Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Maize metabolomics in relation to cropping system and growing year

Maize is important to global food security, being one of the predominant cereals in human and domesticated livestock diets worldwide. Due to the increasing human population, it will be important to not only design cropping systems to increase maize yield and sustainability but also to improve the nutritional quality of maize edible tissues. To determine cropping system impacts on maize grain nutritional content, we sampled grain from conventional and organic maize varieties grown for three growing seasons using five cropping systems. We analyzed the grain using metabolic fingerprinting of methanol extracts with ultra-high performance liquid chromatography (UHPLC) coupled with mass spectrometry (MS), adopting both non-targeted and targeted approaches. The cropping systems are part of a long-term study at the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center in Beltsville, Maryland, and were a three-year conventional no-till rotation (NT), a three-year conventional chisel-till rotation (CT), a two-year organic rotation (Org2), a three-year organic rotation (Org3), and a six-year organic rotation (Org6). Each cropping system had been in place for at least 10 years, allowing specific cropping-system-induced alterations of soil edaphic and microbial properties. Non-targeted metabolic fingerprinting detected a total of 90 compounds, the majority of which were phenolics. Metabolic profiling was further targeted toward 15 phenolics, 1 phytohormone, 7 carbohydrates and 7 organic acids, which were quantified in the maize grain originating from the five cropping systems. Statistical analysis of this subset of quantitative data determined that cropping system can significantly influence levels of certain maize grain metabolites. However, natural impacts (growing year) were substantially greater than cropping system impacts, likely masking or over-riding some cropping system impacts. Additionally, maize cultivar genetics had greater impact than cropping system on the maize grain metabolome and was the greatest “managed” impact on the metabolite profiles. Results indicate that until natural environmental impacts on maize grain metabolite levels are understood and managed, the best approach to reliably increase maize grain nutritional quality is through development of maize cultivars with enhanced nutritional content that are robust to natural environmental influence.
Overexpression of plastid lipid-associated protein in marine diatom enhances the xanthophyll synthesis and storage

Plastoglobules, which are lipoprotein structures surrounded by a single hydrophobic phospholipid membrane, are subcellular organelles in plant chromoplasts and chloroplasts. They contain neutral lipids, tocopherols, quinones, chlorophyll metabolites, carotenoids and their derivatives. Proteomic studies indicated that plastoglobules are involved in carotenoid metabolism and storage. In this study, one of the plastid lipid-associated proteins (PAP), the major protein in plastoglobules, was selected and overexpressed in Phaeodactylum tricornutum. The diameter of the plastoglobules in mutants was decreased by a mean of 19.2% versus the wild-type, while the fucoxanthin level was increased by a mean of 51.2%. All mutants exhibited morphological differences from the wild-type, including a prominent increase in the transverse diameter. Moreover, the unsaturated fatty acid levels were increased in different mutants, including an 18.9–59.3% increase in eicosapentaenoic acid content. Transcriptomic analysis revealed that PAP expression and the morphological changes altered xanthophyll synthesis and storage, which affected the assembly of the fucoxanthin chlorophyll a/c-binding protein and expression of antenna proteins as well as reduced the non-photochemical quenching activity of diatom cells. Therefore, metabolic regulation at the suborganelle level can be achieved by modulating PAP expression. These findings provide a subcellular structural site and target for synthetic biology to modify pigment and lipid metabolism in microalgae chassis cells.
Sex differences and the effect of female sex hormones on auditory function: a systematic review

