Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Impact of Physical Activity on the Outcomes of Active Surveillance in Prostate Cancer Patients: A Scoping Review

Simple Summary The present review explores the impact of physical activity (PA) on patients with prostate cancer (PCa) managed through active surveillance (AS). Specifically, the correlation between the duration, frequency, and intensity of physical exercise and the risk of tumor reclassification has been investigated. We pointed out inconsistencies in PA assessment and conflicting findings regarding its association with AS outcomes. Nevertheless, several studies suggest that active individuals may experience reduced risk of PCa progression. This renders PA a cost-effective approach for minimizing the need for definitive treatment, thereby classifying it within tertiary prevention strategies. Given the increasing number of patients diagnosed with PCa, this strategy may assume significant relevance for the public health in the coming years. Abstract Introduction: Active surveillance has emerged as a valid therapeutic option in patients with low-risk prostate cancer, allowing for the deferral of definitive treatment until the time of possible disease progression. Although it is known that physical activity plays a protective role in the onset and progression of this tumor, its impact on patients with low-risk disease who are managed with active surveillance remains unclear. Our scoping review aims to summarize the existing evidence on this subject. Evidence Acquisition: On 9 April 2023, a systematic search was conducted using the PubMed and Scopus databases. The search employed the combination of the following terms: (“prostate cancer” OR “prostate tumor”) AND (“active surveillance”) AND (“physical activity” OR “physical exercise” OR “physical intensive activity” OR “intensive exercise”) AND (“lifestyle”). Out of the 506 identified articles, 9 were used for the present scoping review, and their results were reported according to the PRISMA-ScR statement. Evidence Synthesis: We discovered a lack of uniformity in the assessment of PA and its stratification by intensity. There was no consensus regarding what constitutes cancer progression in patients choosing expectant management. In terms of the impact of PA on AS outcomes, conflicting results were reported: some authors found no correlation, while others (six of total studies included) revealed that active men experience smaller increases in PSA levels compared to their sedentary counterparts. Additionally, higher levels of exercise were associated with a significantly reduced risk of PCa reclassification. Conclusion: Due to the heterogeneity of the methodologies used in the available studies and the conflicting results reported, it is not possible to draw definitive conclusions concerning the role physical activity may play in the risk of prostate cancer progression in men managed with active surveillance.
Using multi-objective optimization to support urban planning

Globally urban growth destroys fertile soils and endangers food security. Fertile soils are often located in the vicinity of existing urban areas. Thus, preserving high-quality soils often conflicts with the objective of compact city development. Urban planners have to account for both of these and many other objectives and react to political decisions which put a higher weight on some of them. In addition, urban planners have to deal with uncertain projections on population growth and the demand for housing. We used a multi-objective evolutionary algorithm to show for a case study region in Switzerland how robust urban growth patterns could be and compared them to simulations of Business-As-Usual (BAU) urban growth. We optimized urban growth including two objectives compact city development and reduction in loss of good quality soils. For simulating BAU urban expansion we have used a landuse model calibrated with the help of remote sensing data. Our analysis included the following steps: First, we optimized urban growth for a specified housing demand and analyzed the resulting set of nondominated solutions in order to identify areas that were always converted into urban. Second, we analyzed the sets of non-dominated solutions for different scenarios of housing demand and showed that there were again many commonalities in the allocation of urban areas. Third, including simulations of BAU urban growth, we showed that delayed policy action would exponentially increase the gap between optimal and non-optimal urban development. We conclude: Steering urban growth towards common areas in the non-dominated solutions, could help urban planners to reach optimal futures under changing conditions. As immediate policy action is required, it could be a good ad hoc solution to develop common areas across the Pareto-Front before entering the time consuming process of decision-making including stakeholders.
Narrow-band transceiver

Embodiments of the invention are concerned with a system for digital communications, and are particularly suited for use in narrowband RF systems. In an RF system data are transceived between radio stations in frames comprising slots having finite periods (and thus discrete start and end points within the frame), and the timing of a clock internal to a given station determines where in time respective slots start and finish. In one arrangement the synchronisation between two communicating radio stations (first and second stations) is configured on the basis of timing information derived from a preamble portion of a given frame that is transmitted from a first station to a second. This timing information is used to configure a clock internal to the second station; by adjusting the time of the clock, the timing of the slots within a given frame can therefore be controlled. ; This can be particularly advantageously applied to the uplink slots of the given frame (i.e. when the second base station transmits its data to the first station) so as to ensure that data received on the uplink are synchronised with timing characteristics of the first (data processing) station. In embodiments ofthe invention the data transmitted from the first station is transmitted at a first data rate, the data transmitted from the second station is transmitted at a second data rate, and the second data rate is lower than the first data rate. In view of both the difference in data rates and the synchronisation between radio stations, a separate synchronisation word is not required to be sent from the second station to the first station on the uplink portion; instead, and because the uplink slots of a given frame are synchronised between transceiving stations, the start of the uplink payload slot can comprise signalling information which simply acts to signify the start of transmission of uplink data from the second station.
Recent Advances in Real-Time Label-Free Detection of Small Molecules

