Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Trends and knowledge gaps in field research investigating effects of anthropogenic noise

Anthropogenic noise is a globally widespread sensory pollutant, recognized as having potentially adverse effects on function, demography, and physiology in wild animals. Human population growth and associated changes in urbanization, transportation, and resource extraction all contribute to anthropogenic noise and are predicted to increase in the coming decades. Wildlife exposure to anthropogenic noise is expected to rise correspondingly. Data collected through field research are uniquely important in advancing understanding of the real‐world repercussions of human activity on wildlife. We, therefore, performed a systematic review of literature published from 2008 to 2018 that reported on field investigations of anthropogenic noise impacts. We evaluated publication metrics (e.g., publication rates and journal type), geographical distribution of studies, study subject, and methods used. Research activity increased markedly over the assessment period. However, there was a pronounced geographical bias in research, with most being conducted in North America or Europe, and a notable focus on terrestrial environments. Fewer than one‐fifth of terrestrial studies were located in rural areas likely to experience urbanization by 2030, meaning data on ecosystems most likely to be affected by future changes are not being gathered. There was also bias in the taxonomic groups investigated. Most research was conducted on birds and aquatic mammals, whereas terrestrial mammals, reptiles, amphibians, fish, and invertebrates received limited attention. Almost all terrestrial studies examined diurnal species, despite evidence that nocturnality is the prevailing animal activity pattern. Nearly half the studies investigated effects of road or urban noise; the bulk of research was restricted to functional, rather than physiological or demographic consequences. Few experimental studies addressed repercussions of long‐term exposure to anthropogenic noise or long‐term postexposure effects, and multiple noise types or levels were rarely compared. Tackling these knowledge gaps will be vital for successful management of the effects of increasing wildlife exposure to anthropogenic noise.
3D Electrophysiological Modeling of Interstitial Fibrosis Networks and Their Role in Ventricular Arrhythmias in Non-Ischemic Cardiomyopathy

Objective: Interstitial fibrosis is a pathological expansion of the heart's inter-cellular collagen matrix. It is a potential complication of nonischemic cardiomyopathy (NICM), a class of diseases involving electrical and or mechanical dysfunction of cardiac tissue not caused by atherosclerosis. Patients with NICM and interstitial fibrosis often suffer from life threatening arrhythmias, which we aim to simulate in this study. Methods: Our methodology builds on an efficient discrete finite element (DFE) method which allows for the representation of fibrosis as infinitesimal splits in a mesh. We update the DFE method with a local connectivity analysis which creates a consistent topology in the fibrosis network. This is particularly important in nonischemic disease due to the potential presence of large and contiguous fibrotic regions and therefore potentially complex fibrosis networks. Results: In experiments with an image-based model, we demonstrate that our methodology is able to simulate reentrant electrical events associated with cardiac arrhythmias. These reentries depended crucially upon sufficient fibrosis density, which was marked by conduction slowing at high pacing rates. We also created a 2D test-case which demonstrated that fibrosis topologies can modulate transient conduction block, and thereby reentrant activations. Conclusion: Ventricular arrhythmias due to interstitial fibrosis in NICM can be efficiently simulated using our methods in medical image based geometries. Furthermore, fibrosis topology modulates transient conduction block, and should be accounted for in electrophysiological simulations with interstitial fibrosis. Significance: Our study provides methodology which has the potential to predict arrhythmias and to optimize treatments non-invasively for nonischemic cardiomyopathies.
Melatonin Enhances Cold Tolerance by Regulating Energy and Proline Metabolism in Litchi Fruit

