Noncommutative spectral geometry and the deformed Hopf algebra structure of quantum field theory

We report the results obtained in the study of Alain Connes noncommutative spectral geometry construction focusing on its essential ingredient of the algebra doubling. We show that such a two-sheeted structure is related with the gauge structure of the theory, its dissipative character and carries in itself the seeds of quantization. From the algebraic point of view, the algebra doubling process has the same structure of the deformed Hops algebra structure which characterizes quantum field theory.Comment: 11 pages. Invited talk in the Sixth International Workshop DICE2012, Castello Pasquini/Castiglioncello (Tuscany), September 17-21, 201

Automatic Mode Switching in Atrial Fibrillation

Automatic mode switching (AMS) algorithms were designed to prevent tracking of atrial tachyarrhythmias (ATA) or other rapidly occurring signals sensed by atrial channels, thereby reducing the adverse hemodynamic and symptomatic consequences of a rapid ventricular response. The inclusion of an AMS function in most dual chamber pacemaker now provides optimal management of atrial arrhythmias and allows the benefit of atrioventricular synchrony to be extended to a population with existing atrial fibrillation. Appropriate AMS depends on several parameters: a) the programmed parameters; b) the characteristics of the arrhythmia; c) the characteristics of the AMS algorithm. Three qualifying aspects constitute an AMS algorithm: onset, AMS response, and resynchronization. Since AMS programs also provide data on the time of onset and duration of AMS episodes, AMS data may be interpreted as a surrogate marker of ATAs recurrence. Recently, stored electrograms corresponding to episodes of ATAs have been introduced, thus clarifying the accuracy of AMS in detecting ATAs Clinically this information may be used to assess the efficacy of an antiarrhythmic intervention or the risk of thromboembolic events, and it may serve as a valuable research tool for evaluating the natural history and burden of ATAs

Noncommutative spectral geometry, algebra doubling and the seeds of quantization

A physical interpretation of the two-sheeted space, the most fundamental ingredient of noncommutative spectral geometry proposed by Connes as an approach to unification, is presented. It is shown that the doubling of the algebra is related to dissipation and to the gauge structure of the theory, the gauge field acting as a reservoir for the matter field. In a regime of completely deterministic dynamics, dissipation appears to play a key role in the quantization of the theory, according to 't Hooft's conjecture. It is thus argued that the noncommutative spectral geometry classical construction carries implicit in its feature of the doubling of the algebra the seeds of quantization.Comment: 12 pages; amended version to match publication in PR

Rumanian Slavia as the Frontier of Orthodoxy. The Case of the Slavo-Rumanian Tetraevangelion of Sibiu

At least from the 14th to the 17th c. – beyond their Middle Ages until their Early Modern Ages – the Rumanians belonged to the so-called Slavia Orthodoxa. Besides the Orthodox faith, they had in common with the Orthodox Slavs the Cyrillic alphabet until the 19th c. and the Church Slavonic, which was the language of the Church, of the Chancery and of the written culture, until the 17th c., although with an increasing competition of the Rumanian volgare. The crisis and decline of the Rumanian Slavonism, the rise of the local vernacular, have been related with Heterodox influences penetrated in Banat and Transylvania. Actually, the first Rumanian translations of the Holy Scriptures, in the 16th c., were promoted, if not confessionally inspired, by the Lutheran Reformation recently transplanted in Banat and Transylvania (some scholars incline to a [widely] Hussite origin of these early translations). Not only Banat and Transylvania, but also Moldavia and Wallachia (the Principalities) were crossed by the border between the Latin and the Byzantino-Slavonic world, the Slavia and the Romania. Influences from the whole Slavia – the Orthodox and the Latin Slavia, the Southern, the Eastern and the Western one – met in the Carpatho-Danubian Space describing what will be derogatively called Slavia Valachica (i.e. Rumanian): a kaleidoscope of Slavic influences in Romance milieu. The appearance of Slavo-Rumanian texts, either with alternate or parallel Church Slavonic and Rumanian, revealed that in the middle of the 16th c. the decline of Slavonism had already started. Mostly but not only in the western regions, beyond the Carpathians, which were under Latin rule, the Orthodox ("Schismatic") clergy was less and less confident with the Slavonic. This last still remained the sacred language though largely unintelligible, whilst the vernacular still lacked sacred dignity, besides being suspect to spread Heterodoxy. The Slavo-Rumanian Tetraevangelion of Sibiu (1551–1553) is the oldest version of a biblical text in Slavonic and Rumanian and contains the oldest surviving printed text in Rumanian. Apart from evoking icastically – by its twocolumns a fronte layout – the Slavic-Rumanian linguistic border, this fragment of a Four-Gospels Book (Mt 3, 17 – 27, 55) can be considered in many senses a border text: geographically (the border between East and West), chronologically (the decline of Slavonism and the rise of the Rumanian Vernacular), culturally and confessionally (the border between the Latin [i.e. Catholic then Protestant too] West and the Byzantino-Slavonic East). This paper aims to reconstruct, as far as possible, the complex milieu in which the Tetraevangelion was translated, (maybe) redacted and printed, focusing on the Slavonisms in its Rumanian text. A special attention will be paid to any possible interaction between that mainly Latin (Lutheran-Saxon) milieu and the Rumanian Slavonism

