Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Vitellogenin, a marker of estrogen mimicking contaminants in fishes: Characterization, quantification and interference by anti-estrogens

Vitellogenin (Vg), the estrogen inducible protein precursor to egg yolk, serves as an indicator of exposure to estrogen mimicking environmental contaminants. Vg was isolated by size exclusion and ion exchange chromatography from plasma of California halibut (Paralichthys californicus) treated with estrogen. MALDI TOF mass spectrometry (MS) analysis resulted in a molecular mass of 188 kDa. MS/MS de novo sequencing provided evidence that California halibut has more than one form of Vg. Similar analysis on white sturgeon (Acipenser transmontamus) Vg did not reveal adequate evidence to suggest that sturgeon has more than one Vg. The potential of using other MS methods to understand the structure and function of Vg are discussed. An ELISA for measurement of California halibut plasma Vg was optimized and validated using a commercially available antibody developed for another flatfish species, turbot. Inclusion of overnight preincubation was critical for low detection limits. Increasing the amount of Tween-20 to 0.05% in buffers was most effective for improving recoveries of spiked plasma samples. At the IC50, the average recovery of spiked plasma samples was 104% and the interplate CV was 12%. The working range of the assay was 33-1000 ng/mL, while the detection limit in a plasma sample is 2.2 µg/mL. The response to the model compounds 17beta-estradiol and/j-nonylphenol show that this is a suitable model for further studies of estrogen mimicking contaminants. White sturgeon are native to the Sacramento River and subject to agricultural, municipal and industrial waste water effluents that likely contain different classes of endocrine-disrupting contaminants. Reductions in 17beta-estradiol-induced vitellogenin levels were observed in white sturgeon co-injected with beta-naphthoflavone (BNF, 50 mg/kg), an Ah receptor agonist. The inhibition was maximal when the compounds were injected simultaneously versus prior treatment offish with BNF. This timing of the effect compared to increases in ethoxyresorufin-O-deethylase (EROD) activity suggests that the effect is not directly due to enhanced estrogen metabolism by the Ah receptor-induced enzymes. Results of this study will be relevant for those with monitoring programs who measure vitellogenin, as it is important to understand how Ah (dioxin) receptor active environmental contaminants can influence this endpoint.
Analysis of Classifier Performance on ECG Interpretation for Precision Medicine: Which performance metrics should we use?

In Indonesia, the prevalence of cardiac disease diagnosed by doctors and symptoms higher in rural areas and in the lowest ownership index quintiles. Software engineering based on deep learning techniques makes technology-based updates dynamically evolve for health care, especially in interpreting cardiac abnormalities. Electrocardiogram (ECG) is still one of the reliable cardiac examination tools. ECG is one source of medical big data collected, in addition to electronic health records (EHR), biomarker data, medical imaging, biometric data, etc. Medical big data will be processed for decision making to assign a diagnosis among several possible patients diagnose. The quality of a decision support system to interpret actual patient conditions is determined by how accurately the system is able to represent the diagnosis by experts. Some analytical targets of medical big data are prediction (classification). In classification, the performance classifiers can be evaluated by various performance metrics tested in a set of tests or independent validation sets. Performance metrics are used for helping the researchers interested in biomedical engineering to evaluate the performance of classifiers. Multivariate and imbalanced data are major problems in evaluating the performance. Therefore, in this paper discuss the performance metrics that used to minimize the bias of the classifier performance in ECG for enhancing the quality of diagnoses of cardiac abnormality in rural health care. This paper uses Deep Learning technique to show the results of performance metrics for ECG interpretation in classifying cardiac abnormalities.
EVALUACION DE LA BIOTRANSFORMACION DE CITRONELOL UTILIZANDO COMO BIOCATALIZADOR Aspergillus niger

In this work, we studied the biotransformation of the terpene alcohol citronellol using solid culture media with Aspergillus niger. MEA culture favors growing of the fungi but biotransformation was improved using PDA after 4 days of reaction. Citronellol was hydroxilated in C7 carbon producing hydroxycitronellol as the only detected component with yield up to 60 %. The hydroxy-compound is chemically synthesized and it is applied in cosmetics and food as a flavor additive which is approved by the Commission of the European Communities and the Mexican Health Secretary.
The biological significance of nickel

