Dimensions of Imaginary Root Spaces of Hyperbolic Kac--Moody Algebras

We discuss the known results and methods for determining root multiplicities for hyperbolic Kac--Moody algebras

Sweet chestnut (Castanea sativa Mill.) bioclimatic suitability in Central Italy: future potential scenarios under climate change

The ecological and economic relevance of sweet chestnut (Castanea sativa Mill.) has long been related to its wide geographical distribution and multipurpose products potential. In Central Italy and especially in Latium, sweet chestnut finds optimal environmental conditions for growth, supported by the application of traditional silvicultural practices. Thus, its distribution has been radically modified and controlled by man in order to manage it in profitable and diversified ways (e.g., by coppices or orchards) to produce a wide range of ecosystem services, marketable (wood, fruits) and not marketable (landscape, water regulation, etc.) products. Over the years, due to climate change, some productivity changes have been observed and new challenges are expected to manage and cultivate this species. Based on this background, this work aims at investigating the possible impacts of climate change on sweet chestnut in Central Italy in medium (2041-2060) and long term (2081-2100). Adopting a standard protocol for reporting species distribution model (ODMAP - Overview, Data, Model, Assessment, Prediction), four Earth System Models have been combined into two Shared Socio-economic Paths and two Time Horizons, to produce potential chestnut bioclimatic suitability maps. The outlined scenarios represent valuable information for future chestnut policy and management for defining specific strategies, considering the adaptive capacity of the species in terms of resilience from pathogenic attacks and response to innovative silvicultural treatments

A Lightcone Embedding of the Twin Building of a Hyperbolic Kac-Moody Group

The twin building of a Kac–Moody group G encodes the parabolic subgroup structure of G and admits a natural G–action. When G is a complex Kac–Moody group of hyperbolic type, we construct an embedding of the twin building of G into the lightcone of the compact real form of the corresponding Kac–Moody algebra. When G has rank 2, we construct an embedding of the spherical building at infinity into the set of rays on the boundary of the lightcone

Procesos ambientales que afectan la bahía San Antonio y su área de adyacencia (Prov. de Rio Negro)

Natural processes together with human activities represent necessary variables for the changes affecting different environments in coastal areas. The aim of this paper is to identify, through the use of geo-technologies, the environmental processes that affect the natural area in the San AntonioBay, which includes the cities of San Antonio Oeste, San Antonio Este and Las Grutas. Satellite images (Spot and Landsat 5 and 7) of different tide states, aerial photographs, topographic and nautical charts were processed. All the information obtained was systematized and integrated in a GIS (Geographic Information System). The morphology of the area under study consists of tidal plains and tidal channels, spits, dunes and cliffs. This ecosystem undergoes natural processes such as: eutrophication in the channel of La Mareain San Antonio Oeste, sedimentation of tidal channels in San Antonio Este and in the Villarino peninsula, accretion in coastal areas and sandbanks displacement. Likewise, the urban growth of San Antonio Oeste directly affects the natural environment of the protected area as well as the industrial activities and urban wastes. Los procesos naturales y las actividades humanas son las variables necesariasen los cambios que afectan a los diferentes ambientes en las zonascosteras. El objetivo de este trabajo es identificar los procesos ambientalesque afectan al área natural de la bahía San Antonio, que incluye a laslocalidades de San Antonio Oeste y San Antonio Este, y Las Grutas medianteel uso de geo-tecnologías. Se procesaron imágenes satelitales (Spot yLandsat 5 y 7) en distintos estados de marea, fotografías aéreas, cartastopográficas y náuticas. Toda la información obtenida fue sistematizada eintegrada en un SIG. La morfología del área de estudio está integrada porplanicies y canales de mareas, cordones, playas, médanos y acantilados.Este ecosistema sufre procesos naturales como son: la eutrofización delcanal de La Marea en San Antonio Oeste, sedimentación de canales de mareaen San Antonio Este y en la península Villarino se observa acreción enla zona costera y desplazamiento de médanos. Asimismo, el crecimientourbano de San Antonio Oeste afecta directamente los ambientes naturalesdel área protegida como así también los usos industriales y las descargasurbanas

