52 research outputs found
Morse matchings on polytopes
We show how to construct homology bases for certain CW complexes in terms of
discrete Morse theory and cellular homology. We apply this technique to study
certain subcomplexes of the half cube polytope studied in previous works. This
involves constructing explicit complete acyclic Morse matchings on the face
lattice of the half cube; this procedure may be of independent interest for
other highly symmetric polytopes
Mechanics and force transmission in soft composites of rods in elastic gels
We report detailed theoretical investigations of the micro-mechanics and bulk
elastic properties of composites consisting of randomly distributed stiff
fibers embedded in an elastic matrix in two and three dimensions. Recent
experiments published in Physical Review Letters [102, 188303 (2009)] have
suggested that the inclusion of stiff microtubules in a softer, nearly
incompressible biopolymer matrix can lead to emergent compressibility. This can
be understood in terms of the enhancement of the compressibility of the
composite relative to its shear compliance as a result of the addition of stiff
rod-like inclusions. We show that the Poisson's ratio of such a composite
evolves with increasing rod density towards a particular value, or {\em fixed
point}, independent of the material properties of the matrix, so long as it has
a finite initial compressibility. This fixed point is in three
dimensions and in two dimensions. Our results suggest an important
role for stiff filaments such as microtubules and stress fibers in cell
mechanics. At the same time, our work has a wider elasticity context, with
potential applications to composite elastic media with a wide separation of
scales in stiffness of its constituents such as carbon nanotube-polymer
composites, which have been shown to have highly tunable mechanics.Comment: 10 pages, 8 figure
Skeleta of affine hypersurfaces
A smooth affine hypersurface Z of complex dimension n is homotopy equivalent to an n-dimensional cell complex. Given a defining polynomial f for Z as well as a regular triangulation T\u394 of its Newton polytope \u394, we provide a purely combinatorial construction of a compact topological space S as a union of components of real dimension n, and prove that S embeds into Z as a deformation retract. In particular, Z is homotopy equivalent to S
Bacteremic Pneumococcal Pneumonia: a Longitudinal Study in 279 Adult Patients from a Single Center
Background: Bacteremic pneumococcal pneumonia (BPP) is the most common clinical presentation of invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD). Although it has been extensively studied, there is little knowledge in our region in relation to burden of disease, demographic and outcome features.
Methods: We conducted a prospective, longitudinal, observational study from 1989 to 2015 in adult patients with BPP, in order to deepen our knowledge of the characteristics of this disease in our community hospital in Tandil, Argentina.
Results: 279 patients were included. The mean incidence was 2.8/1000 admissions with a sharp decrease in the last two years, reaching 0.8/1000 admissions. Mean patient age was 60 years. Comorbidities were found in 65% of the cases. Non-respiratory symptoms occurred in 50% of cases. Infiltrates on chest x ray were predominantly unilateral (75%) and lobar (57%). Regarding severity, a low PSI score I-II-II was found in 178 patients (64%), 60 (22%) were admitted to ICU, 40 (14%) required mechanical ventilation, and 21 (8%) developed empyema. Penicillin resistance was not found. Mortality was 18% (49/279), and by a multivariate analysis it was associated with confusion (OR= 5.44), age\u3e80 years (OR =5.72), leukopenia (OR =5.73) and dyspnea (OR=7.87).
