Correctors and Field Fluctuations for the pϵ(x)p_{\epsilon}(x)-Laplacian with Rough Exponents: The Sublinear Growth Case

A corrector theory for the strong approximation of gradient fields inside periodic composites made from two materials with different power law behavior is provided. Each material component has a distinctly different exponent appearing in the constitutive law relating gradient to flux. The correctors are used to develop bounds on the local singularity strength for gradient fields inside micro-structured media. The bounds are multi-scale in nature and can be used to measure the amplification of applied macroscopic fields by the microstructure. The results in this paper are developed for materials having power law exponents strictly between -1 and zero.Comment: 29 pages, 2 figures. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:0907.073

FOXE1 mutation screening in a case with Cleft Lip, Hypothyroidism, and Thyroid Carcinoma: A new syndrome?

A 26-year-old woman is referred to the Internal Medicine consultation due to increases in laboratory studies associated with Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma (PTC) that was confirmed by histopathological studies. Her clinical history revealed that, at 3 months of age, she was successfully treated with surgery for cleft lip (CL) and at the age of 24 years was diagnosed with hypothyroidism. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in FOXE1 and its promoter regions have been associated with various etiologies related to the thyroid, including orofacial clefting, specially cleft palate (CP) and CL, hypothyroidism (HT), and thyroid cancer. The association of CL, HT, and PTC might be component of a new syndrome; however FOXE1 coding region, which has been involved with these entities, has not exhibited mutations or SNPs. Further study of other genes may help in better characterization of the possible syndrome

Evaluation of Using Semi-Autonomy Features in Mobile Robotic Telepresence Systems

Mobile robotic telepresence systems used for social interaction scenarios require that users steer robots in a remote environment. As a consequence, a heavy workload can be put on users if they are unfamiliar with using robotic telepresence units. One way to lessen this workload is to automate certain operations performed during a telepresence session in order to assist remote drivers in navigating the robot in new environments. Such operations include autonomous robot localization and navigation to certain points in the home and automatic docking of the robot to the charging station. In this paper we describe the implementation of such autonomous features along with user evaluation study. The evaluation scenario is focused on the first experience on using the system by novice users. Importantly, that the scenario taken in this study assumed that participants have as little as possible prior information about the system. Four different use-cases were identified from the user behaviour analysis.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech. Plan Nacional de Investigación, proyecto DPI2011-25483

Explicit corrector in homogenization of monotone operators and its application to nonlinear dielectric elastomer composites

This paper concerns the rigorous periodic homogenization for a weakly coupled electroelastic system of a nonlinear electrostatic equation with an elastic equation enriched with electrostriction. Such coupling is employed to describe dielectric elastomers or deformable (elastic) dielectrics. It is shown that the effective response of the system consists of a homogeneous dielectric elastomer described by a nonlinear weakly coupled system of PDEs whose coefficients depend on the coefficients of the original heterogeneous material, the geometry of the composite and the periodicity of the original microstructure. The approach developed here for this nonlinear problem allows obtaining an explicit corrector result for the homogenization of monotone operators with minimal regularity assumptions. Two $L^p-$gradient estimates for elastic systems with discontinuous coefficients are also obtained.Comment: We provide a new proof to extend the explicit first-order corrector result in the first version of this paper. The new explicit corrector result (cf. Theorem 1) holds globally and unifies the previous classical correct results in homogenization of the divergence equation (both linear and nonlinear). New references are added. Comments are welcome

Identificación de SNPs en genes involucrados en la respuesta inmune e inflamatoria asociados a asma infantil