Social Interactions of Dat-Het Epi-Genotypes Differing for Maternal Origins: The Development of a New Preclinical Model of Socio-Sexual Apathy

Social interaction is essential for life but is impaired in many psychiatric disorders. We presently focus on rats with a truncated allele for dopamine transporter (DAT). Since heterozygous individuals possess only one non-mutant allele, epigenetic interactions may unmask latent genetic predispositions. Homogeneous “maternal” heterozygous offspring (termed MAT-HET) were born from dopamine-transporter knocked-out (DAT-KO) male rats and wild-type (WT) mothers; “mixed” heterozygous offspring (termed MIX-HET) were born from both DAT-heterozygous parents. Their social behavior was assessed by: partner-preference (PPT), social-preference (SPT) and elicited-preference (EPT) tests. During the PPT, focal MIX-HET and MAT-HET males had a choice between two WT females, one in estrous and the other not. In the SPT, they met as stimulus either a MIX-HET or a WT male. In the EPT, the preference of focal male WT rats towards either a MIX- or a MAT-HET stimulus was tested. MIX-HET focal males showed an abnormal behavior, seeming not interested in socializing either with a female in estrous or with another male if MIX-HET. Focal MAT-HET males, instead, were very attracted by the female in estrous, but totally ignored the MIX-HET male. We assessed the expression of noradrenaline transporter (NET) in prefrontal cortex, hippocampus and hypothalamus, finding differences between the two offspring. MIX-HETs’ hypothalamus and hippocampus showed less NET than MAT-HETs, while the latter, in turn, showed higher NET than WTs. These behavioral differences between heterozygous groups may be attributed to different maternal cares received. Results allow preclinical understanding of epigenetic factors involved in social-behavior abnormalities, typical of many psychiatric disorders

The geometry of love in schizophrenia and autism. Problems and solutions

El presente trabajo se inscribe en el Proyecto de investigación Autistas y esquizofrénicos en el amor. Entre la particularidad de la estructura y la singularidad del caso, acreditado por la Universidad Nacional de La Plata. En dicho marco, el propósito de la ponencia es plantear, con la metodología de exégesis de textos, algunos aspectos centrales que hacen al estado del arte sobre el tema del amor en psicoanálisis, en su articulación con las categorías clínicas del autismo y la esquizofrenia.El estudio se interroga sobre el estatuto del amor en quienes rechazan el saber del inconsciente y presentan serias perturbaciones en sus vínculos con la otredad. Es el caso de los sujetos esquizofrénicos, que no cuentan “con el auxilio de ningún discurso establecido” (Lacan 1973: 15) y se confrontan brutalmente con la inconsistencia del Otro; y es el caso también de los autistas, cuyo caparazón defensivo los protege, al precio de un radical aislamiento, de la intrusión de un Otro real siempre amenazante. En tal contexto, el escrito está vertebrado por el contrapunto entre dos perspectivas: en primer lugar, la del amor como quiebre, correlativo del agujero forclusivo que impide la significación fálica, la simbolización y la localización del goce necesarias para que la experiencia amorosa sea posible. Luego, la del amor como arreglo, que suple, de acuerdo a la solución singular de cada sujeto, esa carencia fundamental de la posición psicótica y vuelve viable, entre otros, el amor erótico, el parento-filial, el de transferencia.The present work is part of the Research Project Autists and schizophrenics in love. Among the particularity of the structure and the uniqueness of the case, accredited by the Faculty of Psychology of the National University of La Plata and registered in the Laboratory of Psychopathology and Psychoanalysis (LIPPSI). In this framework, the purpose of the presentation is to propose, with the methodology of text exegesis, some central aspects that make the state of the art on the subject of love in psychoanalysis, in its articulation with the clinical categories of autism and schizophrenia. The study questions the status of love in those who reject the knowledge of the unconscious and present serious disturbances in their links with otherness. This is the case of schizophrenic subjects, who do not have “the help of any established discourse” (Lacan, 1972, p. 478) and are brutally confronted with the inconsistency of the Other; and this is also the case of autistic people, whose defensive shell protects them, at the price of radical isolation, from the intrusion of an ever-threatening real Other. In this context, the writing is structured by the counterpoint between two perspectives: in the first place, that of love as a break, correlative of the foreclosure hole that prevents the phallic meaning, the symbolization and the location of the enjoyment necessary for the love experience to be possible. Then, that of love as an arrangement, which supplies, according to the singular solution of each subject, that fundamental lack of the psychotic position and makes viable, among others, erotic love, parental-filial love, that of transference.Facultad de Psicologí

