Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Surface forcing of non-stand-replacing fires in Siberian larch forests

Wildfires are the dominant disturbance agent in the Siberian larch forests. Extensive low- to mediate-intensity non-stand-replacing fires are a notable property of fire regime in these forests. Recent large scale studies of these fires have focused mostly on their impacts on carbon budget; however, their potential impacts on energy budget through post-fire albedo changes have not been considered. This study quantifies the post-fire surface forcing for Siberian larch forests that experienced non-stand-replacing fires between 2001 and 2012 using the full record of MODIS MCD43A3 albedo product and a burned area product developed specifically for the Russian forests. Despite a large variability, the mean effect of non-stand-replacing fires imposed through albedo is a negative forcing which lasts for at least 14 years. However, the magnitude of the forcing is much smaller than that imposed by stand-replacing fires, highlighting the importance of differentiating between the two fire types in the studies involving the fire impacts in the region. The results of this study also show that MODIS-based summer differenced normalized burn ratio (dNBR) provides a reliable metric for differentiating non-stand-replacing from stand-replacing fires with an overall accuracy of 88%, which is of considerable importance for future work on modeling post-fire energy budget and carbon budget in the region.
The emerging role of homologous recombination repair and PARP inhibitors in genitourinary malignancies

As cells age and are exposed to genotoxic stress, preservation of the genomic code requires multiple DNA repair pathways to remove single‐strand or double‐strand breaks. Loss of function somatic genomic aberrations or germline deficiency in genes involved in DNA repair can result in acute cell death or, after a latency period, cellular transformation. Therapeutic exploitation of DNA repair by inhibition of poly (adenosine diphosphate [ADP]) ribose polymerases (PARP), a family of enzymes involved in the repair of single‐strand and in some cases double‐strand breaks, has become a novel cancer treatment. Although the application of PARP inhibitors (PARPis) initially focused on tumors with BRCA1 or BRCA2 deficiencies, synthetic susceptibilities to PARPis have been expanded due to the identification of tumors with mutations pathways involved in DNA damage repair, in particular those that repair double‐strand breaks using homologous recombination (HR). There is an increasing appreciation that genitourinary (GU) malignancies, including bladder cancer and especially prostate cancer, contain subsets of patients with germline and somatic alterations in HR genes that may reflect an increased response to PARPis. In this review, the authors describe the mechanisms and rationale of the use of PARPis in patients with GU cancers, summarize previously reported preclinical and clinical trials, and identify ongoing trials to determine how PARPis and strategies targeted at HR repair can have widespread application in patients with GU cancers. Cancer 2017;123:1912–1924. © 2017 American Cancer Society.
Environmental Health: a Global Access Science Source a Retrospective Study of Pbdes and Pcbs in Human Milk from the Faroe Islands

Background: Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in wildlife and humans remain a cause of global concern, both in regard to traditional POPs, such as the polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and emerging POPs, such as the polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs). To determine the time related concentrations, we analyzed human milk for these substances at three time points between 1987 and 1999. Polychlorobiphenylols (OH-PCBs), the dominating class of PCB metabolites, some of which are known to be strongly retained in human blood, were also included in the assessment.
Gamma motor neurons survive and exacerbate alpha motor neuron degeneration in ALS

Significance Clinical and pathological hallmarks shared by various familial and sporadic forms of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) suggest common underlying mechanisms of disease. Using a series of ALS mouse models, we demonstrate that one shared feature of ALS is the selective sparing of gamma motor neurons (γ-MNs), which innervate muscle spindles and regulate primary proprioceptive afferent (IA) feedback on alpha motor neurons (α-MNs). Genetic evidence presented here implicates this major excitatory input in the selective degeneration of α-MNs in ALS. Functional elimination of IA inputs or partial elimination of γ-MNs is protective in superoxide dismutase-1 (SOD1) mutant mice, suggesting that surviving γ-MNs contribute to α-MN loss by increasing muscle afferent-mediated excitation. This study highlights the role of synaptic connectivity and circuit function in motor neuron disease. The molecular and cellular basis of selective motor neuron (MN) vulnerability in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is not known. In genetically distinct mouse models of familial ALS expressing mutant superoxide dismutase-1 (SOD1), TAR DNA-binding protein 43 (TDP-43), and fused in sarcoma (FUS), we demonstrate selective degeneration of alpha MNs (α-MNs) and complete sparing of gamma MNs (γ-MNs), which selectively innervate muscle spindles. Resistant γ-MNs are distinct from vulnerable α-MNs in that they lack synaptic contacts from primary afferent (IA) fibers. Elimination of these synapses protects α-MNs in the SOD1 mutant, implicating this excitatory input in MN degeneration. Moreover, reduced IA activation by targeted reduction of γ-MNs in SOD1G93A mutants delays symptom onset and prolongs lifespan, demonstrating a pathogenic role of surviving γ-MNs in ALS. This study establishes the resistance of γ-MNs as a general feature of ALS mouse models and demonstrates that synaptic excitation of MNs within a complex circuit is an important determinant of relative vulnerability in ALS.
Improved Representation of the Self-Perception Profile for Children Through Bifactor Exploratory Structural Equation Modeling

