Showing papers by "Université catholique de Louvain published in 2011"
Institut Gustave Roussy1, University of South Florida2, University of Tübingen3, University of Paris4, Université catholique de Louvain5, Aix-Marseille University6, National Health Service7, University of Kiel8, McGill University9, University of Barcelona10, MedImmune11, Bristol-Myers Squibb12, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center13
TL;DR: Ipilimumab (at a dose of 10 mg per kilogram) in combination with dacarbazine, as compared with dACarbazine plus placebo, improved overall survival in patients with previously untreated metastatic melanoma.
Abstract: A B S T R AC T Background Ipilimumab monotherapy (at a dose of 3 mg per kilogram of body weight), as compared with glycoprotein 100, improved overall survival in a phase 3 study involving patients with previously treated metastatic melanoma. We conducted a phase 3 study of ipilimumab (10 mg per kilogram) plus dacarbazine in patients with previously untreated metastatic melanoma. Methods We randomly assigned 502 patients with previously untreated metastatic melanoma, in a 1:1 ratio, to ipilimumab (10 mg per kilogram) plus dacarbazine (850 mg per square meter of body-surface area) or dacarbazine (850 mg per square meter) plus placebo, given at weeks 1, 4, 7, and 10, followed by dacarbazine alone every 3 weeks through week 22. Patients with stable disease or an objective response and no doselimiting toxic effects received ipilimumab or placebo every 12 weeks thereafter as maintenance therapy. The primary end point was overall survival. Results Overall survival was significantly longer in the group receiving ipilimumab plus dacarbazine than in the group receiving dacarbazine plus placebo (11.2 months vs. 9.1 months, with higher survival rates in the ipilimumab–dacarbazine group at 1 year (47.3% vs. 36.3%), 2 years (28.5% vs. 17.9%), and 3 years (20.8% vs. 12.2%) (hazard ratio for death, 0.72; P<0.001). Grade 3 or 4 adverse events occurred in 56.3% of patients treated with ipilimumab plus dacarbazine, as compared with 27.5% treated with dacarbazine and placebo (P<0.001). No drug-related deaths or gastrointestinal perforations occurred in the ipilimumab–dacarbazine group. Conclusions Ipilimumab (at a dose of 10 mg per kilogram) in combination with dacarbazine, as compared with dacarbazine plus placebo, improved overall survival in patients with previously untreated metastatic melanoma. The types of adverse events were consistent with those seen in prior studies of ipilimumab; however, the rates of elevated liver-function values were higher and the rates of gastrointestinal events were lower than expected on the basis of prior studies. (Funded by Bristol-Myers Squibb; ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00324155.)
4,069 citations
TL;DR: The ideas and the most important developments of the code are described and the capabilities of the MadGraph matrix element generator are illustrated through a few simple phenomenological examples.
Abstract: MadGraph 5 is the new version of the MadGraph matrix element generator, written in the Python programming language. It implements a number of new, efficient algorithms that provide improved performance and functionality in all aspects of the program. It features a new user interface, several new output formats including C++ process libraries for Pythia 8, and full compatibility with FeynRules for new physics models implementation, allowing for event generation for any model that can be written in the form of a Lagrangian. MadGraph 5 builds on the same philosophy as the previous versions, and its design allows it to be used as a collaborative platform where theoretical, phenomenological and simulation projects can be developed and then distributed to the high-energy community. We describe the ideas and the most important developments of the code and illustrate its capabilities through a few simple phenomenological examples.
2,684 citations
TL;DR: Continuous daily administration of sunitinib at a dose of 37.5 mg improved progression-free survival, overall survival, and the objective response rate as compared with placebo among patients with advanced pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors.
Abstract: The multitargeted tyrosine kinase inhibitor sunitinib has shown activity against pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors in preclinical models and phase 1 and 2 trials.
