The relevance of schizotypal traits for understanding interpersonal functioning in adolescents with psychiatric problems.

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Characterizing normal crossing hypersurfaces

The objective of this article is to give an effective algebraic characterization of normal crossing hypersurfaces in complex manifolds. It is shown that a hypersurface has normal crossings if and only if it is a free divisor, has a radical Jacobian ideal and a smooth normalization. Using K. Saito's theory of free divisors, also a characterization in terms of logarithmic differential forms and vector fields is found and and finally another one in terms of the logarithmic residue using recent results of M. Granger and M. Schulze.Comment: v2: typos fixed, final version to appear in Math. Ann.; 24 pages, 2 figure

Dynamic screening of a localized hole during photoemission from a metal cluster

Recent advances in attosecond spectroscopy techniques have fueled the interest in the theoretical description of electronic processes taking place in the subfemtosecond time scale. Here we study the coupled dynamic screening of a localized hole and a photoelectron emitted from a metal cluster using a semi-classical model. Electron density dynamics in the cluster is calculated with Time-Dependent Density Functional Theory and the motion of the photoemitted electron is described classically. We show that the dynamic screening of the hole by the cluster electrons affects the motion of the photoemitted electron. At the very beginning of its trajectory, the photoemitted electron interacts with the cluster electrons that pile up to screen the hole. Within our model, this gives rise to a significant reduction of the energy lost by the photoelectron. Thus, this is a velocity dependent effect that should be accounted for when calculating the average losses suffered by photoemitted electrons in metals.Comment: 15 pages, 5 figure

Quantitative extraction of Meiofauna: A comparison of two methods

Two methods for the quantitative extraction of meiofauna from natural sandy sediments were investigated and compared: Cobb's decanting and sieving technique and the Oostenbrink elutriator. Both techniques were more efficient with pre-fixed samples than with fresh samples. The results indicated that elutriation is the more reliable method due to its low variability, 7,5% for nematodes and 8,4% for harpacticoids and  mystacocarids compared to 11,2% and 29,0% respectively in the case of decantation. However, with samples containing 3 000 to 5 000 animals per 200 cc, decantation yielded 25% more animals than elutriation

Prophylaxis of Infective Endocarditis: A Cross Sectional Survey among Physician Members of the Portuguese Society of Cardiology

Introduction: In the last decade, the downgrading of indications for antibiotic prophylaxis for infective endocarditis caused an uncertain impact on the incidence of this condition. Since no data is available on the practice of infective endocarditis prophylaxis in Portugal, we aimed to characterize the pattern of antibiotic use for infective endocarditis prophylaxis and the compliance/awareness of scientific guidelines among physician members of the Portuguese Society of Cardiology. Material and methods: A cross sectional observational study was conducted. An online self-completed questionnaire with 12 items on infective endocarditis prophylaxis was sent to 1330 physicians, specialists and residents, members of the Portuguese Society of Cardiology. In addition, descriptive statistical analysis was performed. Results: Two hundred and fifty-three valid questionnaires were responded. Eighty-seven per cent of respondents were cardiologists (specialists or residents), mostly between 30 and 40 years old (26.7%) and 50 to 80 years old (44.3%). The majority (83.0%) follow the European scientific guidelines. Still, 61.0% had or may have had doubts regarding prophylaxis of infective endocarditis in certain patients. Variable adherence to scientific guidelines was noted. Further scientific evidence was required by 60.6% of respondents. Conclusion: Infective endocarditis prophylaxis was generally guided by European scientific guidelines among physicians of the Portuguese Society of Cardiology. There was, however, an evident discrepancy between the guidelines and real-world perception of the risk of infective endocarditis. This highlights the sensed gap in accessing more robust scientific evidence.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