Prior activation of 5-HT7 receptors modulates the conditioned place preference with methylphenidate

The serotonin receptor subtype 7 (5-HT7R) is clearly involved in behavioral functions such as learning/memory, mood regulation and circadian rhythm. Recent discoveries proposed modulatory physiological roles for serotonergic systems in reward-guided behavior. However, the interplay between serotonin (5-HT) and dopamine (DA) in reward-related behavioral adaptations needs to be further assessed. TP-22 is a recently developed arylpiperazine-based 5-HT7R agonist, which is also showing high affinity and selectivity towards D1 receptors. Here, we report that TP-22 displays D1 receptor antagonist activity. Moreover, we describe the first in vivo tests with TP-22: first, a pilot experiment (assessing dosage and timing of action) identified the 0.25 mg/kg i.v. dosage for locomotor stimulation of rats. Then, a conditioned place preference (CPP) test with the DA-releasing psychostimulant drug, methylphenidate (MPH), involved three rat groups: prior i.v. administration of TP-22 (0.25 mg/kg), or vehicle (VEH), 90 min before MPH (5 mg/kg), was intended for modulation of conditioning to the white chamber (saline associated to the black chamber); control group (SAL) was conditioned with saline in both chambers. Prior TP-22 further increased the stimulant effect of MPH on locomotor activity. During the place-conditioning test, drug-free activity of TP-22+MPH subjects remained steadily elevated, while VEH+MPH subjects showed a decline. Finally, after a priming injection of TP-22 in MPH-free conditions, rats showed a high preference for the MPH-associated white chamber, which conversely had vanished in VEH-primed MPH-conditioned subjects. Overall, the interaction between MPH and pre-treatment with TP-22 seems to improve both locomotor stimulation and the conditioning of motivational drives to environmental cues. Together with recent studies, a main modulatory role of 5-HT7R for the processing of rewards can be suggested. In the present study, TP-22 proved to be a useful psychoactive tool to better elucidate the role of 5-HT7R and its interplay with DA in reward-related behavior

Relationship between location and size of myocardial infarction and their reciprocal influences on post-infarction left ventricular remodeling

AimsTo assess the intricate relationship between myocardial infarction (MI) location and size and their reciprocal influences on post-infarction left ventricular (LV) remodelling.Methods and resultsA cohort of 260 reperfused ST-segment elevation MI patients was prospectively studied with cardiovascular magnetic resonance at 1 week (baseline) and 4 months (follow-up). Area at risk (AAR) and MI size were quantified by T2-weighted and late-gadolinium enhancement imaging, respectively. Adverse LV remodelling was defined as an increase in LV end-systolic volume ≥15 at follow-up. One hundred and twenty-seven (49) patients had anterior MI and 133 (51) patients had non-anterior MI. Although the degree of myocardial salvage was similar between groups (P=0.74), anterior MI patients had larger AAR and MI size than non-anterior MI patients yielding worse regional and global LV function at baseline and follow-up. At univariable analysis, anterior MI was associated with increased risk of adverse LV remodelling (P=0.017) and lower LV ejection fraction (EF) at follow-up (P=0.001), but not when accounted for baseline MI size. Accordingly, at multivariable analysis, baseline MI size but not its location was an independent predictor of adverse LV remodelling (odds ratio 1.061, P < 0.001) and EF at follow-up (β-coefficient=-0.255, P < 0.001).ConclusionAnterior MI patients experience more pronounced post-infarction LV remodelling and dysfunction than non-anterior MI patients due to a greater magnitude of irreversible ischaemic LV damage without any independent contribution of MI location. © 2011 The Author