Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Journal of Reproduction and Development

This study aimed to test the hypothesis that short-term supplementation with a high-energy diet promotes embryo production following ovum pick-up (OPU) in Japanese Black cows. After a period of adaptation to the maintenance diet, a 200% maintenance diet was fed to the high-energy diet group (HD group, n = 6) for four weeks, and a maintenance diet was fed to the other group (MD group, n = 6). OPU-in vitro fertilization (IVF) procedures were performed on days 14, 21, and 28; follicles and oocytes were counted and morphologically graded, and cultivable oocytes were cultured for in vitro maturation, fertilization, and culture. The mean plasma insulin concentrations on days 14 and 21 were significantly higher in the HD group than in the MD group (P < 0.05). The number of follicles observed at OPU, recovered oocytes, cultivable (Grades 1 to 4) oocytes, and the rate of degenerated (Grade 6) oocytes in the HD group were significantly higher than those in the MD group (P < 0.05). The proportion of cleaved oocytes was lower in the HD group than in the MD group (P < 0.05); consequently, there was no significant difference in the number of blastocysts obtained between the HD and MD groups. The present findings suggest that high-energy diets can promote follicular growth in parallel with an increase in plasma concentrations of insulin, but have a detrimental effect on the quality of oocytes with the OPU-IVF procedure in Japanese Black cows.
The uncertain web: concepts, challenges, and current solutions

be obtained continuously, an assumption that would require deploying detectors on all of the network nodes. The authors propose a new regression learning model that can detect anomalous diffusion sources by jointly solving ﬁve challenges: (1) unknown number of source nodes, (2) few activated detectors, (3) unknown initial propagation time, (4) uncertain propagation path, and (5) uncertain propagation time delay. The proposed model is theoretically and empirically analyzed and tested; the obtained results prove its efﬁciency and good performance compared to existing solutions
The Role of Migration Processes in the Socio-Economic Development of the Middle East Arab States

This article is devoted to the role of migration processes in the socio-economic development of the Middle East Arab countries and the problems associated with it. The article deals with the main causes of population migration, the period of their growth and their impact on the socio-economic, cultural development of partner countries in the context of the current globalization process and the radical transformation of the entire system of international relations and the expansion of security threats. The most pressing issues are studied
EMBO Workshop on Wnt Signalling Stem Cells | Development | Disease

Meeting Report Summary Every year or so an international assembly of scientists meet with the aim of better understanding the mechanisms of Wnt signalling and the role this pathway plays in normal and disease contexts. Wnt signalling encompasses so many fields that more recent Wnt meetings tend to have some sort of focus. The broad focus of the inaugural Australian Wnt meeting was signalling mechanisms, adult stem cells and cancer. The culture of the international Wnt meetings is to present the latest, often unpublished, results which generates vibrant discussions and advances the field at a phenomenal rate. Now that these discoveries have been published, some highlights from the Australian Wnt meeting are summarised here. The highlights include, identification of a multipotent adult mammary stem cell; characterisation of the context dependent nature of Wnt signalling; the intricacies of achieving the “just right” level of Wnt signalling that drives efficient adenoma formation – the “Goldilocks” effect; several “bench to bedside” reports on therapeutic targeting via Wnt pathway components, especially the Frizzled receptors but also the intracellular components. This meeting report provides a snap-shot in time for the Wnt signalling field and documents the extraordinary advances made in this vibrant field from one meeting to the next.
Photochemical Mechanisms in Brassica Rapa Photoreceptors Photochemical Mechanisms in Brassica Rapa Photoreceptors

Light plays a significant role in plant growth and development. Plants utilize light as an information source to synchronize physiological processes with daily environmental changes. Arabidopsis thaliana is a useful genetic model to better understand plant circadian clocks and seasonal (photoperiodic) flowering. In Arabidopsis , plant cells contain several photoreceptors that can absorb different wavelengths of light. These photoreceptors including the ZTL LOV domain family, cryptochromes, phytochromes and phototropins regulate many aspects of physiology in plants. These plant photoreceptors function as important cues for regulation of the plant circadian clock and photoperiodic flowering. The circadian clock and flowering time contribute to agricultural productivity. Given that global climate changes have a negative impact on agricultural crop production, and negatively impact circadian and photoperiodic processes, it is imperative that we understand the chemical basis for these pathways. Further, abiotic stresses cause molecular, physiological and biochemical changes that affect plant growth, development, and ultimately yield. Plants are sessile organisms that cannot escape from a persistently changing environment. Brassica species, which are closely related to Arabidopsis thaliana , are major world agricultural crop plants. To understand the biological functions of LOV photoreceptors in integrating environmental change into plant physiology, we focused on performing photochemical characterization of the BrLKP2 family in Brassica to identify possible functional differences between agricultural crops and the genetic model A. thaliana .
Consumption of sugar sweetened beverages, artificially sweetened beverages, and fruit juice and incidence of type 2 diabetes: systematic review, meta-analysis, and estimation of population attributable fraction

