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A fundamental prediction of the cold dark matter (CDM) model of structure formation is the existence of a vast population of dark matter haloes extending to subsolar masses. By contrast, other dark matter models, such as a warm thermal relic (WDM), predict a cutoff in the mass function at a mass which, for popular models, lies approximately between $10^7$ and $10^{10}~{\rm M}_\odot$. We use mock observations to demonstrate the viability of a forward modelling approach to extract information about low-mass dark haloes lying along the line-of-sight to galaxy-galaxy strong lenses. This can be used to constrain the mass of a thermal relic dark matter particle, $m_\mathrm{DM}$. With 50 strong lenses at Hubble Space Telescope resolution and a maximum pixel signal-to-noise ratio of $\sim50$, the expected median 2$\sigma$ constraint for a CDM-like model (with a halo mass cutoff at $10^{7}~{\rm M}_\odot$) is $m_\mathrm{DM} > 4.10 \, \mathrm{keV}$ (50% chance of constraining $m_{\rm DM}$ to be better than 4.10 keV). If, however, the dark matter is a warm particle of $m_\mathrm{DM}=2.2 \, \mathrm{keV}$, our 'Approximate Bayesian Computation' method would result in a median estimate of $m_\mathrm{DM}$ between 1.43 and 3.21 keV. Our method can be extended to the large samples of strong lenses that will be observed by future telescopes, and could potentially rule out the standard CDM model of cosmogony. To aid future survey design, we quantify how these constraints will depend on data quality (spatial resolution and integration time) as well as on the lensing geometry (source and lens redshifts)., Comment: Accepted by MNRAS. Comments welcome

Deep learning accelerators efficiently train over vast and growing amounts of data, placing a newfound burden on commodity networks and storage devices. A common approach to conserve bandwidth involves resizing or compressing data prior to training. We introduce Progressive Compressed Records (PCRs), a data format that uses compression to reduce the overhead of fetching and transporting data, effectively reducing the training time required to achieve a target accuracy. PCRs deviate from previous storage formats by combining progressive compression with an efficient storage layout to view a single dataset at multiple fidelities---all without adding to the total dataset size. We implement PCRs and evaluate them on a range of datasets, training tasks, and hardware architectures. Our work shows that: (i) the amount of compression a dataset can tolerate exceeds 50% of the original encoding for many DL training tasks; (ii) it is possible to automatically and efficiently select appropriate compression levels for a given task; and (iii) PCRs enable tasks to readily access compressed data at runtime--- utilizing as little as half the training bandwidth and thus potentially doubling training speed.

We are approaching a point in time when it will be infeasible to catalog and query data after it has been generated. This trend has fueled research on in-situ data processing (i.e. operating on data as it is streamed to storage). One important example of this approach is in-situ data indexing. Prior work has shown the feasibility of indexing at scale as a two-step process. First, one partitions data by key across the CPU cores of a parallel job. Then each core indexes its subset as data is persisted. Online partitioning requires transferring data over the network so that it can be indexed and stored by the core responsible for the data. This approach is becoming increasingly costly as new computing platforms emphasize parallelism instead of individual core performance that is crucial for communication libraries and systems software in general. In addition to indexing, scalable online data partitioning is also useful in other contexts such as load balancing and efficient compression.We present FilterKV, an efficient data management scheme for fast online data partitioning of key-value (KV) pairs. FilterKV reduces the total amount of data sent over the network and to storage. We achieve this by: (a) partitioning pointers to KV pairs instead of the KV pairs themselves and (b) using a compact format to represent and store KV pointers. Results from LANL show that FilterKV can reduce total write slowdown (including partitioning overhead) by up to 3x across 4096 CPU cores.

