Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Recent Trends in Control Methods for Bacterial Wilt Diseases Caused by Ralstonia solanacearum

Previous studies have described the development of control methods against bacterial wilt diseases caused by Ralstonia solanacearum. This review focused on recent advances in control measures, such as biological, physical, chemical, cultural, and integral measures, as well as biocontrol efficacy and suppression mechanisms. Biological control agents (BCAs) have been dominated by bacteria (90%) and fungi (10%). Avirulent strains of R. solanacearum, Pseudomonas spp. , Bacillus spp. , and Streptomyces spp. are well-known BCAs. New or uncommon BCAs have also been identified such as Acinetobacter sp. , Burkholderia sp. , and Paenibacillus sp. Inoculation methods for BCAs affect biocontrol efficacy, such as pouring or drenching soil, dipping of roots, and seed coatings. The amendment of different organic matter, such as plant residue, animal waste, and simple organic compounds, have frequently been reported to suppress bacterial wilt diseases. The combined application of BCAs and their substrates was shown to more effectively suppress bacterial wilt in the tomato. Suppression mechanisms are typically attributed to the antibacterial metabolites produced by BCAs or those present in natural products; however, the number of studies related to host resistance to the pathogen is increasing. Enhanced/modified soil microbial communities are also indirectly involved in disease suppression. New promising types of control measures include biological soil disinfection using substrates that release volatile compounds. This review described recent advances in different control measures. We focused on the importance of integrated pest management (IPM) for bacterial wilt diseases.
Interventional MR-imaging for thermal ablation therapy

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) has several unique advantages for guiding thermal ablation therapies. It not only provides excellent soft-tissue contrast and multiplanar capabilities, but also is sensitive to thermal effects. To make full use of these advantages for thermal ablation procedures, we present an integrated solution for a thermal therapy workflow that combines dedicated MRI pulse sequences and visualization/analysis tools for trajectory planning, automatic slice positioning for image-guided needle placement, and advanced MR thermal mapping. The paper highlights a novel approach to detect the needle in real-time MR images and to automatically realign the scan planes. In addition, a global approach to correct for B0 field shift during online MR thermometry is introduced. The application has been implemented using the open-source eXtensible Imaging Platform (XIP).
Transient geomorphic control of water table and hydraulic head reversals in a coastal freshwater peatland

We studied a Great Lakes peatland protected by a barrier dune system to test the hypothesis that changes in the morphology of a barrier beach alter the wetland surface-water and ground-water hydrology such that the plant rooting zone in the wetland interior might be affected. Hydraulic head measured in observation wells located on transects perpendicular to a flow-through channel, uplands, and Lake Ontario were compared to lake-level changes, weather patterns, and the temporal conditions of the barrier beach. Water-table elevations within the wetland complex always remained 0.35 to 0.84 m above Lake Ontario's water level (mean difference = 0.62 m) and did not fluctuate in parallel with changes in the lake's water level. Flooding events occurred when breaches closed and isolated the wetland complex from Lake Ontario; daily average water levels rose between 0.06 m and 0.27 m. When the barrier beach was breached naturally or by human activity, daily average water-table elevations in the wetland receded between 0.16 m and 0.41 m. During the growing season, vertical ground-water-flow directions also changed as a function of changing hydraulies controlled by the barrier beach. Vertical recharge-discharge gradients ranged from −0.2 to 0.1 m·m−1. Water-table elevation and hydraulic head gradients across the study area were controlled primarily by short-term (days to weeks) changes in shoreline geomorphology, whereas seasonal weather patterns and Lake Ontario water-level fluctuations imposed secondary controls on the ground-water-flow regime.
Active Ageing: Live longer and prosper

However, reducing the number of premature deaths and opening the way to active ageing (defined as continuing to live independently as an engaged member of society) is better seen as a success to be celebrated, not a problem to be contained. Loss of a productive social role because of disabling diseases or cognitive decline is not an inevitable consequence of reaching 65, 75 or 80 years of age. As people live longer there are also increasing opportunities for compressing their experience of seriously disabling illness into reduced periods. Even when the challenges of disability have to be faced, there is much that could and should affordably be done to help ensure that life continues to be valued and free from social handicap.
Sex Differences in Hospital Mortality After Coronary Artery Bypass Surgery: Evidence for a Higher Mortality in Younger Women

