Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Overview of energy intake, physical activity, and neuronal substances
 on obesity

This study provides an overview of the effects that energy sources, physical activity, endocrine substances and meat consumption have on the prevention and treatment of obesity. We found that many factors are considered to be involved in the occurrence of obesity, and that controversies exist over the mechanisms underlying, and solutions for, obesity. Several endocrines, including dopamine, insulin, leptin, and adiponectin, are implicated in body weight gain or obesity. The accumulation of body fat may vary depending on the percentage of carbohydrate and fat intake, but the results of several studies regarding this aspect are inconsistent. Information regarding the effects of the extreme restriction of carbohydrate intake or fat intake on the reduction of body weight gain is also insufficient. Furthermore, the relationship between eating habits, physical activity and meat consumption in obesity remains controversial. While the influence of leptin and adiponectin on food intake and obesity has been widely studied, the development of drugs that use these substances to treat obesity is difficult. Based on the findings of this study, the authors believe that further research is needed to determine how to control body weight gain and to address the various controversies regarding
Load predictions: vulnerability of micro‐grids based on renewable energies due to increasing population and individual demand

Small-scale systems are vulnerable to changes. The development of solution strategies for changing conditions should, therefore, be considered from the outset in planning. For planners and installers of mini-grids for rural villages without grid connection, first of all, the question of the expected electricity demand arises. So far, this is determined primarily by interviewing the population. However, studies have shown that there are still major differences between the power demand estimated and the real load after electrification. Reinforcing here is the inadequate assessment of load development through immigration and increased prosperity. On the basis of a currently developing mini-grid in the Eastern Cape of South Africa, we could show that a load increase of ∼60% within 10 years is to be expected. The following possibilities were outlined as possible ways of counteracting the increase in load: (i) communicating with the population, i.e. on energy efficiency to raise awareness and understanding, (ii) early planning of capacity building and identification of key performance parameters to trigger the expansion based on local socio-cultural conditions and grid supporting qualities. An adequate database for the initial electrification and power development should also be established and available on open-source basis for researchers, developers, communities, and installers.
Hydrogen Peroxide Reduced Osteomodulin Gene Expression in MC3T3-E1

Bone formation steadily declines with age resulting in significant loss of bone mass, and reactive oxygen species (ROS) are thought to be a major contributor to the aging process. H2O2 treatment significantly reduced bone nodule formation rate in pre-osteoblastic cell, MC3T3E1. In this study, to identify which genes have an altered transcription level associated with bone loss by ageing, MC3T3-E1 cells were treated with H2O2, and monitored gene expression change using the Affymetrix GeneChipTM system (Mouse; 34,000 genes). H2O2 altered many gene expressions including reduction of osteomodulin (OMD) mRNA level. The reduction of OMD gene expression by H2O2 was successfully confirmed by reversed transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and real-time PCR. Since OMD was found in bone tissues and play an important role in biomineralization, the reduction of OMD gene expression by H2O2 may be involved in the decline of bone formation in the ageing process.
PEAK FIRE TEMPERATURES AND EFFECTS ON ANNUAL PLANTS IN THE MOJAVE DESERT

Very little is known about the behavior and effects of fire in the Mojave Desert, because fire was historically uncommon. However, fire has become more frequent since the 1970s with increased dominance of the invasive annual grasses Bromus rubens and Schismus spp. , and land managers are concerned about its ecological effect. In this paper, I describe patterns of peak fire temperature and their effect on annual plants in creosote bush scrub vegetation of the Mojave Desert. Temperatures were monitored among microhabitats and distances from the soil surface, and between spring and summer. Microhabitats ranged from high amounts of fuel beneath creosote bush (Larrea tridentata) canopies, to intermediate amounts at the canopy drip line, to low amounts in the interspaces between them. Distances from the soil surface were within the vertical range where most annual plant seeds occur (−2, 0, 5, and 10 cm). I also compare temperature patterns with postfire changes in soil properties and annual plant biomass and spe.
Haematomma and Ophioparma: Two Superficially Similar Genera of Lichenized Fungi

Abstract The genus Haematomma Massal. (type species: H. ochroleucum (Necker) Laundon) includes the pantropical and subtropical H. puniceum group, but differs in a range of characters including ascus structure, paraphyses, and chemistry from Ophioparma Norman (type species: Ophioparma ventosa (L.) Norman). The differences are such that a new family Ophioparmaceae Rogers & Hafellner is described with Ophioparma as its type genus, and the circumscription of the family Haematommaceae Hafellner is emended to take these changes into account. The combination Rosellinula kalbii (Hafellner) comb. nov. is proposed.
A 20-Pulse Autotransformer Rectifier Unit for More Electric Aircrafts

