Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Life cycle and production of Chironomidae (Diptera) from Lake Banyoles (NE Spain)

SUMMARY 1. The life cycles and annual production of the eight most abundant species of chironomids (Prodadius cf. choreus, Tanypus punctipennis, Chironomus bernensis, Chironomus gr. plumosus, Cladopelma virescens, Microchironomus tencr, Tanytarsus gr. lestagei, and Cladotanytarsus atridorsum) were studied from sublittoral and profundal samples taken monthly in Lake Banyoles during 1987 at five sampling stations (depths ranging from 5 to 20 m). 2. The number of generations per year deduced from instar-frequency data varied from one to four, depending on the species, lake basin and depth. Annual temperature range, dissolved oxygen in the stratified period and presence of sulphide are the key factors that may explain the differences in the number of generations. 3. Production estimates were calculated using the size-frequency (SF) method corrected for the number of generations (SFG), and the increment-summation method (IS) when cohorts could be clearly deduced. 4. Production calculated with the SFG method gave results which were comparable with those of the IS method using smoothed-survivorship curves in the three species for which the use of the IS method was possible (C. virescens, M. tener and C. atridorsum). Using these methods production was estimated to range from 23–70 mg AFDW (ash-free dry weight) m−2 yr−1 at 12 m to 74–275 mg AFDW m−2 yr−1 in the sublittoral zone of the lake (5-m depth). 5. Calculation of production for the other five species using the size-frequency method with the number of generations (SFG) deduced from monthly instar-frequency data gave values ranging from 12 mg AFDW m−2 yr−1 (Chironomus bernensis at 20 m depth) to 3.75 g AFDW m−2 yr−1(Prodadius cf. choreus at 12 m). 6. Total chironomid production (with the SFG method) varied from 0.8 to 5 g AFDW m−2 yr−1 in the profundal and sublittoral, respectively. At each sampling station two species groups accounted for most of the production: Prodadius cf. choreus and Chironomus spp. Annual production/biomass ratio (P/B) varied from very high values for Prodadius (between 11 and 27, as four generations completed each year) to very low values for Chironomus gr. plumosus (2.20), which completed only one generation each year. The annual production of P. cf. choreus in Lake Banyoles is higher than any reported in the literature due to the completion of four generations and to the high densities of this species.
Once Bitten, Twice Shy: Does Previous Experience Influence Behavioural Decisions of Snakes in Encounters with Predators?

Injuries are common in animals of diverse taxa and are usually attributed to encounters with predators. Although often non-lethal, injuries nevertheless represent effects of predators that can have negative consequences for demography and fitness (e.g. reproductive costs). However, encounters with predators also represent experience through which animals can learn and positively adapt their future behaviour, potentially mitigating, at least partly, the negative effects of prior exposure to predators. I predicted that injured grass snakes (Natrix natrix), which presumably had been handled previously by a predator, would be more likely to move before capture than uninjured snakes. This prediction was borne out. Snakes with injuries also had lower body condition than uninjured snakes, although the effect was non-significant. Snakes that had been previously captured also were significantly more likely to move before capture than snakes that had never been caught before. These results provide strong evidence for the role of experience and learning in modifying the antipredator behaviour of snakes.
The Biotransformation of Two 3,15-Oxygenate ent-Kaurane Derivatives by Gibberella fujikuroi

