Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Cis-inhibition suppresses basal Notch signaling during sensory organ precursor selection

Significance How a cell fate is imposed onto a single cell in a developing organism is a fundamental question of development. Focusing on the classical model of the sensory organ precursor cell (SOP) in Drosophila, we combine experiments and modeling to identify how a single SOP is selected from a group of equivalent proneural cells. We identified a two-step mechanism that relies on cis-inhibitory interactions between the Notch receptor and ligands. First, a small subgroup of cells is initially defined, from which a single SOP is subsequently selected. The role of cis-inhibitory interactions in selecting a single cell is likely relevant to many other developmental processes.
Characterizing high-quality microscope objectives: a new approach

We present a novel technique for testing of the high quality microscope objective lenses. The characterization of the lens is achieved by using a point light source approximated by a 40 nm colloidal gold bead scatterer and simultaneously measuring the field distribution in the pupil plane (pupil function) and light intensity in the image plane (point spread function). Aberrations introduced by the lens are then expanded into Zernike polynomials. The proposed technique is particularly suited for measuring apodization and vignetting effects and allows for easy measurements of the off-axis aberrations.
Seasonal and interannual variability in the Mozambique Channel from moored current observations

Direct observations from an array of current meter moorings across the Mozambique Channel in the south-west Indian Ocean are presented covering a period of more than 4 years. This allows an analysis of the volume transport through the channel, including the variability on interannual and seasonal time scales. The mean volume transport over the entire observational period is 16.7 Sv poleward. Seasonal variations have a magnitude of 4.1 Sv and can be explained from the variability in the wind field over the western part of the Indian Ocean. Interannual variability has a magnitude of 8.9 Sv and is large compared to the mean. This time scale of variability could be related to variability in the Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD), showing that it forms part of the variability in the ocean-climate system of the entire Indian Ocean. By modulating the strength of the South Equatorial Current, the weakening (strengthening) tropical gyre circulation during a period of positive (negative) IOD index leads to a weakened (strengthened) southward transport through the channel, with a time lag of about a year. The relatively strong interannual variability stresses the importance of long-term direct observations.
The 1995 revision of the joint US/UK geomagnetic field models - I. Secular variation

We present the methods used to derive mathematical models of global secular variation of the main geomagnetic field for the period 1985 to 2000. These secular-variation models are used in the construction of the candidate US/UK models for the Definitive Geomagnetic Reference Field at 1990, the International Geomagnetic Reference Field for 1995 to 2000, and the World Magnetic Model for 1995 to 2000 (see paper II, Quinn et al., 1997). The main sources of data for the secular-variation models are geomagnetic observatories and repeat stations. Over the areas devoid of these data secular-variation information is extracted from aeromagnetic and satellite data. We describe how secular variation is predicted up to the year 2000 at the observatories and repeat stations, how the aeromagnetic and satellite data are used, and how all the data are combined to produce the required models.
45 m.y. of Aegean crust and mantle flow driven by trench retreat

The available seismic anisotropy data in the Aegean shallow mantle and their relationship with crustal deformation are used for deciphering the lithosphere-scale flow pattern driven by rollback of the Hellenic subduction slab. In the north and central Aegean, the directions of mantle seismic anisotropy trend parallel to stretching lineations in core complexes of the overlying crust, suggesting that crust and mantle have undergone the same direction of flow. At the scale of the entire Aegean, crustal extension is controlled by dextral rotation around a pole located at Scutary-Pec, Albania, that is related to the Hellenic trench retreat. The intensity of mantle anisotropy increases as a function of distance from the pole and of amount of rotation. Surface geology reveals that this rotating flow pattern resulted in strains accumulated since 45 Ma. A slab tear model is suggested to integrate the observed variations of geological events in time and space to subduction dynamics.
Changes in channel morphology over human time scales [Chapter 32]

