Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Managing teamwork in the face of pandemic: evidence-based tips

Front-line medical teams are experiencing unprecedented stressors as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. In the face of these pressures, teamwork has become both more important and more challenging. Fortunately, numerous examples of naturally occurring cooperation are appearing at healthcare institutions around the globe, including instances of people trying to work together during the crisis who may not have done so under ‘normal’ conditions. A crisis can stimulate some people’s willingness to cooperate, for example, to ignore prior disagreements to tackle a shared predicament. But even when the intent to cooperate is present, the incessant stress present during a crisis makes it significantly harder for teams to sustain coordinated performance over time.1 2 Focused attention on teamwork is required.3 Prior research conducted on teams under stress can be used to help anticipate risk points that can adversely impact teamwork and reveal what can be done to help teams coordinate effectively, maintain resilience and ensure patient safety during the pandemic. This article offers several evidence-based recommendations to help clinical teams that work directly with patients during COVID-19 and in future crises. Tips are included for clinical care team leaders and team members, as well as for members of management who support or oversee clinical teams (senior leaders, middle managers, crisis management teams). Over the last 30 years we have studied and advised teams across a broad range of settings. Some of these teams work in what you might think of ‘normal’ or routine settings, such as manufacturing or sales. But many perform in high-stress conditions where the consequences of failure and personal pressures are high, including teams of astronauts, deep sea divers, jet fighter pilots, smoke jumpers, miners, emergency medical technicians, soldiers and trauma teams. During this time, research on team effectiveness has expanded and close to 50 meta-analyses …
Spatial dynamics of forest decline: the role of neighbouring trees

Abstract. Changes in horizontal structure and the influence of neighbours on tree vitality were studied in a spruce forest under air pollution stress. Five permanent plots along an altitudinal gradient in the Krkonose Mts. , Czech Republic, were monitored for 18 years. Digitized maps of each plot were used for the analysis: the health of each tree, expressed by the defoliation degree was recorded each year, the biometrical characteristics were measured at five-year intervals. Various indices of neighbourhood competition were used to evaluate the interference with neighbours. The results show that the suppressed trees are most susceptible to other environmental stresses, particularly to the air pollution stress. Similarly, tree damage is more severe in plots near the natural timberline, where the trees are close to their natural environmental limits. The spatial pattern of surviving trees changes towards regularity at a scale of 2–5 m (K-function analysis) when the suppressed trees, usually those with close neighbours, die.
First Record of the Rockfish Sebastes melanops from the Western North Pacific, with Comments on its Synonymy (Osteichthyes: Scorpaenoidei: Sebastidae)

Sebastes melanops Girard, 1856, formerly known from the Aleutian Islands and the southeastern Bering Sea to Baja California, USA, is reported from the western Pacific on the basis of two specimens collected from Iwate Prefecture on the Pacific coast of northern Japan. One of the Japanese specimens is described here in detail and compared with specimens from the eastern North Pacific. Sequence data from the mitochondrial DNA control region of this species are also provided and compared with closely related congeners. Sebastes columbianus (Hubbs and Schultz, 1933) is herein regarded as a junior synonym of S. melanops on the basis of an examination of type specimens. Conversely, another supposed junior synonym, S. simulans (Gill, 1864) may not be conspecific with S. melanops.
Lipid Requirement for μ Opioid Receptor Binding

Abstract: We have previously shown that a partially purified μ opioid receptor from bovine brain requires lipids to exhibit full binding activity. In the present report, we have determined the specificity of this lipid requirement. Lipids active in this regard were found always to contain an acidic head group and a fatty acid with two or more double bonds. Free, polyunsaturated fatty acids were also able to confer high binding activity on the partially purified opioid receptor. The possible roles lipids play in opioid binding are discussed in light of these data.
Steroids and TRP Channels: A Close Relationship

