Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Unexpected resilience of a seagrass system exposed to global stressors

Despite a growing interest in identifying tipping points in response to environmental change, our understanding of the ecological mechanisms underlying nonlinear ecosystem dynamics is limited. Ecosystems governed by strong species interactions can provide important insight into how nonlinear relationships between organisms and their environment propagate through ecosystems, and the potential for environmentally mediated species interactions to drive or protect against sudden ecosystem shifts. Here, we experimentally determine the functional relationships (i.e., the shapes of the relationships between predictor and response variables) of a seagrass assemblage with well‐defined species interactions to ocean acidification (enrichment of CO2) in isolation and in combination with nutrient loading. We demonstrate that the effect of ocean acidification on grazer biomass (Phyllaplysia taylori and Idotea resecata) was quadratic, with the peak of grazer biomass at mid‐pH levels. Algal grazing was negatively affected by nutrients, potentially due to low grazer affinity for macroalgae (Ulva intestinalis), as recruitment of both macroalgae and diatoms were favored in elevated nutrient conditions. This led to an exponential increase in macroalgal and epiphyte biomass with ocean acidification, regardless of nutrient concentration. When left unchecked, algae can cause declines in seagrass productivity and persistence through shading and competition. Despite quadratic and exponential functional relationships to stressors that could cause a nonlinear decrease in seagrass biomass, productivity of our model seagrass—the eelgrass (Zostera marina)‐ remained highly resilient to increasing acidification. These results suggest that important species interactions governing ecosystem dynamics may shift with environmental change, and ecosystem state may be decoupled from ecological responses at lower levels of organization.
Genetic variability of selected marginal populations of Stipa capillata L.

Five populations of Stipa capillata (which is strictly protected in Poland) situated at the northern margins of its natural range, were characterized in respect to variability of 2 enzyme systems: esterase (EC 3.1.1.2) and peroxidase (EC 1.11.1.7). Allozyme frequencies in the 4 studied loci indicated a high level of heterozygosity and a low proportion of polymorphic loci in these populations. The interpopulational gene diversity (mean DST = 0.18) was lower than the proportion of interpopulational gene diversity to total heterozygosity (mean GST = 0.51). Gene flow between the populations was very low (Nm = 0.235).
A histone variant, H2AvD, is essential in Drosophila melanogaster.

H2AvD, a Drosophila melanogaster histone variant of the H2A.Z class, is encoded by a single copy gene in the 97CD region of the polytene chromosomes. Northern analysis shows that the transcript is expressed in adult females and is abundant throughout the first 12 h of embryogenesis but then decreases. The H2AvD protein is present at essentially constant levels in all developmental stages. Using D. melanogaster stocks with deletions in the 97CD region, we have localized the H2AvD gene to the 97D1-9 interval. A lethal mutation in this interval, l(3)810, exhibits a 311-base pair deletion in the H2AvD gene, which removes the second exon. P-element mediated transformation using a 4.1-kilobase fragment containing the H2AvD gene rescues the lethal phenotype. H2AvD is therefore both essential and continuously present, suggesting a requirement for its utilization, either to provide an alternative capability for nucleosome assembly or to generate an alternative nucleosome structure.
Dramaturgical study of meetings between general practitioners and representatives of pharmaceutical companies; Commentary: dramaturgical model gives valuable insight.

Abstract Objectives: To examine the interaction between general practitioners and pharmaceutical company representatives. Design: Qualitative study of 13 consecutive meetings between general practitioner and pharmaceutical representatives. A dramaturgical model was used to inform analysis of the transcribed verbal interactions. Setting: Practice in south west England. Participants: 13 pharmaceutical company representatives and one general practitioner. Results: The encounters were acted out in six scenes. Scene 1 was initiated by the pharmaceutical representative, who acknowledged the relative status of the two players. Scene 2 provided the opportunity for the representative to check the general practitioner's knowledge about the product. Scene 3 was used to propose clinical and cost benefits associated with the product. During scene 4, the general practitioner took centre stage and challenged aspects of this information. Scene 5 involved a recovery strategy as the representative fought to regain equilibrium. In the final scene, the representative tried to ensure future contacts. Conclusion: Encounters between general practitioners and pharmaceutical representatives follow a consistent format that is implicitly understood by each player. It is naive to suppose that pharmaceutical representatives are passive resources for drug information. General practitioners might benefit from someone who can provide unbiased information about prescribing in a manner that is supportive and sympathetic to the demands of practice. What is already known on this topic Pharmaceutical representatives influence physicians' prescribing in ways that are often unacknowledged by the physicians themselves Meetings with pharmaceutical representatives are associated with increased prescribing costs and less rational prescribing What this study adds Meetings between pharmaceutical representatives and general practitioners follow a consistent format that is implicitly understood by each player General practitioners may cooperate because representatives make them feel valued
Quantitative Aspects of the Clinical Performance of Transverse Tripolar Spinal Cord Stimulation