Rivers are exposed to changing environmental conditions over multiple spatial and temporal scales, with the imposed environmental conditions and response potential of the river modulated to varying degrees by human activity and our exploitation of natural resources. Watershed features that control river morphology include topography (valley slope and channel confinement), discharge (magnitude, frequency, and duration of runoff events), sediment supply (volume, calibre and frequency of sediment delivery), and vegetation (riparian communities (bank strength, roughness) and in-channel wood debris). River stability and response to changing environmental conditions are highly dependent on local context (channel type and associated degrees of freedom; the nature of the imposed sediment, hydrologic, and vegetation regimes; imposed anthropogenic constraints; and the legacy of past natural and anthropogenic disturbances).
Laparoscopic transgastric circumferential stapler-assisted versus endoscopic esophageal mucosectomy in a porcine model

Background and study aims : Extensive endoscopic mucosal resection (EMR) for Barrett’s esophagus (BE) mucosectomy (SAM) retrieving circumferential specimens is proposed. Methods : SAM was evaluated in two phases. The feasibility of SAM and the quality of specimens was assessed in eight animals. The mucosal healing was evaluated in a 6-weeks survival experiment comparing SAM (n=6) and EMR (n=6). The ratio of the esophageal lumen width (REL) at the resection level measured in fluoroscopy after 6-weeks divided by the width immediately after resection was compared. Results : In all animals a circular mucosectomy specimen was successfully obtained with an area of 492(426-573)mm 2 and 941(813-1209)mm 2 using a 21-mm and 25-mm stapler, respectively. In the survival experiments two animals developed symptomatic stenosis after EMR and none after SAM. The REL was 0.27[0.18-0.39] and 0.96[0.9-1.04] (p<0.0001) for EMR and SAM, respectively. Conclusions : SAM provides a novel technique for en-bloc mucosectomy in BE. In contrast to EMR mucosal healing in SAM was not associated with stenosis up to six weeks after intervention.
Accuracy of near‐surface aerosol extinction determined from columnar aerosol optical depth measurements in Reno, NV, USA

The aim of the present work is a detailed analysis of aerosol columnar optical depth as a tool to determine near‐surface aerosol extinction in Reno, Nevada, USA, during the summer of 2012. Ground and columnar aerosol optical properties were obtained by use of in situ Photoacoustic and Integrated Nephelometer and Cimel CE‐318 Sun photometer instruments, respectively. Both techniques showed that seasonal weather changes and fire plumes had enormous influence on local aerosol optics. The apparent optical height followed the shape but not magnitude of the development of the convective boundary layer when fire conditions were not present. Back trajectory analysis demonstrated that a local flow known as the Washoe Zephyr circulation often induced aerosol transport from Northern California over the Sierra Nevada Mountains that increased the aerosol optical depth at 500 nm during afternoons when compared with mornings. Aerosol fine mode fraction indicated that afternoon aerosols in June and July and fire plumes in August were dominated by submicron particles, suggesting upwind urban plume biogenically enhanced evolution toward substantial secondary aerosol formation. This fine particle optical depth was inferred to be beyond the surface, thereby complicating use of remote sensing measurements for near‐ground aerosol extinction measurements. It is likely that coarse mode depletes fine mode aerosol near the surface by coagulation and condensation of precursor gases.
Seasonal Water Transport in the Atmosphere of Mars: Applications of a Mars General Circulation Model Using Mars Global Surveyor Data

