Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Small Ruminant Mycoplasmoses with Particular Reference to the Middle East

AbstractMycoplasmas are responsible for many human and animal diseases and have a tremendouseconomic and health impact worldwide. They have a pronounced afﬁnity for mucosal surfaces andconsequently cause infections of the urogenital and respiratory tracts, but also of the mammarygland and serous membranes, particularly in animals. Mycoplasma infections of small ruminants areknown to exist worldwide and cause signiﬁcant economic impacts because of substantial reduc-tions in milk yield, meat, skins and hair in affected animals; however, little is known of theiroccurrence in the Middle East. Many mycoplasmas can infect lungs of small ruminants and inducerespiratory disease and these Mycoplasma capricolum subsp. capripneumoniae, M. mycoides subsp.capri [formerly M. mycoides subsp. mycoides LC (International Committee on Systematics ofProkaryotes Subcommittee on the Taxonomy of Mollicutes have proposed the merging of thesetwo subspecies into the single subspecies: M. mycoides subsp. capri; a decision is pending.)] andMycoplasma capricolum subsp. capricolum (Mcc). M. agalactiae and M. putrefaciens can be a majorcause of mastitis, arthritis and ocular disease. This review highlights the importance of pathogenicmycoplasmas in small ruminants, including M. putrefaciens which has never been describedpreviously in the Middle East. The isolation of mycoplasmas is considered as one of the moredifﬁcult tasks for the diagnostic laboratories due to the inability of mycoplasmas to grow easily inlaboratory media. The diagnosis of mycoplasma diseases is complex because clinical signs are notcharacteristic and antibody response can be transient or delayed in the early phase and non-existent in the ﬁnal stages. Mycoplasma infections are notoriously difﬁcult to prevent and control,rarely responding well to chemotherapy. Many countries control mycoplasma infections byslaughtering the diseased animals, but this way of control is impractical in the Middle East andespecially in Jordan where there are limited funds for compensation. Vaccines may be a moreefﬁcient way of preventing the spread of disease but are not widely available and those inactivatedmycoplasma vaccines that are available may provide only transient protection.Keywords: Goats, Middle East, Mycoplasma, Sheep, Small RuminantsIntroductionSheep and goats constitute the major livestock breeds inthe Middle East and small ruminant husbandry is becomingincreasingly important due to its meat and milk products[1]. Infectious diseases, particularly respiratory diseasesand mastitis, constitute major constraints for effectivesheep and goat husbandry in the Middle East.Mastitis is, by deﬁnition, inﬂammation of the mammarygland and it is a common disease entity of dairy sheep andgoats accompanied by gross physical and pathologicalchanges. Predisposing factors such as poor management and
CANOMAD: A Multi-Faceted Disease

Objective: Elucidate the main clinical aspects of the CANOMAD spectrum. Methods: Bibliographical review trough databases (PubMed, Google Scholar, Orphanet, Oxford Academic) of articles from 1985 (1) to 2019 and later selection of the most applicable of the above, in order to construct a non-systematic review. Conclusion: CANOMAD is a chronic-ataxic autoimmune neuropathy associated with IgM monoclonal gammopathy. The correct diagnosis of this rare and multi-faceted disease will help optimal treatment.
Evaluation of Offshore Stocking of Lake Trout in Lake Ontario

Abstract Restoration stocking of hatchery-reared lake trout Salvelinus namaycush has occurred in Lake Ontario since 1973. In U.S. waters, fish stocked through 1990 survived well and built a large adult population. Survival of yearlings stocked from shore declined during 1990–1995, and adult numbers fell during 1998–2005. Offshore stocking of lake trout was initiated in the late 1990s in response to its successful mitigation of predation losses to double-crested cormorants Phalacrocorax auritus and the results of earlier studies that suggested it would enhance survival in some cases. The current study was designed to test the relative effectiveness of three stocking methods at a time when poststocking survival for lake trout was quite low and losses due to fish predators was a suspected factor. The stocking methods tested during 2000–2002 included May offshore, May onshore, and June onshore. Visual observations during nearshore stockings and hydroacoustic observations of offshore stockings indicated that r.
Stereoselective Synthesis of Unnatural Stereoisomers of LL-P880β and LL-P880γ, Pestalotin Analogues from Penicillium sp.

