Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Sucrose accumulation in sweet sorghum stem internodes in relation to growth

Sweet sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L. Moench) stems of different cultivars (NK 405. Keller and Tracy) reveal a different pattern of sucrose accumulation with respect to in-ternodal sugar content and distribution. The onset of sucrose storage is not necessarily associated with the reproductive stage of the plant, as was hitherto assumed, but obviously occurs after cessation of internodai elongation as was postulated for the sugarcane stem. For at least two of the three cultivars, ripening is an internode to internode process beginning at the lowermost culm parts. Intensive growth of the internodes, combined with a high hexose content in stern parenchyma, shows a strong positive correlation (r |Mg 0.94) to the activity of sucrose synthase (SuSy; EC 2.4.13), but not to invertase (EC 3.2.1.26) which is not present as soluble (neutral and acid) or cell wall-bound, salt-extractable enzyme in the three culsivars investigated. Sucrose synthase measured in sucrose cleavage and synthesis direction reveals divergent activity rates and sensitivity towards exogenously applied Mg2+ ions and pH. SuSy activity is connected to the increase of internodai sucrose content in so far as (1) its decline is a prerequisite for the onset of sucrose accumulation and (2) it remains at a constant low level during sucrose storage. Sucrose phosphate synthase (SPS; EC 2.4.1.14) activity in the sorghum stem is low compared to SuSy and uniformly distributed over all inter-nodes. Only source leaves of sorghum show a considerable SPS activity, but neither stem nor leaf SPS reveal a positive correlation to the increase of internodai sucrose content. Sucrose phosphate phosphatase (SPP; EC 3.1.3.24) amounts lo only 24–30% of the respective SPS activity but follows the same distribution pattern. None of the enzymes under study proves to be responsible for the extent of sucrose storage in the stem, so other phenomena such as transport processes within the stern tissue require further investigation.
Diabetes insípida: generalidades y diagnóstico en pacientes pediátricos

Diabetes insipidus is a disease characterized by partial or total inability to concentrate urine due to a vasopressin secretion deficiency (central diabetes insipidus), a resistance to its action (nephrogenic diabetes insipidus) or an excessive consumption of water (primary polydipsia). The main signs and symptoms of the disease are polydipsia, polyuria, and nocturia; central diabetes insipidus has an insidious onset, whereas nephrogenic diabetes insipidus has a gradual onset. Because of the advances in clinical laboratory, imaging techniques and molecular biology, the etiologic diagnosis of diabetes insipidus has improved, from 50% of patients with idiopathic diabetes insipidus to 10%-20% of patients; therefore, it has been achieved more timely treatments, resulting in reduction of the risk of sequela. Accordingly, it is pivotal to rule out secondary causes of diabetes insipidus, such as drug consumption or metabolic disorders in patents with nephrogenic diabetes insipidus, and brain tumors, encephalic trauma, infiltrative diseases, autoimmune disorders or central nervous system infections in case of patients suffering of central diabetes insipidus. Regarding treatment, it is recommended the use of desmopressin, an analogue of vasopressin, for the treatment of central diabetes insipidus, whereas water consumption, decrease of salt consumption and treatment with diuretic and non-steroidal antiinflammatory drugs are recommended for treatment of patients with nephrogenic diabetes insipidus.
Detecção do gene da nucleoproteína do vírus da cinomose canina por RT-PCR em urina de cães com sinais clínicos de cinomose

