453 research outputs found

    Critical properties of random anisotropy magnets

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    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

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    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

    Identificación de recorridos accesibles en el centro histórico de la cuidad

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    Sequential Quasi-Monte Carlo

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    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 O(NlogN)O(N \log N), where NN is the number of simulations at each iteration, and its error rate is smaller than the Monte Carlo rate OP(N1/2)O_P(N^{-1/2}). The only requirement to implement SQMC is the ability to write the simulation of particle xtnx_t^n given xt1nx_{t-1}^n as a deterministic function of xt1nx_{t-1}^n 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

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    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

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    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

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    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

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    <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

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    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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