Automatic mode switching in atrial fibrillation

Automatic mode switching (AMS) algorithms were designed to prevent tracking of atrial tachyarrhythmias (ATA) or other rapidly occurring signals sensed by atrial channels, thereby reducing the adverse hemodynamic and symptomatic consequences of a rapid ventricular response. The inclusion of an AMS function in most dual chamber pacemaker now provides optimal management of atrial arrhythmias and allows the benefit of atrioventricular synchrony to be extended to a population with existing atrial fibrillation. Appropriate AMS depends on several parameters: a) the programmed parameters; b) the characteristics of the arrhythmia; c) the characteristics of the AMS algorithm. Three qualifying aspects constitute an AMS algorithm: onset, AMS response, and resynchronization. Since AMS programs also provide data on the time of onset and duration of AMS episodes, AMS data may be interpreted as a surrogate marker of ATAs recurrence. Recently, stored electrograms corresponding to episodes of ATAs have been introduced, thus clarifying the accuracy of AMS in detecting ATAs Clinically this information may be used to assess the efficacy of an antiarrhythmic intervention or the risk of thromboembolic events, and it may serve as a valuable research tool for evaluating the natural history and burden of ATAs

Uremic lung: The “calcified cauliflower” sign in the end stage renal disease

AbstractMetastatic pulmonary calcification (MPC) is a rare pathological condition consisting of lung calcium salt deposits which commonly occurs in patients affected by chronic kidney disease probably for some abnormalities in calcium and phosphate metabolism. CT represents the technique of choice for detecting MPC findings including ground glass opacities and partially calcified nodules or consolidations. We present a case of MCP in a patient affected by hepato-renal autosomic-dominant polycystic disease; chest CT revealed extensive lobar-segmental parenchymal calcification with a peculiar cauliflower shape which we called “calcified cauliflower” sign. The “calcified cauliflower” sign can be reported as a new CT pattern of uremic lung that needs to be identified for a correct diagnosis and patient management

Hysteroscopic removal of intrauterine device in early pregnancy

Background: Intrauterine devices (IUDs) are commonly used as contraceptives worldwide. However, pregnancies in patients carrying this kind of device may occur. IUD removal when the woman wishes to continue their pregnancy may be very challenging. Only 9 manuscripts in literature reported such similar procedure. Case presentation: We report the case of an hysteroscopic removal of IUD in a young woman at 6 weeks of gestation. Discussion: The case reported highlights safety and efficacy of operative hysteroscopy as a method of IUD removal in early pregnancy, although other different methods have been reported in literature. In our opinion, maintaining a low infusion pressure during the procedure may help avoiding potential gestational sac damage and IUD displacement for better grasping

