Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Influence of the sulphydryl content of animal proteins on in vitro bioavailability of non-haem iron

Meat is a known enhancer of non-haem iron bioavailability from foods. The exact mechanism by which this enhancement occurs remains unknown. This present study was designed to identify the 'meat factor'. The ability of different animal proteins to reduce non-haem Fe(III) to Fe(II) during an in vitro digestion was determined. The role of the -SH content of the proteins was also evaluated. When compared to egg albumin, meats from different species significantly enhanced dialysable ionic iron, D-(Fe(II) + Fe(III)), and dialysable Fe(II), D-Fe(II), (p < 0.05). In contrast, whey protein was inhibitory. Statistically significant linear correlations were established between the -SH content of the systems and their ability to reduce Fe(III) (r 2 0.451, p < 0.02) and dialyse the Fe(II) formed (r 2 0.524, p < 0.01). Incorporation of the -SH blocking agent, N-ethylmaleimide, significantly inhibited Fe(III) reduction and Fe(II) dialysability in a dose-related manner. These results suggest that the -SH content of animal proteins plays an important role in enhancing non-haem iron bioavailability and hence, may be related to the 'meat factor'.
Les chimiokines et la longue marche des leucocytes.

Pour exercer leurs fonctions de surveillance et de defense contre les agents pathogenes, les cellules du systeme immunitaire doivent en permanence circuler dans l'organisme. Ce trafic est tres finement controle. Aux phenomenes migratoires spontanes, observes chez le sujet sain, se superpose le recrutement massif de leucocytes mobilises en un site donne pour y faire face a une agression. La regulation de ces mouvements leucocytaires depend en grande partie de la production de cytokines d'activite chimio-attractive, les chimiokines, et de l'expression des differents recepteurs de chimiokines par les leucocytes. Cette regulation conjointe de l'expression des chimiokines et de leurs recepteurs guide les migrations des leucocytes dans les tissus, chaque type cellulaire migrant au bon endroit au bon moment pour exercer les fonctions de surveillance et de combat qui lui sont specifiques.
Cellulose-splitting Enzymes

The investigation in the mode of the action of cellulose-splitting enzymes, by which polysacharides having 1, 4 β-glucosidic linkage are broken down finally to glucose, has been carried out. The results obtained are summarized as follows: (1) It was confirmed by measuring the reducing at'ility, the rotatory power and the RF value, that the split sugar out of hydrocellulose by a cellulase solution freed from β-gluco-sidase and cellobiase was almost all cellobiose except very small amount of, glucose, and moreover the cellobiose was isolated in crystalline fofm from the sugar solution. (2) The ratio of the copper numbers of different, , kinds of hydrocelluloses before and after the enzymic attack is almost inversely proportional to the weight ratio of these specimens. (3) The ratio of the iodine values and the weight of those different kinds of cellodextrins before and after the enzymic breakdown, which should be the degree of polymerization of 8-12, are also inversely proportional to each other. (4) In view of these results it is infered that cellulase cuts off successively cellobiose from the end portions of the long chain of cellulose.
Pharmacologic Studies on Synthetic Analogues of Heparin with Selective Affinity to Endogenous Serine Protease Inhibitors

Walter Jeske Loyola University Chicago Heparin is a mixture of glycosaminoglycan chains which is used to prevent thrombosis in a number of clinical indications. Heparin is known to promote the inhibition of blood coagulation via the plasmatjc cofactors antithrombin ill (ATilI) and heparin cofactor II (HCII). The objective of this dissertation was to examine the importance of heparin cofactors in the mediation of the anticoagulant and antithrombotic effects of heparin. To achieve this goal, synthetic heparin analogues exhibiting a more selective interaction with heparin cofactors were studied using a number of in vitro systems and in vivo models. Three analogues were selected for this study. The pentasaccharide representing the minimal ATill binding sequence of heparin was observed to inhibit factor Xa but not thrombin via activation of A TIIl. Aprosulate mhibited thrombin via HCII but did not exhibit activate ATill. GL-522-Y-l also promoted the inhibition of thrombin via HCII but did not interact with A Tiii. The in vitro actions of each agent were investigated in plasma based clotting assays, Plasmatic and non-plasmatic amidolytic protease generation assays and in endothelial cell cultures. The in vivo phannacologic actions were studied in terms of
Interspecific effects of forest fragmentation on bats