Melatonin (MLT) is a vital signaling molecule that regulates multiple physiological processes in higher plants. In the current study, the role of MLT in regulating chilling tolerance and its possible mechanisms in litchi fruit during storage at ambient temperatures after its removal from refrigeration was investigated. The results show that the application of MLT (400 μM, dipping for 20 min) to ‘Baitangying’ litchi fruit effectively delayed the development of chilling injury (CI) while inhibiting pericarp discoloration, as indicated by higher chromacity values (L*, a*, b*) and anthocyanin levels. MLT treatment suppressed the enhancements of the relative electrical conductivity (REC) and malondialdehyde (MDA) content, which might contribute to the maintenance of membrane integrity in litchi fruit. MLT treatment slowed the decline in cellular energy level, as evidenced by higher adenosine triphosphate (ATP) content and a higher energy charge (EC), which might be ascribed to the increased activities of enzymes associated with energy metabolism including H+-ATPase, Ca2+-ATPase, succinate dehydrogenase (SDH), and cytochrome C oxidase (CCO). In addition, MLT treatment resulted in enhanced proline accumulation, which was likely a consequence of the increased activities of ornithine-δ-aminotransferase (OAT) and Δ1-pyrroline-5-carboxylate synthase (P5CS) and the suppressed activity of proline dehydrogenase (PDH). These results suggest that the enhanced chilling tolerance of litchi fruit after MLT treatment might involve the regulation of energy and proline metabolism.
Impact of Prebiotics and Synbiotics Administered in ovo on the Immune Response against Experimental Antigens in Chicken Broilers

Simple Summary The immune system of chickens matures in the course of embryonic development. Early in ovo supplementation with bioactive substances leads to the long-term maintenance of a high level of intestine bifidobacteria, reduces the number of detrimental microorganisms in the gut, modulates the central and peripheral lymphatic organ development in broilers, and stimulates gut-associated lymphoid tissues (GALT) development after hatching. In this investigation, we studied whether the early in ovo application (at the 12th day of embryo incubation) of selected bioactives (prebiotics and synbiotics) influences the humoral immune response against experimental antigens, and the delayed-type hypersensitivity (DTH) skin reaction to experimental mitogen. This study demonstrated that the in ovo application of bioactives did not significantly influence the humoral immune response against T-dependent and T-independent model antigens. Prebiotics in chickens immunized with T-dependent antigen (SRBC) protected them from a retarded rise of the IgG concentration. Bioactives reduced the mortality of birds, markedly with inulin (−6.4%), and the DTH reaction to phytohemagglutinin on the 7th and 21st day after hatching. Abstract The effect of the in ovo application of selected prebiotics and synbiotics on the humoral immune response against T-dependent (SRBC) and T-independent (dextran) antigens and delayed-type hypersensitivity (DTH) to phytohemagglutinin was studied. On the 12th day of incubation, 800 eggs (Ross 308) were divided into five groups and injected into the egg air chamber with prebiotic inulin (Pre1), Bi2tos (Pre2), a synbiotic composed of inulin and Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis IBB SL1 (Syn1), a synbiotic composed of Bi2tos and L. lactis subsp. cremoris IBB SC1 (Syn2), and physiological saline (control group; C). The chickens were immunized twice at the 7th and 21st day of life with SRBC and dextran. A DTH test was performed on the 7th, 21st, and 35th day. The application of prebiotics and synbiotics had no significant effect on the humoral immune response. SRBC-immunized in ovo Pre1- and Pre2-treated chickens showed significantly higher serum IgG levels than the control. A significant effect on the DTH reaction was detected on the 7th (Pre1 < C) and 21st (Pre2 > Syn2) day. However; Bi2tos may transiently stimulate the cellular immune response on the 21st day. It may be concluded that the application of inulin in an egg air chamber on the 12th day of incubation may stimulate the secondary immune response. The inulin-treated group exhibited a lower mortality rate than the control group.
Are Randomized Controlled Trials on Pharmacotherapy and Psychotherapy for Positive Symptoms of Schizophrenia Comparable? A Systematic Review of Patient and Study Characteristics.

