Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Evaluating proximate causes of longevity in ant queens by RNA-sequencing

Why organisms age and why some species do so at a faster rate than others are fundamental questions in biology. The queens of perennial eusocial insects (ants, honeybees and termites) are extraordinarily long-lived compared with females of solitary insects. Similar to the reproductive females of eusocial mammals, they do not exhibit signs of functional senescence and terminate reproduction only shortly before they die. In contradiction to the widespread fecundity/longevity trade-off, lifespan and reproductive success seem to be positively associated in eusocial animals. Evolutionary theories explain the long lifespan of queens from their low extrinsic mortality. They live in sheltered, often subterraneous nests, and are cared for by the workers. Furthermore, the queens of eusocial insects use the sperm of only one or a few males to fertilize all their eggs. The lifelong pair bond between males and females predicts that both partners benefit from an increased lifespan of the queen. If and how the reproductive females of eusocial insects avoid the costs of reproduction are open questions. In this study, the myrmicine ant Cardiocondyla obscurior served as a model to investigate the regulation of queen longevity on the proximate level. Due to their relative short life expectancy, the survival and lifetime reproductive success of C. obscurior queens could be monitored in the laboratory. This study is the first to report age-related changes in the transcriptome of mature social insect queens and shows that these changes are exactly opposite to what has previously been reported to aging females of fruit flies, Drosophila melanogaster. The results match the opposing reproductive and mortality patterns observed in social and solitary species and provide a first mechanistic explanation for the simultaneous increase of fecundity and longevity in ant queens (chapter 2). The compensation of putative reproductive costs has not been thoroughly investigated in social insect queens. To test the prediction that reproduction competes for energy and nutrients with other processes, ant queens were forced to increase their investment into somatic repair. This experiment provides clear evidence on the phenotypic and transcriptome level that queens reallocate resources between the reproductive and immune systems (chapter 3). The positive effect of mating on queen longevity was addressed in three analyses (chapter 2, 4 and 5). Physiological changes could be identified which are attributable to mating independent of reproduction (chapter 2) and the male type with whom the queen had mated (chapter 4 and 5). In conclusion, this study suggests an alternative regulation of the conserved pathways that mediate the interplay among reproduction, metabolism and longevity. Queens might not avoid the costs of reproduction, but the costs of self-maintenance which are possibly borne by the workers.
The effect of nicotine on carrion feeding insects with considerations for use within forensic sciences

The presence of invertebrates on decomposing animal matter has been used extensively by forensic entomologists to estimate time of death for over 100 years. The presence of toxins such as drugs and pesticides on carrion can affect the behaviour and life cycle of such invertebrates. The aim of this thesis was to examine the effects of nicotine upon the colonisation of carrion by invertebrates; nicotine was used because of its historical use as an insecticide and its ubiquitous use in society. The investigations aimed to examine these possible effects both in situ in field-based testing and ex situ in a controlled laboratory environment and to work towards an empirically testable correction factor for the estimation of Postmortem interval estimates in the presence of nicotine. The field-based testing was done using Sus domestica (Linnaeus) carrion with a solution of nicotine injected into the cadaveric throat of the animal. The carrion was protected from feeding and removal by vertebrate scavengers. It was found that nicotine affected the time taken for Diptera to colonise the carrion as well as affecting the behaviour of feeding. Diptera larvae showed avoidance of the nicotine treated throat sites on the carrion, which is the normal site of oviposition. It was determined that the rove beetle Creophilus maxillosus (Linnaeus) was exclusively found on the higher dose nicotine carrion. The rare hoverfly Rhingia rostrata (Linnaeus) was discovered on the control animal; this is the first specimen reported in Nottinghamshire. The investigation also found the first record of the Soldierfly Sargus bipunctatus breeding in carrion; the late breeding period of this species and its significance to the forensic entomologist is considered. The experiments were conducted in the Autumn/Winter months and Spring/Summer months. Nicotine appeared to have a differing effect with the season as the autumnal fauna varied from that of the spring fauna. The presence of nicotine appeared to prevent the animal carcass from drying out, typified by mycophagus beetles in autumn and semi-liquid habitat breeding flies in the summer. The laboratory based investigation examined the effects of nicotine upon the life cycle of Calliphora vomitoria including the effects upon oviposition, rate of development and survivablity. It was found that nicotine significantly affects rate of development of this forensically important fly. This study has shown that a careful study of a single chemical compound and its interaction with carrion and entomology has profound effects upon the alteration of the normal activity of a range of forensically important invertebrates. It will assist in improving the evidential usefulness of entomology to the Forensic Science and Policing communities in criminal investigations.
Biochemical and genetic characterization of IspC, an immunogenic surface protein with peptidoglycan hydrolase activity essential for virulence of Listeria monocytogenes

