Towards algebraic iterated integrals on elliptic curves via the universal vectorial extension

For an elliptic curve $E$ defined over a field $k\subset \mathbb C$, we study iterated path integrals of logarithmic differential forms on $E^\dagger$, the universal vectorial extension of $E$. These are generalizations of the classical periods and quasi-periods of $E$, and are closely related to multiple elliptic polylogarithms and elliptic multiple zeta values. Moreover, if $k$ is a finite extension of $\mathbb Q$, then these iterated integrals along paths between $k$-rational points are periods in the sense of Kontsevich--Zagier.Comment: 12 pages; for proceedings of workshop "Various aspects of multiple zeta values", RIMS, Kyoto, Japan, 18th-22nd. November. 201

On coefficients of Poincar\'e series and single-valued periods of modular forms

We prove that the field generated by the Fourier coefficients of weakly holomorphic Poincar\'e series of a given level $\Gamma_0(N)$ and weight $k\ge 2$ coincides with the field generated by the single-valued periods of a certain motive attached to $\Gamma_0(N)$. This clarifies the arithmetic nature of such Fourier coefficients and generalises previous formulas of Brown and Acres--Broadhurst giving explicit series expansions for the single-valued periods of some modular forms. Our proof is based on Bringmann--Ono's construction of harmonic lifts of Poincar\'e series.Comment: 36 pages. Final versio

Kinematic and clinical outcomes to evaluate the efficacy of a multidisciplinary intervention on functional mobility in Parkinson's disease

Copyright © 2021 Bouça-Machado, Branco, Fonseca, Fernandes, Abreu, Guerreiro, Ferreira and The CNS Physiotherapy Study Group. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.Introduction: Functional mobility (FM) is a concept that incorporates the capacity of a person to move independently and safely to accomplish tasks. It has been proposed as a Parkinson's disease (PD) functional and global health outcome. In this study, we aimed to identify which kinematic and clinical outcomes changes better predict FM changes when PD patients are submitted to a specialized multidisciplinary program. Methods: PD patients engaged in a pre-defined specialized multidisciplinary program were assessed at admission and discharge. Change from baseline was calculated for all kinematic and clinical outcomes, and Timed Up and Go (TUG) was defined as the primary outcome for FM. A stepwise multivariate linear regression was performed to identify which outcome measures better predict TUG changes. Results: Twenty-four patients were included in the study. The changes in TUG Cognitive test, supervised step length, and free-living (FL) step time asymmetry were identified as the best predictors of TUG changes. The supervised step length and FL step time asymmetry were able to detect a small to moderate effect of the intervention (d values ranging from -0.26 to 0.42). Conclusions: Our results support the use of kinematic outcome measures to evaluate the efficacy of multidisciplinary interventions on PD FM. The TUG Cognitive, step length, and FL step time asymmetry were identified as having the ability to predict TUG changes. More studies are needed to identify the minimal clinically important difference for step length and FL step time asymmetry in response to a multidisciplinary intervention for PD FM.The authors would like to acknowledge the support of Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) (SFRH/BD/120773/2016 to RB-M; SFRH/BD/144242/2019 to DB, UIDB/00408/2020 and UIDP/00408/2020 to LASIGE).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Rapidly progressive coronary aneurysm: a rare case of isolated coronary vasculitis with recurrent myocardial infarction

© 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier on behalf of the American College of Cardiology Foundation. This article is available under the Creative Commons CC-BY-NC-ND license and permits non-commercial use of the work as published, without adaptation or alteration provided the work is fully attributed.Isolated coronary arteritis without systemic involvement in adults is exceedingly rare. A 60-year-old patient developed recurrent non–ST-segment elevation myocardial infarctions for 1 year. After an initial coronary angiogram that was normal, serial angiograms showed de novo aneurysm formation. The patient responded favorably to corticosteroids, supporting the diagnosis of isolated coronary arteritis.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Variations of the soft tissue thicknesses external to the ribs in pectus excavatum patients

BACKGROUND: Surgical repair of pectus excavatum (PE) has become more popular due to improvements in the minimally invasive Nuss procedure. The pre-surgical assessment of PE patients requires Computerized Tomography (CT), as the malformation characteristics vary from patient to patient. OBJECTIVE: This work aims to characterize soft tissue thickness (STT) external to the ribs among PE patients. It also presents a comparative analysis between the anterior chest wall surface before and after surgical correction. METHODS: Through surrounding tissue segmentation in CT data, STT values were calculated at different lines along the thoracic wall, with a reference point in the intersection of coronal and median planes. The comparative analysis between the two 3D anterior chest surfaces sets a surgical correction influence area (SCIA) and a volume of interest (VOI) based on image processing algorithms, 3D surface algorithms, and registration methods. RESULTS: There are always variations between left and right side STTs (2.54 ± 2.05 mm and 2.95 ± 2.97 mm for female and male patients, respectively). STTs are dependent on age, sex, and body mass index of each patient. On female patients, breast tissue induces additional errors in bar manual conception. The distances starting at the deformity's largest depression point at the SCIA are similar in all directions. Some diverging measures and outliers were found, being difficult to find similar characteristics between them, especially in asymmetric patients. CONCLUSION: The Nuss procedure metal bar must be modeled according to each patient's special characteristics. The studied relationships between STT and chest surface could represent a step forward to eliminate the CT scan from PE pre-surgical evaluation.This work was supported by "Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia" (FCT), Portugal, through the R&D project referenced PTDC/SAU-BEB/103368/2008 and the fellowships referenced SFRH/BD/74276/2010, SFRH/BD/68270/2010 and SFRH/BPD/46851/2008

Convergence of miRNA Expression Profiling, α-Synuclein Interacton and GWAS in Parkinson's Disease

miRNAs were recently implicated in the pathogenesis of numerous diseases, including neurological disorders such as Parkinson's disease (PD). miRNAs are abundant in the nervous system, essential for efficient brain function and play important roles in neuronal patterning and cell specification. To further investigate their involvement in the etiology of PD, we conducted miRNA expression profiling in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of 19 patients and 13 controls using microarrays. We found 18 miRNAs differentially expressed, and pathway analysis of 662 predicted target genes of 11 of these miRNAs revealed an over-representation in pathways previously linked to PD as well as novel pathways. To narrow down the genes for further investigations, we undertook a parallel approach using chromatin immunoprecipitation-sequencing (ChIP-seq) analysis to uncover genome-wide interactions of α-synuclein, a molecule with a central role in both monogenic and idiopathic PD. Convergence of ChIP-seq and miRNomics data highlighted the glycosphingolipid biosynthesis and the ubiquitin proteasome system as key players in PD. We then tested the association of target genes belonging to these pathways with PD risk, and identified nine SNPs in USP37 consistently associated with PD susceptibility in three genome-wide association studies (GWAS) datasets (0.46≤OR≤0.63) and highly significant in the meta-dataset (3.36×10−4<p<1.94×10−3). A SNP in ST8SIA4 was also highly associated with PD (p = 6.15×10−3) in the meta-dataset. These findings suggest that several miRNAs may act as regulators of both known and novel biological processes leading to idiopathic PD