BACKGROUND We examined patient and study characteristics of pharmacotherapy and psychotherapy trials to establish whether the effects of these 2 treatment strategies can be compared meaningfully. METHODS We inspected all randomized controlled trials included in 2 recent meta-analyses on antipsychotics and psychotherapy in patients with positive symptoms of schizophrenia, searching EMBASE, MEDLINE, PsycINFO, Cochrane Library, and ClinicalTrials.gov. Differences between psychotherapy and pharmacotherapy trials were analyzed with Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney and chi-square tests. RESULTS Eighty studies with 18 271 participants on antipsychotic drugs and 53 studies with 4068 participants on psychotherapy were included. Psychotherapy studies included less severely ill patients (P < .0001), with a shorter duration of illness (P = .021), lasted for a longer period (P < .0001), administered the intervention as add-on to antipsychotics (P < .0001), had higher risk of bias in some domains including blinding of outcome assessment (P < .0001), and were funded publicly more frequently (P < .0001). Antipsychotic trials had larger sample sizes (P < .0001) and more study centers (P < .0001), included more males (P = .0001), inpatients (P < .0001), and slightly older patients (P = .031), more often used diagnostic operationalized criteria (P = .006), and were sponsored by pharmaceutical companies. They did not differ in conflict of interest (P = .24). CONCLUSIONS We found key differences between the 2 groups of studies that encompass higher risk of bias in psychotherapy studies and the inclusion of more severe patients in drug trials. These differences imply that study and patient characteristics should be carefully taken into account before considering a network meta-analysis. In the interest of patients, psychopharmacologists and psychotherapists should optimize their treatments rather than seeing them in competition.
The effect of myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) severity on cellular bioenergetic function

Myalgic encephalomyelitis/ Chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) has been associated with abnormalities in mitochondrial function. In this study we have analysed previous bioenergetics data in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) using new techniques in order to further elucidate differences between ME/CFS and healthy control cohorts. We stratified our ME/CFS cohort into two individual cohorts representing moderately and severely affected patients in order to determine if disease severity is associated with bioenergetic function in PBMCs. Both ME/CFS cohorts showed reduced mitochondrial function when compared to a healthy control cohort. This shows that disease severity does not correlate with mitochondrial function and even those with a moderate form of the disease show evidence of mitochondrial dysfunction. Equations devised by another research group have enabled us to calculate ATP-linked respiration rates and glycolytic parameters. Parameters of glycolytic function were calculated by taking into account respiratory acidification. This revealed severely affected ME/CFS patients to have higher rates of respiratory acidification and showed the importance of accounting for respiratory acidification when calculating parameters of glycolytic function. Analysis of previously published glycolysis data, after taking into account respiratory acidification, showed severely affected patients have reduced glycolysis compared to moderately affected patients and healthy controls. Rates of ATP-linked respiration were also calculated and shown to be lower in both ME/CFS cohorts. This study shows that severely affected patients have mitochondrial and glycolytic impairments, which sets them apart from moderately affected patients who only have mitochondrial impairment. This may explain why these patients present with a more severe phenotype.
Hybrid Breeding for MLN Resistance: Heterosis, Combining Ability, and Hybrid Prediction

Prior knowledge on heterosis and quantitative genetic parameters on maize lethal necrosis (MLN) can help the breeders to develop numerous resistant or tolerant hybrids with optimum resources. Our objectives were to (1) estimate the quantitative genetic parameters for MLN disease severity, (2) investigate the efficiency of the prediction of hybrid performance based on parental per se and general combining ability (GCA) effects, and (3) examine the potential of hybrid prediction for MLN resistance or tolerance based on markers. Fifty elite maize inbred lines were selected based on their response to MLN under artificial inoculation. Crosses were made in a half diallel mating design to produce 307 F1 hybrids. All hybrids were evaluated in MLN quarantine facility in Naivasha, Kenya for two seasons under artificial inoculation. All 50 inbreds were genotyped with genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS) SNPs. The phenotypic variation was significant for all traits and the heritability was moderate to high. We observed that hybrids were superior to the mean performance of the parents for disease severity (−14.57%) and area under disease progress curve (AUDPC) (14.9%). Correlations were significant and moderate between line per se and GCA; and mean of parental value with hybrid performance for both disease severity and AUDPC value. Very low and negative correlation was observed between parental lines marker based genetic distance and heterosis. Nevertheless, the correlation of GCA effects was very high with hybrid performance which can suggests as a good predictor of MLN resistance. Genomic prediction of hybrid performance for MLN is high for both traits. We therefore conclude that there is potential for prediction of hybrid performance for MLN. Overall, the estimated quantitative genetic parameters suggest that through targeted approach, it is possible to develop outstanding lines and hybrids for MLN resistance.
Hyperandrogenism, insulin resistance and acanthosis nigricans (HAIR-AN syndrome): an extreme subphenotype of polycystic ovary syndrome