The incubation of 3α,15β-dihydroxy-ent-kaur-16-ene (1) with the fungus Gibberella fujikuroi gave 3α,7α,15β-trihydroxy-ent-kaur-16-ene (5), 3α,11β,15β-trihydroxy-ent-kaur-16-ene (13), and 3α,7α,11β,15β-tetrahydroxy-ent-kaur-16-ene (17). The ether 3α,15β-dihydroxy-11β,16β-epoxy-ent-kaurane (15) and the isomerized compounds 3α,7α-dihydroxy-15-oxo-ent-(16S)-kaurane (8) and 3α,7α,11β-trihydroxy-15-oxo-ent-(16S)-kaurane (10) were also obtained. The incubation of 3α-hydroxy-15-oxo-ent-(16S)-kaurane (7) with the fungus also afforded compounds 8 and 10, as well as 3α,11β-dihydroxy-15-oxo-ent-(16S)-kaurane (20), 3α,6α,11β-trihydroxy-15-oxo-ent-(16S)-kaurane, (22) 3α,6β,7α-trihydroxy-15-oxo-ent-(16S)-kaurane (25), and 3α,11β,16α-trihydroxy-15-oxo-ent-(16S)-kaurane (27). These results indicate that in 3,15-oxygenated ent-kaurane derivatives the presence of a 3α-hydroxyl inhibits oxidation at C-19, while a 15β-hydroxyl or a 15-oxo group directs hydroxylation at C-11(β) and C-7(α).
Histological pattern of leiomyomas after ulipristal acetate treatment in women: a case-control study

Uterine fibroids (UFs) are tumors that originate from the smooth muscle cells of the myometrium. They affect more than 70% of reproductive-age women and 25% of premenopausal patients and are a cause of heavy menstrual bleeding, iron deficiency, pelvic pressure and pain, thereby worsening the quality of life [1, 2]. Therapeutic options for UFs include surgical interventions (hysterectomy or myomectomy), so that leiomyomas represent one of the main cause of hospitalization and the most common indication for hysterectomy in the USA, producing a heavy economic impact on healthcare systems [36]. The need of uterine-sparing and less invasive therapies, that may improve fertility outcomes [7] and reduce morbidity rate associated with surgery, drove gynecologists to apply for medical treatment as first-line approach. Beside hormonal methods, selective progesterone receptor modulators (SPRMs) represent a new pharmacological option which have been proven to be effective in the interference with the mechanism of tumorigenesis without inducing common GnRH-agonists side effects (hypoestrogenic state associated with significant menopausal symptoms, such as vasomotory symptoms and increased osteoporotic risk) [8]. Ulipristal acetate (UPA), a high-selective progesteronereceptors (PRs) ligand with both antagonist and partial agonist activity [9], has been proved to reduce leiomyoma volume, uterine size, and menstrual blood loss, thereby resulting in increasing serum hemoglobin levels, reducing pelvic pain, and improving the quality of life [10-14]. Specific and reversible histological endometrial effects of UPA in vivo are known [15], and the impact of the drug on the estrogen receptors (ERs), PRs-induced genes, and cellular proliferation rate have been studied in vitro [16]. On the contrary, less clear are the changes induced on UFs elements. Assays revealed that UPA changes the expression of genes involved in the production of extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins [17, 18] such as metalloproteinases (MMP) [19] and growth factors [20, 21], and influences cellular proliferation index and apoptosis [22]. The pathological pattern of the smooth muscular cells, ECM and vascular grid arranged in fibroids, have not been reported in vivo from a histological point of view. The aim of this study was the in vivo assessment of the cytological and extracellular matrix histological patterns of uterine leiomyomas, in women who underwent surgery after a preoperative treatment with UPA.
Seasonal and long-term changes in biometrics of eel larvae : a possible relationship between recruitment variation and North Atlantic ecosystem productivity

The European eel larval life has two stages: the oceanic leptocephalus, in which growth is dependent on food supply, and the metamorphosis glass eel stage, in which feeding and growth are stopped until immigration in estuarine waters. Data from fisheries and experimental surveys in European estuaries at different periods between the 1930s and the 1990s showed a simultaneous decrease of mean length and abundance level. A monthly survey at the Vilaine estuary (Bay of Biscay) during 2 years provided a periodical model of seasonal variation in length and weight of newly recruited glass eels. Otolith microstructure was used to back-calculate larval stage durations and the timing of transatlantic migration. Glass eels entering the estuary in autumn are longer and more numerous than those arriving in summer. They migrated across the ocean during spring and summer, seasons when plankton production is likely to reach maximum levels. The proposed hypothesis regarding the determinism of recruitment in the eel, on the seasonal and on the yearly range, is that leptocephalus growth and glass eel survival are partly dependent on the plankton production at the oceanic scale. Eel recruitment dynamics could provide an integrated figure of large-scale environment fluctuations.
Rate of Accumulation of Reproductive Isolation by Chromosome Rearrangements