A synthesis of unnatural stereoisomers of LL-P880β (2) and subsequent transformation of 2 into LL-P880γ (3) were achieved by starting from diacetoneglucose (4). A chiral building block, 5-deoxy-α-D-ribofuranose derivative 9, was derived from 4 by two synthetic routes. A chiral aldehyde (20) was prepared through a six-step sequence from 9, and treated with the dianion of methyl acetoacetate to complete the synthesis of (6S,1′ R,2′R)-LL-P880β (2a) and its C6-epimer (2b). After converting 2a to its diacetate (23), this was transformed into (1′R,2′R)-LL-P880γ (3a) via a 5-bromopyran derivative (24).
Personality, habitat use, and their consequences for survival in North American red squirrels Tamiasciurus hudsonicus

Personality affects many aspects of an individual's behaviour, life history and fitness, and has been shown to be moderately heritable in wild populations. Correlations between personality and risk-taking that lead to life history tradeoffs could act to maintain variation in personality within a population, but this has not yet been tested. In this study, we used females from a marked population of North American red squirrels in Kluane, Yukon, to determine whether personality predicts risk-taking in the wild, and whether these risk-taking behaviours result in life history tradeoffs. We measured personality in open field and mirror image stimulation tests and extracted two traits, activity and aggressiveness, using principal component analysis and mixed model techniques. Using trapping records for individuals from February to September 2005, we obtained three measures of risk-taking: the number of trapping events, the number of different trapping locations, and the maximum distance between the home territory and a trapping event. We used GLMs to determine whether the activity and aggressiveness of individuals are related to these risk-taking behaviours, and found that active squirrels were trapped significantly more frequently and at a greater number of locations. There was also a significant interaction between activity and aggressiveness to affect the maximum capture distance. To determine if there are fitness tradeoffs associated with these risk-taking behaviours, we examined female bequeathal behaviour and survival. Bequeathing a territory increases offspring probability of overwinter survival, and we found that an increasing number of trapping locations was associated with an increasing tendency to bequeath. Active females were less likely to survive until the following spring. Risk-taking is therefore predicted by personality in this population, and they affect both survival and territorial bequeathal. These fitness tradeoffs may therefore lead to the maintenance of variation in personality.
THE UPTAKE OF ORGANIC SOLUTES IN LAKE WATER1

Basic changes are made in an existing method using radioactive organic compounds for measuring the uptake of organic solutes by planktonic microorganisms. The changes give greater experimental flexibility and enable the maximum uptake velocity, V, to be found. Measurements over a range of substrate concentrations appear to show uptake by at least two mechanisms, by a transport system that becomes saturated at very low substrate concentrations and by simple diffusion, which shows a fairly constant increase in velocity of uptake with increasing substrate concentration. Because of this, the technique of measuring uptake at a single substrate concentration to give “relative heterotrophic potential” is questioned. The best estimate of heterotrophic potential may be V, the maximum uptake velocity attainable by planktonic populations with a transport system functioning according to the Michaelis laws. It is suggested that bacterial populations are responsible for uptake by means of transport systems and that algal populations show uptake by diffusion.
The modern approach to esophagectomy—review of the shift towards minimally invasive surgery

The treatment of esophageal cancer has significantly advanced in the last 10 years and now includes multimodal treatment with a continued emphasis on surgical management. Minimally invasive esophagectomy (MIE) has been performed for almost 25 years and, in comparison to open esophagectomy techniques, MIE has shown to be equivalent or better in terms of its perioperative and oncologic outcomes. This paper reviews the evidence for MIE and recommends it should be offered as the first approach for esophagectomy surgery in the modern era.
Salinity stress and sustainable agriculture-A review