Listeria monocytogenes is a Gram-positive intracellular bacterial pathogen responsible for a severe foodborne disease referred to as listeriosis in humans. A novel 86-kDa protein of unknown function, designated IspC, was previously identified by differential immunoscreening of a L. monocytogenes genomic expression library using two kinds of antisera, one (RaL) from rabbits infected with live bacteria and the other (RaK) from animals immunized with heat-killed bacteria. IspC reacted only with RaL but not with RaK, suggesting that it is induced only or significantly upregulated in vivo during L. monocytogenes infection and thus may be important in pathogenicity. IspC is a putative peptidoglycan hydrolase that is likely surface localized, as predicted from its deduced amino acid sequence. The biochemical properties and biological function (s) of IspC and its role in pathogenesis remain to be elucidated. The IspC protein was expressed in Escherichia coli and purified to electrophoretic homogeneity by chromatographic methods. This resulted in sufficient amount of purified recombinant IspC (rlspC) required for production of rabbit polyclonal antibodies to IspC (RalspC) and for biochemical and structural studies. N-terminal sequencing and mass spectrometry analysis showed that IspC contained a 23-residue N-terminal peptide being processed in E. coli. Circular dichroism and Raman spectroscopy analysis of purified rlspC revealed that the dominant secondary structure for the protein is p-sheet, consistent with the prediction by the PSIPRED method. Renaturing SDS-PAGE analysis demonstrated that IspC was capable of hydrolyzing bacterial cell wall substrates from several bacterial sources ii including L. monocytogenes itself, indicating IspC is an autolysin. The native IspC was detected in all growth phases at a relatively stable, low level during a 22-h in vitro culture, although its gene was transiently transcribed only in the early exponential growth phase. This and the previous findings suggest that IspC is upregulated in vivo during infection. The protein was unevenly distributed in clusters on the cell surface, as shown by immunofluorescence and immunogold electron microscopy. Analysis of various truncated forms of IspC has defined two separate functional domains: the N-terminal catalytic domain (aa 24 to 197) responsible for the hydrolytic activity and the C-terminal domain (aa 198 to 774) made up of seven GW (glycine-tryptophan dipeptide) modules responsible for anchoring the protein to the cell wall. The IspC autolysin exhibited peptidoglycan hydrolase activity over a broad pH range between 3 and 9 with an alkaline pH optimum of 7.5 to 9. Interestingly, the separated N-terminal catalytic domain showed hydrolytic activity at acidic pHs with a pH optimum between 4 and 6 and negligible activity at alkaline pHs. This suggests that the cell wall binding domain (CWBD) may be of importance in modulating the activity of the N-terminal
Islamic Banks Concern with the Poor and Micro Businesses: An Evaluation on their Al Qard Hasan (Beautiful Loan)

