Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Short-term land degradation driven by livestock grazing does not affect soil properties in semiarid steppe rangelands

The soil–vegetation relationships are reciprocal and fundamental for terrestrial ecosystem integrity. However, the long-term degradation of vegetation cover alters edaphic conditions, which can lead to degradation of habitats, and obstructs proper ecosystem functioning. This study aimed to assess the effects of the degradation of perennial steppe vegetation due to overgrazing (i.e., continuous and free grazing) on the physicochemical characteristics and soil fertility in the steppe rangelands of Halfa (Macrochloa tenacissima syn. Stipa tenacissima) of semi-arid areas in Algeria. The edaphic parameters of the superficial horizons of degraded steppes and other undegraded steppes were compared in order to suggest adequate strategies for rangeland management and remedy the degradation of vegetation and thereby ensure the sustainability of these agro-pastoral systems. The soil, collected from the surface horizons (A1 and A2) of pedological profiles, was analyzed according to standard methods of soil physicochemical analyses to determine the particle size fractions (clay, silt, and sands), pH, electrical conductivity (EC), total and active CaCO3, organic matter (SOM), organic carbon, total nitrogen, and the C:N ratio. The distribution and variation of soil parameters between horizons and the two types of steppes were examined using generalized linear mixed models and redundancy analysis. Findings of this study revealed that the degradation of steppe vegetation cover by short-term overgrazing did not cause a significant variability in soil physicochemical parameters between degraded and undegraded steppes and the horizons A1 and A2. The sites studied have clayey–silty textures in non-degraded steppes and coarse textures dominated by sands in degraded steppes. The edaphic environment of the Halfa grass steppes was characterized by a calcareous substratum with high carbonate content (total CaCO3 = 36.8–41%, active CaCO3 = 17.5–18.5%), with an alkaline pH (8.09–8.19) and EC averaging 0.99 ± 1.24 dS/m. Soils had low SOM contents (1.42–2.93%), organic carbon (0.82–1.64%), and nitrogen (0.1–0.15%). The strong positive correlations recorded between the fine-size fractions, SOM, total CaCO3, nitrogen, and EC indicated good soil structural stability in undegraded steppes, while the negative correlations between these same variables with sand and pH substantiate the structural degradation of the soil. The negative correlation between C:N ratio and SOM indicated that the rate of SOM mineralization was rapid in semiarid steppes, with a higher fertility state in the undegraded steppe. Our findings suggest and urge to implement a restoration plan against the degradation of semi-arid Halfa steppes in order to avoid the irreversible state of soil and habitat destruction in the future because even the degradation of rangeland plant cover due to livestock overgrazing—in the short term—has not affected the edaphic characteristics of steppe rangelands.
Editorial: Solving the plasmalogen puzzle—From basic science to clinical application

In the almost 100 years since their discovery, numerous scientific breakthroughs around plasmalogens have been made, but at the same time the enigmatic phospholipid group is still keeping scientists of various disciplines on their toes. For example, biophysicists have revealed many biophysical properties of plasmalogens, but several aspects of their role in connection with other phospholipids in membrane bilayers remain cloudy. Geneticists have mostly elucidated the genetic basis of ether lipid biosynthesis but some genes involved in plasmalogen metabolism are still unknown; molecular biologists have identified new roles of plasmalogens in cellular processes but many puzzle pieces of the overall picture, particularly in complex organisms, have yet to be added; and clinicians have made major progress in diagnosing diseases involving plasmalogen deficiency but still lack suitable treatment strategies. Certainly, none of these scientific fields works independently, but an interdisciplinary approach is required to explore complex subjects like the biological role of plasmalogens. Many of the disciplines mentioned above have cooperated for the generation of the present Research Topic, which contains a balanced collection of reviews and original articles comprising a broad range of topics associated with plasmalogens, from basic science to clinical application. Due to their unique biochemical structure and the particular challenge to discriminate the vinyl ether bond at the sn-1 position from double bonds of the alkyl chains of other ether lipid species, the reliable analytical determination of plasmalogens has bothered researchers for a long time (Koch et al., 2020). In their review article, Koch et al. give a comprehensive overview over the historic milestones in the analytical detection and quantification of plasmalogens. Subsequently, they highlight the progress made in recent years and demonstrate, how state-ofthe-art methodology can be utilized to gather novel information on ether lipid species, their tissue distribution and physiological functions. In addition to technical advances in plasmalogen analysis, recent research has also brought key developments in elucidating the genes and enzymes involved in the generation of these lipids. One of the last orphan enzymes to be assigned to the corresponding gene was plasmanylethanolamine desaturase, the crucial enzyme for the introduction of the vinyl ether bond, which was recently shown by three independent approaches to be encoded by the TMEM189 gene in humans (Gallego-Garcia et al., 2019; Werner et al., 2020; Wainberg et al., 2021). In the present Research Topic, Padmanabhan et al. outline the hunt for that gene and narrate, how the use of a comparatively unconventional model organism, Myxococcus xanthus, enabled the identification of this so crucial gene for OPEN ACCESS
Successful treatment of a pure red-cell aplasia patient with γδT cells and clonal TCR gene rearrangement: A case report

