Symmetric Groups and Quotient Complexity of Boolean Operations

The quotient complexity of a regular language L is the number of left quotients of L, which is the same as the state complexity of L. Suppose that L and L' are binary regular languages with quotient complexities m and n, and that the transition semigroups of the minimal deterministic automata accepting L and L' are the symmetric groups S_m and S_n of degrees m and n, respectively. Denote by o any binary boolean operation that is not a constant and not a function of one argument only. For m,n >= 2 with (m,n) not in {(2,2),(3,4),(4,3),(4,4)} we prove that the quotient complexity of LoL' is mn if and only either (a) m is not equal to n or (b) m=n and the bases (ordered pairs of generators) of S_m and S_n are not conjugate. For (m,n)\in {(2,2),(3,4),(4,3),(4,4)} we give examples to show that this need not hold. In proving these results we generalize the notion of uniform minimality to direct products of automata. We also establish a non-trivial connection between complexity of boolean operations and group theory

Muscle glycogen recovery after exercise measured by13C-magnetic resonance spectroscopy in humans: effect of nutritional solutions

The rate of glycogen resynthesis in human skeletal muscle after glycogen-depleting exercise is known to depend on carbohydrate intake and is reported to reach a platean after an adequate amount of carbohydrate (CHO) consumption. Efforts to maximize the rate of glycogen storage by changing the type and form of CHO, as well as by adding proteins or lipids have yielded inconsistent results. The objective of this study was to assess whether isocaloric addition of proteins and arginine to a CHO diet in the first 4 h after an endurance exercise would increase the rate of glycogen synthesis. The CHO solution, given twice at a 2 h interval according to earlier optimized protocols, contained 1.7 g CHO kgbody weight. The effects of this solution were compared to those of an isocaloric solution containing 1.2 g CHO/kgbody weight plus 0.5 g protein/kgbody weight (including 5 g arginine). Glycogen was measured in quadriceps muscle in vivo with natural abundance13C-magnetic resonance spectroscopy before exercise and twice after exercise, before and at the end of a 4-h period following the intake of one of the solutions. Eight subjects took part in a randomized cross-over trial separated by at least 1 week. Glycogen synthesis was found to be significantly increased with both regimes compared to a zero-caloric placebo diet, but no significant difference in glycogen resynthesis was found between the CHO-only diet and the one supplemented by proteins and arginine. It is estimated that significance would have been reached for an increase of 34%, while the effectively measured synthesis rates only differed by 5

Difficult management of an extremely rare case of giant pigmented epithelioid melanocytoma

Pigmented epithelioid melanocytoma (PEM), a heavily pigmented and highly uncommon melanocytic lesion, is extremely rare. It comes under several forms and names. We report the case of a three-year-old boy born with an isolated right lumbopelvic and femoral giant PEM. The boy was unable to walk due to the size and the shape of the lesion. He underwent two stages of intra lesional resections, one in Benin and the second in Switzerland. The first surgery was followed by hypothetic hypovolemic and anaphylactic shocks, and the second surgery by a continuous lymphatic leakage from the wounds for months. The strategic management approach, the surgery and follow-up of this case of giant PEM presented a real challenge. (C) 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND licens

UTILIZING SAR AND MULTISPECTRAL INTEGRATED DATA FOR EMERGENCY RESPONSE

Satellite images are used widely in the risk cycle to understand the exposure, refine hazard maps and quickly provide an assessment after a natural or man-made disaster. Though there are different types of satellite images (e.g. optical, radar) these have not been combined for risk assessments. The characteristics of different remote sensing data type may be extremely valuable for monitoring and evaluating the impacts of disaster events, to extract additional information thus making it available for emergency situations. To base this approach, two different change detection methods, for two different sensor's data were used: Coherence Change Detection (CCD) for SAR data and Covariance Equalization (CE) for multispectral imagery. The CCD provides an identification of the stability of an area, and shows where changes have occurred. CCD shows subtle changes with an accuracy of several millimetres to centimetres. The CE method overcomes the atmospheric effects differences between two multispectral images, taken at different times. Therefore, areas that had undergone a major change can be detected. To achieve our goals, we focused on the urban areas affected by the tsunami event in Sendai, Japan that occurred on March 11, 2011 which affected the surrounding area, coastline and inland. High resolution TerraSAR-X (TSX) and Landsat 7 images, covering the research area, were acquired for the period before and after the event. All pre-processed and processed according to each sensor. Both results, of the optical and SAR algorithms, were combined by resampling the spatial resolution of the Multispectral data to the SAR resolution. This was applied by spatial linear interpolation. A score representing the damage level in both products was assigned. The results of both algorithms, high level of damage is shown in the areas closer to the sea and shoreline. Our approach, combining SAR and multispectral images, leads to more reliable information and provides a complete scene for the emergency response following an event

Magnetron Development

Contains reports on two research projects

Complement blockade with eculizumab to treat acute symptomatic humoral rejection after heart transplantation.