Wind-farm development may be an important contributor to forest fragmentation, but how such developments impact bats is poorly understood. We hypothesized that bat activity at a wind farm would be explained, at least in part, by attraction and avoidance behaviours caused by deforestation. We tested predictions of this hypothesis via a landscape-level acoustic, capture, and radiotelemetry survey of little brown bats (Myotis lucifugus (Le Conte, 1831)) and northern long-eared myotis (Myotis septentrionalis (Trouessart, 1897)). Acoustic and capture data indicated no significant difference in magnitude of activity between the fragmented wind farm and the less-fragmented surrounding areas. However, only 2 of 19 radio-tracked bats were ever located inside the wind farm despite being captured adjacent to it. Bat locations were compared against randomly generated locations within the same area in a logistic regression framework to rank landscape variables in order of association with bats. A multicriteria evaluation of forest metrics showed that, over a 3-year period, there was an increase of suitable habitat inside the wind farm for M. lucifugus and a decrease for M. septentrionalis. These results support the contention that, at this level of disturbance, M. lucifugus may use the cleared areas, while M. septentrionalis is negatively impacted by increased deforestation caused by wind-farm development.
Repeatability of Daily Field Metabolic Rate in Female Meadow Voles (Microtus pennsylvanicus)

1. Repeated measurements of daily field metabolic rate (FMR) were made on 11 Meadow Voles (Microtus pennsylvanicus Ord.) by means of the doubly labelled water technique. The objective was to quantify the individual consistency of FMR by calculating the repeatability of successive measures on the same individuals. One more general goal was to test whether FMRs are sufficiently repeatable to be convenient for field studies of natural selection. 2. Voles were all non-reproductive females, 5-7-months old. They were maintained individually in outdoor enclosures 25m 2 and were injected 1-3 times with doubly labelled water. Two to six measures of daily FMR were thus obtained per individual (x = 4.09, SD = 1.51, n = 11) over a period of 42 days in July and August 1994. 3. Body mass and rate of change in body mass accounted for 31.6% of the observed variation in FMR; ground-temperature variations had no significant effect on FMR, probably owing to the small range of temperatures experienced by voles. 4. Repeatability of mass-corrected log 10 FMR measurements was low (r=0.261). This low repeatability was very consistent with the results of a previous study on consistency of mass-specific daily energy expenditures of caged pouched mice. 5. A partition of the total variance observed in mass-corrected FMR showed that 63.0% of the variance originated from differences within individuals, 27.6% from differences among individuals, and 9.4% from measurement error. FMR was not consistently higher or lower on the first or second day of measurement, indicating no clear effect of handling stress. 6. A practical implication of these results is that single measurements of daily field metabolic rates are not necessarily a good predictor of the average 24 h energy budget for a given individual. On a more theoretical basis, these results indicate that, although the ability of an animal to manage its energy economics may largely determine its selective value, daily FMR seems to be a poor candidate variable to relate this ability to individual fitness in experimental studies. 7. We suggest that future studies of repeatability of FMR should concentrate on energetically constraining periods. This would allow further evaluation of the potential role of interindividual differences in FMR as a tool for understanding evolutionary pathways that shaped energy economics of animals.
Science and the practice of wildlife management

This essay explains the need for wildlife management as scientific experiments to achieve reliable knowledge (Romesburg 1981) and emphasizes that science and management are not alternative processes. I explain the rationale behind the scientific method, the construction of hypotheses and their predictions, and how to test them with manipulations available through the management of wildlife. The scale of wildlife management programs makes them suitable for scientific experimentation (Macnab 1983). Problems such as population regulation and predator-prey interactions are used to show that theory is needed to develop proper predictions
Apprentissage de plongements de mots sur des corpus en langue de spécialité : une étude d’impact (Learning word embeddings on domain specific corpora : an impact study )