Pure red-cell aplasia (PRCA) is a syndrome associated with reduced erythroid precursors. This report presents the case of an elderly PRCA patient with significantly proliferated γδT cells and clonal T-cell receptor (TCR) gene rearrangement. The cause of this patient’s PRCA was confirmed to be an autoimmune disorder rather than malignancy on the basis of flow cytometry, TCR gene rearrangement, and positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) findings. Moreover, the γδT cell group identified in this case was captured for the first time under the microscope; this CD4+/CD8− (extremely high CD4/CD8 ratio) population is rare in PRCA patients. Our patient with a monoclonal and polyclonal hybrid of TCR gene rearrangement was sensitive to cyclosporin A (CsA), despite previous reports suggesting that patients with TCR clonal rearrangement may respond poorly to this drug. Overall, this case presents valuable clinical findings for the future diagnosis and management of PRCA caused by autoimmune conditions and further research on γδT cells’ autoimmune pathophysiology and gene rearrangement.
Prognostic value of the ascites characteristics in pseudomyxoma peritonei originating from the appendix

Background Pseudomyxoma peritonei (PMP) is a rare disease, with the overall survival (OS) influenced by many factors. To date, no ascites characteristics have been reported to predict OS of patients with PMP. The present study therefore aims to describe the ascites characteristics for PMP and identify prognostic factors for survival. Methods Between June 2010 and June 2020, 473 PMP patients who underwent cytoreductive surgery and hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy were included in a retrospective study. Survival analysis was performed with the Kaplan–Meier method by the log-rank test and a Cox proportional hazards model. Associations between categorical variables were analyzed using the chi-squared test. Results Among all included patients, 61% were women. The median OS was 47 months (range, 4–124 months) at the last follow-up in December 2020. Ascites characteristics can be divided into light blood ascites, “Jelly” mucus ascites, and faint yellow and clear ascites. Multivariate Cox analysis showed that the degree of radical surgery, ascites characteristics, and pathological grade were independently associated with OS in PMP patients. The chi-squared test documented that faint yellow “Jelly” ascites were related to low-grade PMP and light blood ascites were associated with high-grade PMP (P < 0.01). Conclusions Light blood ascites, incomplete cytoreduction surgery, and high-grade histopathology may predict poor OS in appendix-derived PMP.
Parenting motives: Validation of the Italian version of the parental care and tenderness scale

Relevant individual differences can be observed in relation to parenting motives. The Parental Care and Tenderness (PCAT) scale is an important tool aimed at assessing them. We here investigated the psychometric properties of an Italian version of the scale (N = 946). The scale had a very high reliability and its internal structure closely reproduced the one obtained in different cultural contexts. Two major subscales, namely nurturance and protection, could be identified. In addition, we explored the validity of the scale in relation to a novel domain. Individual differences in parenting motivations, and more specifically those related to nurturance, emerged to be associated with a spontaneous behavioral tendency to approach children. Scores in the PCAT, and more specifically scores in the protection subscale, were also associated with a more conservative political orientation. The present work contributes to the growing literature about the key role of parenting motives in affecting social behaviors.
Communicating telecom fraud risk in anti-telefraud messages: The effects of metaphorical frames on attitudes

Introduction With the frequent occurrences of telecom fraud crimes in China, it is very necessary and urgent to carry out effective anti-telefraud risk communication. In the present study, we investigated the role of metaphorical framing in shaping people’s attitudes toward telecom fraud in anti-telefraud messages through two experiments. Methods Participants (N = 547, Experiment 1; N = 604, Experiment 2) were randomly assigned to war-framing, disease-framing, or issue-framing conditions. They were asked to read anti-telefraud messages where metaphorical frames were realized through multiple metaphorical expressions in Experiment 1 and relatively shorter messages where metaphorical frames were only instantiated through one metaphorical word in Experiment 2. Results The results showed that participants without prior experience with telecom fraud perceived severity as significantly higher in the war-framing condition than in the issue-framing condition. Besides, the framing effects were only detected in Experiment 2 where the short anti-telefraud message with limited metaphorical information was provided. Discussion The study reveals that even one metaphorical word is sufficient to build a framework for thinking about complex concepts, like telecom fraud, and prior experience with a certain risk can serve as a moderator of metaphorical framing on people’s risk perceptions. It is also found that the effectiveness of metaphors may be more salient in the genres of a short length such as anti-telefraud banners. The study can shed light on public legal educators whose job is to use effective ways to communicate telecom fraud risk to citizens.
Gastropod chemoreception behaviors—Mechanisms underlying the perception and location of targets and implications for shellfish fishery development in aquatic environments

