We prove that if G is a group definable in a saturated o-minimal structure, then G has no infinite descending chain of type-definable subgroups of bounded index. Equivalently, G has a smallest type-definable subgroup G00 of bounded index and G/G00 equipped with the “logic topology” is a compact Lie group. These results give partial answers to some conjectures of the fourth author.

We investigate the group of definable homomorphisms between two definable abelian groups A and B, in an o-minimal structure . We prove the existence of a “large”, definable subgroup of . If contains an infinite definable set of homomorphisms then some definable subgroup of B admits a definable multiplication, making it into a field. As we show, all of this can be carried out not only in the underlying structure but also in any structure definable in.

This is a qualitative examination of ethics consultation requests, outcomes, and ethics committee recommendations at a tertiary/quaternary pediatric hospital in the U.S. The purpose of this review of consults over an 18-year period is to identify specific trends in the types of ethical dilemmas presented in our pediatric setting, the impact of consultation and committee development on the number and type of consults provided, and any clinical features and/or challenges that emerged and contributed to the nature of ethical situations and (...) dilemmas. Furthermore, in reviewing clinical ethics consultation trends for nearly two decades, we can identify topic areas for further ethics education and training for ethics consultants, ethics committee members, and pediatric healthcare teams and professionals based on our experiences. Our study with nearly two decades of data prior to the COVID-19 pandemic can serve as groundwork for future comparisons of consultation requests and ethics support for pediatric hospitals prior to, during, and following a pandemic. (shrink)

Let ℛ be an o-minimal expansion of a real closed field R. We continue here the investigation we began in [11] of differentiability with respect to the algebraically closed field [Formula: see text]. We develop the basic theory of such K-differentiability for definable functions of several variables, proving theorems on removable singularities as well as analogues of the Weierstrass preparation and division theorems for definable functions. We consider also definably meromorphic functions and prove that every definable function which is meromorphic (...) on Kn is necessarily a rational function. We finally discuss definable analogues of complex analytic manifolds, with possible connections to the model theoretic work on compact complex manifolds, and present two examples of "nonstandard manifolds" in our setting. (shrink)

An o-minimal expansion of an ordered group is called semi-bounded if there is no definable bijection between a bounded and an unbounded interval in it (equivalently, it is an expansion of the group by bounded predicates and group automorphisms). It is shown that every such structure has an elementary extension.

We consider reducts of the structure $\mathscr{R} = \langle\mathbb{R}, +, \cdot, <\rangle$ and other real closed fields. We compete the proof that there exists a unique reduct between $\langle\mathbb{R}, +, <, \lambda_a\rangle_{a\in\mathbb{R}}$ and R, and we demonstrate how to recover the definition of multiplication in more general contexts than the semialgebraic one. We then conclude a similar result for reducts between $\langle\mathbb{R}, \cdot, <\rangle$ and R and for general real closed fields.

§1. Introduction. By and large, definitions of a differentiable structure on a set involve two ingredients, topology and algebra. However, in some cases, partial information on one or both of these is sufficient. A very simple example is that of the field ℝ where algebra alone determines the ordering and hence the topology of the field:In the case of the field ℂ, the algebraic structure is insufficient to determine the Euclidean topology; another topology, Zariski, is associated with the ield but (...) this will be too coarse to give a diferentiable structure.A celebrated example of how partial algebraic and topological data determines a differentiable structure is Hilbert's 5th problem and its solution by Montgomery-Zippin and Gleason.The main result which we discuss here is of a similar flavor: we recover an algebraic and later differentiable structure from a topological data. We begin with a linearly ordered set ⟨M, <⟩, equipped with the order topology, and its cartesian products with the product topologies. We then consider the collection of definable subsets of Mn, n = 1, 2, …, in some first order expansion ℳ of ⟨M, <⟩. (shrink)

A structure (M, $ ,...) is called quasi-o-minimal if in any structure elementarily equivalent to it the definable subsets are exactly the Boolean combinations of 0-definable subsets and intervals. We give a series of natural examples of quasi-o-minimal structures which are not o-minimal; one of them is the ordered group of integers. We develop a technique to investigate quasi-o-minimality and use it to study quasi-o-minimal ordered groups (possibly with extra structure). Main results: any quasi-o-minimal ordered group is abelian; any quasi-o-minimal (...) ordered ring is a real closed field, or has zero multiplication; every quasi-o-minimal divisible ordered group is o-minimal; every quasi-o-minimal archimedian densely ordered group is divisible. We show that a counterpart of quasi-o-minimality in stability theory is the notion of theory of U-rank 1. (shrink)

We consider definable topological spaces of dimension one in o-minimal structures, and state several equivalent conditions for when such a topological space \ \) is definably homeomorphic to an affine definable space with the induced subspace topology). One of the main results says that it is sufficient for X to be regular and decompose into finitely many definably connected components.

