453 research outputs found
Critical properties of random anisotropy magnets
The problem of critical behaviour of three dimensional random anisotropy
magnets, which constitute a wide class of disordered magnets is considered.
Previous results obtained in experiments, by Monte Carlo simulations and within
different theoretical approaches give evidence for a second order phase
transition for anisotropic distributions of the local anisotropy axes, while
for the case of isotropic distribution such transition is absent. This outcome
is described by renormalization group in its field theoretical variant on the
basis of the random anisotropy model. Considerable attention is paid to the
investigation of the effective critical behaviour which explains the
observation of different behaviour in the same universality class.Comment: 41 pages, 10 figure
Olive anthracnose: a yield- and oil quality-degrading disease caused by several species of Colletotrichum that differ in virulence, host preference and geographical distribution
Pathogen profileOlive anthracnose causes fruit rot leading to its drop or mummification,
resulting in yield losses and the degradation of oil quality.
Taxonomy and distribution: The disease is caused by
diverse species of Colletotrichum, mostly clustering in the
C. acutatum species complex. Colletotrichum nymphaeae and
C. godetiae are the prevalent species in the Northern Hemisphere,
whereas C. acutatum sensu stricto is the most frequent
species in the Southern Hemisphere, although it is recently and
quickly emerging in the Northern Hemisphere. The disease has
been reported from all continents, but it attains higher incidence
and severity in the west of the Mediterranean Basin, where it is
endemic in traditional orchards of susceptible cultivars.
Life cycle: The pathogens are able to survive on vegetative
organs. On the fruit surface, infections remain quiescent until
fruit maturity, when typical anthracnose symptoms develop.
Under severe epidemics, defoliation and death of branches can
also occur. Pathogen species differ in virulence, although this
depends on the cultivar.
Control: The selection of resistant cultivars depends strongly
on pathogen diversity and environmental conditions, posing
added difficulties to breeding efforts. Chemical disease control is
normally achieved with copper-based fungicides, although this
may be insufficient under highly favourable disease conditions
and causes concern because of the presence of fungicide residues
in the oil. In areas in which the incidence is high, farmers pathogen interactions is basal for the deployment of durable and
effective disease control strategies, whether based on resistance
breeding, agronomic practices or biological or chemical controlinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
Sequential Quasi-Monte Carlo
We derive and study SQMC (Sequential Quasi-Monte Carlo), a class of
algorithms obtained by introducing QMC point sets in particle filtering. SQMC
is related to, and may be seen as an extension of, the array-RQMC algorithm of
L'Ecuyer et al. (2006). The complexity of SQMC is , where is
the number of simulations at each iteration, and its error rate is smaller than
the Monte Carlo rate . The only requirement to implement SQMC is
the ability to write the simulation of particle given as a
deterministic function of and a fixed number of uniform variates.
We show that SQMC is amenable to the same extensions as standard SMC, such as
forward smoothing, backward smoothing, unbiased likelihood evaluation, and so
on. In particular, SQMC may replace SMC within a PMCMC (particle Markov chain
Monte Carlo) algorithm. We establish several convergence results. We provide
numerical evidence that SQMC may significantly outperform SMC in practical
scenarios.Comment: 55 pages, 10 figures (final version
Responsible Innovation for Sustainable Development Goals in Business: An Agenda for Cooperative Firms
In this contribution, we explore the possibilities of Responsible Innovation (RI) to assess and support the engagement of businesses in the spectrum of Social and Solidarity Economy (SSE) and, in particular, cooperatives to the implementation of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at the firm level. We conduct a critical review of the academic literature on sustainable development and responsible innovation, focusing on the role of business to identify how firms in the spectrum of SSE can contribute through responsible innovation to the sustainable development agenda and how firms in the spectrum of SSE can benefit from it. Results suggest that firms can benefit from responsible innovation in the transformation of their business models. On the other hand, firms in the spectrum of SSE contribute to extending the scope of SDGs to business, not focusing on what cooperatives do by their nature (e.g., principles and values), but their contribution to key horizontal enablers (e.g., partnership and innovation) for the integration of firms in the sustainable development agenda. To our knowledge, this is the first time that the relationship between SSE firms and RI is assessed from the perspective of firms’ contribution to SDGs. Further research is needed to sophisticate the translation of particular tools developed in the framework of RI to firms in the spectrum of SSE and, in particular, cooperative firms
Dextran sulfate from Leuconostoc mesenteroides B512F exerts potent antiviral activity against SARS-CoV-2 in vitro and in vivo
