Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Growth performances, nutrient utilization and carcass traits in broiler chickens fed with a normal and a low energy diet supplemented with inorganic chromium (as chromium chloride hexahydrate) and a combination of inorganic chromium and ascorbic acid

Diets for broiler chickens (n=90) were supplemented with chromium (CrCl3, 6H2O), either alone (0·2 mg/kg diet) or in a combination with ascorbic acid (0·2 mg Cr and 50 mg ascorbic acid/kg diet). The objectives of the study were to ascertain if ascorbic acid had any additive effect on the actions of chromium and whether chromium supplementation could alleviate the nutritional stress in the birds imposed by a reduced energy intake. The birds were fed at the recommended (Bureau of Indian Standards 1992) and at a lower plane of energy. Live-weight gain and diet utilization were higher (P<0·01) when the normal energy diet supplemented with chromium was fed. Food intake (35 days) was higher (P<0·001) in the birds fed with the low energy diet. There was an increase (P<0·01) in metabolizability due to the supplementation of chromium. The metabolizability of crude protein and total carbohydrate increased (P<0·05) when chromium and ascorbic acid were supplemented together. Chromium intake was higher (P<0·001) in the supplemented birds, especially in those fed with the low energy diet (P<0·05), though its retention was higher (P<0·05) when the normal energy diet was given. Chromium in combination with ascorbic acid also enhanced (P<0·01) chromium retention. Blood glucose (P<0·001) and plasma cholesterol (P<0·05) were lower in the supplemented birds and blood glucose was reduced further when ascorbic acid was supplemented together with chromium (P<0·01). Plasma protein increased (P<0·05) in the supplemented chickens. However, variation in the dietary energy concentration did not exert any significant effect on these blood parameters. Plasma chromium was higher (P<0·05) in the supplemented birds, though chromium had little effect in this regard with ascorbic acid. Plasma copper increased (P<0·05) when chromium was supplemented alone and increased further (P<0·05) when chromium and ascorbic acid were supplemented together. Deposition of chromium in the breast and thighs increased (P<0·05) due to supplementation. Protein content and total accretion of protein in the carcass were higher (P<0·05) when chromium was supplemented alone and with ascorbic acid. The supplemented birds had less (P<0·01) fat per 100 g of carcass irrespective of the dietary energy concentration. Weight of the hot carcass increased (P<0·05) due to chromium supplementation although dietary energy concentration did not affect this particular parameter. It was concluded that inorganic chromium supplementation (0·2 mg chromium/kg diet) might effectively enhance the growth performance, diet utilization and carcass characteristics in broiler chickens. Addition of ascorbic acid might also be beneficial in this regard. However, dietary energy concentration was more critical and to yield the maximum benefit of Cr supplementation in broiler chickens, an optimum level was essential.
Human RAD18 is involved in S phase-specific single-strand break repair without PCNA monoubiquitination

Switching from a replicative to a translesion polymerase is an important step to further continue on replication at the site of DNA lesion. Recently, RAD18 (a ubiquitin ligase) was shown to monoubiquitinate proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) in cooperation with RAD6 (a ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme) at the replication-stalled sites, causing the polymerase switch. Analyzing RAD18-knockout (RAD18−/−) cells generated from human HCT116 cells, in addition to the polymerase switch, we found a new function of RAD18 for S phase-specific DNA single-strand break repair (SSBR). Unlike the case with polymerase switching, PCNA monoubiquitination was not necessary for the SSBR. When compared with wild-type HCT116 cells, RAD18−/− cells, defective in the repair of X-ray-induced chromosomal aberrations, were significantly hypersensitive to X-ray-irradiation and also to the topoisomerase I inhibitor camptothecin (CPT) capable of inducing single-strand breaks but were not so sensitive to the topoisomerase II inhibitor etoposide capable of inducing double-strand breaks. However, such hypersensitivity to CPT observed with RAD18−/− cells was limited to only the S phase due to the absence of the RAD18 S phase-specific function. Furthermore, the defective SSBR observed in S phase of RAD18−/− cells was also demonstrated by alkaline comet assay.
Predictions of response to selection caused by angling in a wild population of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar)