A multicenter study was initiated to evaluate the performance of the transverse tripolar system for spinal cord stimulation. Computer modeling had predicted steering of paresthesia with a dual channel stimulator to be the main benefit of the system. The quantitative analysis presented here includes the results of 484 tests in 30 patients. For each test, paresthesia coverage as a function of voltage levels was stored in a computerized database, including a body map which enabled calculation of the degree of paresthesia coverage of separate body areas, as well as the overlap with the painful areas.
Controlling the Phase of the Scattered and/or Radiated Field From a High Impedance Surface of Quasi-Periodic Sequences

Analysis of the scattering from a novel type of printed microstrip high impedance surface (HIS) is presented. The unusual surface-impedance modulation mechanism allows the phase control of the scattered field for both reflectarray and holographic applications. The HIS consists of a periodic arrangement of similar macro unit cells, formed by sequential repetitions of similar elementary unit cells that exhibit analytic dispersion diagram in terms of Mathieu/Hill functions for the TE/TM polarized surface waves. The phase of the scattered field is controlled by the position of unit cells within the macrocells. Analyses of different sequences are presented, proving the effectiveness of the method in controlling the scattering from the surface. Study of the field along the longitudinal direction of the sequences is presented, and the associated bandwidths are quantified.
MEASUREMENT OF THE MECHANICAL POWER OF WALKING BY GLOBAL SATELLITE POSITIONING SYSTEM ( GPS )

Introduction Human beings spend a substantial amount of time in walking activities. Human locomotion has been therefore extensively studied under laboratory conditions in terms of energetics or biomechanics. However, one drawback is inherent to laboratory experiments: because of the limited experimental perimeter, it is not possible to record a substantial number of consecutive steps. In contrast, treadmills allow one to mimic normal gait with good accuracy, but this technique may slightly modify the gait style under certain circumstances. Moreover, in a real-life situation, the subjects freely select a specific pathway to travel from one point to another. Such behavior is difficult to reproduce on a treadmill or analyze in a closed space. Consequently, we postulated that a new tool able to analyze walking outside the lab would be convenient to provide complementary data about human locomotion. The Global Positioning System (GPS) consists of 24 operational satellites and provides navigation and surveying capability worldwide. The accuracy obtained by the standard GPS mode is not sufficient for a precise analysis of locomotion (Schutz and Chambaz, 1997). The method can be improved using a differential mode implying the use of one fixed GPS reference station and one moving receiver, with an accuracy within 0.1 km/h on average walking and running speed (Schutz and Herren, 2000). By processing short baselines with the carrier phase in differential mode, it is possible to eliminate most of the errors and to lead to sub-centimeter accuracy. We recently utilized this method to assess trajectory, slope of the terrain, and walking speed on an outdoor circuit. It was possible to record every second the slope and the speed of walking in totally free subjects (Perrin et al., 2000). In addition, we observed that the Stride Frequency (SF) could be retrieved from 5Hz position measurements: a correlation coefficient of 0.998 (p<0.001) was observed between GPS and accelerometer derived SF measurements (Terrier et al., 2000). Because we believe that the temporal pattern of walking was correctly assessed by GPS, we decided, as a subsequent challenge, to attempt to measure the external mechanical power of walking. With a GPS receiver and an antenna attached to the trunk, only the external work (potential and kinetic energy variations) can be assessed. From the energy data, the average power (potential, kinetic and total) produced during the exercise was computed. The energy exchange (recovery) was also calculated. In addition, we simultaneously measured the metabolic energy expenditure by indirect calorimetry in order to calculate the mechanical efficiency of walking.
YpdC determines site‐1 degradation in regulated intramembrane proteolysis of the RsiW anti‐sigma factor of Bacillus subtilis