A presenca do virus da cinomose canina (CDV) foi avaliada pela reacao em cadeia da polimerase, precedida de transcricao reversa (RT-PCR), em 87 amostras de urina de caes que apresentavam sinais clinicos sugestivos de cinomose. Os animais foram distribuidos em tres grupos. No grupo A foram incluidos 41 caes com alteracoes sistemicas; no grupo B, 37 caes com alteracoes neurologicas; e no grupo C, nove caes com alteracoes sistemicas e neurologicas simultâneas. O grupo D (controle) foi composto por 20 caes assintomaticos. Os resultados da RT-PCR foram correlacionados com a forma clinica da infeccao e com as alteracoes hematologicas encontradas. Foi possivel a amplificacao parcial do gene da nucleoproteina do CDV em 41 (47,1%) das 87 amostras de urina provenientes de caes com sinais clinicos sugestivos de cinomose. Todas as amostras obtidas de animais assintomaticos foram negativas na RT-PCR. Amostras positivas foram encontradas nos tres grupos de animais com sinais clinicos na proporcao de 51,2% (24/41), 29% (11/37) e 100% (9/9) para os grupos A, B e C, respectivamente. A leucocitose foi a alteracao hematologica mais frequente nos tres grupos de caes com sinais clinicos porem, nao foi possivel estabelecer correlacao entre o resultado da RT-PCR e as alteracoes hematologicas. Os resultados demonstraram que, independente da forma de apresentacao clinica, a tecnica da RT-PCR realizada em urina pode ser utilizada no diagnostico ante mortem da infeccao pelo CDV.
Circular RNAs: biogenesis, functions, and roles in cardiovascular diseases

Circular RNA is a kind of non-coding RNA with a circular structure, which is so stable that not easily degraded by exonuclease and evolutionarily conserved, widely existed in living organisms. It has become one of the hot topics in basic medical research. Emerging studies discovered that circular RNAs have been involved in causing and developing various cardiovascular diseases. Circular RNAs can not only be used as biomarkers for early diagnosis of diseases, but also be used as potential targets for clinic therapies. The present paper reviews the research progress on the biogenesis, functions and roles of circular RNAs in the development of cardiovascular diseases. DOI: 10.11855/j.issn. 0577-7402.2018. 12.12
Chemical trends and status of small lakes near Sudbury, Ontario, 1983-1995: evidence of continued chemical recovery

We monitored 23 chemical parameters in 161 lakes northeast of Sudbury, Ontario, in most years between 1983 and 1995 to determine whether lake chemistries were responding to reduced local SO2 emissions. Lakes were typically small (median 4.0 ha, 4.5 m deep), rapid flushing, and acid stressed (median pH 5.58, acid-neutalizing capacity (ANC) 7.1 µequiv. ·L-1). Forty percent of the lakes declined significantly in SO4, base cations, and Al levels from 1983 to 1995, but only 12 and 16% increased in ANC and pH, respectively. Chemical trends were influenced by local climate; pronounced improvements occurred in response to drought conditions (1986 and 1987), but rapid deterioration followed the wet year in 1988. With more typical precipitation levels since 1989, a pattern of gradual improvement returned. Connected, rapid-flushing lakes, those on low or moderately sensitive bedrock, and peatlands showed the greatest improvements in pH and ANC whereas glacial headwaters and lakes on highly sensitive bedrock showed t.
Cause and Effect in Promoting a Project

For a project to be considered successful it is necessary, besides a proper coordination, to be also done a good and wide promotion. In view of communication, promotion and maintenance ensures the organization's image. Disturbances occurring in any type of project, as a result of poor promotion, affect the image of the team and highlight the weaknesses in its management. Therefore, the promotion should be permanently monitored and evaluated. Cause-effect analysis is one of the ways we can identify some of nonconformities of the promotion process within a project.
Pathological changes associated with Oesophagostomum columbianum infestations in sheep: haematological observations on control worm-free and experimentally infested sheep.

Variations in the numbers of erythrocytes and white cells within the blood of sheep given various doses of Oesophagostomum columbianum larvae were studied over a period of 10 weeks. The sheep showed losses of red cells and haemoglobin, and the packed cell volume was diminished after infestation with O. columbianum. These effects increased in severity as the infesting dose was increased; the resistant state of the host also affected the blood picture. In all infestations the calculated absolute values for the blood, i.e. mean corpuscular haemoglobin (MCH), mean corpuscular volume (MCV), and mean corpuscular haemoglobin concentration (MCHC), did not significantly change except in the heavier infestations, where MCV increased for a time. The type of anaemia which predominated throughout these experiments was normocytic-normochromic. Where the MCV increased for a period, the anaemia was of the macrocytic-normochromic type. During the first infestation with 2000 larvae the anaemias tended to become microcytic-hyperchromic, but these changes were not significant. Gross observations on the gut indicated that one of the factors influencing the development of anaemias was the extensive tissue damage caused by the larvae, which resulted in chronic bleeding from the mucosa. This suggestion was supported by the fact that anaemias also developed during second infestations when there was no adult worm population. The white cell counts from a number of these sheep were also recorded. The most significant changes occurred after second infestation, although a general increase was noted after all first infestations as well; prominent increases occurred in the agranulocytes and the eosinophil leucocytes. The neutrophil leucocyte counts fell throughout all the infestation. All the normal values obtained for the haemoglobin concentration, packed cell volume, red cell counts, MCV, MCH, and MCHC and white cell counts compared favourably with the values cited by other workers.
Reproductive performance of different sized wild and pond-reared Penaeus paulensis females.