Background—Data are conflicting over whether women have higher mortality than men after coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery. Younger but not older women hospitalized for acute myocardial infarction have higher in-hospital mortality rates than men. We hypothesized that younger women also have higher in-hospital mortality rates after CABG. Methods and Results—We studied 51 187 patients (30% women) included in the National Cardiovascular Network database who received CABG at 23 clinical centers between October 1993 and December 1999. Compared with men, fewer women were white and more women had risk factors and comorbidities. These differences were more apparent in younger patients. In all age groups, however, women had higher left ventricular ejection fraction and fewer diseased vessels. Women had higher in-hospital mortality rates than men, but sex differences in mortality were more marked among younger patients. Women <50 years of age were 3 times more likely to die than men (3.4% versus 1.1%), and women 50 to 59 years of age were 2.4 times more likely to die than men (2.6% versus 1.1%). In the older age categories, the sex difference in in-hospital mortality was less marked (P <0.001 for the interaction between sex and age). Adjustment for preoperative risk factors only slightly decreased the strength of this interaction. Conclusions—Younger women undergoing CABG surgery are at a higher risk of in-hospital death than men, but this difference in risk decreases with advancing age. Additional investigation is needed to determine why in-hospital mortality is higher in women after CABG, with particular focus on younger women.
The ISA 700 Auditor's Report and the Audit Expectation Gap – Do Explanations Matter?

In this paper we test the effectiveness of explanations as mandated by the revised ISA 700 auditor's report in reducing the audit expectation gap. German auditors and financial statement users participated in an experiment where they read a summary of a firm's financial statements and an auditor's report, the latter of which we manipulated as being the auditor's report including the explanations as mandated by ISA 700 versus a mere audit opinion‐only version. We elicited participants' perceptions about auditor versus management responsibilities and financial statement reliability. We find strong evidence for a persistent expectation gap with respect to the auditor's responsibilities. Meanwhile, auditors and users reach a reasonable belief consensus regarding management's responsibilities and financial statement reliability. Most notably, explanations of the ISA 700 auditor's report do not result in a smaller expectation gap. Our findings suggest that the audit opinion alone may signal sufficient relevant information to users.
Investment with Uncertainty: Detection of Decomposed Uncertainty Factors Affecting Investment

We empirically analyze the effects of uncertainty on investment, by types of uncertainty and by properties of stochastic processes; that is, permanent and transitory components separated from economic variables. According to our results, based on Japanese economic data, we find significant negative effects of uncertainty. As for types of uncertainty, uncertainty in the transitory component of the exchange rate has significant negative effects throughout the estimation period, and the uncertainty in the permanent component of the exchange rate had significant negative effects until the 1980s. In the late 1990s, the uncertainty in the permanent component of total debts of failed firms indicates significant negative effects.
Kala-Azar: Nature, Biophysical Aspects, Clinical Manifestation and Treatment

The aim of this study is to focus on a disease with a potential global health risk—VL (visceral leishmaniasis) or kala-azar. By understanding the mechanism of occurrence, development and countering infection, we can expect significant improvement in the indicators of morbidity and mortality. The specific method of transmission, as well as the necessary conditions for it, opens wide opportunities for prevention. The biophysical aspects that we present make it possible to assess the seriousness of the advancing physiological changes. This ensures adequate evaluation of the associated risks and search for an optimal therapy. We have found that from the first manifestations of kala-azar up until today, a series of countermeasures have been taken up. Acknowledging and expecting the massiveness of the infectious process, it is possible for it to cover areas whose population is unprepared to handle the contamination optimally. This requires the continuation of studies aimed at finding the most affordable and biologically tolerable medicine. The available treatment option for visceral leishmaniasis is problematic when it comes to efficacy, adverse effects and cost, making the treatment a complex issue. Not to mention toxicity of the drugs, ability to monitor side effects, length of treatment and capacity of the healthcare service to administer an accurate therapy. The main drugs available for treatment of VL (visceral leishmaniasis) are systemic agents like Antimony, Amphotericin and nowadays the oral drug Miltefosine.
Metric rectification for perspective images of planes

We describe the geometry constraints and algorithmic implementation for metric rectification of planes. The rectification allows metric properties, such as angles and length ratios, to be measured on the world plane from a perspective image. The novel contributions are: first, that in a stratified context the various forms of providing metric information, which include a known angle, two equal though unknown angles, and a known length ratio; can all be represented as circular constraints on the parameters of an affine transformation of the plane-this provides a simple and uniform framework for integrating constraints; second, direct rectification from right angles in the plane; third, it is shown that metric rectification enables calibration of the internal camera parameters; fourth, vanishing points are estimated using a Maximum Likelihood estimator; fifth, an algorithm for automatic rectification. Examples are given for a number of images, and applications demonstrated for texture map acquisition and metric measurements.
The effect of electrocardiographic lead choice on RR time series

Results of heart rate variability analysis depend on the quality of the initial RR time series that is measured only in one lead of the ECG. This work shows that RR time series can subtly change from lead to lead so the choice of the analyzed lead is another source of uncertainty. The standard deviation of the differences of two RR time series obtained from different leads can change from 0.5 ms to more than 20 ms depending on the amount of noise, the morphological changes of the QRS complexes, the strategies of fiducial point determination and the measured subject. This source of uncertainty is in healthy subjects greater than that associated to the sampling frequency of the ECG for sampling frequencies greater than 400 Hz.
Effects of Cortical Ischemia and Postischemic Environmental Enrichment on Hippocampal Cell Genesis and Differentiation in the Adult Rat

