Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Epidemiological, clinical, and electrophysiological findings in dogs and cats with traumatic brachial plexus injury: A retrospective study of 226 cases

Abstract Background The imaging and electrodiagnostic (EDX) characteristics of traumatic brachial plexus injury (TBPI) are incompletely reported. Objectives To describe the epidemiological, clinical, and EDX characteristics of TBPIs in a series of cases in dogs and cats; to determine the association between clinical data, EDX findings, and clinical outcomes; and to assess the sensitivity and specificity of EDX studies to classify nerve lesions. Animals One hundred and seventy‐five dogs and 51 cats with TBPI and EDX exploration of radial nerve, ulnar nerve, or both nerves. Methods Retrospective case series. All medical records were searched for dogs and cats presenting with TBPIs that underwent EDX exploration. Epidemiological, clinical, EDX, and follow‐up data were extracted. Association between clinical data, EDX findings, and clinical outcomes was explored. Results Forty‐six percent of affected animals were injured before 2 years of age and 57% of dogs weighed more than 20 kg. The radial compound muscle action potential (CMAP) amplitude for dogs and cats that had clinical improvement was higher than in animals without improvement (4.3 mV [0‐23.6] vs 0 mV [0‐2.4], respectively, P = .02). A discriminating radial CMAP amplitude threshold value of 5 mV had a specificity of 93% (95% CI [80‐100]) to predict recovery. Conclusions and Clinical Importance Electrodiagnostic studies, particularly measurement of radial CMAP amplitude, are valuable diagnostic tests to refine the prognosis of these animals.
Parochial cooperation and the emergence of signalling norms

Why do people adorn themselves with elaborate body piercings or tattoos, wear obstructing garbs, engage in life-threatening competitions and other wasteful and harmful but socially stipulated practices? Norms of cooperation and coordination, which promote the efficient attainment of collective benefits, can be explained by theories of collective action. However, social norms prescribing wasteful and harmful behaviours have eluded such explanations. We argue that signalling theory constitutes the basis for the understanding of the emergence of such norms, which we call signalling norms. Signalling norms emerge as a result of the uncertainty about who is a friend and who is a foe. The need to overcome this uncertainty arises when different groups compete for scarce resources and individuals must be able to identify, trust and cooperate with their fellow group members. After reviewing the mechanisms that explain the emergence of cooperation and coordination norms, we introduce the notion of signalling norms as markers of group distinction. We argue that adherence to signalling norms constitutes a commitment promoting parochial cooperation rather than a quality-revealing signal facilitating partner choice. We formalize our argument in a game-theoretic model that allows us to specify the boundary conditions for the emergence of signalling norms. Our paper concludes with a discussion of potential applications of our model and a comparison of signalling norms with related concepts. This article is part of the theme issue ‘The language of cooperation: reputation and honest signalling’.
Comprehending Monoids with Class

Expressive high-level languages like Haskell and Scala let us define convenient embedded domain-specific languages (EDSL) for writing database queries, leveraging their rich type systems. The design of such EDSLs has traditionally relied on monadic comprehension a natural foundation for expressing queries over collections of data. We argue that monoid comprehension is an interesting alternative foundation for these embedded query languages. Using Haskell as our host language, we show that a generalized version of the monoid comprehension calculus can be naturally encoded in languages with support for type classes, and that this unlocks a new kind of expressive power — notably, it gives us an efficient grouping construct, and it allows queries mixing heterogeneous data types (lists, sets, multisets, infinite streams, maps, etc.), while using the type system to statically verify some desirable properties of these queries. We argue that for expressing queries over collections of data, our embedding of monoid comprehension can be more flexible, simpler, more efficient, and safer than its monadic counterpart.
Screening for Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma: Are We Asking the Impossible?—Response