Transient receptor potential (TRP) channels are remarkable transmembrane protein complexes that are essential for the physiology of the tissues in which they are expressed. They function as non-selective cation channels allowing for the signal transduction of several chemical, physical and thermal stimuli and modifying cell function. These channels play pivotal roles in the nervous and reproductive systems, kidney, pancreas, lung, bone, intestine, among others. TRP channels are finely modulated by different mechanisms: regulation of their function and/or by control of their expression or cellular/subcellular localization. These mechanisms are subject to being affected by several endogenously-produced compounds, some of which are of a lipidic nature such as steroids. Fascinatingly, steroids and TRP channels closely interplay to modulate several physiological events. Certain TRP channels are affected by the typical genomic long-term effects of steroids but others are also targets for non-genomic actions of some steroids that act as direct ligands of these receptors, as will be reviewed here.
THE USE OF PARAFFIN SECTIONS FOR THE STUDY OF ANTI-HORSERADISH PEROXIDASE IN ANTIBODY-FORMING CELLS

Paraffin-imbedded lymph nodes from horseradish peroxidase (HRP) stimulated mice were used for immunohistochemical studies on the localization of anti-HRP antibody. Reaction product of anti-HRP could be demonstrated in antibody-forming cells and in some cases also around the wall of high endothelium venules. Endogenous peroxidase activity and much of the extracellularly located antibody could not be shown in these sections. This method appears to be particularly suitable for the demonstration of antibody-forming cells. The main advantages are both ease in sectioning large tissue samples or even whole organs and in preparing serial sections.
Phylogenetic studies of acridoid grasshoppers comparing 2n2‐ and 4‐base recognizing endonucleases

The frequency of loss of restriction sites may be a limiting factor in the application of RFLPA to phylogenetic investigations of higher taxonomic categories. One purpose of this work is to ascertain whether the applicability of RFLPA can be extended by the use of a class of restriction endonucleases which will here be termed 2n2 cutters, as any base may occupy the middle position of the recognition sequence. Such endonucleases should be less susceptible than, say, 4‐base cutters to the redundancy of the genetic code when this position coincides with the third base of a codon. Here the two types of endonucleases are compared by internal statistics summarizing the phylogenetic content of the data and by the concordance of their resulting dendrograms to six known relationships of thirteen acridid and eumustacid grasshoppers. Data were gathered for a mtDNA probe (expected to show redundancy effects) and an rDNA probe (not expected to show such effects). Phenetic and cladistic analyses were performed. There was no evidence that the 2n2‐cutting endonucleases produced more accurate dendrograms. In fact, in contrast with expectations and with, as yet, no apparent explanation, trees produced by 4‐base cutting endonucleases had greater concordance to present best estimates of grasshopper relationships. The second main purpose of the paper was to extend molecular studies of the phylogeny of the Acrididae. The two main results here were the finding of a close relationship between the Oxyinae and the Catantopinae and the apparent absence of a major endemic Australian radiation in the Acridinae.
Resource allocation to growth, reproduction and survival in Gladiolus : The cost of male function

Theoretical models of life‐history evolution assume trade‐offs between present and future reproduction and/or survival. Models of the evolution of sex assume trade‐offs between male function and female function. Generally, experiments designed to evaluate the cost of reproduction on other functions tend to ignore male function. The present work on Gladiolus takes into account simultaneously the different primary functions of the plant and separates sexual reproduction into one male component (pollen production) and one female component (seed production).
Evidence of the Mechanism by Which Polyomaviruses Exploit the Extracellular Vesicle Delivery System during Infection

