Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Fertility Control in Free-Ranging Elk Using Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone Agonist Leuprolide: Effects on Reproduction, Behavior, and Body Condition

Abstract Overabundant elk (Cervus elaphus) populations have become a significant problem in many areas of North America. This is particularly true for protected areas where high densities of elk can cause long-term ecological degradation. When lethal control is not acceptable in these environments, resource managers must often consider alternative methods for reducing the size of resident elk populations. A potential management alternative is controlling the fertility of female elk. A promising new approach to wildlife contraception involves the use of biodegradable implants containing the gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) agonist leuprolide. During fall 2002–spring 2004, we compared pregnancy rates, reproductive behavior, daily activity patterns, and body condition of 17 free-ranging female elk treated with a leuprolide formulation with 17 untreated females, in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado, USA. After treatment, the pregnancy rate of treated elk was 0%, whereas 79% of control elk became pregnant. The effects of treatment were reversed the subsequent year with the pregnancy rate of treated females 100% compared with 91% for controls. Reproductive behaviors were similar for treated and control elk during the breeding and postbreeding seasons; treated elk did not exhibit postrut reproductive behaviors. Moreover, we found no differences in daily activity patterns of experimental groups during the breeding or postbreeding seasons. Treated elk did not show improved body condition over pregnant females. Instead, treated females catabolized proportionately more body fat during winter after treatment and at a higher rate than pregnant control elk. However, this effect was reversed the next spring with no difference in body fat between treated and control elk. We conclude from this experiment that leuprolide, administered as a controlled release formulation, offers a safe and effective method of controlling fertility in free-ranging female elk. However, practical application is limited by treatment duration and the need to treat females before the breeding season.
On Accuracy Estimation Using Parametric Bootstrap in small Area Prediction Problems

Abstract We consider longitudinal data and the problem of prediction of subpopulation (domain) characteristics that can be written as a linear combination of the variable of interest, including cases of small or zero sample sizes in the domain and time period of interest. We consider the empirical version of the predictor proposed by Royall (1976) showing that it is a generalization of the empirical version of the predictor presented by Henderson (1950). We propose a parametric bootstrap MSE estimator of the predictor. We prove its asymptotic unbiasedness and derive the order of its bias. Considerations are supported by Monte Carlo simulation analyses to compare its accuracy (not only the bias) with other MSE estimators, including jackknife and weighted jackknife MSE estimators that we adapt for the considered predictor.
Compiling a Large Swiss German Dialect Corpus

The Swiss German Dialect Corpus (Schweizer Mundartkorpus CHMK) is an initiative launched by the Swiss German dictionary Schweizerisches Idiotikon . It is an unbalanced, opportunistic corpus and the largest dialect corpus for Swiss German to date. The corpus will be accessible through a query engine and, in part, as an open-source XML corpus. In this paper we provide an overview of the concept, workﬂow, and challenges of compiling a corpus for a non-standard linguistic variety.
Expression Analyses of β-tubulin Isotype Genes in Rice

: Microtubules play important roles in many cellular processes, such as cell division and cell elongation in plants. beta-tubulins, which are the basic components of microtubules, are encoded by multigene family in eukaryotes and their nucleotide sequences are highly conserved in protein coding regions. A homology search within the rice expressed sequence tag database identified at least eight beta-tubulin (OsTUB) isotypes including three novel OsTUB genes. Northern analysis using specific probes to 3'-UTR of OsTUB isotypes showed differential and tissue-specific expression. Seven out of eight OsTUB genes dominantly expressed in leaf sheath, while OsTUB8 was preferentially expressed in anther including mature pollens. The existence of anther-specific beta-tubulin suggests its unique role in the formation of microtubules during the anther and pollen development or pollen tube growth. Furthermore, transcripts of OsTUB5, 6 and 7 genes were significantly enhanced by gibberellin but all eight OsTUB genes were repressed by abscisic acid. Our results imply that OsTUB genes are differentially regulated by developmental and hormonal signals and different OsTUB isotypes might play special role in the growth and development of specific organs in rice.
Efeito hipoglicêmico de rações à base de berinjela (Solanum melongena,L.) em ratos

