Perfective and Imperfective in French Kinds of abilities and Actuality Entailment (And some notes on epistemic readings)

Possibility Modals: abilities and epistemic readings (French)

Generic Sentences and Types of Judgments

This paper investiagtes the correlation between the meaning of the plural indefinite 'des' and the plural definite 'les' in French and their ability to express different types of generic statements. It argues that the main feature that distinguishes these two items is the (non)-novelty, in a Heimian framework

Primer registro de Diphterostomum brusinae (Digenea, Zoogonidae) parasitando a la corvina Micropogonias furnieri con datos sobre su ciclo biológico

En un estudio que ampliará el conocimiento de los parásitos de peces de ambientes mixohalinos de Argentina, se hallaron ejemplares adultos de Diphterostomum brusinae parasitando el intestino de juveniles de la corvina, Micropogonias furnieri (Sciaenidae), en el estuario de Bahía Blanca (N = 142) y en la Bahía de Samborombón (N = 265) (provincia de Buenos Aires). Los valores de prevalencia (P) e intensidad media (IM) fueron mayores en el primer sitio (P = 18,3% vs 14,7%; IM = 18,9 vs 6,7). La morfología y las medidas de los especímenes concuerdan con aquellos brindados en la descripción original de D. brusinae. Los adultos se caracterizaron por poseer un tegumento espinoso, dos ciegos intestinales saculares y un acetábulo bien desarrollado con dos pares de labios musculares (uno anterior y otro posterior). En la Bahía de Samborombón también se hallaron estadios larvales (esporocistos, cercarias y metacercarias) parasitando al caracol Buccinanops globulosus (Nassariidae). La morfología y medidas de estos estadios también fueron coincidentes con los descritos anteriormente para D. brusinae. En este trabajo se reporta por primera vez D. brusinae en M. furnieri de Argentina y se propone parte del desarrollo de su ciclo de vida en la Bahía de Samborombón, Argentina.In a survey to increase the knowledge about parasites of fishes in brackish waters of Argentina, we found adult specimens of Diphterostomum brusinae parasitizing the gut of juveniles of the whitemouth croaker, Micropogonias furnieri (Sciaenidae), in Bahía Blanca estuary (N=142) and in Samborombón Bay (N=265) (Buenos Aires Province, Argentina). Prevalence (P) and mean intensity (MI) were higher in the first site (P = 18,3 % vs. 14,7 %; MI = 18,9 vs. 6,7). Measurements and morphology of specimens fits with the description previously made for D. brusinae. Adults typically have a densely spiny tegument, two small and sacular intestinal caeca, and a well-developed ventral sucker with two pairs of muscular lips. In Samborombón Bay we also found larval stages (sporocysts, cercariae, and metacercariae) parasitizing the intertidal snail Buccinanops globulosus (Nassariidae). The morphology and measurements are also coincident to those described for larvae stages of D. brusinae. In this work we record for the first time D. brusinae in M. furnieri from Argentina and partially propose the life cycle of this species in Samborombón Bay, Argentina.Fil: Martorelli, Sergio Roberto. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico la Plata. Centro de Estudios Parasitológicos y de Vectores (i); ArgentinaFil: Montes, Martin Miguel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico la Plata. Centro de Estudios Parasitológicos y de Vectores (i); ArgentinaFil: Marcotegui, Paula Soledad. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico la Plata. Centro de Estudios Parasitológicos y de Vectores (i); ArgentinaFil: Alda, Maria del Pilar. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico la Plata. Centro de Estudios Parasitológicos y de Vectores (i); Argentin

Long-term lithium treatment in bipolar disorder. effects on glomerular filtration rate and other metabolic parameters