We formulate an analogue of Zilber's conjecture for o-minimal structures in general, and then prove it for a class of o-minimal structures over the reals. We conclude in particular that if is an ordered reduct of ,<,+,·,ex whose theory T does not have the CF property then, given any model of T, a real closed field is definable on a subinterval of.

We give a complete characterization of the class of upward monotone generalized quantifiers Q1 and Q2 over countable domains that satisfy the scheme Q1 x Q2 y φ → Q2 y Q1 x φ. This generalizes the characterization of such quantifiers over finite domains, according to which the scheme holds iff Q1 is ∃ or Q2 is ∀ (excluding trivial cases). Our result shows that in infinite domains, there are more general types of quantifiers that support these entailments.

We use a new construction of an o-minimal structure, due to Lipshitz and Robinson, to answer a question of van den Dries regarding the relationship between arbitrary o-minimal expansions of real closed fields and structures over the real numbers. We write a first order sentence which is true in the Lipshitz-Robinson structure but fails in any possible interpretation over the field of real numbers.

We prove that in an arbitrary o-minimal structure, every interpretable group is definably isomorphic to a definable one. We also prove that every definable group lives in a cartesian product of one-dimensional definable group-intervals. We discuss the general open question of elimination of imaginaries in an o-minimal structure.

Let M be an arbitrary structure. Then we say that an M -formula φ defines a stable set inM if every formula φ ∧ α is stable. We prove: If G is an M -definable group and every definable stable subset of G has U -rank at most n , then G has a maximal connected stable normal subgroup H such that G /H is purely unstable. The assumptions hold for example if M is interpretable in an o-minimal structure.More generally, (...) an M -definable set X is weakly stable if the M -induced structure on X is stable. We observe that, by results of Shelah, every weakly stable set in theories with NIP is stable. (shrink)

Let G be a definably compact group in an o-minimal expansion of a real closed field. We prove that if dim(G\X) < dim G for some definable ${X \subseteq G}$ then X contains a torsion point of G. Along the way we develop a general theory for the so-called G-linear sets, and investigate definable sets which contain abstract subgroups of G.

We define the notion of Euler characteristic for definable quotients in an arbitrary o-minimal structure and prove some fundamental properties.

Let $\mathcal{M}$ be an o-minimal expansion of a real closed field $R$. We define the notion of a lattice in a locally definable group and then prove that every connected, definably generated subgroup of $\langle R^{n},+\rangle$ contains a definable generic set and therefore admits a lattice.

We prove the following instance of a conjecture stated in [P. E. Eleftheriou and Y. Peterzil, Definable quotients of locally definable groups, Selecta Math. 18 885–903]. Let [Formula: see text] be an abelian semialgebraic group over a real closed field [Formula: see text] and let [Formula: see text] be a semialgebraic subset of [Formula: see text]. Then the group generated by [Formula: see text] contains a generic set and, if connected, it is divisible. More generally, the same result holds (...) when [Formula: see text] is definable in any o-minimal expansion of [Formula: see text] which is elementarily equivalent to [Formula: see text]. We observe that the above statement is equivalent to saying: there exists an [Formula: see text] such that [Formula: see text] is an approximate subgroup of [Formula: see text]. (shrink)

Given a weakly o-minimal structure${\cal M}$and its o-minimal completion$\bar{{\cal M}}$, we first associate to$\bar{{\cal M}}$a canonical language and then prove thatTh$\left$determines$Th\left$. We then investigate the theory of the pair$\left$in the spirit of the theory of dense pairs of o-minimal structures, and prove, among other results, that it is near model complete, and every definable open subset of${\bar{M}^n}$is already definable in$\bar{{\cal M}}$.We give an example of a weakly o-minimal structure interpreting$\bar{{\cal M}}$and show that it is not elementarily equivalent to any reduct (...) of an o-minimal trace. (shrink)

