Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Demography and natural selection have shaped genome-wide variation in the widely distributed conifer Norway Spruce (Picea abies)

Under the neutral theory, species with larger effective population sizes are expected to harbour higher genetic diversity. However, across a wide variety of organisms, the range of genetic diversity is orders of magnitude more narrow than the range of effective population size. This observation has become known as Lewontin’s paradox and although aspects of this phenomenon have been extensively studied, the underlying causes for the paradox remain unclear. Norway spruce (Picea abies) is a widely distributed conifer species across the northern hemisphere and it consequently plays a major role in European forestry. Here, we use whole-genome re-sequencing data from 35 individuals to perform population genomic analyses in P. abies in an effort to understand what drives genome-wide patterns of variation in this species. Despite having a very wide geographic distribution and an enormous current population size, our analyses find that genetic diversity of P.abies is low across a number of populations (p=0.005-0.006). To assess the reasons for the low levels of genetic diversity, we infer the demographic history of the species and find that it is characterised by several re-occurring bottlenecks with concomitant decreases in effective population size can, at least partly, provide an explanation for low polymorphism we observe in P. abies. Further analyses suggest that recurrent natural selection, both purifying and positive selection, can also contribute to the loss of genetic diversity in Norway spruce by reducing genetic diversity at linked sites. Finally, the overall low mutation rates seen in conifers can also help explain the low genetic diversity maintained in Norway spruce.
From plant populations to communities: using hierarchical trait environment relationships to reveal within ecosystem filtering

Explaining the existence of highly diverse plant communities under strong abiotic filtering is a long-standing challenge in ecology. Hierarchical aspects of abiotic and biotic filters are rarely taken into account and studies focus mainly on community-level aggregated patterns. Because variations in biotic conditions might take place in short abiotic gradient and within the tolerance of species in regional pool, it is likely that biotic filtering will select individuals within species and adjust population characteristics. To challenge this idea, we replicated a diversity gradient in four highly contrasted wetlands with an almost complete species turn-over, sampling individuals in communities irrespective of their taxonomic identities or status. Using hierarchical distributional modelling, we analyzed the variation of the mean and dispersion of functional trait space at the ecosystem, community and species level. We found that the abiotic differences between ecosystems filtered species contrasted in their growth/nutrient conservation trade-off, while within ecosystems community variation were mainly due to the partitioning of canopy and leaf adaptations to light conditions. We found strong species-specific functional and demographic responses of dominant species along the diversity gradient, especially for traits linked to biomass and space occupation. Two contrasted strategies emerged, with species using plasticity to maintain equally dense populations, while others used plasticity to become overwhelmingly abundant when in favorable conditions. Our results demonstrate that within ecosystems, variation in biotic conditions selects individuals within populations, revealing the importance of phenotypic variation for a species to be maintained in more or less diverse communities. Because phenotypic variations are related to demographic responses, it offers a way to link the study of species diversity and eco-evolutionary dynamics.
Health Profession Education to Provide Quality Care for Patients with Differing Abilities

People living with a disability, like all other individuals, have differing abilities that make them unique. However, at times, well-meaning health care professionals may lack the necessary training and experience needed to effectively care for these patients. Persons with differing abilities also face challenges in health care settings due to inaccessible equipment and services that may lead to inequitable health care. Lehigh Valley Health Network’s Medical Home Project, a group of patient, family, community and health care advisors, that seeks to improve the care of persons with disabilities through health professional education, recognized this knowledge gap and created a 32-minute video, entitled “Patient Voices” which displays appropriate techniques for treating and communicating with patients with differing abilities. In this study, 7 Lehigh Valley Health Network primary care practices (with 112 employees) received training comprised of the ”Patient Voices” video , a brief introduction to the concept of Person First Language, and comments from a Medical Home Project representative who lives with a disability. 81% of those trained completed a 7-item preand post-test (n=91) that assessed their knowledge on disability etiquette. Respondents had a mean pre-test score of 5.59 (s.d. = 1.265) and a mean post-test score of 6.71 (s.d. = .543). A dependent t-test between the two mean scores showed a significant difference in knowledge after participants watched the video (t (90) = 8.46, p≤. 001). These data show that this educational program measurably increased staff knowledge in techniques to effectively care for persons with differing abilities. Next steps include training more primary as well as specialty practice staff members in this fashion.
Seasonal variation in lycopene and β-carotene content in Momordica cochinchinensis (Lour.) Spreng. (Gac fruit) genotypes