2,192 citations
Technische Universität München1, Novosibirsk State University2, Cornell University3, University of California, Davis4, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory5, Argonne National Laboratory6, Fermilab7, Florida State University8, Indiana University9, Brookhaven National Laboratory10, Wayne State University11, University of Paris-Sud12, GSI Helmholtz Centre for Heavy Ion Research13, Ohio State University14, University of Regensburg15, University of Ferrara16, Polish Academy of Sciences17, University of Bari18, Max Planck Society19, Lancaster University20, Peking University21, Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility22, University of Auvergne23, University of Cincinnati24, Stanford University25, University of Alberta26, Forschungszentrum Jülich27, University of Hawaii28, Illinois Institute of Technology29, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory30, École Polytechnique31, Budker Institute of Nuclear Physics32, CERN33, Université catholique de Louvain34, Pratt Institute35, University of São Paulo36, Seoul National University37, Tsinghua University38, Stony Brook University39, University of Valencia40, University of Milan41, Tohoku University42, University of Minnesota43
TL;DR: The early years of this period were chronicled in the Quarkonium Working Group (QWG) CERN Yellow Report (YR) in 2004, which presented a comprehensive review of the status of the field at that time and provided specific recommendations for further progress as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: A golden age for heavy-quarkonium physics dawned a decade ago, initiated by the confluence of exciting advances in quantum chromodynamics (QCD) and an explosion of related experimental activity. The early years of this period were chronicled in the Quarkonium Working Group (QWG) CERN Yellow Report (YR) in 2004, which presented a comprehensive review of the status of the field at that time and provided specific recommendations for further progress. However, the broad spectrum of subsequent breakthroughs, surprises, and continuing puzzles could only be partially anticipated. Since the release of the YR, the BESII program concluded only to give birth to BESIII; the B-factories and CLEO-c flourished; quarkonium production and polarization measurements at HERA and the Tevatron matured; and heavy-ion collisions at RHIC have opened a window on the deconfinement regime. All these experiments leave legacies of quality, precision, and unsolved mysteries for quarkonium physics, and therefore beg for continuing investigations at BESIII, the LHC, RHIC, FAIR, the Super Flavor and/or Tau-Charm factories, JLab, the ILC, and beyond. The list of newly found conventional states expanded to include h(c)(1P), chi(c2)(2P), B-c(+), and eta(b)(1S). In addition, the unexpected and still-fascinating X(3872) has been joined by more than a dozen other charmonium- and bottomonium-like "XYZ" states that appear to lie outside the quark model. Many of these still need experimental confirmation. The plethora of new states unleashed a flood of theoretical investigations into new forms of matter such as quark-gluon hybrids, mesonic molecules, and tetraquarks. Measurements of the spectroscopy, decays, production, and in-medium behavior of c (c) over bar, b (b) over bar, and b (c) over bar bound states have been shown to validate some theoretical approaches to QCD and highlight lack of quantitative success for others. Lattice QCD has grown from a tool with computational possibilities to an industrial-strength effort now dependent more on insight and innovation than pure computational power. New effective field theories for the description of quarkonium in different regimes have been developed and brought to a high degree of sophistication, thus enabling precise and solid theoretical predictions. Many expected decays and transitions have either been measured with precision or for the first time, but the confusing patterns of decays, both above and below open-flavor thresholds, endure and have deepened. The intriguing details of quarkonium suppression in heavy-ion collisions that have emerged from RHIC have elevated the importance of separating hot- and cold-nuclear-matter effects in quark-gluon plasma studies. This review systematically addresses all these matters and concludes by prioritizing directions for ongoing and future efforts.
1,354 citations
Indiana University1, Pasteur Institute2, Washington University in St. Louis3, University of British Columbia4, Cubist Pharmaceuticals5, University of Turku6, Lahey Hospital & Medical Center7, Harvard University8, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey9, The Evergreen State College10, Wayne State University11, Tufts University12, Northeastern University13, University of California, Los Angeles14, University of Notre Dame15, University of Birmingham16, MedImmune17, Rockefeller University18, Université catholique de Louvain19, Cardiff University20, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory21, Robert Koch Institute22, McMaster University23, University of Oklahoma24
TL;DR: To explore how the problem of antibiotic resistance might best be addressed, a group of 30 scientists from academia and industry gathered at the Banbury Conference Centre in Cold Spring Harbor, New York, USA, from 16 to 18 May 2011.
Abstract: The development and spread of antibiotic resistance in bacteria is a universal threat to both humans and animals that is generally not preventable but can nevertheless be controlled, and it must be tackled in the most effective ways possible. To explore how the problem of antibiotic resistance might best be addressed, a group of 30 scientists from academia and industry gathered at the Banbury Conference Centre in Cold Spring Harbor, New York, USA, from 16 to 18 May 2011. From these discussions there emerged a priority list of steps that need to be taken to resolve this global crisis.
929 citations
TL;DR: It is concluded that specific gut microbiota modulation improves glucose homeostasis, leptin sensitivity, and target enteroendocrine cell activity in obese and diabetic mice.
Abstract: OBJECTIVE To investigate deep and comprehensive analysis of gut microbial communities and biological parameters after prebiotic administration in obese and diabetic mice. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS Genetic ( ob/ob ) or diet-induced obese and diabetic mice were chronically fed with prebiotic-enriched diet or with a control diet. Extensive gut microbiota analyses, including quantitative PCR, pyrosequencing of the 16S rRNA, and phylogenetic microarrays, were performed in ob/ob mice. The impact of gut microbiota modulation on leptin sensitivity was investigated in diet-induced leptin-resistant mice. Metabolic parameters, gene expression, glucose homeostasis, and enteroendocrine-related L-cell function were documented in both models. RESULTS In ob/ob mice, prebiotic feeding decreased Firmicutes and increased Bacteroidetes phyla, but also changed 102 distinct taxa, 16 of which displayed a >10-fold change in abundance. In addition, prebiotics improved glucose tolerance, increased L-cell number and associated parameters (intestinal proglucagon mRNA expression and plasma glucagon-like peptide-1 levels), and reduced fat-mass development, oxidative stress, and low-grade inflammation. In high fat–fed mice, prebiotic treatment improved leptin sensitivity as well as metabolic parameters. CONCLUSIONS We conclude that specific gut microbiota modulation improves glucose homeostasis, leptin sensitivity, and target enteroendocrine cell activity in obese and diabetic mice. By profiling the gut microbiota, we identified a catalog of putative bacterial targets that may affect host metabolism in obesity and diabetes.