.BACKGROUND: Concerns about potential adverse effects of long-term exposure to lithium as a mood-stabilizing treatment notably include altered renal function. However, the incidence of severe renal dysfunction; rate of decline over time; effects of lithium dose, serum concentration, and duration of treatment; relative effects of lithium exposure vs. aging; and contributions of sex and other factors all remain unclear. METHODS: Accordingly, we acquired data from 12 collaborating international sites and 312 bipolar disorder patients (6142 person-years, 2669 assays) treated with lithium carbonate for 8-48 (mean 18) years and aged 20-89 (mean 56) years. We evaluated changes of estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) as well as serum creatinine, urea-nitrogen, and glucose concentrations, white blood cell count, and body-mass index, and tested associations of eGFR with selected factors, using standard bivariate contrasts and regression modeling. RESULTS: Overall, 29.5% of subjects experienced at least one low value of eGFR ( 55; risk of ≥2 low values was 18.1%; none experienced end-stage renal failure. eGFR declined by 0.71%/year of age and 0.92%/year of treatment, both by 19% more among women than men. Mean serum creatinine increased from 0.87 to 1.17 mg/dL, BUN from 23.7 to 33.1 mg/dL, glucose from 88 to 122 mg/dL, and BMI from 25.9 to 26.6 kg/m2. By multivariate regression, risk factors for declining eGFR ranked: longer lithium treatment, lower lithium dose, higher serum lithium concentration, older age, and medical comorbidity. Later low eGFR was also predicted by lower initial eGFR, and starting lithium at age ≥ 40 years. LIMITATIONS: Control data for age-matched subjects not exposed to lithium were lacking. CONCLUSIONS: Long-term lithium treatment was associated with gradual decline of renal functioning (eGFR) by about 30% more than that was associated with aging alone. Risk of subnormal eGFR was from 18.1% (≥2 low values) to 29.5% (≥1 low value), requiring about 30 years of exposure. Additional risk factors for low eGFR were higher serum lithium level, longer lithium treatment, lower initial eGFR, and medical comorbidity, as well as older age

Physiological modes of action across species and toxicants : the key to predictive ecotoxicology

As ecotoxicologists we strive for a better understanding of how chemicals affect our environment. Humanity needs tools to identify those combinations of man-made chemicals and organisms most likely to cause problems. In other words: which of the millions of species are at risk from pollution? And which of the tens of thousands of chemicals contribute most to the risk? We identified our poor knowledge on physiological modes of action (how a chemical affects the energy allocation in an organism), and how they vary across species and toxicants, as a major knowledge gap. We also find that the key to predictive ecotoxicology is the systematic, rigorous characterization of physiological modes of action because that will enable more powerful in vitro to in vivo toxicity extrapolation and in silico ecotoxicology. In the near future, we expect a step change in our ability to study physiological modes of action by improved, and partially automated, experimental methods. Once we have populated the matrix of species and toxicants with sufficient physiological mode of action data we can look for patterns, and from those patterns infer general rules, theory and models

Lithium: a key to the genetics of bipolar disorder

Since the 1950s, lithium salts have been the main line of treatment for bipolar disorder (BD), both as a prophylactic and as an episodic treatment agent. Like many psychiatric conditions, BD is genetically and phenotypically heterogeneous, but evidence suggests that individuals who respond well to lithium treatment have more homogeneous clinical and molecular profiles. Response to lithium seems to cluster in families and can be used as a predictor for recurrence of BD symptoms. While molecular studies have provided important information about possible genes involved in BD predisposition or in lithium response, neither the mechanism of action of this drug nor the genetic profile of bipolar disorder is, as yet, completely understood

Multiplicative Decomposition of Heterogeneity in Mixtures of Continuous Distributions

