Explicit Hopcroft's Trick in Categorical Partition Refinement

Algorithms for partition refinement are actively studied for a variety of systems, often with the optimisation called Hopcroft's trick. However, the low-level description of those algorithms in the literature often obscures the essence of Hopcroft's trick. Our contribution is twofold. Firstly, we present a novel formulation of Hopcroft's trick in terms of general trees with weights. This clean and explicit formulation -- we call it Hopcroft's inequality -- is crucially used in our second contribution, namely a general partition refinement algorithm that is \emph{functor-generic} (i.e. it works for a variety of systems such as (non-)deterministic automata and Markov chains). Here we build on recent works on coalgebraic partition refinement but depart from them with the use of fibrations. In particular, our fibrational notion of $R$-partitioning exposes a concrete tree structure to which Hopcroft's inequality readily applies. It is notable that our fibrational framework accommodates such algorithmic analysis on the categorical level of abstraction

Impact of Gender on In-hospital Mortality in Patients with Acute Myocardial Infarction in Nagasaki

Acute myocardial infarction (AMI) is one of the leading causes of death in Japan. Immediate reperfusion therapy, includingcoronary intervention, improves patient prognosis. Despite this, females are said to be more prone to poor prognosis. A regional AMI registry in Nagasaki prefecture has been instituted recently that will evaluate whether female gender might predict short-term in-hospital death. Seventeen regional AMI centers enrolled all AMI patients from September 2014 through March 2016. A propensity score (PS) was derived using logistic regression to model the probability of females as a total function of the potential confounding covariates. Two types of PS techniques were used: PS matching and PS stratification. The consistency of in-hospital death was determined between PS matched patients of both genders. Based on PS, patients were ranked and stratified into five groups for the PS stratification. Out of 996 patients, 67 (6.7%) died during hospitalization: 31 (10.4%) out of 298 females and 36 (5.2%) out of 698 males (p < 0.0025). The proportion of cardiac and non-cardiac related death was almost same between genders (25 and 6 in female, 29 and 7 in male, respectively). Among 196 PS matched patients, there was a consistency between genders regarding in-hospital deaths (McNemar test, p = 0.6698). The 717 propensity scored patients had no significant differences between genders among propensity quintiles (Cochran-Mantel-Heanszel test, p = 0.7117). We found that gender alone is not an indicator of short-term in-hospital death in acute myocardial infarction patients

Preorder-Constrained Simulation for Nondeterministic Automata (Early Ideas)

We describe our ongoing work on generalizing some quantitatively constrained notions of weak simulation up-to that are recently introduced for deterministic systems modeling program execution. We present and discuss a new notion dubbed preorder-constrained simulation that allows comparison between words using a preorder, instead of equality

The ubiquitin ligase Ozz decreases the replacement rate of embryonic myosin in myofibrils

Myosin, the most abundant myofibrillar protein in skeletal muscle, functions as a motor protein in muscle contraction. Myosin polymerizes into the thick filaments in the sarcomere where approximately 50% of embryonic myosin (Myh3) are replaced within 3 h (Ojima K, Ichimura E, Yasukawa Y, Wakamatsu J, Nishimura T, Am J Physiol Cell Physiol 309: C669-C679, 2015). The sarcomere structure including the thick filament is maintained by a balance between protein biosynthesis and degradation. However, the involvement of a protein degradation system in the myosin replacement process remains unclear. Here, we show that the muscle-specific ubiquitin ligase Ozz regulates replacement rate of Myh3. To examine the direct effect of Ozz on myosin replacement, eGFP-Myh3 replacement rate was measured in myotubes overexpressing Ozz by fluorescence recovery after photobleaching. Ozz overexpression significantly decreased the replacement rate of eGFP-Myh3 in the myofibrils, whereas it had no effect on other myosin isoforms. It is likely that ectopic Ozz promoted myosin degradation through increment of ubiquitinated myosin, and decreased myosin supply for replacement, thereby reducing myosin replacement rate. Intriguingly, treatment with a proteasome inhibitor MG132 also decreased myosin replacement rate, although MG132 enhanced the accumulation of ubiquitinated myosin in the cytosol where replaceable myosin is pooled, suggesting that ubiquitinated myosin is not replaced by myosin in the myofibril. Collectively, our findings showed that Myh3 replacement rate was reduced in the presence of overexpressed Ozz probably through enhanced ubiquitination and degradation of Myh3 by Ozz

Lower Circulating Omega-3 Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids Are Associated with Coronary Microvascular Dysfunction Evaluated by Hyperemic Microvascular Resistance in Patients with Stable Coronary Artery Disease

The consumption of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) reduces the incidence of cardiovascular events and sudden cardiac death. Coronary microvascular dysfunction (CMD) is a predictor of cardiac mortality, but little information is known on the relationship between CMD and omega-3 PUFAs. This study aimed to identify the relationship between the serum levels of omega-3 PUFAs and the CMD evaluated by the hyperemic microvascular resistance index (hMVRI) to assess coronary microvascular function in patients with stable coronary artery disease (CAD). Intracoronary physiological variables (fractional flow reserve (FFR),hMVRI, mean distal coronary pressure (Pd), and average peak velocity (APV)) were measured in 108 patients. These parameters were evaluated in 150 coronary arteries with stenosis of intermediate severity and without significant ischemia (FFR > 0.80). The PUFA levels and atherosclerotic risk factors were also measured. Univariate analysis shows that hMVRI was negatively correlated with eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA)/arachidonic acid (AA) ratio (β = ?0.31, P = 0.001) and EPA (β = ?0.25, P = 0.009) and was positively correlated with dihomo-γ-linolenic acid (β = 0.26, P = 0.006). Multivariate regression analysis shows that the EPA/AA ratio was the only independent determinant of hMVRI (β = ?0.234, SE = 0.231, P = 0.024). Furthermore, hMVRI decreased significantly from the lowest to highest tertiles of the EPA/AA ratio (P = 0.007). The EPA/AA ratio was positively correlated with APV at hyperemia (β = 0.26, P = 0.008) but not with Pd at hyperemia. A lower serum EPA/AA ratio may cause CMD in patients with stable CAD

The Relationship between Circulating Polyunsaturated Fatty Acid Levels and Exercise Responses of Patients with Non-ischemic Heart Failure

Objective Polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) are associated with heart failure (HF) as well as coronary artery disease. However, little is known about the relationships between PUFAs and the exercise responses of patients with HF. We evaluated the relationships between PUFAs and the parameters of cardiopulmonary exercise tests (CPETs) in patients with non-ischemic HF. Methods Fifty patients with stable non-ischemic HF underwent CPETs at our hospital. Data were analyzed to evaluate the relationships between PUFAs and echocardiographic findings as well as CPET and other test parameters. Results Correlations were significant and negative between dihomo-γ-linolenic acid (DGLA) + arachidonic acid (AA) and minute ventilation versus carbon dioxide production (VE/VCO2) slope, and positive between N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) and VE/VCO2 slope. A multivariate regression analysis selected DGLA+AA and AA as independent predictors of VE/VCO2 slope. However, eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) + docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) were not significantly correlated with the CPET parameters. Conclusion Low levels of circulating DGLA+AA and AA among PUFAs were associated with decreased exercise responses in patients with stable non-ischemic HF. These findings suggest that high levels of omega-6 PUFAs may improve the clinical outcomes of patients with non-ischemic HF via their effects on exercise responses