Background. The superior mesenteric artery (SMA) syndrome is a rare entity presenting with upper gastrointestinal tract obstruction and weight loss. Studies to determine the optimal methods of diagnosis and treatment are required. Aims and Methods. This study aims at analyzing the clinical presentation, diagnosis, and management of SMA syndrome. Ten cases of SMA syndrome out of 2074 esophagogastroduodenoscopies were suspected. A contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CECT) scan was performed to confirm the diagnosis. After, a gastroenterologist and a nutritionist personalized the therapy. Furthermore, we compared the demographical, clinical, endoscopic, and radiological parameters of these cases with a control group consisting of 10 cases out of 2380 EGDS of initially suspected (but not radiologically confirmed) SMA over a follow-up 2-year period (2015-2016). Results. The prevalence of SMA syndrome was 0.005%. Median age and body mass index were 23.5 years and 21.5 kg/m2, respectively. Symptoms developed between 6 and 24 months. Median aortomesenteric angle and aorta-SMA distance were 22 and 6 mm, respectively. All patients improved on conservative treatment. In our series, a marked (>5 kg) weight loss (p=0.006) and a long-standing presentation (more than six months in 80% of patients) (p=0.002) are significantly related to a diagnosis of confirmed SMA syndrome at CECT after an endoscopic suspicion. A “resembling postprandial distress syndrome dyspepsia” presentation may be helpful to the endoscopist in suspecting a latent SMA syndrome (p=0.02). The narrowing of both the aortomesenteric angle (p=0.001) and the aortomesenteric distance (p<0.001) was significantly associated with the diagnosis of SMA after an endoscopic suspicion; however, the narrowing of the aortomesenteric distance seemed to be more accurate, rather than the narrowing of the aortomesenteric angle. Conclusion. SMA syndrome represents a diagnostic and therapeutic challenge. Our results show the following findings: the importance of the endoscopic suspicion of SMA syndrome; the preponderance of a long-standing and chronic onset; a female preponderance; the importance of the nutritional counseling for the treatment; no need of surgical intervention; and better diagnostic accuracy of the narrowing of the aorta-SMA distance. Larger prospective studies are needed to clarify the best diagnosis and management of the SMA syndrome.

The translation initiation repressor 4E-BP2 is deamidated in brain on asparagines N99/N102 during early postnatal brain development. This post-translational modification enhances 4E-BP2 association with Raptor, a central component of mTORC1 and alters the kinetics of excitatory synaptic transmission. We show that 4E-BP2 deamidation is neuron-specific, occurs in human brain and changes 4E-BP2 subcellular localisation, but not its disordered structure state. We demonstrate that deamidated 4E-BP2 is ubiquitinated more and degrades faster than the unmodified protein. We find that enhanced deamidated 4E-BP2 degradation is dependent on Raptor binding, concomitant with increased association with a Raptor-CUL4B E3 ubiquitin ligase complex. Deamidated 4E-BP2 stability is promoted by inhibiting mTORC1 or AMPARs, but not NMDARs. We further demonstrate that deamidated 4E-BP2 regulates the translation of a distinct pool of mRNAs linked to cerebral development, mitochondria and NF-κB activity, and thus may be crucial for postnatal brain development in neurodevelopmental disorders, such as ASD.

Analysis of large-scale simulation output is a core element of scientific inquiry, but analysis queries may experience significant I/O overhead when the data is not structured for efficient retrieval. While in-situ processing allows for improved time-to-insight for many applications, scaling in-situ frameworks to hundreds of thousands of cores can be difficult in practice. The DeltaFS in-situ indexing is a new approach for in-situ processing of massive amounts of data to achieve efficient point and small-range queries. This paper describes the challenges and lessons learned when scaling this in-situ processing function to hundreds of thousands of cores. We propose techniques for scalable all-to-all communication that is memory and bandwidth efficient, concurrent indexing, and specialized LSM-Tree formats. Combining these techniques allows DeltaFS to control the cost of in-situ processing while maintaining 3 orders of magnitude query speedup when scaling alongside the popular VPIC particle-in-cell code to 131,072 cores.

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a chronic, recurring, and remitting functional disorder of the gastrointestinal tract characterized by abdominal pain, distention, and changes in bowel habits. Although there are several drugs for IBS, effective and approved treatments for one or more of the symptoms for various IBS subtypes are needed. Improved understanding of pathophysiological mechanisms such as the role of impaired bile acid metabolism, neurohormonal regulation, immune, dysfunction, the epithelial barrier and the secretory properties of the gut has led to advancements in the treatment of IBS. With regards to therapies for restoring intestinal permeability, multiple studies with prebiotics and probiotics are ongoing, even if to date their efficacy has been limited. In parallel, much progress has been made in targeting low-grade inflammation, especially through the introduction of drugs such as mesalazine and rifaximin, even if a better knowledge of the mechanisms underlying the low-grade inflammation in IBS may allow the design of clinical trials that test the efficacy and safety of such drugs. This literature review aims to summarize the findings related to new and investigational therapeutic agents for IBS, most recently developed in preclinical as well as Phase 1 and Phase 2 clinical studies.