The present study analyzes the reproductive performance of three size classes of wild (average weight of 46.5, 55.0, and 63.2 g) and three size classes of pond-reared (18.4, 21.3, and 25.1 g) Penaeus paulensis females. Unilaterally eyestalk ablated females were placed for 70 d in 3.6 m diameter tanks at 6 individuals/m2 and a 1.2:1 female-male ratio. Number of spawns, eggs, nauplii, fertilization and hatching rates were recorded every second day. The length of unfed protozoea I larvae was also recorded. Larger broodstock shrimp tended to suffer higher mortality rates. Smaller, pond-reared females started spawning at 28.2 ± 4.1 g. The number of eggs and nauplii per spawning event were not significantly different between experimental groups (P > 0.05), but due to their higher spawning frequency, small wild females (46.5 ± 3.7 g) outperformed medium (55.0 ± 1.8 g) and large ones (63.2 ± 7.0 g). No relationship between protozoea length and spawner size was found. Optimum size for the maturation of wild P. paulensis females was estimated to be from 30 to 60 g. It is suggested that the use of this size range can potentially enhance nauplii production of P. paulensis.
Financing Agriculture as a Poverty Eradication Strategy - The Case of Uasin Gishu County, Kenya

This is a concept paper that aims to demonstrate that one of the surest ways of pulling Kenya out of the recurrentcycle of poverty is by adequately financing agriculture since majority of the population rely wholly on this sector.Poverty is a condition that is dehumanizing and which erodes human rights of the affected individual. Povertysubjects the person to a state of powerlessness, hopelessness, and lack of self-esteem, confidence, and integrity,and thus, leading to a situation of multi-dimensional vulnerability (Kimani and Kombo, 2009). Poverty seems a paradox in Kenya, a country with one of the better developed economies in eastern Africaregion and which earns substantial foreign exchange from agricultural exports. Yet, it is a low-income countryand is ranked 128th among 169 countries in the United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP) HumanDevelopment Index (IFAD, 2011). The Kenya government (GoK), supported by a number of development partners and non-governmentalorganizations (NGOs) has over the last 10 years undertaken various projects and initiatives aimed at eradicating,or at a minimum, alleviating poverty among the population. These initiatives include the Women DevelopmentFund, Youth Enterprise Fund, “Kazi kwa Vijana” programme, and most recently, the Economic StimulusProgramme (ESP). Despite all these efforts, poverty eradication is far from being realized.The paper conceptualizes that adequate funding of the agricultural sector seems the best option of achievingpoverty eradication. Agriculture is the lifeline of 80% of Kenya's poor who live in rural areas, including farmers,workers and the unemployed. Over 70% of Kenya's employment is in agriculture, consequently creating jobs andincreasing income in that sector is vitally important and, if achieved, will have an important direct effect onpoverty (One in a Million/Kenya Foundation, 2013). Keywords: Agriculture; Eradication; Finance/financing; MDGs; Poverty; Uasin Gishu; Kenya.
Relabeling Extreme Rainfall Events so the Public Understands Their Severity

Explaining how multiple 100-year storms can occur in less than 100 years to the public is difficult since they do not understand and refuse to accept that this can happen. Other natural disasters (e.g. earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes) are not rated using recurrence intervals, but use simple scales instead like the Richter scale, Fujita scale, and Saffir-Simpson scale, respectively. The public understands the ratings for these other events since they use a simple scale to rate the severity of the event, not the rarity of the event. This paper proposes to re-rate rain storms, building on existing hydrologic science, but changing the designation from a recurrence interval to one that is more general in description, similar to the rating of other natural disasters. The new scale rates the rain event on a scale of 1 to 10 based on how severe the storm was, making it more understandable to the public.
Genetic Diversity and Population Structure of Pronghorn Spiny Lobster Panulirus penicillatus in the Pacific Region1

