Following Schubert varieties under Feigin's degeneration of the flag variety

We describe the effect of Feigin's flat degeneration of the type $\textrm{A}$ flag variety on its Schubert varieties. In particular, we study when they stay irreducible and in several cases we are able to encode reducibility of the degenerations in terms of symmetric group combinatorics. As a side result, we obtain an identification of some Schubert varieties with Richardson varieties in higher rank partial flag varieties.Comment: Comments are welcome! 22 pages + Appendix (5 pages), 2 figure

First insights on early host plants and dispersal behavior of Halyomorpha halys (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) from overwintering to crop colonization

Following its first detection in North Italy in 2012, H. halys has become a serious threat in many crops, including hazelnut. The present study aimed at investigating dispersal capacity and behavior in relation to host plants of overwintered adults of H. halys before the colonization of hazelnut crop. Research was carried out in four polyculture areas (from 14 to 50 ha) in north-western Italy in 2018, by using (i) pheromone-baited traps, (ii) visual inspection and beating sheet sampling, and (iii) immunomarking-capture technique. The relative abundance of H. halys was similar between and within the study areas, and the early attractiveness of lures to adults after overwintering was confirmed; the host plants near a pheromone trap (less than 5 m) hosted higher numbers of H. halys than the same plant species far away. Hybrid plane, European spindletree, walnut, oak, and European elder were the first plants on which adult bugs were observed to feed. By immunomarking-capture technique, H. halys showed both short- and long-range dispersal from overwintering sites and/or early host plants to wild and crop plants. Marked adults were found in all zones of each area, irrespective of the distance from the protein treatment. Therefore, H. halys movement patterns depend on the ecosystem features, and plant host distribution and availability. This knowledge together with the interaction between pheromone and early host plants might contribute to the management of post-overwintering adults

Mastering Youth Transitions : Italy as a Case for the Contemporary Complexities

none4siopenAlan France, Orazio Giancola, Lara Maestripieri, Martina VisentinFrance, Alan; Giancola, Orazio; Maestripieri, Lara; Visentin, Martin

Pierwotna nadczynność przytarczyc o niewielkim nasileniu — porównanie leczenia farmakologicznego i obserwacji klinicznej w ramach trwającego pięć lat badania klinicznego

Introduction: Primary hyperparathyroidism (PHPT) is an increasingly common endocrine disorder. Most patients with PHPT do not have disease-specific symptoms. The management of these patients has been widely debated. Recent studies have shown the importance of following up asymptomatic patients in order to reduce co-morbidity. However, there are conflicting opinions as to medical management. The aim of our study was to compare the outcome of PHPT patients on antiresorptive therapy vs. observation only.Material and methods: We longitudinally evaluated 157 PHPT patients (126 females) aged 22–90 years. Patients who did not undergo surgery were divided into two groups: those on anti-resorptive therapy (N = 52), and those without any treatment (N = 37). Patients who were disease-free after surgery (N = 50) served as controls.Results: The values of serum calcium (S-Ca), parathyroid hormone (PTH) and indices of bone metabolism did not differ significantly among the three groups of subjects. No differences in 25(OH)-vitamin D levels were noted. Bone mineral density (BMD) was not significantly different at the spinal level. Finally, we found no evidence of an effect of medical treatment on quality of life (QoL). However, QoL significantly improved in the surgery group after parathyroidectomy (PTX).Conclusions: This study provided up-to-date information in terms of biochemical progression on the natural history of PHPT patients. No significant differences emerged between anti-resorptive therapy and observation only. It is not yet possible to assess the effect of pharmacological treatments on QoL in statistical terms. (Endokrynol Pol 2014; 65 (6): 456–463)Wstęp: Pierwotna nadczynność przytarczyc (PHPT) jest coraz częściej spotykanym zaburzeniem endokrynologicznym. Większość dotkniętych nim pacjentów nie ma szczególnych objawów podmiotowych, a metody leczenia schorzenia pozostają przedmiotem dyskusji. Najnowsze publikacje wskazują na konieczność obserwowania pacjentów bezobjawowych, co ma na celu zmniejszenie zapadalności na schorzenia współistniejące. Opinie na temat leczenia farmakologicznego są jednak podzielone. Celem niniejszego badania było porównanie przebiegu PHPT u pacjentów przyjmujących leki zmniejszające resorpcję kości i u pacjentów poddanych jedynie obserwacji.Materiał i metody: Przeanalizowano dane 157 pacjentów (w tym 126 kobiet) w wieku 22–90 lat chorujących na PHPT. Pacjentów nieleczonych chirurgicznie podzielono na dwie grupy: grupa leczonych preparatami hamującymi resorpcję kości (n = 52) i grupa nieleczona farmakologicznie (n = 37). W grupie kontrolnej znaleźli się pacjenci bez objawów choroby po zabiegu chirurgicznym (n = 50).Wyniki: Stężenia wapnia w surowicy (S-Ca), aktywność parathormonu (PTH) i wskaźniki metabolizmu kostnego nie różniły się istotnie w trzech badanych grupach pacjentów. Nie stwierdzono różnic pod względem stężenia witaminy 25-OH-D (hydroksycholekalcyferolu). Gęstość mineralna kości (BMD) w obrębie kręgosłupa nie różniła się istotnie pomiędzy grupami. Nie stwierdzono też wpływu farmakoterapii na jakość życia (QoL). Odnotowano jednak, że QoL poprawiła się istotnie po zabiegu paratyreoidektomii (PTX) w grupie operowanej.Wnioski: Niniejsze badanie przynosi informacje na temat naturalnego przebiegu i zmian biochemicznych u chorych na PHPT. Nie stwierdzono istotnych różnic pomiędzy grupą pacjentów leczonych preparatami hamującymi resorpcję kości a pacjentami nieleczonymi. Nie można jednak było ocenić statystycznie wpływu leczenia farmakologicznego na QoL. (Endokrynol Pol 2014; 65 (6): 456–463