The detection and analysis of small molecules, typically defined as molecules under 1000 Da, is of growing interest ranging from the development of small-molecule drugs and inhibitors to the sensing of toxins and biomarkers. However, due to challenges such as their small size and low mass, many biosensing technologies struggle to have the sensitivity and selectivity for the detection of small molecules. Notably, their small size limits the usage of labeled techniques that can change the properties of small-molecule analytes. Furthermore, the capability of real-time detection is highly desired for small-molecule biosensors’ application in diagnostics or screening. This review highlights recent advances in label-free real-time biosensing technologies utilizing different types of transducers to meet the growing demand for small-molecule detection.
Coral biomineralization, climate proxies and the sensitivity of coral reefs to CO2-driven climate change

Scleractinian corals extract calcium (Ca) and carbonate (CO2− 3 ) ions from seawater to construct their calcium carbonate (CaCO3) skeletons. Key to the coral biomineralization process is the active elevation of the CO2− 3 concentration of the calcifying fluid to achieve rapid nucleation and growth of CaCO3 crystals. Coral skeletons contain valuable records of past climate variability and contribute to the formation of coral reefs. However, limitations in our understanding of coral biomineralization hinder the accuracy of (1) coral-based reconstructions of past climate, and (2) predictions of coral reef futures as anthropogenic CO2 emissions drive declines in seawater CO2− 3 concentration. In this thesis, I investigate the mechanism of coral biomineralization and evaluate the sensitivity of coral reef CaCO3 production to seawater carbonate chemistry. First, I conducted abiogenic CaCO3 precipitation experiments that identified the U/Ca ratio as a proxy for fluid CO2− 3 concentration. Based on these experimental results, I developed a quantitative coral biomineralization model that predicts temperature can be reconstructed from coral skeletons by combining Sr/Ca which is sensitive to both temperature and CO2− 3 with U/Ca into a new proxy called “Sr-U”. I tested this prediction with 14 corals from the Pacific Ocean and the Red Sea spanning mean annual temperatures of 25.7-30.1 ∘C and found that Sr-U has uncertainty of only 0.5 ∘C, twice as accurate as conventional coral-based thermometers. Second, I investigated the processes that differentiate reef-water and open-ocean carbonate chemistry, and the sensitivity of ecosystem-scale calcification to these changes. On Dongsha Atoll in the northern South China Sea, metabolic activity of resident organisms elevates reef-water CO2− 3 twice as high as the surrounding open ocean, driving rates of ecosystem calcification higher than any other coral reef studied to date. When high temperatures stressed the resident coral community, metabolic activity slowed, with dramatic effects on reef-water chemistry and ecosystem calcification. Overall, my thesis highlights how the modulation of CO2− 3 , by benthic communities on the reef and individual coral polyps in the colony, controls the sensitivity of coral reefs to future ocean acidification and influences the climate records contained in the skeleton. Thesis Supervisor: Dr. Anne L. Cohen Title: Associate Scientist, Department of Geology and Geophysics, WHOI
Towards a dignified food security? : discourses of dignity, development and culture in New York City and Bogotá

In light of a severe, changing and globally implicative New Food Equation marked perhaps above all else by the dynamics of a new, bimodal food insecurity and the simultaneous rising importance of cities, new approaches to address food security at urban scales suggest promise. But as such efforts are relatively new, the discourses and activities of urban actors are understood to only a limited extent. Moreover, while attention to food security per se is robust and growing, attention to the discursive and narrative dimensions that ultimately construct both the real nutritional achievements and the real experiential implications of such policy is not. In this research, I apply analytical methods informed by the interpretive, critical and ethnographic traditions to understand (some of) the cultural, ideological and philosophical particularities of these new dynamics and contexts, examining the cases of two large cities in the North and South, New York City and Bogota. Tandem to the empirical work, I explore the philosophical tenets that ground food security efforts in the two studied cities and more generally, and I finally settle upon the purposefully normative appeal for motion towards a new concept: dignified food security.
Measurement and modelling of rainfall partitioning by deciduous Potentilla fruticosa shrub on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, China