HAIR-AN—a syndrome of hyperandrogenism (HA), insulin resistance (IR) and acanthosis nigricans (AN)—is a specific subphenotype of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), and it is seen in almost 5% of all women with hyperandrogenism. An adolescent girl aged 11 years old was referred with adrenarche, hyperandrogenism and obesity commencing at age 8. Clinical and biochemical investigations confirmed significant hyperandrogenism and insulin resistance, and a diagnosis of HAIR-AN syndrome was made after exclusion of other differential diagnoses. HAIR-AN syndrome is an important diagnosis for the adolescent gynaecologist to be aware of, and it requires a multidisciplinary approach, including endocrinology input, for optimal management. Weight loss, lifestyle modification and combined hormonal pill and metformin are considered first-line treatment.
Proof of Concept in a Case Study of Glioblastoma Multiforme Successfully Treated with IV Quercetin in Combination with Leading Edge Gamma Knife and Standard Treatments

The Stupp protocol has become standard of care for the treatment of glioblastoma (GBM) (since its publication in 2005) and has led to some limited survival improvements. This protocol, consists of radiotherapy and concomitant chemotherapy with temozolomide, an alkylating agent. Temozolomide + radiation, compared to radiation alone had added in average 3 months additional life span, 16 percent improved survival at 2 years. That said since 2005, the standard of care has not changed in regards to the treatment of early diagnosed aggressive or multifocal GBM, and unfortunately the expected survival is still poor with 75 percent of patients dying in less than 2 years and average survival of 15 months. In patients with multifocal tumors (such as the case below) the average survival is even worse with less than 4 months at her age [1]. Here we present a case study of a patient with advanced multifocal, and rapidly progressing Glioblastoma Multiforme treated with STUPP protocol in combination with IV Quercetin. The patient experienced improved quality of life and response, compared to historical data. It is our recommendation to investigate such combinational approach in patients with Glioblastoma, as in our case it proved to be safe and effective with improved quality of life and performance as well as clinical response and survival.
Bacterial therapy in pregnancy to drive the intra-partum colonization of newborns

Recently, a very interesting paper has been published on Nature Medicine. The Authors have clearly shown the relevancy of a close contact between mother and newborn to effect appropriate passage of microbes to her infant [1]. They have demonstrated that it is possible to get partial restoration of the microbiota of cesarean-born infants by exposing them to maternal vaginal fluids. Vaginal microbe transfer to cesarean-born infants makes them “microbially” similar to vaginally delivered infants. Epidemiological studies have clearly shown an association between cesarean-section delivery and increased risk of obesity, asthma, allergies and immune deficiencies [2-5]. The authors’ attempts to establish an appropriate microbiota in cesarean-born infants by exposing them to the mothers’ vaginal fluids demonstrates the importance of mother-infant microbe transfer and highlights, as a next step, the importance of specifically-directed “manipulation” of the pre-term maternal microbiota in order to further optimize and enrich this transfer process.
clfB-tree