Antibody-mediated rejection (AMR) is a major barrier preventing successful discordant organ xenotransplantation, but it also occurs in allotransplantation due to anti-HLA antibodies. Symptomatic acute AMR is rare after heart allograft but carries a high risk of mortality, especially >1 year after transplant. As complement activation may play a major role in mediating tissue injury in acute AMR, drugs blocking the terminal complement cascade like eculizumab may be useful, particularly since "standards of care" like plasmapheresis are not based on strong evidence. Eculizumab was successfully used to treat early acute kidney AMR, a typical condition of "active AMR," but showed mitigated results in late AMR, where "chronic active" lesions are more prevalent. Here, we report the case of a heart recipient who presented with acute heart failure due to late acute AMR with eight de novo donor-specific anti-HLA antibodies (DSA), and who fully recovered allograft function and completely cleared DSA following plasmapheresis-free upfront eculizumab administration in addition to thymoglobulin, intravenous immunoglobulins (IVIG), and rituximab. Several clinical (acute onset, abrupt and severe loss of graft function), biological (sudden high-level production of DSA), and pathological features (microvascular injury, C4d deposits) of this cardiac recipient are shared with early kidney AMR and may indicate a strong role of complement in the pathogenesis of acute graft injury that may respond to drugs like eculizumab. Terminal complement blockade should be further explored to treat acute AMR in recipients of heart allografts and possibly also in recipients of discordant xenografts in the future

Incidence of glomerulonephritis in the western part of Switzerland over the last decade.

Glomerulonephritis is a rare yet serious group of diseases with a high risk of progression to end-stage renal disease. For optimal healthcare planning, detailed epidemiological and demographic data are essential. Despite their clinical relevance, these data are largely lacking in Switzerland. The objective of this study was to assess the incidence of the different forms of glomerulonephritis in the western part of Switzerland and its changes over the last 10 years, compared with international data. We listed all renal biopsy reports analysed between 2007 and 2016 at the University hospital of Lausanne, the renal pathology reference centre of all hospitals in the cantons of Vaud, Fribourg, Valais and Neuchâtel. Biopsies with a first diagnosis of primary glomerulonephritis were included in the analysis. The incidence was calculated as the number of patients newly diagnosed with glomerulonephritis divided by the number of inhabitants of all the above-mentioned cantons during the year under review, as retrieved from the federal statistical office of Switzerland. We collected biopsy reports from 864 patients between 2007 and 2016; 168 biopsies met the inclusion criteria. The most common primary glomerulonephritis was IgA nephropathy at 32.7% of cases, followed by lupus nephritis (29.8%) and pauci-immune glomerulonephritis (11.9%). Overall, the mean incidence of glomerulonephritis was 1.3/100,000/year. Between 2007 and 2016, the incidence of all glomerulonephritis taken together remained stable. The same was true for the incidence of IgA nephropathy, lupus nephritis and pauci-immune glomerulonephritis. In contrast, we observed a trend towards higher creatinine levels, proteinuria and degree of interstitial fibrosis at diagnosis. The incidence of glomerulonephritis in the western part of Switzerland was low and remained stable over time, in line with European data

Magnetron Development

Contains reports on three research projects

Renal Fanconi Syndrome and Hypophosphatemic Rickets in the Absence of Xenotropic and Polytropic Retroviral Receptor in the Nephron.

Tight control of extracellular and intracellular inorganic phosphate (Pi) levels is critical to most biochemical and physiologic processes. Urinary Pi is freely filtered at the kidney glomerulus and is reabsorbed in the renal tubule by the action of the apical sodium-dependent phosphate transporters, NaPi-IIa/NaPi-IIc/Pit2. However, the molecular identity of the protein(s) participating in the basolateral Pi efflux remains unknown. Evidence has suggested that xenotropic and polytropic retroviral receptor 1 (XPR1) might be involved in this process. Here, we show that conditional inactivation of Xpr1 in the renal tubule in mice resulted in impaired renal Pi reabsorption. Analysis of Pi transport in primary cultures of proximal tubular cells or in freshly isolated renal tubules revealed that this Xpr1 deficiency significantly affected Pi efflux. Further, mice with conditional inactivation of Xpr1 in the renal tubule exhibited generalized proximal tubular dysfunction indicative of Fanconi syndrome, characterized by glycosuria, aminoaciduria, calciuria, and albuminuria. Dramatic alterations in the renal transcriptome, including a significant reduction in NaPi-IIa/NaPi-IIc expression, accompanied these functional changes. Additionally, Xpr1-deficient mice developed hypophosphatemic rickets secondary to renal dysfunction. These results identify XPR1 as a major regulator of Pi homeostasis and as a potential therapeutic target in bone and kidney disorders