883 citations
University of Waterloo1, Stockholm University2, Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences3, Centre for International Governance Innovation4, University of Calgary5, Erasmus University Rotterdam6, University of Sussex7, Stockholm Environment Institute8, Catholic University of Leuven9, Université catholique de Louvain10, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis11, Stanford University12, Hasso Plattner Institute13, Arizona State University14
TL;DR: The central question is whether social and technical innovations can reverse the trends that are challenging critical thresholds and creating tipping points in the earth system, and if not, what conditions are necessary to escape the current lock-in.
Abstract: This article explores the links between agency, institutions, and innovation in navigating shifts and large-scale transformations toward global sustainability. Our central question is whether social and technical innovations can reverse the trends that are challenging critical thresholds and creating tipping points in the earth system, and if not, what conditions are necessary to escape the current lock-in. Large-scale transformations in information technology, nano- and biotechnology, and new energy systems have the potential to significantly improve our lives; but if, in framing them, our globalized society fails to consider the capacity of the biosphere, there is a risk that unsustainable development pathways may be reinforced. Current institutional arrangements, including the lack of incentives for the private sector to innovate for sustainability, and the lags inherent in the path dependent nature of innovation, contribute to lock-in, as does our incapacity to easily grasp the interactions implicit in complex problems, referred to here as the ingenuity gap. Nonetheless, promising social and technical innovations with potential to change unsustainable trajectories need to be nurtured and connected to broad institutional resources and responses. In parallel, institutional entrepreneurs can work to reduce the resilience of dominant institutional systems and position viable shadow alternatives and niche regimes.
767 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examine whether there is a transatlantic divide in the way social entrepreneurship is conceived and defined, and present the different geographical perspectives of social entrepreneurship in North American and European literatures.
Abstract: Social entrepreneurship has recently received greater recognition from the public sector, as well as from scholars. However, the lack of a unifying paradigm in the field has lead to a proliferation of definitions. Moreover, several approaches of the phenomenon, as well as different schools of thought, have emerged in different regions of the world. At first glance, because of different conceptions of capitalism and of the government's role, there seems to be a difference between the American and the European conceptions of social entrepreneurship. The objective of this paper is to clarify the concepts of ‘social entrepreneurship’, ‘social entrepreneur’ and ‘social entrepreneurship organization’ and to examine whether there is a transatlantic divide in the way these are conceived and defined. After having justified the need for a definition, we present the different geographical perspectives. North American and European literatures on social entrepreneurship are critically analysed by means of Gartner's fo...
753 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the transverse momentum balance in dijet and γ/Z+jets events is used to measure the jet energy response in the CMS detector, as well as the transversal momentum resolution.
Abstract: Measurements of the jet energy calibration and transverse momentum resolution in CMS are presented, performed with a data sample collected in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 36pb−1. The transverse momentum balance in dijet and γ/Z+jets events is used to measure the jet energy response in the CMS detector, as well as the transverse momentum resolution. The results are presented for three different methods to reconstruct jets: a calorimeter-based approach, the ``Jet-Plus-Track'' approach, which improves the measurement of calorimeter jets by exploiting the associated tracks, and the ``Particle Flow'' approach, which attempts to reconstruct individually each particle in the event, prior to the jet clustering, based on information from all relevant subdetectors
750 citations
TL;DR: An alternative view of the functional significance of this cortical network is proposed, in which it reflects a system involved in detecting, orienting attention towards, and reacting to the occurrence of salient sensory events, regardless of the sensory channel through which these events are conveyed.
733 citations
15 Aug 2011
TL;DR: This work proposes using Multipath TCP as a replacement for TCP in large-scale data centers, as it can effectively and seamlessly use available bandwidth, giving improved throughput and better fairness on many topologies.
Abstract: The latest large-scale data centers offer higher aggregate bandwidth and robustness by creating multiple paths in the core of the net- work. To utilize this bandwidth requires different flows take different paths, which poses a challenge. In short, a single-path transport seems ill-suited to such networks.We propose using Multipath TCP as a replacement for TCP in such data centers, as it can effectively and seamlessly use available bandwidth, giving improved throughput and better fairness on many topologies. We investigate what causes these benefits, teasing apart the contribution of each of the mechanisms used by MPTCP.Using MPTCP lets us rethink data center networks, with a different mindset as to the relationship between transport protocols, rout- ing and topology. MPTCP enables topologies that single path TCP cannot utilize. As a proof-of-concept, we present a dual-homed variant of the FatTree topology. With MPTCP, this outperforms FatTree for a wide range of workloads, but costs the same.In existing data centers, MPTCP is readily deployable leveraging widely deployed technologies such as ECMP. We have run MPTCP on Amazon EC2 and found that it outperforms TCP by a factor of three when there is path diversity. But the biggest benefits will come when data centers are designed for multipath transports.
