Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Physiological Ecology of Microorganisms in Subglacial Lake Whillans

Subglacial microbial habitats are widespread in glaciated regions of our planet. Some of these environments have been isolated from the atmosphere and from sunlight for many thousands of years. Consequently, ecosystem processes must rely on energy gained from the oxidation of inorganic substrates or detrital organic matter. Subglacial Lake Whillans (SLW) is one of more than 400 subglacial lakes known to exist under the Antarctic ice sheet; however, little is known about microbial physiology and energetics in these systems. When it was sampled through its 800 m thick ice cover in 2013, the SLW water column was shallow (~2 m deep), oxygenated, and possessed sufficient concentrations of C, N, and P substrates to support microbial growth. Here, we use a combination of physiological assays and models to assess the energetics of microbial life in SLW. In general, SLW microorganisms grew slowly in this energy-limited environment. Heterotrophic cellular carbon turnover times, calculated from 3H-thymidine and 3H-leucine incorporation rates, were long (60 to 500 days) while cellular doubling times averaged 196 days. Inferred growth rates (average ~0.006 d−1) obtained from the same incubations were at least an order of magnitude lower than those measured in Antarctic surface lakes and oligotrophic areas of the ocean. Low growth efficiency (8%) indicated that heterotrophic populations in SLW partition a majority of their carbon demand to cellular maintenance rather than growth. Chemoautotrophic CO2-fixation exceeded heterotrophic organic C-demand by a factor of ~1.5. Aerobic respiratory activity associated with heterotrophic and chemoautotrophic metabolism surpassed the estimated supply of oxygen to SLW, implying that microbial activity could deplete the oxygenated waters, resulting in anoxia. We used thermodynamic calculations to examine the biogeochemical and energetic consequences of environmentally imposed switching between aerobic and anaerobic metabolisms in the SLW water column. Heterotrophic metabolisms utilizing acetate and formate as electron donors yielded less energy than chemolithotrophic metabolisms when calculated in terms of energy density, which supports experimental results that showed chemoautotrophic activity in excess of heterotrophic activity. The microbial communities of subglacial lake ecosystems provide important natural laboratories to study the physiological and biogeochemical behavior of microorganisms inhabiting cold, dark environments.
Denial-of-service resilience in peer-to-peer file sharing systems

Peer-to-peer (p2p) file sharing systems are characterized by highly replicated content distributed among nodes with enormous aggregate resources for storage and communication. These properties alone are not sufficient, however, to render p2p networks immune to denial-of-service (DoS) attack. In this paper, we study, by means of analytical modeling and simulation, the resilience of p2p file sharing systems against DoS attacks, in which malicious nodes respond to queries with erroneous responses. We consider the file-targeted attacks in current use in the Internet, and we introduce a new class of p2p-network-targeted attacks.In file-targeted attacks, the attacker puts a large number of corrupted versions of a single file on the network. We demonstrate that the effectiveness of these attacks is highly dependent on the clients' behavior. For the attacks to succeed over the long term, clients must be unwilling to share files, slow in removing corrupted files from their machines, and quick to give up downloading when the system is under attack.In network-targeted attacks, attackers respond to queries for any file with erroneous information. Our results indicate that these attacks are highly scalable: increasing the number of malicious nodes yields a hyperexponential decrease in system goodput, and a moderate number of attackers suffices to cause a near-collapse of the entire system. The key factors inducing this vulnerability are (i) hierarchical topologies with misbehaving "supernodes," (ii) high path-length networks in which attackers have increased opportunity to falsify control information, and (iii) power-law networks in which attackers insert themselves into high-degree points in the graph.Finally, we consider the effects of client counter-strategies such as randomized reply selection, redundant and parallel download, and reputation systems. Some counter-strategies (e.g., randomized reply selection) provide considerable immunity to attack (reducing the scaling from hyperexponential to linear), yet significantly hurt performance in the absence of an attack. Other counter-strategies yield little benefit (or penalty). In particular, reputation systems show little impact unless they operate with near perfection.
Self-assessed dental status, oral behavior, DMF, and dental anxiety.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relation between self-assessed dental status, oral behavior, dental anxiety, and DMF scores. The study was conducted among young army personnel (eighteen to twenty-one years old) who arrived at a single military dental clinic for dental screening. A questionnaire was used to collect the data anonymously. The questionnaire included self-assessment of dental status and behavior, as well as the Dental Anxiety Scale (DAS). Dental caries status was evaluated using the World Health Organization (WHO) caries diagnostic criteria for decayed, missing, and filled teeth (DMFT). A total of 393 young adults were examined (98.3 percent response rate). Approximately one-third brushed their teeth once a day or not at all. Of the participants, 10.7 percent assessed their dental status as "Poor" and 46.3 percent as "Fair. " Furthermore, 25.5 percent assessed their dental treatment needs as high. The average DAS score was 7.14. The average DMF score was 6.2. There was a correlation between self-reported tooth status, participants' assessment of their dental treatment needs, and DMF score (p<0.0001). Anxious participants assessed their dental treatment needs as higher (p=0.05). The dental practitioner could ask patients to assess their dental status prior to treatment or appointment. These findings will help the practitioner to accomplish more effective time and patient management.
Periprosthetic joint infection: Current concept