In more electric aircraft (MEA), the power rating and the number of electric loads have considerably been increased. Most of these new loads are power electronics interfacing loads and motor drive systems. As a result, the onboard power system may encounter with power quality problems. To limit the harmonics generated by these loads, multipulse rectifiers with the capability of power factor correction and low total harmonic distortion (THD) are required. An increase in the number of pulses in the multipulse autotransformer rectifier unit (MPATRU) will lead to an increase in the kVA rating, cost, and complexity of the rectifier. Due to the weightlessness and simplicity of the MPATRU, an autotransformer rectifier unit (ATRU) is quite popular and widely employed in the industry. In this article, a novel 20-pulse ATRU based on T-connected autotransformer is introduced, discussed, simulated, and implemented with an acceptable power rating for MEA applications. The T-connected autotransformer makes use of only two main windings, resulting in saving of space, size, volume, weight, and cost. Its simulation results confirm that the proposed novel rectifier has several advantages: it can operate at near-unity power factor and the THD of the input current is less than 8% within IEEE-519 Standard limits for SCR >20. Compared with the other MPATRUs, the kVA rating of the proposed 20-pulse ATRU is 44.48% of the load power.
Do the Mega and Titan Tests Yield Accurate Results? An Investigation into Two Experimental Intelligence Tests

The Mega and Titan Tests were designed by Ronald K. Hoeflin to make fine distinctions in the intellectual stratosphere. The Mega Test purported to measure above-average adult IQ up to and including scores with a rarity of one in a million of the general population. The Titan Test was billed as being even more difficult than the Mega Test. In this article, these claims are subjected to scrutiny. Both tests are renormed using the normal curve of distribution. It is found that the Mega Test has a higher ceiling and a lower floor than the Titan Test. While the Mega Test may thus seem preferable as a psychometric instrument, it is somewhat marred by a number of easy items in its verbal section. Although official scores reported to test-takers are too high, it is likely that the Mega Test does stretch to the one in a million level. The Titan Test does not. Testees who had previously taken standard intelligence tests achieved average scores of 135–145 IQ on those. Since the mean of all scores on the Mega and Titan Tests was found to be IQ 137 and IQ 138, respectively, testees had considerable scope to find their true level without ceiling effects. Both are unusual and non-standard tests which require a great deal of effort to complete. Nevertheless, they deserve consideration as they represent an inventive experimental method of measuring the very highest levels of human intelligence and have been taken by enough subjects to allow norming.
Multiple and Extra-Pair Mating in a Pair-Living Hermaphrodite, the Intertidal Limpet Siphonaria gigas

Synopsis Pair-living is a common social system found across animal taxa, and the relationship between pair-living and reproduction varies greatly among species. Siphonaria gigas, hermaphroditic pulmonate gastropods, often live in pairs in the rocky intertidal zone of the tropical Eastern Pacific. Combining genetic parentage analysis using four polymorphic microsatellite loci with behavioral observations from a 10-week field study, we provide the first description of the mating system of a Siphonaria species incorporating genetic data. S. gigas mated both within-pair and extra-pair and three out of four paired S. gigas individuals produced egg masses with extra-pair paternity. Multiple paternity was detected, but at a relatively low frequency (19% of egg masses) compared to other marine gastropods. Behavioral data indicate one potential advantage of pair-living: paired S. gigas produced almost twice as many egg masses as their solitary counterparts over four reproductive cycles. These observations, together with constraints on the movement of S. gigas, suggest that pairing may ensure mate access and increase reproductive success.
Production of a recombinant lipase artificially localized on the Bacillus subtilis cell surface

The lipB gene encoding an extracellular lipase, LipB, from Bacillus subtilis was fused to the 5′-terminal region of the cwlB gene encoding the cell wall-binding domain of the major cell wall hydrolase (autolysin). SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and zymography revealed that the fused protein is localized in the B. subtilis cell wall fraction and retains lipase activity.
Repeated evolution of uniparental reproduction in Sellaphora (Bacillariophyceae)

Diatoms possess a remarkable life cycle in which cell size decreases slowly during vegetative cell division and then increases rapidly via special expanding cells called ‘auxospores’, which are usually formed as a result of biparental sexual reproduction. However, auxospores are sometimes produced by single unpaired cells, i.e. uniparentally. We examined the nature of uniparental auxosporulation in Sellaphora and used a two-gene dataset to study phylogenetic relationships between uniparental and biparental Sellaphora demes and species; we tested whether uniparental reproduction has evolved once or repeatedly in the genus. In at least two of the uniparental demes auxosporulation occurred through autogamy (i.e. intra-tetrad mating within an undivided cell). Maximum likelihood phylogenies indicated four lineages of uniparental Sellaphora and significance tests of alternative topologies, in which combinations of uniparental Sellaphora were constrained to be monophyletic, coupled with likelihood reconstruction of ancestral character states, led to rejection of the hypothesis that uniparental auxosporulation evolved only once in the genus. Uniparentally reproducing lineages appear to arise not infrequently in diatoms but do not persist. Two small extranuclear bodies, apparently containing DNA and lying outside the chloroplast (one close to each pole of the cell), were revealed by DAPI staining.
Effectiveness of a Redesigned Vaginal Implant Transmitter in Mule Deer