Soil Salinity is being recognized as a major threat to the agriculture and food production in the arid and semi-arid soils. Accumulation of sodium, magnesium and calcium salts enhances the alkalinity of the soils making the crop production difficult. Plant system has developed certain adaptation strategies for tolerating the toxicity of the salts in the soil. The present review focuses on the probable sources of soil salinity, induction of toxicity mechanisms of salinity stress tolerance in crop plants along with the strategies needed to be adapted to make agriculture a sustainable one.
The role of interactive radio programming in advancing women’s empowerment and crop and dietary diversity: Mixed methods evidence from Malawi

The study assesses the effect of interactive radio programming on womenâ€™s empowerment and agricultural development, employing nationally representative household panel data and qualitative interviews in Malawi. Four major findings can be highlighted. First, radio programming is the preferred source of agricultural and nutrition advice among many subpopulations: younger women and men used radio more than other sources for their agricultural information needs, while younger and older men used radio more than other sources for nutrition education. Second, results show a positive impact of radio programming on technology awareness but a limited impact on actual adoption of most agricultural practices being promoted, except crop residue incorporation. Third, results show positive impacts on dietary diversity and adoption of other nutrition practices among the rural population. Fourth, results show a strong association between access to interactive radio programming and womenâ€™s and menâ€™s empowerment scores. The association is greater for womenâ€™s empowerment and younger menâ€™s empowerment, the latter being the most disempowered group in the sample.
Selection by Young Rainbow Trout (Salmo gairdneri) in Simulated Stream Environments For Live and Dead Prey of Different Sizes

Underyearling rainbow trout (Salmo gairdneri) in experimental stream tanks presented with live and dead prey preferred live prey. Trout fry generally were size selective predators and previous feeding experience did not affect the size of prey consumed. When a wide range of prey sizes was offered, larger trout fry fed upon bigger prey than did smaller fry. Cyclops were underrepresented in trout fry stomachs relative to Daphnia of similar size.
Trait physiology and crop modelling as a framework to link phenotypic complexity to underlying genetic systems

New tools derived from advances in molecular biology have not been widely adopted in plant breeding for complex traits because of the inability to connect information at gene level to the phenotype in a manner that is useful for selection. In this study, we explored whether physiological dissection and integrative modelling of complex traits could link phenotype complexity to underlying genetic systems in a way that enhanced the power of molecular breeding strategies. A crop and breeding system simulation study on sorghum, which involved variation in 4 key adaptive traits-phenology, osmotic adjustment, transpiration efficiency, stay-green-and a broad range of production environments in north-eastern Australia, was used. The full matrix of simulated phenotypes, which consisted of 547 location-season combinations and 4235 genotypic expression states, was analysed for genetic and environmental effects. The analysis was conducted in stages assuming gradually increased understanding of gene-to-phenotype relationships, which would arise from physiological dissection and modelling. It was found that environmental characterisation and physiological knowledge helped to explain and unravel gene and environment context dependencies in the data. Based on the analyses of gene effects, a range of marker-assisted selection breeding strategies was simulated. It was shown that the inclusion of knowledge resulting from trait physiology and modelling generated an enhanced rate of yield advance over cycles of selection. This occurred because the knowledge associated with component trait physiology and extrapolation to the target population of environments by modelling removed confounding effects associated with environment and gene context dependencies for the markers used. Developing and implementing this gene-to-phenotype capability in crop improvement requires enhanced attention to phenotyping, ecophysiological modelling, and validation studies to test the stability of candidate genetic regions.
Evaluation of Biological Properties, Health Benefits and Protective Effects of Kefir against Cytotoxicity and Genotoxicity Induced by Butylated Hydroxytoluene (BHT) In Vivo