Aims First, to discuss sex differences in auditory function between women and men, and whether cyclic fluctuations in levels of female sex hormones (i.e., estradiol and progesterone) affect auditory function in pre-menopausal and post-menopausal women. Second, to systematically review the literature concerning the discussed patterns in order to give an overview of the methodologies used in research. Last, to identify the gap in knowledge and to make recommendations for future work. Methods for the systematic review Population, Exposure, Control, Outcome and Study design (PECOS) criteria were used in developing the review questions. The review protocol follows the guidelines of the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) and was pre-registered in the Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews (PROSPERO; CRD42020201480). Data Sources: EMBASE, PubMed, MEDLINE (Ovid), PsycINFO, ComDisDome, CINAHL, Web of Science, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) via Cochrane Library, and scanning reference lists of relevant studies, and internet resources (i.e., Mendeley) were used. Only studies published between 1999 and 2022, in English, or in English translation, were included. The quality of evidence was assessed using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS). Results Sex differences: Women had more sensitive hearing (measured at the level of peripheral and central auditory system) than men. Cyclic fluctuations: Auditory function in women fluctuated during the menstrual cycle, while no such fluctuations in men over the same time period were reported. Hearing sensitivity improved in women during the late follicular phase, and decrease during the luteal phase, implying an effect of female sex hormones, although the specific effects of estradiol and progesterone fluctuations on the central auditory system remain unclear. Hearing sensitivity in women declined rapidly at the onset of menopause. Conclusion The review has shown the following. Consistent sex differences exist in auditory function across the auditory pathway with pre-menopausal women often showing better function than age-matched men. Moreover, pre-menopausal women show fluctuations in hearing function across the menstrual cycle with a better function during the peak of estradiol or when the ratio of estradiol to progesterone is high. Third, menopause marks the onset of hearing loss in women, characterized by a rapid decline in hearing sensitivity and a more pronounced loss than in age-matched men. Finally, the systematic review highlights the need for well-designed and -controlled studies to evaluate the influence of estradiol and progesterone on hearing by consistently including control groups (e.g., age-matched man), using objective tests to measure hormonal levels (e.g., in saliva or blood), and by testing participants at different points across the menstrual cycle. Systematic review registration https://www.crd. york.ac. uk/prospero/display_record. php? ID=CRD42020201480, identifier CRD42020201480.
A novel multi-component protein vaccine ECP001 containing a protein polypeptide antigen nPstS1 riching in T-cell epitopes showed good immunogenicity and protection in mice

Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease that seriously affects human health. Until now, the only anti-TB vaccine approved for use is the live attenuated Mycobacterium bovis (M. bovis) vaccine — BCG vaccine, but its protective efficacy is relatively low and does not provide satisfactory protection against TB in adults. Therefore, there is an urgent need for more effective vaccines to reduce the global TB epidemic. In this study, ESAT-6, CFP-10, two antigens full-length and the T-cell epitope polypeptide antigen of PstS1, named nPstS1, were selected to form one multi-component protein antigens, named ECP001, which include two types, one is a mixed protein antigen named ECP001m, the other is a fusion expression protein antigen named ECP001f, as candidates for protein subunit vaccines. were prepared by constructing one novel subunit vaccine by mixing or fusing the three proteins and combining them with aluminum hydroxide adjuvant, and the immunogenicity and protective properties of the vaccine was evaluated in mice. The results showed that ECP001 stimulated mice to produce high titre levels of IgG, IgG1 and IgG2a antibodies; meanwhile, high levels of IFN-γ and a broad range of specific cytokines were secreted by mouse splenocytes; in addition, ECP001 inhibited the proliferation of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in vitro with a capacity comparable to that of BCG. It can be concluded that ECP001 is a novel effective multicomponent subunit vaccine candidate with potential as BCG Initial Immunisation-ECP001 Booster Immunisation or therapeutic vaccine for M. tuberculosis infection.
Public preferences for the improvement of existing piped water provision: a choice experiment in Sri Lanka

