Taxonomical and biogeographical problems in Mediterranean shrews of the genus Crocidura (Mammalia, Insectivora) with reference to a new karyotype from Sicily (Italy)

Shrews of the genus Crocidura from Sicily revealed a new karyotype from Europe: 2n = 36, NF = 56, NFa = 52. With reference to the revision of Vesmanis (1976), this shrew is provisionally attributed to C. caudata Miller, 1901 and it is proposed to call it the "Sicilian shrew". Its chromosome complement is similar to that of shrews from Canary Islands and a species from Burundi (Central Africa), suggesting that it might have split off from a line of Paleotropical origin. Following these findings, the modern concept of Mediterranean island colonization by shrews must be revised. The distinctive characteristics of Mediterranean shrews should also be revised.

Intervention précoce dans la phase initiale des troubles psychotiques à Lausanne: quels problèmes et quelles solutions [Early intervention for the initial phase of psychotic disorders in Lausanne: what problems and what solutions?]

Schizophrenia has long been considered with pessimism, but the recent interest in the early phase of psychotic disorders has modified this often unjustified perception. Literature has demonstrated the benefit of the development of programs specialised in the treatment of early psychosis, which tend to be developed in many countries. It is however important to match them to local needs as well as to the structure of local health services. This paper reviews elements that justify such a development in Lausanne, Switzerland, and describe its various elements.

Inverse problems for invariant algebraic curves: explicit computations

Given an algebraic curve in the complex affine plane, we describe how to determine all planar polynomial vector fields which leave this curve invariant. If all (finite) singular points of the curve are nondegenerate, we give an explicit expression for these vector fields. In the general setting we provide an algorithmic approach, and as an alternative we discuss sigma processes.

Epidemiology of multiple congenital anomalies in Europe: a EUROCAT population-based registry study.

BACKGROUND: This study describes the prevalence, associated anomalies, and demographic characteristics of cases of multiple congenital anomalies (MCA) in 19 population-based European registries (EUROCAT) covering 959,446 births in 2004 and 2010. METHODS: EUROCAT implemented a computer algorithm for classification of congenital anomaly cases followed by manual review of potential MCA cases by geneticists. MCA cases are defined as cases with two or more major anomalies of different organ systems, excluding sequences, chromosomal and monogenic syndromes. RESULTS: The combination of an epidemiological and clinical approach for classification of cases has improved the quality and accuracy of the MCA data. Total prevalence of MCA cases was 15.8 per 10,000 births. Fetal deaths and termination of pregnancy were significantly more frequent in MCA cases compared with isolated cases (p < 0.001) and MCA cases were more frequently prenatally diagnosed (p < 0.001). Live born infants with MCA were more often born preterm (p < 0.01) and with birth weight < 2500 grams (p < 0.01). Respiratory and ear, face, and neck anomalies were the most likely to occur with other anomalies (34% and 32%) and congenital heart defects and limb anomalies were the least likely to occur with other anomalies (13%) (p < 0.01). However, due to their high prevalence, congenital heart defects were present in half of all MCA cases. Among males with MCA, the frequency of genital anomalies was significantly greater than the frequency of genital anomalies among females with MCA (p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: Although rare, MCA cases are an important public health issue, because of their severity. The EUROCAT database of MCA cases will allow future investigation on the epidemiology of these conditions and related clinical and diagnostic problems.

A classification, up to hyperbolicity, of groups given by 2 generators and one relator of length 8

"Vegeu el resum a l'inici del document del fitxer adjunt."

Foundations for contest success functions

In the literature the outcome of contests is either interpreted as win probabilities or as shares of the prize. With this in mind, we examine two approaches to contest success functions. In the first we analyze the implications of contestants' incomplete information concerning the "type" of the contest administrator. While in the case of two contestants this approach can rationalize prominent contest success functions, we show that it runs into difficulties when there are more agents. Our second approach interprets contest success functions as sharing rules and establishes a connection to bargaining and claims problems which is independent of the number of contestants. Both approaches provide foundations for popular contest success functions and guidelines for the definition of new ones. Keywords: Endogenous Contests, Contest Success Function. JEL Classification: C72 (Noncooperative Games), D72 (Economic Models of Political Processes: Rent-Seeking, Elections), D74 (Conflict; Conflict Resolution; Alliances).

