Novel Results on the Number of Runs of the Burrows-Wheeler-Transform

The Burrows-Wheeler-Transform (BWT), a reversible string transformation, is one of the fundamental components of many current data structures in string processing. It is central in data compression, as well as in efficient query algorithms for sequence data, such as webpages, genomic and other biological sequences, or indeed any textual data. The BWT lends itself well to compression because its number of equal-letter-runs (usually referred to as $r$) is often considerably lower than that of the original string; in particular, it is well suited for strings with many repeated factors. In fact, much attention has been paid to the $r$ parameter as measure of repetitiveness, especially to evaluate the performance in terms of both space and time of compressed indexing data structures. In this paper, we investigate $\rho(v)$, the ratio of $r$ and of the number of runs of the BWT of the reverse of $v$. Kempa and Kociumaka [FOCS 2020] gave the first non-trivial upper bound as $\rho(v) = O(\log^2(n))$, for any string $v$ of length $n$. However, nothing is known about the tightness of this upper bound. We present infinite families of binary strings for which $\rho(v) = \Theta(\log n)$ holds, thus giving the first non-trivial lower bound on $\rho(n)$, the maximum over all strings of length $n$. Our results suggest that $r$ is not an ideal measure of the repetitiveness of the string, since the number of repeated factors is invariant between the string and its reverse. We believe that there is a more intricate relationship between the number of runs of the BWT and the string's combinatorial properties.Comment: 14 pages, 2 figue

Cooling of Dark-Matter Admixed Neutron Stars with density-dependent Equation of State

We propose a dark-matter (DM) admixed density-dependent equation of state where the fermionic DM interacts with the nucleons via Higgs portal. Presence of DM can hardly influence the particle distribution inside neutron star (NS) but can significantly affect the structure as well as equation of state (EOS) of NS. Introduction of DM inside NS softens the equation of state. We explored the effect of variation of DM mass and DM Fermi momentum on the NS EOS. Moreover, DM-Higgs coupling is constrained using dark matter direct detection experiments. Then, we studied cooling of normal NSs using APR and DD2 EOSs and DM admixed NSs using dark-matter modified DD2 with varying DM mass and Fermi momentum. We have done our analysis by considering different NS masses. Also DM mass and DM Fermi momentum are varied for fixed NS mass and DM-Higgs coupling. We calculated the variations of luminosity and temperature of NS with time for all EOSs considered in our work and then compared our calculations with the observed astronomical cooling data of pulsars namely Cas A, RX J0822-43, 1E 1207-52, RX J0002+62, XMMU J17328, PSR B1706-44, Vela, PSR B2334+61, PSR B0656+14, Geminga, PSR B1055-52 and RX J0720.4-3125. It is found that APR EOS agrees well with the pulsar data for lighter and medium mass NSs but cooling is very fast for heavier NS. For DM admixed DD2 EOS, it is found that for all considered NS masses, all chosen DM masses and Fermi momenta agree well with the observational data of PSR B0656+14, Geminga, Vela, PSR B1706-44 and PSR B2334+61. Cooling becomes faster as compared to normal NSs in case of increasing DM mass and Fermi momenta. It is infered from the calculations that if low mass super cold NSs are observed in future that may support the fact that heavier WIMP can be present inside neutron stars.Comment: 24 Pages, 15 Figures and 2 Tables. Version accepted in The European Physical Journal

Zebrafish Model for Functional Screening of Flow-Responsive Genes

OBJECTIVE: Atherosclerosis is initiated at branches and bends of arteries exposed to disturbed blood flow that generates low shear stress. This mechanical environment promotes lesions by inducing endothelial cell (EC) apoptosis and dysfunction via mechanisms that are incompletely understood. Although transcriptome-based studies have identified multiple shear-responsive genes, most of them have an unknown function. To address this, we investigated whether zebrafish embryos can be used for functional screening of mechanosensitive genes that regulate EC apoptosis in mammalian arteries. APPROACH AND RESULTS: First, we demonstrated that flow regulates EC apoptosis in developing zebrafish vasculature. Specifically, suppression of blood flow in zebrafish embryos (by targeting cardiac troponin) enhanced that rate of EC apoptosis (≈10%) compared with controls exposed to flow (≈1%). A panel of candidate regulators of apoptosis were identified by transcriptome profiling of ECs from high and low shear stress regions of the porcine aorta. Genes that displayed the greatest differential expression and possessed 1 to 2 zebrafish orthologues were screened for the regulation of apoptosis in zebrafish vasculature exposed to flow or no-flow conditions using a knockdown approach. A phenotypic change was observed in 4 genes; p53-related protein (PERP) and programmed cell death 2-like protein functioned as positive regulators of apoptosis, whereas angiopoietin-like 4 and cadherin 13 were negative regulators. The regulation of perp, cdh13, angptl4, and pdcd2l by shear stress and the effects of perp and cdh13 on EC apoptosis were confirmed by studies of cultured EC exposed to flow. CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that a zebrafish model of flow manipulation coupled to gene knockdown can be used for functional screening of mechanosensitive genes in vascular ECs, thus providing potential therapeutic targets to prevent or treat endothelial injury at atheroprone sites