Islamic Banks came up with one of the notions as stated in the Quran (59:7), wealth must not be a perpetual distribution among the rich. This can be manifested in the form of distributing credit to the real business sector through a financing product, namely Al qard hasan (beautiful or benevolent loan). This paper is aimed at investigating the role or performance of Islamic banks in distributing Al qard hasan, usually given to the micro businesses, poor and less bankable people. This research is a descriptive research employing financial data from banks’ annual reports. The sample taken is Indonesia’s four major sharia compliant banks (BUSN) which are also categorized as foreign exchange banks. The results show that over the period of observation, the Al qard hasan of all banks had a declining tendency. Among the four banks, BSM and BNIS are the banks which had the highest portion of Al qard hasan (over the total financing). This result evidenced that the government owned banks (BSM and BNIS) had more concern with the poor and micro businesses, compared to the privateowned banks (BMI and BMS). To the author's knowledge, this is the first study to address the issue of Al qard hasan in the Indonesian context using the major Islamic banks. Keywords— alleviating poverty, Al qard hasan, Islamic Banks, micro businesses, poor people.
Recent Advances in Seed Enhancements

Seed quality is vital to sustainable crop production and food security. Seed enhance‐ ments include physical, physiological and biological treatments to overcome germina‐ tion constraints by uniform stands, earlier crop development and better yields. Improved germination rates and seedling vigour are due to reduced emergence time by earlier start of metabolic activities of hydrolytic enzymes and resource mobiliza‐ tion. Nutrient homeostasis, ion uptake, hormonal regulation, activation of antioxidant defence system, reduced lipid peroxidation and accumulation of compatible solutes are some mechanisms conferring biotic and abiotic stress tolerance. Several transcription factors for aquaporins, imbibitions, osmotic adjustment, antioxidant defence and phenylpropanoid pathway have been identified. However, the knowledge of molecu‐ lar pathways elucidating mode of action of these effects, reduced longevity of primed or other physical and biological agents for seed treatments and market availability of high-quality seeds are some of the challenges for scientists and seed industry. In this scenario, there is need to minimize the factors associated with reduced vigour during seed production, improve seed storage and handling, develop high-tech seeds by seed industry at appropriate rates and integrate agronomic, physiological and molecular seed research for the effective regulation of high-quality seed delivery over next generations.
Patterns of taxonomic and functional diversity of termites along a tropical elevational gradient

Patterns of termite richness along elevation gradients may be related to different responses by termite functional groups to changes in environmental conditions. We investigated the distribution of termite species richness along an elevational gradient of cerrado and rupestrian grasslands in the Espinhaço Mountain Range, in Brazil. Fifty termite species were recorded, with the family Termitidae being dominant; 16 species are endemic to open areas of cerrado and 1 species, Cortaritermes rizzinii, is endemic and restricted to mountaintop grassland habitats. Termite richness declined with increasing elevation, with the main factors associated with the reduction being climactic (air temperature, air and soil humidity, and radiation) and vegetation variables. Different termite communities were found along the elevational gradient, which were also strongly influenced by changes in climate and vegetation. On the other hand, the same functional groups were present at the different elevations, although represented by different species.
Studies on megakaryopoiesis and platelet function

Platelets are blood circulating specialized subcellular fragments, which are produced by megakaryocytes. Platelets are essential for hemostasis and wound healing but also play a role in non-hemostatic processes such as the immune response or cancer metastasis. Considering the immediate precursors of platelets, normal megakaryocyte development is essential for normal platelet function. Although much is known about platelet development, some aspects of platelet production remain poorly understood. Megakaryopoiesis is a complex process whereby the multipotent erythroid/megakaryocyte progenitors that commit their fate from hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) differentiate into megakaryocytes. During maturation, megakaryocytes undergo several dramatic phenotypical changes including polyploidization and the development of a demarcation membrane system. The purpose of this thesis is to further elucidate novel mechanisms and aspects involved in megakaryopoiesis and the effect they have on platelet function, and how to assess with newly developed tests platelet functional characteristics.
Application of The UV-Irradiated Homologous and Heterologous Sperm for Activa Tion of the Rainbow Trout (Oncorhynchus Mykiss) Eggs and Production of the Gynogenetic Stocks