Pancreatic cancer is projected to become the second leading cause of cancer-related death in the United States by 2020. Because of this, significant interest and research funding has been devoted to development of a screening test to identify individuals during a prolonged asymptomatic period; however, to date, no such test has been developed. We evaluated current NIH spending and clinical trials to determine the focus of research on pancreatic cancer screening as compared with other cancer subtypes. Using statistical methodology, we determined the effects of population-based pancreatic cancer screening on overall populationmorbidity andmortality. Population-based pancreatic cancer screening would result in significant harm to non-diseased individuals, even in cases where a near-perfect test was developed. Despite this mathematical improbability, NIH funding for pancreatic cancer demonstrates bias toward screening test development not seen in other cancer subtypes. Focusing research energy ondevelopment of pancreatic screening tests is unlikely to result in overall survival benefits. Efforts to increase the number of patients who are candidates for surgery and improving surgical outcomes would result in greater population benefit.
“This Mine is for the Entire Casamance Coastline”: The Politics of Scale and the Future of the Extractive Frontier in Casamance, Senegal

Abstract As evidenced by the widespread controversy surrounding an otherwise small-scale mining investment pending in Casamance, Senegal, uncertainty shapes the extension of the extractive frontier. Fent argues that amid this uncertainty, different actors are able to politicize or depoliticize extractive investments through the work of scaling. Opponents cast the project as part of larger-scale, longer-term extraction, linking it with regional narratives. By contrast, state and corporate actors depoliticized the mine by emphasizing its limited extent and downscaling conflict to the local level. This demonstrates the conflictual processes through which extractive frontiers are realized—and resisted—through both space and time.
Software and hardware co‐design for sustainable cyber‐physical systems

Cyber-physical systems (CPS), characterized by the deep integration of computation, communication, and control of physical processes, are becoming increasingly important. To enable the sustainable development of such systems, innovative technologies of software and hardware designs for green and energy-efficient CPS, such as reducing energy consumption of computing infrastructures, improving computational efficiency in smart energy systems, and exploring renewable energy resources to mitigate classical energy usages, need to be investigated.
A case study of industry–academia communication in a joint software engineering research project

Empirical software engineering research relies on good communication with industrial partners. Conducting joint research both requires and contributes to bridging the communication gap between industry and academia (IA) in software engineering. This study aims to explore communication between the two parties in such a setting. To better understand what facilitates good IA communication and what project outcomes such communication promotes, we performed a case study, in the context of a long‐term IA joint project, followed by a validating survey among practitioners and researchers with experience of working in similar settings. We identified five facilitators of IA communication and nine project outcomes related to this communication. The facilitators concern the relevance of the research, practitioners' attitude and involvement in research, frequency of communication and longevity of the collaboration. The project outcomes promoted by this communication include, for researchers, changes in teaching and new scientific venues, and for practitioners, increased awareness, changes to practice, and new tools and source code. Besides, both parties gain new knowledge and develop social‐networks through IA communication. Our study presents empirically based insights that can provide advise on how to improve communication in IA research projects and thus the co‐creation of software engineering knowledge that is anchored in both practice and research.
Whole-Body EMS Superimposed Walking and Nordic Walking on a Treadmill—Determination of Exercise Intensity to Conventional Exercise