A relocatable ocean model in support of environmental emergencies

During the Costa Concordia emergency case, regional, subregional, and relocatable ocean models have been used together with the oil spill model, MEDSLIK-II, to provide ocean currents forecasts, possible oil spill scenarios, and drifters trajectories simulations. The models results together with the evaluation of their performances are presented in this paper. In particular, we focused this work on the implementation of the Interactive Relocatable Nested Ocean Model (IRENOM), based on the Harvard Ocean Prediction System (HOPS), for the Costa Concordia emergency and on its validation using drifters released in the area of the accident. It is shown that thanks to the capability of improving easily and quickly its configuration, the IRENOM results are of greater accuracy than the results achieved using regional or subregional model products. The model topography, and to the initialization procedures, and the horizontal resolution are the key model settings to be configured. Furthermore, the IRENOM currents and the MEDSLIK-II simulated trajectories showed to be sensitive to the spatial resolution of the meteorological fields used, providing higher prediction skills with higher resolution wind forcing.MEDESS4MS Project; TESSA Project; MyOcean2 Projectinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Towards the clinical implementation of pharmacogenetics in bipolar disorder.

BackgroundBipolar disorder (BD) is a psychiatric illness defined by pathological alterations between the mood states of mania and depression, causing disability, imposing healthcare costs and elevating the risk of suicide. Although effective treatments for BD exist, variability in outcomes leads to a large number of treatment failures, typically followed by a trial and error process of medication switches that can take years. Pharmacogenetic testing (PGT), by tailoring drug choice to an individual, may personalize and expedite treatment so as to identify more rapidly medications well suited to individual BD patients.DiscussionA number of associations have been made in BD between medication response phenotypes and specific genetic markers. However, to date clinical adoption of PGT has been limited, often citing questions that must be answered before it can be widely utilized. These include: What are the requirements of supporting evidence? How large is a clinically relevant effect? What degree of specificity and sensitivity are required? Does a given marker influence decision making and have clinical utility? In many cases, the answers to these questions remain unknown, and ultimately, the question of whether PGT is valid and useful must be determined empirically. Towards this aim, we have reviewed the literature and selected drug-genotype associations with the strongest evidence for utility in BD.SummaryBased upon these findings, we propose a preliminary panel for use in PGT, and a method by which the results of a PGT panel can be integrated for clinical interpretation. Finally, we argue that based on the sufficiency of accumulated evidence, PGT implementation studies are now warranted. We propose and discuss the design for a randomized clinical trial to test the use of PGT in the treatment of BD

Improved Survival of HIV-1-Infected Patients with Progressive Multifocal Leukoencephalopathy Receiving Early 5-Drug Combination Antiretroviral Therapy

Progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML), a rare devastating demyelinating disease caused by the polyomavirus JC (JCV), occurs in severely immunocompromised patients, most of whom have advanced-stage HIV infection. Despite combination antiretroviral therapy (cART), 50% of patients die within 6 months of PML onset. We conducted a multicenter, open-label pilot trial evaluating the survival benefit of a five-drug cART designed to accelerate HIV replication decay and JCV-specific immune recovery.All the patients received an optimized cART with three or more drugs for 12 months, plus the fusion inhibitor enfuvirtide during the first 6 months. The main endpoint was the one-year survival rate. A total of 28 patients were enrolled. At entry, median CD4+ T-cell count was 53 per microliter and 86% of patients had detectable plasma HIV RNA and CSF JCV DNA levels. Seven patients died, all before month 4. The one-year survival estimate was 0.75 (95% confidence interval, 0.61 to 0.93). At month 6, JCV DNA was undetectable in the CSF of 81% of survivors. At month 12, 81% of patients had undetectable plasma HIV RNA, and the median CD4+ T-cell increment was 105 per microliter. In univariate analysis, higher total and naive CD4+ T-cell counts and lower CSF JCV DNA level at baseline were associated with better survival. JCV-specific functional memory CD4+ T-cell responses, based on a proliferation assay, were detected in 4% of patients at baseline and 43% at M12 (P = 0.008).The early use of five-drug cART after PML diagnosis appears to improve survival. This is associated with recovery of anti-JCV T-cell responses and JCV clearance from CSF. A low CD4+ T-cell count (particularly naive subset) and high JCV DNA copies in CSF at PML diagnosis appear to be risk factors for death.ClinicalTrials.gov NCT00120367