COVID-19 poses an exceptional threat to global public health and well-being. Recognition of the need to develop effective vaccines at unprecedented speed has led to calls to accelerate research pathways ethically, including by conducting challenge studies ) with SARS-CoV-2. Such research is controversial, with concerns being raised about the social, legal, ethical and clinical implications of infecting healthy volunteers with SARS-CoV-2 for research purposes. Systematic risk evaluations are critical to inform assessments of the ethics of any proposed SARS-CoV-2 CHIs. Such (...) evaluations will necessarily take place within a rapidly changing and at times contested epidemiological landscape, in which differing criteria for the ethical acceptability of research risks have been proposed. This paper critically reviews two such criteria and evaluates whether the use of effective treatment should be a necessary condition for the ethical acceptability of SARS-CoV-2 CHIs, and whether the choice of study sites should be influenced by COVID-19 incidence levels. The paper concludes that ethical evaluations of proposed SARS-CoV-2 CHIs should be informed by rigorous, consultative and holistic approaches to systematic risk assessment. (shrink)

RaTG13, MP789, and RmYN02 are the strains closest to SARS‐CoV‐2, and their existence came to light only after the start of the pandemic. Their genomes have been used to support a natural origin of SARS‐CoV‐2 but after a close examination all of them exhibit several issues. We specifically address the presence in RmYN02 and closely related RacCSxxx strains of a claimed natural PAA/PVA amino acid insertion at the S1/S2 junction of their spike protein at the same position where the PRRA (...) insertion in SARS‐CoV‐2 has created a polybasic furin cleavage site. We show that RmYN02/RacCSxxx instead of the claimed insertion carry a 6‐nucleotide deletion in the region and that the 12‐nucleotide insertion in SARS‐CoV‐2 remains unique among Sarbecoviruses. Also, our analysis of RaTG13 and RmYN02's metagenomic datasets found unexpected reads which could indicate possible contamination. Because of their importance to inferring SARS‐CoV‐2′s origin, we call for a careful reevaluation of RaTG13, MP789 and RmYN02 sequencing records and assembly methods. (shrink)

The pandemic of SARS-CoV-2 has led to unprecedented changes to society, causing unique problems that call for extraordinary solutions. We consider one such extraordinary proposal: ‘safer infection sites’ that would offer individuals the opportunity to be intentionally infected with SARS-CoV-2, isolate, and receive medical care until they are no longer infectious. Safer infection could have value for various groups of workers and students. Health professionals place themselves at risk of infection daily and extend this risk to their family members and (...) community. Similarly, other essential workers who face workplace exposure must continue their work, even if have high-risk household members and live in fear of infecting. When schools are kept closed because of the fear that they will be sites of significant transmission, children and their families are harmed in multiple ways and college students who are living on campus, whether or not they are attending classes in person, are contributing to high rates of transmission and experiencing high rates of exposure. We consider whether offering safer infection sites to these groups could be ethically defensible and identify the empirical unknowns that would need to resolve before reaching definitive conclusions. This article is not an endorsement of intentional infection with the coronavirus, but rather is meant to spark conversation on the ethics of out-of-the-box proposals. Perhaps most meaningfully, our paper explores the value of control and peace of mind for those among us most impacted by the pandemic: those essential workers risking the most to keep us safe. (shrink)

Despite huge efforts towards understanding the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‐CoV‐2) pathogenesis, little is known about the long‐term consequences of the disease. Here, we critically review existing literature about oncogenesis as a potential long‐term effect of SARS‐CoV‐2 infection. Like other viral infections, SARS‐CoV‐2 may promote cancer onset by inhibiting tumor suppressor genes. We conclude that, although unlikely, such hypothesis cannot be excluded a priori and we delineate an experimental approach to address it. Also see the video abstract here: (...) https://youtu.be/TBUTDSLR7vY. (shrink)

