Tarski monoids: Matui's spatial realization theorem

We introduce a class of inverse monoids, called Tarski monoids, that can be regarded as non-commutative generalizations of the unique countable, atomless Boolean algebra. These inverse monoids are related to a class of etale topological groupoids under a non-commutative generalization of classical Stone duality and, significantly, they arise naturally in the theory of dynamical systems as developed by Matui. We are thereby able to reinterpret a theorem of Matui on a class of \'etale groupoids as an equivalent theorem about a class of Tarski monoids: two simple Tarski monoids are isomorphic if and only if their groups of units are isomorphic. The inverse monoids in question may also be viewed as countably infinite generalizations of finite symmetric inverse monoids. Their groups of units therefore generalize the finite symmetric groups and include amongst their number the classical Thompson groups.Comment: arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1407.147

Integrating Industry and National Economic Accounts: First Steps and Future Improvements

The integration of the annual I-O accounts with the GDP-by-industry accounts is the most recent in a series of improvements to the industry accounts provided by the BEA in recent years. BEA prepares two sets of national industry accounts: The I-O accounts, which consist of the benchmark I-O accounts and the annual I-O accounts, and the GDPby- industry accounts. Both the I-O accounts and the GDP-by-industry accounts present measures of gross output, intermediate inputs, and value added by industry. However, in the past, they were inconsistent because of the use of different methodologies, classification frameworks, and source data. The integration of these accounts eliminated these inconsistencies and improved the accuracy of both sets of accounts. The integration of the annual industry accounts represents a major advance in the timeliness, accuracy, and consistency of these accounts, and is a result of significant improvements in BEA's estimating methods. The paper describes the new methodology, and the future steps required to integrate the industry accounts with the NIPAs. The new methodology combines source data between the two industry accounts to improve accuracy; it prepares the newly integrated accounts within an I-O framework that balances and reconciles industry production with commodity usage. Moreover, the new methodology allows the acceleration of the release of the annual I-O accounts by 2 years and for the first time, provides a consistent time series of annual I-O accounts. Three appendices are provided: A description of the probability-based method to rank source data by quality; a description of the new balancing produced for producing the annual I-O accounts; and a description of the computation method used to estimate chaintype price and quantity indexes in the GDP-by-industry accounts.

Individual 17-Hydroxyprogesterone Responses to hCG Are Not Correlated With Follicle Size in Polycystic Ovary Syndrome.

Context:In women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), 17-hydroxyprogesterone (17-OHP) responses to gonadotropin stimulation vary from increased to indistinguishable compared with normal controls. Objective:To determine whether 17-OHP responses to recombinant-human chorionic gonadotropin (r-hCG) are individually correlated to the size of antral follicles among women with PCOS. Design Setting and Participants:A prospective study conducted in 19 women with PCOS and 20 normal controls at an academic medical center. Interventions:Blood samples were obtained before and 24 hours after administration of 25 μg of r-hCG. Ovarian imaging was conducted with three-dimensional pelvic ultrasonography. Each subject underwent a 2-hour oral glucose tolerance test. Main Outcome Measures:Basal and stimulated levels of 17-OHP, androgens, estradiol, progesterone, anti-Mullerian hormone (AMH), insulin, glucose, follicle number, and size. Results:In women with PCOS, mean antral follicle count (AFC) was greater than that of controls, although the size of cohort follicles within individual subjects was not correlated to 17-OHP responses. The numbers of 2- to 3-mm and 3- to 4-mm follicles in PCOS were significantly greater than in controls, whereas differences between larger follicles were not observed. Increased AMH in PCOS was correlated to AFC, but not 17-OHP responses. Insulin sensitivity did not correlate to r-hCG‒stimulated 17-OHP after adjustment for body mass index. Conclusions:17-OHP responses to hCG in individuals with PCOS were not correlated to the distribution of antral follicles. Greater numbers of small antral follicles in women with PCOS than in controls suggest an extension of accelerated growth from the preantral stage

Successful Treatment of ANCA-Negative Wegener's Granulomatosis with Rituximab

Wegener's Granulomatosis (WG) is a systemic vasculitis typically associated with antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies (ANCAs). A small proportion of patients are ANCA negative, however, and this is more commonly found in individuals with disease limited to the ears, nose, throat, and lungs, who do not have renal involvement. Rituximab is a monoclonal anti-CD20 antibody that has been demonstrated to be effective in the treatment of autoantibody-associated rheumatic diseases, including systemic WG. We report the case of a patient with ANCA-negative WG who responded well to rituximab, illustrating that even in the absence of detectable autoantibodies, B-cell depletion can be effective

Strangelet dwarfs

If the surface tension of quark matter is low enough, quark matter is not self bound. At sufficiently low pressure and temperature, it will take the form of a crystal of positively charged strangelets in a neutralizing background of electrons. In this case there will exist, in addition to the usual family of strange stars, a family of low-mass large-radius objects analogous to white dwarfs, which we call "strangelet dwarfs". Using a generic parametrization of the equation of state of quark matter, we calculate the mass-radius relationship of these objects.Comment: 10 pages, LaTeX, added discussion of CFL phase and strangelet pollution, version to appear in journal. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:0808.067

