Self-overlap as a method of analysis in Ising models.

The damage spreading (DS) method provided a useful tool to obtain analytical results of the thermodynamics and stability of the two-dimensional (2D) Ising model--amongst many others--but it suffered both from ambiguities in its results and from large computational costs. In this paper we propose an alternative method, the so-called self-overlap method, based on the study of correlation functions measured at subsequent time steps as the system evolves towards its equilibrium. Applying Markovian and mean-field approximations to a 2D Ising system we obtain both analytical and numerical results on the thermodynamics that agree with the expected behavior. We also provide some analytical results on the stability of the system. Since only a single replica of the system needs to be studied, this method would seem to be free from the ambiguities that afflicted the DS method. It also seems to be numerically more efficient and analytically simpler.

Walking on Exoplanets: Is Star Wars Right?

UNLABELLED: As the number of detected extrasolar planets increases, exoplanet databases become a valuable resource, confirming some details about planetary formation but also challenging our theories with new, unexpected properties. KEY WORDS: Exoplanets-Gravity-Planetary habitability and biosignatures. Astrobiology 16, 325-327.

Self-organized critical random Boolean networks.

Standard random Boolean networks display an order-disorder phase transition. We add to the standard random Boolean networks a disconnection rule that couples the control and order parameters. In this way, the system is driven to the critical line transition. Under the influence of perturbations the system points out self-organized critical behavior. Several numerical simulations have been done and compared with a proposed analytical treatment.

Falta de Adherencia al tratamiento en paciente asmática con resultado negativo asociado a la medicación / Non-adherence to treatment in a female patient with asthma and negative result associated to medication

La falta de adhrencia al tratamiento en pacientes crónicos se ha convertido en un problema de primer orden. La paciente de este caso no era adherente aunque no había abandonado el tratmiento a pesar de haber manifestado dos reacciones adversas diferentes. La actuación de la farmacia, en Proyectos como pueden ser AdherenciaMED ponen en valor la nececisad de acompañar a los pacientes crónicos con medicamentos complejos a lo largo de todo el desarrollo de la enfermedad

The patients with chronic diseases that come to the pharmacy daily are, in many cases, patients whose knowledge of the disease or the importance of the correct usage of the pharmacotherapy is not the correct one. This situation is translated in the fact that patients will not have adherence to their treatments with all the consequences that this entailed especially for their health but also for their quality of life. Besides, this means an increase in health expenditure in the short, medium and longer term

Quasiperiodic graphs at the onset of chaos.

We examine the connectivity fluctuations across networks obtained when the horizontal visibility (HV) algorithm is used on trajectories generated by nonlinear circle maps at the quasiperiodic transition to chaos. The resultant HV graph is highly anomalous as the degrees fluctuate at all scales with amplitude that increases with the size of the network. We determine families of Pesin-like identities between entropy growth rates and generalized graph-theoretical Lyapunov exponents. An irrational winding number with pure periodic continued fraction characterizes each family. We illustrate our results for the so-called golden, silver, and bronze numbers.

Horizontal visibility graphs: exact results for random time series.

The visibility algorithm has been recently introduced as a mapping between time series and complex networks. This procedure allows us to apply methods of complex network theory for characterizing time series. In this work we present the horizontal visibility algorithm, a geometrically simpler and analytically solvable version of our former algorithm, focusing on the mapping of random series (series of independent identically distributed random variables). After presenting some properties of the algorithm, we present exact results on the topological properties of graphs associated with random series, namely, the degree distribution, the clustering coefficient, and the mean path length. We show that the horizontal visibility algorithm stands as a simple method to discriminate randomness in time series since any random series maps to a graph with an exponential degree distribution of the shape P(k)=(1/3)(2/3)(k-2), independent of the probability distribution from which the series was generated. Accordingly, visibility graphs with other P(k) are related to nonrandom series. Numerical simulations confirm the accuracy of the theorems for finite series. In a second part, we show that the method is able to distinguish chaotic series from independent and identically distributed (i.i.d.) theory, studying the following situations: (i) noise-free low-dimensional chaotic series, (ii) low-dimensional noisy chaotic series, even in the presence of large amounts of noise, and (iii) high-dimensional chaotic series (coupled map lattice), without needs for additional techniques such as surrogate data or noise reduction methods. Finally, heuristic arguments are given to explain the topological properties of chaotic series, and several sequences that are conjectured to be random are analyzed.

A large family of eukaryotic-like protein Ser/Thr kinases of Myxococcus xanthus, a developmental bacterium.

Myxococcus xanthus is a gram-negative bacterium that forms multicellular fruiting bodies upon starvation. Here, we demonstrate that it contains at least 13 eukaryotic-like protein Ser/Thr kinases (Pkn1 to Pkn13) individually having unique features. All contain the kinase domain of approximately 280 residues near the N-terminal end, which share highly conserved features in eukaryotic Ser/Thr kinases. The kinase domain is followed by a putative regulatory domain consisting of 185 to 692 residues. These regulatory domains share no significant sequence similarities. The C-terminal regions of 11 kinases contain at least 1 transmembrane domain, suggesting that they function as transmembrane sensor kinases. From the recent genomic analysis, protein Ser/Thr kinases were found in various pathogenic bacteria and coexist with protein His kinases. Phylogenetic analysis of these Ser/Thr kinases reveals that all bacterial Ser/Thr kinases were evolved from a common ancestral kinase together with eukaryotic Tyr and Ser/Thr kinases. Coexistence of both Ser/Thr and His kinases in some organisms may be significant in terms of functional differences between the two kinases. We argue that both kinases are essential for some bacteria to adapt optimally to severe environmental changes.