Introduction: Asthma is a chronic inflammatory airway disease, which affects nearly the 15% of Mexican children. Increasing evidence shows that single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in more than 100 candidate genes are important risk factors to develop this disease and they have ethnic differences. Objective: The present study was undertaken to determine whether SNPs in genes involved in immune and inflammatory responses are associated with asthma in Mexican pediatric patients. Material and methods: Two hundred and forty unrelated asthmatic patients were recruited from four pediatric hospitals in Mexico City. Additionally, 450 healthy blood bank donor controls were included as a control group. The controls were also drawn from Mexico City and sex matched. In all cases, the diagnosis of asthma was assessed by a Pneumonologist or Alergologist. Genotyping was performed using the 5´exonuclease technique (TaqMan) and included 93 SNPs in 29 candidate genes. To discard false associations due to sample stratification, we analyzed 10 ancestry informative markers which had been validated elsewhere in Mexican populations. Data were analyzed using the ADMIXMAP, FINETTI, HAPLOVIEW, EPIINFO, QUANTO, Sequence Scanner and Helix Tree programs. Results: SNPs in the CHRM2, STAT1, GATA3, PDCD1, ADRB2 and CHRM3 genes were identified as new genetic risk factors for asthma and we confirmed the association between IL13, TNF, and MMP9 genes with the disease. In contrast, genes associated with asthma and related phenotypes in more than 10 studies worldwide, were not associated in our population. Otherwise, the sequencing analysis showed that the coding regions of CHRM2 and CHRM3 genes do not have SNPs and the microarrays analysis suggest that ETS1 and ADAMTS19 could be new candidate genes for asthma. Conclusion: This study gives evidence of a complex genetic background of asthma in pediatric Mexican patients. Further studies are necessary to identify if these genes are associated with severity of the disease and determinate the role of the ETS1 and ADAMTS19 genes in asthma etiology.Introducción. El asma es una enfermedad inflamatoria crónica que afecta a cerca del 15% de la población infantil mexicana. Se ha reportado que polimorfismos de un sólo nucleótido (SNPs) en más de 100 genes candidato son importantes factores de riesgo para desarrollar la enfermedad y que éstos, pueden variar entre las poblaciones. Objetivo: Determinar si SNPs localizados en genes de la respuesta inmune e inflamatoria se asocian a la susceptibilidad para desarrollar asma en población pediátrica mexicana. Material y Métodos: En un estudio de casos y controles se incluyeron 240 pacientes pediátricos con asma y 450 donadores del banco de sangre como grupo control. A partir de ADN genómico y mediante la técnica de la 5´exonucleasa (TaqMan), se analizaron 93 SNPs localizados en 29 genes candidato y 10 marcadores de ancestría. Por secuenciación automática de 100 controles y 100 casos, se buscaron SNPs en los genes CHRM2 y CHRM3 y para identificar nuevos genes candidatos se analizaron 120 casos y 130 controles a través de microarreglos de ADN (Affymetrix V6.0). Los datos se analizaron mediante los programas ADMIXMAP, FINETTI, HAPLOVIEW, EPIINFO, QUANTO, Sequence Scaner y Helix Tree. Resultados: Se identificaron SNPs en los genes CHRM2, STAT1, GATA3, PDCD1 y CHRM3 como nuevos factores de riesgo genético para asma y se confirmó la asociación descrita entre TNF, IL13, y MMP9 y asma. Interesantemente, genes que se han asociado con asma en más de 10 estudios independientes no mostraron asociación en nuestra población. Así, el análisis de secuenciación mostró que las regiones codificantes de los genes CHRM2 y CHRM3 no contienen SNPs y el análisis de microarreglos reveló a ETS1 y ADAMTS19 como nuevos genes candidato. Conclusión: Este estudio aporta evidencias de la complejidad genética del asma en la población pediátrica mexicana. Se requiere confirmar si los genes no asociados modifican la gravedad o la respuesta al tratamiento. Además, se debe determinar si los genes ETS1 y ADAMTS19 contribuyen a la etiología del asma

Heterocellular cadherin connections: coordinating adhesive cues in homeostasis and cancer

This short insight covers some of the recent topics relevant to the field of cadherin-catenin adhesion in mediating connections between different cell types, so-called heterotypic or heterocellular connections, in both homeostasis and cancer. These scientific discoveries are increasing our understanding of how multiple cells residing in complex tissues can be instructed by cadherin adhesion receptors to regulate tissue architecture and function and how these cadherin-mediated heterocellular connections spur tumor growth and the acquisition of malignant characteristics in tumor cells. Overall, the findings that have emerged over the past few years are elucidating the complexity of the functional roles of the cadherin-catenin complexes. Future exciting research lies ahead in order to understand the physical basis of these heterotypic interactions and their influence on the behavior of heterogeneous cellular populations as well as their roles in mediating phenotypic and genetic changes as cells evolve through complex environments during morphogenesis and cancer.The Perez-Moreno lab is supported by grants from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness/European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), European Union (BFU2015-71376-R), and the Worldwide Cancer Research UK Foundation (15-1219 to Mirna Perez-Moreno). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.S