TL;DR: In this article, carbon response functions (CRFs) were derived to model the temporal dynamic of soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks after five different LUC types (mean soil depth of 30±6cm).
Abstract: Land-use change (LUC) is a major driving factor for the balance of soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks and the global carbon cycle. The temporal dynamic of SOC after LUC is especially important in temperate systems with a long reaction time. On the basis of 95 compiled studies covering 322 sites in the temperate zone, carbon response functions (CRFs) were derived to model the temporal dynamic of SOC after five different LUC types (mean soil depth of 30±6cm). Grassland establishment caused a long lasting carbon sink with a relative stock change of 128±23% and afforestation on former cropland a sink of 116±54%, 100 years after LUC (mean±95% confidence interval). No new equilibrium was reached within 120 years. In contrast, there was no SOC sink following afforestation of grasslands and 75% of all observations showed SOC losses, even after 100 years. Only in the forest floor, there was carbon accumulation of 0.38±0.04Mgha-1yr-1 in afforestations adding up to 38±4Mgha-1 labile carbon after 100 years. Carbon loss after deforestation (-32±20%) and grassland conversion to cropland (-36±5%), was rapid with a new SOC equilibrium being reached after 23 and 17 years, respectively. The change rate of SOC increased with temperature and precipitation but decreased with soil depth and clay content. Subsoil SOC changes followed the trend of the topsoil SOC changes but were smaller (25±5% of the total SOC changes) and with a high uncertainty due to a limited number of datasets. As a simple and robust model approach, the developed CRFs provide an easily applicable tool to estimate SOC stock changes after LUC to improve greenhouse gas reporting in the framework of UNFCCC. © 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
TL;DR: The gut microbiota is a potential nutritional and pharmacological target in the management of obesity and obesity-related disorders and suggests that specific phyla, classes or species of bacteria, or bacterial metabolic activities could be beneficial or detrimental to patients with obesity.
Abstract: At birth, the human colon is rapidly colonized by gut microbes. Owing to their vast number and their capacity to ferment nutrients and secrete bioactive compounds, these gastrointestinal microbes act as an environmental factor that affects the host's physiology and metabolism, particularly in the context of obesity and its related metabolic disorders. Experiments that compared germ-free and colonized mice or analyzed the influence of nutrients that qualitatively change the composition of the gut microbiota (namely prebiotics) showed that gut microbes induce a wide variety of host responses within the intestinal mucosa and thereby control the gut's barrier and endocrine functions. Gut microbes also influence the metabolism of cells in tissues outside of the intestines (in the liver and adipose tissue) and thereby modulate lipid and glucose homeostasis, as well as systemic inflammation, in the host. A number of studies describe characteristic differences between the composition and/or activity of the gut microbiota of lean individuals and those with obesity. Although these data are controversial, they suggest that specific phyla, classes or species of bacteria, or bacterial metabolic activities could be beneficial or detrimental to patients with obesity. The gut microbiota is, therefore, a potential nutritional and pharmacological target in the management of obesity and obesity-related disorders.
TL;DR: It is shown that Lactobacillus plantarum, a commensal bacterium of the Drosophila intestine, is sufficient on its own to recapitulate the natural microbiota growth-promoting effect and indicates that the intestinal microbiota should be envisaged as a factor that influences the systemic growth of its host.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors studied the effect of collision centrality on the transverse momentum of PbPb collisions at the LHC with a data sample of 6.7 inverse microbarns.
Abstract: Jet production in PbPb collisions at a nucleon-nucleon center-of-mass energy of 2.76 TeV was studied with the CMS detector at the LHC, using a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 6.7 inverse microbarns. Jets are reconstructed using the energy deposited in the CMS calorimeters and studied as a function of collision centrality. With increasing collision centrality, a striking imbalance in dijet transverse momentum is observed, consistent with jet quenching. The observed effect extends from the lower cut-off used in this study (jet transverse momentum = 120 GeV/c) up to the statistical limit of the available data sample (jet transverse momentum approximately 210 GeV/c). Correlations of charged particle tracks with jets indicate that the momentum imbalance is accompanied by a softening of the fragmentation pattern of the second most energetic, away-side jet. The dijet momentum balance is recovered when integrating low transverse momentum particles distributed over a wide angular range relative to the direction of the away-side jet.
TL;DR: The findings establish a signaling role for lactate in endothelial cells and they identify the lactate/NF-κB/IL-8 pathway as an important link between tumor metabolism and angiogenesis.