In many developing countries, lack of access to water and its unsustainable use and adverse health impacts are important policy issues. The challenge of improving water services in developing countries is not only limited to the provision of new connections for non-piped-source-dependent households but also to improving the service level for the already connected households to meet peoples' needs. We conducted an empirical study in Sri Lanka on 307 households with piped water supply. A choice experiment was used to assess the potential welfare gains from alternative water supply schemes in terms of water quality, reliability, and pressure, and how the schemes are managed. Currently, over 20 different water supply systems managed by either governmental organizations or community-based organizations (CBOs) provide piped water supply. We found that households are willing to pay a substantial amount for improved water service, particularly for water quality improvements. Using the latent class and random parameter logit models, we found evidence of heterogeneity in the preferences for water service improvements. We suggest that the heterogeneous preferences of the household groups should be considered in the cost–benefit analysis to pave a way for rational policy-making on water service improvements.
The cerebellum and fear extinction: evidence from rodent and human studies

The role of the cerebellum in emotional control has gained increasing interest, with studies showing it is involved in fear learning and memory in both humans and rodents. This review will focus on the contributions of the cerebellum to the extinction of learned fear responses. Extinction of fearful memories is critical for adaptive behaviour, and is clinically relevant to anxiety disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder, in which deficits in extinction processes are thought to occur. We present evidence that supports cerebellar involvement in fear extinction, from rodent studies that investigate molecular mechanisms and functional connectivity with other brain regions of the known fear extinction network, to fMRI studies in humans. This evidence is considered in relation to the theoretical framework that the cerebellum is involved in the formation and updating of internal models of the inner and outer world by detecting errors between predicted and actual outcomes. In the case of fear conditioning, these internal models are thought to predict the occurrence of an aversive unconditioned stimulus (US), and when the aversive US is unexpectedly omitted during extinction learning the cerebellum uses prediction errors to update the internal model. Differences between human and rodent studies are highlighted to help inform future work.
Seasonal variations of siliceous microplankton fluxes and radiolarian assemblages linked to environmental conditions in Prydz Bay polynya, Eastern Antarctica

Siliceous microplankton is an effective proxy for connecting modern and past marine environments; however, radiolarians have been understudied in Prydz Bay, Eastern Antarctica. This study investigated the changes in the siliceous microbiota fluxes and radiolarian assemblages captured in a 1-year time-series sediment trap (February 2014 to February 2015, ~490 m water depth) in the polynya of Prydz Bay. The results exhibited the strong seasonality in the radiolarian assemblages and the fluxes of radiolarians, diatoms, silicoflagellates and sponge spicules, with low numbers in winter and high numbers in summer. Seasonal variations in the sea ice and plankton community were critical in these patterns. The total radiolarian flux (TRF) displayed three peaks with higher flux than the annual average TRF over the year, all of which occurred in summer. These TRF peaks were mainly driven by seasonal fluctuations of sea ice, primary productivity, grazing pressure caused by phytophagous zooplankton and resuspension of small radiolarians in the surface sediments induced by modified Circumpolar Deep Water (mCDW) intrusion onto the shelf. There were also two notable low-TRF stages, mainly related to full sea-ice coverage and high grazing pressure. Two dominant assemblages were recognized by means of Q-factor analysis. Dominant assemblage one was composed of three small-sized taxa, Antarctissa sp. , Phormacantha hystrix and Plectacantha oikiskos, which could be used as a proxy for primary productivity in the Marginal Ice Zone (MIZ) in Prydz Bay. Dominant assemblage two was composed of Antarctissa strelkovi and Antarctissa denticulata, with A. strelkovi dominating. The high flux and high relative abundance of A. strelkovi marked the extension of Ice Shelf Water (ISW) to the shelf area in Prydz Bay. These findings will provide new insights and reliable proxies for modern and paleoceanographic research in the Southern Ocean.
Lattice dynamics of BaFe2X3(X = S, Se) compounds

We present the Raman scattering spectra of the S=2 spin ladder compounds BaFe₂X₃ (X=S,Se) in a temperature range between 20 and 400 K. Although the crystal structures of these two compounds are both orthorhombic and very similar, they are not isostructural. The unit cell of BaFe₂S₃ (BaFe₂Se₃) is base-centered Cmcm (primitive Pnma), giving 18 (36) modes to be observed in the Raman scattering experiment. We have detected almost all Raman active modes, predicted by factor group analysis, which can be observed from the cleavage planes of these compounds. Assignment of the observed Raman modes of BaFe₂S(Se)₃ is supported by the lattice dynamics calculations. The antiferromagnetic long-range spin ordering in BaFe₂Se₃ below TN=255K leaves a fingerprint both in the A1g and B3g phonon mode linewidth and energy.
The Role of Managerial Skills on the Performance of Small and Medium Enterprise (SMES) in Jabi District, Abuja, Nigeria