Electrical muscle stimulation (EMS) is an increasingly popular training method and has become the focus of research in recent years. New EMS devices offer a wide range of mobile applications for whole-body EMS (WB-EMS) training, e.g., the intensification of dynamic low-intensity endurance exercises through WB-EMS. The present study aimed to determine the differences in exercise intensity between WB-EMS-superimposed and conventional walking (EMS-CW), and CON and WB-EMS-superimposed Nordic walking (WB-EMS-NW) during a treadmill test. Eleven participants (52.0 ± years; 85.9 ± 7.4 kg, 182 ± 6 cm, BMI 25.9 ± 2.2 kg/m2) performed a 10 min treadmill test at a given velocity (6.5 km/h) in four different test situations, walking (W) and Nordic walking (NW) in both conventional and WB-EMS superimposed. Oxygen uptake in absolute (VO2) and relative to body weight (rel. VO2), lactate, and the rate of perceived exertion (RPE) were measured before and after the test. WB-EMS intensity was adjusted individually according to the feedback of the participant. The descriptive statistics were given in mean ± SD. For the statistical analyses, one-factorial ANOVA for repeated measures and two-factorial ANOVA [factors include EMS, W/NW, and factor combination (EMS*W/NW)] were performed (α = 0.05). Significant effects were found for EMS and W/NW factors for the outcome variables VO2 (EMS: p = 0.006, r = 0.736; W/NW: p < 0.001, r = 0.870), relative VO2 (EMS: p < 0.001, r = 0.850; W/NW: p < 0.001, r = 0.937), and lactate (EMS: p = 0.003, r = 0.771; w/NW: p = 0.003, r = 0.764) and both the factors produced higher results. However, the difference in VO2 and relative VO2 is within the range of biological variability of ± 12%. The factor combination EMS*W/NW is statistically non-significant for all three variables. WB-EMS resulted in the higher RPE values (p = 0.035, r = 0.613), RPE differences for W/NW and EMS*W/NW were not significant. The current study results indicate that WB-EMS influences the parameters of exercise intensity. The impact on exercise intensity and the clinical relevance of WB-EMS-superimposed walking (WB-EMS-W) exercise is questionable because of the marginal differences in the outcome variables.
Evolution of Dispersal, Habit, and Pollination in Africa Pushed Apocynaceae Diversification After the Eocene-Oligocene Climate Transition

Apocynaceae (the dogbane and milkweed family) is one of the ten largest flowering plant families, with approximately 5,350 species and diverse morphology and ecology, ranging from large trees and lianas that are emblematic of tropical rainforests, to herbs in temperate grasslands, to succulents in dry, open landscapes, and to vines in a wide variety of habitats. Despite a specialized and conservative basic floral architecture, Apocynaceae are hyperdiverse in flower size, corolla shape, and especially derived floral morphological features. These are mainly associated with the development of corolline and/or staminal coronas and a spectrum of integration of floral structures culminating with the formation of a gynostegium and pollinaria—specialized pollen dispersal units. To date, no detailed analysis has been conducted to estimate the origin and diversification of this lineage in space and time. Here, we use the most comprehensive time-calibrated phylogeny of Apocynaceae, which includes approximately 20% of the species covering all major lineages, and information on species number and distributions obtained from the most up-to-date monograph of the family to investigate the biogeographical history of the lineage and its diversification dynamics. South America, Africa, and Southeast Asia (potentially including Oceania), were recovered as the most likely ancestral area of extant Apocynaceae diversity; this tropical climatic belt in the equatorial region retained the oldest extant lineages and these three tropical regions likely represent museums of the family. Africa was confirmed as the cradle of pollinia-bearing lineages and the main source of Apocynaceae intercontinental dispersals. We detected 12 shifts toward accelerated species diversification, of which 11 were in the APSA clade (apocynoids, Periplocoideae, Secamonoideae, and Asclepiadoideae), eight of these in the pollinia-bearing lineages and six within Asclepiadoideae. Wind-dispersed comose seeds, climbing growth form, and pollinia appeared sequentially within the APSA clade and probably work synergistically in the occupation of drier and cooler habitats. Overall, we hypothesize that temporal patterns in diversification of Apocynaceae was mainly shaped by a sequence of morphological innovations that conferred higher capacity to disperse and establish in seasonal, unstable, and open habitats, which have expanded since the Eocene-Oligocene climate transition.
Energy Availability Determines Strategy of Microbial Amino Acid Synthesis in Volatile Fatty Acid–Fed Anaerobic Methanogenic Chemostats