Les méthodes d’apprentissage de plongements lexicaux constituent désormais l’état de l’art pour la représentation du vocabulaire et des documents sous forme de vecteurs dans de nombreuses tâches de Traitement Automatique du Langage Naturel (TALN). Dans ce travail, nous considérons l’apprentissage et l’usage de plongements lexicaux dans le cadre de corpus en langue de spécialité de petite taille. En particulier, nous souhaitons savoir si dans ce cadre, il est préférable d’utiliser des plongements préappris sur des corpus très volumineux tels Wikipédia ou bien s’il est préférable d’apprendre des plongements sur ces corpus en langue de spécialité. Pour répondre à cette question, nous considérons deux corpus en langue de spécialité : O HSUMED issu du domaine médical, et un corpus de documentation technique, propriété de SNCF. Après avoir introduit ces corpus et évalué leur spécificité, nous définissons une tâche de classification. Pour cette tâche, nous choisissons d’utiliser en entrée d’un classifieur neuronal des représentations des documents qui sont soit basées sur des plongements appris sur les corpus de spécialité, soit sur des plongements appris sur Wikipédia. Notre analyse montre que les plongements appris sur Wikipédia fournissent de très bons résultats. Ceux-ci peuvent être utilisés comme une référence fiable, même si dans le cas d’O HSUMED, il vaut mieux apprendre des plongements sur ce même corpus. La discussion des résultats se fait en interrogeant les spécificités des deux corpus, mais ne permet pas d’établir clairement dans quels cas apprendre des plongements spécifiques au corpus.
Experimental study on differentiation of bone mesenchymal stem cells into neuron-like cells with salvia miltiorrhiza injection

Objective To investigate the effects of differentiation of rat bone mesenchymal stem cells(rMSCs) into neuron-like cells with salvia miltiorrhiza injection in vitro.Methods rMSCs were separated from rat bone marrow with wall sticking method and expanding,and cultured in vitro.rMSCs were induced to differentiate into neuron-like cells with salvia miltiorrhiza injection.The effects of different dosages of salvia miltiorrhiza on differentiation of rMSCs into neuron-like cells were observed.Neuron-like cells were identified with neuron-specific enolase(NeuN),neurofilament(NFM),glial fibrillary acidic protein(GFAP) by(immunohistochemistry). Results The rMSCs were induced by salvia miltiorrhiza injection to express(neuronal) phenotype similar to the cell appearance of neurons with NeuN and NFM positive at 3 hours,but(glial)(astrocyte) marker GFAP negative.The differentiation was the most significant when the inducing(concentration) of salvia miltiorrhiza injection was at 10 ml/L.Conclusion rMSCs can be induced to(differentiate)(into)(neuron-like) cells with salvia miltiorrhiza injection.The efficacy of differentiation is(correlated) with the(concentration) of salvia miltiorrhiza injection.
Transgenic Rice with Double Defense Genes Exhibiting Resistance to Sheath Blight (Rhizoctonia solani Kuhn.)

The rice chitinase gene ( RCH10 ) and the alfalfa β-1,3-glucanase gene ( AGLU ) were tandem-inserted into the transformation vector pBI101 under the expression control of the 35S promoter and 35S enhancer, resulting in the plasmid pZ100. pZ100 was transformed into rice ( Oryza sativa . L. ssp. japonica . cv. Taipei 309) by Agrobacterium -mediated transformation. Fifteen independent transformants were obtained and confirmed by PCR and Southern blot analysis (Fig.2-4). Northern blotting analysis with the RCH10 and AGLU probes revealed expression variation among these transformants on transcription level (Fig.5). Similar expression patterns were observed for both RCH10 and AGLU transcripts from the same individuals. Disease resistance to rice sheath blight caused by R. solani was evaluated in the transgenic plants (Fig.6). It was demonstrated that the transgenic rice exhibited higher resistance to R. solani than the wild type plants, and resistance levels were related to expression levels of the transgene, showing dose-dependence. Two independent lines with high disease resistance as well as high expression levels of RCH10 and AGLU were selected for the further studies and molecular breeding for sheath blight resistance.
Effects of Trollius flavonoids on growth and apoptosis of A549 cells

Objective To investigate the effects of Trollius flavonoids on growth and apoptosis of human non-small cell lung cancer A549 cells and explore its anti-tumor effect in vitro.Methods As experimental group,A549 cells cultured in vitro were cultured and treated by different concentrations Trollius flavonoids,and control group was set.The inhibition effect on cell proliferation was detected by CCK-8 method.Cell apoptosis was detected by DNA agarose gel electrophoresis.The protein expressions of p53 and bcl-2 of A549 cell were detected by flow cytometry.Results The proliferation of A549 cell was inhibited obviously by different concentrations Trollius flavonoids(P0.05). The inhibitory effect was in dose-dependent manner.A549 cell apoptosis was induced,and gene expression of p53 was up-regulated and bcl-2 down-regulated(P0.05). Conclusions Trollius flavonoids can inhibit A549 cell growth in dose-dependent manner and induce apoptosis of tumor cells.Its anti-tumor effect has some connection with regulation of apoptosis-related genes expression.
Ripening Changes in Respiration, Ethylene Emanation and Abscisic Acid Content of Plum Fruit