Increasing evidence suggests that human viruses can hijack extracellular vesicles (EVs) to deliver proteins, mRNAs, microRNAs (miRNAs) and whole viral particles during viral persistence in the host. Human polyomavirus (PyV) miRNAs, which downregulate large T-antigen expression and target host factors, help the virus escape immune elimination and may have roles in the success of viral persistence/replication and the development of diseases. In this context, several investigations have detected PyV miRNAs in EVs obtained from cell culture supernatants after viral infection, demonstrating the ability of these vesicles to deliver miRNAs to uninfected cells, potentially counteracting new viral infection. Additionally, PyV miRNAs have been identified in EVs derived from the biological fluids of clinical samples obtained from patients with or at risk of severe PyV-associated diseases and from asymptomatic control healthy subjects. Interestingly, PyV miRNAs were found to be circulating in blood, urine, cerebrospinal fluid, and saliva samples from patients despite their PyV DNA status. Recently, the association between EVs and PyV viral particles was reported, demonstrating the ability of PyV viral particles to enter the cell without natural receptor-mediated entry and evade antibody-mediated neutralization or to be neutralized at a step different from that of the neutralization of naked whole viral particles. All these data point toward a potential role of the association between PyVs with EVs in viral persistence, suggesting that further work to define the implication of this interaction in viral reactivation is warranted.
Multiple-Frequency Acoustic Backscattering and Zooplankton Aggregations in the Inner Scotian Shelf Basins

Acoustic backscatter observations at 12, 50, and 200 kHz in the inner Scotian Shelf basins reveal large populations of silver hake (Merluccius bilinearis) and its principal prey, the euphausiid Meganyctiphanes norvegica. Multichannel sonar colour imagery facilitates separation of fish from euphausiids and delineation of their separate diurnal migration patterns. Silver hake acoustic abundances are consistent with midwater trawl sampling. Acoustic column densities for mature M. norvegica of approximately 1000/m2 exceed net sampling column densities by over 1 order of magnitude indicating strong net avoidance. Numerical simulation of euphausiid backscattering using a fluid cylinder model and natural distribution of scatterer orientations yields an approximate 20 log L target strength length dependence and little frequency domain dependence in the "geometric" scattering regime. Quantitative interpretation of euphausiid scattering in situ must account for randomness in their orientations.
Increased responding for alcohol and resistance to aversion in female mice.

BACKGROUND More women are being diagnosed with Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD), are increasing the amount of alcohol they are drinking, and are partaking in risky drinking behaviors. Compulsive drinking which persists despite negative consequences is a hallmark of AUD. Preclinical aversion-resistant models suggest that females may be more vulnerable to the rewarding effects of alcohol such that they show increased compulsivity when drinking is punished with quinine, a bitter tastant. METHODS Male and female C57BL/6J mice were trained in an operant response task on a first order fixed ratio schedule. Experiment 1 tested responding for escalating concentrations (10-25%) of ethanol (EtOH). Experiment 2 assessed the effects of increasing concentrations of quinine (100, 250, or 500 μM) on responding for 10% EtOH followed by a 48-hour 2-bottle choice quinine preference test. Experiment 3 investigated the effects of increasing concentrations of quinine (100, 250, or 500 μM) on responding for 2.5% sucrose. RESULTS Experiment 1 revealed that females respond more than males for 15% EtOH. Experiment 2 showed that females tolerate higher concentrations of quinine in EtOH than males. Males reduced responding for 10% EtOH when adulterated with 250 or 500 µM of quinine while females did not reduce responding at any concentration of quinine. Males and females also exhibited similar preference for quinine in a two-bottle drinking task. Experiment 3 demonstrated that both males and females reduced responding for 2.5% sucrose when quinine (100, 250, or 500 μM) was added. CONCLUSIONS Females respond more for EtOH at higher concentrations and continue to respond for 10% EtOH at all concentrations of quinine, suggesting that female mice are more motivated to respond for alcohol in an operant self-administration paradigm than males. Understanding behavioral and mechanistic sex differences in responding for alcohol will allow for the advancement of treatments for women with AUD.
Species richness and evolutionary speed: the influence of temperature, water and area