The emergent human coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 and its resistance to current drugs makes the need for new potent treatments for COVID-19 patients strongly necessary. Dextran sulfate (DS) polysaccharides have long demonstrated antiviral activity against different enveloped viruses in vitro. However, their poor bioavailability has led to their abandonment as antiviral candidates. Here, we report for the first time the broad-spectrum antiviral activity of a DS-based extrapolymeric substance produced by the lactic acid bacterium Leuconostoc mesenteroides B512F. Time of addition assays with SARS-CoV-2 pseudoviruses in in vitro models confirm the inhibitory activity of DSs in the early stages of viral infection (viral entry). In addition, this exopolysaccharide substance also reports broad-spectrum antiviral activity against several enveloped viruses such as SARS-CoV-2, HCoV229E, HSV-1, in in vitro models and in human lung tissue. The toxicity and antiviral capacity of DS from L. mesenteroides was tested in vivo in mouse models which are susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 infection. The described DS, administered by inhalation, a new route of administration for these types of polymers, shows strong inhibition of SARS-CoV-2 infection in vivo, significantly reducing animal mortality and morbidity at non-toxic doses. Therefore, we suggest that it may be considered as a potential candidate for antiviral therapy against SARS-CoV-2Financial support for the study was provided by the REACT-EU 2021 grant from Comunidad de Madrid to the Project COVTRAVI19-CM, Plataformas y modelos preclínicos para el abordaje multidisciplinar en COVID-19 y en respuesta a futuras pandemia
Treatment with the senolytics dasatinib/quercetin reduces SARS-CoV-2-related mortality in mice
The enormous societal impact of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has been particularly harsh for some social groups, such as the elderly. Recently, it has been suggested that senescent cells could play a central role in pathogenesis by exacerbating the pro-inflammatory immune response against SARS-CoV-2. Therefore, the selective clearance of senescent cells by senolytic drugs may be useful as a therapy to ameliorate the symptoms of COVID-19 in some cases. Using the established COVID-19 murine model K18-hACE2, we demonstrated that a combination of the senolytics dasatinib and quercetin (D/Q) significantly reduced SARS-CoV-2-related mortality, delayed its onset, and reduced the number of other clinical symptoms. The increase in senescent markers that we detected in the lungs in response to SARS-CoV-2 may be related to the post-COVID-19 sequelae described to date. These results place senescent cells as central targets for the treatment of COVID-19, and make D/Q a new and promising therapeutic too
Can teaching agenda-setting skills to physicians improve clinical interaction quality? A controlled intervention
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Physicians and medical educators have repeatedly acknowledged the inadequacy of communication skills training in the medical school curriculum and opportunities to improve these skills in practice. This study of a controlled intervention evaluates the effect of teaching practicing physicians the skill of "agenda-setting" on patients' experiences with care. The agenda-setting intervention aimed to engage clinicians in the practice of initiating patient encounters by eliciting the full set of concerns from the patient's perspective and using that information to prioritize and negotiate which clinical issues should most appropriately be dealt with and which (if any) should be deferred to a subsequent visit.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Ten physicians from a large physician organization in California with baseline patient survey scores below the statewide 25th percentile participated in the agenda-setting intervention. Eleven physicians matched on baseline scores, geography, specialty, and practice size were selected as controls. Changes in survey summary scores from pre- and post-intervention surveys were compared between the two groups. Multilevel regression models that accounted for the clustering of patients within physicians and controlled for respondent characteristics were used to examine the effect of the intervention on survey scale scores.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>There was statistically significant improvement in intervention physicians' ability to "explain things in a way that was easy to understand" (p = 0.02) and marginally significant improvement in the overall quality of physician-patient interactions (p = 0.08) compared to control group physicians. Changes in patients' experiences with organizational access, care coordination, and office staff interactions did not differ by experimental group.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>A simple and modest behavioral training for practicing physicians has potential to positively affect physician-patient relationship interaction quality. It will be important to evaluate the effect of more extensive trainings, including those that work with physicians on a broader set of communication techniques.</p
Dextran sulfate from Leuconostoc mesenteroides B512F exerts potent antiviral activity against SARS-CoV-2 in vitro and in vivo
The emergent human coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 and its resistance to current drugs makes the need for new potent treatments for COVID-19 patients strongly necessary. Dextran sulfate (DS) polysaccharides have long demonstrated antiviral activity against different enveloped viruses in vitro. However, their poor bioavailability has led to their abandonment as antiviral candidates. Here, we report for the first time the broad-spectrum antiviral activity of a DS-based extrapolymeric substance produced by the lactic acid bacterium Leuconostoc mesenteroides B512F. Time of addition assays with SARS-CoV-2 pseudoviruses in in vitro models confirm the inhibitory activity of DSs in the early stages of viral infection (viral entry). In addition, this exopolysaccharide substance also reports broad-spectrum antiviral activity against several enveloped viruses such as SARS-CoV-2, HCoV229E, HSV-1, in in vitro models and in human lung tissue. The toxicity and antiviral capacity of DS from L. mesenteroides was tested in vivo in mouse models which are susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 infection. The described DS, administered by inhalation, a new route of administration for these types of polymers, shows strong inhibition of SARS-CoV-2 infection in vivo, significantly reducing animal mortality and morbidity at non-toxic doses. Therefore, we suggest that it may be considered as a potential candidate for antiviral therapy against SARS-CoV-2
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