Distances on Lozenge Tilings

International audienceIn this paper, a structural property of the set of lozenge tilings of a 2n-gon is highlighted. We introduce a simple combinatorial value called Hamming-distance, which is a lower bound for the flipdistance (i.e. the number of necessary local transformations involving three lozenges) between two given tilings. It is here proven that, for n5, We show that there is some deficient pairs of tilings for which the flip connection needs more flips than the combinatorial lower bound indicates

On Uniquely Closable and Uniquely Typable Skeletons of Lambda Terms

Uniquely closable skeletons of lambda terms are Motzkin-trees that predetermine the unique closed lambda term that can be obtained by labeling their leaves with de Bruijn indices. Likewise, uniquely typable skeletons of closed lambda terms predetermine the unique simply-typed lambda term that can be obtained by labeling their leaves with de Bruijn indices. We derive, through a sequence of logic program transformations, efficient code for their combinatorial generation and study their statistical properties. As a result, we obtain context-free grammars describing closable and uniquely closable skeletons of lambda terms, opening the door for their in-depth study with tools from analytic combinatorics. Our empirical study of the more difficult case of (uniquely) typable terms reveals some interesting open problems about their density and asymptotic behavior. As a connection between the two classes of terms, we also show that uniquely typable closed lambda term skeletons of size $3n+1$ are in a bijection with binary trees of size $n$.Comment: Pre-proceedings paper presented at the 27th International Symposium on Logic-Based Program Synthesis and Transformation (LOPSTR 2017), Namur, Belgium, 10-12 October 2017 (arXiv:1708.07854

A novel approach with "skeletonised MTR" measures tract-specific microstructural changes in early primary-progressive MS

We combined tract‐based spatial statistics (TBSS) and magnetization transfer (MT) imaging to assess white matter (WM) tract‐specific short‐term changes in early primary‐progressive multiple sclerosis (PPMS) and their relationships with clinical progression. Twenty‐one PPMS patients within 5 years from onset underwent MT and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) at baseline and after 12 months. Patients' disability was assessed. DTI data were processed to compute fractional anisotropy (FA) and to generate a common WM “skeleton,” which represents the tracts that are “common” to all subjects using TBSS. The MT ratio (MTR) was computed from MT data and co‐registered with the DTI. The skeletonization procedure derived for FA was applied to each subject's MTR image to obtain a “skeletonised” MTR map for every subject. Permutation tests were used to assess (i) changes in FA, principal diffusivities, and MTR over the follow‐up, and (ii) associations between changes in imaging parameters and changes in disability. Patients showed significant decreases in MTR over one year in the corpus callosum (CC), bilateral corticospinal tract (CST), thalamic radiations, and superior and inferior longitudinal fasciculi. These changes were located both within lesions and the normal‐appearing WM. No significant longitudinal change in skeletonised FA was found, but radial diffusivity (RD) significantly increased in several regions, including the CST bilaterally and the right inferior longitudinal fasciculus. MTR decreases, RD increases, and axial diffusivity decreases in the CC and CST correlated with a deterioration in the upper limb function. We detected tract‐specific multimodal imaging changes that reflect the accrual of microstructural damage and possibly contribute to clinical impairment in PPMS. We propose a novel methodology that can be extended to other diseases to map cross‐subject and tract‐specific changes in MTR

T2 lesion location really matters: a 10 year follow-up study in primary progressive multiple sclerosis

Objectives: Prediction of long term clinical outcome in patients with primary progressive multiple sclerosis (PPMS) using imaging has important clinical implications, but remains challenging. We aimed to determine whether spatial location of T2 and T1 brain lesions predicts clinical progression during a 10-year follow-up in PPMS. Methods: Lesion probability maps of the T2 and T1 brain lesions were generated using the baseline scans of 80 patients with PPMS who were clinically assessed at baseline and then after 1, 2, 5 and 10 years. For each patient, the time (in years) taken before bilateral support was required to walk (time to event (TTE)) was used as a measure of progression rate. The probability of each voxel being ‘lesional’ was correlated with TTE, adjusting for age, gender, disease duration, centre and spinal cord cross sectional area, using a multiple linear regression model. To identify the best, independent predictor of progression, a Cox regression model was used. Results: A significant correlation between a shorter TTE and a higher probability of a voxel being lesional on T2 scans was found in the bilateral corticospinal tract and superior longitudinal fasciculus, and in the right inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus (p<0.05). The best predictor of progression rate was the T2 lesion load measured along the right inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus (p=0.016, hazard ratio 1.00652, 95% CI 1.00121 to 1.01186). Conclusion: Our results suggest that the location of T2 brain lesions in the motor and associative tracts is an important contributor to the progression of disability in PPMS, and is independent of spinal cord involvement