The objectives of this work were to verify if eggplant diets exhibit a hypoglycemic effect, if these diets contribute to the post-prandial delay of glucose absorption and if the soluble fiber fraction (pectin) correlates with these effects. Male, adult Wistar rats, both normal and diabetic (alloxan induced) were fed diets based on casein, eggplant with and without the peel and eggplant peel for a 42 days. Blood glucose was determined at the onset of the experiment and at 13, 21, 34 and 42 days. Glucose tolerance oral tests were performed at the end of the experiment. Diets based on eggplant with peel flour and eggplant peel flour showed a significant reduction of plasma glucose levels, but this effect was not observed in the peeled eggplant diet. Diabetic animals consuming the diet based on eggplant with peel exhibited a lesser area under the glucose curve than the other control groups receiving the diets based on casein and eggplant-with-peel and the casein control group. In the animals that received the diets based on peeled eggplant and the eggplant peel, this effect was not observed. It is concluded that the compound responsible by the hypoglycemic effect is present in the peel of the eggplant. It is also concluded that soluble pectin in the diets was not in itself sufficient to promote this effect, but that the continuous administration of the soluble fiber contributed to the improvement of the glucose tolerance.
Investigation of nasal colonization of health care workers by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus with using new generation real-time PCR assay: Discussing of risks

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a nasal infectious pathogen which is becoming of significant importance year by year. Mortality, morbidity and treatment costs of MRSA infections have all increased. The most effective preventative tool is rapid confirmation of MRSA existence, followed by efficient execution of the required infection control measures. This study was performed with the aim of evaluating MRSA colonization in health care staff from intensive care units (internal and surgical intensive care units) (ICUs) and how certain risk factors affect their colonization status. The study was conducted prospectively using samples obtained from nasal swabs of health-care staffs working in different missions in the intensive care unit of Gaziantep University Training Hospital in southeast of Turkey. The nasal swab samples were processed using a real-time PCR method platform called GeneXpert (Cepheid). Our PCR screen revealed the presence of MRSA in 14 of 98 health-care staffs. Of these 14 health-care staffs carrying nasal MRSA, 10 were male, 8 were assistant health-care personnel and 11 have been working for over one year in the intensive care unit. Our data showed that male gender and an employment during of more than one year served as significant risk factors for nasal MRSA colonization.
Gibberellins: regulating genes and germination.

The range of processes regulated by gibberellins (GAs) covers all aspects of the life history of the plant from seed germination to vegetative growth and flowering. In seeds there has been an intensive search, using the techniques of both biochemistry and cell biology, for the regulatory molecules linking GA perception to gene regulation and the events of germination. Although a GA receptor has yet to be identified, the site of perception has been localized to the plasma membrane. Calmodulin, Ca2+ and cGMP have also been identified as elements of the GA signal transduction pathway. These regulators parallel many of the signalling elements identified in the transduction of other signals such as phytochrome and ABA. Studies of GA-regulated gene expression, principally of the α-amylases of cereal aleurone, have identified core GA-responsive promoter elements, such as the gibberellin response element (GARE), box-1 and pyrimidine boxes, as well as elements that may lend specificity to GA-regulated expression, such as the Opaque-2-similar element (O2S), and TRE and CRE motifs. One of the most striking features of all of these studies of the molecular basis of GA action is the interaction of GA-dependent regulatory elements with those of other factors such as ABA. GA-response elements also appear to be conserved between disparate GA-response systems. For example, Myb transcription factors appear to regulate a multitude of GA-induced genes in cereal aleurone as well as to alter GA responses when expressed in Arabidopsis. Thus the study of GA signal transduction and response systems is highlighting the conservation of regulatory elements used by plants. These common factors, used by distinct signal transduction systems, provide a molecular basis for the integration of the GA signal with other growth regulators that is the hallmark of plant growth and development. CONTENTS Summary 363 I. Introduction 364 II. Responses of cereal aleurone to GA 364 III. GA and genes 370 IV. Conclusions and perspectives 378 Acknowledgments 379 References 379.
PM-TOM: A Method for Finding Personalized Polypharmacy Therapies with Minimal Adverse Drug-Drug, Drug-Gene and Drug-Condition Interactions