Ripening changes in respiration rates, ethylene emanation, flesh firmness and color development of plum (Prunus salicina Lindl.) fruits were investigated using 3 cultivars of `Ooishi Wase', `Beauty' and `Santa Rosa'. The fruits were picked 2-6 times at different stages of maturity and stored at 20°C. Respiration rate on the tree, which was estimated by measuring the CO2 output of the fruit 24 hours after harvest, showed a climacteric pattern in all of the 3 cultivars. In early maturing cultivars (`Ooishi Wase' and `Beauty'), the rise of respiration rate occurred earlier and progressed more rapidly than that of late maturing cultivar (`Santa Rosa'). The changes in respiration rate during 20°C storage were different with the stages at harvest in all of the 3 cultivars. That is, there were no respiratory climactric rise nor rise in ethylene emanation, unless the fruits were harvested at and after climacteric minimum on the tree. In `Ooishi Wase' and `Beauty', the climacteric rise advanced rapidly with red color development and softening of flesh, while in `Santa Rosa', the climacteric rise and softening of flesh advanced much more slowly than color development. The free abscisic acid content of attached fruits increased with the rise in respiration rate during ripening on the tree. That of detached fruits also increased even when the fruit was harvested earlier and showed no climacteric rise during storage. The fruits treated with 500 ppm ethylene for 48 hours after harvest did not induce a respiratory climacteric, an ethylene rise nor hastening of ripening, unless they were harvested at and after climacteric minimum.
Phylogeny of the Caryophyllales - gene sequence data

Phylogenetic relationships among selected families of the Caryophyllales were examined by analyses of nucleotide sequences of the large subunit of ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (rbcL). Sequences from 12 Caryophyllalean families were examined using parsimony and bootstrap analysis. The parsimony analysis produced two minimal trees with 778 steps. Major clades supported by bootstrap analysis are (1) Amaranthus (Amaranthaceae), Atriplex and Spinacia (Chenopodiaceae); (2) Mirabilis (Nyctaginaceae), Rivina (Petiveriaceae), Phytolacca (Phytolaccaceae) and Trianthema (Aizoaceae); (3) Basella (Basellaceae), Alluaudia (Didiereaceae), Portulaca (Portulacaceae) and Schlumbergera (Cactaceae); and (4) Silene, Dianthus, Arenaria and Cerastium (Caryophyllaceae). The Caryophyllaceae and Mollugo are the only taxa examined that do not produce betalains but they are neither closely allied nor basal to other elements of the order. Stegnosperma is not allied with the Mirabilis-Rivina-Phytolacca-Trianthema clade. Thus, the Phytolaccaceae (s.l.) are not monophyletic.
Sequencing and phylogenetic analysis of the complete genome sequence of human bocavirus in Fuzhou, China.

The human bocavirus(HBoV) most likely the second known parvovirus species pathogenic to humans was investigated.In this study,the presence of HBoV in children with respiratory tract disease in Fuzhou,Fujian,China was detected.Nasopharyngeal aspirates were collected from children with respiratory tract disease from Nov.2007 to Oct.2008. A total of 57 clinical samples were tested for HBoV using PCR assay.The complete genome of the two HBoV isolates(FZ1,FZ40) were sequenced and deposited in GenBank(Acession Nos.GQ455987,GQ455988). It was demonstrated that the length of two sequences of the HBoV isolates in this study varied each other,and the sequence length of strain FZ1 in nucleotides was 5 299bp,which was 2bp longer than that of FZ40.The deleted base pair located at site 5 286 in the end of the non-coding region.The complete genome of the HBoV encoding 4 proteins and they were non-structural protein NS1,nuclear protein NP1 and two capsid proteins VP1,VP2.We had compared the complete genome sequence of the two HBoV isolates in Fuzhou,China to other HBoV isolates and other virus of Parvovirinae documented in the GenBank database by using PHYLIP software version 3.65 and the neighbor-joining method.The result of phylogenetic analysis showed that the 2 HBoV strains in our study were not clustered together and strain FZ40 was more closed to the WLL-1 strain of China than strain FZ1.Meanwhile,the strain FZ1 was more closed to the two strains of Beijing and CU6 strain of Thailand.
Heavy metal intoxication compromises the host cytokine response in Ascaris Suum model infection

