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We consider the Random-Cluster model on $\mathbb{Z}^d$ with interactions of infinite range of the form $J_x = \psi(x)\mathsf{e}^{-\rho(x)}$ with $\rho$ a norm on $\mathbb{Z}^d$ and $\psi$ a subexponential correction. We first provide an optimal criterion ensuring the existence of a nontrivial saturation regime (that is, the existence of $\beta_{\rm sat}(s)>0$ such that the inverse correlation length in the direction $s$ is constant on $[0,\beta_{\rm sat}(s))$), thus removing a regularity assumption used in a previous work of ours. Then, under suitable assumptions, we derive sharp asymptotics (which are not of Ornstein-Zernike form) for the two-point function in the whole saturation regime $(0,\beta_{\rm sat}(s))$. We also obtain a number of additional results for this class of models, including sharpness of the phase transition, mixing above the critical temperature and the strict monotonicity of the inverse correlation length in $\beta$ in the regime $(\beta_{\rm sat}(s), \beta_{\rm c})$., Comment: Some changes in the presentation after revision. Version accepted for publication in Communications in Mathematical Physics

Background Pharmacists in sales and marketing roles need specific skills for managerial positions, and a framework for evaluating and developing these competencies is necessary. Currently, no such framework is known to exist. Objective This study aimed to develop and validate a specialized competency framework for pharmacists in sales and marketing managerial positions and assess correlates related to the competency domains. Methods This web-based study carried out between March and October 2022 enrolled a convenient sample of 60 pharmacists with managerial positions in sales and marketing, contacted by phone, working in the field of sales and marketing from the five governorates of Lebanon (Beirut, Beqaa, Mount Lebanon, South, and North). Results The framework demonstrated good construct and structural validity in all domains except for emergency preparedness, which had a low correlation with other domains. Competencies were well correlated with respective domains, and behaviors had excellent loadings on corresponding competencies. As for the correlates of the competency domains, males were more confident than females (p p Conclusion This study could develop and validate the Specialized Competency Framework for Pharmacists in Managerial Positions in Sales and Marketing (SCF-PMSM) among a sample of Lebanese pharmacists. This framework demonstrated good reliability, content, construct, and structural validity in all the domains, with the competencies being well correlated with their respective domains and behaviors having excellent loadings on related competencies, except for emergency preparedness and response. It also revealed a mismatch between what is taught at undergraduate and postgraduate levels and the needs in practice.

Considered heavy metals, such as As(III), Bi(II), Cd(II), Cr(VI), Mn(II), Mo(II), Ni(II), Pb(II), Sb(III), Se(-II), Zn(II), and contaminating chemical compounds (monocyclic aromatic hydrocarbons such as phenolic or polycyclic derivatives) in wastewater (petrochemical industries: oil and gas production plants) are currently a major concern in environmental toxicology due to their toxic effects on aquatic and terrestrial life. In order to maintain biodiversity, hydrosphere ecosystems, and people, it is crucial to remove these heavy metals and polluting chemical compounds from the watery environment. In this study, different Nanoparticles (α-Fe2O3, CuO, and ZnO) were synthesized by green synthesis method using Portulaca oleracea leaf extract and characterized by UV–Vis spectrophotometers, FTIR spectroscopy, X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS) techniques in order to investigate morphology, composition, and crystalline structure of NPs, these were then used as adsorbent for the removal of As(III), Bi(II), Cd(II), Cr(VI), Mn(II), Mo(II), Ni(II), Pb(II), Sb(III), Se(-II), and Zn(II) from wastewater, and removal efficiencies of were obtained 100% under optimal conditions.