Abstract The essentiality of Ni has not been established for higher plants, but many beneficial effects of Ni on plant growth have been reported. Evidence from several laboratories suggests that Ni is essential for animals, but its function has not been defined. High levels of Ni in plant growth media are phytotoxic, and possible beneficial effects of Ni on plant growth are poorly defined and not understood. Nickel reportedly is required for growth of a bacterium (Alcaligenes (Hydrogenomonas) eutrophus), a cyanobacterium (Oscillatoria) and a green alga (Chlorella vulgaris), but its function is unknown. In higher plants, Ni is required for optimum growth of certain pine tree species and some Ni accumulator species of Alyssum, but its function is not known. Slight increases in the growth of a number of plant species were attributed to low levels of Ni. Germination of seed of several species was stimulated by treatment with Ni salts. Nickel is an essential component of the enzyme urease isolated from lackbea.
Benthic biogeochemical cycling, nutrient stoichiometry, and carbon and nitrogen mass balances in a eutrophic freshwater bay

Green Bay, while representing only ~7% of the surface area and ~1.4% of the volume of Lake Michigan, contains one‐third of the watershed of the lake, and receives approximately one‐third of the total nutrient loading to the Lake Michigan basin, largely from the Fox River at the southern end of the bay. With a history of eutrophic conditions dating back nearly a century, the southern portion of the bay behaves as an efficient nutrient and sediment trap, sequestering much of the annual carbon and nitrogen input within sediments accumulating at up to 1 cm per year. Depositional fluxes of organic matter varied from ~0.1 mol C m22 yr21 to >10 mol C m−2 yr−1 and were both fairly uniform in stoichiometric composition and relatively labile. Estimates of benthic recycling derived from pore‐water concentration gradients, whole‐sediment incubation experiments, and deposition‐burial models of early diagenesis yielded an estimated 40% of the carbon and 50% of the nitrogen recycled back into the overlying water. Remineralization was relatively rapid with ~50% of the carbon remineralized within ~15 yr of deposition, and a mean residence time for metabolizable carbon and nitrogen in the sediments of 20 yr. On average, organic carbon regeneration occurred as 75% CO2, 15% CH4, and 10% dissolved organic carbon (DOC). Carbon and nitrogen budgets for the southern bay were based upon direct measurements of inputs and burial and upon estimates of export and production derived stoichiometrically from a coupled phosphorus budget. Loadings of organic carbon from rivers were ~3.7 mol m−2 yr−1, 80% in the form of DOC and 20% as particulate organic carbon. These inputs were lost through export to northern Green Bay and Lake Michigan (39%), through sediment burial (26%), and net CO2 release to the atmosphere (35%). Total carbon input, including new production, was 4.54 mol m−2 yr−1, equivalent to ~10% of the gross annual primary production. Nitrogen budget terms were less well quantified, with nitrogen export ~54% of total inputs and burial ~24%, leaving an unquantified residual loss term in the nitrogen budget of ~22%.
Zearalenone occurrence in cereal and cereal-based foodstuffs marketed in Timis County.

