328 research outputs found
Cardinal characteristics at in a small u (Îș) model
We provide a model where u(Îș)<2Îșu(Îș)<2Îș for a supercompact cardinal Îș. [10] provides a sketch of how to obtain such a model by modifying the construction in [6]. We provide here a complete proof using a different modification of [6] and further study the values of other natural generalizations of classical cardinal characteristics in our model. For this purpose we generalize some standard facts that hold in the countable case as well as some classical forcing notions and their properties
Local time and the pricing of time-dependent barrier options
A time-dependent double-barrier option is a derivative security that delivers
the terminal value at expiry if neither of the continuous
time-dependent barriers b_\pm:[0,T]\to \RR_+ have been hit during the time
interval . Using a probabilistic approach we obtain a decomposition of
the barrier option price into the corresponding European option price minus the
barrier premium for a wide class of payoff functions , barrier functions
and linear diffusions . We show that the barrier
premium can be expressed as a sum of integrals along the barriers of
the option's deltas \Delta_\pm:[0,T]\to\RR at the barriers and that the pair
of functions solves a system of Volterra integral
equations of the first kind. We find a semi-analytic solution for this system
in the case of constant double barriers and briefly discus a numerical
algorithm for the time-dependent case.Comment: 32 pages, to appear in Finance and Stochastic
On the L_p-solvability of higher order parabolic and elliptic systems with BMO coefficients
We prove the solvability in Sobolev spaces for both divergence and
non-divergence form higher order parabolic and elliptic systems in the whole
space, on a half space, and on a bounded domain. The leading coefficients are
assumed to be merely measurable in the time variable and have small mean
oscillations with respect to the spatial variables in small balls or cylinders.
For the proof, we develop a set of new techniques to produce mean oscillation
estimates for systems on a half space.Comment: 44 pages, introduction revised, references expanded. To appear in
Arch. Rational Mech. Ana
Indestructibility of Vopenka's Principle
We show that Vopenka's Principle and Vopenka cardinals are indestructible
under reverse Easton forcing iterations of increasingly directed-closed partial
orders, without the need for any preparatory forcing. As a consequence, we are
able to prove the relative consistency of these large cardinal axioms with a
variety of statements known to be independent of ZFC, such as the generalised
continuum hypothesis, the existence of a definable well-order of the universe,
and the existence of morasses at many cardinals.Comment: 15 pages, submitted to Israel Journal of Mathematic
Gastric cancer and Helicobacter pylori: a combined analysis of 12 case control studies nested within prospective cohorts
BACKGROUND: The magnitude of the association
between Helicobacter pylori and
incidence of gastric cancer is unclear. H
pylori infection and the circulating antibody
response can be lost with development
of cancer; thus retrospective studies
are subject to bias resulting from classifi-
cation of cases as H pylori negative when
they were infected in the past.
AIMS: To combine data from all case control
studies nested within prospective
cohorts to assess more reliably the relative
risk of gastric cancer associated with H
pylori infection.To investigate variation in
relative risk by age, sex, cancer type and
subsite, and interval between blood sampling
and cancer diagnosis.
METHODS: Studies were eligible if blood
samples for H pylori serology were collected
before diagnosis of gastric cancer in
cases. Identified published studies and two
unpublished studies were included. Individual
subject data were obtained for
each. Matched odds ratios (ORs) and 95%
confidence intervals (95% CI) were calculated
for the association between H pylori
and gastric cancer.
RESULTS: Twelve studies with 1228 gastric
cancer cases were considered. The association
with H pylori was restricted to noncardia
cancers (OR 3.0; 95% CI 2.3â3.8)
and was stronger when blood samples for
H pylori serology were collected 10+ years
before cancer diagnosis (5.9; 3.4â10.3). H
pylori infection was not associated with an
altered overall risk of cardia cancer (1.0;
0.7â1.4).
CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that
5.9 is the best estimate of the relative risk
of non-cardia cancer associated with H
pylori infection and that H pylori does not
increase the risk of cardia cancer. They
also support the idea that when H pylori
status is assessed close to cancer diagnosis,
the magnitude of the non-cardia
association may be underestimated
Simultaneous Softening of sigma and rho Mesons associated with Chiral Restoration
Complex poles of the unitarized pi-pi scattering amplitude in nuclear matter
are studied. Partial restoration of chiral symmetry is modeled by the decrease
of in-medium pion decay constant f*_{pi}.
For large chiral restoration (f*_{pi}/f_{pi} << 1),
2nd sheet poles in the scalar (sigma) and the vector (rho) mesons are both
dictated by the Lambert W function and show universal softening as f*_{pi}
decreases.
In-medium pi-pi cross section receives substantial contribution from the soft
mode and exhibits a large enhancement in low-energy region.