This is a Final Report for a Joint Research Interchange (JRI) between NASA Ames Research Center and San Jose State University, Department of Meteorology. We present below a summary of progress made during the duration of this JRI. The focus of this JRI has been to investigate seasonal water vapor transport in the atmosphere of Mars and its effects on the planet's present climate. To this end, the primary task has been to adapt a new dynamical processor for the adiabatic tendencies of the atmospheric circulation into the NASA Ames Mars general circulation model (MGCM). Using identical boundary and initial conditions, several comparative tests between the new and old MGCMs have been performed and the nature of the simulated circulations have been diagnosed. With confidence that the updated version of the Ames MGCM produces quite similar mean and eddy circulation statistics, the new climate model is well poised as a tool to pursue fundamental questions related to the spatial and seasonal variations of atmospheric water vapor on Mars, and to explore exchanges of water with non-atmospheric reservoirs and transport within its atmosphere. In particular, the role of surface sources and sinks can be explored, the range of water-vapor saturation altitudes can be investigated, and plausible precipitation mechanisms can be studied, for a range of atmospheric dust loadings, such future investigations can contribute to a comprehensive study of surface inventories, exchange mechanisms, and the relative importance of atmospheric transport Mars' water cycle. A listing of presentations made and manuscripts submitted during the course of this project is provided.
A thinner endometrium is associated with lower newborn birth weight during in vitro fertilization–frozen-embryo transfer: a cohort study

Abstract Purpose This study explores the effects of endometrial thickness (EMT) before embryo transfer on newborn birth weight after in vitro fertilization–frozen embryo transfer (IVF–FET). Methods We collected the medical records related to singleton live births after IVF–FET from June 2015 to February 2019. Pregnant women were aged ≤ 42 years at delivery. Afterward, analyses were performed on outcomes related to newborns (birth weight, gestational age, delivery mode, percentage of newborns with low birth weight, and incidence of macrosomia) and pregnant women (pregnancy-induced hypertension, gestational diabetes mellitus, premature rupture of membranes, and placenta previa). Results The birth weight was higher in singleton newborns delivered by patients with EMT > 12 mm before embryo transfer than those delivered by patients with a thinner endometrium. The mean birth weight was 85.107 g higher in the EMT ≥ 12 mm group and 25.942 g higher in the 8–12 mm EMT group than in the EMT < 8 mm group. Independent predictors of newborn birth weight included pregnancy-induced hypertension, premature rupture of membranes, placenta previa, newborn sex, gestational age, delivery mode, number of implanted embryos, follicle-stimulating hormone levels, estradiol levels, and pre-pregnancy body mass index. Conclusion The weight of newborn singletons is associated with EMT before embryo transfer in patients undergoing the first FET cycle. Specifically, the birth weight is lower for newborns delivered by patients with a thinner endometrium. Accordingly, it is warranted to increase EMT before embryo transfer for improving neonatal outcomes after fertility treatment.
Gravitational Systems of Groundwater Flow: Theory, Evaluation, Utilization

Preface 1. Introduction 2. The 'unit basin' 3. Flow patterns in composite and heterogeneous basins 4. Gravity flow of groundwater: a geologic agent 5. Practical applications: selected case studies and histories 6. Gravitational systems of groundwater flow and the science of hydrogeology 7. Glossary References Appendix A Appendix B Index.
System Engineering Applied to Fuenmayor Karst Aquifer (San Julián de Banzo, Huesca) and Collins Glacier (King George Island, Antarctica)

SYSTEM engineering, defined broadly as the art and science of creating whole solutions to complex problems, is applied herein to two natural systems, viz, a karst aquifer system and a glacier system, from an exclusively hydrological perspective. Identification techniques, developed to represent typical engineering artificial systems through linear and nonlinear models, can be applied in the study of natural systems with coupling effects between climate and hydrosphere. Methods evolve to meet new identification fields where strategies are needed to find the right model adapted to the peculiarities of the system. In this regard, special tools, as those based on wavelet transform, are been considered in preparing time series such as smoothing of signals, spectral analysis, coherence levels and outliers detection, among others. Under this approach, an application to be mentioned, among those treated in this thesis, is the analytical determination of seasonal effective core (SEC) through the study of wavelet coherence between air temperature and the discharge of the glacier, which provides a set of acceptably consistent sampling periods, from which glacial system models are defined. The study is specifically aimed to estimate the mutual influence between precipitation and discharge of Fuenmayor karst aquifer, in San Julian de Banzo, Huesca, Spain. In the same way, it deals with the implications of the air temperature in the glacier melting, manifested in the stream drainage of Collins glacier, King George island, Antarctica. These parametric and non-parametric identification processes try to find models that best represent the internal dynamics of the system. That leads to iterative testing where the created models are systematically verified versus actual data sampling, according to an efficiency criterion given. The best solution assessed, according to the results obtained in cases treated, points to model structures in blocks. This thesis means a formal statement of system identification methodology of engineering in the context of natural systems, which improves the results in many cases of karst hydrology that often use occasional ad hoc methods of statistics; likewise, the approaches proposed in cases of glaciology with wavelet analysis and data-driven models scarcely appear in the literature, and reveal essential information when it is not possible to clarify the whole of physics governing the system. Remarkable results are stemmed from the characterization of Fuenmayor spring response and its correlation with precipitation, under the assumption of linear system, to be complemented with identification methods based on non-linear techniques. On the other hand, the model implementation for Collin glacier, obtained by black-box identification, can reveal certain instability at the boundaries of active periods in the discharge, and consequently, the current trend variability of the global climate change.
Duration of activity on lobate‐scarp thrust faults on Mercury