Abstract Meiotic gynogenetic development of the rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss, Walbaum 1792) was induced in the course of egg activation performed by the UV-irradiated homologous and heterologous (European grayling Thymallus thymallus Linnaeus, 1758) spermatozoa. To recover diploidy in the gynogenetic zygotes, activated eggs were subjected to the high pressure shock in order to inhibit extrusion of the second polar body. Gynogenetic rainbow trout progeny hatched from the eggs activated by the irradiated rainbow trout and grayling milt with similar hatching rates of 28.19% and 29.22%, respectively. However, gynogenetic rainbow trout produced with grayling semen had shown lower survival than gynogenotes provided with the homologous spermatozoa during two years of rearing. Viable hybrids are not produced between rainbow trout and grayling which ensured that fish obtained in this experiment were true gynogenetic progenies. A Robertsonian polymorphism characteristic for the rainbow trout from the studied strain was also observed among the gynogenetic specimens that exhibited diploid chromosome number ranging from 58 to 62 and stable chromosome arm number (FN= 104). No radiation-induced fragments of the paternal chromosomes were observed in the gynogenetic individuals. Fish produced in both experimental variants were genotypic (XX) and phenotypic (gonads) females. The results confirmed that the gynogenetic protocol used in the present research is an efficient means of producing all-female gynogenetic rainbow trout stocks.
Feed Non-Starch Polysaccharides: Chemical Structures and Nutritional Significance

cell walls are : (a) hexoses ; D-glucose, D-galactose, D-mannose; (b) pentoses ; L-arabinose, D-xylose, and (c) acidic sugars ; D-galacturonic acid, D-glucuronic acid and its 4-O-methyl ether.
Priorities for the trade of less charismatic freshwater turtle and tortoise species

Despite decades of numerous calls for action by policymakers and citizen groups to regulate the biodiversity market, unsustainable trade in wildlife continues to be a leading cause of population declines world-wide (Engler & Parry-Jones 2007; Rosen & Smith 2010). While mainstream conservation attention is mostly focused on the illegal trade of ivory, horns and other products from charismatic species, demand for products from less charismatic species such as turtles has led to multiple forms of unsustainable trade (both legal and illegal). In fact, data illustrate that less charismatic taxa such as reptiles comprise a significant portion of the illegal trade (Rosen & Smith 2010) (Fig. 1). Herein, we discuss the issue of unsustainable trade of less charismatic species, specifically freshwater turtle and tortoise and outline potential solutions.
Effect of Preheating Temperature, Early Incubation Temperature, and Different Turning Frequency, on Embryonic Development and Broiler Performance.

LIN, YUN-MEI AMY. Effect of Preheating Temperature, Early Incubation Temperature, and Different Turning Frequency, on Embryonic Development and Broiler Performance. (Under the direction of Dr. John T. Brake). A series of experiments was conducted to study the effects of the interaction between preheating temperature, early incubation temperature, and different turning frequency on embryonic development and broiler performance. Ross 344 x 708 broiler hatching eggs were used exclusively and 53% relative humidity was maintained during incubation. Two early incubation temperatures (38.1°C and 37.5°C), two preheating temperatures (29.4 and 23.9°C), and two turning frequencies (24 n/d and 96 n/d) were investigated. Four experiments, in various manners, measured the effects of incubation temperature, turning frequency, and preheating temperature interactions on embryo development. Experiment IV measured broiler live performance, carcass yield, organ development, and blood carrying membrane development. Chick length due to 96 n/d turning to E18 in combination with 38.1°C (to E3) was increased, while with 96 n/d turning to E15 in combination with 37.5°C (to E3) was decreased. These data suggested that with higher initial incubation temperature (to E3) turning 96 n/d was required for a longer period (to E18). Turning 96 n/d apparently dehydrates the egg at critical period of incubation, in the presence of current machine ventilation, which depressed embryonic development as evidenced by a smaller and shorter embryo. This depression of embryonic development had effects up to 35 d of age in terms of carcass yield. On the other hand, 38.1°C to E5 increased the metabolic rate and improved the development of the embryo, which improved breast muscle in the presence of greater chick length. In parallel Israeli research, beneficial effects of all thermal manipulation treatments with 24 n/d turning were shown for BW, total Pectoralis weight, wattles, and testes. Some of these aspects were not evident in Experiment IV due to the absence of the same negative control that did not involve any preheating and the lower temperature to E5 as used in Experiment IV. Another mitigating factor may have been that the strain of broiler was different between the experiments, where Israeli Experiments A and B used Cobb broilers and Experiment IV was conducted with Ross birds. These strains have become well known to differ in thermosensitivity, breast meat yield, and feed conversion. Effect of Preheating Temperature, Early Incubation Temperature, and Different Turning Frequency, on Embryonic Development and Broiler Performance
Seasonal variations in the physical and chemical characteristics of a shallow water ecosystem, the ricefields of Valencia, Spain