: The objective of this study was to access the role of managerial skills on SME performance in Jabi District, Abuja, Nigeria. The study is a survey research, sampling the opinion of 240 business owners in the District. Their opinion was collected using a structured questionnaire and data collected were analyzed by tabulation, percentages and the formulated hypotheses tested using Kendall coefficient of concordance. The study discovered that these managerial skills: technical skills, conceptual skills, interpersonal relation skills, and budgeting skills had a substantial effect on the performance of SMEs. The study concluded that insufficient managerial skills are factors militating against SME performance and recommended among others that SME managers should try to understand, lead, change and regulate the behavior of the individuals and organization they manages to achieve greater performance; the government, Non-Governmental Organizations, and SME owners' unions provide adequate training.
Resampling Inference with Complex Survey Data

Outline • Main concepts of survey sampling statistics (Cochran 1977) – Simple random sample – Stratified random sample – Cluster/multistage random sample – Estimates of the mean, total, ratio • Estimation of variance as the main problem – Linearization estimate (Huber 1967) – Jackknife estimate (Krewski and Rao 1981) – Balanced repeated replication (McCarthy 1969) – The bootstrap (Rao and Wu 1988) • Summary and comparison of performance (Shao 1996)
Frailty, Meeting Challenges, and Beyond in Geriatric Surgery—10 Years' Experience From Singapore's First Geriatric Surgical Service

This article gives an overview of the 10 years' experience of the first dedicated geriatric surgery service in Khoo Teck Puat Hospital, Singapore. Frailty and its adverse impact on emergency and elective surgical procedures are elaborated and strategies to optimize outcomes explained. Via transdisciplinary transinstitutional collaboration, geriatric surgery service instituted trimodal intervention of prehabilitation, nutrition, and psychological support for frail patients, achieved consistent perioperative results, shortened length of hospital stay, and restored baseline function for patients undergoing major elective oncological surgery. Efforts are made to teach transdisciplinary collaboration to the next generation of doctors to meet the challenges of the Era of Geriatric Surgery.
Detection of moving targets in video sequences

A method for detecting moving targets is proposed, which combines optical flow and wavelet transform, through using spatial and temporal information in image sequences under condition of moving camera. Image is normalized to remove influence from illumination variation based on isotropy in neighbor of pixel. The velocity of background is estimated by optical flow, affine motion model and wavelet pyramid structure. Background of image is corrected by using the current frame for motion compensation based on temporal integration. The current frame subtracts the warping background and filters some gauss noises by Gaussian distribution. Finally, the region of moving object is decided by a cluster method that is proposed to adapt to this algorithm. Both visual optical images sequence of 200 frames and infrared images sequence of 200 frames are experienced respectively. The experimental results show that the detection ratios reach 95% and 94% respectively.
Proteinuria and Electrophoretic Pattern in Dogs with Comorbidities Associated with Chronic Kidney Disease