Summary Lead (Pb), Cadmium (Cd) and Mercury (Hg) are recognized for their deleterious effect on the environment and immunity where subsequently compromised immune response affects the susceptibility to the potential parasitic infections. This study examined the host cytokine response after heavy metal intoxication (Pb, Cd, and Hg) and subsequent Ascaris suum infection in BALB/c mice. Pb modulated murine immune response towards the Th2 type of response (delineated by IL-5 and IL-10 cytokine production) what was also dominant for the outcome of A. suum infection. Chronic intoxication with Pb caused a more intensive development of the parasite infection. Cd stimulated the Th1 immune response what was associated with increase in IFN-γ production and reduction of larvae present in the liver of intoxicated mice. The larval burden was also low in mice intoxicated with Hg. This was probably not related to the biased Th1/Th2 type of immune response, but rather to the bad host conditions caused by mercury toxicity and high level of pro-cachectic cytokine TNF-α.
A Comparative Analysis of Evolutionary Algorithms for Function Optimisation

| In this paper the Breeder Genetic Algorithms are compared against both serial and parallel Genetic Algorithms by using a wide range of optimisation functions taken from the literature. The aim is to investigate how the change of the tness function innuences their problem{ solving capabilities. The experimental ndings show that the Breeder Genetic Algorithms outperform the Genetic Algorithms considered in terms of number of evaluations and robustness.
Studies on the Proteolytic Enzyme of Black Aspergilli

The crystalline proteinase from Aspergillus Saitoi hydrolysed both α-benzoyl-L-argininea-mide and carbobenzoxy-L-glutamyl-L-tyrosine optimally at pH 4.5, and the action on these substrates was studied. It was recognized that this enzyme is unique among the well-known proteinases. In the wheat bran extract of Aspergillus sojae, the presence of proteinase analogous to Aspergillus Saitoi is presumed.
Ultra-structure of the antennal sensilla of the meadow moth, Loxostege sticticalis

The ultra-structure of sensilla on antenna of both female and male adult Loxostege stiitcalis was observed with a scanning electron microscope. Five types of sensilla wer found. These wwere sensilla trichodes, sensilla cheatica (I and II), sensilla colecoconica, sensilla basiconical and sensilla auriciallica, th esensilla trichodea were the most numberous. The differences between male and female adults on number and types of sensilla are discussed.
Nitrogen, phosphorus and organic carbon in streams draining two grazed catchments

High concentrations of N, P and organic C in water cause problems such as excessive eutrophication in reservoirs and bacterial growth in distribution systems. The aim of this study was to measure the export of N, P and organic C in streams draining two grazed catchments with no point sources in the Mt. Lofty Ranges, South Australia, during 1 yr. Retreat Valley catchment (1.3 km2) is grazed by sheep, has steep topography, and loam over clay soils. Lawless catchment (3.0 km2) is flatter, grazed by dairy cattle, and has sand over clay soils. Rainfall and specific runoff were similar. Annual exports were 924 kg suspended solids, ha-1, 9.0 kg N ha-1, 1.0 kg P ha-1, and 55 kg organic C ha-1 from Retreat Valley; and 40 kg suspended solids, ha-1, 6.6 kg N ha-1, 1.1 kg P ha-1, and 66 kg organic C ha-1 from Lawless. In Retreat Valley, 33% of the N, 86% of the P and 65% of the organic C was in particulate forms resulting from erosion, and 45% of the N was nitrate. In Lawless, 82% of the N, 76% of the P and 92% of the organic C was dissolved. Of the dissolved N, approximately 93% was organic. Concentrations of P in both streams, and dissolved organic C in Lawless, exceeded desirable limits. A combination of management options, including management of grazing and fertilizer application, soil amendment, and subsurface drainage, could lead to reductions in nutrient loads.