Changes in Facial Shape throughout Pregnancy—A Computational Exploratory Approach

Facial cognition serves an important role in human daily interactions. It has been suggested that facial shape can serve as a signal for underlining biological condition, and that it is correlated with, among others, health, fertility, and attractiveness. In this study, 14 women were photographed during three consecutive trimesters of pregnancy, and the levels of their facial sexual dimorphism, asymmetry, and averageness were computed. Facial sexual dimorphism in first trimester was higher than in the second trimester (F(2, 22) = 5.77; p = 0.01; ηp2 = 0.34, post-hoc Tukey HSD test p = 0.007). Similar pattern was visible for asymmetry (F(2, 22) = 3.67; p = 0.04; ηp2 = 0.25, post-hoc Tukey HSD test p = 0.05). No statistically significant changes in measurement of averageness were observed. Results from Bayesian complementary analyses confirmed the observed effects for sexual dimorphism. The evidence for trimester differences in asymmetry and averageness was inconsequential. Based on the preliminary results of this exploratory study, we suggest that previously found decrease in observed facial attractiveness during pregnancy can be related to the decrease in computed facial femininity (possibly mediated by the changes in facial adiposity).

Seasonal changes of biological condition and reproductive cycle of hampback shrimp Pandalus hypsinotus (Caridea, Pandalidae) in the Tatar Strait

Research and commercial trawl catches of humpback shrimp Pandalus hypsinotus from the Tatar Strait (Japan Sea) in 2004–2020 were investigated, with bioanalysis of about 45 thousand specimens. Average timing of group molting, spawning, and eggs laying are determined, terms of gonads and eggs development are estimated. Prespawning and molting of the females occur between January-April, with the peaks in early February and middle February, respectively. All oviparous females have 30–40 days to lay eggs, and molt during 50–55 days; the peak of the eggs laying occurs in late June. The males molt in July-August, afterwards the largest individuals change gender and new intersexes are formed. The males have the second molting in October-December, with the peak in late November. In January, after finish of the males molting, a new annual reproduction cycle starts from the prespawning molting of females. Both vitellogenesis and embryogenesis are observed through the year, though females with developing gonads prevail from August to January (because of a long time span between winter and summer moltings while the egg carrying continued 15 months) but oviparous females — from February to July. The individual reproductive cycle of Pandalus hypsinotus in the Tatar Strait lasts 24 months, with 9 months of vitellogenesis (quick growth of gonads) and 15 months of embryogenesis. During the 2-year reproductive cycle, most of females pass through the following stages: i) gonads development (just after eggs laying) when almost all oviparous females (up to 95 % in May) have green gonads under carapace that corresponds to the stage of development «eggs laid — gonads weakly developed»; ii) summer molting from August when females lose hairs on pleopods and the gonads growth accelerates; iii) respawning in January-March (together with the firstly spawning intersexes, with slight delay of the latter); iv) initial developing of eggs during summer; v) stage of «eyed eggs» from December to March; and vi) eggs laying and molting from late March to late May; then the 2-year reproductive cycle repeats.

Using the Biological Condition Gradient Model as a Bioassessment Framework to Support Rehabilitation and Restoration of the Upper Tana River Watershed in Kenya

The biological condition gradient (BCG), a scientific framework that describes the change in ecosystem characteristics in response to human-induced levels of stressors, was modified and used to characterize watershed habitats in the Upper Tana River watershed, Kenya. The inbuilt utilities of BCG, including its simplicity, versatility, and its robust nature, allowed its use by seven taxonomic groups of macroinvertebrates, diatoms, fish, herpetofauna (amphibians and reptiles), plants, macrofungi, and birds to assess and monitor landscape conditions in both terrestrial and aquatic habitats. The biological data were described using taxa abundance distribution measures followed by multivariate analyses to determine their relationship with water or soil quality and thereafter assessment of taxa tolerant levels in response to environmental stress and disturbances. Preliminary findings reported that the taxonomic groups complemented each other, with each taxonomic group reliably assessing ecological conditions to a certain degree that supported assigning all 36 sampled sites into BCG tiers. The BCG models developed for all taxonomic groups assisted in the identification and selection of taxa indicating varying levels of landscape conditions. These taxa, referred to as flagship or indicator taxa, assist in simplifying the BCG model and, hence, are possible for use by parataxonomists or ordinary citizens to assess and monitor the ecological health of habitats under consideration. Furthermore, the capability of BCG models to assess landscape conditions shows how they can be used to identify important habitats for conservation, direct investment for restoration, and track progress.

Sitrilakiyangalil Pallisai

It is cynical to set out to give any one of the four affirmative meanings of virtue, meaning, pleasure, and home. In this way, Pallu, Kuravanchi, Nondi, Kuluvam, Makudi etc. are found to have artistic qualities in them. Pillai Tamil, Kalambakam, Satakam, Malai and Anthadi are found to be literary. The action of the tooth has acquired a pronoun and has become called a tooth. Those who work in a place full of potholes are referred to as Pallar. Although Pallu literature later took literary form, its elements can be traced back to ancient literature. Various elements must have been supplemented in order to get the full text of the school literature. Such literary genres are written with a tendency to explain a variety of meanings. Yet they are all suppressed together in the sense that they come together in giving hints about music. The literary genre of cognition, one of the eight categories referred to by the tholkappiyam, applies to ‘pallu vagai’ literature. The biological condition of the pallu, in its entirety and in its simplest form, is made clear to us in the form of short stories and songs. In this article you will find what the Psalms say about agriculture, the God of the pallar, their family, way of life and music.

