Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Limited Song Mixing Without Genomic Gene Flow in a Contact Zone Between Two Songbird Species

Abstract Song is considered to play an important role in the maintenance of prezygotic reproductive isolation between closely related songbird species. Therefore, song mixing in a contact zone between closely related species is often considered as evidence of hybridization. The Sichuan Leaf Warbler Phylloscopus forresti and the Gansu Leaf Warbler Phylloscopus kansuensis, which diverged 2 million years ago, have formed a contact zone in the south of the Gansu Province of China, where mixed songs have been observed. In this study, we investigated the potential causes and consequences of song mixing by integrating bioacoustic, morphological, mitochondrial, and genomic data with field ecological observations. We found that the two species display no apparent morphological differences, whereas their songs differ dramatically. We demonstrated that ∼11% of the males in the contact zone sang mixed songs. Two males singing mixed song were genotyped, and both were found to be P. kansuensis. Despite the presence of mixed singers, population genomic analyses detected no signs of recent gene flow between the two species, although two possible cases of mitochondrial introgression were identified. We conclude that the rather limited song mixing does not lead to, or result from, hybridization, and hence does not result in the breakdown of reproductive barriers between these cryptic species.
Achieving SDG-13 in the Era of Conflicts: The Roles of Economic Growth and Government Stability

Establishing effective climate control and reducing the ecological footprint (EF) are necessary for pursuing Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), in particular Goal 13. In this context, it is required to enhance the understanding of various factors that can either decrease or enhance the EF. In the literature to date, limited studies on external conflicts (EX) have reported diverse results, and also the impacts of government stability (GS) on EF are less explored. This study explores the roles of external conflicts, economic growth, and government stability on EF in the context of SDG-13. The study also contributes to the literature by examining the environmental effects of government stability and external conflicts for the first time in Pakistan. This research uses time-series methodologies on data from Pakistan from 1984 to 2018 for exploring the long-run relations and causal dynamics. The results unfolded that external conflicts stimulate and Granger cause EF and therefore expand environmental deterioration. Thus, limiting conflicts is in the favor of Pakistan to achieve SDG-13. Surprisingly, government stability also poses harmful impacts on environmental quality by enhancing the EF, indicating that stable governments focus on improving economic conditions rather than environmental quality. Moreover, the study proves the validity of the environmental Kuznets curve. Policy suggestions are made to move forward in achieving SDG-13 and to evaluate the effectiveness of government environmental policies.
Facilitation of Behavioral and Cortical Emergence from Isoflurane Anesthesia by GABAergic Neurons in Basal Forebrain

General anesthesia shares many similarities with natural sleep in behavior and electroencephalogram (EEG) patterns. The latest evidence suggests that general anesthesia and sleep–wake behavior may share overlapping neural substrates. The GABAergic neurons in the basal forebrain (BF) have recently been demonstrated to play a key role in controlling wakefulness. It was hypothesized that BF GABAergic neurons may participate in the regulation of general anesthesia. Here, using in vivo fiber photometry, we found that the activity of BF GABAergic neurons was generally inhibited during isoflurane anesthesia, having obviously decreased during the induction of anesthesia and being gradually restored during the emergence from anesthesia, in Vgat-Cre mice of both sexes. Activation of BF GABAergic neurons with chemogenetic and optogenetic approaches decreased sensitivity to isoflurane, delayed induction, and accelerated emergence from isoflurane anesthesia. Optogenetic activation of BF GABAergic neurons decreased EEG δ power and the burst suppression ratio (BSR) during 0.8% and 1.4% isoflurane anesthesia, respectively. Similar to the effects of activating BF GABAergic cell bodies, photostimulation of BF GABAergic terminals in the thalamic reticular nucleus (TRN) also strongly promoted cortical activation and behavioral emergence from isoflurane anesthesia. Collectively, these results showed that the GABAergic BF is a key neural substrate for general anesthesia regulation that facilitates behavioral and cortical emergence from general anesthesia via the GABAergic BF-TRN pathway. Our findings may provide a new target for attenuating the depth of anesthesia and accelerating emergence from general anesthesia. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT The basal forebrain (BF) is a key brain region controlling sleep–wake behavior. Activation of GABAergic neurons in the BF potently promotes behavioral arousal and cortical activity. Recently, many sleep–wake-related brain structures have been reported to participate in the regulation of general anesthesia. However, it is still unclear what role BF GABAergic neurons play in general anesthesia. In this study, we aim to reveal the role of BF GABAergic neurons in behavioral and cortical emergence from isoflurane anesthesia and elucidate the underlying neural pathways. Understanding the specific role of BF GABAergic neurons in isoflurane anesthesia would improve our understanding of the mechanisms of general anesthesia and may provide a new strategy for accelerating emergence from general anesthesia.
Racial Identification as a Protective Factor for At-Risk Parenting in Black Parents: A Longitudinal, Multi-Method Investigation