ABSTRACT Our understanding of factors that limit mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) populations may be improved by evaluating neonatal survival as a function of dam characteristics under free-ranging conditions, which generally requires that both neonates and dams are radiocollared. The most viable technique facilitating capture of neonates from radiocollared adult females is use of vaginal implant transmitters (VITs). To date, VITs have allowed research opportunities that were not previously possible; however, VITs are often expelled from adult females prepartum, which limits their effectiveness. We redesigned an existing VIT manufactured by Advanced Telemetry Systems (ATS; Isanti, MN) by lengthening and widening wings used to retain the VIT in an adult female. Our objective was to increase VIT retention rates and thereby increase the likelihood of locating birth sites and newborn fawns. We placed the newly designed VITs in 59 adult female mule deer and evaluated the probability of retention to parturition and the probability of detecting newborn fawns. We also developed an equation for determining VIT sample size necessary to achieve a specified sample size of neonates. The probability of a VIT being retained until parturition was 0.766 (SE = 0.0605) and the probability of a VIT being retained to within 3 days of parturition was 0.894 (SE = 0.0441). In a similar study using the original VIT wings (Bishop et al. 2007), the probability of a VIT being retained until parturition was 0.447 (SE = 0.0468) and the probability of retention to within 3 days of parturition was 0.623 (SE = 0.0456). Thus, our design modification increased VIT retention to parturition by 0.319 (SE = 0.0765) and VIT retention to within 3 days of parturition by 0.271 (SE = 0.0634). Considering dams that retained VITs to within 3 days of parturition, the probability of detecting at least 1 neonate was 0.952 (SE = 0.0334) and the probability of detecting both fawns from twin litters was 0.588 (SE = 0.0827). We expended approximately 12 person-hours per detected neonate. As a guide for researchers planning future studies, we found that VIT sample size should approximately equal the targeted neonate sample size. Our study expands opportunities for conducting research that links adult female attributes to productivity and offspring survival in mule deer.
Zeitgeber-effects of exercise on human circadian rhythms: what are alternative approaches to investigating the existence of a phase-response curve to exercise?

Over the last decade, there has been some evidence reported on humans from both field-based and laboratory-based research that exercise exerts phase-shifting effects on the body clock. Following a recently published update on whether exercise is a significant synchroniser of human circadian rhythms, the aims of this review are to consider the possibility that exercise acts as a zeitgeber in accord with a phase response curve, and suggest applications of this knowledge to investigate further rhythm disturbances such as shift-work and jet lag. The application of exercise as a treatment in the field for rhythm disruption (for example, after jet lag and when there is shift-work intolerance) has been hampered somewhat from lack of control of competing zeitgebers (e.g. light), exercise characteristics (such as mode, intensity and duration), and athletic status of the research participants (from sedentary individuals to Olympic athletes). Standardisation of these factors is needed for evidence-based advice of a practical nature to be provided to travellers or shift-workers. Data from laboratory-based experiments completed in the last 10 years have also been affected by lack of control of the above factors and have the additional problem of how best to control for the pronounced direct (masking) effects of exercise. Nevertheless, it is now known that exercise bouts of quite varied durations and intensities can mediate phase shifts, independently from those produced by light, in populations heterogeneous in terms of fitness and age. More research is still needed to elucidate more fully (i) a phase response curve for exercise that is robust and does not depend on the type of marker used for assessing phase (secretory products or body temperature) and (ii) the mechanisms producing any phase shifts.
Fish trophic divergence along a lake productivity gradient revealed by historic patterns of invasion and eutrophication

Summary Studies of trophic divergence in fishes and other organisms emphasise resource availability as a driving factor, but usually in terms of alternate resources within particular resource-limited systems. In contrast, the role of overall ecosystem productivity in shaping trophic diversity among systems has received less attention. Divergence along productivity gradients may be relevant because aquatic systems span a range of productivities, humans are accelerating the natural process of eutrophication, and productivity controls community and ecosystem processes that govern the availability and costs/benefits of alternative resources. Here, we study whether populations of white perch (Morone americana) differ in traits related to trophic divergence and how such variation might be predicted by landscape patterns of lake productivity. White perch populations differed in their body dimensions, fin lengths and gill raker structures. Each of these traits showed significant and often strong (r2 up to 0.91) correlations with lake Secchi depth and other metrics of lake productivity, such that white perch from more eutrophic systems tended to be larger, have more gibbous bodies, longer fins, more subterminal mouths and gill rakers with greater spacing. Isotopic 15N was correlated with phenotypic divergence, and fish from eutrophic systems exhibited a trophic shift at smaller sizes. Our results suggest that productivity has surprising ability to predict trait variation at the landscape scale. The fact that a number of the study populations were established in the last century and that some lakes became eutrophic in that period, suggests fish trophic traits can respond quickly to lake conditions.
Evolutionary and plastic changes in a native annual plant after a historic drought