In populations with small or moderate effective population size, in the absence of strong homozygote advantage or drive, chromosomally induced isolation can occur only by the fixation of many weakly underdominant rearrangements. For these populations the minimal speciation time is an increasing function of Ne/u, the ratio of the effective population size and the spontaneous rearrangement rate. With moderate Ne and either strong rearrangement homozygote selective advantage or drive, isolation can occur by fixation of a few strongly underdominant rearrangements. Under these circumstances, speciation occurs at a more rapid rate, provided that such rearrangements occur with sufficient frequency. Finally, for large Ne, only rearrangements which are meiotically driven can become fixed, so that isolation times reflect the average strength of drive. A somewhat counterintuitive result for meiotic drive is that in certain cases the minimal speciation times decrease as the effective population size increases. The implications of these results for stasipatric speciation are that mildly to strongly underdominant rearrangements (i.e., those with h > .01) can contribute to hybrid sterility only in very small populations (Ne < 50) which are likely to have a high extinction probability and suffer inbreeding depression, or in moderate to large populations which have a high spontaneous occurrence rate of driven rearrangements. Even in populations with a high occurrence of driven rearrangements, only those rearrangements with D > h (the drive coefficient) can contribute to increasing hybrid sterility. Thus, the conditions under which the stasipatric model of speciation will operate in a reasonable time are fairly strict and speciation by fixation of a large number of weakly underdominant (cryptic) rearrangements is often more likely.
Nutritional and immunomodulatory function of methionine in poultry diets – a review

Abstract Methionine (Met) plays many important metabolic functions in humans and animals, and therefore may be classified as a functional amino acid (AA). Functional AAs are defined as those AAs that participate in and regulate key metabolic pathways to improve health, survival, growth, development, and reproduction of organisms. As the first-limiting AA in poultry diets, Met affects poultry production parameters such as body weight gains, feed conversion ratio and carcass quality. The results of many experiments on chickens fed diets with different levels of Met (from 0.3 to 1.2% in the starter period, and from 0.3 to 0.9% in the grower period) indicate that commercial broiler chickens do not require more than 0.50 and 0.38% Met in starter and grower diets, respectively, for optimum growth and feed efficiency, whereas higher inclusion rates of Met are needed to stimulate immune responses. The results of recent experiments on chickens are insufficient to define the optimal dietary levels of Met, which has been shown to exert immunostimulatory activity. A few experiments on layer hens have demonstrated that Met requirements for immune competence are higher than for optimum production, but the inclusion levels of this AA needed to stimulate the immune system of birds have not been defined. In the absence of such research, it remains unknown whether feeding growing turkeys diets supplemented with Met above NCR recommendations, as suggested by B.U. T. (British United Turkeys), stimulates the immune system of birds.
The neural selection and the emergence of ‘beauty canons’ as signaling codes in co-evolving species

Widespread opinion wants beauty to be pleasant and aimless, this assumption biased Darwin's explanation of sexual selection. Conversely, Wallace hypothesized that showy and symmetric sexual traits correlate with vigor and health and he placed ‘aesthetic’ preferences within the natural selection. The controversy has continued until today. To understand the role of beauty canons in communication, the focus was on the flower-pollinator cooperative system as a model, were flower evolution embodies the natural history of pollinators' preferences.Optimum for a signal requires energy efficiency, high signal-to-noise ratio, and intelligibility. It involves pollinator perception mechanisms that, in turn, induce co-evolutionary feedback on signal traits. In fact, the flowers physical and hedonic properties correlate with the basic perceptual, motivational, emotional, and learning mechanisms of pollinators. It is proposed that pollinator behavior, unmasking a preference, reveals the ability to evaluate an expected benefit. Features such as a relative simplicity, redundancy, and regularity of stimuli facilitate perception and memorization and are essential elements for communication between co-evolving species. They improve signaling to satisfy the need for easy and fast recognition. With these properties, a stimulus is adaptive and rewarding per se and may be an ideal conditioned stimulus in associative learning. Among the most conspicuous signals, pollinators learn to recognize and choose those associated with nectar, thus favoring the evolution of flowers that are not only ‘beautiful’ but also ‘honest’ in reporting a reward. Beauty is an emergent property, and studying communication and perception we may understand the origin of some beauty canons.
Effects of body size, population density, and maternal characteristics on age at first reproduction in bighorn ewes

