Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Analysis of Anopheles messeae s.l. intron gene polymorphism associated with imidacloprid resistance

ABSTRACT: Due to their high solubility and stability, neonicotinoid insecticides are able to accumulate in water bodies, affecting aquatic organisms. The aims of this study were to evaluate resistance (LC50) of Anopheles messeae s.l. (Anopheles messeae and An. daciae) to the neonicotinoid imidacloprid and to search for genetic markers associated with insecticide resistance. The LC50 values of these species in the collections during 2017 and 2018 were indistinguishable and were in the range of 0.027-0.051 mg/l. In general, the LC50 values of the mosquitoes were comparable with values of other mosquito species of the Anopheles and Culex genera. Gene polymorphisms of the variations in intron lengths and the presence of restriction sites in introns that were potentially associated with the metabolism of insecticides were studied. Polymorphisms of the studied genes in the pair of closely related species considered overlapped, but allele frequencies were different. Part of the genetic variants arose due to insertions of repetitive elements of the genome. Two variants of the cytochrome P450 gene Cyp6AG1 in An. daciae were associated with increased resistance to imidacloprid. Possible side effects of selection on insecticide resistance in blood-sucking mosquitoes are discussed. Journal of Vector Ecology 45 (2): 220-232. 2020.
Not All Stressors Are Equal: Mechanism of Stressors on RPE Cell Degeneration

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a major cause of irreversible blindness among the elderly population. Dysfunction and degeneration of the retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) layer in the retina underscore the pathogenesis of both dry and wet AMD. Advanced age, cigarette smoke and genetic factors have been found to be the prominent risk factors for AMD, which point to an important role for oxidative stress and aging in AMD pathogenesis. However, the mechanisms whereby oxidative stress and aging lead to RPE cell degeneration are still unclear. As cell senescence and cell death are the major outcomes from oxidative stress and aging, here we review the mechanisms of RPE cell senescence and different kinds of cell death, including apoptosis, necroptosis, pyroptosis, ferroptosis, with an aim to clarify how RPE cell degeneration could occur in response to AMD-related stresses, including H2O2, 4-Hydroxynonenal (4-HNE), N-retinylidene-N-retinyl-ethanolamine (A2E), Alu RNA and amyloid β (Aβ). Besides those, sodium iodate (NaIO3) induced RPE cell degeneration is also discussed in this review. Although NaIO3 itself is not related to AMD, this line of study would help understand the mechanism of RPE degeneration.
Comparative Analysis of the Roles of Non-muscle Myosin-IIs in Cytokinesis in Budding Yeast, Fission Yeast, and Mammalian Cells

The contractile ring, which plays critical roles in cytokinesis in fungal and animal cells, has fascinated biologists for decades. However, the basic question of how the non-muscle myosin-II and actin filaments are assembled into a ring structure to drive cytokinesis remains poorly understood. It is even more mysterious why and how the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe, and humans construct the ring structure with one, two, and three myosin-II isoforms, respectively. Here, we provide a comparative analysis of the roles of the non-muscle myosin-IIs in cytokinesis in these three model systems, with the goal of defining the common and unique features and highlighting the major questions regarding this family of proteins.
Evidence of Non-microtubule Spindle Forces in Mesostoma ehrenbergii Spermatocytes

We tested conclusions reached in previous experiments in which Mesostoma spermatocyte chromosomes moved rapidly to a pole in the absence of microtubules: after 10 μM nocodazole (NOC) depolymerized metaphase spindle microtubules, kinetochores from each of the 3 bivalents detached from the same pole and rapidly moved to the other pole, at speeds averaging 37.7 μm/min. with some as high as 100 μm/min. We concluded that these very fast movements were due to non-microtubule forces arising from a spindle matrix. However, since the chromosomes stretch out before detaching, there is tension in the chromosomes from the stretch. Thus the movements of detached kinetochores conceivably might be due to recoil from the tension, though we argued against this possibility (Fegaras and Forer, 2018a). In this article we test whether recoil causes the movements. We cut bivalents into 2 pieces, using a femtosecond laser, before addition of NOC. When 1 bivalent was severed, all kinetochores moved to one pole in 12/15 cells; when 2 bivalents were severed, all kinetochores moved to one pole in 4/6 cells; and when all 3 bivalents were severed all kinetochores moved to one pole in 3/9 cells. The bivalent “halves” moved rapidly, with average speeds of 47 μm/min, velocities that are not significantly different from those in cells without any laser-cut bivalents (p > 0.05). Since kinetochores move at the same speeds whether they are part of bivalents or not, NOC-induced chromosome movements are not due to recoil from tension along the full-length bivalent, strongly supporting the idea that non-microtubule forces move chromosomes in Mesostoma spermatocytes.
Extraordinary Carbon Fluxes on the Shallow Pacific Arctic Shelf During a Remarkably Warm and Low Sea Ice Period

