Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
ACCUMULATION D'OSMOTICUMS CHEZ LE BLE DUR (Triticum durum Desf.) SOUS STRESS HYDRIQUE

In this work, the contents of proline and soluble sugars are estimated under different levels of water deficit: 75%, 35%, 25% and 12,5% of fields’ capacity (FC). The study involved 10 genotypes of durum wheat (Triticum durum Desf) of different origins, local and introduced. The results show that the proline content in the leaves is low at 75% FC. The proline increases in parallel with the decrease of the water content in the medium of development, with the exception of 25% FC; however, this increase remains normal over 75% FC. Sugars evolve in the same manner as proline for 35% and 25% FC, except that for 12.5% FC, the content is the same as 75% FC. The varieties are classified into three categories: sensitive, less sensitive and tolerant to water shortage. The accumulation of osmolytes (sugars and proline) is regarded as a biochemical marker of water stress.
RESERVOIR OF ANTIMICROBIAL RESISTANT SALMONELLAE AMONG POULTRY IN OGUN STATE, NIGERIA

A survey was carried out to determine the reservoir of antimicrobial resistant Salmonellae among poultry in a local government in Ogun State, Nigeria. Isolation and identification of Salmonellae strains mainly from faecal samples of non-clinical birds and blood samples from few clinical cases were carried out. The resistance profile of the Salmonellae isolates was determined by disc-diffusion method. The results indicated relative large number of resistant Salmonellae from birds. Young birds, duck, exotic hens and intensively reared birds are useful characteristics for identifying birds likely to carry resistant Salmonella. Resistance to ampicilin, cephalexin and cefuroxine are highest among the tested drugs. In all, 22 resistant phenotypes were identified. Thirty-two out of 38 isolates were multi-resistant.
Promoter‐independent cold‐shock induction of cspA and its derepression at 37°C by mRNA stabilization

The gene for CspA, the major cold‐shock protein of Escherichia coli is known to be dramatically induced upon temperature downshift. Here, we report that three‐base substitutions around the Shine–Dalgarno sequence in the 159‐base 5′‐untranslated region of the cspA mRNA stabilizes the mRNA 150‐fold, resulting in constitutive expression of cspA at 37°C. This stabilization was found to be at least partially due to resistance against RNase E degradation. The cold‐shock induction of cspA was also achieved by exchanging its promoter with the non‐cold‐shock lpp promoter. The results presented indicate that the cspA gene is efficiently transcribed even at 37°C. However, the translation of the cspA mRNA is blocked because of its extreme instability at 37°C. The presented results also demonstrate that the cspA gene is constitutively transcribed at all temperatures; however, its expression at 37°C is prevented by destabilizing its mRNA.
Quantification in situ des mouvements de truite fario

