Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
How risk management can prevent future wildfire disasters in the wildland-urban interface

Significance Recent wildfire events throughout the world have highlighted the consequences of residential development in the wildland-urban interface (WUI) including hundreds to thousands of homes burned during a single wildfire to, more tragically, firefighter and homeowner fatalities. Despite substantial investments in modifying wildland fuels near populated areas, losses appear to be increasing. In this article, we examine the conditions under which WUI wildfire disasters occur and introduce a wildfire risk assessment framework. By using this framework, we examine how prefire mitigation activities failed to prevent significant structure loss during the Fourmile Canyon fire outside Boulder, CO. In light of these results, we suggest the need to reevaluate and restructure wildfire mitigation programs aimed at reducing residential losses from wildfire. Recent fire seasons in the western United States are some of the most damaging and costly on record. Wildfires in the wildland-urban interface on the Colorado Front Range, resulting in thousands of homes burned and civilian fatalities, although devastating, are not without historical reference. These fires are consistent with the characteristics of large, damaging, interface fires that threaten communities across much of the western United States. Wildfires are inevitable, but the destruction of homes, ecosystems, and lives is not. We propose the principles of risk analysis to provide land management agencies, first responders, and affected communities who face the inevitability of wildfires the ability to reduce the potential for loss. Overcoming perceptions of wildland-urban interface fire disasters as a wildfire control problem rather than a home ignition problem, determined by home ignition conditions, will reduce home loss.
Maternal mortality at Muhimbili National Hospital, Tanzania, 1999-2005: levels, causes and characteristics

The objectives were to determine the levels direct causes and characteristics of maternal mortality at Muhimbili National Hospital in Tanzania. We used hospital data recorded systematically and routinely from 1999 to 2005. The outcome of interest was a maternal death that occurred at the hospital before discharge. We used descriptive analyses characterizing the outcome variable by maternal and obstetric factors. We found a maternal mortality ratio of 512 per 100000 live births (95%CI 465/100000 - 559/100000 livebirths) during the study period. Yearly maternal mortality ratios have been rising gradually over time. The top three direct obstetric causes of maternal deaths include eclampsia 108 (23.5%) postpartum hemorrhage 107 (23.3%) and anaemia in pregnancy 52 (11.3%). Although the current hospital-based data suggest underestimation of maternal mortality ratio the observed constant maternal mortality risk calls for further strengthening of emergency obstetric care to reduce direct obstetric causes of maternal deaths. (authors)
The spectrum of biopsy-proven kidney diseases in elderly Chinese patients.

BACKGROUND Studies on biopsy-proven renal disease in the elderly (age ≥65 years) are extremely limited in China. The aim of this study was to examine the spectrum of renal diseases and their clinical presentations in elderly patients undergoing renal biopsy. METHODS All native renal biopsies (n = 851) performed in patients aged ≥65 years from January 2003 to December 2012 were retrospectively analyzed. The results were compared with a control group of 28 574 patients aged 18-64 years undergoing renal biopsy over the same period. RESULTS These 851 patients included 549 males and 302 females. Primary glomerular diseases (53.94%) occurred more frequently than secondary glomerular diseases (36.49%). The clinical manifestations were nephrotic syndrome (NS) in 29.49% of the patients, chronic renal failure in 24.68%, proteinuria and hematuria in 13.28%, proteinuria in 10.93%, acute kidney injury (AKI) in 10.81% and AKI and NS in 8.93%. Membranous nephropathy (MN) was the most frequent diagnosis (28.79%), followed by diabetic nephropathy (DN, 9.75%), IgA nephropathy (IgAN, 9.64%) and vasculitis (6.82%). When compared with the control group, the results showed that MN (P < 0.0001), DN (P < 0.0001), vasculitis (P < 0.0001) and amyloidosis (P < 0.0001) occurred more frequently and IgAN (P < 0.0001), lupus nephritis (P < 0.0001) and minimal change disease (P < 0.0001) occurred less frequently in the elderly. CONCLUSION This study is the first and largest renal biopsy series to analyze patients aged ≥65 years in China, and the results obtained from this study may increase the knowledge of renal diseases in elderly patients.
Development of Highly Functional Biomaterials by Decoupling and Recombining Material Properties