There are a few patterns in nature that are striking even to casual observers. These include patterns of species richness associated with latitude, elevation, rainfall and area. Current thinking suggests that a number of primary mechanisms determine richness variation and that these differ depending on the type of pattern and the biome to which they apply. Prominent among the many hypotheses that attempt to explain the latitudinal diversity gradient (LDG) are those based either on climate or on historical factors such as past biome area. Climate‐based and historically‐based hypotheses have been regarded as competing alternatives, but there is growing acknowledgement that both are important. The evolutionary speed hypothesis (ESH) is one of several climate‐based hypotheses. According to this hypothesis the LDG is generated by thermally mediated asymmetries in evolutionary speed and diversification. Here we identify five relationships predicted by the ESH and survey the literature for empirical evidence for and against these relationships. We find these five relationships are supported by a number of empirical studies. However, there are gaps in this evidence that require further work and, because the relationship between temperature and species richness is negative when water is limited, a modification to the ESH is necessary. Additionally, we suggest that diversity patterns associated with area, temperature and water availability might all be influenced by a common mechanism associated with biologically available energy and its influence on the tempo of evolution. Rates of genetic evolution might also be influenced by spatial heterogeneity and rates of biotic and abiotic environmental change, potentially introducing positive feedbacks between diversification and genetic evolution.
A Translational In Vivo and In Vitro Metabolomic Study Reveals Altered Metabolic Pathways in Red Blood Cells of Type 2 Diabetes

Clinical parameters used in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2D) diagnosis and monitoring such as glycosylated haemoglobin (HbA1c) are often unable to capture important information related to diabetic control and chronic complications. In order to search for additional biomarkers, we performed a pilot study comparing T2D patients with healthy controls matched by age, gender, and weight. By using 1H-nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) based metabolomics profiling of red blood cells (RBCs), we found that the metabolic signature of RBCs in T2D subjects differed significantly from non-diabetic controls. Affected metabolites included glutathione, 2,3-bisphophoglycerate, inosinic acid, lactate, 6-phosphogluconate, creatine and adenosine triphosphate (ATP) and several amino acids such as leucine, glycine, alanine, lysine, aspartate, phenylalanine and tyrosine. These results were validated by an independent cohort of T2D and control patients. An analysis of the pathways in which these metabolites were involved showed that energetic and redox metabolism in RBCs were altered in T2D, as well as metabolites transported by RBCs. Taken together, our results revealed that the metabolic profile of RBCs can discriminate healthy controls from T2D patients. Further research is needed to determine whether metabolic fingerprint in RBC could be useful to complement the information obtained from HbA1c and glycemic variability as well as its potential role in the diabetes management.
No cognitive processing in the unconscious, anesthetic‐like, state of sleep

We review evidence challenging the hypothesis that memories are processed or consolidated in sleep. We argue that the brain is in an unconscious state in sleep, akin to general anesthesia (GA), and hence is incapable of meaningful cognitive processing—the sole purview of waking consciousness. At minimum, the encoding of memories in sleep would require that waking events are faithfully transferred to and reproduced in sleep. Remarkably, however, this has never been demonstrated, as waking experiences are never truly replicated in sleep but rather appear in very altered or distorted forms. General anesthetics (GAs) exert their effects through endogenous sleep–wake control systems and accordingly GA and sleep share several common features: sensory blockade, immobility, amnesia and lack of awareness (unconsciousness). The loss of consciousness in non‐REM (NREM) sleep or to GAs is characterized by: (a) delta oscillations throughout the cortex; (b) marked reductions in neural activity (from waking) over widespread regions of the cortex, most pronounced in frontal and parietal cortices; and (c) a significant disruption of the functional connectivity of thalamocortical and corticocortical networks, particularly those involved in “higher order” cognitive functions. Several (experimental) reports in animals and humans have shown that disrupting the activity of the cortex, particularly the orbitofrontal cortex, severely impairs higher order cognitive and executive functions. The profound and widespread deactivation of the cortex in the unconscious states of NREM sleep or GA would be expected to produce an equivalent, or undoubtedly a much greater, disruptive effect on mnemonic and cognitive functions. In conclusion, we contend that the unconscious, severely altered state of the brain in NREM sleep would negate any possibility of cognitive processing in NREM sleep.
Glycemic Index (GI) or Glycemic Load (GL) and Dietary Interventions for Optimizing Postprandial Hyperglycemia in Patients with T2 Diabetes: A Review