Although considerable literature focuses on risk factors predicting parents’ likelihood to engage in maltreatment, relatively less work evaluates potentially protective parental resources, particularly culturally relevant qualities. The current investigation utilized a multi-method longitudinal study to examine parents’ racial identification as a possible resource, hypothesizing that Black parents with stronger racial group identification would demonstrate lower at-risk parenting, operationalized as lower child abuse risk and less negative observed parenting. In a sample of 359 mothers and fathers (half self-identified Black, half non-Hispanic White), controlling for socioeconomic status, findings partially supported the hypothesis. Black parents’ greater racial identification was associated with lower child abuse risk and less observed negative parenting, whereas the reverse was true for White parents. The potential limitations of current assessment approaches to gauge at-risk parenting in parents of color are discussed, as well as how racial identification could be considered in culturally informed prevention programming for at-risk parenting.
The maize ZmVPS23-like protein relocates the NLR protein Rp1-D21 to endosomes and suppresses the defense response.

Plants often utilize nucleotide-binding, leucine-rich repeat (NLR) proteins to perceive pathogen infections and trigger a hypersensitive response (HR). The endosomal sorting complex required for transport (ESCRT) machinery is a conserved multi-subunit complex that is essential for the biogenesis of multivesicular bodies and cargo protein sorting. VPS23 is a key component of ESCRT-I and plays important roles in plant development and abiotic stresses. ZmVPS23L, a homolog of VPS23-like in maize (Zea mays), was previously identified as a candidate gene in modulating HR mediated by the autoactive NLR protein Rp1-D21 in different maize populations. Here we demonstrate that ZmVPS23L suppresses Rp1-D21-mediated HR in maize and Nicotiana benthamiana. Variation in the suppressive effect of HR by different ZmVPS23L alleles was correlated with variation in their expression levels. ZmVPS23 also suppressed Rp1-D21-mediated HR. ZmVPS23L and ZmVPS23 predominantly localized to endosomes, and they physically interacted with the coiled-coil domain of Rp1-D21 and mediated the relocation of Rp1-D21 from the nucleo-cytoplasm to endosomes. In summary, we demonstrate that ZmVPS23L and ZmVPS23 are negative regulators of Rp1-D21-mediated HR, likely by sequestrating Rp1-D21 in endosomes via physical interaction. Our findings reveal the role of ESCRT components in controlling plant NLR-mediated defense responses.
Physiologically Based Pharmacokinetic Modeling Characterizes the Drug‐Drug Interaction Between Saxagliptin and Rifampicin in Patients With Renal Impairment

The aim of the present study is to develop physiologically based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) models for saxagliptin and its active metabolite, 5‐hydroxy saxagliptin, and to predict the effect of coadministration of rifampicin, a strong inducer of cytochrome P450 3A4 enzymes, on the pharmacokinetics of saxagliptin and 5‐hydroxy saxagliptin in patients with renal impairment. The PBPK models of saxagliptin and 5‐hydroxy saxagliptin were developed and validated in GastroPlus for healthy adults with or without rifampicin and adults with varying renal functions. Then, the effect of renal impairment combined with drug‐drug interaction on saxagliptin and 5‐hydroxy saxagliptin pharmacokinetics was investigated. The PBPK models successfully predicted the pharmacokinetics. For saxagliptin, the prediction suggests that rifampin greatly weakened the effect of renal impairment on reducing clearance, and the inductive effect of rifampin on parent drug metabolism seems to be increased with an increase in the degree of renal impairment severity. For patients with the same degree of renal impairment, rifampicin would have a slightly synergistic effect on the increase of 5‐hydroxy saxagliptin exposure compared with dosed alone. There is an unsignificant decline for the saxagliptin total active moiety exposure values in patients with the same degree of renal impairment. It seems that patients with renal impairment are unlikely to require additional dose adjustments when coadministered with rifampicin, compared with saxagliptin alone. Our study provides a reasonable approach to explore unknown DDI potential in renal impairment.
Damping estimation for multi-swing transient stability analysis: the OMIB case