Quantifying the Amount of Ice in Cold Tropical Cirrus Clouds

How much ice is there in the Tropical Tropopause layer, globally? How does one begin to answer that question? Clouds are currently the largest source of uncertainty in climate models, and the ice water content (IWC) of cold cirrus clouds is needed to understand the total water and radiation budgets of the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere (UT/LS). The Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation (CALIPSO) satellite, originally a "pathfinder" mission only expected to last for three years, has now been operational for more than eight years. Lidar data from CALIPSO can provide information about how IWC is vertically distributed in the UT/LS, and about inter-annual variability and seasonal changes in cloud ice. However, cloud IWC is difficult to measure accurately with either remote or in situ instruments because IWC from cold cirrus clouds is derived from the particle cross-sectional area or visible extinction coefficient. Assumptions must be made about the relationship between the area, volume and density of ice particles with various crystal habits. Recently there have been numerous aircraft field campaigns providing detailed information about cirrus ice water content from cloud probes. This presentation evaluates the assumptions made when creating the Cloud-Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization (CALIOP) global IWC data set, using recently reanalyzed aircraft particle probe measurements of very cold, thin TTL cirrus from the 2006 CR-AVE

Mutual interaction of kisspeptin, estrogen and bone morphogenetic protein-4 activity in GnRH regulation by GT1-7 cells

Reproduction is integrated by interaction of neural and hormonal signals converging on hypothalamic neurons for controlling gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH). Kisspeptin, the peptide product of the kiss1 gene and the endogenous agonist for the GRP54 receptor, plays a key role in the regulation of GnRH secretion. In the present study, we investigated the interaction between kisspeptin, estrogen and BMPs in the regulation of GnRH production by using mouse hypothalamic GT1-7 cells. Treatment with kisspeptin increased GnRH mRNA expression and GnRH protein production in a concentration-dependent manner. The expression levels of kiss1 and GPR54 were not changed by kisspeptin stimulation. Kisspeptin induction of GnRH was suppressed by co-treatment with BMPs, with BMP-4 action being the most potent for suppressing the kisspeptin effect. The expression of kisspeptin receptor, GPR54, was suppressed by BMPs, and this effect was reversed in the presence of kisspeptin. It was also revealed that BMP-induced Smad1/5/8 phosphorylation and Id-1 expression were suppressed and inhibitory Smad6/7 was induced by kisspeptin. In addition, estrogen induced GPR54 expression, while kisspeptin increased the expression levels of ER alpha. and ER beta, suggesting that the actions of estrogen and kisspeptin are mutually enhanced in GT1-7 cells. Moreover, kisspeptin stimulated MAPKs and AKT signaling, and ERK signaling was functionally involved in the kisspeptin-induced GnRH expression. BMP-4 was found to suppress kisspeptin-induced GnRH expression by reducing ERK signaling activity. Collectively, the results indicate that the axis of kisspeptin-induced GnRH production is bi-directionally controlled, being augmented by an interaction between ER alpha/beta and GPR54 signaling and suppressed by BMP-4 action in GT1-7 neuron cells

Neuronspecific expression of the rat gonadotropin-releasing hormone gene is conferred by interactions of a defined promoter element with the enhancer in GT1–7 cells

Neuroendocrine control of the reproductive cascade is mediated by GnRH, which in mammals is produced by a subset of neurons scattered throughout the hypothalamus and forebrain. Utilizing a cultured cell model of GnRH neurons (GT1-7 cells), two regulatory regions in the rat GnRH 5 flanking DNA were identified as essential for cell-type specificity: a 300-bp enhancer and a 173-bp conserved proximal promoter. Using transient transfections to compare expression in GT1-7 cells to a non-GnRH-expressing cell type (NIH 3T3), we show that the GnRH enhancer and the proximal promoter each play roles in conferring this specificity. Deletion of footprint 2 (FP2; ؊26 to ؊76) from the promoter when coupled to the GnRH enhancer diminishes reporter activity in GT1-7 cells more strongly than in NIH 3T3 cells. Furthermore, deletion of FP2 from the promoter when coupled to the heterologous Rous sarcoma virus 5-long terminal repeat promoter abolishes the difference in reporter activity between GT1-7 and NIH 3T3 cells, suggesting that FP2 of the GnRH promoter is necessary for cell-specific expression. In addition, FP2 alone is sufficient to confer cell-specific expression and can interact with the GnRH enhancer to augment reporter gene expression specifically in GT1-7 cells. Finally, a 31-bp sequence from within FP2 (؊63 to ؊33) synergistically activates transcription when coupled with the GnRH enhancer in GT1-7 cells but not in NIH 3T3 cells. Thus, this 31-bp region contains elements necessary for interaction between the GnRH enhancer and promoter. We show that two of five protein complexes that bind to the ؊63 to ؊33 region are GT1-7 cell specific, and both of them appear to be homeodomain proteins. The identification of a cell-specific element in the GnRH proximal promoter significantly advances our understanding of the transcriptional basis for neuron-specific GnRH gene expression. (Molecular Endocrinology 14: 1509-1522, 2000