Progressive supranuclear palsy is a movement disorder with prominent tau neuropathology. Brain diseases with abnormal tau deposits are called tauopathies, the most common of which is Alzheimer's disease. Environmental causes of tauopathies include repetitive head trauma associated with some sports. To identify common genetic variation contributing to risk for tauopathies, we carried out a genome-wide association study of 1,114 individuals with PSP and 3,247 controls followed by a second stage in which we genotyped 1,051 cases and 3,560 controls for the (...) stage 1 SNPs that yielded P ≤ 10-3. We found significant previously unidentified signals associated with PSP risk at STX6, EIF2AK3 and MOBP. We confirmed two independent variants in MAPT affecting risk for PSP, one of which influences MAPT brain expression. The genes implicated encode proteins for vesicle-membrane fusion at the Golgi-endosomal interface, for the endoplasmic reticulum unfolded protein response and for a myelin structural component. © 2011 Nature America, Inc. All rights reserved. (shrink)

First Published in 1999. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

The debate about constructivism in physics has led to different kinds of questions that can be conventionally framed in two classes. One concerns the mathematics that is considered for the theoretical development of physics. The other is concerned with the experimental parts of physical theories. It is unnecessary to observe that the intersection between our two classes of problems is far from being empty. In this paper we will mainly deal with topics belonging to the second class. However, let us (...) briefly mention some important problems that have been debated in the framework of our first class. For instance, the following: to what extent do the undecidability and incompleteness results of classical mathematics affect fragments of physical theories, in such way as to have a “real physical meaning”? are the mathematical arguments that seem to be essential for physics justifiable in the framework of traditional mathematical constructivism?The first question has recently been investigated by Pitowski, Penrose, da Costa, Doria, Mundici, Svozil and others. As expected by most logicians, one can construct undecidable sentences whose physical meaning seems to be hardly questionable. This happens both in classical and in quantum mechanics. (shrink)

We give a tensor formulation of synchronization transformations within special relativity in order to bridge the gap between some philosophical discussions (e.g., by Grünbaum and Winnie) and the analyses given by physicists (e.g., Møller). As an application, we discuss a physical interpretation of the duality between covariant and contravariant indices in the tensor formulation.

With what view of consequences shall we equip an act-Utilitarianism? I distinguish a broad view of consequences, According to which a consequence is any subsequent future state of the world caused or brought about by an act, Whether by the act alone or by it together with other concurrent happenings, Including the acts of other agents, From a narrow view, According to which a future state of the world is a consequence of an act only if that state would occur (...) if the act were performed and would not occur if any alternative act were performed. I suggest that the narrow view leads to counterintuitive results. (shrink)