Judgment Aggregation under Issue Dependencies

We introduce a new family of judgment aggregation rules, called the binomial rules, designed to account for hidden dependencies between some of the issues being judged. To place them within the landscape of judgment aggregation rules, we analyse both their axiomatic properties and their computational complexity, and we show that they contain both the well-known distance-based rule and the basic rule returning the most frequent overall judgment as special cases. To evaluate the performance of our rules empirically, we apply them to a dataset of crowdsourced judgments regarding the quality of hotels extracted from the travel website TripAdvisor. In our experiments we distinguish between the full dataset and a subset of highly polarised judgments, and we develop a new notion of polarisation for profiles of judgments for this purpose, which may also be of independent interest

Parameterized Complexities of Dominating and Independent Set Reconfiguration

We settle the parameterized complexities of several variants of independent set reconfiguration and dominating set reconfiguration, parameterized by the number of tokens. We show that both problems are XL-complete when there is no limit on the number of moves and XNL-complete when a maximum length $\ell$ for the sequence is given in binary in the input. The problems are known to be XNLP-complete when $\ell$ is given in unary instead, and $W[1]$- and $W[2]$-hard respectively when $\ell$ is also a parameter. We complete the picture by showing membership in those classes. Moreover, we show that for all the variants that we consider, token sliding and token jumping are equivalent under pl-reductions. We introduce partitioned variants of token jumping and token sliding, and give pl-reductions between the four variants that have precise control over the number of tokens and the length of the reconfiguration sequence.Comment: 31 pages, 3 figure

The impact of brief intensive trauma-focused treatment for PTSD on symptoms of borderline personality disorder

Objective: To investigate the effects of a brief, intensive, direct trauma-focused treatment programme for individuals with PTSD on BPD symptom severity. Methods: Individuals (n = 72) with severe PTSD (87.5% had one or more comorbidities; 52.8% fulfilled the criteria for the dissociative subtype of PTSD) due to multiple traumas (e.g. 90.3% sexual abuse) participated in an intensive eight-day trauma-focused treatment programme consisting of eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) and prolonged exposure (PE) therapy, physical activity, and psychoeducation. Treatment did not include any form of stabilization (e.g. emotion regulation training) prior to trauma-focused therapy. Assessments took place at pre- and post-treatment (Borderline Symptom List, BSL-23; PTSD symptom severity, Clinician Administered PTSD Scale for DSM-5, CAPS-5), and across the eight treatment days (PTSD Checklist, PCL-5). Results: Treatment resulted in significant decreases of BPD symptoms (Cohen’s d = 0.70). Of the 35 patients with a positive screen for BPD at pre-treatment, 32.7% lost their positive screen at post-treatment. No adverse events nor dropouts occurred during the study time frame, and none of the patients experienced symptom deterioration in response to treatment. Conclusion: The results suggest that an intensive trauma-focused treatment is a feasible and safe treatment for PTSD patients with clinically elevated symptoms of BPD, and that BPD symptoms decrease along with the PTSD symptoms

Cardiac Catheterizations in Patients With Prior Coronary Bypass Surgery:Impact of Access Strategy on Short-Term Safety and Long-Term Efficacy Outcomes

Little data are available on access strategy outcomes for cardiac catheterizations in patients with prior coronary artery bypass graft surgery (CABG). We investigated the effect of transradial access (TRA) and transfemoral access (TFA) on short-term major vascular complications (MVC) and long-term major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE). In this single-center, retrospective cohort study, 1084 patients met our inclusion criteria (TRA = 469; TFA = 615). The cumulative incidence for the primary safety endpoint MVC at 30 days (a composite of major bleeding, retroperitoneal hematoma, dissection, pseudoaneurysm, and arteriovenous fistula) was lower with TRA (0.7% vs 3.0%, P &lt;.01) and this difference remained significant after propensity score adjustment (odds ratio: 0.24; 95% CI, 0.07-0.83; P =.024). The cumulative incidence for the primary efficacy endpoint MACE at 36 months (a composite of all-cause mortality, myocardial infarction, stroke, and urgent target vessel revascularization) was 28.6% with TRA and 27.6% with TFA, respectively. Kaplan-Meier curves showed no difference for the primary efficacy endpoint (P =.65). Contrast use (mL) was significantly lower with TRA (130 [100-180] vs 150 [100-213], P &lt;.01). In conclusion, in patients with prior CABG, TRA was associated with significantly fewer short-term MVC and contrast use, but not with a difference in long-term MACE, compared with TFA.</p

Long-term clinical outcomes in patients with non-ST-segment Elevation Acute Coronary Syndrome and ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction with thrombolysis in myocardial infarction 0 flow