The goal of this article is two-fold: in a first part, we prove Azuma-Hoeffding type concentration inequalities around the drift for the displacement of non-elementary random walks on hyperbolic spaces. For a proper hyperbolic space $M$, we obtain explicit bounds that depend only on $M$, the size of support of the measure as in the classical case of sums of independent random variables, and on the norm of the driving probability measure in the left regular representation of the group of isometries. We obtain uniform bounds in the case of hyperbolic groups and effective bounds for simple linear groups of rank-one. In a second part, using our concentration inequalities, we give quantitative finite-time estimates on the probability that two independent random walks on the isometry group of a hyperbolic space generate a free non-abelian subgroup. Our concentration results follow from a more general, but less explicit statement that we prove for cocycles which satisfy a certain cohomological equation. For example, this also allows us to obtain subgaussian concentration bounds around the top Lyapunov exponent of random matrix products in arbitrary dimension., Comment: 34 pages, v3-->v4: changes and corrections after revision, references added. To appear in Probab. Theory Related Fields

Urinary microbiota has been found to play a key role in numerous urological diseases. The aim of this systematic review is to depict the role of urinary microbiota in the pathogenesis, diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment of urological tumors, including bladder cancer (BCa), prostate cancer (PCa) and renal cell carcinoma (RCC).A systematic PubMed and Scopus search was undergone from inception through June 2021 for studies investigating urinary microbiota alterations in urological tumors. Study selection followed the PRISMA statement. Phylum, family, genus and species of each bacterium in cancer patients and controls were recorded.Twenty-one studies with 1194 patients (748 cancer patients and 446 controls) were included in our final analysis. Certain bacterial phylum, family, genus, and species were more predominant in each of BCa, PCa and RCC patients compared to controls. Abundance and specificity of urinary microbiota were prognosticators for: (1) recurrence, distinguishing recurrent from non-recurrent BCa, (2) disease stage, distinguishing non-muscle invasive from muscle invasive BCa, and (3) disease grade, distinguishing high- vs. low-grade PCa and BCa. Dietary, environmental and geographic patterns influenced urinary microbiota. Urinary microbiota of benign prostatic hyperplasia was different from PCa.Urological cancer patients have an altered urinary microbiota compared to controls. This may predict recurrence, disease stage and disease grade of these tumors. Further prospective studies are needed to depict a potential influence on therapeutic outcomes.

Given a finite-dimensional real vector space V, a probability measure $$\mu $$ μ on $${\text {PGL}}(V)$$ PGL ( V ) and a $$\mu $$ μ -invariant subspace W, under a block-Lyapunov contraction assumption, we prove existence and uniqueness of lifts to $$P(V){\setminus } P(W)$$ P ( V ) \ P ( W ) of stationary probability measures on the quotient P(V/W). In the other direction, i.e. block-Lyapunov expansion, we prove that stationary measures on P(V/W) have lifts if any only if the group generated by the support of $$\mu $$ μ stabilizes a subspace $$W'$$ W ′ not contained in W and exhibiting a faster growth than on $$W \cap W'$$ W ∩ W ′ . These refine the description of stationary probability measures on projective spaces as given by Furstenberg, Kifer and Hennion, and under the same assumptions, extend corresponding results by Aoun, Benoist, Bruère, Guivarc’h, and others.

Although elevated levels of anti-citrullinated protein antibodies (ACPAs) are a hallmark of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), the in vivo functions of these antibodies remain unclear. Here, we have expressed monoclonal ACPAs derived from patients with RA, and analyzed their functions in mice, as well as their specificities. None of the ACPAs showed arthritogenicity nor induced pain-associated behavior in mice. However, one of the antibodies, clone E4, protected mice from antibody-induced arthritis. E4 showed a binding pattern restricted to skin, macrophages and dendritic cells in lymphoid tissue, and cartilage derived from mouse and human arthritic joints. Proteomic analysis confirmed that E4 strongly binds to macrophages and certain RA synovial fluid proteins such as alpha-enolase. The protective effect of E4 was epitope-specific and dependent on the interaction between E4-citrullinated alpha-enolase immune complexes with FCGR2B on macrophages, resulting in increased IL-10 secretion and reduced osteoclastogenesis. These findings suggest that a subset of ACPAs have therapeutic potential in RA. Although anti-citrullinated protein antibodies (ACPAs) are a hallmark of rheumatoid arthritis and generally considered pathogenic, their functional relevance is incompletely understood. In this study, the authors describe an ACPA with a protective effect against antibody-induced arthritis in mice.