Chemoreception is one of the most important senses and it plays a key role in the survival and adaptation of animals to their environments. Many gastropods, such as Rapana venosa and Neptunea cumingii, have emerged as economically important shellfish. Meanwhile, invasive gastropods have destroyed commercial shellfisheries in many countries. Given the importance of chemoreception in the behavior of aquatic gastropods, the mechanism of their chemical perception has recently garnered attention. To provide a foundation for understanding the chemoreception of aquatic gastropods, we reviewed recent studies and summarized the chemoreception behaviors and mechanisms that gastropods use to perceive and locate targets in aquatic environments, along with relevant molecular and genetic insights. We highlight several of the implications of these studies for chemoreception-related research and shellfish fishery development. This review should aid in the rational development and utilization of gastropod resources as well as in controlling the populations of invasive species.
On the Langevin approach to particle transport

In the Langevin description of Brownian motion, the action of the surrounding medium upon the Brownian particle is split up into a systematic friction force of Stokes type and a randomly fluctuating force, alternatively termed noise. That simple description accounts for several basic features of particle transport in a medium, making it attractive to teach at the undergraduate level, but its range of applicability is limited. The limitation is illustrated here by showing that the Langevin description fails to account realistically for the transport of a charged particle in a medium under crossed electric and magnetic fields and the ensuing Hall effect. That particular failure is rooted in the concept of the friction force rather than in the accompanying random force. It is then shown that the framework of kinetic theory offers a better account of the Hall effect. It is concluded that the Langevin description is nothing but an extension of Drude's transport model subsuming diffusion, and so it inherits basic limitations from that model. This paper thus describes the interrelationship of the Langevin approach, the Drude model and kinetic theory, in a specific transport problem of physical interest.
Editorial: Getting to the heart of developmental toxicities

Department of Physiology, Pharmacology and Toxicology, West Virginia University School of Medicine, Morgantown, WV, United States, Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada, Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada, Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ, United States
Acute Acquired Immune Thrombocytopenia After Cardiac Surgery: A Challenging Case

Thrombocytopenia is a common condition that recognizes an infinite number of possible causes, especially in specific settings like the one covered in this case report: the postoperative period of cardiac surgery. We report a case of an old male with multiple comorbidities who underwent a coronary angioplasty procedure and aortic valve replacement. He showed severe thrombocytopenia in the postoperative days. Differential diagnosis required a big effort, also for the experts in the field. Our goal was to aggressively treat the patient with prednisolone, platelets, and intravenous immunoglobulins to maximize the prognosis. Our patient developed no complications and was discharged successfully.
Elastic Recoil Signal on Tissue Doppler Imaging of Mitral Annulus as a Qualitative Test to Identify Left Ventricular Diastolic Function

Introduction: Left ventricular (LV) diastolic dysfunction is common on preoperative screening among patients undergoing surgery. There is no simple screening test at present to suspect LV diastolic dysfunction. This study was aimed to test the hypothesis, whether elastic recoil signal (ERS) on tissue Doppler imaging of mitral annulus (MA TDI) can be used as a qualitative test to differentiate patients from normal LV diastolic function versus patients with LV diastolic dysfunction. Methods: This was a prospective cross-sectional observational study of patients admitted for elective surgeries. Normal diastolic function and categorization of LV diastolic dysfunction into severity grades I, II, or III were performed as per the American Society of Echocardiography/ European Associationof Cardio Vascular Imaging (ASE/EACVI) recommendations for LV diastolic dysfunction. Results: There were 41 (61%) patients with normal LV diastolic function and 26 (39%) patients with various grades of LV diastolic dysfunction. In 38 out of 41 patients with normal LV diastolic function, the characteristic ERS was identified. The ERS was absent in all the patients with any grade of LV diastolic dysfunction. Consistency of identification of ERS on echocardiography was tested with a good interobserver variability coefficient of 0.94 (P-value <0.001). The presence of ERS demonstrated an excellent differentiation to rule out any LV diastolic dysfunction with an area under the receiver operating characteristics curve (AUROC) of 0.96 (CI 0.88–0.99; P value <0.001). Conclusions: To conclude, in a mixed surgical population, the anesthetist could successfully assess LV diastolic dysfunction in the preoperative period and the characteristic ERS on MA TDI signal can be used as a qualitative test to differentiate patients from normal LV diastolic function versus patients with LV diastolic dysfunction using the transthoracic echocardiography (TTE).
Chapter IV Meaningful Learning and Retention: Practice and Feedback Variables