JG-N acknowledges financial support from the Spanish MINECO for a ‘Ramon y Cajal’ fellowship (RYC-2013-13256) and the I+D 2015 project AYA2015-65887-P (MINECO/FEDER). LD, RJI and SJM acknowledge support from the European Re- search Council Advanced Investigator grant, COSMICISM, Negrello, M., Amber, S., Amvrosiadis, A., Cai, Z.-Y., Lapi, A., Gonzalez-Nuevo, J., De Zotti, G., Furlanetto, C., Maddox, S.J., Allen, M., Bakx, T., Bussmann, R.S., Cooray, A., Covone, G., Danese, L., Dannerbauer, H., Fu, H., Greenslade, J., Gurwell, M., Hopwood, R., Koopmans, L.V.E., Napolitano, N., Nayyeri, H., Omont, A., Petrillo, C.E., Riechers, D.A., Serjeant, S., Tortora, C., Valiante, E., Verdoes Kleijn, G., Vernardos, G., Wardlow, J.L., Baes, M., Baker, A.J., Bourne, N., Clements, D., Crawford, S.M., Dye, S., Dunne, L., Eales, S., Ivison, R.J., Marchetti, L., Michalowski, M.J., Smith, M.W.L., Vaccari, M., van der Werf, P.

Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), which includes both Crohn's Disease (CD) and Ulcerative Colitis (UC), is a chronic idiopathic inflammatory disorder affecting the gastrointestinal tract. Extraintestinal manifestations (EIM) are common in patients with IBD, and occur in 6-47% of patients with CD or UC. EIM can involve organs other than the gastrointestinal tract such as skin, eyes, joints, biliary tract and kidneis. Renal and urinary involvement particularly occurs in 4-23% of patients with IBD. Among the renal complications of IBD, seconfary amyloidosis (AA-type, AAA) is a rare but serious complication. renal amyloidosis has been proven to be the most common lethal manifestation of IBD-associated amyloidosis, since renal involvement rapidly leads to end-stage renal failure. A few studies suggest that AAA is more prevalent in CD than in UC, mainly occurring in male patients with an extensive long-lasting and penetrating ddisease pattern. The therapeutic approaches of IBD-associated AAA are based both on control of the chronic inflammatory process that causes the production and storage of serum amyloid A (SAA), which is a precursor of the amyloid, as well as on destabilizing amyloid fibrils so that they can no longer maintain their pleated sheet configuration; however, in patients with end-stage renal disease, the only therapeutic options still available are hemodyalisis and renal transplantation. Whether effective treatment exists for AAA remain controversial.