Abstract: Adult specimens of Panulirus penicillatus were collected from localities distributed in Japan: Hachijojima Island, Ryukyu Archipelago (Amamioshima, Okinawajima, Ishigakijima); Taiwan: Taitung; Indonesia: Java Sea and Gebe Island; French Polynesia: Moorea Island; and Ecuador: Isabela Island. Phyllosoma larval specimens were collected from the western sea of the Galápagos Islands. In total, 569–570 nucleotide sequences were analyzed from the mtDNA control region of 480 individuals. Almost all individuals had a unique haplotype. Intra-population haplotype (h) and nucleotide (&pgr;) diversities were high for each locality, ranging h = 0.9996-1.0000 and &pgr; = 0.0255-0.0448. A mismatch distribution of pairwise differences between haplotypes indicated that P. penicillatus does not fit the sudden population expansion model. Analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) shows a clear genetic difference between two regions (western/central Pacific and eastern Pacific). High gene flow was found within localities in the western/central Pacific region, probably resulting from an extended planktonic larval stage and prevailing ocean currents. In this study we detected genetic structure between eastern Pacific populations and western Pacific populations, indicating that despite the nearly 1-yr larval period for this species, larvae generally do not pass over the East Pacific Barrier.
Induction of maturation and spermiation in the male European eel: assessment of sperm quality throughout treatment

Weekly injections of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG: 1.5 IU g -1 W) induced spermiation in 87-100% farmed male European eels Anguilla anguilla over a 10-week period, producing 3 ml (100 g) -1 milt volume, at 1.4 × 10 9 spermatozoa ml -1 sperm mobility peaked in ninth week of treatment with 97% of males with motile sperm. Gonadotropin-treated males showed earlier but similar morphological changes to control males. Whereas higher sperm density was obtained 6 h after hCG administration, higher percentage of motile cells and longer sperm mobility were observed 24 h after the treatment indicating that this is the optimum time to obtain good sperm after the hormonal induction. Several monounsaturated fatty acids in sperm increased significantly from week 5 to 9 of treatment (when highest volume, density and mobility of milt were recorded), whereas eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and total n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) were significantly reduced. Fatty acid levels returned to initial values after 13 weeks of treatment. These results are in agreement with the reduction of n-3 PUFAs recently observed in the ovary of female Japanese eel during artificial maturation, and an attempt is made to suggest a physiological explanation of its possible relation with sperm quality.
Adaptation and Adaptedness of Organisms to Urban Environments

Around the world the development and growth of cities and towns are having a significant impact on local and global biodiversity. There is growing interest in the adaptation of nonhuman organisms to urban environments, and we distinguish between the concepts of adaptation and adaptedness. Most of these studies have focused on animals, especially birds. Commonly recorded responses to urban environments include regulatory and acclimatory responses involving changes in behavior, communication, and physiology. Developmental responses tend to be morphological in nature but can also involve cultural learning. There is growing evidence of microevolutionary changes associated with adaptive responses to urban environments. This review also highlights the urgent need to refine the terminology currently used to describe the adaptation of organisms to urban environments in order to improve scientific understanding and more effectively identify and communicate the actions required to create biodiversity- and adaptatio.
Real-time quantitative PCR analysis of diesel-degrading genes of acinetobacter calcoaceticus isolates.