Summary 1. Recreational angling activities in wild populations of Atlantic salmon may induce a selection pressure towards a reduction in body size and length if the angling season coincides with the return of the largest sea age fish class. 2. Using estimates of heritability for growth traits and estimates of the selection pressure from angling operating on growth, we predicted the response to selection expected to occur in a wild population of Atlantic salmon. 3. The dataset used here comprised individuals from two consecutive generations (parents and offspring) from the River Bidasoa (NW Spain). Offspring were assigned to parents using six highly polymorphic microsatellite loci. Use of restricted maximum likelihood methodology and the animal model allowed us to estimate the heritability for body length and body weight as well as their genetic correlation. 4. Estimated heritabilities (0.32 ± 0.12 for length and 0.32 ± 0.11 for weight) and selection pressure caused by angling were used to obtain predictions of response to selection because of angling. Our results suggested a decline of 1.9 mm in body length and 103.3 g in body weight per generation because of angling pressure. 5. The results derived from this study suggest that the angling season should be annually delayed in order to avoid selective angling of the multi-year class and further reductions in body weight and length.
The extraction of fungal DNA from multiple large soil samples

A commercial electric paint shaker was utilized to enable the simultaneous extraction of DNA from multiple large soil samples. A bead homogenization procedure was used to extract DNA from soil samples added to tubes. Soils infested with chlamydospores of the phytopathogenic fungus Cylindrocarpon destructans were used to evaluate the procedure. Glass beads and zirconium-oxide beads of various diameters were compared for their ability to extract DNA and reduce fungal colony-forming units (CFU) on agar media after shaking treatments. Total extracted DNA was measured using fluorometry, and DNA quality was assessed using gel electrophoresis. Twenty minutes of shaking with 1-mm-diameter zirconium-oxide beads provided the highest recovery of DNA from soil and resulted in 98% reduction of colony forming units, compared with nonshaken soil. Components of the extraction solution (calcium chloride, proteinase K, sodium dodecyl sulfate) were evaluated for their effects on DNA yield and on amplification by polymerase chain reaction. Minimum amounts of these materials provided maximum yield, but their impacts on amplification by polymerase chain reaction were dependent upon the primer set used. Amplification of extracts, using the optimized extraction procedure, successfully detected C. destructans in naturally infested soil. Total DNA yields resulting from this procedure were at least as high as those obtained with commercial extraction kits
Shedding Light on the Role of Extracellular Vesicles in HIV Infection and Wound Healing

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) play an important role in intercellular communication. They are naturally released from cells into the extracellular environment. Based on their biogenesis, release pathways, size, content, and function, EVs are classified into exosomes, microvesicles (MVs), and apoptotic bodies (ApoBDs). Previous research has documented that EVs, specifically exosomes and MVs, play an important role in HIV infection, either by promoting HIV infection and pathogenesis or by inhibiting HIV-1 to a certain extent. We have also previously reported that EVs (particularly exosomes) from vaginal fluids inhibit HIV at the post-entry step (i.e., reverse transcription, integration). Besides the role that EVs play in HIV, they are also known to regulate the process of wound healing by regulating both the immune and inflammatory responses. It is noted that during the advanced stages of HIV infection, patients are at greater risk of wound-healing and wound-related complications. Despite ongoing research, the data on the actual effects of EVs in HIV infection and wound healing are still premature. This review aimed to update the current knowledge about the roles of EVs in regulating HIV pathogenesis and wound healing. Additionally, we highlighted several avenues of EV involvement in the process of wound healing, including coagulation, inflammation, proliferation, and extracellular matrix remodeling. Understanding the role of EVs in HIV infection and wound healing could significantly contribute to the development of new and potent antiviral therapeutic strategies and approaches to resolve impaired wounds in HIV patients.
The Targeted Impact of Flavones on Obesity-Induced Inflammation and the Potential Synergistic Role in Cancer and the Gut Microbiota