Pseudohypoaldosteronisms, report on a 10-patient series.

BACKGROUND: Type 1 pseudohypoaldosteronism (PHA1) is a salt-wasting syndrome caused by mineralocorticoid resistance. Autosomal recessive and dominant hereditary forms are caused by Epithelial Na Channel and Mineralocorticoid Receptor mutation respectively, while secondary PHA1 is usually associated with urological problems. METHODS: Ten patients were studied in four French pediatric units in order to characterize PHA1 spectrum in infants. Patients were selected by chart review. Genetic, clinical and biochemistry data were collected and analyzed. RESULTS: Autosomal recessive PHA1 (n = 3) was diagnosed at 6 and 7 days of life in three patients presenting with severe hyperkalaemia and weight loss. After 8 months, 3 and 5 years on follow-up, neurological development and longitudinal growth was normal with high sodium supplementation. Autosomal dominant PHA1 (n = 4) was revealed at 15, 19, 22 and 30 days of life because of failure to thrive. At 8 months, 3 and 21 years of age, longitudinal growth was normal in three patients who were given salt supplementation; no significant catch-up growth was obtained in the last patient at 20 months of age. Secondary PHA1 (n = 3) was diagnosed at 11, 26 days and 5 months of life concomitantly with acute pyelonephritis in three children with either renal hypoplasia, urinary duplication or bilateral megaureter. The outcome was favourable and salt supplementation was discontinued after 3, 11 and 13 months. CONCLUSIONS: PHA1 should be suspected in case of severe hyperkalemia and weight loss in infants and need careful management. Pathogenesis of secondary PHA1 is still challenging and further studies are mandatory to highlight the link between infection, developing urinary tract and pseudohypoaldosteronism.

Urban image classification with semisupervised multiscale cluster kernels

This paper presents a semisupervised support vector machine (SVM) that integrates the information of both labeled and unlabeled pixels efficiently. Method's performance is illustrated in the relevant problem of very high resolution image classification of urban areas. The SVM is trained with the linear combination of two kernels: a base kernel working only with labeled examples is deformed by a likelihood kernel encoding similarities between labeled and unlabeled examples. Results obtained on very high resolution (VHR) multispectral and hyperspectral images show the relevance of the method in the context of urban image classification. Also, its simplicity and the few parameters involved make the method versatile and workable by unexperienced users.

Combining classification techniques to define topo-climatic landscapes

Landscape classification tackles issues related to the representation and analysis of continuous and variable ecological data. In this study, a methodology is created in order to define topo-climatic landscapes (TCL) in the north-west of Catalonia (north-east of the Iberian Peninsula). TCLs relate the ecological behaviour of a landscape in terms of topography, physiognomy and climate, which compound the main drivers of an ecosystem. Selected variables are derived from different sources such as remote sensing and climatic atlas. The proposed methodology combines unsupervised interative cluster classification with a supervised fuzzy classification. As a result, 28 TCLs have been found for the study area which may be differentiated in terms of vegetation physiognomy and vegetation altitudinal range type. Furthermore a hierarchy among TCLs is set, enabling the merging of clusters and allowing for changes of scale. Through the topo-climatic landscape map, managers may identify patches with similar environmental conditions and asses at the same time the uncertainty involved.

Who Matters in Coordination Problems?

We consider a common investment project that is vulnerable to a self-ful lling coordination failure and hence is strategically risky. Based on their private information, agents - who have heterogeneous investment incentives - form expectations or 'sentiments' about the project's outcome. We find that the sum of these sentiments is constant across di erent strategy profiles and it is independent of the distribution of incentives. As a result, we can think of sentiment as a scarce resource divided up among the di erent payo types. Applying this nding, we show that agents who bene t little from the project's success have a large impact on the coordination process. The agents with small bene ts invest only if their sentiment towards the project is large per unit investment cost. As the average sentiment is constant, a subsidy decreasing the investment costs of these agents will \free up" a large amount of sentiment, provoking a large impact on the whole economy. Intuitively, these agents, insensitive to the project's outcome and hence to the actions of others, are in uential because they modify their equilibrium behavior only if the others change theirs substantially.