Gac fruit (Momordica cochinchinensis (Lour.) Spreng. ) is a good source of lycopene and β-carotene, and it has high potential to be used as functional food. However, phytochemicals could be affected by seasonal variations. The objective of this study was to evaluate seasonal variations in lycopene content, beta-carotene content and agronomic traits in Gac fruit. Three Gac fruit genotypes were arranged in RCBD with three replications and harvested over three seasons. Lycopene and β-carotene content were analyzed by HPLC. The season significantly affected concentrations of lycopene, β-carotene and total carotenoids in Gac fruits. KKU ac.10-087 and KKU ac.09-030 had the highest lycopene in the summer season whilst KKU ac.10-087 also had the highest lycopene in the dry season. Seasonal and genotypic variations were important sources of variations in lycopene, β-carotene and total carotenoids in Gac fruits.
Spatial Scales of Population Synchrony in Predator-Prey Systems

Many species show synchronous fluctuations in population size over large geographical areas, which are likely to increase their regional extinction risk. Here we examine how the degree of spatial synchrony in population dynamics is affected by trophic interactions using a two-species predator-prey model with spatially correlated environmental noise. We show that the predator has a larger spatial scale of population synchrony than the prey if the population fluctuations of both species are mainly determined by the direct effect of stochastic environmental variations in the prey. This result implies that in ecosystems regulated from the bottom up, the spatial scale of synchrony of the predator population increases beyond the scale of the spatial autocorrelation in the environmental noise and in the prey fluctuations. Harvesting the prey increases the spatial scale of population synchrony of the predator, while harvesting the predator reduces the spatial scale of the population fluctuations of its prey. Hence, the development of sustainable harvesting strategies should also consider the impact on unharvested species at other trophic levels as well as human perturbations of ecosystems, whether the result of exploitation or an effect on dispersal processes, as they can affect food web structures and trophic interactions over large geographical areas.
[The plague of 1647-1657 in the Western Mediterranean].

This is a survey of the literature concerning the plague outbreak that occurred in the Western Mediterranean in the mid-seventeenth century. The author first reviews the chronology and itinerary of the epidemic which began in Valencia in June 1647. He then examines loss of life in the affected areas. Finally he discusses various topics related to the epidemic including the reliability of data in parochial registries the impact of the epidemic on nuptiality and family structure apparent female excess mortality medical and sanitary efforts dealing with the epidemic and its demographic and socioeconomic consequences.
Expression and Transformation Studies of Antifreeze Protein Gene of Carrot in Potato

The life style and survival of organisms is highly affected by environmental conditions or changes in temperature, humidity and availability of resources to live in the stress environmental conditions. There are various abiotic and biotic environmental stresses, including cold, heat, drought, salinity, alkalinity and diseases caused by micro-pathogens. Every organism has his own body adjustments to resist or tolerate these environmental stress conditions. Among these, cold stress which included low temperature or freezing at sub zero temperatures caused adverse effects on the growth and development of organisms. Cold stress caused inhibition of most of the physiological functions in body which may lead towards the death of organisms. Various antifreeze proteins have been discovered in most of the micro to macro organisms to combat with freezing temperature conditions. The prescribed review article provides information about the discovery and role of antifreeze proteins in various organisms.
Evaluation of semen parameters in 30 men with proven fertility, brief review of the literature