Polypharmacy therapies, quite frequent in older populations, pose significant health risks for patients due to a high possibility of their cumulative adverse drug reactions. We present Personalized Medicine Therapy Optimization Method (PM-TOM) for the discovery of polypharmacy therapies with minimal drug-drug interactions, drug-gene interactions, and drug-condition interactions. The inputs of the PM-TOM heuristic algorithm are the patient's conditions, genome, and the drug products and therapy considered by a clinician. Its output is a comprehensive report that explains details of the optimal therapies for considered drug products and all drugs that treat the patient's conditions. PM-TOM was developed by using the Electronic Medical Records repository of the Personal Genome Project (PGP), and the public repositories: DrugBank and Comprehensive Toxicogenomics Database (CTD). Testing of PM-TOM showed potential for significant reduction of the cumulative adverse drug interactions in personalized polypharmacy therapies. In the group of patients with 8 to 17 conditions, PM-TOM reduced the average cumulative drug interactions from 22 to 5.83, and the group with 6 to 7 conditions from 11.17 to 3. These results encourage further research and development of clinical decision support tools like PM-TOM.
Interpretation Method for Continuous Glucose Monitoring with Subsequence Time-Series Clustering

We propose mini-batch top-n k-medoids to sequential pattern mining to improve CGM interpretation. Mecical workers can treat specific patient groups better by understanding the time series variation of blood glucose results. For 10 years, continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) has provided time-series data of blood glucose thanks to the invention of devices with low measurement errors. We conducted two experiments. In the first experiment, we evaluated the proposed method with a manually created dataset and confirmed that the method provides more accurate patterns than other clustering methods. In the second experiment, we applied the proposed method to a CGM dataset consisting of real data from 163 patients. We created two labels based on blood glucose (BG) statistics and found patterns that correlated with a specific label in each case.
A cluster analysis of protean and boundaryless career orientations: Relationships with career competencies

Previous research on protean and boundaryless careers has been variable centred, testing the outcomes of the dimensions of protean and boundaryless careers separately. Following the career typology of Briscoe and Hall (2006), this study aimed to explore the combined effect of protean (self-directedness and values orientation) and boundaryless (psychological and physical mobility) career dimensions on various career competencies, including identity awareness, adaptability, career planning, proactive job search behaviour, and external networking behaviour. Using cluster analysis with a sample of 285 professionals and mid-level managers, five of the eight career profiles in Briscoe and Hall’s (2006) typology emerged: protean career architect, hired gun, solid citizen, the wanderer, and trapped/lost. Results showed that the most positive career competencies were associated with protean career architect. Additionally, it was found that higher levels of self-directed career management and psychological and physical mobility were not sufficient to enhance identity awareness when the values-driven orientation was lower.
Population Status of the Seaside Sparrow in Rhode Island: A 25-Year Assessment

Abstract To assess long-term changes in the population status of breeding Ammodramus maritimus (Seaside Sparrow) in Rhode Island, we repeated surveys conducted in 1982 by Stoll and Golet (1983). In June and July of 2007 and 2008, we surveyed 19 of Rhode Island's largest salt marshes. Seaside Sparrow abundance had declined at 9 of 11 marshes where the species was present in 1982, and we detected no sparrows at 4 smaller (<20 ha) marshes where they were present in 1982. Seaside Sparrow abundance increased at 3 marshes, including 1 at which the birds were not detected in 1982. We used aerial photographs to quantify changes in marsh size and human development within 150-m and 1-km buffers surrounding each marsh. From 1981 to 2008, the overall average number of structures within the 150-m and 1-km buffers increased by 37% and 66%, respectively. Concomitantly, salt-marsh area decreased by an overall average of 11%. Seaside Sparrow abundance was related to marsh size, but our analyses did not detect a statistical relationship of landscape or habitat-loss variables with the decline in sparrows. The Seaside Sparrow is currently classified as a species of concern in Rhode Island. However, given the population decline we documented, and the impending threat to salt-marsh habitats imposed by rising sea levels, we suggest that the classification be reassessed now and periodically in the future, and that monitoring efforts for the species be continued.
Social Norms in Experimental Economics: Towards a Unified Theory of Normative Decision Making