Background: Thrombolysis in Myocardial Infarction (TIMI) 0 flow often characterizes ST-segment Elevation Myocardial Infarction (STEMI) patients, but may also feature in non-ST-segment Elevation Acute Coronary Syndrome (NSTE-ACS). Since recanalization usually occurs later in NSTE-ACS patients, the aim of this study was to assess whether patients presenting with NSTE-ACS and TIMI 0 flow have worse clinical outcomes as compared to patients presenting with STEMI and TIMI 0 flow. Methods: A single-center retrospective cohort study was conducted with patients treated for NSTE-ACS and STEMI with TIMI 0 flow at diagnostic angiogram between January 2015 and December 2019. The two patient groups were 1:1 matched using a propensity score logistic regression model. The primary outcome was Major Adverse Cardiac Events (MACE), a composite of all-cause mortality, any myocardial infarction, coronary artery bypass graft, urgent target vessel revascularization or stroke during long term follow-up. Results: The total population consisted of 1255 ACS patients, of which 249 NSTE-ACS and 1006 STEMI patients. After propensity score matching, 234 NSTE-ACS patients were matched with 234 STEMI patients. In this matched population, the mean age was 62.6 (±12.4) years and 75.2 % of the patients was male. The median follow-up time was 3.2 years. MACE rates during follow-up were similar between the two matched groups (HR = 0.84 [95 % CI 0.60 – 1.12] with p = 0.33) with cumulative event-free survival of 63.3 % in the NSTE-ACS group vs 59.3 % in the STEMI group at 6 year follow-up. Conclusion: In this retrospective study, a culprit lesion with TIMI 0 flow has similar clinical outcome in NSTE-ACS and STEMI patients. Further research is warranted to determine optimal the timing of PCI in NSTE-ACS patients with TIMI 0 flow.</p

Highly Sensitive Flow Cytometry Allows Monitoring of Changes in Circulating Immune Cells in Blood After Tdap Booster Vaccination

© 2021 Diks, Khatri, Oosten, de Mooij, Groenland, Teodosio, Perez-Andres, Orfao, Berbers, Zwaginga, van Dongen and Berkowska.Antigen-specific serum immunoglobulin (Ag-specific Ig) levels are broadly used as correlates of protection. However, in several disease and vaccination models these fail to predict immunity. In these models, in-depth knowledge of cellular processes associated with protective versus poor responses may bring added value. We applied high-throughput multicolor flow cytometry to track over-time changes in circulating immune cells in 10 individuals following pertussis booster vaccination (Tdap, Boostrix®, GlaxoSmithKline). Next, we applied correlation network analysis to extensively investigate how changes in individual cell populations correlate with each other and with Ag-specific Ig levels. We further determined the most informative cell subsets and analysis time points for future studies. Expansion and maturation of total IgG1 plasma cells, which peaked at day 7 post-vaccination, was the most prominent cellular change. Although these cells preceded the increase in Ag-specific serum Ig levels, they did not correlate with the increase of Ig levels. In contrast, strong correlation was observed between Ag-specific IgGs and maximum expansion of total IgG1 and IgA1 memory B cells at days 7 to 28. Changes in circulating T cells were limited, implying the need for a more sensitive approach. Early changes in innate immune cells, i.e. expansion of neutrophils, and expansion and maturation of monocytes up to day 5, most likely reflected their responses to local damage and adjuvant. Here we show that simultaneous monitoring of multiple circulating immune subsets in blood by flow cytometry is feasible. B cells seem to be the best candidates for vaccine monitoring.K is supported by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 707404. The here presented study is a pilot study for the Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI) PERISCOPE program, a Joint Undertaking under grant agreement No 115910. This Joint Undertaking receives support from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme, the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA), and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF). The flow cytometric studies in this study were supported by the EuroFlow Consortium. The EuroFlow Consortium received support from the FP6-2004-LIFESCIHEALTH-5 program of the European Commission (grant LSHB-CT-2006-018708) as Specific Targeted Research Project (STREP)

High-fidelity method for a single-step N-bit Toffoli gate in trapped ions

Conditional multiqubit gates are a key component for elaborate quantum algorithms. In a recent work, Rasmussen et al. [Phys. Rev. A 101, 022308 (2020)] proposed an efficient single-step method for a prototypical multiqubit gate, a Toffoli gate, based on a combination of Ising interactions between control qubits and an appropriate driving field on a target qubit. Trapped ions are a natural platform to implement this method, since Ising interactions mediated by phonons have been demonstrated in increasingly large ion crystals. However, the simultaneous application of these interactions and the driving field required for the gate results in undesired entanglem

Procedural Performance of Ultrathin, Biodegradable Polymer-Coated Stents Versus Durable Polymer-Coated Stents Based on Intracoronary Imaging

OBJECTIVE: Thinner stent struts might lead to a higher risk of recoil and subsequently a smaller minimal stent area (MSA), which is known to be the strongest predictor of stent failure. We compared procedural performance between an ultrathin-strut biodegradable-polymer sirolimus-eluting stent (BP-SES) and a durable-polymer zotarolimus-eluting stent (DP-ZES) using intracoronary imaging.METHODS: A consecutive cohort of patients underwent percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) with either BP-SES or DP-ZES in a pseudorandomized fashion between July 2018 and October 2019. In the present subanalysis, we included cases in which post-PCI imaging with intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) or optical coherence tomography (OCT) was performed. The primary endpoint of the study was MSA. Secondary endpoints included percentage stent expansion and presence of residual edge disease, malapposition, tissue protrusion, submedial edge dissections, or edge hematoma.RESULTS: A total of 141 treated lesions (78 BP-SES and 63 DP-ZES) in 127 patients were analyzed. Median age was 69.3 years (interquartile range [IQR], 57.3-75.6) and 74.0% of patients were male. All baseline and procedural characteristics were comparable between both groups. Median MSA was 5.80 mm² (IQR, 4.40-7.24) for BP-SES and 6.35 mm² (IQR, 4.76-8.31) for DP-ZES (P=.15). No significant differences in stent expansion, residual edge disease and presence of malapposition, tissue protrusion, submedial edge dissections, or edge hematomas were found. Stent diameter and stent length were found to be independent predictors of MSA.CONCLUSIONS: No significant differences in MSA were found between lesions treated with BP-SES vs DP-ZES. BP-SES and DP-ZES were comparable in terms of procedural performance.</p