Abstract. Rainfall partitioning is a key process of ecosystem water cycle which has not get enough attention in the alpine deciduous shrub. Moreover，there is no apposite analytical model that suits to estimate the rainfall redistribution of the deciduous shrub with great changes in coverage and leaf storage capacity due to foliation and defoliation. Field and laboratory experiments to assess these processes and to determine vegetation and atmospheric parameters were established for deciduous Potentilla fruticosa shrub on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Based on the experimental data, a variable parameter Gash model especially for deciduous shrub rainfall partitioning which is adapted from the revised Gash model was developed to represent these processes. The performance of the variable parameters Gash model in modelling the rainfall partitioning of the deciduous shrub patches is better than that of the original model. The variable parameters Gash model treated the water captured by the stem as that captured by leaf canopy considering the low height of shrub and its low coverage in leafless period. Thus, the model developed here were perfect to represent the rainfall partitioning processes. It was found that the interception, throughfall and stemflow accounted for 21.44 %, 29.26 % and 49.30 % of gross rainfall in the shrub patches during the growing season of 2012, respectively. 42.6 % of the interception was loss by evaporation from the saturated leaf canopy during rainfall events. The results indicate that adaptations of the analytical model in this paper improved its performance and provide hypotheses more near the realities in the deciduous shrub.
Rocket‐borne measurements of electron temperature and density with the Electron Retarding Potential Analyzer instrument

Determining electron temperature in the ionosphere is a fundamentally important measurement for space science. Obtaining measurements of electron temperatures at high altitudes (>700 km) is difficult because of limitations on ground‐based radar and classic spacecraft instrumentation. In light of these limitations, the rocket‐borne Electron Retarding Potential Analyzer (ERPA) was developed to allow for accurate in situ measurement of ionospheric electron temperature with a simple and low‐resource instrument. The compact ERPA, a traditional retarding potential analyzer with multiple baffle collimators, allows for a straightforward calculation of electron temperature. Since its first mission in 2004, it has amassed significant flight heritage and obtained data used in multiple studies investigating a myriad of phenomena related to magnetosphere‐ionosphere coupling. In addition to highlighting the scientific contributions of the ERPA instrument, this paper outlines its theory and operation, the methodology used to obtain electron temperature measurements, and a comparative study suggesting that the ERPA can also provide electron density measurements.
In Vitro Antibacterial Activity of Microbial Natural Products against Bacterial Pathogens of Veterinary and Zoonotic Relevance

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is considered one of the greatest threats to both human and animal health. Efforts to address AMR include implementing antimicrobial stewardship programs and introducing alternative treatment options. Nevertheless, effective treatment of infectious diseases caused by bacteria will still require the identification and development of new antimicrobial agents. Eight different natural products were tested for antimicrobial activity against seven pathogenic bacterial species (Brachyspira sp., Chlamydia sp., Clostridioides sp., Mannheimia sp., Mycobacterium sp., Mycoplasma sp., Pasteurella sp.). In a first pre-screening, most compounds (five out of eight) inhibited bacterial growth only at high concentrations, but three natural products (celastramycin A [CA], closthioamide [CT], maduranic acid [MA]) displayed activity at concentrations <2 µg/mL against Pasteurella sp. and two of them (CA and CT) also against Mannheimia sp. Those results were confirmed by testing a larger collection of isolates encompassing 64 Pasteurella and 56 Mannheimia field isolates originating from pigs or cattle, which yielded MIC90 values of 0.5, 0.5, and 2 µg/mL against Pasteurella and 0.5, 4, and >16 µg/mL against Mannheimia for CA, CT, and MA, respectively. CA, CT, and MA exhibited higher MIC50 and MIC90 values against Pasteurella isolates with a known AMR phenotype against commonly used therapeutic antimicrobial agents than against isolates with unknown AMR profiles. This study demonstrates the importance of whole-cell antibacterial screening of natural products to identify promising scaffolds with broad- or narrow-spectrum antimicrobial activity against important Gram-negative veterinary pathogens with zoonotic potential.
Short-Term Electoral Forces in Western Europe: Changing Weight of the Economic Vote?

The question of weakening social cleavages and partisan ties within Western European electorates has received considerable attention. The dominant conclusion maintains that these long-term bonds have weakened, thus making for a ‘dealigned’ voter more responsive to short-term forces, coming from candidates or issues. However, the notion that such short-term forces are now more active has been little tested. In this paper, we focus on a short-term electoral force of abiding interest – the economic vote. We combine analyses of extended national election survey time series data for a half-dozen leading West European democracies with a macro-analysis of incumbents’ vote shares in Western Europe. These data allow estimating theoretically compelling voting behavior models to examine the evolution of the economic vote. In line with previous research, we hypothesize that the electoral weight of the economic vote has increased over time, enabling voters to hold there governments ever more accountable. Our results, however, offer no indications of a growth of economic voting over time. Paper for presentation at the ECPR Joint Sessions of Workshops, University of Warsaw, 29 March – 2 April 2015.
Lifecycle energy and greenhouse gas emissions analysis of biomass‐based 2‐ethylhexanol as an alternative transportation fuel