The main concern of this paper is to create a methodology that, if incorporated to the BCU method of transient stability analysis, one can assure, for the one-machine-infinite-bus system (OMIB), the stability of the system and not the existence of the first swing only. The methodology constitutes in determining, in an iterative way, a critical damping coefficient that should be associated to the system, so that it is assured that the saddle points used as the controlling equilibrium point are on the boundary of the corresponding attraction area. That is, with that damping coefficient in the system, it can be assured that the one-parameter transversality condition will be satisfied. The methodology, as developed, is an iterative monotonically convergent process very easy to implement and does not require knowledge of fault trajectory at all. An example showing how the methodology works is also incorporated in the paper. The proposed methodology was also applied to a simple multimachine system. In that case however, the proposed methodology needs further studies and adaptation in order to be applied.
A Brain‐Targeting NIR‐II Ferroptosis System: Effective Visualization and Oncotherapy for Orthotopic Glioblastoma (Adv. Sci. 13/2023)

Near‐infrared‐II (NIR‐II) ferroptosis activators offer promising potentials in in vivo theranostics of deep tumors, such as glioma. However, most cases are nonvisual iron‐based systems that are blind for in vivo precise theranostic study. Additionally, the iron species and their associated nonspecific activations might trigger undesired detrimental effects on normal cells. Considering gold (Au) is an essential cofactor for life and it can specifically bind to tumor cells, Au(I)‐based NIR‐II ferroptosis nanoparticles (TBTP‐Au NPs) for brain‐targeted orthotopic glioblastoma theranostics are innovatively constructed. It achieves the real‐time visual monitoring of both the BBB penetration and the glioblastoma targeting processes. Moreover, it is first validated that the released TBTP‐Au specifically activates the effective heme oxygenase‐1‐regulated ferroptosis of glioma cells to greatly extend the survival time of glioma‐bearing mice. This new ferroptosis mechanism based on Au(I) may open a new way for the fabrication of advanced and high‐specificity visual anticancer drugs for clinical trials.
Phylogenetic analyses of seven protein families refine the evolution of small RNA pathways in green plants.

Several protein families participate in the biogenesis and function of small RNAs (sRNAs) in plants. Those with primary roles include Dicer-like (DCL), RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RDR), and Argonaute (AGO) proteins. Protein families such as double-stranded RNA-binding (DRB), SERRATE (SE), and SUPPRESSION OF SILENCING 3 (SGS3) act as partners of DCL or RDR proteins. Here, we present curated annotations and phylogenetic analyses of seven sRNA pathway protein families performed on 196 species in the Viridiplantae (aka green plants) lineage. Our results suggest that the RDR3 proteins emerged earlier than RDR1/2/6. RDR6 is found in filamentous green algae and all land plants, suggesting that the evolution of RDR6 proteins coincides with the evolution of phased small interfering RNAs (siRNAs). We traced the origin of the 24-nt reproductive phased siRNA-associated DCL5 protein back to American sweet flag (Acorus americanus), the earliest diverged, extant monocot species. Our analyses of AGOs identified multiple duplication events of AGO genes that were lost, retained or further duplicated in sub-groups, indicating that the evolution of AGOs is complex in monocots. The results also refine the evolution of several clades of AGO proteins, such as AGO4, AGO6, AGO17 and AGO18. Analyses of nuclear localization signal sequences and catalytic triads of AGO proteins shed light on the regulatory roles of diverse AGOs. Collectively, this work generates a curated and evolutionarily coherent annotation for gene families involved in plant sRNA biogenesis/function and provides insights into the evolution of major sRNA pathways.
Comparison between UWB and CW radar sensors for breath activity monitoring

In this paper the ability of four radar sensors in detecting breath activity has been tested. In particular, range gating UWB, CMOS UWB, CW phase detecting, and FMCW radars have taken into account. Considering a realistic scenario, the radar antenna has been pointed towards the thorax of a breathing subject and the recorded signals have been compared with those of a piezoelectric belt placed around the thorax. Then the ability of the radars in detecting small movements has been tested by means of an oscillating copper plate placed at various distances from the radar antenna. All the considered radars were able to detect the plate movements with a distance-dependent resolution.
The Relationship Between Jumping and Sprinting Performance in Collegiate Ultimate Athletes

The purpose of the present investigation was to examine the relationship between jumping and sprinting among members of a regionally competitive club-level ultimate team. Twenty-two subjects (mean ± SD; 21.1±2.26 year) volunteered to participate in two testing sessions the week before the team’s regional tournament. Testing sessions included body-composition measurement, a 40-yard sprint (with a 10-yard split time recorded), a standing long jump (LJ) and a vertical jump (VJ). Pearson product-moment correlations revealed a significant negative correlation between LJ and 40-yard sprint time. Significant positive relationships were observed between VJ height and 10-yard power, VJ power and 10-yard power, VJ power and relative 10yard power , relative VJ power and relative 10-yard power, BJ distance and 10-yard power, VJ height and 40-yard power, VJ power and 40-yard power, and relative VJ power and relative 40yard power. BJ distance related significantly to 40-yard velocity, 40-yard power and 40-yard relative power. There appears to be a relationship between jumping ability and sprinting in this population, but more studies with this population are needed to confirm these results.
Water wave attenuation due to opposing wind

