The Overlap between Headache and Epilepsy in the Light of Recent Advances in Medical Genetics

Not Available

One-loop topological expansion for spin glasses in the large connectivity limit

We apply for the first time a new one-loop topological expansion around the Bethe solution to the spin-glass model with field in the high connectivity limit, following the methodological scheme proposed in a recent work. The results are completely equivalent to the well known ones, found by standard field theoretical expansion around the fully connected model (Bray and Roberts 1980, and following works). However this method has the advantage that the starting point is the original Hamiltonian of the model, with no need to define an associated field theory, nor to know the initial values of the couplings, and the computations have a clear and simple physical meaning. Moreover this new method can also be applied in the case of zero temperature, when the Bethe model has a transition in field, contrary to the fully connected model that is always in the spin glass phase. Sharing with finite dimensional model the finite connectivity properties, the Bethe lattice is clearly a better starting point for an expansion with respect to the fully connected model. The present work is a first step towards the generalization of this new expansion to more difficult and interesting cases as the zero-temperature limit, where the expansion could lead to different results with respect to the standard one.Comment: 8 pages, 1 figur

Ensemble renormalization group for disordered systems

We propose and study a renormalization group transformation that can be used also for models with strong quenched disorder, like spin glasses. The method is based on a mapping between disorder distributions, chosen such as to keep some physical properties (e.g., the ratio of correlations averaged over the ensemble) invariant under the transformation. We validate this ensemble renormalization group by applying it to the hierarchical model (both the diluted ferromagnetic version and the spin glass version), finding results in agreement with Monte Carlo simulations.Comment: 7 pages, 10 figure

Charter Schools: A Missed Opportunity to Improve Education Through Innovation

The U.S. education system, unlike other fields, has failed to encourage and learn from innovation. Charter schools—publicly-funded schools with the freedom to develop innovative practices—offered an opportunity to address the education system’s resistance to change. The hope was that charter schools could serve as laboratories of innovation for new school models that traditional public schools across the country could later adopt. Despite these good intentions, the charter school movement has not resulted in the change early advocates hoped for. Charter schools often recycle old practices instead of experimenting with new ones. And when a charter school does develop a successful innovation, traditional schools seldom replicate it. To effectuate the promise of the charter school movement, this Article proposes that three new requirements be added to charter school accountability and authorization frameworks: (1) charter school applicants must demonstrate a commitment to implementing innovative practices; (2) charter school authorizers must evaluate innovative practices to measure their impacts; and (3) charter school authorizers must disseminate their findings in public databases of evidence-based practices for education

Ethnic groups' income inequality within and across Italian regions

The relationship between regional income inequality in Italy and the phenomenon of migration is still under current debate. Policymakers and researchers worry about the process of assimilation of the new entrants, in a country where regional disparities are strong. We provide evidence that regional income disparities apply to ethnic groups of migrants, too, like the group of nationals, but the largest source of inequality is still within region and within group. We address this issue by using the 2009 wave of EUSILC data and the ISTAT CVS data in 2009, the latter offering specific information on households with foreigners/migrants by main ethnic groups. We calculate several indexes of income inequality because of their specific sensitivity to different portions of the Italian income distribution. We also estimate the main determinants of such inequality. Our results suggest that, above all, women with very young children and individuals with secondary education belong to categories with significantly increased income inequality, whereas those highly educated and leaving in the Centre-North of Italy belong to categories with reduced inequality. Regional unemployment is associated to lower inequality, especially among those low-income earners, while higher relative mean regional income pushes inequality upwards

The effect of economic crisis on regional income inequality in Italy

This paper analyzes the determinants of unequal income distribution across macro-regions in Italy, and whether the latest economic crisis has had an effect on income inequality within or between regions. Inequality between individuals and between families appears greatest in the south, and the crisis has exacerbated this phenomenon. Econometric analyses by population groups and by nationality suggest that high educational attainment levels and larger households contribute to increasing the household income, whereas being female and foreign tend to reduce household income. The income distribution of foreign-born individuals tends to be more asymmetric, with heavier tails, compared to that of nationals

