Grothendieck ring of pretriangulated categories

We consider the abelian group $PT$ generated by quasi-equivalence classes of pretriangulated DG categories with relations coming from semi-orthogonal decompositions of corresponding triangulated categories. We introduce an operation of "multiplication" $\bullet$ on the collection of DG categories which makes this abelian group into a commutative ring. A few applications are considered: representability of "standard" functors between derived categories of coherent sheaves on smooth projective varieties and a construction of an interesting motivic measure.Comment: 33 page

Dietary intake and risk of asthma in children and adults : protocol for a systematic review and meta-analysis

Background: Diet has been proposed to modulate the risk of asthma in children and adults. An increasing body of epidemiological studies have been published in the last year investigating the association between dietary intake and asthma. As part of the Evidence-Based Clinical Practice Guideline Task Force on 'Lifestyle Interventions in Allergy and Asthma' funded by the European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, we will use a systematic approach to review the evidence from published scientific literature on dietary intake and asthma in children and adults. Methods: This systematic review will be carried out following the PRISMA guidelines. The protocol has been published in PROSPERO (CRD42016036078). We will review the evidence from epidemiological studies in children (from the age of 2 years) and adults and dietary intake of foods and nutrients. Discussion: The findings from this review will be used as a reference to inform guideline recommendations.Peer reviewe

A systematic review of randomised controlled trials on the effectiveness of exercise programs on lumbo pelvic pain among postnatal women

Background: A substantial number of women tend to be affected by Lumbo Pelvic Pain (LPP) following child birth. Physical exercise is indicated as a beneficial method to relieve LPP, but individual studies appear to suggest mixed findings about its effectiveness. This systematic review aimed to synthesise evidence from randomised controlled trials on the effectiveness of exercise on LPP among postnatal women to inform policy, practice and future research. Methods: A systematic review was conducted of all randomised controlled trials published between January 1990 and July 2014, identified through a comprehensive search of following databases: PubMed, PEDro, Embase, Cinahl, Medline, SPORTDiscus, Cochrane Pregnancy and Childbirth Group’s Trials Register, and electronic libraries of authors’institutions. Randomised controlled trials were eligible for inclusion if the intervention comprised of postnatal exercise for women with LPP onset during pregnancy or within 3 months after delivery and the outcome measures included changes in LPP. Selected articles were assessed using the PEDro Scale for methodological quality and findings were synthesised narratively as meta-analysis was found to be inappropriate due to heterogeneity among included studies. Results: Four randomised controlled trials were included, involving 251 postnatal women. Three trials were rated as of ‘good’ methodological quality. All trials, except one, were at low risk of bias. The trials included physical exercise programs with varying components, differing modes of delivery, follow up times and outcome measures. Intervention in one trial, involving physical therapy with specific stabilising exercises, proved to be effective in reducing LPP intensity. An improvement in gluteal pain on the right side was reported in another trial and a significant difference in pain frequency in another. Conclusion: Our review indicates that only few randomised controlled trials have evaluated the effectiveness of exercise on LPP among postnatal women. There is also a great amount of variability across existing trials in the components of exercise programs, modes of delivery, follow up times and outcome measures. While there is some evidence to indicate the effectiveness of exercise for relieving LPP, further good quality trials are needed to ascertain the most effective elements of postnatal exercise programs suited for LPP treatment

OGLE-2013-BLG-0102LA,B: Microlensing binary with components at star/brown-dwarf and brown-dwarf/planet boundaries

We present the analysis of the gravitational microlensing event OGLE-2013-BLG-0102. The light curve of the event is characterized by a strong short-term anomaly superposed on a smoothly varying lensing curve with a moderate magnification $A_{\rm max}\sim 1.5$. It is found that the event was produced by a binary lens with a mass ratio between the components of $q = 0.13$ and the anomaly was caused by the passage of the source trajectory over a caustic located away from the barycenter of the binary. From the analysis of the effects on the light curve due to the finite size of the source and the parallactic motion of the Earth, the physical parameters of the lens system are determined. The measured masses of the lens components are $M_{1} = 0.096 \pm 0.013~M_{\odot}$ and $M_{2} = 0.012 \pm 0.002~M_{\odot}$, which correspond to near the hydrogen-burning and deuterium-burning mass limits, respectively. The distance to the lens is $3.04 \pm 0.31~{\rm kpc}$ and the projected separation between the lens components is $0.80 \pm 0.08~{\rm AU}$.Comment: 6 figures, 2 tables, ApJ submitte

Antifungal activity of a novel chromene dimer

The activity on Aspergillus spp. growth and on ochratoxin A production of two novel chromene dimers (3) was evaluated. The results of the bioassays indicate that the chromene dimer 3a inhibited mycelia growth by approximately 50% (EC50) at 140.1 μmol L−1 for A. niger, 384.2 μmol L−1 for A. carbonarius, 69.1 μmol L−1 for A. alliaceus and 559.1 μmol L−1 for A. ochraceus. When applied at concentrations of 2 mmol L−1, 3a totally inhibited the growth of all Aspergillus spp. tested. Furthermore, ochratoxin A production by A. alliaceus was reduced by about 94% with a 200 μmol L−1 solution of this compound. A moderate inhibitory effect was observed for the analogous structure 3b on ochratoxin A production but not in mycelia growth. No inhibition was registered for compounds 2a and 2b, used as synthetic precursors of the dimeric species 3.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) - SFRH/BD/ 11228/2002