The factors affecting variation in age at first reproduction of bighorn ewes (Ovis canadensis) were investigated in two marked populations in Alberta. One population was studied for 20 years, the other for 11 years. As yearlings, females that lactated at 2 years of age were on average heavier and larger, and had longer horns than females that did not lactate at 2 years. However, there was wide overlap in body mass between early and late producers, and increases in body mass over the threshold for reproduction had little effect on the probability of early lambing. The body mass of females at 4 months of age explained less than half of the variance in female body mass at 1 year or at 15 months. In one population, the proportion of 2-year-old ewes lactating was not correlated with density and declined after a pneumonia epizootic. In the other population, the proportion of 2-year-old ewes lactating was higher during an experimental reduction of density, and dropped to near zero as density increased. There was.
Genetic structure of Spanish white-clawed crayfish (Austropotamobius pallipes) populations as determined by RAPD analysis: reasons for optimism

1. Spanish populations of the white-clawed crayfish have declined sharply over the last three decades. Although Austropotamobius pallipes was once widely distributed and very abundant in most of the limestone basins of the country, outbreaks of crayfish plague since 1978 have reduced its populations, and now only some 500–600 small populations are left. 2. Consequently, the species now enjoys protection under national legislation. Management decisions regarding the conservation of a threatened species require an understanding of the genetic structure of its populations. 3. Using random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) fingerprinting the genetic variability of 11 populations of A. pallipes was assessed over the species' range in Spain, and their phylogenetic relationships determined. 4. Substantial genetic differentiation was detected among the populations tested; no clear relationship was found between patterns of genetic variability and hydrological basin. The RAPD markers showed the degree of genetic variability of these populations to be similar to, and in some cases slightly higher than, that reported in previous studies on other Spanish and European populations of A. pallipes. 5. The results offer hope for the recovery of this species in Spain, and provide information that might be useful in the management of crayfish reintroduction programmes. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Review: Genetics of the Azospirillum-Plant Root Association

Abstract Recent advances in four aspects of the Azospririllum-plant root association, namely, the biosynthesis of phytohormones, nitrogen fixation, the mechanisms of plant root attachment, and genetic analysis of Azospirillum brasilense megaplasmids, are presented. At least three biosynthetic pathways are involved in indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) production in A. brasilense, that is, two Trp-dependent pathways identified as the indole-3-acetamide (LAM) pathway, the indole-3-pyruvic acid (IPyA) pathway, and a third as-yet unidentified pathway not using Trp as a precursor. So far, Azospirillum is the only bacterium for which a non-Trp-dependent route for IAA biosynthesis has been reported. The gene encoding the key enzyme in the IPyA pathway, indole-3-pyruvate decarboxylase, has been characterized recently. Azospirillum fixes atmospheric dinitrogen only at low oxygen tensions in media devoid of a combined nitrogen source. Both the synthesis and the activity of the nitrogenase enzyme are regulated according to .
Operations on working heart in lesion of left main coronary artery in acute coronary syndrome