Abstract: Lactate generated from pyruvate fuels production of intracellular NAD(+) as an end result of the glycolytic process in tumors. Elevated lactate concentration represents a good indicator of the metabolic adaptation of tumors and is actually correlated to clinical outcome in a variety of human cancers. In this study, we investigated whether lactate could directly modulate the endothelial phenotype and thereby tumor vascular morphogenesis and perfusion. We found that lactate could enter endothelial cells through the monocarboxylate transporter MCT-1, trigger the phosphorylation/degradation of IκBα, and then stimulate an autocrine NF-κB/IL-8 (CXCL8) pathway driving cell migration and tube formation. These effects were prevented by 2-oxoglutarate and reactive oxygen species (ROS) inhibitors, pointing to a role for prolyl-hydroxylase and ROS in the integration of lactate signaling in endothelial cells. PHD2 silencing in endothelial cells recapitulated the proangiogenic effects of lactate, whereas a blocking IL-8 antibody or IL-8-targeting siRNA prevented them. Finally, we documented in mouse xenograft models of human colorectal and breast cancer that lactate release from tumor cells through the MCT4 (and not MCT1) transporter is sufficient to stimulate IL-8-dependent angiogenesis and tumor growth. In conclusion, our findings establish a signaling role for lactate in endothelial cells and they identify the lactate/NF-κB/IL-8 pathway as an important link between tumor metabolism and angiogenesis.
TL;DR: Although tumor size provides no prognostic information, tumor number, vascular invasion, and LN metastasis were associated with survival and should be strongly considered for ICC.
Abstract: PURPOSE: To identify factors associated with outcome after surgical management of intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) and examine the impact of lymph node (LN) assessment on survival. PATIENTS AND METHODS: From an international multi-institutional database, 449 patients who underwent surgery for ICC between 1973 and 2010 were identified. Clinical and pathologic data were evaluated using uni- and multivariate analyses. RESULTS: Median tumor size was 6.5 cm. Most patients had a solitary tumor (73%) and no vascular invasion (69%). Median survival was 27 months, and 5-year survival was 31%. Factors associated with adverse prognosis included positive margin status (hazard ratio [HR], 2.20; P < .001), multiple lesions (HR, 1.80; P = .001), and vascular invasion (HR, 1.59; P = .015). Tumor size was not a prognostic factor (HR, 1.03; P = .23). Patients were stratified using the American Joint Committee on Cancer/International Union Against Cancer T1, T2a, and T2b categories (seventh edition) in a discrete step-wise fashion (P < .001). Lymphadenectomy was performed in 248 patients (55%); 74 of these (30%) had LN metastasis. LN metastasis was associated with worse outcome (median survival: N0, 30 months v N1, 24 months; P = .03). Although patients with no LN metastasis were able to be stratified by tumor number and vascular invasion (N0; P < .001), among patients with N1 disease, multiple tumors and vascular invasion, either alone or together, failed to discriminate patients into discrete prognostic groups (P = .34). CONCLUSION: Although tumor size provides no prognostic information, tumor number, vascular invasion, and LN metastasis were associated with survival. N1 status adversely affected overall survival and also influenced the relative effect of tumor number and vascular invasion on prognosis. Lymphadenectomy should be strongly considered for ICC, because up to 30% of patients will have LN metastasis.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examine the wide-spread practice where data envelopment analysis (DEA) efficiency estimates are regressed on some environmental variables in a second-stage analysis, and make clear that second stage OLS estimation is consistent only under very peculiar and unusual assumptions on the data-generating process that limit its applicability.
Abstract: This paper examines the wide-spread practice where data envelopment analysis (DEA) efficiency estimates are regressed on some environmental variables in a second-stage analysis. In the literature, only two statistical models have been proposed in which second-stage regressions are well-defined and meaningful. In the model considered by Simar and Wilson (J Prod Anal 13:49–78, 2007), truncated regression provides consistent estimation in the second stage, where as in the model proposed by Banker and Natarajan (Oper Res 56: 48–58, 2008a), ordinary least squares (OLS) provides consistent estimation. This paper examines, compares, and contrasts the very different assumptions underlying these two models, and makes clear that second-stage OLS estimation is consistent only under very peculiar and unusual assumptions on the data-generating process that limit its applicability. In addition, we show that in either case, bootstrap methods provide the only feasible means for inference in the second stage. We also comment on ad hoc specifications of second-stage regression equations that ignore the part of the data-generating process that yields data used to obtain the initial DEA estimates.
TL;DR: In this article, a review synthesizes existing knowledge on the occurrence, causes, and ecological impacts of forest transitions and examines the prospects and policy options for a global forest transition, concluding that the ecological quality of forest transition depends on multiple factors, including the importance of natural forest regeneration versus plantations.
Abstract: Although global rates of tropical deforestation remain alarmingly high, they have decreased over the period 2000–2010, and a handful of tropical developing countries have recently been through a forest transition—a shift from net deforestation to net reforestation. This review synthesizes existing knowledge on the occurrence, causes, and ecological impacts of forest transitions and examines the prospects and policy options for a global forest transition. The ecological quality of forest transitions depends on multiple factors, including the importance of natural forest regeneration versus plantations. Given an increased competition for productive land between different land uses, a global forest transition will require major technological and policy innovations to supply wood and agricultural products. In the globalization era, national strategies aimed at forest protection and sustainable use of forest resources may have unintended effects abroad owing to a displacement of land use across countries. Decisions by consumers combined with certification schemes and moratoriums have an increasing influence on the fate of forests.