Conclusions: In this study of 279 bacteremic pneumococcal pneumonia we reinforce previous knowledge on this disease regarding incidence and clinical features and confirm a considerable an early mortality associated to age and severity of disease at onset. Recent changes in incidence of BPP in adults could be secondary to herd effect of PVC 13 a vaccine that is mandatory in children in our community since 2012
Erdos-Ko-Rado theorems for simplicial complexes
A recent framework for generalizing the Erdos-Ko-Rado Theorem, due to
Holroyd, Spencer, and Talbot, defines the Erdos-Ko-Rado property for a graph in
terms of the graph's independent sets. Since the family of all independent sets
of a graph forms a simplicial complex, it is natural to further generalize the
Erdos-Ko-Rado property to an arbitrary simplicial complex. An advantage of
working in simplicial complexes is the availability of algebraic shifting, a
powerful shifting (compression) technique, which we use to verify a conjecture
of Holroyd and Talbot in the case of sequentially Cohen-Macaulay near-cones.Comment: 14 pages; v2 has minor changes; v3 has further minor changes for
publicatio
A second look at the toric h-polynomial of a cubical complex
We provide an explicit formula for the toric -contribution of each cubical
shelling component, and a new combinatorial model to prove Clara Chan's result
on the non-negativity of these contributions. Our model allows for a variant of
the Gessel-Shapiro result on the -polynomial of the cubical lattice, this
variant may be shown by simple inclusion-exclusion. We establish an isomorphism
between our model and Chan's model and provide a reinterpretation in terms of
noncrossing partitions. By discovering another variant of the Gessel-Shapiro
result in the work of Denise and Simion, we find evidence that the toric
-polynomials of cubes are related to the Morgan-Voyce polynomials via
Viennot's combinatorial theory of orthogonal polynomials.Comment: Minor correction
Bacteremic Pneumococcal Pneumonia: a Longitudinal Study in 279 Adult Patients from a Single Center
Background: Bacteremic pneumococcal pneumonia (BPP) is the most common clinical presentation of invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD). Although it has been extensively studied, there is little knowledge in our region in relation to burden of disease, demographic and outcome features.Methods: We conducted a prospective, longitudinal, observational study from 1989 to 2015 in adult patients with BPP, in order to deepen our knowledge of the characteristics of this disease in our community hospital in Tandil, Argentina.Results: 279 patients were included. The mean incidence was 2.8/1000 admissions with a sharp decrease in the last two years, reaching 0.8/1000 admissions. Mean patient age was 60 years. Comorbidities were found in 65% of the cases. Non-respiratory symptoms occurred in 50% of cases.Infiltrates on chest x ray were predominantly unilateral (75%) and lobar (57%). Regarding severity, a low PSI score I-II-II was found in 178 patients (64%), 60 (22%) were admitted to ICU, 40 (14%) required mechanical ventilation, and 21 (8%) developed empyema. Penicillin resistance was not found. Mortality was 18% (49/279), and by a multivariate analysis it was associated with confusion(OR= 5.44), age>80 years (OR =5.72), leukopenia (OR =5.73) and dyspnea (OR=7.87).Conclusions: In this study of 279 bacteremic pneumococcal pneumonia we reinforce previous knowledge on this disease regarding incidence and clinical features and confirm a considerable an early mortality associated to age and severity of disease at onset. Recent changes in incidence of BPP in adults could be secondary to herd effect of PVC 13 a vaccine that is mandatory in children in our community since 2012.Fil: Gentile, Jorge. Hospital Ramon Santamarina de Tandil; ArgentinaFil: Hernandez, Claudia. Hospital Ramon Santamarina de Tandil; ArgentinaFil: Sparo, Mónica Delfina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Tandil. Centro de Investigación Veterinaria de Tandil. Universidad Nacional del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires. Centro de Investigación Veterinaria de Tandil. Provincia de Buenos Aires. Gobernación. Comision de Investigaciones Científicas. Centro de Investigación Veterinaria de Tandil; ArgentinaFil: Rodriguez, Edgardo Mario. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Tandil. Centro de Investigación Veterinaria de Tandil. Universidad Nacional del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires. Centro de Investigación Veterinaria de Tandil. Provincia de Buenos Aires. Gobernación. Comision de Investigaciones Científicas. Centro de Investigación Veterinaria de Tandil; ArgentinaFil: Ceriani, Maria Carolina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Tandil. Centro de Investigación Veterinaria de Tandil. Universidad Nacional del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires. Centro de Investigación Veterinaria de Tandil. Provincia de Buenos Aires. Gobernación. Comision de Investigaciones Científicas. Centro de Investigación Veterinaria de Tandil; ArgentinaFil: Bruggesser, Alicia Florencia. Hospital Ramon Santamarina de Tandil; Argentin
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