Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Phenolic, Flavonoid and Tannin Contents of Tunisian Barley Landraces

There is a renewed interest throughout the world in barley food because of its nutritional value. Barley is a rich source of various phytochemicals, including phenolic acids, flavonoids and tannins. Natural compounds in food are an important health protecting factor. In Tunisia, many autochthonous barley landraces have generated interest because their nutritional qualities. In order to provide information on the composition of barley grown under local conditions, 37 landraces were analyzed to evaluate their nutraceutical properties. The nutraceutical properties were determined by evaluating TPC, TFC, TCT. The results showed that and the total phenolic varied widely between ecotypes (from 70 to 195 mg GAE/100 g). The TFC varied from 47 to 123 (mg CE/100g flour) and TCT ranged from 9 to 70 (mg CE/100g flour). Identifying barley landraces growing under local agricultural conditions with significant levels of beneficial factors could not only provide health benefit to consumers but also promote the value-added cultivation and stimulate industrial and economic growth.
An Investigation of the Effect of Catecholamines and Glucocorticoids on the Growth and Pathogenicity of Campylobacter jejuni

Campylobacter spp. are major causes of foodborne illness globally, and are mostly transmitted through the consumption and handling of poultry. Campylobacter infections have widely variable outcomes, ranging from mild enteritis to severe illness, which are attributed to host interactions and the virulence of the infecting strain. In this study, in order to investigate the effect of host stress on the growth and pathogenicity of C. jejuni, three strains associated with human infection and two strains from broilers were subject to growth, motility, adhesion and invasion assays, in response to exposure to catecholamines; epinephrine, norepinephrine and the glucocorticoid neuroendocrine hormones corticosterone, cortisol and cortisone which are associated with stress in humans and broilers. Catecholamines resulted in significantly increased growth, adhesion and invasion of Caco-2 cells. Corticosterone promoted growth in one of five strains, and cortisone resulted in a significant increase in motility in two out of five strains, while no significant differences were observed with the addition of cortisol. It was concluded that stress-associated hormones, especially catecholamines, may promote growth and virulence in Campylobacter.
Advances in Understanding the Initial Steps of Pruritoceptive Itch: How the Itch Hits the Switch

Pruritoceptive (dermal) itch was long considered an accompanying symptom of diseases, a side effect of drug applications, or a temporary sensation induced by invading pruritogens, as produced by the stinging nettle. Due to extensive research in recent years, it was possible to provide detailed insights into the mechanism of itch mediation and modulation. Hence, it became apparent that pruritus is a complex symptom or disease in itself, which requires particular attention to improve patients’ health. Here, we summarize recent findings in pruritoceptive itch, including how this sensation is triggered and modulated by diverse endogenous and exogenous pruritogens and their receptors. A differentiation between mediating pruritogen and modulating pruritogen seems to be of great advantage to understand and decipher the molecular mechanism of itch perception. Only a comprehensive view on itch sensation will provide a solid basis for targeting this long-neglected adverse sensation accompanying numerous diseases and many drug side effects. Finally, we identify critical aspects of itch perception that require future investigation.
Environment and genetic background affecting endophyte-grass symbiosis