Aim. To study safety and effectiveness of operations on the working heart in patients with damage to the left main coronary artery (LMCA) and with acute coronary syndrome (ACS), to determine the optimal time for operation. Materials and Methods. The work was based on the analysis of examination and treatment of 62 patients with damage to LMCA. Patients were divided to 2 groups depending on the kind of surgery: in the first group of patients (n=31) the operation was performed under cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB), in the second group (n=31) – on the working heart. The groups were comparable by the main clinico-demographic parameters. The risk for unfavorable outcome was determined on EuroSCORE II scale. Results. Operation on the working heart in patients with damage to LMCA and ACS permitted to reduce the time of operation (253.44±36.84 against 188.13±45.37 min, p=0.0001), blood loss in postoperative period (607.00±432.34 ml against 413.21±167.08 ml, р=0.03), frequency of use of blood preparations (47.62% against 18.18%, р=0.04). However, the revascularization efficiency was higher in the group operated under CPB (2.93±0.8 against 2.29±0.82, р=0.005). Operations under CPB performed at later time (14-30 days) were associated with increased lethality. In operations on the working heart no lethal outcomes were reported. Conclusion. Operations on the working heart are safe and effective in the early period after development of ACS. The optimal operation time under CPB is 7-14 days. Lethality and postoperative complications in operation on the working heart before 7 days, within 7-14 days, and after 14 days did not differ.
The isolation of wall‐bound proteins regulating yield threshold tension in glycerinated hollow cylinders of cowpea hypocotyl

To isolate and purify the factor regulating the yield threshold tension (y) through acidification of the cell wall, proteins were extracted from hypocotyls of Vigna unguiculata L. Their effects on the pH-dependencies of the wall extensibility (φ) and y were examined with reconstitution experiments by incorporating them into the heat-denatured glycerinated hollow cylinders (GHCs). The wall mechanical properties of the reconstituted GHCs were determined using stress–strain experiments. Only the proteins extracted with 1 kmol m–3 of NaCl from the wall of elongation region restored the pH-dependencies of φ and y once extinguished with heat-denaturation, but proteins extracted from the other cell constituents or from the mature region of hypocotyl affect neither properties. Fractionation of the wall-bound proteins by a hydrophobic column chromatography showed that the two different fractions affected φ or y independently. The sodium dodecyl sulphate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis showed that the active fraction which restored the pH-dependency of y still consists of two proteins of 30 and 32 kDa after purification by the sequential fractionation with cation-exchange and gel filtration. These two proteins were named as ‘yieldin 30’ and ‘32’. Western blotting analysis using the rabbit-antiserum against the cucumber expansin indicated that the yieldins are independent of cucumber expansin.
Assessment of telemetric motion sensors for studies of activity

Radio transmitters containing motion-sensitive devices that changed the pulse rate (mode) in response to movement were evaluated as a means for studying activity of black bears (Ursus americanus). Two types of motion sensors were used: tip switches gave immediate indications of activity, whereas reset motion sensors extended the active mode signal for 5 min. Locational accuracy was less affected by reset sensors than tip switches, and reset sensors facilitated activity monitoring of weak or fading radio signals. Tip switches were more useful in making continuous judgements of activity, and may be used to differentiate types and degrees of activity. For both sensors true activity could be distinguished from comfort movements. Also, both motion-sensitive transmitters gave indications of activity that compared well with hourly movements of bears; these transmitters were more sensitive to localized movements than measurements between radio locations determined by triangulation and were more practical because .
Eye, Robot: Artificial Intelligence and Trade Mark Registers

Trade mark registration systems exist to provide useful information. Registers tell us who owns what. Until recently, it was axiomatic that registers for marks were directed at human readers – an applicant for a trade mark, trade mark registry examiners, vigilant competitors, employees of search and watching agencies as well as the occasional judge. This list now has a new entrant. What are the implications for the registered trade mark ecosystem, when algorithms begin to efficiently and comprehensively read trade mark registers? This chapter outlines the adoption of AI-enabled similarity assessment technology by search agencies, trade mark registries and watching agencies. Building on recent improvements in semantic and image searches, these algorithms identify conflicts between marks at the registry level. They provide a heuristically helpful (upstream) snapshot of conflict risks, based on two dimensions of similarity: marks and goods. However this simplified assessment may unintentionally edge out the more complex multi-factor likelihood of confusion test in a wider range of situations, including trade mark infringement analysis. The limits of these algorithms must be borne in mind.