Lobate scarps, landforms interpreted as the surface manifestation of thrust faults, are widely distributed across Mercury and preserve a record of its history of crustal deformation. Their formation is primarily attributed to the accommodation of horizontal shortening of Mercury's lithosphere in response to cooling and contraction of the planet's interior. Analyses of images acquired by the Mariner 10 and MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging (MESSENGER) spacecraft during flybys of Mercury showed that thrust faults were active at least as far back in time as near the end of emplacement of the largest expanses of smooth plains. However, the full temporal extent of thrust fault activity on Mercury, particularly the duration of this activity following smooth plains emplacement, remained poorly constrained. Orbital images from the MESSENGER spacecraft reveal previously unrecognized stratigraphic relations between lobate scarps and impact craters of differing ages and degradation states. Analysis of these stratigraphic relations indicates that contraction has been a widespread and long‐lived process on the surface of Mercury. Thrust fault activity had initiated by a time near the end of the late heavy bombardment of the inner solar system and continued through much or all of Mercury's subsequent history. Such deformation likely resulted from the continuing secular cooling of Mercury's interior.
Emerging Evidence for Poxvirus-Mediated Unfolded Protein Response: Lumpy Skin Disease Virus Maintains Self-replication by Activating PERK and IRE1

The cytoplasmic replication of poxviruses requires extensive protein synthesis, challenging the capacity of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). However, the role of the ER in the life cycle of poxviruses is unclear. In this study, we demonstrate that infection with the lumpy skin disease virus (LSDV), a poxvirus, causes ER stress in vivo and in vitro, further facilitating the activation of the unfolded protein response (UPR). Although UPR activation aids in the restoration of the cellular environment, its significance in the LSDV life cycle remains unclear. Furthermore, the role of ER imbalance for viral replication is also unknown. We show that LSDV replication is hampered by an unbalanced ER environment. In addition, we verify that the LSDV replication depends on the activation of PERK-eIF2α and IRE1-XBP1 signaling cascades rather than ATF6, implying that global translation and XBP1 cleavage are deleterious to LSDV replication. Our findings suggest that LSDV engages all UPR signaling sensors, and that activation of PERK and IRE1 sensors is indispensable to maintaining its own replication. IMPORTANCE Although numerous viruses cause ER stress and employ endogenous UPR components to control viral growth, there is no such evidence for poxviruses. Recent real-world epidemics of poxviruses such as monkeypox and LSDV indicated a lack of available coping strategies. Our findings show that LSDV encoding up to 156 open reading frames (ORFs) causes pressure to the stabilization of ER, triggers ER stress, and further promotes the activation of all three UPR signaling pathways. However, inhibiting PERK-eIF2α and IRE1-XBP1 was not conducive for LSDV replication. Since LSDV efficiently utilizes UPR components to assist its own replication, signal-blocking agents of PERK and IRE1 may be useful in the treatment of LSDV. More evidence for the efficacy of such therapy for LSDV, even monkeypox, could come from a clearer characterization of the ER stress-mediated viral replication process.
Extracellular -synuclein drives sphingosine 1-phosphate receptor subtype 1 out of lipid rafts, leading to impaired inhibitory G-protein signaling