The shallow Pacific Arctic shelf has historically acted as an effective carbon sink, characterized by tight benthic pelagic coupling. However, the strength of the biological carbon pump in the Arctic has been predicted to weaken with climate change due to increased duration of the open-water period for primary production, enhanced nutrient limitation, and increased pelagic heterotrophy. In order to gain insights into how the biological carbon pump is functioning under the recent conditions of extreme warming and sea ice loss on the Pacific Arctic shelf, we measured sinking particulate organic carbon (POC) fluxes with drifting and moored sediment traps, as well as rates of primary production and particle-associated microbial respiration during June 2018. In Bering Shelf/Anadyr Water masses, sinking POC fluxes ranged from 0.8 to 2.3 g C m–2 day–1, making them among the highest fluxes ever documented in the global oceans. Furthermore, high export ratios averaging 82% and low rates of particle-associated microbial respiration also indicated negligible recycling of sinking POC in the water column. These results highlight the extraordinary strength of the biological carbon pump on the Pacific Arctic shelf during an unusually warm and low-sea ice year. While additional measurements and time are needed to confirm the ultimate trajectory of these fluxes in response to ongoing climate change, these results do not support the prevailing hypothesis that the strength of the biological carbon pump in the Pacific Arctic will weaken under these conditions.
Colorectal Cancer Screening Uptake: Differences Between Rural and Urban Privately-Insured Population

Earlier studies investigated rural-urban colorectal cancer (CRC) screening disparities among older adults or used surveys. The objective was to compare screening uptake between rural and urban individuals 50–64 years of age using private health insurance. Data were analyzed from 58,774 Blue Cross Blue Shield of Nebraska beneficiaries. Logistic regression was used to assess the association between rural-urban and CRC screening use. Results indicate that rural individuals were 56% more likely to use the Fecal Occult Blood Test (FOBT) compared with urban residents, but rural females were 68% less likely to use FOBT. Individuals with few Primary Care Physician (PCP) visits and rural-women are the least to receive screening. To enhance CRC screening, a policy should be devised for the training and placement of female PCP in rural areas. In particular, multilevel interventions, including education, more resources, and policies to increase uptake of colorectal cancer screening, are needed. Further research is warranted to investigate barriers to CRC screening in rural areas.
Molecules and Prostaglandins Related to Embryo Tolerance

It is generally understood that the entry of semen into the female reproductive tract provokes molecular and cellular changes facilitating conception and pregnancy. We show a broader picture of the participation of prostaglandins in the fertilization, implantation and maintenance of the embryo. A large number of cells and molecules are related to signaling networks, which regulate tolerance to implantation and maintenance of the embryo and fetus. In this work, many of those cells and molecules are analyzed. We focus on platelets, polymorphonuclear leukocytes, and group 2 innate lymphoid cells involved in embryo tolerance in order to have a wider view of how prostaglandins participate. The combination of platelets and neutrophil extracellular traps (Nets), uterine innate lymphoid cells (uILC), Treg cells, NK cells, and sex hormones have an important function in immunological tolerance. In both animals and humans, the functions of these cells can be regulated by prostaglandins and soluble factors in seminal plasma to achieve an immunological balance, which maintains fetal-maternal tolerance. Prostaglandins, such as PGI2 and PGE2, play an important role in the suppression of the previously mentioned cells. PGI2 inhibits platelet aggregation, in addition to IL-5 and IL-13 expression in ILC2, and PGE2 inhibits some neutrophil functions, such as chemotaxis and migration processes, leukotriene B4 (LTB4) biosynthesis, ROS production, and the formation of extracellular traps, which could help prevent trophoblast injury and fetal loss. The implications are related to fertility in female when seminal fluid is deposited in the vagina or uterus.
Early Life Inoculation With Adult-Derived Microbiota Accelerates Maturation of Intestinal Microbiota and Enhances NK Cell Activation in Broiler Chickens

