Solving the 100 Swiss Francs Problem

Sturmfels offered 100 Swiss Francs in 2005 to a conjecture, which deals with a special case of the maximum likelihood estimation for a latent class model. This paper confirms the conjecture positively

Reheating the Universe After Multi-Field Inflation

We study in detail (p)reheating after multi-field inflation models with a particular focus on N-flation. We consider a variety of different couplings between the inflatons and the matter sector, including both quartic and trilinear interactions with a light scalar field. We show that the presence of multiple oscillating inflatons makes parametric resonance inefficient in the case of the quartic interactions. Moreover, perturbative processes do not permit a complete decay of the inflaton for this coupling. In order to recover the hot big bang, we must instead consider trilinear couplings. In this case we show that strong nonperturbative preheating is possible via multi-field tachyonic resonance. In addition, late-time perturbative effects do permit a complete decay of the condensate. We also study the production of gauge fields for several prototype couplings, finding similar results to the trilinear scalar coupling. During the course of our analysis we develop the mathematical theory of the quasi-periodic Mathieu equation, the multi-field generalization of the Floquet theory familiar from preheating after single field inflation. We also elaborate on the theory of perturbative decays of a classical inflaton condensate, which is applicable in single-field models also.Comment: 46+1 pages, 19 figure

Cardiovascular risk management following gestational diabetes and hypertensive disorders of pregnancy: a narrative review

Gestational diabetes mellitus and hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (gestational hypertension and preeclampsia) are strong independent risk predictors for future cardiovascular disease (CVD) specific to women. Awareness of the relationship between pregnancy-related risk factors and CVD needs improvement among both women and clinicians. Education of patients and their health care providers is urgently needed to ensure preventive measures are implemented across a woman's lifespan to care for the health of women affected by these conditions. Few interventions have been developed or studied which are designed to lower CVD risk in women with pregnancy-related risk factors. Future work should focus on developing interventions that are tailored together with individual communities and integrated within health care systems, ensuring each health care provider's role is clearly outlined to effectively prevent and manage CVD in these high risk women.Simone Marschner, Anushriya Pant, Amanda Henry, Louise J Maple-Brown, Lisa Moran, N Wah Cheung, Clara K Chow, Sarah Zama

Electromagnetic field correlations near a surface with a nonlocal optical response

The coherence length of the thermal electromagnetic field near a planar surface has a minimum value related to the nonlocal dielectric response of the material. We perform two model calculations of the electric energy density and the field's degree of spatial coherence. Above a polar crystal, the lattice constant gives the minimum coherence length. It also gives the upper limit to the near field energy density, cutting off its $1/z^3$ divergence. Near an electron plasma described by the semiclassical Lindhard dielectric function, the corresponding length scale is fixed by plasma screening to the Thomas-Fermi length. The electron mean free path, however, sets a larger scale where significant deviations from the local description are visible.Comment: 15 pages, 7 figure files (.eps), \documentclass[global]{svjour}, accepted in special issue "Optics on the Nanoscale" (Applied Physics B, eds. V. Shalaev and F. Tr\"ager

Radiotherapy to the prostate for men with metastatic prostate cancer in the UK and Switzerland: Long-term results from the STAMPEDE randomised controlled trial

Background STAMPEDE has previously reported that radiotherapy (RT) to the prostate improved overall survival (OS) for patients with newly diagnosed prostate cancer with low metastatic burden, but not those with high-burden disease. In this final analysis, we report long-term findings on the primary outcome measure of OS and on the secondary outcome measures of symptomatic local events, RT toxicity events, and quality of life (QoL). Methods and findings Patients were randomised at secondary care sites in the United Kingdom and Switzerland between January 2013 and September 2016, with 1:1 stratified allocation: 1,029 to standard of care (SOC) and 1,032 to SOC+RT. No masking of the treatment allocation was employed. A total of 1,939 had metastatic burden classifiable, with 42% low burden and 58% high burden, balanced by treatment allocation. Intention-to-treat (ITT) analyses used Cox regression and flexible parametric models (FPMs), adjusted for stratification factors age, nodal involvement, the World Health Organization (WHO) performance status, regular aspirin or nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) use, and planned docetaxel use. QoL in the first 2 years on trial was assessed using prospectively collected patient responses to QLQ-30 questionnaire. Patients were followed for a median of 61.3 months. Prostate RT improved OS in patients with low, but not high, metastatic burden (respectively: 202 deaths in SOC versus 156 in SOC+RT, hazard ratio (HR) = 0·64, 95% CI 0.52, 0.79, p < 0.001; 375 SOC versus 386 SOC+RT, HR = 1.11, 95% CI 0.96, 1.28, p = 0·164; interaction p < 0.001). No evidence of difference in time to symptomatic local events was found. There was no evidence of difference in Global QoL or QLQ-30 Summary Score. Long-term urinary toxicity of grade 3 or worse was reported for 10 SOC and 10 SOC+RT; long-term bowel toxicity of grade 3 or worse was reported for 15 and 11, respectively. Conclusions Prostate RT improves OS, without detriment in QoL, in men with low-burden, newly diagnosed, metastatic prostate cancer, indicating that it should be recommended as a SOC. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT00268476, ISRCTN.com ISRCTN78818544

A História da Alimentação: balizas historiográficas

Os M. pretenderam traçar um quadro da História da Alimentação, não como um novo ramo epistemológico da disciplina, mas como um campo em desenvolvimento de práticas e atividades especializadas, incluindo pesquisa, formação, publicações, associações, encontros acadêmicos, etc. Um breve relato das condições em que tal campo se assentou faz-se preceder de um panorama dos estudos de alimentação e temas correia tos, em geral, segundo cinco abardagens Ia biológica, a econômica, a social, a cultural e a filosófica!, assim como da identificação das contribuições mais relevantes da Antropologia, Arqueologia, Sociologia e Geografia. A fim de comentar a multiforme e volumosa bibliografia histórica, foi ela organizada segundo critérios morfológicos. A seguir, alguns tópicos importantes mereceram tratamento à parte: a fome, o alimento e o domínio religioso, as descobertas européias e a difusão mundial de alimentos, gosto e gastronomia. O artigo se encerra com um rápido balanço crítico da historiografia brasileira sobre o tema