Los jeques del jazz en las fiestas por 25 centavos: Panamá y Harlem como cruces de caminos caribeños, circa 1910-1940

Both Harlem and Panama were, in the early twentieth century, crossroads of the Caribbean. This essay traces the musical echoes of that fact, arguing that British West Indians had a central but often unrecognized role in the exchanges driving Black cultural innovation in the interwar metropoles. Hundreds of thousands of British West Indians came to and through Panama at the start of the twentieth century, creating a Pan—Caribbean space where the rhythms of son, tango, mento, cumbia, and ragtime rang out. From there many would travel onward. The lives of Panama—born, New York—based performers like Vernon Andrade, Luis Russell, Teófilo Alfonso “Panama Al” Brown, and Estelle Bernier show how British West Indians shaped by the Greater Caribbean’s borderlands crossed boundaries within New York as well. Multilingual and multicultural, they moved easily within Harlem’s “Latin Quarter” of Puerto Ricans and other Spanish—speakers, helping to bring rhythms and styles from the Hispanic Caribbean to the Afro—American listening and dancing public. Stories of the working— class dance halls of 1920s Panama and of the Latin connections of British Caribbean performers in New York together point to tropical circuits of music and moves rarely recognized as part of the metropolitan Jazz Age.  Harlem y Panamá fueron cruces de caminos a comienzos del siglo XX. Este ensayo rastrea los ecos musicales de esos entrecruzamientos y sostiene que los antillanos británicos tuvieron un papel central, pero con frecuencia no reconocido, en los intercambios que impulsaron la innovación cultural negra en las metrópolis del período de entreguerras. Cientos de miles de habitantes de las Antillas británicas llegaron a Panamá o la atravesaron a comienzos del siglo XX y crearon un espacio pancaribeño donde sonaban los ritmos del son, el tango, el mento, la cumbia y el ragtime. Muchos de esos migrantes continuaron sus viajes desde allí. Las vidas de artistas que nacieron en Panamá y vivieron en Nueva York como Vernon Andrade, Luis Russell, Teófilo Alfonso “Panamá Al” Brown y Estelle Bernier demuestran cómo los antillanos británicos formados por las fronteras del Gran Caribe también traspasaron límites en el interior de Nueva York. Eran multilingües y multiculturales y se movían con facilidad entre los puertorriqueños y otros hablantes de español del “Barrio Latino” de Harlem. Así, contribuyeron con la presentación de ritmos y estilos del Caribe español ante el público afroestadounidense que los escuchaba y bailaba. En diálogo, las historias sobre los salones de baile de la clase trabajadora de Panamá en la década de 1920 y los contactos latinos de los artistas antillanos británicos en Nueva York señalan circuitos tropicales de la música y de los pasos de baile que no suelen reconocerse como parte de la era del jazz metropolitano

Dual adversarial deconfounding autoencoder for joint batch-effects removal from multi-center and multi-scanner radiomics data