Introduction: infertility is defined as the inability to complete a pregnancy after 12 months of having sex without contraception. Objective : to evaluate the seminal parameters of 30 men with proven fertility and compared with lower reference limit reported by the 2010 World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines. Additionally, a literature review was conducted on semen parameters in Latin America. Methods: pH, volume, concentration, motility, viability and sperm morphology on semen samples were evaluated from men with proven fertility using the WHO proposed methodology. Results: 90 % of the samples showed seminal parameters above the lower reference limit. The median values were: pH 8, 2.5 mL volume, concentration 82.5 x 10/ mL, total progressive and non-progressive sperm motility 68.5 %, progressive motility 58 %, viability 76 %, and normal morphology 10,5 %. Conclusions: semen parameters of the fertile population studied are above the lower reference limit, which suggests that the new 2010 WHO classification are more congruent with fertile population than those previously proposed values in other manuals. However, more investigations are needed using more individuals, which also will be evaluated semen parameters in the general population and infertile individuals.
Effect of Sex on Carcass Characteristics and Meat Composition of Misseriya Goats of Sudan

The study was carried in Elfulla, Western Kurdofan State, Sudan. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of sex on carcass characteristics and composition of Misseriya goat kids during the dry season. Sixteen kids of 6 months old, 8 males and 8 females with an average live weight of 15.52±0.34kg for males and 16.26±0.51kg for females were purchased from the market for slaughter. The kids were slaughtered according to halal standard procedure. The results indicated that, hot carcass weight was 6.8 and 7.7kg, dressing out percentages were 43.82±1.58% and 47.21±1.57% on slaughter weight and 54.34±1.69% 56.00±0.86% on empty body weight for male and female kids respectively. Although female kids had higher hot carcass weight and dressing out percent either on slaughter weight or empty body weight, the different was not significant. The proportions of the wholesale cuts from male and female carcasses were; leg and chump 31.45±2.04% and 34.91±1.36%, best end of neck 7.75±0.48% and 8.00±0.33%, single short forequarter 31.13±1.16% and 31.74±0.91%, loin 10.73±0.07% and11.52±0.16%, breast 5.27±1.62% and 4.02±0.010% and neck10.00±1.10% and 6.95±0.50% for males and females respectively. The total carcass muscle proportion was 65.59±1.65% in male and 68.93±0.58% in female kids and was not significantly affected by sex. The total carcass bone proportion was 30.76±1.15% in male and 25.26±1.30% in female kids and was significantly P<0.05 higher in males. Total carcass fat portion was 3.18±0.56% in male and 6.23±0.90% in female kids and was significantly P<0.05 higher in female kids. Muscle to bone ratio was 2.16:1 for male and 2.76:1 for female kids and it was significantly P<0.05 higher in female kids. Non carcass components were not significantly differed between the sexes, except for the kidney fat which was P<0.05 higher in female kids and the head which was P<0.05 higher in male kids. It could be concluded that male and female Misseriya goat kids had comparable carcass characteristics and composition values when raised extensively, and Misseriya goat type is promising for securing meat in the area in specific and generally in Sudan.
Phenology of the genetic model Setaria viridis (Poaceae) according to the BBCH-scale of development

Setaria viridis, a genetic model for C4 monocots, has potential to provide information of relevance for plant biotechnology, contributing to an understanding of how genetic engineering can affect phenotype and agricultural production. The BBCH growth scale for the A10.1 accession of S. viridis consists of a detailed phenotypic analysis process, based on defined growth stages. Measurements of morphological attributes complementing the scale were also made, supporting the identification of growth and development stages. Phenotypic stages were grouped into three major stages of development: vegetative (BBCH 0 to 4), reproductive (BBCH 5 to 8) and senescence (BBCH 9). Observation and interpretation of the growth and development data of accessions A10.1 and Ast-1 showed that the former presents phenotypic homogeneity, which makes it suitable for the construction of the BBCH-scale and improves our understanding of the phenology of this model plant. This methodological framework facilitates the comparison of genotypes and phenotypes among natural accessions and future mutants and the study of the evolution of tolerance to abiotic stress.
Exploring the use of DEA for formative evaluation in primary care: an application to England