TL;DR: MadGraph 5 as mentioned in this paper is a new version of the MadGraph matrix element generator, written in the Python programming language and implements a number of new, efficient algorithms that provide improved performance and functionality in all aspects of the program.
Abstract: MadGraph 5 is the new version of the MadGraph matrix element generator, written in the Python programming language. It implements a number of new, efficient algorithms that provide improved performance and functionality in all aspects of the program. It features a new user interface, several new output formats including C++ process libraries for Pythia 8, and full compatibility with FeynRules for new physics models implementation, allowing for event generation for any model that can be written in the form of a Lagrangian. MadGraph 5 builds on the same philosophy as the previous versions, and its design allows it to be used as a collaborative platform where theoretical, phenomenological and simulation projects can be developed and then distributed to the high-energy community. We describe the ideas and the most important developments of the code and illustrate its capabilities through a few simple phenomenological examples.
01 Jan 2011
TL;DR: Eisenberger and Stinglhamber as discussed by the authors demonstrate how perceived organizational support affects employees' well-being, the positivity of their orientation toward the organization and work, and behavioral outcomes favorable to the organization.
Abstract: Today's constantly changing work environment is fraught with job uncertainty, frequent mergers and acquisitions, and a general breakdown of trust between employer and employee. More than ever, it is critical for managers to proactively shift away from devaluing employees as marginal capital to empowering them as human capital. "Perceived organizational support" — employees' perception of how much an organization values their contribution and cares about their well-being — mutually benefits both employees and their organizations and is integral to sustainable employer–employee relationships. Using organizational support theory and evidence gathered from hundreds of studies, Eisenberger and Stinglhamber demonstrate how perceived organizational support affects employees' well-being, the positivity of their orientation toward the organization and work, and behavioral outcomes favorable to the organization. The authors illustrate these findings with employee experiences and strategic approaches of major organizations such as Southwest Airlines, Wal-Mart, Costco, and Google. Organizational psychologists, management consultants, managers, and graduate students will obtain a clear understanding of perceived organizational support and the practical knowledge needed to foster its development and positive outcomes.
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TL;DR: In this paper, the authors consider the case of 1-bit CS measurements and provide a lower bound on the best achievable reconstruction error, and show that the same class of matrices that provide almost optimal noiseless performance also enable a robust mapping.
Abstract: The Compressive Sensing (CS) framework aims to ease the burden on analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) by reducing the sampling rate required to acquire and stably recover sparse signals. Practical ADCs not only sample but also quantize each measurement to a finite number of bits; moreover, there is an inverse relationship between the achievable sampling rate and the bit depth. In this paper, we investigate an alternative CS approach that shifts the emphasis from the sampling rate to the number of bits per measurement. In particular, we explore the extreme case of 1-bit CS measurements, which capture just their sign. Our results come in two flavors. First, we consider ideal reconstruction from noiseless 1-bit measurements and provide a lower bound on the best achievable reconstruction error. We also demonstrate that i.i.d. random Gaussian matrices describe measurement mappings achieving, with overwhelming probability, nearly optimal error decay. Next, we consider reconstruction robustness to measurement errors and noise and introduce the Binary $\epsilon$-Stable Embedding (B$\epsilon$SE) property, which characterizes the robustness measurement process to sign changes. We show the same class of matrices that provide almost optimal noiseless performance also enable such a robust mapping. On the practical side, we introduce the Binary Iterative Hard Thresholding (BIHT) algorithm for signal reconstruction from 1-bit measurements that offers state-of-the-art performance.
TL;DR: A scheme is presented for parcellation of human lateral parietal cortex into component regions on the basis of anatomical connectivity and the functional interactions of the resulting clusters with other brain regions using diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance image (MRI)-based tractography.
Abstract: Despite the prominence of parietal activity in human neuroimaging investigations of sensorimotor and cognitive processes, there remains uncertainty about basic aspects of parietal cortical anatomical organization. Descriptions of human parietal cortex draw heavily on anatomical schemes developed in other primate species, but the validity of such comparisons has been questioned by claims that there are fundamental differences between the parietal cortex in humans and other primates. A scheme is presented for parcellation of human lateral parietal cortex into component regions on the basis of anatomical connectivity and the functional interactions of the resulting clusters with other brain regions. Anatomical connectivity was estimated using diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance image (MRI)-based tractography, and functional interactions were assessed by correlations in activity measured with functional MRI at rest. Resting-state functional connectivity was also assessed directly in the rhesus macaque lateral parietal cortex in an additional experiment, and the patterns found reflected known neuroanatomical connections. Cross-correlation in the tractography-based connectivity patterns of parietal voxels reliably parcellated human lateral parietal cortex into 10 component clusters. The resting-state functional connectivity of human superior parietal and intraparietal clusters with frontal and extrastriate cortex suggested correspondences with areas in macaque superior and intraparietal sulcus. Functional connectivity patterns with parahippocampal cortex and premotor cortex again suggested fundamental correspondences between inferior parietal cortex in humans and macaques. In contrast, the human parietal cortex differs in the strength of its interactions between the central inferior parietal lobule region and the anterior prefrontal cortex.