Development of functional biomaterials by a design-driven approach is described, whereby individual properties are first decoupled to investigate their sole effects on a biological process. Following this investigation, they are recombined in such a way that the overall performance and applicability of the biomaterial is improved. This is in contrast to classical, processing-driven biomaterials development where the properties of a material are mainly determined by the possibilities of the technique used to produce it.
Multiyear predictability of tropical marine productivity

Significance Phytoplankton is at the base of the marine food web. Its carbon fixation, the net primary productivity (NPP), sustains most living marine resources. In regions like the tropical Pacific (30°N–30°S), natural fluctuations of NPP have large impacts on marine ecosystems including fisheries. The capacity to predict these natural variations would provide an important asset to science-based management approaches but remains unexplored yet. In this paper, we demonstrate that natural variations of NPP in the tropical Pacific can be forecasted several years in advance beyond the physical environment, whereas those of sea surface temperature are limited to 1 y. These results open previously unidentified perspectives for the future development of science-based management techniques of marine ecosystems based on multiyear forecasts of NPP. With the emergence of decadal predictability simulations, research toward forecasting variations of the climate system now covers a large range of timescales. However, assessment of the capacity to predict natural variations of relevant biogeochemical variables like carbon fluxes, pH, or marine primary productivity remains unexplored. Among these, the net primary productivity (NPP) is of particular relevance in a forecasting perspective. Indeed, in regions like the tropical Pacific (30°N–30°S), NPP exhibits natural fluctuations at interannual to decadal timescales that have large impacts on marine ecosystems and fisheries. Here, we investigate predictions of NPP variations over the last decades (i.e., from 1997 to 2011) with an Earth system model within the tropical Pacific. Results suggest a predictive skill for NPP of 3 y, which is higher than that of sea surface temperature (1 y). We attribute the higher predictability of NPP to the poleward advection of nutrient anomalies (nitrate and iron), which sustain fluctuations in phytoplankton productivity over several years. These results open previously unidentified perspectives to the development of science-based management approaches to marine resources relying on integrated physical-biogeochemical forecasting systems.
A role for primate subgenual cingulate cortex in sustaining autonomic arousal

Significance Dysregulation of emotion is central to the etiology of mood disorders, such as depression. A causal understanding of how neural structures regulate emotion and arousal could help to improve treatments for these psychiatric disorders. Studies of patients with depression indicate that a particular part of the frontal lobe, the subgenual cingulate cortex, plays an important role in affective processing, though its precise contribution remains unclear. Here we show that, in macaque monkeys, this small part of the frontal cortex is necessary for sustaining elevated arousal in anticipation of positive emotional events. This finding suggests a mechanism for the contribution of this area to affective regulation, including an account for the lack of pleasure and passivity that characterizes mood disorders. The subgenual anterior cingulate cortex (subgenual ACC) plays an important role in regulating emotion, and degeneration in this area correlates with depressed mood and anhedonia. Despite this understanding, it remains unknown how this part of the prefrontal cortex causally contributes to emotion, especially positive emotions. Using Pavlovian conditioning procedures in macaque monkeys, we examined the contribution of the subgenual ACC to autonomic arousal associated with positive emotional events. After such conditioning, autonomic arousal increases in response to cues that predict rewards, and monkeys maintain this heightened state of arousal during an interval before reward delivery. Here we show that although monkeys with lesions of the subgenual ACC show the initial, cue-evoked arousal, they fail to sustain a high level of arousal until the anticipated reward is delivered. Control procedures showed that this impairment did not result from differences in autonomic responses to reward delivery alone, an inability to learn the association between cues and rewards, or to alterations in the light reflex. Our data indicate that the subgenual ACC may contribute to positive affect by sustaining arousal in anticipation of positive emotional events. A failure to maintain positive affect for expected pleasurable events could provide insight into the pathophysiology of psychological disorders in which negative emotions dominate a patient’s affective experience.
A risk score for the management of pregnant women with increased risk of venous thromboembolism: a multicentre prospective study