The world awaits a SARS-CoV-2 virus vaccine to keep the populace healthy, fully reopen their economies, and return their social and healthcare systems to “normal.” Vaccine safety and efficacy requires meticulous testing and oversight; this paper describes how despite grandiose public statements, the current vaccine development, testing, and production methods may prove to be ethically dubious, medically dangerous, and socially volatile. The basic moral concern is the potential danger to the health of human test subjects and, eventually, many vaccine recipients. (...) This is further complicated by economic and political pressures to reduce government oversight on rushed vaccine testing and production, nationalistic distribution goals, and failure to plan for the widespread immunization needed to produce global herd immunity. As this paper asserts, the public must be better informed to assess promises about the novel vaccines being produced and to tolerate delays and uncertainty. (shrink)

The importance of the working document is that it allows the analysis of the information and the status of cases associated with (SARS-CoV-2) COVID-19 as open data at the municipal, state and national level, with a daily record of patients, according to a age, sex, comorbidities, for the condition of (SARS-CoV-2) COVID-19 according to the following characteristics: a) Positive, b) Negative, c) Suspicious. Likewise, it presents information related to the identification of an outpatient and / or hospitalized patient, attending to (...) their medical development, identifying: a) Recovered, b) Deaths and c) Active, in Phase 3 and Phase 4, in the five main population areas speaker of indigenous language in the State of Veracruz - Mexico. The data analysis is carried out through the application of a data mining algorithm, which provides the information, fast and timely, required for the estimation of Medical Care Scenarios of (SARS-CoV-2) COVID-19, as well as for know the impact on the indigenous language speaking population in Veracruz. For this purpose, the following study zones are presented: a) Totonacapan Zone, b) Huasteco from the Tantoyuca Zone, c) Otomi from the Inxhuatlan de Madero Zone, d) Nahuatl from the Zongolica Zone, e) Nahuatl from the Chicontepec Zone, f) Nahualt from the Pajapan Zone and g) Popoluca from the Soteapan Zone. This data article presents the information as of August 1, 2020 corresponding to the Otomi of the Ixhuatlan de Madero area. (shrink)

The importance of the working document is that it allows the analysis of the information and the status of cases associated with (SARS-CoV-2) COVID-19 as open data at the municipal, state and national level, with a daily record of patients, according to a age, sex, comorbidities, for the condition of (SARS-CoV-2) COVID-19 according to the following characteristics: a) Positive, b) Negative, c) Suspicious. Likewise, it presents information related to the identification of an outpatient and / or hospitalized patient, attending to (...) their medical development, identifying: a) Recovered, b) Deaths and c) Active, in Phase 3 and Phase 4, in the five main population areas speaker of indigenous language in the State of Veracruz - Mexico. The data analysis is carried out through the application of a data mining algorithm, which provides the information, fast and timely, required for the estimation of Medical Care Scenarios of (SARS-CoV-2) COVID-19, as well as for know the impact on the indigenous language speaking population in Veracruz. For this purpose, the following study zones are presented: a) Totonacapan Zone, b) Huasteco from the Tantoyuca Zone, c) Otomi from the Inxhuatlan de Madero Zone, d) Nahuatl from the Zongolica Zone, e) Nahuatl from the Chicontepec Zone, f) Nahualt from the Pajapan Zone and g) Popoluca from the Soteapan Zone. This data article presents the information as of August 1, 2020 corresponding to the Popoluca from the Soteapan Area. (shrink)

Despite claims from prominent scientists that SARS‐CoV‐2 indubitably emerged naturally, the etiology of this novel coronavirus remains a pressing and open question: Without knowing the true nature of a disease, it is impossible for clinicians to appropriately shape their care, for policy‐makers to correctly gauge the nature and extent of the threat, and for the public to appropriately modify their behavior. Unless the intermediate host necessary for completing a natural zoonotic jump is identified, the dual‐use gain‐of‐function research practice of viral (...) serial passage should be considered a viable route by which the novel coronavirus arose. The practice of serial passage mimics a natural zoonotic jump, and offers explanations for SARS‐CoV‐2's distinctive spike‐protein region and its unexpectedly high affinity for angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE2), as well as the notable polybasic furin cleavage site within it. Additional molecular clues raise further questions, all of which warrant full investigation into the novel coronavirus's origins and a re‐examination of the risks and rewards of dual‐use gain‐of‐function research. (shrink)