Objectives To examine the prospective associations between consumption of sugar sweetened beverages, artificially sweetened beverages, and fruit juice with type 2 diabetes before and after adjustment for adiposity, and to estimate the population attributable fraction for type 2 diabetes from consumption of sugar sweetened beverages in the United States and United Kingdom. Design Systematic review and meta-analysis. Data sources and eligibility PubMed, Embase, Ovid, and Web of Knowledge for prospective studies of adults without diabetes, published until February 2014. The population attributable fraction was estimated in national surveys in the USA, 2009–10 (n=4729 representing 189.1 million adults without diabetes) and the UK, 2008–12 (n=1932 representing 44.7 million). Synthesis methods Random effects meta-analysis and survey analysis for population attributable fraction associated with consumption of sugar sweetened beverages. Results Prespecified information was extracted from 17 cohorts (38 253 cases/10 126 754 person years). Higher consumption of sugar sweetened beverages was associated with a greater incidence of type 2 diabetes, by 18% per one serving/day (95% confidence interval 9% to 28%, I2 for heterogeneity=89%) and 13% (6% to 21%, I2=79%) before and after adjustment for adiposity; for artificially sweetened beverages, 25% (18% to 33%, I2=70%) and 8% (2% to 15%, I2=64%); and for fruit juice, 5% (−1% to 11%, I2=58%) and 7% (1% to 14%, I2=51%). Potential sources of heterogeneity or bias were not evident for sugar sweetened beverages. For artificially sweetened beverages, publication bias and residual confounding were indicated. For fruit juice the finding was non-significant in studies ascertaining type 2 diabetes objectively (P for heterogeneity=0.008). Under specified assumptions for population attributable fraction, of 20.9 million events of type 2 diabetes predicted to occur over 10 years in the USA (absolute event rate 11.0%), 1.8 million would be attributable to consumption of sugar sweetened beverages (population attributable fraction 8.7%, 95% confidence interval 3.9% to 12.9%); and of 2.6 million events in the UK (absolute event rate 5.8%), 79 000 would be attributable to consumption of sugar sweetened beverages (population attributable fraction 3.6%, 1.7% to 5.6%). Conclusions Habitual consumption of sugar sweetened beverages was associated with a greater incidence of type 2 diabetes, independently of adiposity. Although artificially sweetened beverages and fruit juice also showd positive associations with incidence of type 2 diabetes, the findings were likely to involve bias. None the less, both artificially sweetened beverages and fruit juice were unlikely to be healthy alternatives to sugar sweetened beverages for the prevention of type 2 diabetes. Under assumption of causality, consumption of sugar sweetened beverages over years may be related to a substantial number of cases of new onset diabetes.
Character Recognition using Multi-typed Attributes

Recognition of Oﬀ-line Chinese characters is still a challenging problem, especially in historical documents, not only in the number of classes extremely large in comparison to contemporary image retrieval methods, but also new unseen classes can be expected under open learning conditions (even for CNN). Chinese character recognition with zero or a few training samples is a diﬃcult problem and has not been studied yet. In this paper, we propose a new Chinese character recognition method by multi-type attributes, which are based on pronunciation, structure and radicals of Chinese characters, applied to character recognition in historical books. This intermediate attribute code has a strong advantage over the common “one-hot” class representation because it allows for understanding complex and unseen patterns symbolically using attributes. First, each character is represented by four groups of attribute types to cover a wide range of character possibilities: Pinyin label, layout structure, number of strokes, three diﬀerent input methods such as Cangjie, Zhengma and Wubi, as well as a four-corner encoding method. A convolutional neural network (CNN) is trained to learn these attributes. Subsequently, characters can be easily recognized by these attributes using a distance metric and a complete lexicon that is encoded in attribute space. We evaluate the proposed method on two open data sets: printed Chinese character recognition for zero-shot learning, historical characters for few-shot learning and a closed set: handwritten Chinese characters. Experimental results show a good general classiﬁcation of seen classes but also a very promising generalization ability to unseen characters.
Sustainable Diets: Food for Healthy People and a Healthy Planet: Workshop Summary