Abstract Medical imaging represents the primary tool for investigating and monitoring several diseases, including cancer. The advances in quantitative image analysis have developed towards the extraction of biomarkers able to support clinical decisions. To produce robust results, multi-center studies are often set up. However, the imaging information must be denoised from confounding factors—known as batch-effect—like scanner-specific and center-specific influences. Moreover, in non-solid cancers, like lymphomas, effective biomarkers require an imaging-based representation of the disease that accounts for its multi-site spreading over the patient’s body. In this work, we address the dual-factor deconfusion problem and we propose a deconfusion algorithm to harmonize the imaging information of patients affected by Hodgkin Lymphoma in a multi-center setting. We show that the proposed model successfully denoises data from domain-specific variability (p-value < 0.001) while it coherently preserves the spatial relationship between imaging descriptions of peer lesions (p-value = 0), which is a strong prognostic biomarker for tumor heterogeneity assessment. This harmonization step allows to significantly improve the performance in prognostic models with respect to state-of-the-art methods, enabling building exhaustive patient representations and delivering more accurate analyses (p-values < 0.001 in training, p-values < 0.05 in testing). This work lays the groundwork for performing large-scale and reproducible analyses on multi-center data that are urgently needed to convey the translation of imaging-based biomarkers into the clinical practice as effective prognostic tools. The code is available on GitHub at this https://github.com/LaraCavinato/Dual-ADAE

Elaboración simple de pelets carbonosos para remover arsénico

Objetivo: Investigar y desarrollar un proceso simple - en el marco de las tecnologías emergentes- que permita obtener un material carbonoso que reduzca la concentración de As en agua de bebida por debajo del límite permitido por la legislación vigente(&lt; 10 ppb) a pequeña escala y con recursos locales.Área: Ciencias Biológicas, Ambiente y Salud

Imaging-based representation and stratification of intra-tumor heterogeneity via tree-edit distance

Personalized medicine is the future of medical practice. In oncology, tumor heterogeneity assessment represents a pivotal step for effective treatment planning and prognosis prediction. Despite new procedures for DNA sequencing and analysis, non-invasive methods for tumor characterization are needed to impact on daily routine. On purpose, imaging texture analysis is rapidly scaling, holding the promise to surrogate histopathological assessment of tumor lesions. In this work, we propose a tree-based representation strategy for describing intra-tumor heterogeneity of patients affected by metastatic cancer. We leverage radiomics information extracted from PET/CT imaging and we provide an exhaustive and easily readable summary of the disease spreading. We exploit this novel patient representation to perform cancer subtyping according to hierarchical clustering technique. To this purpose, a new heterogeneity-based distance between trees is defined and applied to a case study of prostate cancer. Clusters interpretation is explored in terms of concordance with severity status, tumor burden and biological characteristics. Results are promising, as the proposed method outperforms current literature approaches. Ultimately, the proposed method draws a general analysis framework that would allow to extract knowledge from daily acquired imaging data of patients and provide insights for effective treatment planning

Collective discussion: fracturing politics (or, how to avoid the tacit reproduction of modern/colonial ontologies in critical thought)

This article engages in an experiment that aims to push critical/post-structuralist thought beyond its comfort zone. Despite its commitment to critiquing modern, liberal ontologies, the article claims that these same ontologies are often tacitly reproduced, resulting in a failure to grasp contemporary structures and histories of violence and domination. The article brings into conversation five selected critical scholars from a range of theoretical approaches and disciplines who explore the potential of the notion of “fracture” for that purpose. The conversation revolves around political struggles at various sites—migrant struggles in Europe, decolonial struggles in Mexico, workers and peasant struggles in Colombia—in order to pinpoint how these struggles “fracture” or “crack” modern political frames in ways that neither reproduce them, nor lead to mere moments of disruption in otherwise smoothly functioning governmental regimes. Nor does such “fracturing” entail the constructing of a “complete” or “coherent” vision of a politics to come. Instead, we detail the incoherent, tentative, and multiple character of frames and practices of thought in struggle that nevertheless produce an (albeit open and contested) “whole.

How we do it: the Zurich Microsurgery Lab technique for placenta preparation

BACKGROUND Perfused placentas provide an excellent and accessible model for microvascular dissection, microsuturing and microanastomosis training - particularly in the early microsurgical learning curve. This way, a significant amount of live animals can be spared. METHOD We present the Zurich Microsurgery Lab protocol, detailing steps for obtaining, selecting, cleaning, flushing, cannulating, and preserving human placentas - as well as microsurgical training examples - in a tried-and-true, safe, cost-effective, and high-yield fashion. CONCLUSION Our technique enables highly realistic microsurgical training (microdissection, microvascular repair, microanastomosis) based on readily available materials. Proper handling, preparation, and preservation of the perfused placenta models is key