Emerging byte-addressable non-volatile memory (NVRAM) is expected to replace block device storages as an alternative low-latency persistent storage device. If NVRAM is used as a persistent storage device, a cache line instead of a disk page will be the unit of data transfer, consistency, and durability. In this work, we design and develop clfB-tree—a B-tree structure whose tree node fits in a single cache line. We employ existing write combining store buffer and restricted transactional memory to provide a failure-atomic cache line write operation. Using the failure-atomic cache line write operations, we atomically update a clfB-tree node via a single cache line flush instruction without major changes in hardware. However, there exist many processors that do not provide SW interface for transactional memory. For those processors, our proposed clfB-tree achieves atomicity and consistency via in-place update, which requires maximum four cache line flushes. We evaluate the performance of clfB-tree on an NVRAM emulation board with ARM Cortex A-9 processor and a workstation that has Intel Xeon E7-4809 v3 processor. Our experimental results show clfB-tree outperforms wB-tree and CDDS B-tree by a large margin in terms of both insertion and search performance.
Effect of Poles Embrace on Switched Reluctance Motor Design

Vehicle expansion and traffic congestion issues today become the causes on the growing of small electric vehicle such kick scooter and electric bicycles. Switched Reluctance Motor (SRM) has been choose as the right candidates to drive this small scale electric vehicle due to the advantages on simple construction and wide constant power region and effective torque speed characteristic.To build SRM, a proper design procedure must be performed to ensure an efficient performance of the motor. Commonly, to design this motor, only a few basic design consideration has been taken into accounts such, no of phases, stator pole arc, air gap thickness, and other SRM geometry. Thus, pole embrace effect has been investigated to know the effect on the design in order have a good performance of SRM. The test has been conducted using ANSYS FEA simulation by varying the stator and rotor pole embrace incrementally from 0.2 to 0.5. The pole embrace will be choose according to highest torque average and lowest torque ripple percentage. As the result, the chosen value for rotor pole embrace is 0.4 and 0.45 for stator pole embrace to design motor. Keywords— Electric Vehicle; Switched Reluctance Motor; Pole embrace; ANSYS FEA;
Aluminium – Lithium – Magnesium

The ternary system contains many technologically important alloys for light weight, high-strength and corrosion resistant applications. Therefore, the phase equilibria of the system are of experimental and theoretical interest. Extensive studies have been carried out on the aging behavior and the structure-property relationship of Al rich alloys. Comprehensive reviews of the phase equilibria have been published by [1990Goe, 1993Gho]. [1948Sha2] was the first to report the entire liquidus surface. Later, [1977Dri, 1979Vos, 1981Sch3] reinvestigated the liquidus surface. Isothermal sections have been investigated several times [1948Sha2, 1954Wei, 1956Lev, 1955Row, 1956Row, 1973Dri1, 1973Dri2, 1976Pad, 1977Dri, 1980Sch4]. Until recent studies on the constitutional equilibria of the entire system by Schürmann and co-workers [1979Vos, 1979Gei, 1980Sch4, 1981Sch3], earlier results were subjected to considerable doubt and inaccuracy in view of high reactivity and volatility of Li and Mg. To overcome this problem, Schürmann et al. [1980Sch1, 1981Sch1] designed a special experimental apparatus to prepare the binary and ternary alloys, and the phases were analyzed by X-ray diffraction, optical metallography and electron probe microanalysis. Accordingly, much of their results are reproduced in this assessment with some amendments.
Thermodynamics of MHD flows with axial symmetry

HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access archive for the deposit and dissemination of scientific research documents, whether they are published or not. The documents may come from teaching and research institutions in France or abroad, or from public or private research centers. L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires publics ou privés. Thermodynamics of MHD flows with axial symmetry Nicolas Leprovost, Pierre-Henri Chavanis, Bérengère Dubrulle
Design and Development of a Multi-Zone Audio System

Home audio systems are constantly improving and gaining new capabilities with the advent of the Internet of Things. New Multi-Zone Audio Systems, which allow users to wirelessly play music anywhere in a house, are becoming common place. This thesis explores the most commonly available setups and proposes a system designed to empower the user’s control over audio. A prototype for a peer-to-peer audio signal transfer network, as well as a distributed user interface are presented. The development challenges, implementation details as well as performance characteristics are analysed. Finally, the overall design of the Multi-Zone Audio System is assessed while establishing the requirements for the next phase in development.