Ductility of wide-beam RC frames as lateral resisting system

[EN] Some Mediterranean seismic codes consider wide-beam reinforced concrete moment resisting frames (WBF) as horizontal load carrying systems that cannot guarantee high ductility performances. Conversely, Eurocode 8 allows High Ductility Class (DCH) design for such structural systems. Code prescriptions related to WBF are systematically investigated. In particular, lesson learnt for previous earthquakes, historical reasons, and experimental and numerical studies underpinning specific prescriptions on wide beams in worldwide seismic codes are discussed. Local and global ductility of WBF are then analytically investigated through (1) a parametric study on chord rotations of wide beams with respect to that of deep beams, and (2) a spectral-based comparison of WBF with conventional reinforced concrete moment resisting frames (i.e. with deep beams). Results show that the set of prescriptions given by modern seismic codes provides sufficient ductility to WBF designed in DCH. In fact, global capacity of WBF relies more on the lateral stiffness of the frames and on the overstrength of columns rather than on the local ductility of wide beams, which is systematically lower with respect to that of deep beams.Gómez-Martínez, F.; Alonso Durá, A.; De Luca, F.; Verderame, GM. (2016). Ductility of wide-beam RC frames as lateral resisting system. Bulletin of Earthquake Engineering. 14(6):1545-1569. doi:10.1007/s10518-016-9891-xS15451569146ACI (1989) Building code requirements for reinforced concrete (ACI 318-89). ACI Committee 318, American Concrete Institute, Farmington Hills, Michigan, USAACI (2008) Building code requirements for structural concrete (ACI 318-08) and commentary (318-08). ACI Committee 318, American Concrete Institute, Farmington Hills, Michigan, USAACI-ASCE (1991) Recommendations for design of beam-column connections in monolithic reinforced concrete structures (ACI 352R-91). Joint ACI-ASCE Committee 352, American Concrete Institute, Farmington Hills, Michigan, USAACI-ASCE (2002) Recommendations for design of beam-column connections in monolithic reinforced concrete structures (ACI 352R-02). Joint ACI-ASCE Committee 352, American Concrete Institute, Farmington Hills, Michigan, USAArslan MH, Korkmaz HH (2007) What is to be learned from damage and failure of reinforced concrete structures during recent earthquakes in Turkey? Eng Fail Anal 14(1):1–22ASCE (2007) Seismic Rehabilitation of Existing Buildings, ASCE/SEI 41-06. American Society of Civil Engineers, RestonASCE (2010) Minimum Design Loads for Building and Other Structures, ASCE/SEI 7-10. American Society of Civil Engineers, RestonBenavent-Climent A (2007) Seismic behavior of RC side beam-column connections under dynamic loading. J Earthquake Eng 11:493–511Benavent-Climent A, Zahran R (2010) An energy-based procedure for the assessment of seismic capacity of existing frames: application to RC wide beam systems in Spain. Soil Dyn Earthq Eng 30:354–367Benavent-Climent A, Cahís X, Zahran R (2009) Exterior wide beam-column connections in existing RC frames subjected to lateral earthquake loads. Eng Struct 31:1414–1424Benavent-Climent A, Cahís X, Vico JM (2010) Interior wide beam-column connections in existing RC frames subjected to lateral earthquake loading. Bull Earthq Eng 8:401–420BHRC (2004) Iranian Code of Practice for Seismic Resistant Design of Buildings. Standard Nº 2800, 3rd edn. Building and Housing Research Center, TehranBorzi B, Elnashai AS (2000) Refined force reduction factors for seismic design. Eng Struct 22:1244–1260Borzi B, Pinho R, Crowley H (2008) Simplified pushover-based vulnerability analysis for large-scale assessment of RC buildings. Eng Struct 30:804–820BSI (2004) Eurocode 2: Design of concrete structures: Part 1-1: General rules and rules for buildings. British Standards Institutions, LondonCalvi GM (1999) A displacement-based approach for vulnerability evaluation of classes of buildings. J Earthquake Eng 3(3):411–438CDSC (1994) Seismic construction code, NCSR-94. Committee for the Development of Seismic Codes, Spanish Ministry of Construction, Madrid, Spain (in Spanish)CDSC (2002) Seismic construction code, NCSE-02. Committee for the Development of Seismic Codes, Spanish Ministry of Construction, Madrid, Spain (in Spanish)CEN (2004) Eurocode 8: design of structures for earthquake resistance—part 1: general rules, seismic actions and rules for buildings. European Standard EN 1998-1:2003—Comité Européen de Normalisation, Brussels, BelgiumCEN (2005) Eurocode 8: design of structures for earthquake resistance—part 3: assessment and retrofitting of buildings. European Standard EN 1998-1:2005—Comité Européen de Normalisation, Brussels, BelgiumCheung PC, Paulay T, Park R (1991) Mechanisms of slab contributions in beam-column subassemblages. ACI Spec Publ 123Cosenza E, Manfredi G, Polese M, Verderame GM (2005) A multilevel approach to the capacity assessment of existing RC buildings. J Earthquake Eng 9(1):1–22Crowley H, Pinho R (2010) Revisiting Eurocode 8 formulae for periods of vibration and their employment in linear seismic analysis. Earthquake Eng Struct Dynam 39:223–235CS.LL.PP (2009) Instructions for the application of the technique code for the Constructions. Official Gazette of the Italian Republic, 47, Regular Supplement no. 27 (in Italian)De Luca F, Vamvatsikos D, Iervolino I (2013) Near-optimal piecewise linear fits of static pushover capacity curves for equivalent SDOF analysis. Earthquake Eng Struct Dynam 42(4):523–543De Luca F, Verderame GM, Gómez-Martínez F, Pérez-García A (2014) The structural role played by masonry infills on RC building performances after the 2011 Lorca, Spain, earthquake. Bull Earthq Eng 12(5):1999–2026Decanini LD, Mollaioli F (2000) Analisi di vulnerabilità sismica di edifici in cemento armato pre-normativa. In: Cosenza E (ed) Comportamento sismico di edifici in cemento armato progettati