A laboratory investigation of the attenuation of mechanically generated waves by an opposing wind has been completed. Wave attenuation was quantified by measurements of the decline in surface variance. These measurements show higher effective levels of monochromatic wave attenuation than predicted by air-side measurements: approximately an order of magnitude higher than measurements by Young & Sobey (1985) and, a factor of 3 higher than those of Donelan (1999) for waves in a JONSWAP spectrum. Furthermore, they show that theoretical estimates currently underestimate the attenuation rates by a factor of at least 3. This study has shown that the magnitude of wave attenuation rates due to opposing winds is approximately 2.5 times greater than the magnitude of wave growth rates for comparable wind forcing. At high wave steepnesses, detailed analysis suggests that air-side processes alone are not sufficient to induce the observed levels of attenuation. Rather, it appears that energy fluxes from the wave field due to the interaction between the wave-induced currents and other subsurface motions play a significant role once the mean wave steepness exceeds a critical value. A systematic relationship between the energy flux from the wave field and mean wave steepness was observed. The combination of opposing wind and wind-induced water-side motions is far more effective in attenuating waves than has previously been envisaged.
Yield and Efficiency of a Population-Based Mass Tuberculosis Screening Intervention Among Persons With Diabetes in Jiangsu Province, China

Abstract Background The evidence-base for mass tuberculosis screening among persons with diabetes (PWD) is poor. We evaluated the yield and costs of mass screening among PWD in eastern China. Methods We included individuals with type 2 diabetes from 38 townships in Jiangsu Province. Screening comprised of physical examinations, symptom screening, and chest X-rays; smear and culture testing were performed through clinical triage. We assessed the yield and number needed to screen (NNS) to detect 1 tuberculosis case among all PWD, those with symptoms, and with suggestive chest X-rays. Unit costing was collected to estimate screening costs and to calculate cost per case detected. We performed a systematic review of other mass tuberculosis screening programs concentrated on PWD. Results Of 89 549 screened PWD, 160 were diagnosed with tuberculosis (179 cases per 100 000 persons; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 153–205). The NNS was 560 (95% CI: 513–606), 248 (95% CI: 217–279), and 36 (95% CI: 24–48) among all participants, with abnormal chest X-rays, and symptoms. The cost per case was high overall (US$13 930) but lower with symptoms (US$1037) and high fasting blood glucose levels (US$6807). From systematic review, the pooled NNS to detect one case among all PWD (regardless of symptoms or chest X-ray results) in high- versus low-burden settings was 93 (95% CI: 70–141) versus 395 (95% CI: 283–649). Conclusions A mass tuberculosis screening program focused on PWD was feasible however, the overall yield was low and not cost-efficient. Risk-stratified approaches may be practical among PWD in low- and medium tuberculosis burden settings.
Dimension reduction for censored regression data

Without parametric assumptions, high-dimensional regression analysis is already complex. This is made even harder when data are subject to censoring. In this article, we seek ways of reducing the dimensionality of the regressor before applying nonparametric smoothing techniques. If the censoring time is independent of the lifetime, then the method of sliced inverse regression can be applied directly. Otherwise, modification is needed to adjust for the censoring bias. A key identity leading to the bias correction is derived and the root-n consistency of the modified estimate is established. Patterns of censoring can also be studied under a similar dimension reduction framework. Some simulation results and an application to a real data set are reported. 1. Introduction. Survival data are often subject to censoring. When this occurs, the incompleteness of the observed data may induce a substantial bias in the sample. Several approaches have been suggested to overcome the associated difficulties in regression, including the accelerated failure time model, censored linear regression, the Cox proportional hazard model and many others. Survival analysis becomes even more intricate when the dimension of the regressor increases. To apply any of the aforementioned methods, users are required to specify a functional form which relates the outcome variables to the input ones. However, in reality, knowledge needed for an appropriate model specification is often inadequate. As a matter of fact, the acquisition of such information may well turn out to be one of the primary goals of the study itself. Under such circumstances, it seems preferable to have exploratory tools that rely less on such model specification. This is the issue to be addressed in this article. The dimension reduction approach of Li Ž. 1991 will be extended to settings which allow for censoring in the data. We shall offer methods of finding low-dimensional projections of the data for visually examining the censoring pattern. We shall show how censored regression data can still be analyzed without assuming the functional form a priori.