A study was made of the physical and chemical features of the ricefields from «La Albufera» (East Spain) with a view to improving the understanding of this complex ecosystem. The results show the association of the measured variables in 3 factors: water mineralization, biological (photosynthetically) related variables, and the nutritional factor, including P and N concentrations. Water mineralization variables were the most descriptive for each type of system. Calcium concentration can discriminate groups of water qualities in this system. Mineralization variables increased through the crop. On the other hand the biological factor showed a very close relationship with photon flux density variation along the crop; dissolved O 2 and pH decreased, but CO 2 increased. The nutritional factor indicated elevated mean values for nutrients (N and P), but did not show an unique pattern of variation, indicating the strong influence of agricultural fertilization on the physicochemical features
Occurrence of mycotoxins in commercial aquafeeds in Asia and Europe: a real risk to aquaculture?

There is increasing awareness of the negative effects of mycotoxins in aquatic species, which is highlighted in recent publications. Partly due to climate change associated with an overall increase of mycotoxins contamination in plant ingredients, and also due to the tendency to replace expensive animal-derived proteins, such as fish meal, by more economical plant proteins sources, which increases the probability of mycotoxin contamination in aquaculture feeds (Hooft et al. 2011). Over a 1-year period, 41 samples of finished aquaculture feed, both shrimp and fish, were analysed within the scope of BIOMIN mycotoxin survey programme. The samples were tested for aflatoxins, zearalenone, deoxynivalenol, fumonisins and ochratoxin A. Samples were sourced in Asia (31 samples) and Europe (10 samples) from fish/shrimp farms or feed producers. The values detected pose a risk for several important aquaculture species, assuming single mycotoxin contamination, that is excluding possible additive and synergetic effects between mycotoxins. Co-occurrence of mycotoxins in feeds may induce synergistic effects and increase the negative impact of mycotoxins in aquatic-farmed species at lower levels than when present in single contamination. This review gives an overview of the different mycotoxins and revises the effects of mycotoxins in aquatic species. Additionally, it reports the levels of mycotoxins in aquafeeds in 2014 and compares detected levels with possible negative effects in fish and shrimp. As it is highlighted by the results of the survey, the risk of co-occurrence is high and the knowledge on the effects of multimycotoxins contamination in aquatic species is basically none.
Disinfectant-resistant Gene of qacE△1 in Gram-negative Bacteria Caused Nosocomial Infection

OBJECTIVE To investigate the disinfectants-resistant gene of qacE△1 in Gram-negative bacteria caused nosocomial infection isolated from the 98th Hospital of PLA, Huzhou, Zhejiang Province. METHODS Totally 147 strains of Gram-negative bacteria (included 63 strains of Acinetobacter baumannii, 30 strains of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, 20 strains of Enterobacter cloacae, 19 strains of Stenotrophomonas maltophilia, and 15 strains of Flavobacterium) were clinically isolated. The disinfectant-resistant gene of qacE△1 of these strains were analyzed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and verified by DNA sequencing. RESULTS The total positive rate of gene of qacE△1 was 65.3% in the 147 strains tested. The positive rates of gene of qacE△1 in E. cloacae, P. aeruginosa, A. baumannii, S. maltophilia, and Chryseobacterium were 85.0%, 83.3%, 82.5%, 10.5% and 0.0%, (respectively.) CONCLUSIONS There are higher positive percentages of gene of qacE△1 in Gram-negative bacteria caused nosocomial infection isolated from the 98th Hospital of PLA, Huzhou, Zhejiang Province, and the situation ought to be attended.