Patients with thrombophilia and/or a history of venous thromboembolism (VTE) exhibit a high risk of thrombosis during pregnancy. The present multicentre study prospectively assessed a prophylaxis strategy, based on a risk score, in pregnancies with increased risk of VTE. Among 286 patients included in the study, 183 had a personal history of VTE (63·98%) and 191 patients (66·8%) had a thrombophilia marker. Eighty nine (46·6%) thrombophilic women had a personal history of VTE. Patients were assigned to one of three prophylaxis strategies according to the risk scoring system. In postpartum, all patients received low molecular weight heparin (LMWH) prophylaxis for at least 6 weeks. In antepartum, LMWH prophylaxis was prescribed to 61·8% of patients with high risk of VTE. Among them, 37·7% were treated in the third trimester only and 24·1% were treated throughout pregnancy. In this cohort, one antepartum‐related VTE (0·35%) and two postpartum‐related VTE (0·7%) occurred. No case of pulmonary embolism was observed during the study period. The rate of serious bleeding was 0·35%. There was no evidence of heparin‐induced thrombocytopenia or osteoporosis. The use of a risk score may provide a rational decision process to implement safe and effective antepartum thromboprophylaxis in pregnant women at high risk of VTE.
Déterminants socioculturels du retard de la 1re consultation prénatale dans un district sanitaire au Sénégal

Objectif : evaluer les determinants socioculturels du retard de la premiere consultation prenatale (CPN1) afin de formuler des recommandations dans le but de reduire la morbimortalite materno-foetale dans le district sanitaire de Richard-Toll. Methode : l’etude est de type transversal descriptif et analytique. Elle a porte sur l’ensemble des femmes enceintes recues pour CPN1 du 1er mars au 30 avril 2003. Un questionnaire, elabore sur la base des variables etudiees, a guide les interviews des femmes enceintes, a leur sortie de la CPN1, dans 15 structures de sante. Les donnees ont ete saisies et analysees grâce au logiciel Epi Info version 6.04d. Resultats : la population etudiee comptait 351 femmes enceintes. L’environnement culturel, a travers le caractere inattendu de la grossesse, la discretion qui doit entourer la grossesse, l’ignorance des risques et le refus d’etre examine par des prestataires hommes, avait une influence statistiquement significative sur la CPN1 tardive. De meme, la CPN1 tardive avait un lien statistiquement significatif avec trois elements du profil social : l’âge a risque ( 34 ans), la multiparite (> 3 accouchements), et l’illettrisme. L’illettrisme a un lien statistiquement significatif avec le refus des prestataires hommes, l’ignorance des risques, la grossesse inattendue, et la grossesse cachee qui a un lien supplementaire avec l’âge a risque. Discussion : le profil social des femmes enceintes etudiees est superposable a celui de la population d’appartenance. La CPN1 precoce permet la quatrieme CPN pour pronostiquer l’accouchement grâce a l’utilisation du score de risque de dystocie (SRD). Ainsi, le retard a la CPN1 constitue un facteur limitant de la surveillance correcte de la grossesse. Les differents facteurs sociaux et culturels sont souvent intriques. Cette intrication temoigne de la necessite d’actions multisectorielles et multidisciplinaires, generalement necessaires a la resolution des problemes de sante publique. Dans le but d’ameliorer la frequence de la CPN1 precoce, trois recommandations ont ete proposees.Conclusion : l’influence des facteurs socioculturels sur la CPN1 necessite l’integration de la CPN dans la strategie avancee, et un changement de comportement de la communaute par l’education pour la sante.
Aristolochia clematitis, the herb responsible for aristolochic acid nephropathy, in an uncultivated piece of land of an Italian nephrologist.