Background Dental caries and Obesity in children are issues of public health concern. Even though researching the relationship between these two noncommunicable diseases has been conducted for many years, the results remain equivocal. This paper aimed to examine the association between dental caries and obesity among 12-year-old schoolchildren living in war-affected environment in Benghazi. Methods A secondary analysis of a cross-sectional study was conducted to determine the prevalence of caries among 12-year-old school children in Benghazi in 2017 during the armed conflict that affected the city. The data extracted for the analysis included sociodemographic of the participants (gender, maternal education and school type), caries experience (DMFT index), and anthropometric measures (height in cm, weight in kg, BMI and Z score for BMI). Comparisons of anthropometric measures were conducted according to caries experience. Linear regression models were developed to determine the association between Body Mass Index and Z score as outcome variables, caries as an explanatory variable, and covariates (gender, maternal education and school type). Beta coefficient (β) and 95% confidence intervals were calculated. All statistical tests were conducted at p ≤ 0.05. Results There were 782 children with a mean (SD) BMI of 20.7 SD5.09 and an average z (SD) score of 0.56 SD1.51. Also, 159 (20%) children had obesity. No significant association was observed between caries and anthropometric measures. However, higher BMI was observed in children from a private school (p ≤ 0.001***), females (p ≤ 0.001***) and self-reported regular sugary drinks consumers (p ≤ 0.001***). Conclusion The present study shows no significant association between dental caries and anthropometric measures. However, the study findings support the notion of tackling sugar intake as a common risk factor for caries and obesity, which should be encouraged in the Libyan culture.

Study design Literature review. Objective Adult degenerative scoliosis (ADS) is becoming a more prevalent diagnosis with an increasing elderly population. Our objective is to provide a literature review of genetic and serum markers in ADS. Methods A literature review was conducted in the various databases from their inception to July 2020. Studies that reviewed any genetic or serum markers of ADS whether in detection or progression were selected. Studies that reviewed congenital scoliosis or adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) were excluded. Results A total of 1447 titles were identified of which 14 were included in the final review. Two papers reported on serum markers pertaining to serum cartilage metabolites and pentosidine. Twelve studies reported on genetic markers including gene polymorphisms in estrogen receptors, parathyroid hormone receptors, interleukin 6, cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), COL2A1, GPRIN1, TRAIL, GRIN receptor, RIMS, LBX1 as well as copy number variations. Conclusions Serum markers of osteoarthritis and sarcopenia have been found to be significantly elevated in ADS patients as well. Numerous polymorphisms have been found in a variety of genes playing key roles in bone formation and regulation. Further research is needed in validating previous studies as well as identifying other biomarkers for patients at risk for developing ADS.

Thalamic gliomas are rare neoplasms that pose significant surgical challenges. The literature is limited to single-institution retrospective case series. We systematically review the literature and describe the clinical characteristics, treatment strategies, and survival outcomes of adult thalamic gliomas. Relevant articles were identified on PubMed, Scopus, and Cochrane databases. Papers containing cases of adult thalamic gliomas with clinical outcome data were included. A comprehensive review of clinical characteristics and survival analysis was conducted. We included 25 studies comprising 617 patients. The median age was 45 years (male = 58.6%). Glioblastoma was the most frequent histological type (47.2%), and 82 tumors were H3 K27M-mutant. Motor deficit was the most common presenting symptom (51.8%). Surgical resection was performed in 69.1% of cases while adjuvant chemotherapy and radiotherapy were administered in 56.3% and 72.6%, respectively. Other treatments included laser interstitial thermal therapy, which was performed in 15 patients (2.4%). The lesion laterality (P = 0.754) and the surgical approach (P = 0.111) did not correlate with overall survival. The median progression-free survival was 9 months, and the overall two-year survival rate was 19.7%. The two-year survival rates of low-grade and high-grade thalamic gliomas were 31.0% and 16.5%, respectively. H3 K27M-mutant gliomas showed worse overall survival (P = 0.017). Adult thalamic gliomas are associated with poor survival. Complete surgical resection is associated with improved survival rates but is not always feasible. H3 K27M mutation is associated with worse survival and a more aggressive approach should be considered for mutant neoplasms.