The importance of the working document is that it allows the analysis of the information and the status of cases associated with (SARS-CoV-2) COVID-19 as open data at the municipal, state and national level, with a daily record of patients, according to a age, sex, comorbidities, for the condition of (SARS-CoV-2) COVID-19 according to the following characteristics: a) Positive, b) Negative, c) Suspicious. Likewise, it presents information related to the identification of an outpatient and / or hospitalized patient, attending to (...) their medical development, identifying: a) Recovered, b) Deaths and c) Active, in Phase 3 and Phase 4, in the five main population areas speaker of indigenous language in the State of Veracruz - Mexico. The data analysis is carried out through the application of a data mining algorithm, which provides the information, fast and timely, required for the estimation of Medical Care Scenarios of (SARS-CoV-2) COVID-19, as well as for know the impact on the indigenous language speaking population in Veracruz. For this purpose, the following study zones are presented: a) Totonacapan Zone, b) Huasteco from the Tantoyuca Zone, c) Otomi from the Inxhuatlan de Madero Zone, d) Nahuatl from the Zongolica Zone, e) Nahuatl from the Chicontepec Zone, f) Nahualt from the Pajapan Zone and g) Popoluca from the Soteapan Zone. This data article presents the information as of August 1, 2020 corresponding to the Totonacapan Area. (shrink)

The World Health Organisation declared COVID-19 a global pandemic on 11th March 2020, recognising that the underlying SARS-CoV-2 has caused the greatest global crisis since World War II. In this chapter, we present a framework to evaluate whether and to what extent the use of digital systems that track and/or trace potentially infected individuals is not only legal but also ethical.

El SARS-CoV-2 más conocido como COVID 19 ha evidenciado de forma radical como el sistema capitalista neoliberal, nos ha llevado a una serie de maquillajes de la realidad que no permitían ver la gravedad de su construcción de inequidad, pero lo que es peor, al convertir en una empresa rentable todo lo que toca, termino por desdibujar la democracia, la justicia, y el estado mismo. El presente texto que obedece al programa de investigación “proyecto 29-000029 Dinámicas urbano-regionales, economía solidaria y (...) construcción de paz territorial en Antioquia” de UNAULA, para demostrar lo inicialmente planteado se procederá primero mostrando como el sistema de salud al ser convertido en un negocio, no tuvo capacidad para enfrentar la pandemia en ninguna parte del mundo, ello tuvo como consecuencia la parálisis de la economía mundial, pero adicionalmente genero un escenario perfecto para el encumbramiento de dictadores disfrazados de mesías, bien sea por el temor de los parlamentos a enfermarse o su cierre simbólico por su ausencia, eliminando de tajo la escasa democracia representativa, sumado a la parálisis de la justicia, además de la pobreza, el racismo, desigualdad y la estigmatización, que se vio controlada por la represión armada y la vigilancia que reino en el mundo y especialmente en Colombia con diferentes facetas. (shrink)

Antigen presentation to CD8+ T cells by MHC class I molecules is essential for host defense against viral infections. Various mechanisms have evolved in multiple viruses to escape immune surveillance and defense to support viral proliferation in host cells. Through in vitro SARS‐CoV‐2 infection studies and analysis of COVID‐19 patient samples, we found that SARS‐CoV‐2 suppresses the induction of the MHC class I pathway by inhibiting the expression and function of NLRC5, a major transcriptional regulator of MHC class I genes. (...) In this review, we discuss the molecular mechanisms for suppression of the MHC class I pathway and clinical implications for COVID‐19. (shrink)

The COVID‐19 pandemic is responsible for millions of deaths worldwide yet its origin remains unclear. Two potential scenarios of how infection of humans initially occurred include zoonotic transfer from wild animals and a leak of the pathogen from a research laboratory. The Wuhan wet markets where wild animals are sold represent a strong scenario for zoonotic transfer. However, isolation of SARS‐CoV‐2 or its immediate predecessor from wild animals in their natural environment has yet to be documented. Due to incomplete evidence (...) for a zoonotic origin, a laboratory origin is plausible. The Wuhan Institute of Virology is at the epicenter of the pandemic and their work has included manipulation of wild‐type coronavirus to enable infection of human cells. Although stronger evidence supports the zoonotic transfer, inconclusive reports maintain the laboratory leak hypothesis alive. It is imperative to reach a factual conclusion to prevent future pandemics. (shrink)