One of the many benefits of the U.S. food system is a safe, nutritious, and consistent food supply. However, the same system also places significant strain on land, water, air, and other natural resources. A better understanding of the food-environment synergies and trade-offs associated with the U.S. food system would help to reduce this strain. Many experts would like to use that knowledge to develop dietary recommendations on the basis of environmental as well as nutritional considerations. But identifying and quantifying those synergies and trade-offs, let alone acting on them, is a challenge in and of itself. The difficulty stems in part from the reality that experts in the fields of nutrition, agricultural science, and natural resource use often do not regularly collaborate with each other, with the exception of some international efforts. Sustainable Diets is the summary of a workshop convened by The Institute of Medicine's Food Forum and Roundtable on Environmental Health Sciences, Research, and Medicine in May 2013 to engender dialogue between experts in nutrition and experts in agriculture and natural resource sustainability and to explore current and emerging knowledge on the food and nutrition policy implications of the increasing environmental constraints on the food system. Experts explored the relationship between human health and the environment, including the identification and quantification of the synergies and trade-offs of their impact. This report explores the role of the food price environment and how environmental sustainability can be incorporated into dietary guidance and considers research priorities, policy implications, and drivers of consumer behaviors that will enable sustainable food choices.
On links with cyclotomic Jones polynomials

We show that if {Ln} is any infinite sequence of links with twist number τ (Ln) and with cyclotomic Jones polynomials of increasing span, then lim sup τ (Ln) = ∞ . This implies that any infinite sequence of prime alternating links with cyclotomic Jones polynomials must have unbounded hyperbolic volume. The main tool is the multivariable twist–bracket polynomial, which generalizes the Kauffman bracket to link diagrams with open twist sites.
Classification of continuously transitive circle groups J

Let G be a closed transitive subgroup of Homeo.S/ which contains a non-constant continuous path f W Œ0; 1! G . We show that up to conjugation G is one of the following groups: SO.2;R/ , PSL.2;R/ , PSLk.2;R/ , Homeok.S/ , Homeo.S/ . This verifies the classification suggested by Ghys in [5]. As a corollary we show that the group PSL.2;R/ is a maximal closed subgroup of Homeo.S/ (we understand this is a conjecture of de la Harpe). We also show that if such a group G<Homeo.S/ acts continuously transitively on k –tuples of points, k > 3 , then the closure of G is Homeo.S/ (cf [1]).
Getting to the Objective: Analyzing Navigation, Automation, and Situation Awareness from a Soldier’s Perspective

Land navigation ability is essential for US Army soldiers, who must use it both when planning routes to an objective and while executing the mission itself. Soldiers use automation to offload the cognitive effort of navigation, but if the system fails soldiers must expend precious time and mental energy reacquiring their location on a map. Despite this risk, soldiers still over-trust automated navigation and lose their location-related situation awareness. Loss of situation awareness leads to an inability to acquire the necessary spatial knowledge required to manually navigate. This paper reviews existing research to examine the effects of automation on situation awareness and a user’s ability to build a cognitive map from a soldier’s perspective. It further identifies issues with current technology and suggests possible directions for future research.
Industrial Internet of Things Ecosystems Security and Digital Forensics: Achievements, Open Challenges, and Future Directions

The Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) has been positioned as a key pillar of the Industry 4.0 revolution, which is projected to continue accelerating and realizing digital transformations. The IIoT is becoming indispensable, providing the means through which modern communication is conducted across industries and offering improved efficiency, scalability, and robustness. However, the structural and dynamic complexity introduced by the continuous integration of the IIoT has widened the scope for cyber-threats, as the processes and data generated by this integration are susceptible and vulnerable to attacks. This article presents an in-depth analysis of the state of the art in the IIoT ecosystem from security and digital forensics perspectives. The dimensions of this study are twofold: first, we present an overview of the cutting-edge security of IIoT ecosystems, and second, we survey the literature on digital forensics. The key achievements, open challenges, and future directions are identified in each case. The challenges and directions for future studies that we identify will provide important guidance for cybersecurity researchers and practitioners.
Curriculum for diagnostic endoscopic ultrasound training in Europe: European Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ESGE) Position Statement