BACKGROUND Aristolochia clematitis (AC), a herbaceous plant that belongs to the family of Aristolochiaceae, is today considered as being responsible for Balkan endemic nephropathy (BEN). Very scarce information is available in the medical literature about the presence of AC outside Balkan area. This article reports on the finding of AC in Northwest Italy and the results of a questionnaire delivered to locals on their knowledge about AC. METHODS AC was found in an uncultivated piece of land of a hilly area of Northwest Italy. It was identified by matching it with images available in the literature and Internet. The questionnaire, which was delivered with a set of 12 photographs and a bunch of true AC, contained 15 questions aimed at collecting information on the knowledge of the respondents about the existence, name, distribution and possible uses of AC. RESULTS A total of 23 locals, mostly farmers, were interviewed. Among them, 22 (95.6%) had already seen AC, mostly in uncultivated areas; 4 (18%) had a name for it; 21 (95.4%) considered it as a weed and denied any personal use of it; 18 (81.8%) stated that breeding animals disliked AC and no one was aware that AC might damage kidneys. CONCLUSIONS This study demonstrates that AC can be found outside the Balkan region and that people know it but today do not make any use of it. Other studies carried out by nephrologists in other geographic areas could expand our knowledge about AC outside the basin of BEN.
Understanding cost of care for patients on renal replacement therapy: looking beyond fixed tariffs.

BACKGROUND In a number of countries, reimbursement to hospitals providing renal dialysis services is set according to a fixed tariff. While the cost of maintenance dialysis and transplant surgery are amenable to a system of fixed tariffs, patients with established renal failure commonly present with comorbid conditions that can lead to variations in the need for hospitalization beyond the provision of renal replacement therapy. METHODS Patient-level cost data for incident renal replacement therapy patients in England were obtained as a result of linkage of the Hospital Episodes Statistics dataset to UK Renal Registry data. Regression models were developed to explore variations in hospital costs in relation to treatment modality, number of years on treatment and factors such as age and comorbidities. The final models were then used to predict annual costs for patients with different sets of characteristics. RESULTS Excluding the cost of renal replacement therapy itself, inpatient costs generally decreased with number of years on treatment for haemodialysis and transplant patients, whereas costs for patients receiving peritoneal dialysis remained constant. Diabetes was associated with higher mean annual costs for all patients irrespective of treatment modality and hospital setting. Age did not have a consistent effect on costs. CONCLUSIONS Combining predicted hospital costs with the fixed costs of renal replacement therapy showed that the total cost differential for a patient continuing on dialysis rather than receiving a transplant is considerable following the first year of renal replacement therapy, thus reinforcing the longer-term economic advantage of transplantation over dialysis for the health service.
MoS2‐Based Tactile Sensor for Electronic Skin Applications

A conformal tactile sensor based on MoS2 and graphene is demonstrated. The MoS2 tactile sensor exhibits excellent sensitivity, high uniformity, and good repeatability in terms of various strains. In addition, the outstanding flexibility enables the MoS2 strain tactile sensor to be realized conformally on a finger tip. The MoS2 -based tactile sensor can be utilized for wearable electronics, such as electronic skin.
Aligned Single‐Crystalline Perovskite Microwire Arrays for High‐Performance Flexible Image Sensors with Long‐Term Stability

A simple, low-cost blade-coating method is developed for the large-area fabrication of single-crystalline aligned CH3NH3PbI3 microwire (MW) arrays. The solution-coating method is applicable to flexible substrates, enabling the fabrication of MW-array-based photodetectors with excellent long-term stability, flexibility, and bending durability. Integrated devices from such photodetectors demonstrate high performance for high-resolution, flexible image sensors.
A repulsion mechanism explains magnesium permeation and selectivity in CorA

Significance CorA is one of the major Mg2+ uptake systems in prokaryote, yet the mechanism of selectivity permeation is unknown. In CorA, Mg2+ plays a dual role of charge carrier and gating factor. Here, we use electrophysiological recordings on a CorA gating mutant to establish that Mg2+ selectivity arises from high-affinity divalent binding at the Gly-Met-Asn (GMN) signature motif at the extracellular loop of the channel. A repulsion mechanism through a second incoming Mg2+ accelerates the rate of permeation while precluding monovalent ion flux. This work establishes CorA as a multiion channel and improves our understanding of the physical properties underlying Mg2+ selectivity in this class of ion channels. Magnesium (Mg2+) plays a central role in biology, regulating the activity of many enzymes and stabilizing the structure of key macromolecules. In bacteria, CorA is the primary source of Mg2+ uptake and is self-regulated by intracellular Mg2+. Using a gating mutant at the divalent ion binding site, we were able to characterize CorA selectivity and permeation properties to both monovalent and divalent cations under perfused two-electrode voltage clamp. The present data demonstrate that under physiological conditions, CorA is a multioccupancy Mg2+-selective channel, fully excluding monovalent cations, and Ca2+, whereas in absence of Mg2+, CorA is essentially nonselective, displaying only mild preference against other divalents (Ca2+ > Mn2+ > Co2+ > Mg2+ > Ni2+). Selectivity against monovalent cations takes place via Mg2+ binding at a high-affinity site, formed by the Gly-Met-Asn signature sequence (Gly312 and Asn314) at the extracellular side of the pore. This mechanism is reminiscent of repulsion models proposed for Ca2+ channel selectivity despite differences in sequence and overall structure.
A common solution to group 2 influenza virus neutralization