Obesity is an inflammatory disease that is approaching pandemic levels, affecting nearly 30% of the world’s total population. Obesity increases the risk of diabetes, cardiovascular disorders, and cancer, consequentially impacting the quality of life and imposing a serious socioeconomic burden. Hence, reducing obesity and related life-threatening conditions has become a paramount health challenge. The chronic systemic inflammation characteristic of obesity promotes adipose tissue remodeling and metabolic changes. Macrophages, the major culprits in obesity-induced inflammation, contribute to sustaining a dysregulated immune function, which creates a vicious adipocyte–macrophage crosstalk, leading to insulin resistance and metabolic disorders. Therefore, targeting regulatory inflammatory pathways has attracted great attention to overcome obesity and its related conditions. However, the lack of clinical efficacy and the undesirable side-effects of available therapeutic options for obesity provide compelling reasons for the need to identify additional approaches for the prevention and treatment of obesity-induced inflammation. Plant-based active metabolites or nutraceuticals and diets with an increased content of these compounds are emerging as subjects of intense scientific investigation, due to their ability to ameliorate inflammatory conditions and offer safe and cost-effective opportunities to improve health. Flavones are a class of flavonoids with anti-obesogenic, anti-inflammatory and anti-carcinogenic properties. Preclinical studies have laid foundations by establishing the potential role of flavones in suppressing adipogenesis, inducing browning, modulating immune responses in the adipose tissues, and hindering obesity-induced inflammation. Nonetheless, the understanding of the molecular mechanisms responsible for the anti-obesogenic activity of flavones remains scarce and requires further investigations. This review recapitulates the molecular aspects of obesity-induced inflammation and the crosstalk between adipocytes and macrophages, while focusing on the current evidence on the health benefits of flavones against obesity and chronic inflammation, which has been positively correlated with an enhanced cancer incidence. We conclude the review by highlighting the areas of research warranting a deeper investigation, with an emphasis on flavones and their potential impact on the crosstalk between adipocytes, the immune system, the gut microbiome, and their role in the regulation of obesity.
A Simple Model for Temperature Regulation in Honeybee Swarms

Abstract A non-linear heat production and diffusion equation model for thermoregulation in a stationary swarm of honeybees is presented. The model assumes that individual bees' behaviour is governed solely by their body temperature. The results are qualitatively similar to observations and support the theory that no co-ordination within the swarm is necessary for thermoregulation.
Comparison of Barium Enema and frozen section results in the diagnosis of Hirschsprung's Disease in a tertiary care hospital at Aceh, Indonesia.

INTRODUCTION Hirschsprung's Disease (HD) also called congenital aganglionic megacolon is a disorder caused by undeveloped distal to proximal intestinal nerve ganglion cells. Diagnosis includes determining the aganglionic segment through barium enema radiology examination and histopathology of frozen section with permanent section as gold standard. Determining the diagnostic value of this modality is important for operative management decision. MATERIALS AND METHODS The study was a retrospective, cross-sectional study with diagnostic test design. Patient data were obtained in the form of clinical symptoms, barium enema, and frozen section expertise were assessed for the suitability of the diagnostic value by referring to the permanent section as the gold standard. RESULT Thirty-four patient data were obtained. The sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of barium enemas were 95%, 69.2%, and 82%, respectively. The values of sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of frozen section were 95%, 92.8%, and 88%, respectively. The Cohen-Kappa statistic value was 0.62 (good agreement). CONCLUSION Accuracy of FS is better than barium enema in diagnosing HD. In health care center with limitation of histopathological facility, BE could be used as the alternative procedure as interrater comparisons showed good agreement. Therefore, either frozen section or barium enema can be carried out in common or in separate term.
Maternal Obesity and the Uterine Immune Cell Landscape: The Shaping Role of Inflammation