Les mouvements sont un aspect crucial de l'ecologie et de l'evolution, car ils determinent la dynamique des populations et des communautes. Les menaces anthropiques pesant sur ces dynamiques sont donc une preoccupation majeure pour la conservation. Dans cette these, j'ai etudie les mouvements de la truite commune (Salmo trutta) dans le contexte des rempoissonnements, c'est-a-dire la supplementation des populations sauvages a partir de souches d'elevage locales et exogenes. A cette fin, j'ai d'abord developpe un nouvel outil genetique utile pour detecter la structure genetique chez la truite commune et l'hybridation avec des souches elevees en captivite. Cet outil a permis un grand succes de genotypage et a permis d'identifier les patrons d'isolement par la distance. Son interet reside dans sa facilite de mise en œuvre, et son universalite potentielle pour la genetique des populations de cette espece dans son aire de repartition. J'ai ensuite developpe de nouvelles methodes d'assignation combinant des donnees genetiques et isotopiques, afin d'etudier les mouvements a l'echelle spatiale d'un bassin hydrographique, ce qui presente un interet pour des questions appliquees telles que la gestion. Cette approche, basee sur le machine learning, a revele une grande precision et un fort pouvoir discriminant pour assigner des individus a leur population d'origine. J'ai aussi decrit les effets des rempoissonnements sur les patrons de diversite et de differenciation genetiques et constate que les rempoissonnements ont pour effet d'augmenter la diversite et la differenciation, et que les patrons naturels attendus pouvaient etre inverses dans le cas de cette pratique. Ensuite, l'hybridation entre souches sauvages et d'elevage affecte les patrons de dispersion, revelant que les deux souches different en termes de propension, de distances et de direction dans leurs dispersion, alors que les hybrides presentent des patrons de dispersion moins prononces. Enfin, j'ai cherche a mieux comprendre l'influence des facteurs individuels, environnementaux et paysagers sur les mouvements des populations naturelles; ici, j'ai trouve que certains determinants etaient universels d'un bassin versant a l'autre, par exemple le fait que les gros individus etant plus enclins a se deplacer, ou encore que les sites directement relies par le flux d'eau, et ceux ayant des similitudes en termes d'altitude et de type de cours d'eau echangeaient plus de migrant que les autres. D'autre part, d'autres facteurs dependaient du contexte, par exemple, les relations entre patrons de mouvements et position dans les paysages fluviaux et la disponibilite de l'habitat varient entre les rivieres. Cette these a contribue a ameliorer les methodes d'etude des mouvements et a identifier les facteurs sous-jacents aux patrons de mouvements a l'echelle du bassin hydrographique. Les implications de ma these sont donc a la fois fondamentales et appliquees, car une meilleure comprehension des patrons de mouvement dans le contexte de perturbations humaines est cruciale pour la gestion et la conservation.
Aspectos metodológicos do comportamento ingestivo de cabras lactantes alimentadas com farelo de cacau e torta de dendê

The objective of this trial was to compare different time intervals of chewing activity observation on lactating Saanen goats receiving diets containing cocoa meal or palm cake. Five goats averaging 41.6 of body weight were housed in individual pens and fed a diet containing corn and soybean meal as concentrate or diets in which corn and soybean meal was partially replaced by 15 and 30% of cocoa meal or palm cake (% DM). A 5 x 5 Latin square with 13 days for adaptation and two days for data collection was used. Chewing activities included time spent eating, ruminating and idle. Intervals of 10, 15 and 20 minutes of chewing activity observation were compared against the standard approach: observation at every five minutes. Increasing levels of cocoa meal or palm cake in the diet did not significantly change chewing behavior at any time interval. No significant difference was observed on the mean time spent eating, ruminating and idle at the different time intervals indicating that chewing activity of dairy goats fed increasing levels of dietary cocoa meal or palm cake can be measured at every 20 minutes rather than at every five minutes intervals.
Synthesis and biological evaluation of tetrahydropyridinepyrazoles (‘PFPs’) as inhibitors of STAT3 phosphorylation

The transcription factor STAT3 is constitutively overexpressed in many human tumors and hence represents a putative target for anticancer drug design. In this work, we describe the synthesis and biological evaluation of a novel chemotype, pyridine-fused pyrazoles (‘PFPs’) as inhibitors of STAT3 phosphorylation. The effect of the compounds synthesized was evaluated in cell proliferation assays of MCF-7 and HepG2 cancer cell lines and two of the compounds tested (12g and 12k) were found to show significant activity. Both compounds were also found to inhibit the proliferation of Hep3B, HUH-7 and PLC/PRF5 HCC cells in a dose- and time-dependent manner. Furthermore, we established in a DNA binding assay that one of the compounds (12g) was able to significantly inhibit the DNA binding ability of STAT3. Cytotoxicity of 12g against PC3 cells, which do not constitutively phosphorylate STAT3, was found to be minimal, hence lending further support for our mode-of-action hypothesis of this compound. We established for this structure a complete inhibition of CXCL12-induced cell invasion and associated wound healing in HCCLM3 cells, corroborating the proposed modulation of the STAT3 axis by 12g. Finally, molecular modeling was employed to evaluate the hypothesis of PFPs to bind to the SH2 domain of STAT3. Given the efficacy of PFPs in the biological systems studied here we propose their further evaluation in the context of STAT3-mediated cancer therapy.
Resveratrol inhibits phorbol ester-induced expression of COX-2 and activation of NF-κB in mouse skin by blocking IκB kinase activity