This study illustrates an integrative psychometric framework to investigate two sources of construct-relevant multidimensionality in answers to the Self-Perception Profile for Children (SPPC). Using a sample of 2,353 German students attending Grades 3 to 6, we contrasted: (a) first-order versus hierarchical and bifactor models to investigate construct-relevant multidimensionality related to the hierarchical nature of multidimensional self-conceptions and (b) confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) and exploratory structural equation models (ESEM) to investigate construct-relevant multidimensionality related to the assessment of conceptually related constructs. The bifactor-ESEM solution provided the best fit, suggesting the presence of both sources of construct-relevant psychometric multidimensionality. The results supported measurement invariance of the SPPC across gender and grade level and showed latent mean differences mostly supporting results from previous research.
As time goes by: Hippocampal connectivity changes with remoteness of autobiographical memory retrieval

The hippocampus is crucial for episodic autobiographical memory retrieval. Functional neuroimaging evidence suggests that it is similarly engaged in recent and remote retrieval when memories are matched on vividness and personal importance. Far fewer studies have investigated the nature of hippocampal‐neocortical coactivation in relation to memory remoteness. The purpose of this study was to examine hippocampal activity and functional connectivity as a function of memory age. Unlike most studies of autobiographical memory, we included autobiographical memories formed in the days and weeks before scanning, in addition to truly remote memories on the order of months and years. Like previous studies, we found that the hippocampus was active bilaterally regardless of memory age, with anterior activity increasing up to 1 yr and then decreasing, and with posterior activity being less sensitive to memory age. More importantly, hippocampal functional connectivity varied with memory age. Retrieving recent memories (≤1 yr) showed a late coactivation of the hippocampus and areas of the autobiographical memory network, whereas retrieving remote memories (10 yrs) showed an early negative coactivation of the hippocampus and left inferior frontal gyrus followed by a positive coactivation with anterior cingulate. This finding may reflect that the hippocampus is more strongly integrated with the autobiographical memory network for recent than for remote memories, and that more effort is required to recover remote memories. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Spatial-Temporal Patterns of Viral Amplification and Interference Initiated by a Single Infected Cell

ABSTRACT When viruses infect their host cells, they can make defective virus-like particles along with intact virus. Cells coinfected with virus and defective particles often exhibit interference with virus growth caused by the competition for resources by defective genomes. Recent reports of the coexistence and cotransmission of such defective interfering particles (DIPs) in vivo, across epidemiological length and time scales, suggest a role in viral pathogenesis, but it is not known how DIPs impact infection spread, even under controlled culture conditions. Using fluorescence microscopy, we quantified coinfections of vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) expressing a fluorescent reporter protein and its DIPs on BHK-21 host cell monolayers. We found that viral gene expression was more delayed, infections spread more slowly, and patterns of spread became more “patchy” with higher DIP inputs to the initial cell. To examine how infection spread might depend on the behavior of the initial coinfected cell, we built a computational model, adapting a cellular automaton (CA) approach to incorporate kinetic data on virus growth for the first time. Specifically, changes in observed patterns of infection spread could be directly linked to previous high-throughput single-cell measures of virus-DIP coinfection. The CA model also provided testable hypotheses on the spatial-temporal distribution of the DIPs, which remain governed by their predator-prey interaction. More generally, this work offers a data-driven computational modeling approach for better understanding of how single infected cells impact the multiround spread of virus infections across cell populations. IMPORTANCE Defective interfering particles (DIPs) compete with intact virus, depleting host cell resources that are essential for virus growth and infection spread. However, it is not known how such competition, strong or weak, ultimately affects the way in which infections spread and cause disease. In this study, we address this unmet need by developing an integrated experimental-computational approach, which sheds new light on how infections spread. We anticipate that our approach will also be useful in the development of DIPs as therapeutic agents to manage the spread of viral infections.
Indicator for Success of Obesity Reduction Programs in Adolescents: Body Composition or Body Mass Index? Evaluating a School-based Health Promotion Project after 12 Weeks of Intervention