Abstract Even though standard economic theory traditionally ignored any motives that may drive incentivized social decision making except for the maximization of personal consumption utility, the idea that ‘preferences for fairness’ (following social norms) might have an economically tangible impact appeared relatively early. I trace the evolution of these ideas from the first experiments on bargaining to the tests of the hypothesis that pro-sociality in general is driven by the desire to adhere to social norms. I show how a recent synthesis of economics approach with psychology, sociology, and evolutionary human biology can give rise to a mathematically rigorous, psychologically plausible, and falsifiable theory of social norms. Such a theory can predictwhich norms should emerge in each specific (social) context and is capable of organizing diverse observations in economics and other disciplines. It provides the first glimpse at how a unified theory of normative decision making might look like.
Pathological Play

Play is critical to human physical and cognitive development, and disturbance in play can express itself as a distinct and specific form of psychopathology, pathological play. Play becomes pathological when it deviates from healthy play in one or more of three characteristic qualities: the relationship between playing and reality; the player’s experience of the play; and the relationship of the player to the objects of play (including self and other people, as well as inanimate objects). Healthy play accommodates to the real needs of self and others; pathological play avoids reality, through a narrow-minded preoccupation that allows individual needs to be subjugated to the creation of a pretence or narrative.
PD-1 Immune Checkpoint Blockade Promotes Therapeutic Cancer Vaccine to Eradicate Lung Cancer

(1) Background: Targeting inhibitory immune checkpoint molecules has highlighted the need to find approaches enabling the activation of immune responses against cancer. Therapeutic vaccination, which induces specific immune responses against tumor antigens (Ags), is an attractive option. (2) Methods: Utilizing a K-RasG12Dp53null murine lung cancer model we determined tumor burden, tumor-infiltrating T cell (TIL) cytolysis, immunohistochemistry, flow cytometry, and CD4 and CD8 depletion to evaluate the efficacy of PD-1 blockade combined with CCL21-DC tumor lysate vaccine. (3) Results: Anti-PD-1 plus CCL21-DC tumor lysate vaccine administered to mice bearing established tumors (150 mm3) increased expression of perforin and granzyme B in the tumor microenvironment (TME), increased tumor-infiltrating T cell (TIL) activity, and caused 80% tumor eradication. Mice with treatment-induced tumor eradication developed immunological memory, enabling tumor rejection upon challenge and cancer-recurrence-free survival. The depletion of CD4 or CD8 abrogated the antitumor activity of combined therapy. PD-1 blockade or CCL21-DC tumor lysate vaccine monotherapy reduced tumor burden without tumor eradication. (4) Conclusion: Immune checkpoint blockade promotes the activity of the therapeutic cancer vaccine. PD-1 blockade plus CCL21-DC tumor lysate vaccine therapy could benefit lung cancer patients.
Composition of piscine prey in the diet of large pelagic fish in the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean

