Solving Optimization Problems by the Public Goods Game

This document is the Accepted Manuscript version of the following article: Marco Alberto Javarone, ‘Solving optimization problems by the public goods game’, The European Physical Journal B, 90:17, September 2017. Under embargo. Embargo end date: 18 September 2018. The final, published version is available online at doi: https://doi.org/10.1140/epjb/e2017-80346-6. Published by Springer Berlin Heidelberg.We introduce a method based on the Public Goods Game for solving optimization tasks. In particular, we focus on the Traveling Salesman Problem, i.e. a NP-hard problem whose search space exponentially grows increasing the number of cities. The proposed method considers a population whose agents are provided with a random solution to the given problem. In doing so, agents interact by playing the Public Goods Game using the fitness of their solution as currency of the game. Notably, agents with better solutions provide higher contributions, while those with lower ones tend to imitate the solution of richer agents for increasing their fitness. Numerical simulations show that the proposed method allows to compute exact solutions, and suboptimal ones, in the considered search spaces. As result, beyond to propose a new heuristic for combinatorial optimization problems, our work aims to highlight the potentiality of evolutionary game theory beyond its current horizons.Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio

Varespladib and cardiovascular events in patients with an acute coronary syndrome: the VISTA-16 randomized clinical trial

IMPORTANCE: Secretory phospholipase A2(sPLA2) generates bioactive phospholipid products implicated in atherosclerosis. The sPLA2inhibitor varespladib has favorable effects on lipid and inflammatory markers; however, its effect on cardiovascular outcomes is unknown. OBJECTIVE: To determine the effects of sPLA2inhibition with varespladib on cardiovascular outcomes. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: A double-blind, randomized, multicenter trial at 362 academic and community hospitals in Europe, Australia, New Zealand, India, and North America of 5145 patients randomized within 96 hours of presentation of an acute coronary syndrome (ACS) to either varespladib (n = 2572) or placebo (n = 2573) with enrollment between June 1, 2010, and March 7, 2012 (study termination on March 9, 2012). INTERVENTIONS: Participants were randomized to receive varespladib (500 mg) or placebo daily for 16 weeks, in addition to atorvastatin and other established therapies. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: The primary efficacy measurewas a composite of cardiovascular mortality, nonfatal myocardial infarction (MI), nonfatal stroke, or unstable angina with evidence of ischemia requiring hospitalization at 16 weeks. Six-month survival status was also evaluated. RESULTS: At a prespecified interim analysis, including 212 primary end point events, the independent data and safety monitoring board recommended termination of the trial for futility and possible harm. The primary end point occurred in 136 patients (6.1%) treated with varespladib compared with 109 patients (5.1%) treated with placebo (hazard ratio [HR], 1.25; 95%CI, 0.97-1.61; log-rank P = .08). Varespladib was associated with a greater risk of MI (78 [3.4%] vs 47 [2.2%]; HR, 1.66; 95%CI, 1.16-2.39; log-rank P = .005). The composite secondary end point of cardiovascular mortality, MI, and stroke was observed in 107 patients (4.6%) in the varespladib group and 79 patients (3.8%) in the placebo group (HR, 1.36; 95% CI, 1.02-1.82; P = .04). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: In patients with recent ACS, varespladib did not reduce the risk of recurrent cardiovascular events and significantly increased the risk of MI. The sPLA2inhibition with varespladib may be harmful and is not a useful strategy to reduce adverse cardiovascular outcomes after ACS. TRIAL REGISTRATION: clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT01130246. Copyright 2014 American Medical Association. All rights reserved

The finite-size scaling study of four-dimensional Ising model in the presence of external magnetic field

The four-dimensional ferromagnetic Ising model in external magnetic field is simulated on the Creutz cellular automaton algorithm using finite-size lattices with linear dimension 4 ≤ L ≤ 8. The critical temperature value of infinite lattice, Tc χ (∞) = 6.680(1) obtained for h = 0 agrees well with the values Tc(∞) ≈ 6.68 obtained previously using different methods. Moreover, h = 0.00025 in our work also agrees with all the results obtained from h = 0 in the literature. However, there are no works for h ≠ 0 in the literature. The value of the field critical exponent (δ = 3.0136(3)) is in good agreement with δ = 3 which is obtained from scaling law of Widom. In spite of the finitesize scaling relations of |ML(t)| and χ L(t) for 0 ≤ h ≤ 0.001 are verified; however, in the cases of 0.0025 ≤ h ≤ 0.1 they are not verified

Neonatal Lead (Pb) Exposure and DNA Methylation Profiles in Dried Bloodspots

Lead (Pb) exposure remains a major concern in the United States (US) and around the world, even following the removal of Pb from gasoline and other products. Environmental Pb exposures from aging infrastructure and housing stock are of particular concern to pregnant women, children, and other vulnerable populations. Exposures during sensitive periods of development are known to influence epigenetic modifications which are thought to be one mechanism of the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (DOHaD) paradigm. To gain insights into early life Pb exposure-induced health risks, we leveraged neonatal dried bloodspots in a cohort of children from Michigan, US to examine associations between blood Pb levels and concomitant DNA methylation profiles (n = 96). DNA methylation analysis was conducted via the Infinium MethylationEPIC array and Pb levels were assessed via high resolution inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (HR-ICP-MS). While at-birth Pb exposure levels were relatively low (average 0.78 µg/dL, maximum of 5.27 ug/dL), we identified associations between DNA methylation and Pb at 33 CpG sites, with the majority (82%) exhibiting reduced methylation with increasing Pb exposure (q < 0.2). Biological pathways related to development and neurological function were enriched amongst top differentially methylated genes by p-value. In addition to increases/decreases in methylation, we also demonstrate that Pb exposure is related to increased variability in DNA methylation at 16 CpG sites. More work is needed to assess the accuracy and precision of metals assessment using bloodspots, but this study highlights the utility of this unique resource to enhance environmental epigenetics research around the world