Kefir is a beverage made from milk and considered as a probiotic due to its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. The present study aimed to explore the ability of fermented kefir to improve the adverse effects induced by Butylatedhydroxytoluene (BHT) in the blood, liver and renal tissues of rats. Adult Rats were exposed during 21 days either to BHT, Kefir and BHT. BHT treatment resulted in the disruption of hematological parameters. In fact, a genotoxic effect on white blood cells was evidenced by a significant increase in the micronuclei frequency and a decrease in cells viability as well as a significant change in plasma biochemical parameters. Our results also demonstrated important alterations in the liver and kidney expression levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines and oxidative stress. These modifications were substantiated by histopathological data. Interestingly, fermented kefir restored these parameters to near control values.
Isolation and characterization of tri‐ and tetranucleotide microsatellite loci in the Asian elephant, Elephas maximus

Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) are an endangered species. Their future survival depends on intensive conservation and management, based on in-depth knowledge of particular populations. Molecular genetic methods, especially microsatellite analysis through noninvasive sampling, provides an effective means of obtaining such information. The use of tri- and tetranucleotide microsatellite markers is advantageous in noninvasive sampling through dung analysis. Here we describe the isolation and characterization of five tri- and tetranucleotide markers in the Asian elephant. All five loci were found to be polymorphic in a sample of 20 Asian elephants from Sri Lanka.
Analysis and classification of oral tongue squamous cell carcinoma based on Raman spectroscopy and convolutional neural networks

ABSTRACT To detect oral tongue squamous cell carcinoma (OTSCC) using fibre optic Raman spectroscopy, we present a classification model based on convolutional neural networks (CNN) and support vector machines (SVM). 24 samples Raman spectra of OTSCC and para-carcinoma tissues from 12 patients were collected and analysed. In our proposed model, CNN is used as a feature extractor for forming a representative vector. Then the derived features are fed into an SVM classifier, which is used for OTSCC classification. Experimental results demonstrated that the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve was 99.96% and the classification error was zero (sensitivity: 99.54%, specificity: 99.54%). To show the superiority of this model, comparison results with the state-of-the-art methods showed it can obtain a competitive accuracy. These findings may pay a way to apply the proposed model in the fibre optic Raman instruments for intra-operative evaluation of OTSCC resection margins.
Teaming Together to Care for Our Deaf Patients: Insights from the Deaf Health Clinic

Deaf patients often struggle with accessing culturally competent care. Poor communication and inaccessible health information negatively impact Deaf individuals, resulting in poorer health outcomes and inappropriate health care use. To address this problem, the Family Medicine Department established the Deaf Health Clinic in 2015 through the efforts of healthcare providers fluent in American Sign Language. After that, the clinic faced several management issues, and implemented strategies to address them. The paper discusses lessons learned and suggests potential and tested solutions to reduce gaps in health care for Deaf individuals.
ADVANCED INDOOR THERMAL ENVIRONMENT CONTROL USING OCCUPANT’S MEAN FACIAL SKIN TEMPERATURE AND CLOTHING LEVEL

People spend most of their time indoors. Because people’s health and productivity are highly dependent on the quality of the indoor thermal environment, it is important to provide occupants with healthy, comfortable and productive indoor thermal environment. However, inappropriate thermostat temperature setpoint settings not only wasted large amount of energy but also make occupants less comfortable. This study intended to develop a new control strategy for HVAC systems to adjust the thermostat setpoint automatically and accordingly to provide a more comfortable and satisfactory thermal environment. This study first trained an image classification model based on CNN to classify occupants’ amount of clothing insulation (clothing level). Because clothing level was related to human thermal comfort, having this information was helpful when determining the temperature setpoint. By using this method, this study performed experimental study to collect comfortable air temperature for different clothing levels. This study collected 450 data points from college student. By using the data points, this study developed an empirical curve which could be used to calculate comfortable air temperature for specific clothing level. The results obtained by using this curve could provide environments that had small average dissatisfaction and average thermal sensation closed to neutral. To adjust the setpoint temperature according to occupants’ thermal comfort, this study used mean facial skin temperature as an indicator to determine the thermal comfort. Because when human feel hot, their body temperature would rise and vice versa. To determine the correlation, we used a long wave infrared (LWIR) camera to non-invasively obtain occupant’s facial thermal map. By processing the thermal map with Haar-cascade face detection program, occupant’s mean facial skin temperature was calculated. By using this method, this study performed experimental study to collect occupant’s mean facial skin temperature under different thermal environment. This study collected 225 data points from college students. By using the data points, this study discovered different intervals of mean facial skin temperature under different thermal environment. Lastly, this study used the data collected from previous two investigations and developed a control platform as well as the control logic for a single occupant office to achieve the objective. The measured clothing level using image classification was used to determine the temperature setpoint. According to the measured mean facial skin temperature, the setpoint could be further adjusted automatically to make occupant more comfortable. This study performed 22 test sessions to validate the new control strategy. The results showed 91% of the tested subjects felt neutral in the office
Sapromyiophily in the native orchid, Bulbophyllum variegatum, on Réunion (Mascarene Archipelago, Indian Ocean)