IN THE October 1961 issue of the REVIEW, Krumboltz organized his presentation of practice and feedback variables around programed instruction, which he believed offered a useful procedure for the investigation of reinforcement theory in the context of meaningful learning. Although research in programed learning progressed apace during the past three years, much of it was concerned with variables other than practice and feedback. Consequently, were the present chapter an updating of the 1961 chapter, not many of Krumboltz's conclusions would be changed. Since, in the June 1964 issue of the REVIEW, Briggs and Angell considered programed instruction in the context of instruction in science and mathematics, the present reviewers have attempted the broader task of reviewing meaningful learning in general. This chapter might have been easier to write if there had existed a widely accepted behavioral taxonomy defining those types of learning tasks that may be expected to be influenced differentially by learning variables such as practice and feedback. Although the need for such a categorization of behavior is now recognized (Melton, 1964) and although some notable beginnings in taxonomy development have been made (Gagne, 1964), no such set of categories has been completed and accepted. Investigators of learning seldom choose a number of tasks representing such categories for the purpose of studying task interactions with specific learning conditions. Furthermore, meaningful learning cuts across rather than coincides with categories in such taxonomies as have been proposed, since meaningful learning is-a broader term than such categories as response learning, concept learning, and problem solving. In spite of the difficulties just cited, the reviewers have attempted, whenever possible, to show how practice and feedback variables apparently play different roles in the learning of five kinds of tasks employed in the experiments reviewed: (a) paired-associate learning, (b) learning of independent, isolated facts, (c) conceptual learning, as in programed instruction, (d) problem solving, and (e) conditioning of social verbal behavior. Generally, in this chapter there will be no discussion of experiments that are concerned with (a) nonmeaningful materials, (b) learning of percep-
Forced Convection Heat Transfer Simulation Using Dissipative Particle Dynamics

Dissipative particle dynamics (DPD) with energy conservation was applied to simulate forced convection in parallel-plate channels with boundary conditions of constant wall temperature (CWT) and constant wall heat flux (CHF). DPD is a coarse-grained version of molecular dynamics. An additional equation for energy conservation was solved along with conventional DPD equations, where inter-particle heat flux accounts for changes in mechanical and internal energies when particles interact with surrounding particles. The solution domain was considered to be two–dimensional with periodic boundary condition in the flow direction and additional layers of particles on the top and bottom of the channel to apply no-slip and wall temperature boundary conditions. The governing equation for energy conservation was modified based on periodic fully developed velocity and temperature conditions. The results were shown via velocity and temperature profiles across the channel cross-section. The Nusselt numbers for CWT and CHF were calculated from the temperature gradient at the wall using a second order accurate forward difference approximation. The results agreed well with the exact solutions to within 2.3%.
WFPC2 Imaging of Quasar Environments: A Comparison of Large Bright Quasar Survey and Hubble Space Telescope Archive Quasars

We present Hubble Space Telescope (HST) Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2) data on the large-scale environments of 16 0.39 < z < 0.51 quasars from the Large Bright Quasar Survey (LBQS). The LBQS quasars are representative of the radio-quiet population, and this is one of the first looks at their large-scale environments. We compare the LBQS environments with the environments of 27 0.15 < z < 0.55 quasars selected from the HST archive. The majority of the Archive quasars are from the PG and PKS surveys, and these quasars are more luminous on average than the LBQS. By comparing the LBQS and Archive environments, we investigate whether previous quasar environment studies have been biased as a result of studying unusually radio or optically luminous quasars. We compare observed galaxy number counts with expected counts predicted from the CNOC2 field galaxy luminosity function in order to look for statistical excesses of galaxies around the quasars. We detect a significant excess around the Archive quasars but find no such excess around the LBQS quasars. We calculate the amplitude of the spatial correlation function and find that the LBQS environments are consistent with that of the typical galaxy while the Archive environments are slightly less rich than Abell 0 clusters. We find no difference between the environments of radio-loud and radio-quiet quasars in either sample. However, comparison with previously published work shows that the LBQS radio-loud quasars are in sparse environments when compared with other radio-loud quasars, and the Archive radio-quiet quasars are in dense environments compared to other radio-quiet quasars. The richer environments of the Archive radio-quiet quasars cannot be explained by their higher optical luminosities. We find a positive correlation (95%) between radio luminosity and environment for the radio-loud quasars. This may explain why the LBQS radio-loud quasars, which are less radio luminous, are in sparser environments.