Significance The HA surface glycoprotein on influenza A viruses mediates viral entry into host cells. HA is highly variable and classified into 18 divergent subtypes, which cluster into two major phylogenetic groups. Antibody CR8043 has heterosubtypic neutralizing activity against group 2 viruses, including H3 viruses that currently circulate in humans. X-ray and EM structures of CR8043 Fab in complex with H3 HAs reveal that the antibody targets a conserved epitope on the HA stem. Compared with CR8020, the only other structurally characterized group 2 neutralizing antibody, CR8043 binds to HA with a different approach angle using different contact residues. The epitopes of both antibodies are very similar, which suggests that this conserved stem epitope has great potential for design of therapeutics and vaccines. The discovery and characterization of broadly neutralizing antibodies (bnAbs) against influenza viruses have raised hopes for the development of monoclonal antibody (mAb)-based immunotherapy and the design of universal influenza vaccines. Only one human bnAb (CR8020) specifically recognizing group 2 influenza A viruses has been previously characterized that binds to a highly conserved epitope at the base of the hemagglutinin (HA) stem and has neutralizing activity against H3, H7, and H10 viruses. Here, we report a second group 2 bnAb, CR8043, which was derived from a different germ-line gene encoding a highly divergent amino acid sequence. CR8043 has in vitro neutralizing activity against H3 and H10 viruses and protects mice against challenge with a lethal dose of H3N2 and H7N7 viruses. The crystal structure and EM reconstructions of the CR8043-H3 HA complex revealed that CR8043 binds to a site similar to the CR8020 epitope but uses an alternative angle of approach and a distinct set of interactions. The identification of another antibody against the group 2 stem epitope suggests that this conserved site of vulnerability has great potential for design of therapeutics and vaccines.
Climate change, pink salmon, and the nexus between bottom-up and top-down forcing in the subarctic Pacific Ocean and Bering Sea

Significance Wild salmon in the North Pacific Ocean, particularly pink salmon, have grown greatly since the mid-1970s apparently due to bottom-up effects of climate change on ocean physics and production processes. Pink salmon spend less than 2 y at sea and most stocks alternate between high and low levels of abundance every other year. In years of high abundance, they now constitute a pelagic consumer front as they return to their spawning rivers, exert top-down control over the open ocean ecosystem by outcompeting other species for shared prey resources, and drive major ecological shifts between years of high and low abundance. Their effect on competing species must be considered in international conservation policies and when developing informed ecosystem-based management strategies. Climate change in the last century was associated with spectacular growth of many wild Pacific salmon stocks in the North Pacific Ocean and Bering Sea, apparently through bottom-up forcing linking meteorology to ocean physics, water temperature, and plankton production. One species in particular, pink salmon, became so numerous by the 1990s that they began to dominate other species of salmon for prey resources and to exert top-down control in the open ocean ecosystem. Information from long-term monitoring of seabirds in the Aleutian Islands and Bering Sea reveals that the sphere of influence of pink salmon is much larger than previously known. Seabirds, pink salmon, other species of salmon, and by extension other higher-order predators, are tightly linked ecologically and must be included in international management and conservation policies for sustaining all species that compete for common, finite resource pools. These data further emphasize that the unique 2-y cycle in abundance of pink salmon drives interannual shifts between two alternate states of a complex marine ecosystem.