This paper discusses the formative evaluation of primary health care providers. In the first part of the paper, we discuss the context of study: primary health care delivery in England. In this introduction we also discuss the objectives of this study. In the second section, we discuss the methodology used: Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). This non-parametric technique was proposed to measure efficiency, service effectiveness and cost effectiveness, given the fact that it can handle multiple inputs and outputs without requiring the specification of a functional form for the production function. In the third section, we present a critical literature review of the studies that have compared primary care providers using DEA. This literature review allows us to Amado_____________________________________________________________________ 564 identify the shortcomings of these studies, in order to identify the aspects that need to be addressed in the development of a new framework. In the fourth section, we discuss the development of a new conceptual framework to compare primary care providers. This framework was developed in collaboration with two primary care groups and two primary care trusts in England and aims to establish a link between the local needs, the resources used, the services delivered and the outcomes achieved in primary care. Based on the relationships between these elements, four performance assessment criteria were defined: equity, efficiency, service effectiveness and cost effectiveness. Despite the fact that this framework has been developed for the specific area of health care, little changes in the terminology would be sufficient in order to apply this framework to the formative evaluation in the delivery of other public services.
Effect of Organic Nutrients and Bio-mulches on Growth, Physiology and Yield of Okra (Abelmoschus esculentus L. Moench)

Okra, popularly known as Bhindi is one of the leading vegetable in the country. India is the leading producer of okra. It is rich source of protein vitamins and minerals. Medicinal properties of okra include control of goitre (Yawalkar, 1965), useful against genitorurinary disorders, spermatorrhoea and chronic dysentery (Nandakarni, 1927) and relief from haemorrhoids (Adams, 1975) etc. Okra mucilage has potential for use as food, nonfood products, and medicine. Dried stems and roots of okra are used for cleaning sugarcane International Journal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences ISSN: 2319-7706 Volume 8 Number 09 (2019) Journal homepage: http://www.ijcmas. com
Effect of different crude protein levels on performance and carcass composition of male broiler chickens from 21 to 42 days of age

A completely randomized experimental design was carried out to evaluate the effects of crude protein (CP) reduction of diets with essential amino acids supplementation on performance and body composition of male broiler chickens from 21 to 42 days of age. A total of seven hundred twenty broiler chickens were used. The birds were allotted in four treatments and six replicates of thirty birds each. The diet CP levels were 21, 19, 17 and 15%. The reduction of protein led to a linear increase in fat and dry matter. There was also a quadratic effect of the CP levels; for maximum weight gain; weight at 42 days and final weight and feed intake. The maximum performance of these parameters were estimated for broilers fed 19.28; 19.35 and16.75% CP diet, respectively. There was a quadratic effect of CP level on breast yield, the maximum performance estimated for broiler fed 18.28% CP diet. Index termes: Amino acids; crude protein; carcass; carcass cuts yields. (Recebido em 27 de novembro de 2009 e aprovado em 6 de abril de 2010)
Chemical composition of the essential oils of Tagetes patula L. during different phenological stages