The study aimed to elucidate the effects of cortical ischemia and postischemic environmental enrichment on hippocampal cell genesis. A cortical infarct was induced by a permanent ligation of the middle cerebral artery distal to the striatal branches in 6-month-old spontaneously hypertensive rats. Bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) was administered as 7 consecutive daily injections starting 24 hours after surgery and animals were housed in standard or enriched environment. Four weeks after completed BrdU administration, BrdU incorporation and its co-localization with the neuronal markers NeuN and calbindin D28k, and the astrocytic marker glial fibrillary acidic protein in the granular cell layer and subgranular zone of the hippocampal dentate gyrus were determined with immunohistochemistry and were quantified stereologically. Compared with sham-operated rats, rats with cortical infarcts had a five-to sixfold ipsilateral increase in BrdU-labeled cells. About 80% of the new cells were neurons. Differential postischemic housing did not influence significantly the total number of surviving BrdU-labeled cells or newborn neurons. However, postischemic environmental enrichment increased the ipsilateral generation of astrocytes normalizing the astrocyte-to-neuron ratio, which was significantly reduced in rats housed in standard environment postischemically.
Combination of Therapeutic Hypothermia and Other Neuroprotective Strategies after An Ischemic Cerebral Insult#

Abrupt deprivation of substrates to neuronal tissue triggers a number of pathological events (the “ischemic cascade”) that lead to cell death. As this is a process of delayed neuronal cell death and not an instantaneous event, several pharmacological and non-pharmacological strategies have been developed to attenuate or block this cascade. The most promising neuroprotectant so far is therapeutic hypothermia and its beneficial effects have inspired researchers to further improve its protective benefit by combining it with other neuroprotective agents. This review provides an overview of all neuroprotective strategies that have been combined with therapeutic hypothermia in rodent models of focal cerebral ischemia. A distinction is made between drugs interrupting only one event of the ischemic cascade from those mitigating different pathways and having multimodal effects. Also the combination of therapeutic hypothermia with hemicraniectomy, gene therapy and protein therapy is briefly discussed. Furthermore, those combinations that have been studied in a clinical setting are also reviewed.
Contact Handling for Deformable Point-Based Objects

This paper presents an approach to collision detection and response for dynamically deforming pointbased objects. Both the volume of an object and its surface are represented by point sets. In case of a collision, response forces are computed for penetrating surface points and distributed to volume points which are used for simulating the object dynamics. The decoupling of collision handling and deformation allows for a very stable collision response while maintaining interactive update rates of the dynamic simulation for environments with moderate complexity. Simulation results are presented for elastically and plastically deforming objects with changing topology.
Autosomal Recessive Transmission of MYBPC3 Mutation Results in Malignant Phenotype of Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy

Background Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) due to mutations in genes encoding sarcomere proteins is most commonly inherited as an autosomal dominant trait. Since nearly 50% of HCM cases occur in the absence of a family history, a recessive inheritance pattern may be involved. Methods A pedigree was identified with suspected autosomal recessive transmission of HCM. Twenty-six HCM-related genes were comprehensively screened for mutations in the proband with targeted second generation sequencing, and the identified mutation was confirmed with bi-directional Sanger sequencing in all family members and 376 healthy controls. Results A novel missense mutation (c.1469G>T, p.Gly490Val) in exon 17 of MYBPC3 was identified. Two siblings with HCM were homozygous for this mutation, whereas other family members were either heterozygous or wild type. Clinical evaluation showed that both homozygotes manifested a typical HCM presentation, but none of others, including 5 adult heterozygous mutation carriers up to 71 years of age, had any clinical evidence of HCM. Conclusions Our data identified a MYBPC3 mutation in HCM, which appeared autosomal recessively inherited in this family. The absence of a family history of clinical HCM may be due to not only a de novo mutation, but also recessive mutations that failed to produce a clinical phenotype in heterozygous family members. Therefore, consideration of recessive mutations leading to HCM is essential for risk stratification and genetic counseling.
Power Optimization of FPGA Interconnect Via Circuit and CAD Techniques

We target power dissipation in field-programmable gate array (FPGA) interconnect and present three approaches that leverage a unique property of FPGAs, namely, the presence of unused routing conductors. A first technique attacks dynamic power by placing unused conductors, adjacent to used conductors, into a high-impedance state, reducing the effective capacitance seen by used conductors. A second technique, charge recycling, re-purposes unused conductors as charge reservoirs to reduce the supply current drawn for a positive transition on a used conductor. A third approach reduces leakage current in interconnect buffers by pulse-based signalling, allowing a driving buffer to be placed into a high impedance stage after a logic transition. All three techniques require CAD support in the routing stage to encourage specific positionings of unused conductors relative to used conductors.
The yeast and human FACT chromatin-reorganizing complexes solve R-loop-mediated transcription–replication conflicts