Mutualism is often conditional and the associations vary from antagonism to mutualism along environmental conditions and genotypes of interacting species. I studied antagonism-mutualism continuum hypothesis of symbiosis experimentally using two different Epichloe/Neotyphodium endophytes and their host grasses, agricultural meadow fescues and natural fine fescues, as study systems. These systemic fungal endophytes live asymptomatically within aerial tissues of grasses, and are vertically transmitted to the next grass generation via seeds. Thus, asexual endophyte strains are dependent on the growth, survival and reproduction of their hosts. Epichloe/Neotyphodium endophytes are considered plant mutualists, because they improve the resistance of the host against various stresses, e.g. herbivores. In addition to experimental approach, I examined prevalence and genetic structure of Epichloe festucae in natural grass populations. Finally, current knowledge concerning grass endophytes was reviewed and the effects of variable environment and genetic background on the ecology and the evolution of grass-endophyte symbiosis were discussed. The endophyte improved the performance of the agronomic meadow fescues, but the beneficial effects were dependent on the grass cultivar and the growth environment. The endophyte-infected (E+) meadow fescues were more susceptible to the pathogenic snow molds and they suffered increased winter damage compared to the endophyte-free (E-) plants. Many natural Festuca rubra and F. ovina populations were either endophyte-free or had low infection frequency. The highest infection frequencies were found in subarctic areas where the infection incidence differed between habitats. Twenty out of the 25 E. festucae genotypes detected were carrying multiple alleles in microsatellite loci indicating multiple infections or vegetative hybridization of the fungus. A dominant genotype (63.5% of all isolates) occurred in all populations suggesting that this fungus is mainly asexual. E+ F. ovina seedlings performed worse than endophyte-free Eseedlings. In F. rubra, the river bank originated E+ seedlings allocated fewer, but longer and heavier tillers than the other seedlings indicating possible improved performance of the endophyte infected grasses in harsh river bank conditions. In short, I detected both positive and negative effects of endophyte infection on grasses varying along species, environment and genotypic background of study subjects. The results support the antagonism-mutualism continuum hypothesis.
Differentiation of Clinical Patterns Associated With Rhinologic Disease

Background Common rhinologic diagnoses have similar presentations with a varying degree of overlap. Patterns may exist within clinical data that can be useful for early diagnosis and predicting outcomes. Objective To explore the feasibility of artificial intelligence to differentiate patterns in patient data in order to develop clinically-meaningful diagnostic groups. Methods A cross-sectional study of prospectively-acquired patient data at a tertiary rhinology clinic was performed. Data extracted included objective findings on nasal endoscopy, patient reported quality of life (PRQOL) instrument ratings, peripheral eosinophil fraction, and past medical history. Unsupervised non-hierarchical cluster analysis was performed to discover patterns in the data using 22 input variables. Results A total of 545 patients were analyzed after application of inclusion and exclusion criteria yielding 7 unique patient clusters, highly dependent on PRQOL scores and demographics. The clusters were clinically-relevant with distinct characteristics. Chronic rhinosinusitis without nasal polyposis (CRSsNP) was associated with two clusters having low frequencies of asthma and low eosinophil fractions. Chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyposis (CRSwNP) was associated with high frequency of asthma, mean (standard deviation [SD]) NOSE scores of 66 (19) and SNOT-22 scores of 41 (15), and high eosinophil fractions. AR was present in multiple clusters. RARS was associated with the youngest population with mean (SD) NOSE score of 54 (23) and SNOT-22 score of 41 (19). Conclusion Broader consideration of initially available clinical data may improve diagnostic efficiency for rhinologic conditions without ancillary studies, using computer-driven algorithms. PRQOL scores and demographic information appeared to be useful adjuncts, with associations to diagnoses in this pilot study.
Effect of extract from Boswellia serrata gum resin on decrease of GAD65 autoantibodies in a patient with Latent Autoimmune Diabetes in Adults.

Background Extracts from Boswellia serrata gum resin have anti-inflammatory effect and are used for treatment of a variety of chronic inflammatory diseases. It was previously demonstrated that the treatment with Boswellia serrata gum resin of LADA (Latent Autoimmune Diabetes in Adults) patients decreased blood levels of IA2 antibodies, one of the markers associated with LADA autoimmune diabetes. Primary Study Objective The purpose of this study was to test whether Boswellia serrata gum resin also influences GAD65 autoantibodies as the other marker associated with LADA. Methods/Design We report a case study of male patient diagnosed with LADA with positive GAD65 autoantibodies who was treated with extract from Boswellia serrata gum resin, during 9 months. Blood levels of GAD65 autoantibodies, fasting blood glucose levels and HbA1c were measured before the treatment and periodically during the treatment. Results Over the observed period, the blood levels of GAD65 autoantibodies linearly decreased about 25%. Conclusion The study confirms that extract of Boswellia serrata gum resin seems to prevent insulitis in patients with LADA, as indicated by its action on both markers of autoimmune diabetes, i.e., GAD65 and IA2 autoantibodies. The possibility that the treatment with boswellic acids of LADA patients with positive autoantibodies could be beneficial on the course of the disease, calls for further investigation and a clinical study.
Antimicrobial Susceptibility Pattern of Porcine Respiratory Bacteria in Spain