per carichi verticali. CNR—Gruppo Nazionale per la Difesa dei Terremoti, Rome (in Italian)Dolšek M, Fajfar P (2004) IN2—a simple alternative for IDA. In: Proceedings of the 13th World conference on Earthquake Engineering. August 1–6, Vancouver, Canada. Paper 3353Domínguez D, López-Almansa F, Benavent-Climent A (2014) Comportamiento para el terremoto de Lorca de 11-05-2011, de edificios de vigas planas proyectados sin tener en cuenta la acción sísmica. Informes de la Construcción 66(533):e008 (in Spanish)Domínguez D, López-Almansa F, Benavent-Climent A (2016) Would RC wide-beam buildings in Spain have survived Lorca earthquake (11-05-2011)? Eng Struct 108:134–154Dönmez C (2013) Seismic Performance of Wide-Beam Infill-Joist Block RC Frames in Turkey. J Perform Constr Facil 29(1):04014026Fadwa I, Ali TA, Nazih E, Sara M (2014) Reinforced concrete wide and conventional beam-column connections subjected to lateral load. Eng Struct 76:34–48Fardis MN (2009) Seismic design, assessment and retrofitting of concrete, Buildings edn. Springer, LondonGentry TR, Wight JK (1992) Reinforced concrete wide beam-column connections under earthquake-type loading. Report no. UMCEE 92-12. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USAGómez-Martínez F (2015) FAST simplified vulnerability approach for seismic assessment of infilled RC MRF buildings and its application to the 2011 Lorca (Spain) earthquake. Ph.D. Thesis, Polytechnic University of Valencia, SpainGómez-Martínez F, Pérez García A, De Luca F, Verderame GM (2015a) Comportamiento de los edificios de HA con tabiquería durante el sismo de Lorca de 2011: aplicación del método FAST. Informes de la Construcción 67(537):e065 (in Spanish)Gómez-Martínez F, Pérez-García A, Alonso Durá A, Martínez Boquera A, Verderame GM (2015b) Eficacia de la norma NCSE-02 a la luz de los daños e intervenciones tras el sismo de Lorca de 2011. In: Proceedings of Congreso Internacional sobre Intervención en Obras Arquitectónicas tras Sismo: L’Aquila (2009), Lorca (2011) y Emilia Romagna (2012), May 13–14, Murcia, Spain (in Spanish)Gómez-Martínez F, Verderame GM, De Luca F, Pérez-García A, Alonso-Durá, A (2015c). High ductility seismic performances of wide-beam RC frames. In; XVI Convegno ANIDIS. September 13–17, L'Aquila, ItalyHawkins NM, Mitchell D (1979) Progressive collapse of flat plate structures. ACI J 76(7):775–808Iervolino I, Manfredi G, Polese M, Verderame GM, Fabbrocino G (2007) Seismic risk of RC building classes. Eng Struct 29(5):813–820Inel M, Ozmen HB, Akyol E (2013) Observations on the building damages after 19 May 2011 Simav (Turkey) earthquake. Bull Earthq Eng 11(1):255–283Kurose Y, Guimaraes GN, Zuhua L, Kreger ME, Jirsa JO (1991) Evaluation of slab-beam-column connections subjected to bidirectional loading. ACI Spec Publ 123:39–67LaFave JM, Wight JK (1997) Behavior of reinforced exterior wide beam-column-slab connections subjected to lateral earthquake loading. Report no. UMCEE 97-01. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USALaFave JM, Wight JK (1999) Reinforced concrete exterior wide beam-column-slab connections subjected to lateral earthquake loading. ACI Struct J 96(4):577–586LaFave JM, Wight JK (2001) Reinforced concrete wide-beam construction vs. conventional construction: resistance to lateral earthquake loads. Earthq Spectra 17(3):479–505Li B, Kulkarni SA (2010) Seismic behavior of reinforced concrete exterior wide beam-column joints. J Struct Eng (ASCE) 136(1):26–36López-Almansa F, Domínguez D, Benavent-Climent A (2013) Vulnerability analysis of RC buildings with wide beams located in moderate seismicity regions. Eng Struct 46:687–702Masi A, Santarsiero G, Nigro D (2013a) Cyclic tests on external RC beam-column joints: role of seismic design level and axial load value on the ultimate capacity. J Earthquake Eng 17(1):110–136Masi A, Santarsiero G, Mossucca A, Nigro D (2013b) Seismic behaviour of RC beam-column subassemblages with flat beam. In: Proceedings of XV Convegno della Associazione Nazionale Italiana di Ingegneria Sismica, ANIDIS. Padova, ItalyMazzolani FM, Piluso V (1997) Plastic design of seismic resistant steel frames. Earthquake Eng Struct Dynam 26:167–191MEPP (2000a) Greek earthquake resistant design code, EAK 2000. Ministry of Environment, Planning and Public Works, AthensMEPP (2000b) Greek code for the design and construction of concrete works, EKOS 2000. Ministry of Environment, Planning and Public Works, Athens (in Greek)Miranda E, Bertero VV (1994) Evaluation of strength reduction factors for earthquake-resistant design. Earthq Spectra 10(2):357–379MPWS (2007) Specifications for buildings to be built in seismic areas. Turkish Standards Institution, Ministry of Public Works and Settlement, Ankara (in Turkish)Mwafy AM, Elnashai AS (2002) Calibration of force reduction factors of RC buildings. J Earthquake Eng 6(2):239–273NZS (2004) Structural design actions. Part 5: earthquake actions, NZS 1170.5. New Zealand Standards, WellingtonNZS (2006) Concrete structures standard: part 1—the design of concrete structures, NZS 3101 part 1. New Zealand Standards, WellingtonPan A, Moehle JP (1989) Lateral displacement ductility of reinforced concrete flat plates. ACI Struct J 86(3):250–258Panagiotakos TB, Fardis MN (2001) Deformations of reinforced concrete members at yielding and ultimate. ACI Struct J 98(2):135–148 [and Appendix 1 (69 pp)]Paulay T, Priestley MJN (1992) Seismic design of concrete and masonry structures. Wiley, New York, USAQuintero-Febres CG, Wight JK (1997) Investigation on the seismic behavior of RC interior wide beam-column connections. Report no. UMCEE 97-15. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USAQuintero-Febres CG, Wight JK (2001) Experimental study of Reinforced concrete interior wide beam-column connections subjected to lateral loading. 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Adaptations in antagonist co-activation: Role in the repeated-bout effect