The Implementation of Multisensory Technique for Children with Dyslexia

Children with learning disabilities are a children's physiological or biological condition in which the competence or achievement is not according to predetermined standard criteria—learning disabilities in the form of errors in reading called dyslexia. Children with specific learning difficulties dyslexia experience difficulties in academic aspects; therefore, it is necessary to carry out an academic assessment and material for tutors to improve dyslexia reading skills. The multisensory technique is alternatives that used as reference material for tutors to improve dyslexia reading skills. Multisensory Techniques that can be used include 1) Reading and Spelling Training; 2) Visual Technique; 3) Auditory Technique, and 4) Tactile Technique. The reading and spelling focus on maintaining relationships between sounds and symbols starts with a single letter and continues with consonant combinations, vowel continuation, and complex letter groupings. The Visual Technique can start by using a picture card with the word written on the bottom (flashcard). Auditory technique for children who have difficulty with sound problems, teach a pair of short words and ask the child to say which word is correct. In addition, children with dyslexia will have the best learning by touch, so it is essential to incorporate this learning style into the instruction as a tactile technique.

Analyzing Biomarker Discovery: Estimating the Reproducibility of Biomarker Sets

Many researchers try to understand a biological condition by identifying biomarkers. This is typically done using univariate hypothesis testing over a labeled dataset, declaring a feature to be a biomarker if there is a significant statistical difference between its values for the subjects with different outcomes. However, such sets of proposed biomarkers are often not reproducible - subsequent studies often fail to identify the same sets. Indeed, there is often a very small overlap between the biomarkers proposed in pairs of related studies that explore the same phenotypes over the same distribution of subjects. This paper first defines the Reproducibility Score for a labeled dataset as a measure (taking values between 0 and 1) of the reproducibility of the results produced by an arbitrary fixed biomarker discovery process for a given distribution of subjects. We then provide ways to reliably estimate this score by defining algorithms that produce an over-bound and an under-bound for this score for a given dataset and biomarker discovery process, for the case of univariate hypothesis testing on dichotomous groups. We confirm that these approximations are meaningful by providing empirical results on a large number of datasets and show that these predictions match known reproducibility results. We have also created a publicly available website, hosted at <a href="https://biomarker.shinyapps.io/BiomarkerReprod/">https://biomarker.shinyapps.io/BiomarkerReprod/</a>, that produces these Reproducibility Score approximations for any given dataset (with continuous or discrete features and binary class labels).

The evaluation of biological indices to assess the condition of hillslope seep wetlands in the Tsitsa River Catchment, South Africa

The increase in the degradation of wetlands globally has highlighted the need to assess their ecological condition. Hillslope seep wetlands are among the least studied wetland types, yet they the most vulnerable because of their small size and steep slopes. Human pressure and the vulnerable nature of these wetlands requires wetland assessment tools to assess their condition. This study sought to evaluate the performance of the Floristic Quality Assessment Index for all species (FQAIall), the FQAI for dominant species (FQAIdom), and the Floristic Assessment Quotient for Wetlands (FAQWet) in response to the Anthropogenic Activity Index (AAI) and WET-Health in eleven hillslope seep wetlands and used these indices to assess the degree and intensity of disturbance. Vegetation samples were collected in summer 2016 and winter 2017. All assessment indices, FQAIall, FQAIdom, FAQWet and WET-Health, showed that hillslope seep wetlands were impacted by human activities. FQAIall showed the strongest response to AAI in winter, while FAQWet showed the strongest response to WET-Health. To the best of our knowledge, researchers in South Africa have used only WET-Health to assess wetland condition, and this is the first study to assess the condition of hillslope seep wetlands using a combination of indices (FQAIall, FQAIdom, FAQWet, and WET-Health). Overall, the findings of this study suggest that FQAIall and FAQWet are potentially better tools for assessing the biological condition of hillslope seep wetlands in South Africa.

MiR-490-3p Silences CDK1 and Inhibits the Proliferation of Colon Cancer Through an LLPS-Dependent miRISC System

Liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS) is a burgeoning concept in cell biology, which was associated with miRISC machinery. However, most studies about LLPS are based on overexpression of core proteins, which is far away from nature condition of cells, whether miRISC underwent LLPS under biological condition remains unknown. Taking miR-490-3p and its target CDK1 as an example, we revealed without overexpression of any protein components, miRISC functioned in an LLPS-depend manner. We firstly found miRISC has liquid-like properties in colon cancer (CC) cells and could fulfill common LLPS criteria under overexpression condition. Then, RIP was performed to confirm miR-490-3p is actually functioning in miRISC. RT-qPCR, western blot and luciferase assays were performed and found miR-490-3p could significantly decrease expression of CDK1 in both RNA and protein levels. However, without overexpression of miRISC components, when treating CC cells with 1,6-hexanediol(1,6-HD), a widely used LLPS inhibitor, the silence effects of miR-490-3p to CDK1 were totally abolished, no matter in RNA, protein or luciferase levels, suggesting that miRISC functions in an LLPS-depend way under biological condition. In conclusion, we found miR-490-3p could silence CDK1 to inhibit the proliferation of CC cells in an LLPS-depend manner.