Complementary vertices and adjacency testing in polytopes

Our main theoretical result is that, if a simple polytope has a pair of complementary vertices (i.e., two vertices with no facets in common), then it has at least two such pairs, which can be chosen to be disjoint. Using this result, we improve adjacency testing for vertices in both simple and non-simple polytopes: given a polytope in the standard form {x \in R^n | Ax = b and x \geq 0} and a list of its V vertices, we describe an O(n) test to identify whether any two given vertices are adjacent. For simple polytopes this test is perfect; for non-simple polytopes it may be indeterminate, and instead acts as a filter to identify non-adjacent pairs. Our test requires an O(n^2 V + n V^2) precomputation, which is acceptable in settings such as all-pairs adjacency testing. These results improve upon the more general O(nV) combinatorial and O(n^3) algebraic adjacency tests from the literature.Comment: 14 pages, 5 figures. v1: published in COCOON 2012. v2: full journal version, which strengthens and extends the results in Section 2 (see p1 of the paper for details

Creating Context Networks in Dutch Legislation

This paper describes ongoing research on automatically determining relevant context to display to a user of a legislative portal given the article they are retrieving, purely based on ‘objective’ criteria inferred from the network of sources of law. A first prototype is presented and a formative evaluation of it by legal expert users. Results are promising, but there is room for improvement

BOLD Vision 2020:Designing a vision for the future of Big Open Legal Data

The vision of openlaws.eu is to make access to justice easier for citizens, business- es and legal experts. For this purpose, an innovative legal information platform has been designed by the openlaws.eu project, considering the needs of various stakeholder groups as well as the latest developments in technology and our information society. Access to justice is a fundamental problem in the European Union. There are over 500 million citizens and over 21 million businesses who live, work and operate in 28 jurisdictions, written in 24 official languages. A common market cannot work without a legal system as a basis. Legal information is a public good and it is the duty of governments and the EU to inform citizens and business about the law. In a democracy and under the rule of law everybody should know legislation and case law – or at least have access to it. Legal tech is a new terms for new technology that can be applied to legal information in order to create better access and better understanding of the law. However, just because things can be done, does not mean automatically that they are done. Financial and organisational restrictions and the lack of competency can be a deal-breaker for innovation. Open data, open innovation and open source software can be a potential solution to this problem, especially when combined to one coherent ecosystem. openlaws.eu has developed a prototype platform upon these new open concepts. The application and implementation of some of the features of this innovative legal cloud service indicate where the road of “Big Open Legal Data” can lead us in the upcoming years. The project team envisages an environment, where a “social layer” is put on top of the existing “institutional layer”. Citizens, businesses and legal experts can actively collaborate on the basis of primary legislation and case law. Linked and aggregated legal data provide a solid basis. Such information can then be represented in traditional and more innovative ways. Text and data mining as well as legal intelligence help to process large amounts of legal information automatically, so that experts can focus on the more complicated questions. In the next five years more and more legal data will be opened up, not only because of the PSI Directive, but also because it is in the best interest of governments. As a result, we anticipate that more legal tech start-ups will emerge, as already happened during the past two years. They will apply innovative concepts and new technology on existing legal information and create better access to justice in the EU, in Member States and in the world

Diet in secondary prevention: the effect of dietary patterns on cardiovascular risk factors in patients with cardiovascular disease: a systematic review and network meta-analysis

Background: Improving dietary habits is a first-line recommendation for patients with cardiovascular disease (CVD). It is unclear which dietary pattern most effectively lowers cardiovascular risk factors and what the short- and long-term effects are. Therefore, this network meta-analysis compared the effects of popular dietary patterns on cardiovascular risk factors in patients with established CVD. Methods: A systematic search of PubMed, Embase, the Cochrane library, SCOPUS and Web of Science was conducted up to 1 April 2023. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) comparing the effect of popular dietary patterns (Mediterranean, moderate carbohydrate, low glycemic index, low-fat and minimal dietary intervention) on cardiovascular risk factors (body weight, systolic blood pressure, lipids) in CVD populations were selected. A random-effects network meta-analysis was performed. Results: Seventeen RCTs comprising 6,331 participants were included. The moderate carbohydrate diet had the most beneficial effect on body weight (-4.6 kg, 95%CrI -25.1; 15.8) and systolic blood pressure (-7.0 mmHg 95%CrI -16.8; 2.7) compared to minimal intervention. None of the included dietary patterns had a favorable effect on low-density lipoprotein cholesterol. After 12 months, the effects were attenuated compared to those at < 6 months. Conclusions: In this network meta-analysis of 17 randomized trials, potentially clinically relevant effects of dietary interventions on CV risk factors were observed, but there was considerable uncertainty due to study heterogeneity, low adherence, or actual diminished effects in the medically treated CVD population. It was not possible to select optimal dietary patterns for secondary CVD prevention. Given recent clinical trials demonstrating the potential of dietary patterns to significantly reduce cardiovascular event risk, it is likely that these effects are effectuated through alternative physiological pathways