October December 2019 117 JCPS Volume 12 Issue 4 Chemical composition of the essential oils of Tagetes patula L. during different phenological stages Meena Kafaltiya, Hema Lohani, S. Zafar Haider, Nirpendra K. Chauhan*, Neeta Joshi Department of Chemistry, Kumaun University, Nainital, Uttarakhand India Centre for Aromatic Plants (CAP), Selaqui, Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India Department of Chemistry, LSM (PG) Government College, Pithoragarh, Uttarakhand, India *Corresponding author: E-Mail: cap.dun@gmail.com ABSTRACT The present study aims to investigate the detailed essential oil profiling of Tagetes patula L. at different stages of plant growth i.e. pre-flowering stage, full flowering and seed settings stages. The essential oils were obtained through hydro-distillation and analyzed by GC and GC/MS for the identification of their chemical constituents. The essential oil yield (%) from fresh aerial parts of T. patula were 0.06%, 0.06% and 0.08% (v/w) at pre flowering, full flowering and seed setting stages, respectively. A total of 38 components were identified, representing 89.65%, 91.94% and 90.84% in pre flowering, full flowering and seed setting stages, respectively. Chromatographic analysis (GC and GC/MS) has shown that all the oils of T. patula were dominated by monoterpene hydrocarbons (39.81-45.08%) followed by oxygenated monoterpenes (27.57-31.66%), sesquiterpene hydrocarbons (7.72-10.52%), oxygenated sesquiterpenes (6.63-7.57%) while diterpenes (1.39-1.68%) and oxygenated diterpenes (0.93-1.55%) were found in the lesser amounts. The major constituents in the oils were z-(β)-ocimene (12.7620.29%), α-terpinolene (11.01-14.79%), piperitenone (6.46-11.96%), limonene (6.62-7.57%) and propanedinitrile dicyclohexyl (5.17-5.85%). Maximum content of z-(β)-ocimene (20.29%) was found at full flowering stage, while α-terpinolene (14.79%) and piperitenone (11.96%) at pre-flowering stage. The study concluded that however the oils were qualitatively similar but differed quantitatively during different growth stages.
Extraction, Partial Identification and Bioactivities of Total Flavonoids from Carex meyeriana Kunth

To date, knowledge associated with extraction, chemical constituents and bioactivities of Total Flavonoids from Carex meyeriana Kunth (TFCMK) that remains unclear. Therefore, this paper was designed to optimize the ethanol reflux extraction method by response surface methodology and determine the chemical constituents by Liquid Phase-Mass Spectrometry (HPLC-MS); additionally, the bioactivities including antioxidant, antibacterial and hemolysis test were also explored. The maximum TFCMK extraction yield of 6.248%±0.016% was obtained under the optimal conditions as follows: Ethanol concentration 50%, ratio of liquid-to-solid 31 mL/g, extraction time 91 min and extraction temperature 71°C. Meanwhile, 9 compounds of TFCMK were identified by using LP-MS for the first time. In addition, TFCMK showed higher antioxidant activity compared with vitamin C, as evidenced by the lower EC50 or IC50 of TFCMK (reducing power assay: 0.125±0.025 mg/mL, DPPH radicals: 0.28±0.031, ABTS+ radicals:0.012±0.005, hydroxyl radicals: 0.028±0.008 mg/mL; The EC50 or IC50 of VC 0.156±0.012, 0.059±0.019, 0.068±0.024 and 0.032±0.007 mg/mL, respectively.). Broth microdilution assays had demonstrated that the minimal inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of TFCMK on Bacillus pumilus, Bacillus subtilis and Escherichia coli were 0.625±0.0032, 1.250±0.0216 and 5.000±0.0205 mg/mL, respectively. Besides, the hemolysis rate (less than 5%) in vitro implied that TFCMK possessed a good blood compatibility. In summary, this paper provides evidences that TFCMK might be applied as an antioxidant and antibacterial agent in the pharmaceutical and chemical industries.
Intraspecific Variation in Floral Color and Odor in Orchids

Many flowering plant species are characterized by a large variation in floral traits at the population or individual levels. Among these traits, colors and odors are particularly important for pollinator attraction, yet they appear to be highly variable among conspecifics. Orchids are famous for their great taxonomic and floral diversity, as well as for their complex pollination strategies. Many species of this family achieve pollination through deception, which may promote floral polymorphism. In this review, we compile and analyze 115 studies investigating floral colors and scents in 184 different orchid species. We particularly focus on studies that have documented variation in color and/or odor traits among or within conspecific populations. We describe the different types of variation that have been reported for floral colors and scents, and we examine the factors that likely contribute to such variation, with a focus on the role of pollinators, comparing orchid species using different pollination strategies. We also show that color-odor associations are frequent in orchids but may result from processes other than biochemical constraints. Finally, we underline the current gaps in our understanding of intraspecific variation of floral color and scent in orchids, and we identify several stimulating topics for future research.