Η ερευνητική αυτή εργασία είχε ως σκοπό τη διερεύνηση της δυνατότητας παραγωγής καπνιστών φιλέτων πέστροφας (Oncorhynchus my kiss) με έναν ικανοποιητικό ερυθρό χρωματισμό και καλή συνοχή και σύσταση καθώς και των προβλημάτων που παρατηρούνται κατά τη διάρκεια της συντήρησης των ετοίμων προϊόντων και σχετίζονται με τα παραπάνω χαρακτηριστικά. Παρήχθησαν φιλέτα με και χωρίς δέρμα, τα οποία αφοΰ αλατίσθηκαν και καπνίσθηκαν κάτω από ελεγχόμενες συνθήκες συσκευάστηκαν υπό κενό και συντηρήθηκαν για 120 ημέρες στους 2°C. Οι εξετάσεις των ετοίμων προϊόντων έγιναν αμέσως μετά την παραγωγή και επαναλήφθηκαν την 45η, 75η και 120η ημέρα. Συμφωνά με τα αποτελέσματα που προέκυψαν, μεταξύ των φιλέτων με δέρμα και χωρίς δέρμα δεν παρατηρήθηκε καμιά σημαντική διαφορά ως προς την περιεκτικότητα τους σε καροτένια και ρετινόλη. Από 0,4-0,5 και 0.08-0,10 μg/g που ήταν αυτή αντίστοιχα την 1η ημέρα μειώθηκε σε 0,2 και 0,04 μg/g την 45η και στη συνέχεια παρέμεινε αμετάβλητη μέχρι το τέλος της συντήρησης. Οι τιμές όμως αυτές απεδείχθησαν επαρκείς γιατί η ένταση του ερυθρού τόνου (τιμή a*) παρέμεινε σχεδόν αμετάβλητη καθ' όλη τη διάρκεια της συντήρησης. Η τιμή L* αντίθετα μειώθηκε μέχρι την 75η ημέρα και στη συνέχεια παρέμεινε σταθερή. Μεταξύ των φιλέτων με δέρμα και χωρίς δέρμα σημαντικές διαφορές παρατηρήθηκαν στο χρώμα της εξωτερικής τους επιφάνειας. Τόσο η τιμή L*, όσο και η τιμή a*, ήταν μικρότερες στα φιλέτα χωρίς δέρμα και αυτό πιθανόν οφείλεται στην εντονότερη αφυδάτωση και απορρόφηση των συστατικών του καπνού. Η φιλετοποίηση της πρώτης ΰλης πριν από την επεξεργασία της είχε επίσης ως αποτέλεσμα την παντελή αποφυγή του φαινομένου της ρηγμάτωσης της σάρκας του ετοίμου προϊόντος και την ανάπτυξη μιας ικανοποιητικής σύστασης, η οποία παρέμεινε σταθερή σε όλη τη διάρκεια της συντήρησης., The aim of this research was to investigate some problems related to Rainbow trout's (Oncorhynchus mykiss) hot-smoking process as well as the color texture evaluation of the final product. The skin-on and skin-off fillets were hot-smoked and kept in vacuum-packed storage at 2°C±0.1. Color and texture measurements and biochemical analysis were carried out during 120 days of storage on days 1, 45, 75 and 120. The results have showed no significant differences between skin-on and ski-off fillets in carotenoids and retinol content. This values were reduced from 0,4-0,5 and 0,08-0,10 mg/g (1st day) to 0,2 and 0,04 mg/g by day 45 respectively. Thereafter they remained unchanged until the end of the storage. However, they were proved sufficient for the stability of the red color of the final product, as the a* value remained fairly constant, during the whole storage period. Significant differences between skin-on and skin-off fillets were observed in their external surface color. Both L* and a* values were lower in skin-off fillets and this is probably attributed to the more intense dehydration and absorption of the smoke constituents in this fillets. Moreover, the filleting of raw material before processing, resulted in both complete absence of fish gapping in the end product and satisfactory texture, which remained the same during the whole storage period.

We present measurements of the angular correlation function of sub-millimeter (sub-mm) galaxies (SMGs) identified in four out of the five fields of the Herschel Astrophysical Terahertz Large Area Survey (H-ATLAS) - GAMA-9h, GAMA-12h, GAMA-15h and NGP - with flux densities $S_{250��m}$>30 mJy at 250 ��m. We show that galaxies selected at this wavelength trace the underlying matter distribution differently at low and high redshifts. We study the evolution of the clustering finding that at low redshifts sub-mm galaxies exhibit clustering strengths of $r_0$ $\sim$ 2 - 3 $h^{-1}$ Mpc, below z < 0.3. At high redshifts, on the other hand, we find that sub-mm galaxies are more strongly clustered with correlation lengths $r_0$ = 8.1 $\pm$ 0.5, 8.8 $\pm$ 0.8 and 13.9 $\pm$ 3.9 $h^{-1}$Mpc at z = 1 - 2, 2 - 3 and 3 - 5, respectively. We show that sub-mm galaxies across the redshift range 1 < z < 5, typically reside in dark-matter halos of mass of the order of ~ $10^{12.5}$ - $10^{13.0}$ $h^{-1} \, M_{\odot}$ and are consistent with being the progenitors of local massive elliptical galaxies that we see in the local Universe., 17 pages, 11 figures, 3 tables. Accepted for publication in MNRAS

We have modelled high resolution ALMA imaging of six strong gravitationally lensed galaxies detected by the Herschel Space Observatory. Our modelling recovers mass properties of the lensing galaxies and, by determining magnification factors, intrinsic properties of the lensed sub-millimetre sources. We find that the lensed galaxies all have high ratios of star formation rate to dust mass, consistent with or higher than the mean ratio for high redshift sub-millimetre galaxies and low redshift ultra-luminous infra-red galaxies. Source reconstruction reveals that most galaxies exhibit disturbed morphologies. Both the cleaned image plane data and the directly observed interferometric visibilities have been modelled, enabling comparison of both approaches. In the majority of cases, the recovered lens models are consistent between methods, all six having mass density profiles that are close to isothermal. However, one system with poor signal to noise shows mildly significant differences., 13 pages, 4 figures. v3 includes minor alterations following further refereeing of v2