Eccentric exercise results in an adaptation which attenuates muscle damage from subsequent exercise—termed the “repeated-bout effect (RBE).” Purpose: Study examined antagonist co-activation and motor-unit recruitment strategy, assessed via dEMG, concomitant to the RBE. Methods: Nine participants performed 5 sub-maximal isometric trapezoid (ramp-up, hold, ramp-down) contractions at force levels corresponding to 50% and 80% of maximal isometric strength (MVC). Surface EMG signals of the biceps brachii were decomposed into individual motor-unit action potential trains. The relationship between mean firing rate (MFR) of each motor-unit and its recruitment threshold (RT) was examined using linear regression. Eccentric exercise was then performed until biceps brachii MVC had decreased by ~40%. Surface EMG of the biceps and triceps were collected during eccentric exercise. MVC, range-of-motion (ROM), and delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) were measured 24-hours, 72-hours, and 1-week following eccentric exercise. Three weeks later all procedures were repeated. Results: Changes in MVC (-32±14% vs -25±10%; p = 0.034), ROM (-11% vs 6%; p = 0.01), and DOMS (31.0±19mm vs 19±12mm; p = 0.015) were attenuated following the second bout of exercise. Triceps EMG was reduced (16.8±9.5% vs. 12.6±7.2%; p = 0.03) during the second bout of eccentric exercise. The slope (-0.60±0.13 vs -0.70±0.18; p = 0.029) and y-intercept (46.5±8.3 vs 53.3±8.8; p = 0.020) of the MFR vs. RT relationship was altered during contractions at 80% of MVC prior to the second bout of eccentric exercise. No changes were observed at 50% of MVC. Conclusion: A reduction in antagonist co-activation during the second bout of eccentric exercise suggests less total force was required to move an identical external load. This finding is supported by the increased negative slope coefficient and an increased y-intercept of the linear relationship between RT and MFR.Funded by University of Oklahoma Graduate College Robberson Grant.Ye