The increasing prevalence of type 2 diabetes (T2D) worldwide calls for effective approaches to its management. Strategies for diabetes have generally focused on optimizing overall glycemic control as assessed by glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) and fasting plasma glucose (FPG) values. However, since 2001, the American Diabetes Association has established postprandial glucose (PPG) as an independent contributor to both HbA1c and diabetes complications, and increasing evidence suggests that all three glycemic parameters of HbA1c, FPG, and postprandial glucose (PPG) are independently important. Objectives: The objective of this review was to comprehensively summarize the literature on the effects of nutritional strategies incorporating glycemic index (GI)/glycemic load (GL) on the postprandial hyperglycemia in people with T2D, as well as to provide recommendations for effective dietary strategies addressing both the dietary glycemic index and load in clinical practice. Design: An advanced Pubmed search was conducted. A total of 10 randomized controlled studies met the inclusion criteria. Six studies compared low-GI with higher GI meals, three included studies that compared reduced carbohydrate content with higher carbohydrate content, and one study compared meals of low-GI (with high or low fiber) with meals of higher GI (with high or low fiber). Results: Most of the clinical trials resulted in significant improvement (p < 0.05) of postprandial hyperglycemia. Conclusions: Either reducing the amount of carbohydrate in a meal or increasing consumption of soluble fiber has a favorable effect on postprandial glucose excursions.
On the Use of Commercial Quails as Study Organisms: Lessons about Food Intake from Individual Variation in Body Mass

We analysed inter-individual body mass variation of Japanese quail (Coturnix coturnix japonica) in an examination of the effectiveness of regulations governing daily food requirements. We measured the daily food intake of 26 adult female quail during a feeding trial over four consecutive days. Non-ingested food was weighed every morning and 70 g of food was provided to each bird for every day of the trial. This represented more than three times the theoretical recommended daily amount of food required by Japanese quail, as described in the literature. We then calculated a female-specific mean daily food requirement and found highly significant variation among individuals. Daily food intake was significantly repeatable within-female over the trial and mean food intake was highly correlated with female body mass. We suggest that using daily requirements for individuals based upon ‘population’ means, whilst ignoring differences in body mass among individuals might have severe consequences for the welfare of birds. Furthermore, these results have significant implications for studies where the aim is to perform identical experimental manipulations (as some studies intend and suggest), resulting in the drawing of unsubstantiated conclusions.
Níveis nutricionais de cálcio para aves de corte ISA Label criadas sob semiconfinamento

The nutritional calcium (Ca) levels were determined for ISA Label broilers in the starter (1 to 28 days), growing (28 to 56 days), and finishing (56 to 84 days) phases. Three trials were conducted, one for each phase and in each trial, 480 birds with age corresponding to the phase were housed in 24 experimental units with shelter and pasture areas. The experimental design was completely randomized in a factorial arrangement of 4x2 (Ca levels and sex), totaling eight treatments with three replicates of 20 birds. Body weight gain (BWG); feed intake (FI); feed per gain (FG); contents of phosphorus (TP), calcium (TCa) and ash (TA) in tibia; and bone breaking strength (BSB) were evaluated. At the starter phase, 1.16% of Ca is recommended in the diet for birds of both sexes. At the growing phase, 0.78 and 0.88% of Ca for males and females, respectively, are recommended and at the finishing phase, the level of 0.69% of Ca is recommended in diet for both sexes.
Comparing two methods of data collection in waterfowl habitat use studies

The reliability of the simple point count method of data collection for waterfowl habitat use was studied by comparing results obtained from it with those obtained from the more time-consuming round count method. The results revealed similar habitat use patterns for breeding individuals and broods of the 4 duck species studied using both techniques. However, in a few cases the difference between point counts and round counts increased with the complexity of the shore vegetation. Between-species differences in habitat use obtained from point counts and round counts were similar. As the point count saves a lot of time it is a method worth considering in studies in which aspects other than the absolute number of birds are of primary interest.