Main Recommendations The European Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ESGE) has recognized the need to formalize and enhance training in diagnostic endoscopic ultrasound (EUS). This manuscript represents the outcome of a formal Delphi process resulting in an official Position Statement of the ESGE and provides a framework to develop and maintain skills in diagnostic EUS. This curriculum is set out in terms of the prerequisites prior to training; the recommended steps of training to a defined syllabus; the quality of training; and how competence should be defined and evidenced before independent practice. 1 Trainees should have achieved competence in upper gastrointestinal endoscopy before training in diagnostic EUS. 2 The development of diagnostic EUS skills by methods that do not involve patients is advisable, but not mandatory, prior to commencing formal training in diagnostic EUS. 3 A trainee’s principal trainer should be performing adequate volumes of diagnostic EUSs to demonstrate maintenance of their own competence. 4 Training centers for diagnostic EUS should offer expertise, as well as a high volume of procedures per year, to ensure an optimal level of quality for training. Under these conditions, training centers should be able to provide trainees with a sufficient wealth of experience in diagnostic EUS for at least 12 months. 5 Trainees should engage in formal training and supplement this with a range of learning resources for diagnostic EUS, including EUS-guided fine-needle aspiration and biopsy (FNA/FNB). 6 EUS training should follow a structured syllabus to guide the learning program. 7 A minimum procedure volume should be offered to trainees during diagnostic EUS training to ensure that they have the opportunity to achieve competence in the technique. To evaluate competence in diagnostic EUS, trainees should have completed a minimum of 250 supervised EUS procedures: 80 for luminal tumors, 20 for subepithelial lesions, and 150 for pancreaticobiliary lesions. At least 75 EUS-FNA/FNBs should be performed, including mostly pancreaticobiliary lesions. 8 Competence assessment in diagnostic EUS should take into consideration not only technical skills, but also cognitive and integrative skills. A reliable valid assessment tool should be used regularly during diagnostic EUS training to track the acquisition of competence and to support trainee feedback. 9 A period of supervised practice should follow the start of independent activity. Supervision can be delivered either on site if other colleagues are already practicing EUS or by maintaining contacts with the training center and/or other EUS experts. 10 Key performance measures including the annual number of procedures, frequency of obtaining a diagnostic sample during EUS-FNA/FNB, and adverse events should be recorded within an electronic documentation system and evaluated.
REVISTING JOHN SAWYER AND DALE THORNBURGH'S 1969 VEGETATION PLOTS IN THE RUSSIAN WILDERNESS: A LEGACY CONTINUED

hortly after joining the faculty of Humboldt State University (HSU) in 1966, John Sawyer received a letter from one of America’s leading evolutionary biologists and California floristic experts, G. Ledyard Stebbins. Stebbins suggested that John visit a remote place in the Klamath Mountains known as Blake’s Fork to verify a report of one of California’s rarest conifers—Engelmann spruce (Picea engelmannii). He encouraged John to record his findings in a new database called the Inventory of Rare and Endangered Vascular Plants of California organized by the California Native Plant Society. With conifers calling, John and his friend, fellow HSU professor Dale Thornburgh, began a journey that would change our understanding of conifer distributions, plant associations, and wilderness in California. After a successful trip to Blake’s Fork and the surrounding Salmon Mountains, John and Dale became enchanted with the region. They planned their next trip with hopes of finding more Engelmann spruce along Sugar Creek, just over the Salmon Crest from Blake’s Fork. In the summer of 1968 they walked up Sugar Creek, documenting and collecting plants along the way. Wanderlust found them climbing the south-facing ridge above Sugar Lake, where they found foxtail pines (Pinus balfouriana), and into the Little Duck Lake Basin. At the southern end of the lake, Dale identified the first subalpine fir (Abies lasiocarpa) in California, although it took him half-anhour to convince John! Around the campfire, maps came out and species lists were made. They determined that in a roughly drawn square mile—encompassing the ridges and valleys around Little Duck Lake—17 species of conifers could be found. The “Miracle Mile” was born (Kauffmann 2012).
Programming of hippocampal structure and function by early-life stress: Opportunities for nutritional intervention

Depression is one of the most common, costly and severe psychopathologies worldwide. Its incidence, however, differs significantly between the sexes, and depression rates in women are twice those of men. Interestingly, this sex difference emerges during adolescence. Although the adolescent period is characterised by major physical and behavioural transformations, it is unclear why the incidence of depression increases so dramatically in girls during this otherwise generally healthy developmental period. Although psychological and environmental factors are also involved, we discuss the neuroendocrinological factors determining adolescent vulnerability to depression. In particular, we address the role of sex steroids in mood regulation, hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis maturation and sexual differentiation of the brain, with a focus on hippocampal plasticity.