32 research outputs found
Progressive encoding with non-linear source codes for compression of low-entropy sources
We propose a novel scheme for source coding of non-uniform memoryless binary sources based on progressively encoding the input sequence with non-linear encoders. At each stage, a number of source bits is perfectly
recovered, and these bits are thus not encoded in the next stage. The last stage consists of an LDPC code acting as a source encoder over the bits that have not been recovered in the previous stages.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version
Non-linear graph-based codes for joint source-channel coding
We study the behavior of a new family of nonlinear graph-based codes, previously introduced for compression of asymmetric binary memoryless sources, for the joint source-channel coding scenario in which the codewords are transmitted through an additive white Gaussian noise channel. We focus on low entropy sources (with high redundancy) and compression rates. Monte Carlo simulation and density evolution results show that the proposed family, with a regular and simple parametrization of the degree profiles, outperforms linear codes.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version
Editorial: Radical housing (dis)encounters: Reframing housing research and praxis
We came to this issue before the outbreak of Covid-19, and we release it amidst what feels like an entirely new, and yet also entirely known world-orderâa place of multiple and multiplying crises that existed before the pandemic and continue, relentlessly, to render certain people, bodies and homes disposable. It is against this cruelty, but also with a renewed sense of radical hope in justice everywhere, that RHJ first came to be. The majority of contributions to Issue 2.2 emerge from a long process of designing and selecting participants for the event Radical Housing Encounters: translocal conversations on knowledge and praxis. This event was meant to take place in person, in three separate locations simultaneously, at the end of May 2020. Through it, we sought to define and re-define radical housing knowledge and practice, paying particular attention to diverse methodological, theoretical and ethical approaches deployed in both research and militant practice around the globe. While disappointed that the event could not take place as originally planned, its rationale and ethics of care are central to the making of this issue and are reflected in the texts of its contributors as well as the process of organising the issue
Cholangiocarcinoma 2020: the next horizon in mechanisms and management
[EN] Cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) includes a cluster of highly heterogeneous biliary malignant
tumours that can arise at any point of the biliary tree. Their incidence is increasing globally,
currently accounting for ~15% of all primary liver cancers and ~3% of gastrointestinal malignancies.
The silent presentation of these tumours combined with their highly aggressive nature and
refractoriness to chemotherapy contribute to their alarming mortality, representing ~2% of all
cancer-related deaths worldwide yearly. The current diagnosis of CCA by non- invasive approaches
is not accurate enough, and histological confirmation is necessary. Furthermore, the high
heterogeneity of CCAs at the genomic, epigenetic and molecular levels severely compromises
the efficacy of the available therapies. In the past decade, increasing efforts have been made to
understand the complexity of these tumours and to develop new diagnostic tools and therapies
that might help to improve patient outcomes. In this expert Consensus Statement, which is
endorsed by the European Network for the Study of Cholangiocarcinoma, we aim to summarize
and critically discuss the latest advances in CCA, mostly focusing on classification, cells of origin,
genetic and epigenetic abnormalities, molecular alterations, biomarker discovery and treatments.
Furthermore, the horizon of CCA for the next decade from 2020 onwards is highlightedJ.M.B. received EASL Registry Awards 2016 and 2019 (European CCA Registry, ENS-CCA). J.M.B. and M.J.P. were supported by: the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (J.M.B.: FIS PI12/00380, FIS PI15/01132, FIS PI18/01075 and Miguel Servet Programme CON14/00129; M.J.P.: FIS PI14/00399, FIS PI17/00022 and Ramon y Cajal Programme RYC-2015-17755, co-financed by âFondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regionalâ (FEDER)); ISCIII CIBERehd; âDiputaciĂłn Foral de Gipuzkoaâ (J.M.B: DFG15/010, DFG16/004), and BIOEF (Basque Foundation for Innovation and Health Research: EiTB Maratoia BIO15/CA/016/BD); the Department of Health of the Basque Country (M.J.P.: 2015111100; J.M.B.: 2017111010), and âFundaciĂłn CientĂfica de la AsociaciĂłn Española Contra el Cancerâ (AECC Scientific Foundation) (J.M.B.). J.M.B. and J.W.V. were supported by the European Commission Horizon 2020 programme (ESCALON project 825510). The laboratory of J.B.A. is supported by competitive grants from the Danish Medical Research Council, the Danish Cancer Society, and the Novo Nordisk and A.P. MĂžller Foundations. J.J.G.M. and R.I.R.M. were supported by the Carlos III Institute of Health, Spain (PI16/00598 and PI18/00428) and were co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund. J.M.B. and J.J.G.M. were supported by the Ministry of Science and Innovation, Spain (SAF2016-75197-R), and the âAsociaciĂłn Española Contra el Cancerâ, Spain (AECC-2017). R.I.R.M. was supported by the âCentro Internacional sobre el Envejecimientoâ, Spain (OLD-HEPAMARKER, 0348-CIE-6-E). A.L. received funding from the Christie Charity. M.M. was supported by the UniversitĂ Politecnica delle Marche, Ancona, Italy (040020_R.SCIENT.A_2018_MARZIONI_M_STRATEGICO_2017). M.S. was supported by the Yale Liver Center Clinical and Translational Core and the Cellular and Molecular Core (DK034989 Silvio O. Conte Digestive Diseases Research Center). C.C. is supported by grants from INSERM, UniversitĂ© de Rennes, INCa, and ITMO Cancer AVIESAN dans le cadre du Plan Cancer (Non-coding RNA in Cancerology: Fundamental to Translational), Ligue Contre le Cancer and RĂ©gion Bretagne. J.Bruix was supported by grants from Instituto de Salud Carlos III (PI18/00763), AECC (PI044031) and WCR (AICR) 16-0026. A.F. was supported by grants from ISCIII (PI13/01229 and PI18/00542). CIBERehd is funded by the Instituto de Salud Carlos III. V.C., D.M., J. Bridgewater and P.I. are members of the European Reference Network - Hepatological Diseases (ERN RARE-LIVER). J.M.B. is a collaborator of the ERN RARE-LIVER
Iron Behaving Badly: Inappropriate Iron Chelation as a Major Contributor to the Aetiology of Vascular and Other Progressive Inflammatory and Degenerative Diseases
The production of peroxide and superoxide is an inevitable consequence of
aerobic metabolism, and while these particular "reactive oxygen species" (ROSs)
can exhibit a number of biological effects, they are not of themselves
excessively reactive and thus they are not especially damaging at physiological
concentrations. However, their reactions with poorly liganded iron species can
lead to the catalytic production of the very reactive and dangerous hydroxyl
radical, which is exceptionally damaging, and a major cause of chronic
inflammation. We review the considerable and wide-ranging evidence for the
involvement of this combination of (su)peroxide and poorly liganded iron in a
large number of physiological and indeed pathological processes and
inflammatory disorders, especially those involving the progressive degradation
of cellular and organismal performance. These diseases share a great many
similarities and thus might be considered to have a common cause (i.e.
iron-catalysed free radical and especially hydroxyl radical generation). The
studies reviewed include those focused on a series of cardiovascular, metabolic
and neurological diseases, where iron can be found at the sites of plaques and
lesions, as well as studies showing the significance of iron to aging and
longevity. The effective chelation of iron by natural or synthetic ligands is
thus of major physiological (and potentially therapeutic) importance. As
systems properties, we need to recognise that physiological observables have
multiple molecular causes, and studying them in isolation leads to inconsistent
patterns of apparent causality when it is the simultaneous combination of
multiple factors that is responsible. This explains, for instance, the
decidedly mixed effects of antioxidants that have been observed, etc...Comment: 159 pages, including 9 Figs and 2184 reference
Produção de biomassa e teores de carbono, hidrogĂȘnio, nitrogĂȘnio e proteĂna em microalgas
Investigating the relationship between self-rated health and social capital in South Africa: a multilevel panel data analysis
Hepatitis A and E seroprevalence and associated risk factors: a community-based cross-sectional survey in rural Amazonia
âMortgaged livesâ: the biopolitics of debt and housing financialisation
The paper expands the conceptual framework within which we examine mortgage debt by reconceptualising mortgages as a biotechnology: a technology of power over life that forges an intimate relationship between global financial markets, everyday life and human labour. Taking seriously the materiality of mortgage contracts as a means of forging new embodied practices of financialisation, we urge for the need to move beyond a policyâ and macroeconomicsâbased analysis of housing financialisation. We argue that more attention needs to be paid to how funnelling landârelated capital flows goes hand in hand with signing off significant parts of future labour, decisionmaking capacity and wellâbeing to mortgage debt repayments. The paper offers two key insights. First, it exemplifies how macroeconomic and policy changes could not have led to the financialisation of housing markets without a parallel biopolitical process that mobilised mortgage contracts to integrate the social reproduction of the workforce into speculative global realâestate practices. Second, it expands the framework of analysis of emerging literature on financialisation and subjectification. Focusing on the mortgage defaults and evictions crisis in Spain, we document how during Spain's 1997â2007 realâestate boom the promise of mortgages as a means to optimise income and wealth enrolled livelihoods into cycles of global financial and realâestate speculation, as home security and future wealth became directly dependent on the fluctuations of financial products, interest rates and capital accumulation strategies rooted in the built environment. When, after 2008 unemployment escalated and housing prices collapsed, mortgages became a punitive technology that led to at least 500Â 000 foreclosures and over 250Â 000 evictions in Spain