Differences between families in the amount of salivary H substances *

The saliva ABO inhibition titres of the members of twenty-eight 0X0 and ten BxO mating types were determined. The results of the examinations suggest that: (1) A precursor ‘H’ substance is formed by all secretors which is converted into A, B, or AB depending on the individual's blood group. (2) the titres of the H substance secreted by members of the same sibship and of the same blood group are very uniform (high intra-class correlation) indicating genetic control over the amount of the soluble ABO substances secreted. A genetic hypothesis was put forward to account for these findings.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/66443/1/j.1469-1809.1962.tb01308.x.pd

Lossy data compression with random gates

We introduce a new protocol for a lossy data compression algorithm which is based on constraint satisfaction gates. We show that the theoretical capacity of algorithms built from standard parity-check gates converges exponentially fast to the Shannon's bound when the number of variables seen by each gate increases. We then generalize this approach by introducing random gates. They have theoretical performances nearly as good as parity checks, but they offer the great advantage that the encoding can be done in linear time using the Survey Inspired Decimation algorithm, a powerful algorithm for constraint satisfaction problems derived from statistical physics

On the distance of the Magellanic Clouds using Cepheid NIR and optical-NIR Period Wesenheit Relations

We present the largest near-infrared (NIR) data sets, $JHKs$, ever collected for classical Cepheids in the Magellanic Clouds (MCs). We selected fundamental (FU) and first overtone (FO) pulsators, and found 4150 (2571 FU, 1579 FO) Cepheids for Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) and 3042 (1840 FU, 1202 FO) for Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). Current sample is 2--3 times larger than any sample used in previous investigations with NIR photometry. We also discuss optical $VI$ photometry from OGLE-III. NIR and optical--NIR Period-Wesenheit (PW) relations are linear over the entire period range ($0.0<\log P_{\rm FU} \le1.65$) and their slopes are, within the intrinsic dispersions, common between the MCs. These are consistent with recent results from pulsation models and observations suggesting that the PW relations are minimally affected by the metal content. The new FU and FO PW relations were calibrated using a sample of Galactic Cepheids with distances based on trigonometric parallaxes and Cepheid pulsation models. By using FU Cepheids we found a true distance moduli of $18.45\pm0.02{\rm(random)}\pm0.10{\rm(systematic)}$ mag (LMC) and $18.93\pm0.02{\rm(random)}\pm0.10{\rm(systematic)}$ mag (SMC). These estimates are the weighted mean over ten PW relations and the systematic errors account for uncertainties in the zero-point and in the reddening law. We found similar distances using FO Cepheids ($18.60\pm0.03{\rm(random)}\pm0.10{\rm(systematic)}$ mag [LMC] and $19.12\pm0.03{\rm(random)}\pm0.10{\rm(systematic)}$ mag [SMC]). These new MC distances lead to the relative distance, $\Delta\mu=0.48\pm0.03$ mag (FU, $\log P=1$) and $\Delta\mu=0.52\pm0.03$ mag (FO, $\log P=0.5$),which agrees quite well with previous estimates based on robust distance indicators.Comment: 17 pages, 7 figure

On the metallicity distribution of classical Cepheids in the Galactic inner disk

We present homogeneous and accurate iron abundances for almost four dozen (47) of Galactic Cepheids using high-spectral resolution (R$\sim$40,000) high signal-to-noise ratio (S/N $\ge$ 100) optical spectra collected with UVES at VLT. A significant fraction of the sample (32) is located in the inner disk (RG $le$ 6.9 kpc) and for half of them we provide new iron abundances. Current findings indicate a steady increase in iron abundance when approaching the innermost regions of the thin disk. The metallicity is super-solar and ranges from 0.2 dex for RG $\sim$ 6.5 kpc to 0.4 dex for RG $\sim$ 5.5 kpc. Moreover, we do not find evidence of correlation between iron abundance and distance from the Galactic plane. We collected similar data available in the literature and ended up with a sample of 420 Cepheids. Current data suggest that the mean metallicity and the metallicity dispersion in the four quadrants of the Galactic disk attain similar values. The first-second quadrants show a more extended metal-poor tail, while the third-fourth quadrants show a more extended metal-rich tail, but the bulk of the sample is at solar iron abundance. Finally, we found a significant difference between the iron abundance of Cepheids located close to the edge of the inner disk ([Fe/H]$\sim$0.4) and young stars located either along the Galactic bar or in the nuclear bulge ([Fe/H]$\sim$0). Thus suggesting that the above regions have had different chemical enrichment histories. The same outcome applies to the metallicity gradient of the Galactic bulge, since mounting empirical evidence indicates that the mean metallicity increases when moving from the outer to the inner bulge regions.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures; Corrected typos, corrected Table

Left Ventricular Pseudoaneurysm Found by CT Scan

A 62-year-old male with a previous coronary artery bypass grafting underwent CT scan for evaluation of left epigastric pain. Findings showed a large left ventricular pseudoaneurysm, which was subsequently confirmed by left ventriculogram. The pseudoaneurysm was successfully repaired surgically