Abstract Severe droughts are forecast to increase with global change. Approaches that enable the study of contemporary evolution, such as resurrection studies, are valuable for providing insights into the responses of populations to global change. In this study, we used a resurrection approach to study the evolution of the California native Leptosiphon bicolor (true babystars, Polemoniaceae) across populations differing in precipitation in response to the state's recent prolonged drought (2011–2017). In the Mediterranean climate region in which L. bicolor grows, this historic drought effectively shortened its growing season. We used seeds collected both before and after this drought from three populations found along a moisture availability gradient to assess contemporary evolution in a common garden greenhouse study. We coupled this with a drought experiment to examine plasticity. We found evolution toward earlier flowering after the historic drought in the wettest of the three populations, while plasticity to experimental drought was observed across all three. We also observed trade‐offs associated with earlier flowering. In the driest population, plants that flowered earlier had lower intrinsic water‐use efficiency than those flowering later, which was an expected pattern. Unexpectedly, earlier flowering plants had larger flowers. Two populations exhibited evolution and plasticity toward smaller flowers with drought. The third exhibited evolution toward larger flowers, but displayed no plasticity. Our results provide valuable insights into differences among native plant populations in response to drought.
Ameliorative Role of Vitamin E on Adverse Impact of Azadirachta indica in Reproductive Indices of Male Rats

This study was undertaken to determine the role of vitamin E on reproductive activity of Azadirachta indica extract in rats. Forty adult male albino rats were divided into 5 equal groups. The control group received distilled water while the other groups were treated with Azadirachta indica (150mg/kg bwt) extract alone, vitamin E (100mg/kg bwt) alone, combined Azadirachta indica (150mg/kg bwt) and vitamin E (100mg/kg bwt), and combined Azadirachta indica (150 mg/kg bwt) and vitamin E (150 mg/kg bwt). Group administered Azadirachta indica alone showed significant (p<0.05) decrease in sperm count, viability and motility. Co-administration of A. indica with vitamin E caused an increase in values of these parameters. Serum testosterone concentration decreased significantly (p<0.05) in A. indica only treated group with concomitant increase in groups co-administered with vitamin E. Lipid peroxidation showed significant decrease (p<0.05) in all treated groups with group co-administered with vitamin E showing enhanced modulatory effect than group administered with Azadirachta indica extract alone. Superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity was also significantly (p<0.05) enhanced in all treated groups; the groups treated with vitamin E showed higher activity. The results suggest possible ameliorative effect of vitamin E on adverse impact of Azadirachta indica in reproductive activity of male rats.
This is the real “death-line” AND I am still alive: A collaborative reflexivity about life trajectories

In this article, we, Olga Lehmann, Mixo Hansen and Helena Hurme, engage in a process of collaborative reflexivity upon living, aging, and dying as we attempt to make sense of the illnesses of the last author. The companionship that emerged between us in the plurality of our identities as friends, colleagues, coauthors, and women, encouraged us to revisit aspects of the theories in developmental-cultural psychology such as (a) the process of meaning-making, (b) the equifinality model in relation to aging and dying, and (c) the notion of personal life philosophies in relation to virtues. Based on our personal experiences as well as our collaborative reflexivity as scholars, we highlight that developmental-cultural psychology could more explicitly address existential transitions, such as dying and existential givens, such as uncertainty in its theories. We present as well some preliminary integrations between existential and cultural perspectives of meaning-making.
Data report: wavelength-dispersive X-ray fluorescence–based geochemical data, Site U1418, IODP Expedition 341, Gulf of Alaska

Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) Site U1418 was drilled during Expedition 341 in 2013. The site is situated on the Surveyor Fan, one of the largest deep-sea fans in the world. The site was drilled to 972 m below seafloor, and a sediment record span-ning ~1.2 My was attained. For this study, 285 sediment samples were analyzed for bulk geochemical composition using wavelength-dispersive X-ray fluorescence (XRF). Records for the major elements Al, Ca, Fe, K, Mg, Mn, Na, P, Si, and Ti and minor elements As, Ba, Co, Cr, Cu, Mo, Ni, Nb, Pb, Rb, Sr, Y, V, U, Zn, and Zr are presented, as well as data for total carbon and total organic carbon analyzed by elemental analyzer.