Zearalenone (ZEA, F-2 toxin) is a known non-steroidal estrogenic secondary metabolite, mainly produced by F. graminearum and F. culmorum, which are common soil fungi, in temperate and warm regions. ZEA and its metabolites are frequently detected in cereal crops worldwide such as maize, barley, oats, wheat, rice, sorghum and also in breakfast cereals, bread and milk, thus, contaminating both the food and feed chain. ZEA is a resorcylic acid lactone and is well- known by its estrogenic activity in farm animals (pigs, cattle, sheep etc.) and occasionally is implicated in hiperestrogenic syndromes in humans. The present study aimed to screen for ZEA contamination different cereal and cereal-based foodstuffs purchased from local producers and supermarkets in Timi County, an area of western Romania. Hence, during a period of three years (2008-2010), a total of 125 commercially available foodstuffs, including small cereal grains (wheat, barley, maize), bread and related products (bakery, pastry), maize oil, breakfast cereals and other foods (biscuits, snacks), were investigated for ZEA presence and contamination levels using enzyme- linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) commercially available kits. Although, the occurrence of ZEA varied during the three years of study from 6.25% in 2008 and 38.30% in 2009, to 53.33% in 2010, overall ZEA was detected in 37 samples, representing 29.6%, occurrence which was similar to other surveys. The values obtained ranged between 0.4 µg/kg found in barley, and 41.81 µg/kg found in wheat flour, and an overall mean and median value of 3.26 µg/kg and 1.82 µg/kg, respectively. However, none of the values exceeded the maximum allowed levels by the European Commission (EC) in the different commodities analyzed. Whereas most surveys focus on ZEA contamination of different crops (wheat, barley, maize etc.) this paper represents one of the first screenings on a variety of cereal and cereal-based foodstuffs marketed in an area of western Romania.
Mixing and migration of overwintering Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) stocks near the mouth of the Gulf of St. Lawrence

Millions of Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) migrate distances of up to 500 km each fall to aggregate together in a small overwintering area off eastern Canada. Synoptic research vessel surveys carried out each January between 1994 and 1997 documented dense aggregations of cod along both flanks of the Laurentian Channel in each year, with estimated biomasses exceeding 100 000 metric tons. Using the trace element composition of the otolith ("otolith elemental fingerprint") as a natural tag, we found members of four populations to be present on the overwintering grounds in significant numbers, yet large-scale mixing among the populations was minimal. Individual trawl samples were often composed of a single population, suggesting that population integrity was maintained at a scale of <20 km. Cod from the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence dominated the population composition along the southern flank of the Channel, while cod from the northern Gulf dominated the northern flank; the distributions of both of these popula.
Decision strategy for landslide event based on 4 parameters

Landslides are typically caused by heavy rain in some locations that have a certain slope of land compounded by deforestation or earthquakes. For instance, in 2018 there were 148 reported landslides in the Banjarnegara highlands, Indonesia. By using that fact, some research has been done. The research is about the indicator parameters of landslides by combining rain gauge sensors, soil moisture sensors, ground shift sensors and groundwater pressure sensors using Arduino Promini. The data from sensor is sent through LoRa Bee to the database server using NodeMCU ESP8266 which is connected to the Internet in real-time through access points. The data that has been sent to the server will be processed and displayed on the website. In this paper, the author devises an algorithm for analysing the data from each sensor to a decision-making strategy. The decision-making method for an early warning of landslides uses a decision tree that compares the measured parameters with a predetermined threshold of each sensor. After analysis and testing, this system is expected to provide early warning of the landslides quickly and accurately.
A recursive pattern recognition approach to selection web services in cloud environment

There are optimization problems in the Cloud for the selection of web services, due to the large number of services available by different cloud providers and the diversity of quality of service parameters of each of them. This work proposes the adaptation of a pattern recognition model based on the systematic functioning of the brain called Ar2p for the selection of web services in composition activities in Cloud environments. The web serice are represented as patterns to be recognized by Ar2p, which determines the necessary and sufficient web services that constitute the composition of services that meet its functional and non-functional requirements. The services composition and activity selection have been formalized through a logical-mathematical model of web service recognition mechanisms in two steps, one that describes the syntactic search of the service and the second, which offers filtering through quality of service parameters. An adaptive implementation of the final model allows its recognition modules to be provided with any desired optimization strategy.
Effects of fungal seed pathogens under conspecific and heterospecific trees in a temperate forest