La Regina di Saba. Un mito fra Oriente e Occidente. Atti del Seminario diretto da Riccardo Contini, Napoli, Università “L’Orientale” 19 novembre 2009 - 14 gennaio 2010

[Italiano]:Il volume raccoglie i contributi presentati all’Università di Napoli “L’Orientale” nel corso di un seminario svoltosi nell’autunno/inverno 2009-2010 sulle molteplici forme che il mito della regina di Saba ha assunto nelle letterature antiche e moderne, orientali come occidentali, nonché in una prospettiva archeologica e storico-artistica, dando spazio, oltre alle relazioni di studiosi già affermati, ai contributi di giovani ricercatori che hanno perfezionato la loro formazione nei diversi Dottorati di ricerca dell’Ateneo. Per conferire al quadro una maggiore completezza, sono stati qui aggiunti alcuni interventi di studiosi non intervenuti al seminario, che si sono concentrati tanto su temi ormai canonici nello studio della fortuna della regina ‒ quali il suo impatto sull’immaginario letterario francese e soprattutto il suo ruolo identitario nella tradizione etiopica ‒ quanto su aspetti finora mai toccati, come la rilettura del personaggio nella cultura nordamericana e nella letteratura araba egiziana per l’infanzia. ./[English]:This volume collects the contributions presented at the University of Naples “L’Orientale” during a seminar held in the autumn/winter 2009-2010, on the multiple forms that the myth of the Queen of Sheba has taken on in ancient and modern oriental and western literatures, as well as in an archaeological and historical-artistic perspective; giving space, in addition to the reports of already established scholars, to the contributions of young researchers who have accomplished their training in the various PhD programmes of the University. To give the picture greater completeness, some interventions by scholars who did not attend the seminar have been added here, focusing both on canonical themes in the study of the Queen of Sheba’s fortune ‒ such as its impact on the French literary imagination, and above all its role of identity in the Ethiopian tradition ‒ as far as aspects never hitherto touched on, such as the reinterpretation of the character in North American culture and in Egyptian Arabic literature for children

Diabetes does not impact the diagnostic performance of contrast-based fractional flow reserve: insights from the CONTRAST study

Background: Adenosine-free coronary pressure wire metrics have been proposed to test the functional significance of coronary artery lesions, but it is unexplored whether their diagnostic performance might be altered in patients with diabetes. Methods: We performed a post-hoc analysis of the CONTRAST study, which prospectively enrolled an international cohort of patients undergoing routine fractional flow reserve (FFR) assessment for standard indications. Paired, repeated measurements of all physiology metrics (Pd/Pa, iFR, contrast-based FFR, and FFR) were made. A central core laboratory analyzed blinded pressure tracings in a standardized fashion. Results: Of 763 subjects enrolled at 12 international centers, 219 (29%) had diabetes. The two groups were wellbalanced for age, clinical presentation (stable or unstable), coronary vessel studied, volume and type of intracoronary contrast, and volume of intracoronary adenosine. A binary threshold of cFFR ≤ 0.83 produced an accuracy superior to both Pd/Pa and iFR when compared with FFR ≤ 0.80 in the absence of significant interaction with diabetes status; indeed, accuracy in subgroups of patients with or without diabetes was similar for cFFR (86.7 vs 85.4% respectively; p = 0.76), iFR (84.2 vs 80.0%, p = 0.29) and Pd/Pa (81.3 vs 78.9%, p = 0.55). There was no significant heterogeneity between patients with or without diabetes in terms of sensitivity and specificity of all metrics. The area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was largest for cFFR compared with Pd/Pa and iFR which were equivalent (cFFR 0.961 and 0.928; Pd/Pa 0.916 and 0.870; iFR 0.911 and 0.861 in diabetic and non-diabetic patients respectively). Conclusions: cFFR provides superior diagnostic performance compared with Pd/Pa or iFR for predicting FFR irrespective of diabetes (clinicaltrials.gov identifier NCT02184117)