Aberrant expression of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) has been implicated in tumor promotion. Resveratrol, a phytoalexin present in grapes, was reported to inhibit multistage mouse skin carcinogenesis. In the present study, we found that topically applied resveratrol significantly inhibited COX-2 expression induced by the tumor promoter 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA). Resveratrol-suppressed phosphorylation and subsequent degradation of IkappaBalpha, thereby inhibiting activation of nuclear factor-kappaB (NF-kappaB) in TPA-stimulated mouse skin. Pretreatment with resveratrol also suppressed TPA-induced phosphorylation of extracellular signal-regulated protein kinase (ERK) and p38 mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase. Resveratrol blunted TPA-induced phosphorylation of p65 and its interaction with CBP/p300, rendering NF-kappaB transcriptionally inactive. To get further insights into the molecular basis of NF-kappaB inactivation by resveratrol, we examined the role of IkappaB kinase (IKK) in mediating TPA-induced activation of NF-kappaB and COX-2 expression. TPA treatment led to rapid induction of IKK activity in mouse skin, which was abolished either by resveratrol or an IKK inhibitor Bay 11-7082. Topical application of Bay 11-7082 also abrogated TPA-induced NF-kappaB activation and COX-2 expression, supporting the involvement of IKK in TPA-induced COX-2 expression. Taken together, the above findings suggest that resveratrol targets IKK in blocking TPA-induced NF-kappaB activation and COX-2 expression in mouse skin in vivo.
Terrestrial support of detritivorous fish populations decreases with watershed size

Consumers in aquatic food webs can be supported by terrestrial and aquatic primary production. However, we know little about how allochthony, i.e., the proportion of consumer biomass derived from terrestrial organic matter, varies along environmental gradients. Using hydrogen isotopes (deuterium), we quantified allochthony of an ecologically dominant detritivorous fish species (gizzard shad, Dorosoma cepedianum) in reservoir ecosystems, along a gradient of watershed land use (agriculture vs. forest). We predicted that allochthony would decline with an increase in the proportion of watershed land composed of agriculture (% agriculture). This is based on the supposition that as % agriculture increases, so does the export of dissolved inorganic nutrients to lakes, stimulating algal production and reducing the importance of terrestrial organic carbon subsidies. Allochthony accounted for ∼34% of gizzard shad production (mean of 11 lakes), although this fraction varied greatly (0–68%) among lakes and isotope mi.
The physiological effects of multiple forced submergences in loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta)

Sea turtles are subjected to involuntary submergence and potential mortality due to incidental capture by the commercial shrimp fishing industry. Despite implementation of turtle excluder devices (TEDs) to reduce at-sea mortality, dead stranded turtles continue to be found in near-record numbers along the coasts of the western Atlantic Ocean and northern Gulf of Mexico. Although this mortality may be due to an increase in the number of turtles available to strand, one alternative explanation is that sea turtles are repetitively submerged (as one fishing vessel follows the path of another) in legal TEDs. In the present study, laboratory and field investigations were undertaken to examine the physiological effects of multiple submergence of loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta). Turtles in the laboratory study were confined during the submersion episodes, whereas under field conditions, turtles were released directly into TED-equipped commercial fishing nets. Under laboratory and field conditions, pre- and postsubmergence blood samples were collected from turtles submerged three times at 7.5 min per episode with an in-water rest interval of 10, 42, or 180 min between submergences. Analyses of pre- and postsubmergence blood samples revealed that the initial submergence produced a severe and pronounced metabolic and respiratory acidosis in all turtles. Successive submergences produced significant changes in blood pH, Pco2, and lactate, although the magnitude of the acid-base imbalance was substantially reduced as the number of submergences increased. In addition, increasing the interval between successive submergences permitted greater recovery of blood homeostasis. No turtles died during these studies. Taken together, these data suggest that repetitive sub-mergence of sea turtles in TEDs would not significantly affect their survival potential provided that the animal has an adequate rest interval at the surface between successive submergences.
Economic Thresholds of Insect Pest Infestation in Peasant Agriculture: A Question of Applicability