This study investigated the impacts of soil fungi on seeds of two eastern North American temperate-zone trees: Acer saccharum Marsh. (sugar maple) and Tsuga canadensis (L.) Carr (eastern hemlock). Seeds of each species were buried at locations dominated by either conspecifics or heterospecifics. Half were protected with fungicide, and the net consequences for survival and germination were assessed. Net effects of fungicide usually were positive, indicating that pathogens affected seeds more strongly than any potential mutualists. Losses of A. saccharum to fungi were modest, and almost identical in areas dominated by itself versus areas dominated by T. canadensis. In contrast, fungal impacts on T. canadensis were strongly habitat-dependent: losses to fungi were high in T. canadensis-dominated sites, but not in A. saccharum-dominated sites. This result is consistent with an accumulation of host-specific pathogens, either by a direct feedback between T. canadensis and its fungal enemies, or indirectly throug.
Resident and transient dynamics, site fidelity and survival in wintering Blackcaps Sylvia atricapilla: evidence from capture–recapture analyses

In their winter quarters, migrant birds may either remain within a small area (resident strategy) or move frequently over a large area looking for locally abundant food (transient strategy). It has been suggested that both strategies could simultaneously occur in the same population. We used time-since-marking capture‐recapture models to infer the coexistence of these two behavioural strategies (transient and resident) among wintering Blackcaps Sylvia atricapilla using weekly recapture data over a 7-year period. A related question is whether Blackcaps, if surviving to the next winter, always return to the same wintering area, so we also used this approach to analyse winter site fidelity and to estimate annual survival probabilities. Model selection supported the existence of heterogeneity in survival estimates for both the within-season and the interannual survival probabilities, i.e. there was evidence for the existence of transients. It was estimated that 26% of the Blackcaps were resident during the winter. Mean apparent annual survival probability was 0.46 (se = ± 0.11). However, there was some evidence suggesting that not all individuals showed winter site fidelity. The estimated proportion of individuals that, if alive, returned to the wintering area was 28%. This is the first study to show the existence of these two behavioural strategies (residence and transience) among wintering Blackcaps, and the first confirming this pattern using capture‐recapture models. These models considering transient and resident dynamics may become an important tool with which to analyse wintering strategies.
Influence of water stress on the glucosinolate profile of Brassica oleracea var. italica and the performance of Brevicoryne brassicae and Myzus persicae

Drought stress alters the chemical composition of plants, which can influence their tolerance to insect herbivory. To evaluate plant chemical responses to drought stress, broccoli, Brassica oleracea L. var. italica Plenck (Brassicaceae), was grown under well‐watered, drought, and water‐logged conditions. The glucosinolate (GS) levels and the performance of two aphid species, the specialist Brevicoryne brassicae (L.) and the generalist Myzus persicae (Sulzer) (both Hemiptera: Aphididae), in relation to water stress conditions were studied. High Performance Liquid Chromatography analysis showed that water stress changed the levels of GS in broccoli plants. Plants grown for 2 weeks under drought stress were significantly smaller and showed decreased levels of total GS when compared with GS contents of well‐watered plants, whereas water‐logged conditions led to a slight increase in the GS contents. A substantial decrease in indolyl GS was detected in water‐deficient plants, whereas aliphatic GS decreased slightly. Analysis of sugar levels in phloem sap of broccoli plants revealed that plants under water‐logged conditions contained the highest amounts of sugars followed by drought‐stressed and well‐watered plants. The two aphid species responded differently to water stress‐induced changes in their host plants. Significantly larger populations of M. persicae were recorded on plants with a limited water supply than on plants grown under well‐watered or water‐logged conditions. Brevicoryne brassicae was less affected by water stress, and similar population sizes were found on plants that were subject to different treatments. Analysis of covariance showed a significant effect of the plants’ water condition but no significant effect of GS content on the performance of M. persicae. However, the specialist B. brassicae remained unaffected by changes induced under water stress conditions.
Simulation of strip-gap arrangement in cedar plantations to regulate the light environment and competition between dwarf bamboo and beech seedlings