: We examined the stomach contents of seven pelagic fish species collected by longline in the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean: yellowfin tuna Thunnus albacares, bigeye tuna T. obesus, swordfish Xiphias gladius, striped marlin Tetrapturus audax, dolphinfish Coryphaena hippurus, lancetfish Alepisaurus ferox, and pelagic thresher Alopias pelagicus. Fifty fish species from 31 families were identified in 222 stomachs examined. The choice of prey fish was very similar between bigeye tuna and swordfish, yellowfin tuna and swordfish, yellowfin tuna and dolphinfish, and big eye tuna and pelagic thresher. In contrast, similarity was low between striped marlin and lancetfish, dolphinfish and pelagic thresher, and lancetfish and pelagic thresher. According to the habitat depth range of prey fish, the seven predator species were divided into three groups: (i) wide range feeders from surface to midwater (yellowfin tuna and striped marlin); (ii) epipelagic feeders (dolphinfish); and (iii) midwater (mesopelagic) feeders (bigeye tuna, swordfish, lancetfish, and pelagic thresher). The most important prey fish belonged to the following families: Sternoptychidae, Phosichthyidae, Paralepididae, Omosudidae, Myctophidae, Exocoetidae, Hemiramphidae, Bramidae, Gempylidae, and Scombridae. Although pelagic fish predators extensively use these prey families, different dominant families and feeding depths of each predator are considered to reduce trophic competition among pelagic fish in the eastern equatorial Pacific.
Correlation between the Development of Photorespiration and the Change in Activities of NH3 Assimilation Enzymes in Greening Oat Leaves

The development of photosynthetic capacity and photorespiration during chloroplast development in 7-day-old etiolated oat (Avena sativa L.) primary leaves was investigated together with changes in the activity of possible NH3-assimilating enzymes. The development of photosynthetic CO2 fixation and photorespiration capacity, and ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (Rubisco) and glutamine synthetase (GS) activities comparable to green leaves were completed within 48 h of continuous illumination. Chlorophyll synthesis and glutamate synthase (GOGAT) activity continued to increase beyond this time. Within this 48-h period, the activities of Rubisco, GS and GOGAT increased 2.3, 2 and 3 times repectively. Throughout the greening treatment, the GS and GOGAT activities were always high enough to sustain the expected rate of photorespiratory NH3 production. In contrast, glutamate dehydrogenase activity decreased during greening, and its measured rate was not high enough for photorespirtory NH3 assimilation. These results support the idea that the GS/GOGAT pathway is the major, if not the only, route for photorespiratory NH3 assimilation in the light in leaves of higher plants.
Genotypic Relationships and Taxonomic Localization of Unclassified Pseudomonas and Pseudomonas-Like Strains by Deoxyribonucleic Acid:Ribosomal Ribonucleic Acid Hybridizations

The deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA):ribosomal ribonucleic acid (rRNA) hybridization technique was used to reveal the relationships and taxonomic positions of an additional 83 strains belonging to 43 saprophytic or pathogenic Pseudomonas species and 29 named and unnamed Pseudomonas-like strains. The DNA:rRNA hybrids were characterized by the following two parameters: (i) the temperature at which one-half of the hybrid was eluted and (ii) the percentage of rRNA binding (the amount of rRNA bound per 100 g of filter-fixed DNA). We also used, for a limited number of strains, numerical analysis of carbon assimilation tests to delineate the finer taxonomic relationships of organisms. Of the 83 strains examined, 78 could be definitely assigned either to an rRNA branch or to an rRNA superfamily within the Proteobacteria. Only 25 of our strains belong in the genus Pseudomonas sensu stricto (our Pseudomonas fluorescens rRNA branch). In general, about two-thirds of the named Pseudomonas species have been misclassified and are distributed over at least seven genera all through the Proteobacteria. These organisms need to be reclassified and generically renamed according to their phylogenetic relationships. However, more detailed phenotypic and genotypic studies are necessary before definite nomenclatural proposals can be made. A comprehensive list of the phylogenetic affiliations of the Pseudomonas species is included.
NULL MODELS IN ECOLOGY

What determines the particular combinations of species found in biological communities, the number of those species, and their relative abundance? These questions are of perennial interest to ecologists, who often cite the influence of various factors-competition, predation, climate, nutrient availability, and chance dispersal events, to name a few. One way of testing hypotheses about the role of different processes is to search for patterns, i.e. similarities or differences between the compositions of speciflc communities. Process can be used to predict patterns, and pattern recognition can lead in turn to predictions about the consequences of experimentally manipulating natural communities. Such patterns typically involve: (a) some regularity in the relative abundance of species present in the community; (b) geographical correlates of the numbers of species; (c) the repeated occurrence or rarity of particular species or morphological combinations; and (d) differences in the behavior or morphology of a