The monitoring of antimicrobial susceptibility of pig pathogens is critical to optimize antimicrobial treatments and prevent development of resistance with a one-health approach. The aim of this study was to investigate the antimicrobial susceptibility patterns of swine respiratory pathogens in Spain from 2017 to 2019. Bacterial isolation and identification were carried out following standardized methods from samples coming from sacrificed or recently deceased pigs with acute clinical signs compatible with respiratory tract infections. Minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values were determined using the broth microdilution method containing a total of 10 and 7–8 antimicrobials/concentrations respectively, in accordance with the recommendations presented by the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI). The obtained antimicrobial susceptibility varies between pig respiratory pathogens. Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae (APP) and Pasteurella multocida (PM) were highly susceptible (≥90%) to ceftiofur, florfenicol and macrolides (tilmicosin, tildipirosin and tulathromycin). However, the antimicrobial susceptibility was intermediate (>60% but <90%) for amoxicillin and enrofloxacin in the case of APP and sulfamethoxazole/trimethropim and tiamulin in the case of PM. Both bacteria showed low (<60%) antimicrobial susceptibility to doxycycline. Finally, Bordetella bronchiseptica was highly susceptible only to tildipirosin and tulathromycin (100%) and its susceptibility for florfenicol was close to 50% and <30% for the rest of the antimicrobial families tested. These results emphasize the need of determining antimicrobial susceptibility in pig respiratory cases in order to optimize the antimicrobial treatment in a case-by-case scenario.
Predicting inshore whale abundance ― whales and capelin off the Newfoundland coast

Inshore abundance of baleen whales along the Newfoundland coasts changed considerably during the period 1973–83. In particular, large numbers of humpbacks were present along the northeast coast each summer between 1977 and 1980. This influx led to entrapment of whales in fishing gear. Counts of humpback (Megaptera novaeangliae), finback (Balaenoptera physalus), and minke (Balaenoptera acutorostrata) whales during standard surveys along the coast are used as indices of inshore abundance, and are related to the year-class strengths of capelin (Mallotus villosus), their major food in the Newfoundland region. Whales are found inshore when there are few immature capelin offshore. Minke whale distributions seem more closely related to the abundance of 1- to 2-yr-old, immature capelin, but humpback and finback whales are found inshore with low abundances of 2- to 3-yr-old, mainly immature capelin. We suggest that estimates of capelin year-class strength predicted from abiotic variables can be used to predict ins.
Text Detection Based On Discriminative Dictionary Learning

The rapid development of internet information and technology has witnessed the great convenience for the acquisition and transmission of natural scene images. Since the texts embedded in natural scene images can highly contribute to the content analysis and understanding of scene image, text detection in natural scene image has received much attention in recent years. In this paper, we propose a dictionary learning based text detection framework. Diﬀerent from the previously proposed dictionary learning algorithms for obtaining sparse representation, an atom reduction based discriminative dictionary learning is proposed. Based on the dictionary with reduced atoms, a more powerful discriminative sparse representation classiﬁer, or dSRC, is built for on-line text detection. In addition, some heuristic stratiﬁes in the proposed framework are also adopted for further post-processing to fulﬁll text block detection and word segmentation. We evaluate the proposed discriminative dictionary learning based text detection method on the open available ICDAR 2003 dataset and the experimental results validate its effectiveness.
Outcomes from a pilot patient-centered hospital-to-home transition program for children hospitalized with asthma