Genes of Bacillus subtilis controlled by the alternative extracytoplasmic function family sigma factor σW constitute an antibiosis regulon. Its activity is modulated by RsiW, a transmembrane anti‐sigma factor that sequesters and inactivates σW. Upon a stress signal, RsiW is degraded by a mechanism of regulated intramembrane proteolysis. To identify genes which influence RsiW degradation, a transposon screen with a reporter fusion of the green fluorescent protein to RsiW was performed. Among several gene loci identified, the ypdC (prsW) gene displayed a strong effect on RsiW stability. In a ypdC null mutant, induction of σW‐controlled genes is abolished and site‐1 proteolysis of RsiW is completely blocked. Transcriptional analysis revealed that ypdC is a monocistronic gene, and the defect of σW induction of the null mutant was complemented by ectopically integrated ypdC under xylose control. Orthologues of YpdC can be found in a variety of different bacteria. Its membrane topology was analysed by alkaline phosphatase fusions, revealing that YpdC contains five transmembrane segments and two larger extracytoplasmic loops. In the first loop, two invariantly conserved glutamate residues can be found. In an Escherichia coli system, the cloned ypdC is the only determinant of efficient degradation of RsiW; however, YpdC does not display plain similarities to known proteases, suggesting that it either controls the activity of site‐1 proteolysis of RsiW or represents a new type of protease.
Physiological Signal Processing for Emotional Feature Extraction

This paper introduces new approaches of physiological signal processing prior to feature extraction from electrocardiogram (ECG) and electromyography (EMG). Firstly a new signal denoising approach based on the Empirical mode decomposition (EMD) is presented. The EMD can decompose the noisy signal into a number of Intrinsic Mode Functions (IMFs). The proposed algorithm estimates the noise level of each IMF. Experiments show that the proposed EMD-based method provides better denoising results compared to state-of-art. In addition, a real-time QRS detection approach is proposed to be directly applied on the noisy ECG signals. Moreover, an adaptive thresholding approach is employed for the EMG segmentation. Both approaches are validated using synthetic and real physiological data resulting in good performances.
Correction of an image size difference between positron emission tomography (PET) and computed tomography (CT) improves image fusion of dedicated PET and CT

AimClinical work in software positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) image fusion has raised suspicion that the image sizes of PET and CT differ slightly from each other, thus rendering the images suboptimal for image fusion. The aim of this study was to evaluate the extent of the relative image size difference between PET and CT and the impact of the correction of this difference on the accuracy of image fusion. MethodsThe difference in real image size between PET and CT was evaluated using a phantom study. Subsequently, 13 patients with cancer in the head/neck area underwent both CT and [18F]fluorodeoxyglucose PET in a custom-made mask for external beam radiotherapy, with multimodality markers for positional reference. The image size of PET relative to CT was determined by evaluating the distances between the markers in multiple directions in both scans. Rigid-body image fusion was performed using the markers as landmarks, with and without correction of the calculated image size difference. ResultsPhantom studies confirmed a difference in real image size between PET and CT, caused by an absolute error in PET image size calibration. The clinical scans demonstrated an average relative difference in image size of 2.0% in the transverse plane and 0.8% along the longitudinal axis, the PET images being significantly smaller. Image fusion using original images demonstrated an average registration error of 2.7 mm. This error was decreased to 1.4 mm after size correction of the PET images, a significant improvement of 48% (P<0.001). ConclusionsA significant deviation in PET image size may occur, either as a real image size deviation or as a relative difference from CT. Although possibly not clinically relevant in normal diagnostic procedures, correction of such a difference benefits image fusion accuracy. Therefore, it is advisable to calibrate the PET image size relative to CT before performing high-accuracy rigid-body image fusion.
Interference Estimation and Mitigation for STAP Using the Two-Dimensional Wold Decomposition Parametric Model

Abstract : We develop parametric modeling and estimation methods for STAP data based on the results of the 2-D Wold-like decomposition. We show that the same parametric model that results from the 2-D Wold-like orthogonal decomposition naturally arises as the physical model in the problem of space-time processing of airborne radar data. We exploit this correspondence to derive computationally efficient parametric fully adaptive and partially adaptive detection algorithms. Having estimated the parametric models of the noise and interference components of the field, the estimated parameters are substituted into the parametric expression of the covariance matrix to obtain an estimate of the interference-plus-noise covariance matrix. Hence the fully-adaptive weight vector is obtained. More over, it is proved that it is sufficient to estimate only the spectral support parameters of each interference component in order to obtain a projection matrix onto the subspace orthogonal to the interference subspace. The proposed partially adaptive parametric processing algorithm employs this property. The proposed parametric interference mitigation procedures can be applied even when only the information in a single range gate is available, thus achieving high performance gain when the data in the different range gates cannot be assumed stationary.
Polymorphisms in selected DNA repair genes and cell cycle regulating genes involved in the risk of papillary thyroid carcinoma.