Summary We estimate a suitable strip-gap arrangement in Japanese cedar (Cryptomeria japonica) plantations to promote the growth of beech (Fagus crenata) seedlings and control dwarf bamboo (Sasa kurilensis) in mountainous areas using a hemispherical model and United States Geological Survey Digital Elevation Model (DEM). Clarification was also sought on whether the gap arrangement should be altered with topography and original stand structure. Nine modelled plantations were established by combining tree inventory and DEM data from three C.japonica plantations. We simulated spatial and temporal variations in photosynthetic photon flux density in stands 5 years after strip-gap creation under six scenarios for each modelled stand and integrated the light responses of F. crenata seedlings and S. kurikensis into the model. Finer strip-gap mosaics with gap width narrower than half the tree height inhibit the growth of S. kurikensis and provide a wider area suitable for F. crenata growth. Our simulation indicated a suitable strip-gap arrangement should be based on the stand structure but not necessarily on topography. However, it indicated that the possible range of practical gap arrangements changed with topography. The decision-support model for gap arrangement used in this study combined with DEM data provides flexible gap creation options adaptable to specific plantations in mountainous areas.
Altered physiological and growth responses to elevated [CO2] in offspring from holm oak (Quercus ilex L.) mother trees with lifetime exposure to naturally elevated [CO2]

An important question with respect to plant performance in future climatic scenarios is whether the offspring of mature trees that have experienced lifelong exposure to elevated [CO2] show altered physiological responses to elevated [CO2] compared with those originating from current ambient CO2 concentrations. To investigate this question, acorns were collected from two seed sources, denoted as ‘control’ and ‘spring’, from Quercus ilex mother trees grown at ambient (36 Pa) and at about twice ambient CO2 concentrations, respectively, close to a natural CO2 spring, Laiatico, central Italy. The seedlings were raised for 8 months under controlled conditions at ambient and elevated [CO2] in a reciprocal experimental design and were used for the determination of biomass, photosynthesis and foliar carbohydrate concentrations, as well as the accumulation of structural biomass and lignin during leaf maturation. Under ambient [CO2], biomass and foliar carbon acquisition in control progeny were not significantly different from spring progeny. However, under elevated [CO2], spring seedlings showed less CO2 acclimation than control seedlings but no significant differences in non-structural carbohydrate concentrations and structural biomass per unit leaf dry mass. Developmental lignin accumulation in leaves was delayed under elevated [CO2] compared with ambient [CO2], but only in control progeny. Under elevated [CO2], whole-plant biomass, leaf area and stem diameter were significantly increased in Quercus ilex seedlings from both seed sources but with a higher stimulation of above-ground biomass in spring than in control seedlings and a higher stimulation of below-ground biomass in control seedlings. These results indicate that life history and/or progeny may determine the species-specific CO2 response and suggest that positive CO2 acclimation is possible.
Occurrence and distribution of endophytic fungi in a mangrove community

Seven dominant mangrove species of an estuarine mangrove forest in south India were studied for the presence of foliar endophytes. Mitosporic fungi, ascomycetes and sterile mycelia were isolated from the leaves of the mangrove hosts studied. Although many endophytes were common to more than one host, the endophyte assemblage of each mangrove species was dominated by different endophyte species.
Centrophenoxine slows down but does not reverse, lipofuscin accumulation in cultured cells.

Centrophenoxine, a drug used in the treatment of senile dementia, has been suggested to retard, or even reverse, lipofuscin accumulation within postmitotic cells. However, a true capacity of centrophenoxine to eliminate already formed lipofuscin inclusions has not been convincingly demonstrated. Moreover, no evidence has been obtained regarding the possible mechanisms through which intracellular content of lipofuscin would be diminished by centrophenoxine. Here we show that (a) centrophenoxine at concentrations of 0.25 or 0.5 mM diminishes lipofuscin accumulation within cultured neonatal rat cardiac myocytes (by 44% or 51%, respectively, during a period of 2 weeks) when it was constantly present in the culture medium; (b) the same treatment of rat cardiac myocytes and AG-1518 human f ibroblasts, however, does not eliminate already formed lipofuscin inclusions; (c) the formation of autophagic vacuoles, and ensuing degradation of their contents, are not influenced by centrophenoxine. Thus, our results do no.