Periprosthetic joint infection (PJI) is one of the most devastating and costly complications following total joint arthroplasty (TJA). Diagnosis and management of PJI is challenging for surgeons. There is no “gold standard” for diagnosis of PJI, making distinction between septic and aseptic failures difficult. Additionally, some of the greatest difficulties and controversies involve choosing the optimal method to treat the infected joint. Currently, there is significant debate as to the ideal treatment strategy for PJI, and this has led to considerable international variation in both surgical and nonsurgical management of PJI. In this review, we will discuss diagnosis and management of PJI following TJA and highlight some recent advances in this field.
Robust Localization on Non-Planar Surfaces

Local positioning systems are valuable for a range of applications where the global positioning system (GPS) is unavailable or unreliable. In this paper work is presented on accurate tracking of athletes in indoor venues using time-of- arrival (TOA) measurements of radio signals exchanged between nodes and an iterative least-squares localization algorithm. The range error characteristics were measured and it is shown that contrary to the usual assumption the distribution is not a function of range, as sources of noise other than at the receiver input dominate except at very low signal levels. It is also shown that the range error does not follow a normal distribution, but has a higher probability of large errors which can result in large localization errors. An algorithm is presented that is robust to these errors, and results presented from measurements in a velodrome demonstrate the effectiveness of the algorithm. The cyclists are constrained to a track which is non-planar, thus two- dimensional localization is inaccurate, yet the number and distribution of nodes prevents accurate three-dimensional localization. An extension to the algorithm for accurate localization on a non-planar surface is also presented and shown to reduce the tracking error.
The 300k LIMSI German broadcast news transcription system

This paper describes improvements to the existing LIMSI German broadcast news transcription system, especially its extension from a 65k vocabulary to 300k words. Automatic speech recognition for German is more problematic than for a language such as English in that the inﬂectional morphology of German and its highly generative process of compounding lead to many more out of vocabulary words for a given vocabulary size. Experiments undertaken to tackle this problem and reduce the transcription error rate include bringing the language models up to date, improved pronunciation models, semi-automatically constructed pronunciation lexicons and increasing the size of the system’s vocabulary
Studying Diastology with Speckle Tracking Echocardiography: The Essentials

Diastolic dysfunction is common in cardiac disease and an important finding independent of systolic function as it contributes to the signs and symptoms of heart failure. Tissue Doppler mitral early diastolic velocity (Ea) combined with peak transmitral early diastolic velocity (E) to obtain E/Ea ratio provides an estimate of the left ventricular (LV) filling pressure. However, E/Ea has a significant gray zone and less reliable in patients with preserved ejection fraction (>50%). Two-dimensional echocardiographic speckle tracking measure myocardial strain and strain rate (Sr) avoiding the Doppler-associated angulation errors and tethering artifacts. Global myocardial peak diastolic strain (Ds) and diastolic Sr (DSr) at the time of E and isovolumic relaxation combined with E (E/Ds and E/10 DSr) have been recently proposed as novel indices to determine LV filling pressure. The present article elucidates the methodology of studying diastology with strain echocardiography along with the advantages and limitations of the novel technique in light of the available literature.
Spatially resolved X-ray spectroscopy of cooling clusters of galaxies

We present spatially resolved X-ray spectra taken with the EPIC cameras of XMM-Newton of a sample of 17 cooling clusters and three non-cooling clusters for comparison. The deprojected spectra are analyzed with a multi-temperature model, independent of any a priori assumptions about the physics behind the cooling and heating mechanisms. All cooling clusters show a central decrement of the average temperature, most of them of a factor of ∼2. Three clusters (Sersic 159−3, MKW 3s and Hydra A) only show a weak temperature decrement, while two others (A 399 and A 2052) have a very strong temperature decrement. All cooling clusters show a weak pressure gradient in the core. More important, at each radius within the cooling region the gas is not isothermal. The differential emission measure distribution shows a strong peak near the maximum (ambient) temperature, with a steep decline towards lower temperatures, approximately proportional to T 3 , or alternatively a cut-off at about a quarter to half of the maximum temperature. In general, we find a poor correlation between radio flux of the central galaxy and the temperature decrement of the cooling flow. This is interpreted as evidence that except for a few cases (like the Hydra A cluster) heating by a central AGN is not the most common cause of weak cooling flows. We investigate the role of heat conduction by electrons and find that the theoretically predicted conductivity rates are not high enough to balance radiation losses. The differential emission measure distribution has remarkable similarities with the predictions from coronal magnetic loop models. Also the physical processes involved (radiative cooling, thermal conduction along the loops, gravity) are similar for clusters loops and coronal loops. If coronal loop models apply to clusters, we find that a few hundred loops per scale height should be present. The typical loop sizes deduced from the observed emission measure distribution are consistent with the characteristic magnetic field sizes deduced from Faraday rotation measurements.
Potentiality of Soybean Proteomics in Untying the Mechanism of Flood and Drought Stress Tolerance