Background: Obesity in adolescence is the strongest risk factor for obesity in adulthood. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of a comprehensive lifestyle intervention on different anthropometric indices in 12–16-year-old boy adolescents after 12 Weeks of Intervention. Methods: A total of 96 male adolescents from two schools participated in this study. The schools were randomly assigned to intervention (53 students) and control school (43 students). Height and weight of students were measured and their body mass index (BMI) was calculated. Body fat percent (BF) and body muscle percent (BM) was assessed using a bioimpedance analyzer considering the age, gender, and height of students at baseline and after intervention. The obesity reduction intervention was implemented in the intervention school based on the Ottawa charter for health promotion. Results: Twelve weeks of intervention decreased BF percent in the intervention group in comparison with the control group (decreased by 1.81% in the intervention group and increased by 0.39% in the control group, P < 0.01). However, weight, BMI, and BM did not change significantly. Conclusions: The result of this study showed that a comprehensive lifestyle intervention decreased the body fat percent in obese adolescents, although these changes was not reflected in the BMI. It is possible that BMI is not a good indicator in assessment of the success of obesity management intervention.
Density and distribution of megafauna at the Håkon Mosby Mud Volcano (the Barents Sea) based on image analysis

During a survey of the Hakon Mosby mud volcano (HMMV), located on the Bear Island fan in the southwest Barents Sea at ∼1250 m water depth, different habitats inside the volcano caldera and outside it were photographed using a towed camera platform, an Ocean Floor Observation System (OFOS). Three transects were performed across the caldera and one outside, in the background area, each transect was ∼2 km in length. We compared the density, taxa richness and diversity of nonsymbiotrophic megafauna in areas inside the volcano caldera with different bacterial mat and pogonophoran tubeworm cover. Significant variations in megafaunal composition, density and distribution were found between considered areas. Total megafaunal density was highest in areas of dense pogonophoran populations (mean 52.9 ind. m −2 ) followed by areas of plain light-coloured sediment that were devoid of bacterial mats and tube worms (mean 37.7 ind. m −2 ). The lowest densities were recorded in areas of dense bacterial mats (mean ≤1.4 ind. m −2 ). Five taxa contributed to most of the observed variation: the ophiuroid Ophiocten gracilis , lysianassid amphipods, the pycnogonid Nymphon macronix , the caprellid Metacaprella horrida and the fish Lycodes squamiventer . In agreement with previous studies, three zones within the HMMV caldera were distinguished, based on different habitats and megafaunal composition: "bacterial mats", "pogonophoran fields" and "plain light-coloured sediments". The zones were arranged almost concentrically around the central part of the caldera that was devoid of visible megafauna. The total number of taxa showed little variation inside (24 spp.) and outside the caldera (26 spp.). The density, diversity and composition of megafauna varied substantially between plain light-coloured sediment areas inside the caldera and the HMMV background. Megafaunal density was lower in the background (mean 25.3 ind. m −2 ) compared to areas of plain light-coloured sediments inside the caldera. So the effect of the mud-volcano environment on benthic communities is expressed in increasing of biomass, changing of taxa composition and proportions of most taxonomic groups.
On an extension of the Hybrid Minimum Principle to systems on Lie groups

This paper provides a geometrical derivation of the Hybrid Minimum Principle (HMP) for autonomous hybrid systems whose state manifolds constitute a Lie group (G, *) which is left invariant under the controlled dynamics of the system, and whose switching manifolds are defined as smooth embedded time invariant submanifolds of G. The analysis is expressed in terms of extremal (i.e. optimal) trajectories on the cotangent bundle of the state manifold G.
Preparation and Characterization of Corn Starch and Lignosulfonate Blend Film with a High Content of Lignosulfonate

A degradable starch/lignin blend film was prepared using corn starch and sodium lignosulfonate via a casting and solvent evaporation method. The effect of sorbitol content on the swelling properties of starch/lignosulfonate blend films was investigated. The effect of lignosulfonate content on the swelling and mechanical properties was also studied. The results showed that when the mass ratio of sorbitol to starch changed over a wide range, from 0:9 to 9:9, the water absorption of the blend films increased at first and then decreased. When the mass ratio of lignosulfonate to starch changed in the same range, the ultimate stress of the blend films decreased markedly, while the water absorption and elongation at break did not show any regular pattern. When the mass ratios of sorbitol to starch and lignosulfonate to starch were both 6:9, the resultant film presented good elasticity and improved hydrophobicity compared to those without lignosulfonate.
Hypersensitivity to Latex Gloves among Dental Students: Is the Pre-Matriculation Evaluation and Periodic Health Surveillance Necessary?

1 Logos University, Faculty of Applied Sciences, Department of Advances Technics in Medical Laboratory, Tirana, Albania. 2 Albanian University, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Department of Stomatology, Tirana, Albania. 3 Hygeia Hospital Tirana, Department of Outpatients Service, Tirana, Albania. 4 Medicine University of Tirana, Faculty of General Medicine, Department of Environmental and Work Medicine, Tirana, Albania. 5 Medicine University of Tirana, Faculty of General Medicine, Department of Infective and Dermato-Venerologic Diseases, Tirana, Albania. 6 Medicine University of Tirana, Faculty of General Medicine, Department of Statistics and Epidemiology, Tirana, Albania. 7 Medicine University of Tirana, Faculty of Technical-Medical Sciences, Department of Paraclinical Disciplines, Tirana, Albania. 8 Mother Theresa School of Medicine, Department of Allergology and Clinical Immunology, Tirana, Albania.
Do Diffusion Protocols Govern Cascade Growth?