Leiden University Medical Center1, University of Trieste2, Lund University3, Istanbul University4, University of Graz5, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven6, Université catholique de Louvain7, Royal Orthopaedic Hospital8, University of Copenhagen9, Cliniques Universitaires Saint-Luc10, Boston Children's Hospital11, Erasmus University Medical Center12
TL;DR: Somatic heterozygous mutations in IDH1 or IDH2 mutations in cartilage tumors were associated with hypermethylation and downregulated expression of several genes and suggested intraneoplastic and somatic mosaicism.
Abstract: Ollier disease and Maffucci syndrome are non-hereditary skeletal disorders characterized by multiple enchondromas (Ollier disease) combined with spindle cell hemangiomas (Maffucci syndrome). We report somatic heterozygous mutations in IDH1 (c.394C>T encoding an R132C substitution and c.395G>A encoding an R132H substitution) or IDH2 (c.516G>C encoding R172S) in 87% of enchondromas (benign cartilage tumors) and in 70% of spindle cell hemangiomas (benign vascular lesions). In total, 35 of 43 (81%) subjects with Ollier disease and 10 of 13 (77%) with Maffucci syndrome carried IDH1 (98%) or IDH2 (2%) mutations in their tumors. Fourteen of 16 subjects had identical mutations in separate lesions. Immunohistochemistry to detect mutant IDH1 R132H protein suggested intraneoplastic and somatic mosaicism. IDH1 mutations in cartilage tumors were associated with hypermethylation and downregulated expression of several genes. Mutations were also found in 40% of solitary central cartilaginous tumors and in four chondrosarcoma cell lines, which will enable functional studies to assess the role of IDH1 and IDH2 mutations in tumor formation.
TL;DR: This article found that the beat elicits a sustained periodic EEG response tuned to the beat frequency, while meter imagery elicits an additional frequency tuned to a corresponding metric interpretation of this beat.
Abstract: Feeling the beat and meter is fundamental to the experience of music. However, how these periodicities are represented in the brain remains largely unknown. Here, we test whether this function emerges from the entrainment of neurons resonating to the beat and meter. We recorded the electroencephalogram while participants listened to a musical beat and imagined a binary or a ternary meter on this beat (i.e., a march or a waltz). We found that the beat elicits a sustained periodic EEG response tuned to the beat frequency. Most importantly, we found that meter imagery elicits an additional frequency tuned to the corresponding metric interpretation of this beat. These results provide compelling evidence that neural entrainment to beat and meter can be captured directly in the electroencephalogram. More generally, our results suggest that music constitutes a unique context to explore entrainment phenomena in dynamic cognitive processing at the level of neural networks.
TL;DR: This poster presents a poster presented at the 2016 International Congress of the Phartnareutische Institut, Eidgenossische Technische Hochschule, CH-Zurich, Switzerland, presenting a poster entitled “Chimie Physiologique: Foundations of Cellular and Molecular Pathology .”
Abstract: p. COUVREUR*§, B. KANTE*, M. ROLAND', P. C h O T I ' , P. BAUDUIN'f, P. SPEISER~, Laboratoire de Pharmacie Galinique, Universite' Catholique de Louvain, B-1200 Bruxelles Belgium. t Laboratoire de Chimie Physiologique, UniversitP Catholique de Louvain and International Institute of Cellular and Molecular Pathology, B-1200 Bruxelles, Belgium. '$ Phartnareutische Institut, Eidgenossische Technische Hochschule, CH-Zurich, Switzerland.
TL;DR: In this article, the ability of a specific concentrate of water-extractable high molecular weight arabinoxylans (AX) from wheat to modulate both the gut microbiota and lipid metabolism in high-fat (HF) diet-induced obese mice was investigated.