This study investigates the environmental performance of 2‐ethylhexanol (2‐EH), as a potential drop‐in transport fuel alternative. Three different biomass‐based production pathways are evaluated and compared using life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology. The environmental impact of 2‐EH is assessed in terms of cumulative energy demand (CED) and global warming potential (GWP). Among the three alternative pathways, 2‐EH produced via syngas results in the lowest primary energy demand and GHG emissions under the baseline assumptions of this work. The two biochemical production pathways (via ethanol and butanol) exhibit higher CED and GWP during biomass conversion steps mainly due to process materials and chemicals used. Process specifications such as transport distance to production facility or the fate of the obtained by‐products are shown to influence the overall environmental impact of the fuel for all studied pathways. The use phase performance of 2‐EH was also considered in this work, as part of a 100% renewable blend and was compared to existing fossil and renewable fuels. The studied blend has the potential to reduce GHG emissions by more than 85% compared to fossil diesel while when certain production pathways are followed, it exhibits lower GWP than renewable fuels already in the market such as ethanol blends and biodiesel. 2‐EH can therefore provide a competitive alternative to fossil transport fuels increasing the share of renewable content in the current vehicle fleet, thus enhancing the efforts for a sustainable transport sector.
Determinants of Overweight Among Government Employees in Gibe District, Hadiya Zone, Southern Ethiopia: A Case Control Study

Background: Overweight in Africa have been attributed to demographic and nutritional changes that have resulted from urbanization, sedentary lifestyles and increased caloric intake without much physical activities. This has put populations at an increased risk of chronic diseases. The purpose of the present study was to assess determinants of overweight among government employees. Methods: A case control study was conducted among government employees in Gibe district. A total of 206 employees (51 cases and 155controls) were selected by using simple random sampling technique. Cases were whose body mass index (BMI) greater than or equal to 25kg/m 2 , whereas, controls were whose body mass index greater than or equal to 18.5kg/m 2 and less than 25kg/m 2 . Structured questionnaire was used to collect data on risk factors of overweight. Data entry and cleaning were done by using Epi-data version 3.1 and exported to SPSS version 20 for analysis. Bivariate and multivariable binary Logistic regression was used to identify predictors of overweight. Results: A total of 206 government employees were interviewed, male gender participants were 3.5 times more likely to develop overweight compared to females (AOR: 3.5; 95%CI: 1.044-11.957), old age group 45+ years responders were 6.3 times more likely to develop overweight compared to age group 20-34years (AOR: 6.3; 95%CI: 1.503-26.621) and employees who were low level physical activity 4.6 times more likely to develop overweight compared to those having high level physical activity(AOR: 4.6, 95%CI: 1.100-19.119). Conclusions and recommendation: Government employees of Gibe District had old age group, male gender and low physical activity that lead to increased risk of overweight. These are modifiable and non- modifiable risk factors; therefore increased awareness about physical activity will be effective control measure. Keywords: overweight, government employees, determinants DOI : 10.7176/JHMN/60-03 Publication date :March 31 st 2019
THE APPLICATION OF HILBERT-HUANG TRANSFORM TO NON-STATIONARY ENVIRONMENTAL DATA SETS

The paper devotes analysis of environmental data sets by using Hilbert-Huang transform (HHT). The environmental data were measured by meteorological stations which are deployed in the southern part of Czech Republic. The analysis is performed in both the time and frequency domains. The aim of the work is to investigate selected measured non-stationary time series by using the HHT method and also provide more physically meaningful interpretation of underlying non-linear dynamic systems. The results can help better describe dynamic characteristic of ecosystems.
Synergistic Effect of Co3(HPO4)2(OH)2 Cocatalyst and Al2O3 Passivation Layer on BiVO4 Photoanode for Enhanced Photoelectrochemical Water Oxidation

Bismuth vanadate (BVO) is regarded as an exceptional photoanode material for photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting, but it is restricted by the severe photocorrosion and slow water oxidation kinetics. Herein, a synergistic strategy combined with a Co3(HPO4)2(OH)2 (CoPH) cocatalyst and an Al2O3 (ALO) passivation layer was proposed for enhanced PEC performance. The CoPH/ALO/BVO photoanode exhibits an impressive photocurrent density of 4.9 mA cm−2 at 1.23 VRHE and an applied bias photon-to-current efficiency (ABPE) of 1.47% at 0.76 VRHE. This outstanding PEC performance can be ascribed to the suppressed surface charge recombination, facilitated interfacial charge transfer, and accelerated water oxidation kinetics with the introduction of the CoPH cocatalyst and ALO passivation layer. This work provides a novel and synergistic approach to design an efficient and stable photoanode for PEC applications by combining an oxygen evolution cocatalyst and a passivation layer.