Large cascades can develop in online social networks as people share information with one another. Though simple reshare cascades have been studied extensively, the full range of cascading behaviors on social media is much more diverse. Here we study how diffusion protocols, or the social exchanges that enable information transmission, affect cascade growth, analogous to the way communication protocols define how information is transmitted from one point to another. Studying 98 of the largest information cascades on Facebook, we find a wide range of diffusion protocols - from cascading reshares of images, which use a simple protocol of tapping a single button for propagation, to the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, whose diffusion protocol involved individuals creating and posting a video, and then nominating specific others to do the same. We find recurring classes of diffusion protocols, and identify two key counterbalancing factors in the construction of these protocols, with implications for a cascade's growth: the effort required to participate in the cascade, and the social cost of staying on the sidelines. Protocols requiring greater individual effort slow down a cascade's propagation, while those imposing a greater social cost of not participating increase the cascade's adoption likelihood. The predictability of transmission also varies with protocol. But regardless of mechanism, the cascades in our analysis all have a similar reproduction number (≈1.8), meaning that lower rates of exposure can be offset with higher per-exposure rates of adoption. Last, we show how a cascade's structure can not only differentiate these protocols, but also be modeled through branching processes. Together, these findings provide a framework for understanding how a wide variety of information cascades can achieve substantial adoption across a network.
Brains in dialogue: decoding neural preparation of speaking to a conversational partner

Abstract In dialogue, language processing is adapted to the conversational partner. We hypothesize that the brain facilitates partner-adapted language processing through preparatory neural configurations (task sets) that are tailored to the conversational partner. In this experiment, we measured neural activity with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) while healthy participants in the scanner (a) engaged in a verbal communication task with a conversational partner outside of the scanner, or (b) spoke outside of a conversational context (to test the microphone). Using multivariate searchlight analysis, we identify cortical regions that represent information on whether speakers plan to speak to a conversational partner or without having a partner. Most notably a region that has been associated with processing social-affective information and perspective taking, the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, as well as regions that have been associated with prospective task representation, the bilateral ventral prefrontal cortex, are involved in encoding the speaking condition. Our results suggest that speakers prepare, in advance of speaking, for the social context in which they will speak.
A method for accurate modelling of the crystal response function at a crystal sub-level applied to PET reconstruction

Positron emission tomography (PET) images suffer from low spatial resolution and signal-to-noise ratio. Accurate modelling of the effects affecting resolution within iterative reconstruction algorithms can improve the trade-off between spatial resolution and signal-to-noise ratio in PET images. In this work, we present an original approach for modelling the resolution loss introduced by physical interactions between and within the crystals of the tomograph and we investigate the impact of such modelling on the quality of the reconstructed images. The proposed model includes two components: modelling of the inter-crystal scattering and penetration (interC) and modelling of the intra-crystal count distribution (intraC). The parameters of the model were obtained using a Monte Carlo simulation of the Philips GEMINI GXL response. Modelling was applied to the raw line-of-response geometric histograms along the four dimensions and introduced in an iterative reconstruction algorithm. The impact of modelling interC, intraC or combined interC and intraC on spatial resolution, contrast recovery and noise was studied using simulated phantoms. The feasibility of modelling interC and intraC in two clinical 18F-NaF scans was also studied. Measurements on Monte Carlo simulated data showed that, without any crystal interaction modelling, the radial spatial resolution in air varied from 5.3 mm FWHM at the centre of the field-of-view (FOV) to 10 mm at 266 mm from the centre. Resolution was improved with interC modelling (from 4.4 mm in the centre to 9.6 mm at the edge), or with intraC modelling only (from 4.8 mm in the centre to 4.3 mm at the edge), and it became stationary across the FOV (4.2 mm FWHM) when combining interC and intraC modelling. This improvement in resolution yielded significant contrast enhancement, e.g. from 65 to 76% and 55.5 to 68% for a 6.35 mm radius sphere with a 3.5 sphere-to-background activity ratio at 55 and 215 mm from the centre of the FOV, respectively, without introducing additional noise. Patient images confirmed the usefulness of interC and intraC modelling for improving spatial resolution and contrast. Based on Monte Carlo simulated data, we conclude that four-dimensional modelling of the inter- and intra-crystal interactions during the reconstruction process yields a significantly improved contrast to noise ratio and the stationarity of the spatial resolution in the reconstructed images.