The possible role of chromosome X variability in hypertensive familiarity

Familiarity participates in the pathogenesis of hypertension, although only recently, whole genome studies have proposed regions of the human genome possibly involved in the transmission of the hypertensive phenotype. Although studies have mainly focused on autosome, hitherto the influence of sex on familial transmission of hypertension has not been considered. We analysed the database of the Campania Salute Network of Hypertension center of the Federico II University Hospital of Naples (Italy), using dichotomous variables for paternal and maternal familiarity and gender (male and female) of 12 504 hypertensive patients (6868 males and 5636 females) and 6352 controls (3484 males and 2868 females), totaling 18 856 subjects. In the hypertensive group, familiarity was present in 75% of cases with odds of 3.77 and in only 26% of the normotensives with odds of 0.94. The odds ratio (OR) indicated that familiarity increases the risk of developing hypertension by 2.91 (95% confidence interval (CI)=2.67–3.17, P<0.001) times. Additionally, maternal familiarity was 37% (OR=3.01, 95% CI=2.66–3.41, P<0.001), paternal familiarity was 21% (OR=2.31, 95% CI=2.01–2.68, P<0.001) and the double familiarity was 17% (OR=3.45, 95% CI=2.87–4.01, P<0.001), thus suggesting a plausible association between maternal familiarity and development of hypertension; this finding was observed both in male and in female patients, although the phenomenon was larger in males. Given the dominance of maternal transmission in males, by genome-wide analysis of the X chromosome, we found two regions that were differently distributed in male hypertensives with maternal hypertension. Our data highlight the importance of genetic variants in the X chromosome to the maternal transmission of the hypertensive phenotype

Thermodynamics of SU(N) Yang-Mills theories in 2+1 dimensions II - The deconfined phase

We present a non-perturbative study of the equation of state in the deconfined phase of Yang-Mills theories in D=2+1 dimensions. We introduce a holographic model, based on the improved holographic QCD model, from which we derive a non-trivial relation between the order of the deconfinement phase transition and the behavior of the trace of the energy-momentum tensor as a function of the temperature T. We compare the theoretical predictions of this holographic model with a new set of high-precision numerical results from lattice simulations of SU(N) theories with N=2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 colors. The latter reveal that, similarly to the D=3+1 case, the bulk equilibrium thermodynamic quantities (pressure, trace of the energy-momentum tensor, energy density and entropy density) exhibit nearly perfect proportionality to the number of gluons, and can be successfully compared with the holographic predictions in a broad range of temperatures. Finally, we also show that, again similarly to the D=3+1 case, the trace of the energy-momentum tensor appears to be proportional to T^2 in a wide temperature range, starting from approximately 1.2 T_c, where T_c denotes the critical deconfinement temperature.Comment: 2+36 pages, 10 figures; v2: comments added, curves showing the holographic predictions included in the plots of the pressure and energy and entropy densities, typos corrected: version published in JHE