MCMC for variationally sparse Gaussian processes

Gaussian process (GP) models form a core part of probabilistic machine learning. Considerable research effort has been made into attacking three issues with GP models: how to compute efficiently when the number of data is large; how to approximate the posterior when the likelihood is not Gaussian and how to estimate covariance function parameter posteriors. This paper simultaneously addresses these, using a variational approximation to the posterior which is sparse in support of the function but otherwise free-form. The result is a Hybrid Monte-Carlo sampling scheme which allows for a non-Gaussian approximation over the function values and covariance parameters simultaneously, with efficient computations based on inducing-point sparse GPs. Code to replicate each experiment in this paper will be available shortly.JH was funded by an MRC fellowship, AM and ZG by EPSRC grant EP/I036575/1 and a Google Focussed Research award.This is the final version of the article. It first appeared from the Neural Information Processing Systems Foundation via https://papers.nips.cc/paper/5875-mcmc-for-variationally-sparse-gaussian-processe

Auras and the risk of seizures with impaired consciousness following epilepsy surgery: implications for driving

OBJECTIVE: To calculate the chance of a seizure in the next year (COSY) for seizures with impaired awareness in those experiencing auras only, those with no seizures and those with continuing seizures. Epilepsy surgery is an effective treatment for refractory focal epilepsy. Driving is an important factor affecting quality of life. In the UK, driving is not permitted if focal seizures with no impairment of awareness (auras, simple partial seizures) continue, if there is a prior history of seizures with impaired awareness, as will invariably be the case in those having epilepsy surgery. Current UK driving regulations allow driving if COSY is less than 20%. METHOD: We calculated COSY in 819 epilepsy surgery patients with up to 25 years follow-up. Each patient year was graded on the The International League against Epilepsy surgery outcome scale. RESULTS: Patients who were entirely seizure-free for 1, 2 and 3 years had COSY of 4.9%, 3.5% and 2.4% respectively. Patients with only auras within the last 1, 2 or 3 years had a COSY of 11.3%, 9.2% and 7.8% respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Individuals with auras only after epilepsy surgery had a higher COSY than those who were seizure-free. If a COSY of below 20% is regarded as an acceptable risk, it may be suggested that those with auras only in a given year be allowed to drive. The relative risk of these patients causing accidents is lower than population groups such as those aged 75 years, who are permitted to drive

Transcriptomic signatures of neuronal differentiation and their association with risk genes for autism spectrum and related neuropsychiatric disorders.

Genes for autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) are also implicated in fragile X syndrome (FXS), intellectual disabilities (ID) or schizophrenia (SCZ), and converge on neuronal function and differentiation. The SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cell line, the most widely used system to study neurodevelopment, is currently discussed for its applicability to model cortical development. We implemented an optimal neuronal differentiation protocol of this system and evaluated neurodevelopment at the transcriptomic level using the CoNTeXT framework, a machine-learning algorithm based on human post-mortem brain data estimating developmental stage and regional identity of transcriptomic signatures. Our improved model in contrast to currently used SH-SY5Y models does capture early neurodevelopmental processes with high fidelity. We applied regression modelling, dynamic time warping analysis, parallel independent component analysis and weighted gene co-expression network analysis to identify activated gene sets and networks. Finally, we tested and compared these sets for enrichment of risk genes for neuropsychiatric disorders. We confirm a significant overlap of genes implicated in ASD with FXS, ID and SCZ. However, counterintuitive to this observation, we report that risk genes affect pathways specific for each disorder during early neurodevelopment. Genes implicated in ASD, ID, FXS and SCZ were enriched among the positive regulators, but only ID-implicated genes were also negative regulators of neuronal differentiation. ASD and ID genes were involved in dendritic branching modules, but only ASD risk genes were implicated in histone modification or axonal guidance. Only ID genes were over-represented among cell cycle modules. We conclude that the underlying signatures are disorder-specific and that the shared genetic architecture results in overlaps across disorders such as ID in ASD. Thus, adding developmental network context to genetic analyses will aid differentiating the pathophysiology of neuropsychiatric disorders

The mapping class group and the Meyer function for plane curves

For each d>=2, the mapping class group for plane curves of degree d will be defined and it is proved that there exists uniquely the Meyer function on this group. In the case of d=4, using our Meyer function, we can define the local signature for 4-dimensional fiber spaces whose general fibers are non-hyperelliptic compact Riemann surfaces of genus 3. Some computations of our local signature will be given.Comment: 24 pages, typo adde