Translational opportunities of single-cell biology in atherosclerosis

The advent of single-cell biology opens a new chapter for understanding human biological processes and for diagnosing, monitoring, and treating disease. This revolution now reaches the field of cardiovascular disease (CVD). New technologies to interrogate CVD samples at single-cell resolution are allowing the identification of novel cell communities that are important in shaping disease development and direct towards new therapeutic strategies. These approaches have begun to revolutionize atherosclerosis pathology and redraw our understanding of disease development. This review discusses the state-of-the-art of single-cell analysis of atherosclerotic plaques, with a particular focus on human lesions, and presents the current resolution of cellular subpopulations and their heterogeneity and plasticity in relation to clinically relevant features. Opportunities and pitfalls of current technologies as well as the clinical impact of single-cell technologies in CVD patient care are highlighted, advocating for multidisciplinary and international collaborative efforts to join the cellular dots of CVD

Towards OPtimal TIming and Method for promoting sUstained adherence to lifestyle and body weight recommendations in postMenopausal breast cancer survivors (the OPTIMUM-study):protocol for a longitudinal mixed-method study

BACKGROUND: The majority of postmenopausal breast cancer (PMBC) survivors do not adhere to lifestyle recommendations and have excess body weight. In this group, this is associated with poorer health-related quality of life and an increased risk of type II diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular disease, second primary cancers, cancer recurrences, and mortality. Gaining and maintaining a healthy lifestyle and body composition is therefore important. It is unknown when and how sustained adherence to these recommendations can be promoted optimally in PMBC survivors. Therefore, the OPTIMUM study aims to identify the optimal timing and method for promoting sustained adherence to lifestyle and body weight recommendations in PMBC survivors. METHODS: The OPTIMUM-study has a mixed-methods design. To assess optimal timing, a longitudinal observational study will be conducted among approximately 1000 PMBC survivors. The primary outcomes are adherence to lifestyle and body weight recommendations, readiness for change, and need for support. Questionnaires will be administered at 4–6 months after cancer diagnosis (wave 1: during treatment and retrospectively before diagnosis), 1 year after diagnosis (wave 2: after completion of initial treatment), and 1.5 years after diagnosis (wave 3: during follow-up). Wave 2 and 3 include blood sampling, and either wearing an accelerometer for 7 days or completing a 3-day online food diary (randomly assigned at hospital level). To assess the optimal method, behavioural determinants of the primary outcomes will be matched with Behavior Change Techniques using the Behaviour Change Technique Taxonomy. Qualitative research methods will be used to explore perceptions, needs and preferences of PMBC survivors (semi-structured interviews, focus groups) and health care providers (Delphi study). Topics include perceptions on optimal timing to promote adherence; facilitators and motivators of, and barriers towards (sustained) adherence to recommendations; and acceptability of the selected methods. DISCUSSION: The OPTIMUM study aims to gain scientific knowledge on when and how to promote sustained adherence to lifestyle and body weight recommendations among PBMC survivors. This knowledge can be incorporated into guidelines for tailored promotion in clinical practice to improve health outcomes

Measurement of the cross-section and charge asymmetry of WW bosons produced in proton-proton collisions at s=8\sqrt{s}=8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

This paper presents measurements of the $W^+ \rightarrow \mu^+\nu$ and $W^- \rightarrow \mu^-\nu$ cross-sections and the associated charge asymmetry as a function of the absolute pseudorapidity of the decay muon. The data were collected in proton--proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 8 TeV with the ATLAS experiment at the LHC and correspond to a total integrated luminosity of 20.2~\mbox{fb^{-1}}. The precision of the cross-section measurements varies between 0.8% to 1.5% as a function of the pseudorapidity, excluding the 1.9% uncertainty on the integrated luminosity. The charge asymmetry is measured with an uncertainty between 0.002 and 0.003. The results are compared with predictions based on next-to-next-to-leading-order calculations with various parton distribution functions and have the sensitivity to discriminate between them.Comment: 38 pages in total, author list starting page 22, 5 figures, 4 tables, submitted to EPJC. All figures including auxiliary figures are available at https://atlas.web.cern.ch/Atlas/GROUPS/PHYSICS/PAPERS/STDM-2017-13

Search for chargino-neutralino production with mass splittings near the electroweak scale in three-lepton final states in √s=13 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for supersymmetry through the pair production of electroweakinos with mass splittings near the electroweak scale and decaying via on-shell W and Z bosons is presented for a three-lepton final state. The analyzed proton-proton collision data taken at a center-of-mass energy of √s=13  TeV were collected between 2015 and 2018 by the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 139  fb−1. A search, emulating the recursive jigsaw reconstruction technique with easily reproducible laboratory-frame variables, is performed. The two excesses observed in the 2015–2016 data recursive jigsaw analysis in the low-mass three-lepton phase space are reproduced. Results with the full data set are in agreement with the Standard Model expectations. They are interpreted to set exclusion limits at the 95% confidence level on simplified models of chargino-neutralino pair production for masses up to 345 GeV