On consistent solutions for strategic games

Nash equilibrium;game theory

Lichen striatus associated with psoriasis vulgaris treated with oral acitretin.

Lichen striatus (LS) is an uncommon dermatosis of unknown etiology that presents as a continuous or interrupted linear band of pink, tan, red or skin-colored papules in a blaschkoid distribution. The lesions are generally solitary and unilateral, but unusual extensive cases with multiple and bilateral lesions have been also described. Albeit LS is typically an asymptomatic and self-limited dermatosis, it may cause a significant psychological distress in some patients, thus requiring an appropriate therapy. Topical steroid is the most commonly used treatment but it is not always effective. We report a case of LS unresponsive to topical steroid therapy associated with psoriasis vulgaris successfully treated with oral acitretin

cutaneous vascular alterations in psoriatic patients treated with cyclosporine

Videocapillaroscopy can be used to assess cutaneous microcirculation modifications in vivo, and therefore allows assessment of variations in the microvascular architecture in psoriatic subjects during treatment. The aim of this study was to observe and quantify the modifications of the superficial capillary bed in psoriatic plaques during treatment with cyclosporin A. Twelve patients with psoriasis vulgaris were treated with an initial dose of 4 mg/kg/day cyclosporin A over a period of 3 months with periodic clinical and capillaroscopic assessments. Clinical resolution of the lesions and a reduction in microcirculatory alterations was observed in 70% of patients, although none returned to a normal capillaroscopic pattern

Reduction of the Delays within an Intrusion Detection System (IDS) based on Software Defined Networking (SDN)

Software Defined Networking (SDN) is a very useful tool not only to manage networks but also to increase network security, in particular by implementing Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS) directly into the SDN architecture. The implementation of IDS within the SDN paradigm can simplify the implementation, speed up incident responses, and, in general, allow to promptly react to cyber attacks through proper countermeasures. Nevertheless, embedding IDS within SDN also introduces delays that cannot be tolerated in specific network environments, like industrial control systems. This paper focuses on the implementation of an IDS based on Machine Learning (ML) algorithms into an SDN architecture and proposes a very practical approach to reduce the delay by using the sequential implementation of prototypes of increasing software and hardware complexity so allowing quick tests to highlight the main problems, solve them and pass to the next operative step. A fully validated performance evaluation is then shown by exploiting all the presented solutions and by using further improved hardware features. The overall performance is very good and compliant with most, even if not yet all, industrial control systems constraints. Results show how the proposed solutions provide a significant improvement of the latency so opening the door to a real implementation in the field

Improved diffusion Monte Carlo propagators for bosonic systems using Ito calculus

The construction of importance sampled diffusion Monte Carlo (DMC) schemes accurate to second order in the time step is discussed. A central aspect in obtaining efficient second order schemes is the numerical solution of the stochastic differential equation (SDE) associated with the Fokker-Plank equation responsible for the importance sampling procedure. In this work, stochastic predictor-corrector schemes solving the SDE and consistent with It\uf4 calculus are used in DMC simulations of helium clusters. These schemes are numerically compared with alternative algorithms obtained by splitting the Fokker-Plank operator, an approach that we analyze using the analytical tools provided by It\uf4 calculus. The numerical results show that predictor-corrector methods are indeed accurate to second order in the time step and that they present a smaller time step bias and a better efficiency than second order split-operator derived schemes when computing ensemble averages for bosonic systems. The possible extension of the predictor-corrector methods to higher orders is also discussed

The Stroke-Induced Increase of Somatostatin-Expressing Neurons is Inhibited by Diabetes: A Potential Mechanism at the Basis of Impaired Stroke Recovery

Type 2 diabetes (T2D) hampers recovery after stroke, but the underling mechanisms are mostly unknown. In a recently published study (Pintana et al. in Clin Sci (Lond) 133(13):1367\u20131386, 2019), we showed that impaired recovery in T2D was associated with persistent atrophy of parvalbumin+ interneurons in the damaged striatum. In the current work, which is an extension of the abovementioned study, we investigated whether somatostatin (SOM)+ interneurons are also affected by T2D during the stroke recovery phase. C57Bl/6j mice were fed with high-fat diet or standard diet (SD) for 12\ua0months and subjected to 30-min transient middle cerebral artery occlusion (tMCAO). SOM+ cell number/density in the striatum was assessed by immunohistochemistry 2 and 6\ua0weeks after tMCAO in peri-infarct and infarct areas. This was possible by establishing a computer-based quantification method that compensates the post-stroke tissue deformation and the irregular cell distribution. SOM+ interneurons largely survived the stroke as seen at 2\ua0weeks. Remarkably, 6\ua0weeks after stroke, the number of SOM+ interneurons increased (vs. contralateral striatum) in SD-fed mice in both peri-infarct and infarct areas. However, this increase did not result from neurogenesis. T2D completely abolished this effect specifically in the in the infarct area. The results suggest that the up-regulation of SOM expression in the post-stroke phase could be related to neurological recovery and T2D could inhibit this process. We also present a new and precise method for cell counting in the stroke-damaged striatum that allows to reveal accurate, area-related effects of stroke on cell number