The SARS‐CoV‐2 virus is responsible for the COVID‐19 pandemic the world experience since 2019. The protein responsible for the first steps of cell invasion, the spike protein, has probably received the most attention in light of its central role during infection. Computational approaches are among the tools employed by the scientific community in the enormous effort to study this new affliction. One of these methods, namely molecular dynamics (MD), has been used to characterize the function of the spike protein at (...) the atomic level and unveil its structural features from a dynamic perspective. In this review, we focus on these main findings, including spike protein flexibility, rare S protein conformational changes, cryptic epitopes, the role of glycans, drug repurposing, and the effect of spike protein variants. (shrink)

I tried to tease out what Gilbert means by "normative". It isn't obvious. I conclude that assumptions about ideal agents – not just ideal in the sense of error-free but also ideal in the sense of unlimited – and assumptions about ideal placement of oneself in another person's situation, are essential to what he means. I conclude that what he says is very plausible given these assumptions, though they themselves are very problematic. Especially problematic is the idea of an unlimited (...) simulation of a limited agent's perspective. (shrink)

The occurrence of a new strain of SARS-CoV-2 cannot be ruled out. Therefore, this study seeks to investigate the possible effects of a hypothetical imperfect anti-COVID-19 vaccine on the control of not only the first variant of SARS-CoV-2 but also the second variant of SARS-CoV-2. We further examine the rates and a, escape of quarantined infectious individuals from isolation centers. The control R c and basic reproduction numbers R 0 are computed which gives assess to obtain asymptotic stability of disease-free (...) equilibrium point globally and the existence of a unique persistent equilibrium solution. Numerical results reveal that people infected with the second strain who are vaccinated with an imperfect vaccine are under control but the prevalence of the second variant enhances the prevalence of the first variant. Thus, discovering a vaccine that is effective for the prevention of variant 2 is necessary for the control of COVID-19. Numerical results also reveal that increase in the rate at which individuals infected with the first variant escape the isolation center gives rise to the population infected with the first variant and lowers the peak of the population infected with the second variant. This is probably because individuals infected with the second variant appear to be more careful with their lives and get vaccinated more than individuals infected with the first variant. (shrink)

Severe acute respiratory syndrome‐coronavirus (SARS‐CoV)‐2′s origin is still controversial. Genomic analyses show SARS‐CoV‐2 likely to be chimeric, most of its sequence closest to bat CoV RaTG13, whereas its receptor binding domain (RBD) is almost identical to that of a pangolin CoV. Chimeric viruses can arise via natural recombination or human intervention. The furin cleavage site in the spike protein of SARS‐CoV‐2 confers to the virus the ability to cross species and tissue barriers, but was previously unseen in other SARS‐like CoVs. (...) Might genetic manipulations have been performed in order to evaluate pangolins as possible intermediate hosts for bat‐derived CoVs that were originally unable to bind to human receptors? Both cleavage site and specific RBD could result from site‐directed mutagenesis, a procedure that does not leave a trace. Considering the devastating impact of SARS‐CoV‐2 and importance of preventing future pandemics, researchers have a responsibility to carry out a thorough analysis of all possible SARS‐CoV‐2 origins. (shrink)

We explore the ethics of deliberately exposing consenting adults to SARS-CoV-2 to induce immunity to the virus (“DEI” for short). We explain what a responsible DEI program might look like. We explore a consequentialist argument for DEI according to which DEI is a viable harm-reduction strategy. Then we consider a non-consequentialist argument for DEI that draws on the moral significance of consent. Additionally, we consider arguments for the view that DEI is unethical on the grounds that, given that large-scale DEI (...) would be highly likely to result in some severe illnesses and deaths, DEI amounts to a form of killing. Our thesis is that incorporating a DEI program alongside the status-quo “calibrate-the-curve” responses could have significant advantages at the early stages of pandemics. These potential advantages mean that, at a minimum, research into DEI would have been justified early in the COVID-19 pandemic, and that DEI programs should be explored as potential additions to our overall approach to emerging pandemics in the future. (shrink)