Studies in mammals, including chickens, have shown that the development of the immune system is affected by interactions with intestinal microbiota. Early life microbial colonization may affect the development of innate and adaptive immunity and may contribute to lasting effects on health and resilience of broiler chickens. We inoculated broiler chickens with adult-derived-microbiota (AM) to investigate their effects on intestinal microbiota composition and natural killer (NK) cells, amongst other immune cells. We hypothesized that AM inoculation directly upon hatch (day 0) would induce an alteration in microbiota composition shortly after hatch, and subsequently affect (subsets of) intestinal NK cells and their activation. Microbiota composition of caecal and ileal content of chickens of 1, 3, 7, 14, 21, and 35 days of age was assessed by sequencing of 16S ribosomal RNA gene amplicons. In parallel, subsets and activation of intestinal NK cells were analyzed by flow cytometry. In caecal content of 1- and 3-day-old AM chickens, a higher alpha-diversity (Faith's phylogenetic diversity) was observed compared to control chickens, whereas ileal microbiota were unaffected. Regarding beta-diversity, caecal microbiota profiles could be clustered into three distinct community types. Cluster A represented caecal microbiota of 1-day-old AM chickens and 1- and 3-day-old control chickens. Cluster B included microbiota of seven of eight 3- and 7-day-old AM and 7-day-old control chickens, and cluster C comprised microbiota of all chickens of 14-days and older, independent of inoculation. In 3-day-old AM chickens an increase in the percentages of intestinal IL-2Rα+NK cells and activated NK cells was observed compared to control chickens of the same age. In addition, an increase in relative numbers of intestinal cytotoxic CD8αα+T cells was observed in 14- and 21-day-old AM chickens. Taken together, these results indicate that early exposure to AM shapes and accelerates the maturation of caecal microbiota, which is paralleled by an increase in IL-2Rα+NK cells and enhanced NK cell activation. The observed association between early life development of intestinal microbiota and immune system indicates possibilities to apply microbiota-targeted strategies that can accelerate maturation of intestinal microbiota and strengthen the immune system, thereby improving the health and resilience of broiler chickens.
Extraction of Pandanus Amaryllifolius essential oil from pandan leaves

The extraction process is the key operation for obtaining oils. The oils are extracted by chemical method where strong acids are used. The process using solvent extraction has been used for extraction of pandan leaves. In this experiment, there are four types of solvent will be used which is ethyl acetate, hexane,chloroform, and, methanol. The pandan leaves was sliced into small size before added before being put in a beaker containing two solvents and then the solution will be unstable for 2 4 and 6 hours. The effectiveness of different ratio of solvent process will be studied. The composition of the essential oils extracted by solvent from leaves parts of pandan (Pandanus amaryllifolius) were analyzed by using gas chromatography (GC-MS). The major component in Pandanus amaryllifolius was 2-acetyl-l-pyrroline but in present study only the minor component was obtained which were 3-Hexanol and 3-Hexanone. Significantly the result shows that the solvent ratio chloroform: ethyl acetate get a large amount of oils.
Subcellular Localization of GIGANTEA Regulates the Timing of Leaf Senescence and Flowering in Arabidopsis