In natural communities, microbes exchange a variety of metabolites (public goods) with each other, which drives the evolution of auxotroph and shapes interdependent patterns at community-level. However, factors that determine the strategy of public goods synthesis for a given community member still remains to be elucidated. In anaerobic methanogenic communities, energy availability of different community members is largely varied. We hypothesized that this uneven energy availability contributed to the heterogeneity of public goods synthesis ability among the members in these communities. We tested this hypothesis by analyzing the synthetic strategy of amino acids of the bacterial and archaeal members involved in four previously enriched anaerobic methanogenic communities residing in thermophilic chemostats. Our analyses indicate that most of the members in the communities did not possess ability to synthesize all the essential amino acids, suggesting they exchanged these essential public goods to establish interdependent patterns for survival. Importantly, we found that the amino acid synthesis ability of a functional group was largely determined by how much energy it could obtain from its metabolism in the given environmental condition. Moreover, members within a functional group also possessed different amino acid synthesis abilities, which are related to their features of energy metabolism. Our study reveals that energy availability is a key driver of microbial evolution in presence of metabolic specialization at community level and suggests the feasibility of managing anaerobic methanogenic communities for better performance through controlling the metabolic interactions involved.
Does Implicit Self-Reference Effect Occur by the Instantaneous Own-Name?

Self-reference effect (SRE) is defined as better recall or recognition performance when the materials that are memorized refer to the self. The SRE paradigm usually requires participants to explicitly refer items to themselves, but some researchers have found that the SRE also can occur for implicitly self-referenced items. Few studies though have investigated the effect of self-related stimuli without awareness. In this study, we presented self-related (participants’ names) or other (other’s names or nouns) stimuli for a very short time between masks and then explicitly presented subsequent trait adjectives to participants. Recognition performance showed no significant differences between the own-name and the other two conditions in Experiment 1 that had random-order conditions. On the other hand, the result of Experiment 2 that had block-order conditions and greater prime stimuli suggests that SRE can occur as a result of the instantaneous stimulus: Subjects who showed better memory performance also had relatively high recognition of the trait adjectives that they viewed after their instantaneously presented own-name. This effect would show that self-representation can be activated by self-related stimuli without awareness and that subsequent items are unconsciously referenced to that self-representation.
Higher-Order Conditioning and Dopamine: Charting a Path Forward

Higher-order conditioning involves learning causal links between multiple events, which then allows one to make novel inferences. For example, observing a correlation between two events (e.g., a neighbor wearing a particular sports jersey), later helps one make new predictions based on this knowledge (e.g., the neighbor’s wife’s favorite sports team). This type of learning is important because it allows one to benefit maximally from previous experiences and perform adaptively in complex environments where many things are ambiguous or uncertain. Two procedures in the lab are often used to probe this kind of learning, second-order conditioning (SOC) and sensory preconditioning (SPC). In second-order conditioning (SOC), we first teach subjects that there is a relationship between a stimulus and an outcome (e.g., a tone that predicts food). Then, an additional stimulus is taught to precede the predictive stimulus (e.g., a light leads to the food-predictive tone). In sensory preconditioning (SPC), this order of training is reversed. Specifically, the two neutral stimuli (i.e., light and tone) are first paired together and then the tone is paired separately with food. Interestingly, in both SPC and SOC, humans, rodents, and even insects, and other invertebrates will later predict that both the light and tone are likely to lead to food, even though they only experienced the tone directly paired with food. While these processes are procedurally similar, a wealth of research suggests they are associatively and neurobiologically distinct. However, midbrain dopamine, a neurotransmitter long thought to facilitate basic Pavlovian conditioning in a relatively simplistic manner, appears critical for both SOC and SPC. These findings suggest dopamine may contribute to learning in ways that transcend differences in associative and neurological structure. We discuss how research demonstrating that dopamine is critical to both SOC and SPC places it at the center of more complex forms of cognition (e.g., spatial navigation and causal reasoning). Further, we suggest that these more sophisticated learning procedures, coupled with recent advances in recording and manipulating dopamine neurons, represent a new path forward in understanding dopamine’s contribution to learning and cognition.
The Environmental Impact of Changes in Cow Productivity and Its Component Traits in South Africa's Landrace Beef Breeds