Abstract: BACKGROUND: Alterations in the composition of gut microbiota--known as dysbiosis--has been proposed to contribute to the development of obesity, thereby supporting the potential interest of nutrients targeting the gut with beneficial effect for host adiposity. We test the ability of a specific concentrate of water-extractable high molecular weight arabinoxylans (AX) from wheat to modulate both the gut microbiota and lipid metabolism in high-fat (HF) diet-induced obese mice. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Mice were fed either a control diet (CT) or a HF diet, or a HF diet supplemented with AX (10% w/w) during 4 weeks. AX supplementation restored the number of bacteria that were decreased upon HF feeding, i.e. Bacteroides-Prevotella spp. and Roseburia spp. Importantly, AX treatment markedly increased caecal bifidobacteria content, in particular Bifidobacterium animalis lactis. This effect was accompanied by improvement of gut barrier function and by a lower circulating inflammatory marker. Interestingly, rumenic acid (C18:2 c9,t11) was increased in white adipose tissue due to AX treatment, suggesting the influence of gut bacterial metabolism on host tissue. In parallel, AX treatment decreased adipocyte size and HF diet-induced expression of genes mediating differentiation, fatty acid uptake, fatty acid oxidation and inflammation, and decreased a key lipogenic enzyme activity in the subcutaneous adipose tissue. Furthermore, AX treatment significantly decreased HF-induced adiposity, body weight gain, serum and hepatic cholesterol accumulation and insulin resistance. Correlation analysis reveals that Roseburia spp. and Bacteroides/Prevotella levels inversely correlate with these host metabolic parameters. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Supplementation of a concentrate of water-extractable high molecular weight AX in the diet counteracted HF-induced gut dysbiosis together with an improvement of obesity and lipid-lowering effects. We postulate that hypocholesterolemic, anti-inflammatory and anti-obesity effects are related to changes in gut microbiota. These data support a role for wheat AX as interesting nutrients with prebiotic properties related to obesity prevention.
TL;DR: This review addresses in a comprehensive manner the main molecular events accounting for high-rate glycolysis in cancer, and highlights the key role exerted by the hypoxia-inducible transcription factor HIF-1 in long-term adaptation to Hypoxia.
Abstract: Cancer is a metabolic disease and the solution of two metabolic equations: to produce energy with limited resources and to fulfill the biosynthetic needs of proliferating cells. Both equations are solved when glycolysis is uncoupled from oxidative phosphorylation in the tricarboxylic acid cycle, a process known as the glycolytic switch. This review addresses in a comprehensive manner the main molecular events accounting for high-rate glycolysis in cancer. It starts from modulation of the Pasteur Effect allowing short-term adaptation to hypoxia, highlights the key role exerted by the hypoxia-inducible transcription factor HIF-1 in long-term adaptation to hypoxia, and summarizes the current knowledge concerning the necessary involvement of aerobic glycolysis (the Warburg effect) in cancer cell proliferation. Based on the many observations positioning glycolysis as a central player in malignancy, the most advanced anticancer treatments targeting tumor glycolysis are briefly reviewed.
TL;DR: A novel, semiautomated image-analysis software to streamline the quantitative analysis of root growth and architecture of complex root systems, which combines a vectorial representation of root objects with a powerful tracing algorithm that accommodates a wide range of image sources and quality.
Abstract: We present in this paper a novel, semi-automated image analysis software to streamline the quantitative analysis of root growth and architecture of complex root systems. The software combines a vectorial representation of root objects with a powerful tracing algorithm which accommodates a wide range of image sources and quality. The root system is treated as a collection of roots (possibly connected) that are individually represented as parsimonious sets of connected segments. Pixel coordinates and grey level are therefore turned into intuitive biological attributes such as segment diameter and orientation, distance to any other segment or topological position. As a consequence, user interaction and data analysis directly operate on biologicalentities (roots) and are not hampered by the spatially discrete, pixel-based nature of the original image. The software supports a sampling-based analysis of root system images, in which detailed information is collected on a limited number of roots selected by the user according to specific research requirements. The use of the software is illustrated with a time-lapse analysis of cluster root formation in lupin (Lupinus albus) and with an architectural analysis of maize root system (Zea mays). The software, SmartRoot, is an operating system independent freeware based on ImageJ and relies on cross-platform standards for communication with data analysis softwares.
06 Mar 2011
TL;DR: This paper proposes the first key-policy attribute-based encryption schemes allowing for non-monotonic access structures (i.e., that may contain negated attributes) and with constant ciphertext size and describes a new efficient identity-based revocation mechanism that gives rise to the first truly expressive KP-ABE realization with constant-size ciphertexts.
Abstract: Attribute-based encryption (ABE), as introduced by Sahai and Waters, allows for fine-grained access control on encrypted data. In its key-policy flavor, the primitive enables senders to encrypt messages under a set of attributes and private keys are associated with access structures that specify which ciphertexts the key holder will be allowed to decrypt. In most ABE systems, the ciphertext size grows linearly with the number of ciphertext attributes and the only known exceptions only support restricted forms of threshold access policies.
This paper proposes the first key-policy attribute-based encryption (KP-ABE) schemes allowing for non-monotonic access structures (i.e., that may contain negated attributes) and with constant ciphertext size. Towards achieving this goal, we first show that a certain class of identity-based broadcast encryption schemes generically yields monotonic KPABE systems in the selective set model. We then describe a new efficient identity-based revocation mechanism that, when combined with a particular instantiation of our general monotonic construction, gives rise to the first truly expressive KP-ABE realization with constant-size ciphertexts. The downside of these new constructions is that private keys have quadratic size in the number of attributes. On the other hand, they reduce the number of pairing evaluations to a constant, which appears to be a unique feature among expressive KP-ABE schemes.