ON THE COHOMOLOGY OF CERTAIN QUOTIENTS OF THE SPECTRUM BP

The aim of this note is to present a new, elementary proof of a result of Baas and Madsen on the mod p cohomology of certain quotients of the spectrum B

Clifford algebras from quotient ring spectra

We give natural descriptions of the homology and cohomology algebras of regular quotient ring spectra of even E ∞-ring spectra. We show that the homology is a Clifford algebra with respect to a certain bilinear form naturally associated to the quotient ring spectrum F. To identify the cohomology algebra, we first determine the derivations of F and then prove that the cohomology is isomorphic to the exterior algebra on the module of derivations. We treat the example of the Morava K-theories in detai

The structure of causal sets

More often than not, recently popular structuralist interpretations of physical theories leave the central concept of a structure insufficiently precisified. The incipient causal sets approach to quantum gravity offers a paradigmatic case of a physical theory predestined to be interpreted in structuralist terms. It is shown how employing structuralism lends itself to a natural interpretation of the physical meaning of causal sets theory. Conversely, the conceptually exceptionally clear case of causal sets is used as a foil to illustrate how a mathematically informed rigorous conceptualization of structure serves to identify structures in physical theories. Furthermore, a number of technical issues infesting structuralist interpretations of physical theories such as difficulties with grounding the identity of the places of highly symmetrical physical structures in their relational profile and what may resolve these difficulties can be vividly illustrated with causal sets.Comment: 19 pages, 4 figure

MetaboLab - advanced NMR data processing and analysis for metabolomics

Background\ud Despite wide-spread use of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) in metabolomics for the analysis of biological samples there is a lack of graphically driven, publicly available software to process large one and two-dimensional NMR data sets for statistical analysis.\ud \ud Results\ud Here we present MetaboLab, a MATLAB based software package that facilitates NMR data processing by providing automated algorithms for processing series of spectra in a reproducible fashion. A graphical user interface provides easy access to all steps of data processing via a script builder to generate MATLAB scripts, providing an option to alter code manually. The analysis of two-dimensional spectra (1H,13C-HSQC spectra) is facilitated by the use of a spectral library derived from publicly available databases which can be extended readily. The software allows to display specific metabolites in small regions of interest where signals can be picked. To facilitate the analysis of series of two-dimensional spectra, different spectra can be overlaid and assignments can be transferred between spectra. The software includes mechanisms to account for overlapping signals by highlighting neighboring and ambiguous assignments.\ud \ud Conclusions\ud The MetaboLab software is an integrated software package for NMR data processing and analysis, closely linked to the previously developed NMRLab software. It includes tools for batch processing and gives access to a wealth of algorithms available in the MATLAB framework. Algorithms within MetaboLab help to optimize the flow of metabolomics data preparation for statistical analysis. The combination of an intuitive graphical user interface along with advanced data processing algorithms facilitates the use of MetaboLab in a broader metabolomics context.\ud \u

The impact of disease severity on the psychological well-being of youth affected by an inborn error of metabolism and their families: A one-year longitudinal study.

Inborn errors of metabolism (IEMs) refer to rare heterogeneous genetic disorders with various clinical manifestations that can cause serious physical and psychological sequelae. Results of previous studies on the impact of an IEM on health-related quality of life (HR-QoL) were incongruent and only few studies considered more broadly the psychological well-being of children with IEM and their families. Our objectives were to examine: (1) the impact of the IEM severity on the HR-QoL and psychological functioning of patients and their parents at baseline; and (2) its evolution over time; and (3) the correlation between parental and children's perspectives. Methods: The sample included 69 pediatric patients (mean age = 7.55 y, SD = 4.59) with evaluations at baseline and after one year. We collected data on HR-QoL, child mental health and emotional regulation as well as on parental mood and stress using different validated questionnaires. IEM severity was rated by a clinician through the biological subdomain of the pediatric INTERMED instrument. Results: Two groups of patients based on IEM severity scores were created (n = 31 with low and n = 38 with moderate/high IEM severity). The two groups differed with respect to age, diet and supplement intake. IEM severity had an impact on HR-QoL and behavioral symptoms in children, as well as on HR-QoL and stress in parents. For patients with moderate/high IEM severity, child and parental HR-QoL improved after 1-year of follow-up. We did not observe any significant difference between evaluations by patients versus parents. Conclusions: Our findings demonstrate that moderate/high IEM severity altered child and parental psychological well-being, but also revealed a significant improvement after one-year follow-up. This observation suggests that patients with a moderate/high IEM severity and their families benefit from the care of an interdisciplinary team including a child psychologist specialized in IEMs. Moreover, in patients with higher IEM severity there may also be more room for improvement compared to patients with low IEM severity. Future studies should focus on observations over a larger time span, particularly during adolescence, and should include objective measurements

Optimization of 68Ga production at an 18 MeV medical cyclotron with solid targets by means of cross-section measurement of 66Ga, 67Ga and 68Ga.

The future development of personalized nuclear medicine relies on the availability of novel medical radionuclides. In particular, radiometals are attracting considerable interest since they can be used to label both proteins and peptides. Among them, the β+-emitter 68Ga is widely used in nuclear medicine for positron emission tomography (PET). It is used in theranostics as the diagnostic partner of the therapeutic β--emitters 177Lu and 90Y for the treatment of a wide range of diseases, including prostate cancer. Currently, 68Ga is usually obtained via 68Ge/68Ga generators. However, their availability, high price and limited produced radioactivity per elution are a major barrier for a wider use of the 68Ga-based diagnostic radiotracers. A promising solution is the production of 68Ga by means of proton irradiation of enriched 68Zn liquid or solid targets. Along this line, a research program is ongoing at the Bern medical cyclotron, equipped with a solid target station. In this paper, we report on the measurements of 68Ga, 67Ga and 66Ga production cross-sections using natural Zn and enriched 68Zn material, which served as the basis to perform optimized 68Ga production tests with enriched 68Zn solid targets

Embedded Microbubbles for Acoustic Manipulation of Single Cells and Microfluidic Applications.

Acoustically excited microstructures have demonstrated significant potential for small-scale biomedical applications by overcoming major microfluidic limitations. Recently, the application of oscillating microbubbles has demonstrated their superiority over acoustically excited solid structures due to their enhanced acoustic streaming at low input power. However, their limited temporal stability hinders their direct applicability for industrial or clinical purposes. Here, we introduce the embedded microbubble, a novel acoustofluidic design based on the combination of solid structures (poly(dimethylsiloxane)) and microbubbles (air-filled cavity) to combine the benefits of both approaches while minimizing their drawbacks. We investigate the influence of various design parameters and geometrical features through numerical simulations and experimentally evaluate their manipulation capabilities. Finally, we demonstrate the capabilities of our design for microfluidic applications by investigating its mixing performance as well as through the controlled rotational manipulation of individual HeLa cells

Free Will in a Quantum World?

In this paper, I argue that Conway and Kochen’s Free Will Theorem (1,2) to the conclusion that quantum mechanics and relativity entail freedom for the particles, does not change the situation in favor of a libertarian position as they would like. In fact, the theorem more or less implicitly assumes that people are free, and thus it begs the question. Moreover, it does not prove neither that if people are free, so are particles, nor that the property people possess when they are said to be free is the same as the one particles possess when they are claimed to be free. I then analyze the Free State Theorem (2), which generalizes the Free Will Theorem without the assumption that people are free, and I show that it does not prove anything about free will, since the notion of freedom for particles is either inconsistent, or it does not concern our common understanding of freedom. In both cases, the Free Will Theorem and the Free State Theorem do not provide any enlightenment on the constraints physics can pose on free will