Abstract Following a brief review of the literature on economic thresholds, attention is focused on the practical context of their application. The widely divergent agricultural conditions between western and peasant agriculture raise questions concerning the type of threshold applicable to the latter. The shortcomings of current approaches to the establishment and application of economic thresholds to peasant agriculture are discussed and recommendations are made for a change in the orientation of future research, designed to relate it more directly to the farming situations it is intended to serve.
Effect of wood density and water permeability on wood decomposition rates of 32 Bornean rainforest trees

Aims A better understanding of wood litter decomposition is essential for predicting responses of forest ecosystems to global climate change. Recent studies suggest that chemical properties of wood litters, rather than physical ones such as wood density, are more important for inter - We found large variation in the wood decomposition rate (a 49-fold range), suggesting that we need to consider this variation when cal- culating community-level carbon dynamics of tropical rain forests. The physical traits of wood, i.e. wood density and water perme- ability, were related to wood decomposition rate and its pattern over time. Decomposition half-time related positively and negatively to initial wood density and water permeability, respectively. The time-dependent- rate model fitted better for 18 species (56% of the study species) that had higher water permeabilities than the others, suggesting that micelle porosity in wood relates to temporal changes in decomposition rate.
Visual Cognitive Driving Distraction Detection using EEG

Driving distraction shift the attention away from safe driving towards a competing task. Dual task paradigm defines distraction in terms of excessive workload and limited attentional resources. To fill the gap in driver’s safety research, the thesis aims to uncover the mechanics of detecting visual cognitive distraction by using physiological signals. There are 2 sets of experiments conducted with 18 participants. The first experiment with 10 participants aims at evaluating the effects of distraction and synchronising EEG signals. For statistical analysis, Shapiro Wilk test and two-way ANOVA have been used. The results state that the two visual cognitive distraction tasks are performed sequentially and reaction time is affected by the switch. For the second experiment with 8 participants, an integrated system has been created in C++, which involves a 4-wall CAVE system, a driving simulator using SCANeR simulation software, a simple EEG headset with 20 channels (Enobio 20), SMI Eye tracker, BeGaze software. As qualitative methods, SSQ and NASA TLX have been used to evaluate user feedback. As quantitative methods, maths equations, eye movements, EEG signals, and driving performance have been used. For data analysis, Matlab and SPSS and for statistical analysis, Shapiro Wilk test and one-way ANOVA have been used. The results indicate that experiment demands mental capacity, rather than physical capacity. Delta band frequencies in frontal lobe of EEG signals do not have a significant impact on discriminating between driving and distraction, but delta and theta band at central and parietal do. The results also revealed that theta and alpha band frequencies are indeed an important features in both experiments. In a task where subject can control when they are engaging towards the secondary task, beta band showed its statistical importance being the only one able to discriminate up to different level of cognitive tasks. The most striking similarity between both experiments were, some of the statistically significant features are overlapped between brain regions. A comparative analysis of machine learning techniques (SVMs vs Random Forests) in selecting relevant features of EEG signals, referring to the coherence values, has also been conducted. Results indicate that although in general random forests perform better than SVM classifier, F1-score for SVM demonstrates the highest scores (0.90).
Leanchoilia guts and the interpretation of three-dimensional structures in Burgess Shale-type fossils

