response inhibition. CONCLUSIONS These data, using objective translational paradigms, support an association between tobacco smoking and cognitive problems in young people, with implications for such individuals and for society. Future studies should extend these results longitudinally to explore causality, and evaluate effects of nicotinic agents (including anti-smoking medications) on cognition.
N‐terminal and internal sequence determination of microgram amounts of proteins separated by isoelectric focusing in immobilized pH gradients

Isolation of microgram amounts of proteins and submicrogram quantities of peptides in a form suitable for sequence analysis is a key step in high sensitivity protein sequencing technology. Recently, methods have been developed which allow the direct, high yield, recovery of microgram amounts of sequenceable proteins separated by sodium dodecyl sulfate‐polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis or two‐dimensional gel electrophoresis. In the present publication, we describe an extension of these methods to obtain N‐terminal or internal sequence information from proteins separated by isoelectric focusing in polyacrylamide gels containing immobilized pH gradients. For N‐terminal sequence analysis, separated proteins were electrophoretically transferred (electroblotted) onto chemically‐modified glass fiber sheets, a support compatible with Edman degradation chemistry. Transferred protein bands were detected on the support, cut out and directly inserted into the cartridge of a gas‐phase protein sequenator. For internal sequence analysis, separated proteins were electrophoretically transferred onto nitrocellulose. Protein bands were detected by staining, cut out and the proteins subjected to enzymatic digestion directly on the support. The resulting cleavage fragments (peptides) were released into the supernatant where they were recovered and separated by narrow‐bore reversed‐phase high performance liquid chromatography for sequence analysis. The potential of this methodology is illustrated by the comparative peptide mapping of isoforms of bovine carbonic anhydrase.
Evolvability and genetic constraint in Dalechampia blossoms: components of variance and measures of evolvability

Abstract Many evolutionary arguments are based on the assumption that quantitative characters are highly evolvable entities that can be rapidly moulded by changing selection pressures. The empirical evaluation of this assumption depends on having an operational measure of evolvability that reflects the ability of a trait to respond to a given external selection pressure. We suggest short‐term evolvability be measured as expected proportional response in a trait to a unit strength of directional selection, where strength of selection is defined independently of character variation and in units of the strength of selection on fitness itself. We show that the additive genetic variance scaled by the square of the trait mean, IA, is such a measure. The heritability, h2, does not measure evolvability in this sense. Based on a diallel analysis, we use IA to assess the evolvability of floral characters in a population of the neotropical vine Dalechampia scandens (Euphorbiaceae). Although we are able to demonstrate that there is additive genetic variation in a number of floral traits, we also find that most of the traits are not expected to change by more than a fraction of a percent per generation. We provide evidence that the degree of among‐population divergence of traits is related to their predicted evolvabilities, but not to their heritabilities.