Any reduction in the carbon footprint of beef production will contribute to future sustainability. This study investigates the environmental impact (carbon footprint) of the changes that occurred in cow productivity in the cowherds of four South African landrace breeds over a period of 25–30 years. Cow productivity, defined as kilogram calf weaned per large stock unit mated, increased by 18.3, 10.0, 14.2, and 10.4% in the Afrikaner, Bonsmara, Drakensberger, and Nguni, respectively. This resulted in a decrease in the carbon footprint, as defined by the enteric methane emissions factor, of between 6.6 and 12.0%. Changes in the cow productivity component traits, viz. weaning weight, cow weight, and fertility (as measured by inter-calving period) was also investigated. In all breeds, except the Nguni, the change in the environmental trends were less than that of the direct genetic or phenotypic trends. The genetic trends for direct weaning weight in the Afrikaner, Bonsmara, and Drakensberger were +6.7, +11.7, and +6.2 kg, respectively. In the case of the Bonsmara and Drakensberger breeds, the genetic trends were larger than the phenotypic trends, which may indicate that the environment cannot support the higher “genetic” weaning weights. The genetic trends for mature cow weight in Bonsmara and Drakensberger were +15.9 and +15.1 kg, respectively, whereas in the Afrikaner and Nguni it was not significantly different from zero (R2 ≤ 0.24). The trends in the phenotypic mature cow weights were −8.3, +17.5, +8.5, and −17.2 kg for in the Afrikaner, Bonsmara, Drakensberger, and Nguni, respectively. Although the observed inter-calving period of all breeds declined, there was no genetic change in inter-calving period for any of the breeds. It is proposed that selection indices are developed for cow productivity, which can be extended to a carbon footprint selection index. It is recommended that similar studies be done on all the major beef breeds in South Africa, especially those that rely on regular importation of genetic material.
Interaction With the Extracellular Matrix Triggers Calcium Signaling in Trypanosoma cruzi Prior to Cell Invasion

Trypanosoma cruzi, the etiological agent of Chagas disease in humans, infects a wide variety of vertebrates. Trypomastigotes, the parasite infective forms, invade mammalian cells by a still poorly understood mechanism. Adhesion of tissue culture- derived trypomastigotes to the extracellular matrix (ECM) prior to cell invasion has been shown to be a relevant part of the process. Changes in phosphorylation, S-nitrosylation, and nitration levels of proteins, in the late phase of the interaction (2 h), leading to the reprogramming of both trypomastigotes metabolism and the DNA binding profile of modified histones, were described by our group. Here, the involvement of calcium signaling at a very early phase of parasite interaction with ECM is described. Increments in the intracellular calcium concentrations during trypomastigotes-ECM interaction depends on the Ca2+ uptake from the extracellular medium, since it is inhibited by EGTA or Nifedipine, an inhibitor of the L-type voltage gated Ca2+ channels and sphingosine-dependent plasma membrane Ca2+ channel, but not by Vanadate, an inhibitor of the plasma membrane Ca2+-ATPase. Furthermore, Nifedipine inhibits the invasion of host cells by tissue culture- derived trypomastigotes in a dose-dependent manner, reaching 95% inhibition at 100 µM Nifedipine. These data indicate the importance of both Ca2+ uptake from the medium and parasite-ECM interaction for host-cell invasion. Previous treatment of ECM with protease abolishes the Ca2+ uptake, further reinforcing the possibility that these events may be connected. The mitochondrion plays a relevant role in Ca2+ homeostasis in trypomastigotes during their interaction with ECM, as shown by the increment of the intracellular Ca2+ concentration in the presence of Antimycin A, in contrast to other calcium homeostasis disruptors, such as Cyclopiazonic acid for endoplasmic reticulum and Bafilomycin A for acidocalcisome. Total phosphatase activity in the parasite decreases in the presence of Nifedipine, EGTA, and Okadaic acid, implying a role of calcium in the phosphorylation level of proteins that are interacting with the ECM in tissue culture- derived trypomastigotes. In summary, we describe here the increment of Ca2+ at an early phase of the trypomastigotes interaction with ECM, implicating both nifedipine-sensitive Ca2+ channels in the influx of Ca2+ and the mitochondrion as the relevant organelle in Ca2+ homeostasis. The data unravel a complex sequence of events prior to host cell invasion itself.