Videocapillaroscopy in Connective Tissue Diseases

Videocapillaroscopy is a noninvasive, quick, and easy examination method to indicate if there is clinical suspicion of microangiopathy. It provides the rheumatologist indispensable information on the microcirculation state. Recently with the development of the new classification criteria of systemic sclerosis (ACR 2013), capillaroscopy has become even more important. It is currently the only instrumental test whose result is pathognomonic for diagnosis of systemic sclerosis. During videocapillaroscopy, the following parameters are evaluated: density, structure, hemosiderin deposition, bloodstream, presence of megacapillaries, presence of subpapillary venous plexus, and edema. It can distinguish several patterns, especially scleroderma pattern, as follows: (1) “Early” pattern: few enlarged/giant capillaries, few capillary hemorrhages, relatively well‐preserved capillary distribution, no evident loss of capillaries; (2) “Active” pattern: frequent giant capillaries, frequent capillary hemorrhages, moderate loss of capillaries, mild disorganization of the capillary architecture, absent or mild ramified capillaries; (3) “Late” pattern: irregular enlargement of the capillaries, few or absent giant capillaries and hemorrhages, severe loss of capillaries with extensive avascular areas, disorganization of the normal capillary array, ramified/bushy capillaries. Although capillaroscopic examination is easy to perform, it is essential that the operator has been properly trained on the instrument’s function and on correct method of image acquisition to avoid misinterpretation

Loop expansion around the Bethe approximation through the MM-layer construction

For every physical model defined on a generic graph or factor graph, the Bethe $M$-layer construction allows building a different model for which the Bethe approximation is exact in the large $M$ limit and it coincides with the original model for $M=1$. The $1/M$ perturbative series is then expressed by a diagrammatic loop expansion in terms of so-called fat-diagrams. Our motivation is to study some important second-order phase transitions that do exist on the Bethe lattice but are either qualitatively different or absent in the corresponding fully connected case. In this case the standard approach based on a perturbative expansion around the naive mean field theory (essentially a fully connected model) fails. On physical grounds, we expect that when the construction is applied to a lattice in finite dimension there is a small region of the external parameters close to the Bethe critical point where strong deviations from mean-field behavior will be observed. In this region, the $1/M$ expansion for the corrections diverges and it can be the starting point for determining the correct non-mean-field critical exponents using renormalization group arguments. In the end, we will show that the critical series for the generic observable can be expressed as a sum of Feynman diagrams with the same numerical prefactors of field theories. However, the contribution of a given diagram is not evaluated associating Gaussian propagators to its lines as in field theories: one has to consider the graph as a portion of the original lattice, replacing the internal lines with appropriate one-dimensional chains, and attaching to the internal points the appropriate number of infinite-size Bethe trees to restore the correct local connectivity of the original model

Bell lysaker emotion recognition test: a contribution for the italian validation

INTRODUCTION: Emotion recognition deficits in psychopathology have been extensively studied with a variety of measures. The Bell Lysaker Emotion Recognition Test (BLERT; Bell et al., 1997) is an effective method to assess emotion recognition by presenting affect stimuli which may have greater verisimilitude with real life events. Indeed, BLERT combines facial expressions with affective information transmitted in prosody or body posture. This method has allowed the study of emotion recognition deficit in psychotic patients, as well as its relationships with other aspects of psychopathology (Vohs et al., 2014). OBJECTIVES: We aimed at testing the validity and reliability of an Italian version of the BLERT. AIMS: First, a group-comparison was carried out between clinical and nonclinical participants. Then, correlations among BLERT scores and other indices of psychological functioning were explored. METHODS: We recruited 12 inpatients with psychotic disorders (mean age= 54.75; 58.3% female) and 45 nonclinical participants (mean age= 24.04; 75.6% female). We administered the BLERT (Bell et al., 1997), along with the following measures: Empathy Quotient (Lawrence et al., 2004), Interpersonal Reactivity Index (Davis, 1980), Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (Gratz & Roemer, 2004), and the Inventory of Interpersonal Problems-47 (Pilkonis et al., 1996). RESULTS: Clinical participants resulted impaired in all indices of the BLERT. Further, the construct validity of the BLERT was confirmed by associations with measures of empathy, emotion dysregulation, and interpersonal problems. CONCLUSIONS: The use of the Italian version of the BLERT seemed promising for the study of emotion recognition in both clinical and nonclinical samples

Comparing Material and Social Deprivation Indicators: Identification of Deprived Populations

The new indicator for material and social deprivation validated in 2014 by the European Commission enlarged the scope of measuring social exclusion, which entails both material hardship of individuals and households, and a relevant social dimension. Using EU-SILC data, this paper compares the standard measure of material deprivation and the new indicator in terms of the sub-population they identify as suffering deprivation across Europe. In 2019, only 57% of the deprived individuals according at least one of the two indicators were so according to both, while 23% was deprived only according to the new measure and 20% was deprived only under the old indicator. We compare the micro-level determinants of inclusion into these different deprived populations, both at the aggregated level and separately for each of the 21 countries included in our sample