BACKGROUND Papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) is the most common type of thyroid cancer. In addition to causal somatic mutations in the BRAF gene and RET/PTC rearrangements, the contribution of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in low-penetrance genes in the development of PTC has been proposed. METHODS Four SNPs in the XRCC1 (Arg399Gln, Arg280His, Arg194Trp and T-77C) and one SNP from each of three other genes participating in DNA repair pathways and/or cell cycle regulation (ATM Asp1853Asn, TP53 Arg72Pro, CDKN1B Val109Gly) were selected. The allelic and genotypic distributions of these variants as well as haplotypes of the XRCC1 were examined in 583 individuals comprising well-characterized cohorts of 209 PTC patients and 374 healthy volunteers. Correlations of polymorphism with clinical-pathological data and mutation status were performed. RESULTS XRCC1 T-77C polymorphism affects the genetic susceptibility for PTC development in men, the specific combination of XRCC1 haplotypes correlates with RET/PTC incidence, CDKN1B Val109Gly significantly influences the risk of developing PTC regardless of gender and in PTC cases, selected genotypes of TP53 Arg72Pro and ATM Asp1853Asn were significantly associated with monitored tumour characteristics. CONCLUSION It seems that SNPs in studied regulating genes contribute to the development of PTC and modify the tumour behaviour or characteristics.
The Transformation of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: From Neurosis to Neurobiology

Lives can be severely disrupted after a momentous negative experience. Particularly potent are unexpected negative events, or “traumas,” such as a near death experience, a severe injury, or being exposed to intense interpersonal violence or a natural disaster. Although most people recover from these traumatic events, many do not, and experience persistent fear, anxiety and/or depression following the event. In the past, these maladaptations after trauma were considered to be a reflection of personal weaknesses and were stigmatized. Now, after 30 years of research, the physiological responses to severe stress and trauma are being increasingly understood, as are the risk factors for a pathological response to trauma. These gains from the study of memory and neurohormonal reactivity and control systems hold forth the promise of improved, biologically-informed, psychotherapeutic and pharmacologic interventions for the prevention and treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in the future.
Improvement in Clinical Outcomes, Physical Function, and Bodily Pain Following a 12 Week Course of Intermittent Pneumatic Compression Therapy in Patients with Chronic Venous Ulcers: Results of an Observational Longitudinal Retrospective Study

Clinical records of 94 chronic venous ulcer patients (treated at two independent specialty centers) were included in a retrospective analysis to evaluate the effects of standard of care, plus continued intermittent pneumatic compression (IPC) therapy during and after wound closure. Both clinical centers employed the Venous Clinical Severity Score (VCSS) to monitor clinical outcomes. IPC application varied slightly between the two clinical sites. One wound care center in South Florida treated patients (n=60) using a four chamber gradient IPC at 50 mmHg for 45 minutes BID (five days on and two days off). The other center in New York treated patients (n=34) with a four chamber gradient IPC at 55 mmHg for one hour BID. Both wound care centers applied IPC therapy using standard adjustable (95.3cm) half-leg sleeves. Both centers used the same IPC therapy pump (Bio Compression Model 2004, Bio Compression Systems Inc., Moonachie, NJ). All patients were seen weekly for standard evaluations and reapplication of compression bandages. Patient record analysis was for 12 consecutive weeks beginning at baseline (prior to IPC application). VCSS scores were recorded at monthly intervals. The incidence of ulcer healing was 80% after 12 weeks of IPC therapy. Symptomatic improvement was noted in every VCSS parameter measured. In the category of pain, there was a significant difference in the number of patients reporting severe pain before and after IPC therapy (42 at baseline vs. 0 after 12 weeks of IPC [p=0.004]). Also, the number of patients reporting no pain before and after IPC therapy increased by 67% (p<0.001). In the category of edema, significant improvement was noted after 12 weeks of IPC therapy in patients that had severe edema at baseline (p=0.017) and also in the number of patients where the edema resolved (p=0.004). Severe inflammation was significantly reduced in all study patients (p=0.022) and completely resolved in 60 of the 94 patients (63.8%, p<0.001). The incidence of ulcer healing was 80% after 12 weeks of IPC therapy. Significant symptomatic improvement was noted in every VCSS parameter. Categories: Dermatology, Pain Management, Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation
Semantic Search for Enterprises Competencies Management

This paper presents a method for semantic search and retrieval in the context of networked enterprises that share services, competencies (knowledge), and a reference ontology (RO). The RO models the universe of domain competencies and is used to build the company profiles starting from their key documents. The search engine is used to identify the competencies needed in a given project. A semantic search engine is capable of representing a user request in terms of the RO concepts and identifying the collection of services or skills (offered by a specific enterprise) that match at best the user request. The proposed semantic search method, referred to as SemSim, is based on concept similarity, derived from the well-known notion of information content. Concepts in the RO are weighted according to a frequency approach. Such weights are used, in our proposal, to derive the pair-wise concept similarity, and an optimized method for computing the similarity of conceptual structures. Finally, we report an experimental assessment where we show that our SemSim method performs better than some of the most representative similarity search methods defined in