The chromatin-reorganizing complex FACT functions in transcription elongation and DNA replication, yet its role in replication is not well understood. Here, Herrera-Moyano et al. find increased recombination rates and genetic instability in yeast mutants and FACT-depleted human cells. The results demonstrate a conserved function for FACT in the resolution of transcription–replication conflicts mediated by R loops. This study therefore links the roles of FACT in transcription elongation and DNA replication.
Antipsychotic plasma levels in the assessment of poor treatment response in schizophrenia

Treatment resistance is a challenge for the management of schizophrenia. It is not always clear whether inadequate response is secondary to medication ineffectiveness, as opposed to medication underexposure due to non‐adherence or pharmacokinetic factors. We investigated the prevalence of subtherapeutic antipsychotic plasma levels in patients identified as treatment‐resistant by their treating clinician.
Intracranial Dural Arteriovenous Fistulas: A Review

Intracranial dural arteriovenous fistulas, a seldom-encountered type of vascular malformations, are nonetheless clinically relevant because a misdiagnosis may lead to permanent morbidity and mortality. Modern brain imaging techniques such as CT and MRI angiography have a substantial role in the preoperative work-up, yet digital subtraction angiography remains the neuroimaging mainstay. The most important factor guiding management is the presence of cortical venous reflux, significantly associated with aggressive symptoms. Cutting edge developments in endovascular and neurosurgical treatment of these vascular malformations, which should be undertaken in specialized referral centers, have substantially improved their prognosis.
Selection and Validation of Reference Genes for qRT-PCR in Cycas elongata

Quantitative reverse transcription PCR (qRT-PCR) is a sensitive technique used in gene expression studies. To achieve a reliable quantification of transcripts, appropriate reference genes are required for comparison of transcripts in different samples. However, few reference genes are available for non-model taxa, and to date, reliable reference genes in Cycas elongata have not been well characterized. In this study, 13 reference genes (ACT7, TUB, UBQ, EIF4, EF1, CLATHRIN1, PP2A, RPB2, GAPC2, TIP41, MAPK, SAMDC and CYP) were chosen from the transcriptome database of C. elongata, and these genes were evaluated in 8 different organ samples. Three software programs, NormFinder, GeNorm and BestKeeper, were used to validate the stability of the potential reference genes. Results obtained from these three programs suggested that CeGAPC2 and CeRPB2 are the most stable reference genes, while CeACT7 is the least stable one among the 13 tested genes. Further confirmation of the identified reference genes was established by the relative expression of AGAMOUSE gene of C. elongata (CeAG). While our stable reference genes generated consistent expression patterns in eight tissues, we note that our results indicate that an inappropriate reference gene might cause erroneous results. Our systematic analysis for stable reference genes of C. elongata facilitates further gene expression studies and functional analyses of this species.
VGVM: Efficient GPU capabilities in virtual machines

Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) have become a powerful platform, that can provide significant performance benefits to data parallel applications. Graphic processors are being increasingly introduced as accelerators in high performance computing (HPC) systems due to the development of GPGPU (General-Purpose Computation on GPUs). Furthermore, virtualization technologies are gaining interest in these domains, due to their benefits on server consolidation as well as the isolation and ease of management they offer. There is thus a growing need to combine the benefits of both fields by providing heterogeneous resources, particularly GPUs, in virtual environments. In this paper we address the challenge of integrating GPGPU into virtualized environments. We propose VGVM, a mechanism that enables the execution of GPU accelerated applications within Virtual Machines (VMs). Our framework consists of two components: a user level library and a paravirtualized driver, which enables communication with the host's GPU driver. To validate our approach, we conduct experiments on a variety of GPU applications, focusing on the virtualization overhead and the scalability of our framework.
Light propagation in structural anisotropic media in the steady-state and time domains

The determination of the reduced scattering and absorption coefficients of structural anisotropic turbid semi-infinite media and slabs was investigated in the steady-state and time domains. Forward calculations were performed with a Monte Carlo model that considered both cylindrical scatterers aligned in different directions as well as scatterers that were described by a rotationally symmetric scattering function. Analytical solutions of the isotropic and anisotropic diffusion equations were applied to retrieve the optical properties. It was found in the steady-state and time domains that the solutions of the anisotropic diffusion equation have systematic errors compared to the Monte Carlo simulations not only for small distances from the source. However, it is shown that in the time domain it is possible to retrieve useful values for the optical properties using the isotropic and the anisotropic diffusion equations.