Is there a link between treatments with exogenous corticosteroids and dog behaviour problems?

Possible side effects of exogenous corticosteroids have been described in both humans and laboratory animals, with recent studies highlighting this issue in dogs. In this paper the behaviour of 345 dogs drawn from the caseload of a behaviour clinic based in the north of Italy between February 2012 and November 2014 were analysed. Possible relationships between dogs that received treatment with corticosteroids versus dogs that received treatment with drugs other than corticosteroids and positive or negative affective states, aggression towards people, other behaviour problems apart from aggression, occurrence of severe bites, and prescription of psychoactive drugs were initially assessed using a Pearson's chi-squared test. Regression analysis was then performed in order to evaluate the best predictors of the investigated items. The goal of this retrospective survey was to investigate possible relationships between the affective states associated with the behavioural complaint of dogs and their previous history of treatment with corticosteroids. Results showed that a history of corticosteroid treatment was a significant predictor of a range of behaviour problems associated with negative affective state, but this result may be confounded by age-related effects

Effect of inhomogeneities on the expansion rate of the Universe

While the expansion rate of a homogeneous isotropic Universe is simply proportional to the square-root of the energy density, the expansion rate of an inhomogeneous Universe also depends on the nature of the density inhomogeneities. In this paper we calculate to second order in perturbation variables the expansion rate of an inhomogeneous Universe and demonstrate corrections to the evolution of the expansion rate. While we find that the mean correction is small, the variance of the correction on the scale of the Hubble radius is sensitive to the physical significance of the unknown spectrum of density perturbations beyond the Hubble radius.Comment: 19 pages, 2 figures Version 2 includes some changes in numerical factors and corrected typos. It is the version accepted for publication in Physical review

"Swiss-Cheese" Inhomogeneous Cosmology & the Dark Energy Problem

We study an exact swiss-cheese model of the Universe, where inhomogeneous LTB patches are embedded in a flat FLRW background, in order to see how observations of distant sources are affected. We find negligible integrated effect, suppressed by (L/R_{H})^3 (where L is the size of one patch, and R_{H} is the Hubble radius), both perturbatively and non-perturbatively. We disentangle this effect from the Doppler term (which is much larger and has been used recently \cite{BMN} to try to fit the SN curve without dark energy) by making contact with cosmological perturbation theory.Comment: 35 pages, 6 figure

On the even Gorenstein liaison classes of ropes on a line

We describe the even Gorenstein liaison classes of ropes supported on a line which are not arithmetically Buchsbaum

Consommations de substances en Suisse : analyse des tendances à partir des enquêtes HBSC, ESS et CoRolAR. Partie 1 : les substances illégales

Sur mandat de l’Office fédéral de la santé publique (OFSP), la fondation Addiction Suisse et l’Institut universitaire de médecine sociale et préventive du CHUV (IUMSP) ont mis en commun les données existantes sur la consommation de substances légales (alcool et tabac) et illégales (cannabis, cocaïne, héroïne) issues d’enquêtes en population générale afin de mesurer des tendances de consommation. Trois études représentatives de la population suisse en termes de poids démographique des cantons, de la pyramide des âges et de l’importance relative des sexes, s’intéressent à la consommation de substances telles que l'alcool, le tabac, le cannabis, la cocaïne et l’héroïne. La première, mise en oeuvre depuis 1986, est l’étude internationale Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC), menée auprès des élèves âgés de 11 à 15 ans. La seconde, l'Enquête suisse sur la santé (ESS), existe depuis 1992 et s’adresse à la population générale suisse âgée de 15 ans et plus. La troisième enquête, Continuous Rolling Survey of Addictive Behaviours and Related Risks (CoRolAR), est une enquête téléphonique permanente, réalisée entre 2011 et 2016 auprès de la population suisse. Elle s’intéresse spécifiquement à l'évolution des comportements face aux addictions. A partir d’un modèle statistique robuste et d’une revue non exhaustive de la littérature, ce rapport propose une représentation et une interprétation des tendances de consommation du cannabis, de la cocaïne et de l’héroïne en Suisse de 1992 à 2016, en les différenciant selon le sexe, l’âge, et la cohorte de naissance

Detecting the Cold Spot as a Void with the Non-Diagonal Two-Point Function

The anomaly in the Cosmic Microwave Background known as the "Cold Spot" could be due to the existence of an anomalously large spherical (few hundreds Mpc/h radius) underdense region, called a "Void" for short. Such a structure would have an impact on the CMB also at high multipoles l through Lensing. This would then represent a unique signature of a Void. Modeling such an underdensity with an LTB metric, we show that the Lensing effect leads to a large signal in the non-diagonal two-point function, centered in the direction of the Cold Spot, such that the Planck satellite will be able to confirm or rule out the Void explanation for the Cold Spot, for any Void radius with a Signal-to-Noise ratio of at least O(10).Comment: v1: 6 pages, 2 figures; v2: 6 pages, 2 figures, text improved, to appear on JCA

Design and analysis of fractional factorial experiments from the viewpoint of computational algebraic statistics

We give an expository review of applications of computational algebraic statistics to design and analysis of fractional factorial experiments based on our recent works. For the purpose of design, the techniques of Gr\"obner bases and indicator functions allow us to treat fractional factorial designs without distinction between regular designs and non-regular designs. For the purpose of analysis of data from fractional factorial designs, the techniques of Markov bases allow us to handle discrete observations. Thus the approach of computational algebraic statistics greatly enlarges the scope of fractional factorial designs.Comment: 16 page

Clinicopathological Correlates in a PRNP P102L Mutation Carrier with Rapidly Progressing Parkinsonism-dystonia

Parkinsonism-dystonia is rare in carriers of PRNP P102L mutation. Severity and distribution of prion protein (PrP) deposition may influence the clinical presentation. We present such clinic-pathological correlation in a 56-year-old male with a PRNP P102L mutation associated with a phenotype characterized by rapidly progressing parkinsonism-dystonia. The patient was studied clinically (videotaped exams, brain MRIs); molecular genetically (gene sequence analysis); and neuropathologically (histology, immunohistochemistry) during his 7-month disease course. The patient had parkinsonism, apraxia, aphasia, and dystonia, which progressed rapidly. Molecular genetic analysis revealed PRNP P102L mutation carrier status. Brain MRIs revealed progressive global volume loss and T2/FLAIR hyperintensity in neocortex and basal ganglia. Postmortem examination showed neuronal loss, gliosis, spongiform changes, and PrP deposition in the striatum. PrP immunohistochemistry revealed widespread severe PrP deposition in the thalamus and cerebellar cortex. Based on the neuropathological and molecular-genetic analysis, the rapidly progressing parkinsonism-dystonia correlated with nigrostriatal, thalamic, and cerebellar pathology

An inhomogeneous universe with thick shells and without cosmological constant

We build an exact inhomogeneous universe composed of a central flat Friedmann zone up to a small redshift $z_1$, a thick shell made of anisotropic matter, an hyperbolic Friedmann metric up to the scale where dimming galaxies are observed ($z\simeq 1.7$) that can be matched to a hyperbolic Lema\^{i}tre-Tolman-Bondi spacetime to best fit the WMAP data at early epochs. We construct a general framework which permits us to consider a non-uniform clock rate for the universe. As a result, both for a uniform time and a uniform Hubble flow, the deceleration parameter extrapolated by the central observer is always positive. Nevertheless, by taking a non-uniform Hubble flow, it is possible to obtain a negative central deceleration parameter, that, with certain parameter choices, can be made the one observed currently. Finally, it is conjectured a possible physical mechanism to justify a non-uniform time flow.Comment: Version published in Class. Quantum gra