Inflammation is often equated to the physiological response to injury or infection. Inflammatory responses defined by cytokine storms control cellular mechanisms that can either resolve quickly (i.e., acute inflammation) or remain prolonged and unabated (i.e., chronic inflammation). Perhaps less well-appreciated is the importance of inflammatory processes central to healthy pregnancy, including implantation, early stages of placentation, and parturition. Pregnancy juxtaposed with disease can lead to the perpetuation of aberrant inflammation that likely contributes to or potentiates maternal morbidity and poor fetal outcome. Maternal obesity, a prevalent condition within women of reproductive age, associates with increased risk of developing multiple pregnancy disorders. Importantly, chronic low-grade inflammation is thought to underlie the development of obesity-related obstetric and perinatal complications. While diverse subsets of uterine immune cells play central roles in initiating and maintaining healthy pregnancy, uterine leukocyte dysfunction as a result of maternal obesity may underpin the development of pregnancy disorders. In this review we discuss the current knowledge related to the impact of maternal obesity and obesity-associated inflammation on uterine immune cell function, utero-placental establishment, and pregnancy health.
Interaction of wheat micronization and cultivar on its feeding value for broilers

Three experiments were conducted to investigate the interaction between micronization and cultivar of wheat on grain chemical composition and feeding value for chickens. Micronized whole grain feeding was evaluated in one experiment using inclusion levels of 10 and 50% for starter and grower diets, respectively. Dietary enzyme was used in two other experiments to study its interaction with micronization and genotype of wheat. Wheat cultivars Genesis, Kyle, and Katepwa were micronized at 100°C for 50 s and incorporated into broiler diets. Micronization improved overall feed efficiency, but did not always increase body weight. When feeding whole grain to birds, micronization improved feed efficiency from 21 to 42 d and 0 to 42 d, but did not affect final body weight. Micronization of wheat cultivars reduced early growth rate of all birds, regardless of wheat form in the diets. Micronization did not impact AME and digesta viscosity. Cultivar Kyle had a higher dietary AME and a lower digesta viscosity, and re.
Editorial - Present Status and Future Trends in Adult and Embryonic Stem Cell Research

Stem cells in general and pluripotent stem cells in particular have gained tremendous interest in the recent years, primarily driven by the hope of finding cures for several debilitating human diseases through cell transplantation (regenerating medicine). Pluripotent stem cells have the inherent ability to reproduce indefinitely and have the capability to produce all the 220 different types of cells constituting the human body and thus offer tremendous therapeutic potentials. The isolation of human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) from embryos and their successful culture in the petrii dish in 1998 [1] has been considered the biggest breakthrough of the 21st century. This has been followed by another remarkable breakthrough in 2006 when scientists demonstrated for the first time that such pluripotent stem cells could be produced from adult somatic tissues by reprogramming without having to use human embryos [2]. These pluripotent stem cells are called the induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells. Production of iPS cells has been considered as the biggest discovery of this decade. Both hESCs and iPS cells are pluripotent and are highly versatile and offer tremendous therapeutic potential for finding cures for many incurable diseases such as diabetes, Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, and many other diseases via stem cell therapeutic in the next decade or so. Adult stem cells, particularly the haematopoietic stem cells (HSC) and the neural stem cells (NSC) have been in literature for some decades and during the last few years such adult stem cells have also been derived now from almost all the adult tissues, skin, pancreas, liver, heart, kidney, including those from body fluid like amniotic fluid and even menstrual blood, umbilical chord blood. Adult stem cells have already been successfully used in human therapies for many years. The in depth information gained from adult stem cell research during all these years has played a very critical and significant role in advancing the current field of pluripotent stem cell research that is now poised towards regenerative medicine. Stem cells are a promising source of biological material for regenerative medicine and recently the concept of producing autologous or customized pluripotent stem cells from somatic cells (iPS technology) has attracted the attention of investigators and clinicians who seek a feasible methodology for cell therapy that can be applied to the treatment of patients with degenerative diseases and organ failure as well as experimental applications for drug discovery, screening and toxicology, etc. These stem cells whether adult, embryonic …
Seed size and mass in relation to environment