Dissecting molecular pathways at protein level is essential for comprehensive understanding of plant stress response mechanism. Like other legume crops, soybean, the world’s most widely grown seed legume and an inexpensive source of protein and vegetable oil, is also extremely sensitive to abiotic stressors including flood and drought. Irrespective of the kind and severity of the water stress, soybean exhibits a tight control over the carbon metabolism to meet the cells required energy demand for alleviating stress effects. The present review summarizes the major proteomic findings related to changes in soybean proteomes in response to flood and drought stresses to get a clear insight into the complex mechanisms of stress tolerance. Furthermore, advantages and disadvantages of different protein extraction protocols and challenges and future prospects of soybean proteome study are discussed in detail to comprehend the underlying mechanism of water stress acclimation.
Evolving role of high dose stem cell therapy in multiple myeloma

Abstract Conventional chemotherapy has been used in the treatment of multiple myeloma. However the development of autologous stem cell transplant represented a major advance in its therapy. Complete response (CR) rates to the tune of 40-45% were seen and this translated into improvements in progression-free survival and also overall survival in some studies. As a result the autologous stem cell transplants (ASCT) is the standard of care in eligible patients and can be carried out with low treatment-related mortality. Allogenic transplant carries the potential for cure but the high mortality associated with the myeloablative transplant has made it unpopular. Reduced Intensity Stem Cell Transplants (RIST) have been tried with varying success but with a high degree of morbidity as compared to the ASCT. Introduction of newer agents like thalidomide, lenalidomide, bortezomib and liposomal doxorubicin into the induction regimens has resulted in higher CR and very good partial response rates (VGPR) as well as improvement in ease of administration. These drugs have also proved useful in patients with adverse cytogenetics. Recent trials suggest that this has translated into improvements in response rates post-ASCT. There is a suggestion that patients achieving CR/nCR or VGPR after induction therapy should be placed on maintenance and ASCT then could be used as a treatment strategy at relapse. All these trends however await confirmation from further trials. Tandem transplants have been used to augment the results obtained with ASCT and have demonstrated their utility in patients who achieved only a partial response or stable disease in response to the first transplant as well as patients with adverse cytogenetics. Incorporation of bortezomib along with melphalan into the conditioning regimen has also been tried. RIST following ASCT has been tried with varying success but does not offer any major advantage over ASCT and is associated with higher morbidity. It is hoped that recent advances in therapy will contribute greatly to improved survival.
PAY OFF TO BE SOCIALLY RESPONSIBLE ? EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE FROM LISTED COMPANIES

Today’s companies are doing business in an environment that, in addition to the fi nancial aspect, evaluates various aspects of their business. One of them includes the responsibility of a company to society as a whole. The main purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on fi nancial performance, which wil be measured using selected profi tability ratios. Corporate social responsibility was measured by using a survey questionnaire, while for fi nancial performance, secondary data (i.e., annual reports of investigated companies) were used. The questionnaire was addressed to the Chief Accounting/Financial Offi cer of Croatian listed companies. The results of correlation and regression analyses show a statistically signifi cant positive association between CSR and fi nancial performance.
Intravesical cidofovir to treat BK virus‐associated hemorrhagic cystitis in children after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation

HC related to BK virus replication might be a severe complication following allogeneic HSCT. There are no clearly defined treatment guidelines in pediatric population. The data on the effectiveness of ICI to manage severe bleeding in children are very limited. We report our experience of intravesical cidofovir in four children, 6–15 yr of age, to manage grade III–IV BK virus‐associated HC. Three of four children had high CSA serum level prior to developing cystitis. Intravesical instillations of cidofovir resulted only in temporal relief of bleeding. After immune suppression was withdrawn or tapered, intravesical instillations of formalin solution had to be undertaken to abort severe bleeding. We concluded that intravesical cidofovir alone did not appear to be sufficiently effective in case of severe HC, necessitating complimentary procedures to stop macrohematuria.
DELTA: a simple and efficient parallel robot