We present a sample of 80 candidate strongly lensed galaxies with flux density above 100 mJy at 500 μm extracted from the Herschel Astrophysical Terahertz Large Area Survey, over an area of 600 deg2. Available imaging and spectroscopic data allow us to confirm the strong lensing in 20 cases and to reject it in one case. For other eight objects, the lensing scenario is strongly supported by the presence of two sources along the same line of sight with distinct photometric redshifts. The remaining objects await more follow-up observations to confirm their nature. The lenses and the background sources have median redshifts zL = 0.6 and zS = 2.5, respectively, and are observed out to zL = 1.2 and zS = 4.2. We measure the number counts of candidate lensed galaxies at 500 μm and compare them with theoretical predictions, finding a good agreement for a maximum magnification of the background sources in the range 10–20. These values are consistent with the magnification factors derived from the lens modelling of individual systems. The catalogue presented here provides sub-mm bright targets for follow-up observations aimed at exploiting gravitational lensing, to study with unprecedented details the morphological and dynamical properties of dusty star-forming regions in z ≳ 1.5 galaxies.

Low-grade intestinal inflammation plays a key role in the pathophysiology of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), and this role is likely to be multifactorial. The aim of this review was to summarize the evidence on the spectrum of mucosal inflammation in IBS, highlighting the relationship of this inflammation to the pathophysiology of IBS and its connection to clinical practice. We carried out a bibliographic search in Medline and the Cochrane Library for the period of January 1966 to December 2014, focusing on publications describing an interaction between inflammation and IBS. Several evidences demonstrate microscopic and molecular abnormalities in IBS patients. Understanding the mechanisms underlying low-grade inflammation in IBS may help to design clinical trials to test the efficacy and safety of drugs that target this pathophysiologic mechanism.

Summary. Rectal leiomyomas are a rare conditions, with low reported incidence in literature and constitute about 0.1% of rectal tumours; in fact rectal leiomyomas occur in approximately 1 out of 2000-3000 rectal tumors. We report on a patient with a 3 cm semi-pedunculated colonic leiomyoma, which was successfully removed by endoscopic polypectomy after normal saline-epinephrine submucosal injection. When we encounter a tumor during a colonoscopic examination, we usually evaluate the tumor carefully and perform an endoscopic resection when we judge it is appropriate. When a symptomatic smooth muscle tumors smaller than 2 cm are incidentally found on colonoscopy, surgical resection is unnecessary. Furthermore, if a tumor can be lifted with a snare and it is either pedunculated or semi-pedunculated, endoscopic resection might be a safe option. For those tumors with wide-based or exoluminal growth, endoscopic removal should be avoided due to the higher risks of bleeding and perforation. The histological findings of the resected tumor are important. If there is any malignant element that can not be completely eradicated, we would suggest surgical treatment. We believe our process allows to avoid unnecessary surgery and reduces medical costs.

Pneumatic dilatation (PD) and Surgical Miotomy (SM) are presently the best treatments for untreated achalasia, with similar efficacy. There is no information on the relative efficacy of PD in younger compared to older patients. Aim of our study was to compare success rate and safety of PD in patients under fifty years old and in those over fifty years old affected by achalasia. Twenty consecutive symptomatic patients were treated in our Unit with graded PD under fluoroscopic view. Five male and 15 female with a median age of 47 years were treated. Twelve patients were less than fifty years old (group I) while 8 were older (group II). Median dysphagia questionnaire score was 14 and13 ingroup I and II respectively. Technical success was achieved in all patients. Seven patients were previously treated through other techniques. In group I all patients achieved a complete remission of symptoms with significant decrease of the dysphagia questionnaire score (3). In group II all patients achieved a complete remission of symptoms with significant decrease of the dysphagia questionnaire score (4.5) but 3 of them repeated the procedure. In boths groups the efficacy of the dilation was radiologically confirmed. Neither early nor late complication were reported in either groups. In our experience PD was an effective and safe procedure both in young and old patients although the older group had more recurrences, all successfully re-dilated.