Propagule masses are here recorded for shade-tolerant species belonging to 20 genera which show an average of about three-and-one-third times the mass of the propagules of co-generic species of open habitats. These are additional to the 30 genera already reported on by the author. Propagules of cornfield weeds belonging to 18 genera are shown to exhibit greater masses than their congeners, even though some of these are shade-tolerant, and this, it is suggested, may be the outcome of the prolonged selective effect of ‘winnowing’. Other causes of heavy propagules of open-habitat species are suggested, indicative of natural selection.
Biodegradation of 4‐nitrobenzoate, 4‐aminobenzoate and their mixtures: new strains, unusual metabolites and insights into pathway regulation

Strains PB4 (Burkholderia cepacia) and SB4 (Ralstonia paucula) were isolated on 4-aminobenzoate and found to also grow on 4-nitrobenzoate. Nevertheless, and although reduction of a nitro group into an amino group is a thermodynamically favorable reaction, the main 4-nitrobenzoate degradation pathway used by these bacteria did not involve 4-aminobenzoate as an intermediate. Rather strains PB4 and SB4 used the previously described partial reduction into 4-hydroxylaminobenzoate, subsequently converted into protocatechuate. Remarkably, both microorganisms also harbored a mutase, through which two dead-end metabolites, 3-hydroxy-4-aminobenzoate and 3-hydroxy-4-acetamidobenzoate, were produced. Regulation of the pathways appeared to differ in both strains. In strain PB4, both 4-nitro- and 4-aminobenzoate were able to induce their own degradation as well as the degradation of the corresponding aminated or nitrated derivative. On the other hand, when strain SB4 was incubated with mixtures of 4-nitro- and 4-aminobenzoate, 4-aminobenzoate strongly interfered with the degradation of 4-nitrobenzoate, even when the nitro compound was the inducer. Since aminoaromatic compounds are common co-contaminants of nitroaromatic-polluted sites, bacteria such as strains PB4 and SB4, which can mineralize both a nitroaromatic compound and its corresponding amino derivative, are relevant subjects of investigation in the interest of a complete site remediation.
Aquaculture of the yabbie, Cherax destructor Clark (Decapoda: Parastacidae): an economic evaluation

Budgeting techniques are used to estimate the profitability of establishing commercial yabbie, Cherax destructor Clark, farms of various sizes in Australia. While commercial yabbie fanning is potentially profitable, returns are very sensitive to the production level achieved and the price obtained. These parameters are uncertain, implying that the development of a commercial yabbie farm is a risky investment. Profitability increases as farm size increases from 5 to 20 ha. However, the optimum farm size is not known. Areas in which additional research into the aquaculture of the yabbie may generate large economic benefits are identified.
Establishment of stable Vero cell lines expressing TMPRSS2 and MSPL: A useful tool for propagating porcine epidemic diarrhea virus in the absence of exogenous trypsin

ABSTRACT Porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) is the causative agent of porcine epidemic diarrhea, causing substantial economic losses to the swine industry worldwide. However, the development of PEDV vaccine is hampered by its low propagation titer in vitro, due to difficulty in adapting to the cells and complex culture conditions, even in the presence of trypsin. Furthermore, the frequent variation, recombination, and evolution of PEDV resulted in reemergence and vaccination failure. In this study, we established the Vero/TMPRSS2 and Vero/MSPL cell lines, constitutively expressing type II transmembrane serine protease TMPRSS2 and MSPL, in order to increase the stability and titer of PEDV culture and isolation in vitro. Our study revealed that the Vero/TMPRSS2, especially Vero/MSPL cell lines, can effectively facilitate the titer and multicycle replication of cell-adapted PEDV in the absence of exogenous trypsin, by cleaving and activating PEDV S protein. Furthermore, our results also highlighted that Vero/TMPRSS2 and Vero/MSPL cells can significantly enhance the isolation of PEDV from the clinical tissue samples as well as promote viral infection and replication by cell-cell fusion. The successful construction of the Vero/TMPRSS2 and Vero/MSPL cell lines provides a useful approach for the isolation and propagation of PEDV, simplification of virus culture, and large-scale production of industrial vaccine, and the cell lines are also an important system to research PEDV S protein cleaved by host protease.