A system's heterogeneity (\textit{diversity}) is the effective size of its event space, and can be quantified using the R\'enyi family of indices (also known as Hill numbers in ecology or Hannah-Kay indices in economics), which are indexed by an elasticity parameter $q \geq 0$. Under these indices, the heterogeneity of a composite system (the $\gamma$-heterogeneity) is decomposable into heterogeneity arising from variation \textit{within} and \textit{between} component subsystems (the $\alpha$- and $\beta$-heterogeneity, respectively). Since the average heterogeneity of a component subsystem should not be greater than that of the pooled system, we require that $\gamma \geq \alpha$. There exists a multiplicative decomposition for R\'enyi heterogeneity of composite systems with discrete event spaces, but less attention has been paid to decomposition in the continuous setting. We therefore describe multiplicative decomposition of the R\'enyi heterogeneity for continuous mixture distributions under parametric and non-parametric pooling assumptions. Under non-parametric pooling, the $\gamma$-heterogeneity must often be estimated numerically, but the multiplicative decomposition holds such that $\gamma \geq \alpha$ for $q > 0$. Conversely, under parametric pooling, $\gamma$-heterogeneity can be computed efficiently in closed-form, but the $\gamma \geq \alpha$ condition holds reliably only at $q=1$. Our findings will further contribute to heterogeneity measurement in continuous systems

XIPE: the X-ray Imaging Polarimetry Explorer

X-ray polarimetry, sometimes alone, and sometimes coupled to spectral and temporal variability measurements and to imaging, allows a wealth of physical phenomena in astrophysics to be studied. X-ray polarimetry investigates the acceleration process, for example, including those typical of magnetic reconnection in solar flares, but also emission in the strong magnetic fields of neutron stars and white dwarfs. It detects scattering in asymmetric structures such as accretion disks and columns, and in the so-called molecular torus and ionization cones. In addition, it allows fundamental physics in regimes of gravity and of magnetic field intensity not accessible to experiments on the Earth to be probed. Finally, models that describe fundamental interactions (e.g. quantum gravity and the extension of the Standard Model) can be tested. We describe in this paper the X-ray Imaging Polarimetry Explorer (XIPE), proposed in June 2012 to the first ESA call for a small mission with a launch in 2017 but not selected. XIPE is composed of two out of the three existing JET-X telescopes with two Gas Pixel Detectors (GPD) filled with a He-DME mixture at their focus and two additional GPDs filled with pressurized Ar-DME facing the sun. The Minimum Detectable Polarization is 14 % at 1 mCrab in 10E5 s (2-10 keV) and 0.6 % for an X10 class flare. The Half Energy Width, measured at PANTER X-ray test facility (MPE, Germany) with JET-X optics is 24 arcsec. XIPE takes advantage of a low-earth equatorial orbit with Malindi as down-link station and of a Mission Operation Center (MOC) at INPE (Brazil).Comment: 49 pages, 14 figures, 6 tables. Paper published in Experimental Astronomy http://link.springer.com/journal/1068

The CAG repeat at the Huntington disease gene in the Portuguese population : insights into its dynamics and to the origin of the mutation

Huntington disease (HD) is caused by an expansion of a CAG repeat. This repeat is a dynamic mutation that tends to undergo intergenerational instability. We report the analysis of the CAG repeat in a large population sample (2,000 chromosomes) covering all regions of Portugal, and a haplotype study of (CAG)n and (CCG)n repeats in 140 HD Portuguese families. Intermediate class 2 alleles represented 3.0% of the population; and two expanded alleles (36 and 40 repeats, 0.11%) were found. There was no evidence for geographical clustering of the intermediate or expanded alleles. The Portuguese families showed three different HD founder haplotypes associated with 7-, 9- or 10-CCG repeats, suggesting the possibility of different origins for theHDmutation among this population. The haplotype carrying the 7-CCG repeat was the most frequent, both in normal and in expanded alleles. In general, we propose that three mechanisms, occurring at different times,may lead to the evolution from normal CAGs to full expansion: first, a mutation bias towards larger alleles; then, a stepwise process that could explain the CAGdistributions observed in themore recent haplotypes; and, finally, a pool of intermediate (class 2) alleles more prone to give rise to expanded HD alleles.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) - SFRH/BD/9759/ 2003.Instituto de Genética Médica Jacinto Magalhães