Simple Summary The detection of proteinuria allows for the early diagnosis of chronic kidney disease. This work was to identify and determine the magnitude of proteinuria and its electrophoretic pattern in dogs with chronic diseases related to proteinuria. Data from 264 dogs were obtained; proteinuria was observed in more than 30% as the only finding of kidney disease, evidencing a greater risk factor for proteinuria in the heart disease group. A higher frequency of glomerular electrophoretic patterns related to glomerular hypertension was observed in the heart, neoplasia and endocrine disease. Abstract In animals with chronic pathologies, the detection of proteinuria via the proteinuria: creatininuria ratio (UPC) and urinary protein electrophoresis allows for the early diagnosis of chronic kidney disease (CKD). The objective of this work was to identify and determine the magnitude of proteinuria and its electrophoretic pattern characterization in dogs with chronic diseases pathophysiologically related to proteinuria. With the studied patients, five groups were formed. The control group (CG) contained non-proteinuric cases. The cases with proteinuria were classified into four groups according to the concurrent disease: chronic inflammatory diseases (IG), neoplasms (NG), heart diseases (HG), and endocrine diseases (EG). For the statistical analysis, descriptive statistics and non-parametric tests were used. Data from 264 dogs were obtained; in the disease groups, proteinuria was observed in more than 30% as the only finding of kidney disease, evidencing a greater risk factor for proteinuria in the HG group (OR 4.047, CI 1.894–8.644, p < 0.0001). In the HG, NG, and EG groups, a higher frequency of glomerular pattern (GEP) related to glomerular hypertension was observed; in the IG, a higher frequency of mixed pattern (MEP) was observed. These findings are secondary to the hyperfiltration process that affects the glomerulus and the renal tubule.
On a Conjecture of Erdös, Faber, and Lovász about n-Colorings

Let be a finite family of finite sets with the property that |A ∩ B| ≦ 1 whenever A and B are distinct members of . It is a conjecture of Erdös, Faber, and Lovász ([1] a 50 pound problem and [2] a 100 dollar problem) that there is an n-coloring of (i.e., a function such that A ∩ B = ∅ whenever A and B are distinct members of with f(A) = f(B). They actually state the conjecture in a different form. They actually state the conjecture in a different form. Namely, if n is a positive integer and is a family of n sets satisfying (1) |Bp | = n for each p and (2) |Bp ∩ Bq | ≦ 1 when p ≠ q, then there is an n-coloring of the elements of so that each set Bp gets all n colors. The equivalence of the two forms is easily seen by interchanging the roles of elements and sets.
A Novel Field and Armature Synchronous Pulse Injection Method for Sensorless Drive Control of 12/10 DC Vernier Reluctance Machine

DC-excited Vernier reluctance machine (DC-VRM) exhibits the advantages of small torque ripple and high reliability, which has good potential to be applied as an aerospace starter generator. Combined with a sensorless drive, system reliability can be further guaranteed. However, the inherent self-inductance saliency is canceled out by winding connections in 12/10 DC-VRM, thus limiting the application of the self-inductance-based sensorless drive method in such machines. By revealing the saliency annihilation effect in self-inductance and the saliency enhancement effect in mutual inductance, a novel field and armature synchronous pulse injection method is proposed based on machine mutual inductance characteristics. The key is to inject detection pulses into both field and armature windings with the same sequence and pulse width to detect the mutual inductance between them. Then, an optimized virtual inductance-based position estimation method is presented to estimate the position and strengthen the fault-tolerant ability. Moreover, the potential magnetic saturation influence on position estimation caused by superimposed detection currents is avoided with the reverse pulse injection in the field winding. Consequently, the field current density can be decreased during the detection pulse injection stage. The proposed method is easy to be implemented and verified by experimental results.
A Test of the Arbitrage Pricing Theory in the Bombay Stock Market

This study examines the application of the arbitrage pricing theory (APT) in the Bombay stock market and attempts to identify the macroeconomic variables which influence the sensex. The sample consists of the monthly values of BSE sensex and the macroeconomic variables, namely, gold prices, interest rate, oil prices, exchange rate and money supply (M3). The period covered for the study is from April 2001 to July 2014. The unit root tests showed that the variables were stationary at the level itself. Due to high correlation between gold and oil prices, OLS regression was applied after excluding oil prices and the results indicated that except for interest rate, the other three variables have significant influence on the sensex. The most significant variable to influence is gold followed by exchange rate which has a negative influence on the sensex. Results of Granger causality test indicated that there was no causality between any of the macroeconomic variables and the sensex.