Near-Threshold Production of omega Mesons in the pp -> pp omega Reaction

The total cross section for omega production in the pp -> pp omega reaction has been measured at five c.m. excess energies from 3.8 to 30 MeV. The energy dependence is easily understood in terms of a strong proton-proton final state interaction combined with a smearing over the width of the state. The ratio of near-threshold phi and omega production is consistent with the predictions of a one-pion-exchange model and the degree of violation of the OZI rule is similar to that found in the pi-p -> n omega/phi reactions.Comment: Report in LaTeX2e. 12 pages with 2 eps figure

White and grey matter damage in primary-progressive MS: the chicken or the egg?

Objective: The temporal relationship between white matter (WM) and gray matter (GM) damage in vivo in early primary progressive multiple sclerosis (PPMS) was investigated testing 2 hypotheses: (1) WM tract abnormalities predict subsequent changes in the connected cortex (“primary WM damage model”); and (2) cortical abnormalities predict later changes in connected WM tracts (“primary GM damage model”). Methods: Forty-seven patients with early PPMS and 18 healthy controls had conventional and magnetization transfer imaging at baseline; a subgroup of 35 patients repeated the protocol after 2 years. Masks of the corticospinal tracts, genu of the corpus callosum and optic radiations, and of connected cortical regions, were used for extracting the mean magnetization transfer ratio (MTR). Multiple regressions within each of 5 tract-cortex pairs were performed, adjusting for the dependent variable's baseline MTR; tract lesion load and MTR, spinal cord area, age, and sex were examined for potential confounding. Results: The baseline MTR of most regions was lower in patients than in healthy controls. The tract-cortex pair relationships in the primary WM damage model were significant for the bilateral motor pair and right visual pair, while those in the primary GM damage model were only significant for the right motor pair. Lower lesion MTR at baseline was associated with lower MTR in the same tract normal-appearing WM at 2 years in 3 tracts. Conclusion: These results are consistent with the hypothesis that in early PPMS, cortical damage is for the most part a sequela of normal-appearing WM pathology, which, in turn, is predicted by abnormalities within WM lesions

Elevated expression of both mRNA and protein levels of IL-17A in sputum of stable Cystic Fibrosis patients

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>T helper 17 (Th17) cells can recruit neutrophils to inflammatory sites through production of IL-17, which induces chemokine release. IL-23 is an important inducer of IL-17 and IL-22 production. Our aim was to study the role of Th17 cells in cystic fibrosis (CF) lung disease by measuring IL-17 protein and mRNA levels and IL-22 and IL-23 mRNA in sputum of clinically stable CF patients and by comparing these levels with healthy controls.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Sputum induction was performed in adult CF patients outside of an exacerbation and healthy control subjects. IL-17A protein levels were measured in supernatants with cytometric bead array (CBA) and RNA was isolated and quantitative RT-PCR was performed for IL-17A, IL-22 and IL-23.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We found significantly higher levels of IL-17A protein and mRNA levels (both: p < 0.0001) and IL-23 mRNA levels (p < 0.0001) in the sputum of CF group as compared to controls. We found very low levels of IL-22 mRNA in the CF group. The levels of IL-17 and IL-23 mRNA were higher in patients chronically infected with <it>Pseudomonas aeruginosa </it>(<it>P. aeruginosa</it>) as compared to those who were not chronically infected with <it>P. aeruginosa</it>. The presence of <it>Staphylococcus aureus </it>(<it>S. aureus</it>) on sputum did not affect the IL-17 or IL-23 levels. There was no correlation between IL-17 or IL-23 levels and FEV₁nor sputum neutrophilia.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The elevated levels of IL-17 and IL-23 might indicate that Th17 cells are implicated in the persistent neutrophil infiltration in CF lung disease and chronic infection with <it>P. aeruginosa</it>.</p

A comprehensive assessment of cerebellar damage in multiple sclerosis using diffusion tractography and volumetric analysis

Background: White matter (WM) and grey matter (GM) brain damage in multiple sclerosis (MS) is widespread, but the extent of cerebellar involvement and impact on disability needs to be clarified