New species of Physopleurus Lacordaire (Coleoptera, Cerambycidae, Prioninae)

Physopleurus erikae sp. nov. proveniente da Colômbia é descrita e figurada. É apresentada uma chave para identificação das espécies de Physopleurus.Physopleurus erikae sp. nov. from Colombia is described and figured. A key to the species of Physopleurus is added

Contribuição para o estudo dos Rhinotragini (Coleoptera, Cerambycidae). III: Oxyommata Zajciw, 1970 e novo gênero oriundo da divisão de Xenocrasis Bates, 1873

Oxyommata Zajciw, 1970 e O. collaris (Audinet-Serville, 1833) são redescritos e comentados. Um novo gênero proveniente da divisão de Xenocrasis Bates, 1873 é descrito e três espécies alocadas nele: X. fulvicollis(Lacordaire, 1868); X. pubipennis (Fisher, 1952); e X. vestitipennis Zajciw, 1963. É apresentada chave para as espécies do novo gênero.Oxyommata Zajciw, 1970 and O. collaris (Audinet-Serville, 1833) are redescribed and commented uppon. A new genus from the division of Xenocrasis Bates, 1873 is described, and three species are allocated in to it: X. fulvicollis (Lacordaire, 1868); X. pubipennis (Fisher, 1952); and X. vestitipennis Zajciw, 1963. A key to the species of the new genus is added

Trends of mortality due to oral and oropharyngeal cancers in Uruguay from 1997 to 2014

To analyze the trends of oral and oropharyngeal cancer mortality in Uruguay between 1997 and 2014 according to sex and age groups and its possible association with sociodemographic factors. A time-series ecological study using secondary data was performed. The data about mortality due to oral and oropharyngeal cancers were obtained from the Statistics Vitals Department of the Public Health Ministry of Uruguay. To estimate the mortality trends of the historical series, by sex, anatomical site and age groups, linear regressions generated by the Prais-Winsten procedure were used. The analysis of mortality trends for oral cavity and oropharyngeal cancers in Uruguay indicated that the global mortality rate was stable over the studied period. The women's mortality rate increased from 0.51 per 100,000 in 1997 to 0.65 per 100,000 in 2014 while for men, rates per 100,000 went from 3.22 in 1997 to 2.20 per 100,000 in 2014. Mortality from oral cancer in men decreased between 1997 and 2014. Mortality by oropharyngeal cancer, irrespective of sex, remained stable. Analysis by cancer site revealed decreasing trends tumors situated in the base of the tongue and gum. Years of education, unemployment, smoking and Gini index were not associated with mortality trends. The overall mortality from oral and oropharyngeal cancer in Uruguay has remained constant in the period between 1997 and 2014. Oral cancer mortality decreased in men and increased in women and decreased at the base of the tongue. It?s necessary to continue monitoring the behavior of these diseases

Ultrasonic tissue characterization of vulnerable carotid plaque: correlation between videodensitometric method and histological examination

BACKGROUND: To establish the correlation between quantitative analysis based on B-mode ultrasound images of vulnerable carotid plaque and histological examination of the surgically removed plaque, on the basis of a videodensitometric digital texture characterization. METHODS: Twenty-five patients (18 males, mean age 67 ± 6.9 years) admitted for carotid endarterectomy for extracranial high-grade internal carotid artery stenosis (≥ 70% luminal narrowing) underwent to quantitative ultrasonic tissue characterization of carotid plaque before surgery. A computer software (Carotid Plaque Analysis Software) was developed to perform the videodensitometric analysis. The patients were divided into 2 groups according to symptomatology (group I, 15 symptomatic patients; and group II, 10 patients asymptomatic). Tissue specimens were analysed for lipid, fibromuscular tissue and calcium. RESULTS: The first order statistic parameter mean gray level was able to distinguish the groups I and II (p = 0.04). The second order parameter energy also was able to distinguish the groups (p = 0,02). A histological correlation showed a tendency of mean gray level to have progressively greater values from specimens with < 50% to >75% of fibrosis. CONCLUSION: Videodensitometric computer analysis of scan images may be used to identify vulnerable and potentially unstable lipid-rich carotid plaques, which are less echogenic in density than stable or asymptomatic, more densely fibrotic plaques

Coarse-grained description of a passive scalar

The issue of the parameterization of small-scale dynamics is addressed in the context of passive-scalar turbulence. The basic idea of our strategy is to identify dynamical equations for the coarse-grained scalar dynamics starting from closed equations for two-point statistical indicators. With the aim of performing a fully-analytical study, the Kraichnan advection model is considered. The white-in-time character of the latter model indeed leads to closed equations for the equal-time scalar correlation functions. The classical closure problem however still arises if a standard filtering procedure is applied to those equations in the spirit of the large-eddy-simulation strategy. We show both how to perform exact closures and how to identify the corresponding coarse-grained scalar evolution.Comment: 22 pages; submitted to Journal of Turbulenc

Approximation Strategies for Incomplete MaxSAT

Incomplete MaxSAT solving aims to quickly find a solution that attempts to minimize the sum of the weights of the unsati sfied soft clauses without providing any optimality guarantees. In th is paper, we propose two approximation strategies for improving incomp lete MaxSAT solving. In one of the strategies, we cluster the weights and approximate them with a representative weight. In another strategy, we b reak up the problem of minimizing the sum of weights of unsatisfiable clauses into multiple minimization subproblems. Experimental res ults show that approximation strategies can be used to find better solution s than the best incomplete solvers in the MaxSAT Evaluation 2017