権利 Rights This research was originally published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry. Shaymaa Mohamed Mohamed Badawy, Taro Okada, Taketoshi Kajimoto, Mitsuhiro Hirase, Shubi Ambwene Matovelo, Shunsuke Nakamura, Daisuke Yoshida, Takeshi Ijuin and Shun-ichi Nakamura. Extracellular α-synuclein drives sphingosine 1-phosphate receptor subtype 1 out of lipid rafts, leading to impaired inhibitory Gprotein signaling. J. Biol. Chem. 2018; 293:8208-8216. © 2018 Badawy et al. Published under exclusive license by The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc.
Extreme sunbathing: Three weeks of small total O3 columns and high UV radiation over the southern tip of South America during the 2009 Antarctic O3 hole season

This paper presents an analysis of satellite and ground‐based measurements of total O3 columns and the UV index of a unique event during the 2009 Antarctic O3 hole season. From 11 to 30 November 2009 the Antarctic vortex was located just south of the southern tip of South America rather than at its climatological position over Antarctica. Analysis of 30 years of assimilated total O3 column and UV index measurements shows that this 20‐day event was unique in the history of the ozone hole for these latitudes. During this period, small total O3 columns and large UV index values were observed over the southern tip of South America. Comparison of ground‐based and satellite measurements of total O3 columns and satellite based calculations of the UVI index – never designed nor validated for such extreme Southern Hemisphere conditions – show excellent agreement.
Impacts of climate change and fisheries on the Celtic Sea ecosystem

i Table of contents iv List of figures and tables vi Acknowledgements xv Author’s declaration xvi Chapter 1: General introduction 1.1 Marine ecosystem change 1 1.2 Theoretical considerations: seabirds as indicators of marine ecosystem change 4 1.3 Seabirds-Climate change effects 5 1.4 Seabirds-Fishery interactions 8 1.5 Conclusions 11 1.6 Aims of the thesis 11 Chapter 2: Influence of climate change and trophic coupling across four trophic levels in the Celtic Sea Abstract 14 2.
Efectos de la esplenectomía sobre el Número Total de Leucocitos y Proteínas Séricas Totales en becerros Bos taurus

The aim of this study was to perform a comparative study of the total number of leukocytes (TLN) and total serum proteins (TSP) in. Bos Taurus calves splenectomized vs non splenectomized, to serve as multipliers haemotropic agents. Six were splenectomized for conventional surgical methods and the remaining three were used as controls. The variables determinations were carried out during an experimental lapse of fi ve weeks, using the hemocytometer for the obtaining of the TLN and commercial colorimetric method for analysis of SPT and its components (albumin, globulins and ratio A:G). The data grouped in means and they were analyzed of the non-parametric “U” Mann-Whitney. The comparison between means did not show any statistical differences. The fi ndings did not allow defi nitive conclusions about variables studied. The ratio A:G (0.6) suggested the production of antibodies in animals splenectomized.
Automatic Velocity Analysis with the Two-way Wave Equation

Migration velocity analysis constructs a velocity model by focusing a migration image in terms of a redundant coordinate, for instance surface offset or a shift at depth between forward and time-reversed wavefield. The latter option is considered here in the context of two-way wave equation modelling with a frequency-domain finite-difference code. Gradient optimisation of a focusing cost functional automatically provides the velocity model. An experiment on multiple-free synthetic data confirms the validity of the method, as earlier demonstrated by other authors for one-way wave-equation propagators. In the presence of multiples, results may be less favourable. A variant is proposed that appears to give better results and can potentially be used to construct a starting model for more refined least-squares fitting of the measured seismic data.