Summary The DELTA parallel robot, designed by an EPFL (Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne) research team, is a mechanical structure which has the advantage of parallel robots and ease of serial robots modeling. This paper presents solutions for a complete modeling of the DELTA parallel robot (direct and inverse kinematics, inverse statics, inverse dynamics), with few arithmetic and trigonometric operations. Our method is based on a satisfactory choice of kinematic parameters and on a few restricting hypotheses for the static and dynamic models. We give some details of each model, we present some computation results and we put the emphasis on some particular points, showing the capabilities of this mechanical structure.
INVARIANT DISTRIBUTIONS AND THE LIMITING BEHAVIOR OF MARKOVIAN ECONOMIC MODELS

Equilibria in stochastic economic models are often time series which fluctuate in complex ways. But it is sometimes possible to summarize the long run, average characteristics of these fluctuations. For example, if the law of motion determined by economic interactions is Markovian and if the equilibrium time series converges in a specific probabilistic sense then the long run behavior is completely determined by an invariant probability distribution. This paper develops and unifies a number of results found in the probability literature which enable one to prove, under very general conditions, the existence of an invariant distribution and the convergence of the corresponding Markov process. VIRTUALLY ALL OF ECONOMIC THEORY focuses upon the study of economic equilibrium. This concept has recently undergone several subtle elaborations. No longer must a system of markets in equilibrium be thought of as one at rest in a static steady state. Instead there is a growing body of literature (e.g., [4, 5, 12, 16, 20, 21]) which defines equilibrium as a stochastic process of market clearing prices and quantities which is consistent with the self-interested behavior of economic agents. Needless to say equilibrium stochastic processes can be very complex time series which fluctuate in irregular ways. For theoretical and econometric purposes it is useful to have a convenient way of summarizing the "average" behavior of such processes over time. This paper draws together and unifies a number of fundamental results from the probability literature which enable one to do this for discrete time, Markov processes on general state spaces. The starting point of the analysis is a set S of economic states (e.g., prices and/or quantities). The only technical restriction placed upon S is that it be a Borel subset of a complete, separable metric space. The second datum is a transition probability P(s, ) on S. The number P(s,A) records the probability that the economic system moves from the state s to some state in the Borel subset A of S during one unit of elapsed time. In economic applications the transition probability is usually derived from hypotheses about market clearing and the maximizing behavior of economic agents. The transition probability (together with an initial probability measure on S) defines a discrete time Markov process. One way of summarizing the dynamic behavior implied by P is to look for an invariant probability. A probability measure X on S is invariant for P if for all Borel subsets A of S one has the equality f P(s, A )X(ds) = X(A). An invariant probability is a kind of probabilistic steady state for the dynamics defined by P. Of course there may be no invariant probability for P at all; and even if one exists it may convey no information about the average behavior of the process over time except under very special initial conditions. There is a second way of summarizing the behavior of Markov processes defined by the transition probability P. Let P (s,A) denote the n step transition
The relationship between the pre‐admission CHA2DS2‐VASc score and proximal artery occlusion in patients with acute stroke and atrial fibrillation

The CHA2DS2‐VASc score is associated with severity and outcome of ischaemic stroke in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF). It was hypothesized that a high CHA2DS2‐VASc score was related to severity and outcome because of its association with proximal artery occlusion (PAO). This study aimed to elucidate the relationship between the CHA2DS2‐VASc score and PAO and to determine whether the effect of the CHA2DS2‐VASc score on severity or outcome is independent of PAO.
Gene delivery of bone morphogenetic protein‐2 plasmid DNA promotes bone formation in a large animal model

In the field of bone regeneration, BMP‐2 is considered one of the most important growth factors because of its strong osteogenic activity, and is therefore extensively used in clinical practice. However, the short half‐life of BMP‐2 protein necessitates the use of supraphysiological doses, leading to severe side‐effects. This study investigated the efficiency of bone formation at ectopic and orthotopic sites as a result of a low‐cost, prolonged presence of BMP‐2 in a large animal model. Constructs consisting of alginate hydrogel and BMP‐2 cDNA, together acting as a non‐viral gene‐activated matrix, were combined with goat multipotent stromal cells (gMSCs) and implanted in spinal cassettes or, together with ceramic granules, intramuscularly in goats, both for 16 weeks. Bone formation occurred in all cell‐seeded ectopic constructs, but the constructs containing both gMSCs and BMP‐2 plasmid DNA showed higher collagen I and bone levels, indicating an osteogenic effect of the BMP‐2 plasmid DNA. This was not seen in unseeded constructs, even though transfected, BMP‐2‐producing cells were detected in all constructs containing plasmid DNA. Orthotopic constructs showed mainly bone formation in the unseeded groups. Besides bone, calcified alginate was present in these groups, acting as a surface for new bone formation. In conclusion, transfection of seeded or resident cells from this DNA delivery system led to stable expression of BMP‐2 during 16 weeks, and promoted osteogenic differentiation and subsequent bone formation in cell‐seeded constructs at an ectopic location and in cell‐free constructs at an orthotopic location in a large animal model. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.