Plants undergo several important developmental transitions including flowering and senescence during their life cycle. Timing these transitions according to the environmental conditions increases plant fitness and productivity. The circadian clock senses various environmental cycles, including photoperiod, and synchronizes plant physiological processes to maximize plant fitness. Here, we propose that the cellular localization of GIGANTEA (GI), a key clock component, regulates leaf senescence and flowering in Arabidopsis thaliana. We show that GI, which connects the circadian clock with photoperiod-regulated flowering, induces leaf senescence depending on its subcellular localization. Overexpression of GI in the gi mutant rescued its delayed senescence phenotype but only when the GI protein was targeted to the nucleus, not when it was targeted to the cytosol. In the nucleus, EARLY FLOWERING 4 (ELF4) inhibited the binding of GI to ORESARA 1 (ORE1) promoter to regulate leaf senescence. GI also positively regulated the day-peak of ORE1 expression. These results indicate that like flowering, leaf senescence is also controlled by the location of GI in the cell. Taken together, our results suggest that ELF4 and GI act together to control flowering and senescence in Arabidopsis.
MEASURED MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF SUPERCONDUCTING COIL MATERIALS AND THEIR INFLUENCE ON COIL PRESTRESS

LBL-12438 r Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Accelerator & Fusion Research Division Dc P r e s e n t e d a t t h e V l l t h I n t e r n a t i o n a l Conference on Magnet Technology, K a r l s r u h e , Germany, March 3 0 - A p r l l 3, 1981 MEASURED MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF SUPERCONDUCTING COIL MATERIALS AND THEIR INFLUENCE ON COIL PRESTRESS Robert B. Meuser, Shlomo C a s p i , and W i l l i a m S. G i l b e r t TWO-WEEK LOAN COPY March 1981 This is a Library Circulating Copy which may be borrowed for two weeks. For a personal retention copy, call Tech. Info. Division, Ext. 67S2 Prepared for the U.S. Department of Energy under Contract W-7405-ENG-48
Effects of Site Preparation Methods on the Establishment and Natural-Regeneration Traits of Scots Pines (Pinus sylvestris L.) in Northeastern Poland

While some tree species can regenerate naturally without mechanical site preparation (MSP), Scots pine has been shown to benefit from this process. We compared three methods: using a double-mouldboard forest plough (FP), an active single-disc plough (AP), and a forest mill (FM), as well as a no-MSP control, in terms of growth, survival and density of occurrence of pines during the first 4 years of natural regeneration. Moisture conditions were expressed via calculated de Martonne aridity indices, while the microhabitats generated via different MSP methods were further characterised by the total contents of N and C, and the C/N ratio, P2O5, and base cations, as well as bulk density and actual moisture. The trials showed inferior regeneration without MSP in terms of the density and cover of young pines. Any of the studied treatments influenced survival, though the best growth was achieved by seedlings using the FP and AP methods, while the best density and evenness results were obtained using AP. The factors most influencing regeneration features were high precipitation during the first growing season after sowing and reduced competition with other vegetation in the cleared area. This impact seems far more important than the capacity of different MSPs to produce differentiation in soil microhabitats in terms of nutrient status or bulk density.
MedDialog: A Large-scale Medical Dialogue Dataset

Medical dialogue systems are promising in assisting in telemedicine to increase access to healthcare services, improve the quality of patient care, and reduce medical costs. To facilitate the research and development of medical dialogue systems, we build large-scale medical dialogue datasets – MedDialog, which contain 1) a Chinese dataset with 3.4 million conversations between patients and doctors, 11.3 million utterances, 660.2 million tokens, covering 172 specialties of diseases, and 2) an English dataset with 0.26 million conversations, 0.51 million utterances, 44.53 million tokens, covering 96 specialties of diseases. To our best knowledge, MedDialog is the largest medical dialogue dataset to date. We pretrain several dialogue generation models on the Chinese MedDialog dataset, including Transformer, GPT, BERT-GPT, and compare their performance. It is shown that models trained on MedDialog are able to generate clinically correct and doctor-like medical dialogues. We also study the transferability of models trained on MedDialog to low-resource medical dialogue generation tasks. It is shown that via transfer learning which finetunes the models pretrained on MedDialog, the performance on medical dialogue generation tasks with small datasets can be greatly improved, as shown in human evaluation and automatic evaluation. The datasets and code are available at https://github.com/UCSD-AI4H/Medical-Dialogue-System
Weather Types Affect Rain Microstructure: Implications for Estimating Rain Rate