The diesel-degrading capabilities of Acinetobacter calcoaceticus isolates LT1, LT1A and V2 were established in previous studies. LT1 and LT1A were isolated from diesel-contaminated soil and V2 was from soil contaminated with used engine oil. Isolates were grown in Bushnell-Haas medium supplemented with 1% sterile diesel. Determination of diesel-degradation patterns by gravimetric analysis and harvesting of cells for RNA extraction were performed at regular time intervals over a 60 day period. The involvement of genes alkM, alkR, rubA, rubB, estB, lipA, lipB, and xcpR in hydrocarbon degradation has been reported in previous studies. LT1, LT1A, and V2 were compared in terms of gene expression levels by real-time quantitative PCR. Expression levels were assessed by relative quantification and normalized against the 16S rRNA reference gene using the Relative Expression Software Tool XL (REST-XL). Amplification of all genes, except rubB, was achieved with a high degree of efficiency. The expression of rubA, alkM, alkR, xcpR, and lipB based on pair-wise randomization, was all down-regulated in LT1A in relation to LT1. Highest expression levels of the aforementioned genes were documented during the initial stages of incubation for LT1 while LT1A showed highest expression levels midway through the study period. LT1, LT1A, and V2 achieved 58.6%, 51.7%, and 48.3% diesel degradation after 5 days of incubation, respectively. The higher percentage of diesel degradation achieved by LT1 can be attributed to higher levels of overall gene expression in the initial stages of degradation. Amplification of alkane hydroxylase alkM of V2 revealed a possible second hydroxylase gene that was
Recent developments in antiviral drugs for cytomegalovirus

Human cytomegalovirus continues to impact adversely on the outcome of solid organ and stem cell transplantation and remains a major cause of congenital abnormalities. In the absence of a vaccine, antiviral drugs have been the mainstay of therapy. Although very few anticytomegalovirus drugs are currently licensed, there are multiple opportunities within the viral life cycle for drug development. In this article we summarize some of the key new antiviral agents undergoing preclinical and clinical development against a range of targets in the viral life cycle, highlighting those where further development is warranted or being undertaken.
INSecS: An Intelligent Network Security System

There are new challenges in network security, introduced by the nature of modern networks like IoT systems, Cloud systems, and other distributed systems. System resource limitations in IoT, delays in processing the large stream of data from Cloud and distributed system, incapability to handle multi-step attacks due to delay in updates, limited datasets used for Intrusion Detection System (IDS) training which impacts the system performance are some of the pressing issues. To address these challenges, the author proposes Intelligent Network Security Systems, a framework that can handle these issues and also be as accurate as a commercial grade IDS. The proposed framework consists of three components: a Dataset Creation Software (DCS), an Intrusion Detection System and a Learning module. This thesis presents implementation details and validation results for DCS and IDS. The first component is a highly customizable software framework capable of generating labeled network intrusion datasets on demand. This software is able to collect data from a live network as well as from a pre-recorded packet capture file. The output can be either Raw packet capture (PCAP) with selected attributes per packet or a processed dataset with customized attributes related to both individual packet features and overall traffic behavior within a time window. The abilities of this component are compared with a state-of-the-art dataset creation system through a feature comparison. The proposed Intrusion Detection System is a novel, distributed IDS that is able to perform in real-time in a distributed system. Hierarchical decision making is used to reduce traffic overhead on the IDS and allow faster Intrusion Detection. The IDS also detects multi-step attacks faster by updating the system rules when a reconnaissance attack is detected, without any human intervention. Internal attacks are also detected easily because of the distributed nature of the IDS. The performance tests show that the IDS performs 8 times faster on averages with the hierarchical decision-making structure and still maintains the same level of accuracy as Snort.
Susceptibilidad antimicrobiana de cepas de Neisseria gonorrhoeae por difusión con discos

The Gonoccocus Laboratory of "Pedro Kouri" Tropical Medicine Institute carried out a study of in vitro susceptibility of Neisseria gonorrhoeae to penicillin, tetracycline, cefuroxime ceftriaxone, cefotaxine and ciprofoxacin by means of a disk diffusion method with the culture medium agar base GC plus supplement. In the first phase, the method was standardized and the reference N. gonorrhoeae ATCC 49226 strain was used whereas in the second phase, 50 gonococcal strains isolated in 8 provinces during 1995 and 1996 were examined. The results of such standardization confirmed that the antimicrobial susceptibility values were within the allowable limits. 52 and 34% of strains were resistant to penicillin and tetracycline respectively and all of them showed susceptibility to the rest of evaluated antimicrobial drugs. We recommend the use of the disk diffusion method for surveillance of gonococci resistance to these drugs in our country.