Abstract The Burgess Shale arthropod Leanchoilia superlata Walcott 1912, commonly preserves a three-dimensional axial structure generally interpreted as gut contents. Thin-section examination shows this instead to be phosphatized biserially repeated midgut glands, including exceptional preservation of subcellular features. The preferential mineralization of these structures is related to their unusually high chemical reactivity and probably to an internal source of phosphate. Sub-millimetric lineations previously interpreted as annular musculature are in fact planar, sometimes radially arranged, subdivisions of these glands. Ventral rows of isolated phosphate patches appear to represent the same tissue. In extant arthropods, extensively developed midgut glands are related to a rich but infrequent diet with a primary function in storage. Their conspicuous occurrence in unambiguous fossil predators such as Sidneyia and Laggania (Anomalocaris) suggests they served a similar role in the Cambrian; by extension, their conspicuous occurrence in Leanchoilia suggests it was a predator or scavenger. Phosphatized midguts with a structure essentially indistinguishable from that of Leanchoilia are also found in Burgess Shale Odaraia, Canadaspis, Perspicaris, Sidneyia, Anomalocaris, and Opabinia. All are characterized by a distinctive sub-millimetric arrangement of planar elements that is not found in extant arthropods or trilobites, suggesting they diverged before the last common ancestor of extant forms; i.e., they represent stem-group arthropods. Three-dimensionally preserved guts are widely preserved in the Lower Cambrian Chengjiang biota but, unlike those in the Burgess Shale, appear to be filled with sediment. Although generally interpreted as evidence of deposit feeding, the form of these structures points to early permineralization of (sediment-free) midgut glands that were subsequently altered to clay minerals. There is no evidence of deposit feeding in the Chengjiang; indeed, there is a case to be made for deposit feeding not being generally exploited generally until after the Cambrian. Fossils with three-dimensionally preserved axes from the Lower Cambrian Sirius Passet biota have been interpreted as lobopodians; however, most of the putative lobopodian features find alternative interpretations as aspects of Leanchoilia-type midgut glands. Although Kerygmachela is reliably identified as a stem-group arthropod, its phylogenetic position remains unresolved owing to the non-preservation of critical external features and to the plesiomorphic nature of its Leanchoilia-type midgut.
Effects of black garlic supplementation on exercise-induced physiological responses

Antioxidants, including garlic, are beneficial to suppress exercise-induced oxidative stress (EIOS), and black garlic (BG) is a recently-developed whole food with strong antioxidant properties. This study investigated the effects of BG supplementation on physiological responses, especially on EIOS and recovery of muscle function. Nineteen untrained males were assigned to either a BG group (n=11, GG) or placebo group (n=8, PG), with a similar age and body mass index, during a 14-day-study. Before and after eccentric exercise of elbow flexors, we measured muscle function, blood and urinary biochemistries concerning muscle injury proteins, inflammatory cells, cytokines, reactive oxygen metabolites (d-ROMs), and antioxidative potential (BAP). Maximal voluntary contraction strength decreased by 35% immediately post-exercise in both groups. Recovery of circumference of biceps brachii in GG was significantly faster than in PG during 3-7 days post-exercise. d-ROMs level was lower in GG than in PG during 1-3 days post-exercise, but no significant difference in BAP was observed between groups. Exercise induced leukocytosis, and monocytes, lymphocytes, and neutrophils all exhibited significant time effects. A significantly greater creatine kinase level was found on day 3 post-exercise in PG than in GG. Lipid peroxide concentration was lower during 3-7 days post-exercise in GG than in PG, and the 8-iso-prostaglandin F 2α level was significantly greater in PG than in GG at every post-exercise point. These results suggest that BG supplementation had certain effects on suppression of physiological responses, including EIOS, and might promote the recovery of edema in injured tissue.
Energetic reserves of Hudson Bay willow ptarmigan during winter and spring

Willow ptarmigan (Lagopus lagopus) were collected from the Hudson Bay coast of Ontario from February to June, and the proximate composition and tissue composition of the carcasses were analysed. Total carcass composition remained uniform from February to late May. The neutral fat level remained low at approximately 2% of body weight. The total energy reserve from neutral fat and labile protein was calculated to be 165 and 180 kcal (1 kcal = 4.1868 kJ), respectively, for a 550-g female and a 600-g male ptarmigan. Gonadal recrudescence began in early May, but its extent was not correlated significantly with change in body weight or carcass neutral fat content. The low neutral fat levels observed during winter and the onset of reproduction indicate that this population is dependent upon its immediate food supply for both winter survival and clutch formation.