Quantitative precipitation estimation (QPE) through remote sensing has to take rain microstructure into consideration, because it influences the relationship between radar reflectivity Z and rain intensity R. For this reason, separate equations are used to estimate rain intensity of convective and stratiform rain types. Here, we investigate whether incorporating synoptic scale meteorology could yield further QPE improvements. Depending on large-scale weather types, variability in cloud condensation nuclei and the humidity content may lead to variation in rain microstructure. In a case study for Bavaria, we measured rain microstructure at ten locations with laser-based disdrometers, covering a combined 18,600 h of rain in a period of 36 months. Rain was classified on a temporal scale of one minute into convective and stratiform based on a machine learning model. Large-scale wind direction classes were on a daily scale to represent the synoptic weather types. Significant variations in rain microstructure parameters were evident not only for rain types, but also for wind direction classes. The main contrast was observed between westerly and easterly circulations, with the latter characterized by smaller average size of drops and a higher average concentration. This led to substantial variation in the parameters of the radar rain intensity retrieval equation Z–R. The effect of wind direction on Z–R parameters was more pronounced for stratiform than convective rain types. We conclude that building separate Z–R retrieval equations for regional wind direction classes should improve radar-based QPE, especially for stratiform rain events.
Ambivalence and Coping Responses in Post-Adoptive Information Systems Use

ABSTRACT As information systems (IS) have evolved, more sophisticated meshing of their positive and negative implications has emerged, leaving users with an increasingly ambivalent experience. Given the discomfort of ambivalence, users intrinsically engage in coping responses with different degrees of cognitive flexibility. This paper investigates ambivalence and the coping responses users adopt in the context of post-adoptive IS use via two research questions: (1) what are the consequences of flexible and inflexible coping responses to ambivalence toward post-adoptive IS use? and (2) how does personality influence a user’s disposition toward flexible and inflexible coping responses to ambivalence toward post-adoptive IS use? To address them, we propose and test a research model using a multimethod design, comprising two complementary empirical studies. Study 1 adopts a variable-centered approach to test the hypotheses and to empirically validate the proposed research model. Building on the findings of Study 1, Study 2 employs a person-centered approach to identify a typology of IS users. The findings demonstrate the prevalence of ambivalence among IS users, the dual-nature of their coping responses to ambivalence, in part, influenced by their level of neuroticism, and the associated post-adoptive IS use behaviors. This paper provides a novel perspective to users’ attitudes toward an IS use and resolves some of the tensions in prior ambivalence research.
SnowCloudMetrics: Snow Information for Everyone

Snow is a critical component of the climate system, provides fresh water for millions of people globally, and affects forest and wildlife ecology. Snowy regions are typically data sparse, especially in mountain environments. Remotely-sensed snow cover data are available globally but are challenging to convert into accessible, actionable information. SnowCloudMetrics is a web portal for on-demand production and delivery of snow information including snow cover frequency (SCF) and snow disappearance date (SDD) using Google Earth Engine (GEE). SCF and SDD are computed using the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Snow Cover Binary 500 m (MOD10A1) product. The SCF and SDD metrics are assessed using 18 years of Snow Telemetry records at more than 750 stations across the Western U.S. SnowCloudMetrics provides users with the capacity to quickly and efficiently generate local-to-global scale snow information. It requires no user-side data storage or computing capacity, and needs little in the way of remote sensing expertise. SnowCloudMetrics allows users to subset by year, watershed, elevation range, political boundary, or user-defined region. Users can explore the snow information via a GEE map interface and, if desired, download scripts for access to tabular and image data in non-proprietary formats for additional analyses. We present global and hemispheric scale examples of SCF and SDD. We also provide a watershed example in the transboundary, snow-dominated Amu Darya Basin. Our approach represents a new, user-driven paradigm for access to snow information. SnowCloudMetrics benefits snow scientists, water resource managers, climate scientists, and snow related industries providing SCF and SDD information tailored to their needs, especially in data sparse regions.