Abstract Objective To evaluate a multi-component hospital-to-home (H2H) transition program for children hospitalized with an asthma exacerbation. Methods A pilot prospective randomized clinical trial of guideline-based asthma care with and without a patient-centered multi-component H2H program among children enrolled in K-8th grade on Medicaid hospitalized for an asthma exacerbation. H2H program includes 5 components: medications in-hand at discharge, school-based asthma therapy (SBAT) for controller medications, referral for home trigger assessments, communication with the primary care provider (PCP), and patient navigator support. Primary outcomes included feasibility and acceptability. Secondary outcomes included healthcare utilization, asthma morbidity, and caregiver quality of life. Results A total of 32 children were enrolled and randomized. Feasibility outcomes in the intervention group included: medications in-hand at discharge (100%); SBAT for controller medication initiated (100%); home visit referrals made (100%) and home visits completed within 4 weeks of discharge (44%); PCP communication (100%); patient navigator communication at 3 days (81.3%) and 14 days (46.7%). Acceptability outcomes in the intervention group included: 87.5% of families continued SBAT, and 87.5% of families reported it was extremely helpful to have the home visit referral. Adjusting for baseline differences in age, asthma severity and control, there was no significant difference in healthcare utilization outcomes. Conclusion These pilot data suggest that comprehensive care coordination initiated during the inpatient stay is feasible and acceptable. A larger trial is justified to determine if the intervention may reduce healthcare utilization for urban, minority children with asthma.
Drought-Responsive ZmFDL1/MYB94 Regulates Cuticle Biosynthesis and Cuticle-Dependent Leaf Permeability1

The MYB transcription factor FUSED LEAVES1 regulates and abscisic acid influences cuticle biosynthesis and cuticle-mediated drought response during the juvenile phase of maize plant growth. In all land plants, the outer surface of aerial parts is covered by the cuticle, a complex lipid layer that constitutes a barrier against damage caused by environmental factors and provides protection against nonstomatal water loss. We show in this study that both cuticle deposition and cuticle-dependent leaf permeability during the juvenile phase of plant development are controlled by the maize (Zea mays) transcription factor ZmFUSED LEAVES 1 (FDL1)/MYB94. Biochemical analysis showed altered cutin and wax biosynthesis and deposition in fdl1-1 mutant seedlings at the coleoptile stage. Among cutin compounds, ω-hydroxy fatty acids and polyhydroxy-fatty acids were specifically affected, while the reduction of epicuticular waxes was mainly observed in primary long chain alcohols and, to a minor extent, in long-chain wax esters. Transcriptome analysis allowed the identification of candidate genes involved in lipid metabolism and the assembly of a proposed pathway for cuticle biosynthesis in maize. Lack of ZmFDL1/MYB94 affects the expression of genes located in different modules of the pathway, and we highlighted the correspondence between gene transcriptional variations and biochemical defects. We observed a decrease in cuticle-dependent leaf permeability in maize seedlings exposed to drought as well as abscisic acid treatment, which implies coordinated changes in the transcript levels of ZmFDL1/MYB94 and associated genes. Overall, our results suggest that the response to water stress implies the activation of wax biosynthesis and the involvement of both ZmFDL1/MYB94 and abscisic acid regulatory pathways.
Altered red blood cell deformability—A novel hypothesis for retinal microangiopathy in diabetic retinopathy

Impaired red blood cell (RBC) deformability impedes tissue perfusion. This study aims to investigate RBC biomechanics in type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) patients with different grades of diabetic retinopathy (DR) and to correlate RBC deformability with hematological and serum biochemical markers.
Employment Legal Framework for Persons with Disabilities in China: Effectiveness and Reasons

In order to promote the employment of persons with disabilities, two dominant legal approaches—anti-discrimination legislation based on the social model of disability and an employment quota scheme based on the medical model—are usually employed on a nation-state basis in disability policies. This article systematically examines the reasons why both the anti-discrimination and employment quota scheme legal frameworks have limited effectiveness in promoting employment of persons with disabilities in China. We found that the lack of a definition of disability, the lack of a definition of discrimination, and the absence of effective enforcement mechanisms are the reasons for poor outcomes of the anti-discrimination legal framework. For the employment quota scheme, conflicts between the mainstream labor market legal framework and the quota scheme legal framework have prompted employers to pay penalties rather than hire persons with disabilities. China should address these issues in the current legal system in the short term. Meanwhile, the CRPD should be more strongly emphasized in China. This article argues for the human rights model espoused by the CRPD, instead of the medical model, to develop a coherent and sustainable disability legal framework for promoting participation of persons with disabilities, rather than focusing on viewing them as recipients of care.
Magnesium Sulfate-Rich Natural Mineral Waters in the Treatment of Functional Constipation–A Review