Fate of this universality for small chiral restoration (f*_{pi}/f_{pi} ~ 1)
is also discussed.Comment: 5 pages, 4-eps figures, version accepted by Phys. Rev. C (R) with
minor modification
Longitudinal measures of RNA expression and disease activity in FSHD muscle biopsies
Advances in understanding the pathophysiology of facioscapulohumeral dystrophy (FSHD) have led to the discovery of candidate therapeutics, and it is important to identify markers of disease activity to inform clinical trial design. For drugs that inhibit DUX4 expression, measuring DUX4 or DUX4-target gene expression might be an interim measure of drug activity; however, only a subset of FHSD muscle biopsies shows evidence of DUX4 expression. Our prior study showed that MRI T2-STIR-positive muscles had a higher probability of showing DUX4 expression than muscles with normal MRI characteristics. In the current study, we performed a 1-year follow-up assessment of the same muscle with repeat MRI and muscle biopsy. There was little change in MRI characteristics over the 1-year period and, similar to the initial evaluation, MRI T2-STIR-postive muscles had a higher expression of DUX4-regulated genes, as well as genes associated with inflammation, extracellular matrix and cell cycle. Compared to the initial evaluation, overall the level of expression in these gene categories remained stable over the 1-year period; however, there was some variability for each individual muscle biopsied. The pooled data from both the initial and 1-year follow-up evaluations identified several FSHD subgroups based on gene expression, as well as a set of genes-composed of DUX4-target genes, inflammatory and immune genes and cell cycle control genes-that distinguished all of the FSHD samples from the controls. These candidate markers of disease activity need to be replicated in independent datasets and, if validated, may provide useful measures of disease progression and response to therapy.Functional Genomics of Muscle, Nerve and Brain Disorder
Young and Intermediate-age Distance Indicators
Distance measurements beyond geometrical and semi-geometrical methods, rely
mainly on standard candles. As the name suggests, these objects have known
luminosities by virtue of their intrinsic proprieties and play a major role in
our understanding of modern cosmology. The main caveats associated with
standard candles are their absolute calibration, contamination of the sample
from other sources and systematic uncertainties. The absolute calibration
mainly depends on their chemical composition and age. To understand the impact
of these effects on the distance scale, it is essential to develop methods
based on different sample of standard candles. Here we review the fundamental
properties of young and intermediate-age distance indicators such as Cepheids,
Mira variables and Red Clump stars and the recent developments in their
application as distance indicators.Comment: Review article, 63 pages (28 figures), Accepted for publication in
Space Science Reviews (Chapter 3 of a special collection resulting from the
May 2016 ISSI-BJ workshop on Astronomical Distance Determination in the Space
Age
Inheritance of deleterious mutations at both BRCA1 and BRCA2 in an international sample of 32,295 women
Background: Most BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation carriers have inherited a single (heterozygous) mutation. Transheterozygotes (TH) who have inherited deleterious mutations in both BRCA1 and BRCA2 are rare, and the consequences of transheterozygosity are poorly understood. Methods: From 32,295 female BRCA1/2 mutation carriers, we identified 93 TH (0.3 %). "Cases" were defined as TH, and "controls" were single mutations at BRCA1 (SH1) or BRCA2 (SH2). Matched SH1 "controls" carried a BRCA1 mutation found in the TH "case". Matched SH2 "controls" carried a BRCA2 mutation found in the TH "case". After matching the TH carriers with SH1 or SH2, 91 TH were matched to 9316 SH1, and 89 TH were matched to 3370 SH2. Results: The majority of TH (45.2 %) involved the three common Jewish mutations. TH were more likely than SH1 and SH2 women to have been ever diagnosed with breast cancer (BC; p = 0.002). TH were more likely to be diagnosed with ovarian cancer (OC) than SH2 (p = 0.017), but not SH1. Age at BC diagnosis was the same in TH vs. SH1 (p = 0.231), but was on average 4.5 years younger in TH than in SH2 (p < 0.001). BC in TH was more likely to be estrogen receptor (ER) positive (p = 0.010) or progesterone receptor (PR) positive (p = 0.013) than in SH1, but less likely to be ER positive (p < 0.001) or PR positive (p = 0.012) than SH2. Among 15 tumors from TH patients, there was no clear pattern of loss of heterozygosity (LOH) for BRCA1 or BRCA2 in either BC or OC. Conclusions: Our observations suggest that clinical TH phenotypes resemble SH1. However, TH breast tumor marker characteristics are phenotypically intermediate to SH1 and SH2
Associations of common breast cancer susceptibility alleles with risk of breast cancer subtypes in BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation carriers
Introduction: More than 70 common alleles are known to be involved in breast cancer (BC) susceptibility, and several exhibit significant heterogeneity in their associations with different BC subtypes. Although there are differences in the association patterns between BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation carriers and the general population for several loci, no study has comprehensively evaluated the associations of all known BC susceptibility alleles with risk of BC subtypes in BRCA1 and BRCA2 carriers. Methods: We used data from 15,252 BRCA1 and 8,211 BRCA2 carriers to analyze the associations between approximately 200,000 genetic variants on the iCOGS array and risk of BC subtypes defined by estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR), human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) and triple-negative- (TN) status; morphologic subtypes; histological grade; and nodal involvement. Results: The estimated BC hazard ratios (HRs) for the 74 known BC alleles in BRCA1 carriers exhibited moderate correlations with the corresponding odds ratios from the general population. However, their associations with ER-positive BC in BRCA1 carriers were more consistent with the ER-positive as
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