Abstract: Orchid species are well known for their highly specialized pollinator interactions. To better understand the reproductive biology of the tropical epiphytic orchid Bulbophyllum variegatum on Réunion, we investigated the floral morphology, breeding system, pollinator diversity, floral scent profile and fruiting success of about 30 individuals in three natural populations during two consecutive flowering seasons. Controlled hand-pollination experiments in two populations showed that the species is self-compatible, but requires pollinator service to achieve reproduction. Videotape pollinator observations were conducted during two flowering seasons for 56 h and revealed that B. variegatum is pollinated by a single species of fly from the Platystomatidae. This fly seems to be attracted by the unpleasant scent produced by the flowers, and does not receive any reward after achieving pollination. In addition, no egg-laying behaviour was observed. Bulbophyllum variegatum thus exhibits a typical sapromyiophilous pollination syndrome which constitutes the first proven case of sapromyiophily within the genus Bulbophyllum on the Mascarene Archipelago. Hand pollinations further showed that fruit set was not significantly higher for flowers that received outcross pollen than for those that were self-crossed (53% and 44% respectively). Fruit sets under natural conditions were significantly different among populations, ranging from 0.5% to 24.3%. This low fruit production is likely due to infrequent pollinator visits, particularly in disturbed forests where the pollinator has never been observed.
Analysis of the galaxy size versus stellar mass relation

The scatter in the galaxy size versus stellar mass (Mstar) relation gets largely reduced when, rather than the half-mass radius Re, the size at a fixed surface density is used. Here we address why this happens. We show how a reduction is to be expected because any two galaxies with the same Mstar have at least one radius with identical surface density, where the galaxies have identical size. However, the reason why the scatter is reduced to the observed level is not trivial, and we pin it down to the galaxy surface density profiles approximately following Sersic profiles with their Re and Sersic index (n) anti-correlated (i.e., given Mstar, n increases when Re decreases). Our analytical results describe very well the behavior of the observed galaxies as portrayed in the NASA Sloan Atlas (NSA), which contains more than half a million local objects with 7 < log(Mstar/Msun) < 11.5. The comparison with NSA galaxies also allows us to find the optimal values for the mass surface density (2.4m0.9p1.3 Msun/pc2) and surface brightness (r-band 24.7pm0.5 mag/arcsec2) that minimize the scatter, although the actual values depend somehow on the subset of NSA galaxies used for optimization. The physical reason for the existence of optimal values is unknown but, as Trujillo+20 point out, they are close to the gas surface density threshold to form stars and thus may trace the physical end of a galaxy. Our NSA-based size--mass relation agrees with theirs on the slope as well as on the magnitude of the scatter. As a by-product of the narrowness of the size--mass relation (only 0.06 dex), we propose to use the size of a galaxy to measure its stellar mass. In terms of observing time, it is not more demanding than the usual photometric techniques and may present practical advantages in particular cases.
Plant Cuticles-an Integrated Functional Approach

Cuticles of early land plants: a palaeoecophysiological evaluation, D. Edwards et al. Structure and ontogeny of plant cuticles, C.E. Jeffree Biosynthetic pathways of cutin and waxes, and their sensitivity to environmental stresses, P.E. Kolattukudy Dif