Functional constipation (FC) is a chronic constipation for which no physiological, anatomical or iatrogenic origin can be evidenced. This condition has a high impact on a patient’s quality of life and healthcare costs. Since FC is frequently associated with low physical activity and a diet low in fiber and/or water, first-line recommendations focus on sufficient activity, and sufficient fiber and water intake. In case of inefficacy of these measures, numerous drug treatments are available, either over the counter or on prescription. Magnesium sulfate has a long history in the treatment of FC, and magnesium sulfate-rich mineral waters have been used for centuries for their laxative properties. The laxative effect of magnesium and sulfate has since been widely demonstrated. Nevertheless, it appears that no clinical studies aiming at demonstrating their efficacy in FC had been conducted before the 21st century. In this paper, we reviewed the clinical data reporting the efficacy of magnesium sulfate-rich natural mineral waters. In view of their reported efficacy and safety, magnesium sulfate-rich natural mineral waters may represent a natural treatment for FC.
Fecundity of the three-spined stickleback, Gasterosteus aculeatus (L.)

The number of eggs spawned by female three-spined sticklebacks Gasterosteus aculeatus (L.) was highly correlated with the size of the fish expressed either as total length or as weight after spawning. There were no significant correlations between the size of the eggs measured either as wet weight per egg or as dry weight per egg, and the size of the fish. Nor were there significant correlations between the calorific value of the eggs and the length or weight of the fish. Regressions relating egg production to the length and the weight of the fish are given. These results and an analysis of previous studies on the fecundity of the stickleback suggest that variations in fecundity are primarily a reflection of variation in the size of the fish at maturity, and that this size is related to the race of the stickleback and to environmental conditions such as food supply which influence the growth of sticklebacks.
Thyroid hormone treatment improved the response to maximum exercise test and preserved the ventricular geometry in myocardial infarcted rats

What is the central question of this study? Does thyroid hormone treatment given after myocardial infarction preserve left ventricular function and treadmill exercise performance, and improve parameters of oxidative stress in the right ventricle and lungs of Wistar rats? What is the main finding and its importance? Thyroid hormone treatment improved the performance of the maximum exercise test in infarcted rats and induced effects in the heart and lungs that were similar to those observed with exercise training. This suggests there is a significant value of thyroid hormones for preserving exercise tolerance after myocardial infarction.
Facteurs influençant la consommation alimentaire et les performances zootechniques du porc sevré: perception et caractéristiques de l'aliment

RESUME: Le sevrage est une période critique pour les porcelets. Favoriser la consommation précoce d’aliment en maternité et en post-sevrage est essentiel pour optimaliser leurs performances, leur santé et leur bien-être. La perception sensorielle des qualités organoleptiques des aliments par les porcs a fait l’objet d’une abondante littérature. On y apprend l’attrait des porcs pour des arômes spécifiques et leur capacité de percevoir les cinq goûts de base. Le choix des porcs pour une formulation de la ration est prioritairement guidé par la teneur élevée en protéines et l’absence de toxines ou de facteurs anti-nutritionnels. Pour une même formulation, la présentation sous la forme de pellets ou de miettes semble préférée à la farine. L’aliment distribué sous une forme liquide est volontiers consommé par les porcelets sevrés. Quant à l’utilisation de nourrisseurs à abreuvoirs intégrés, elle offre la possibilité aux animaux de mélanger l’aliment et l’eau au même endroit et, avec la farine, leur permet de manger plus vite. Cependant, l’alimentation humide peut entraîner un gaspillage important. L’impact de l’aspect visuel de la ration sur la consommation a été peu étudié chez le porc. On sait par contre l’importance que revêt, dans cette espèce, la perception visuelle et auditive du comportement des congénères.