1,003 research outputs found
Where we are on : addendum to "Global neutrino data and recent reactor fluxes: status of three-flavour oscillation parameters"
In this addendum to arXiv:1103.0734 we consider the recent results from
long-baseline searches at the T2K and MINOS experiments and
investigate their implications for the mixing angle and the
leptonic Dirac CP phase . By combining the indication for a
non-zero value of coming from T2K data with global neutrino
oscillation data we obtain a significance for of about
with best fit points for normal
(inverted) neutrino mass ordering. These results depend somewhat on assumptions
concerning the analysis of reactor neutrino data.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures and 1 tabl
FRW Quantum Cosmology with a Generalized Chaplygin Gas
Cosmologies with a Chaplygin gas have recently been explored with the
objective of explaining the transition from a dust dominated epoch towards an
accelerating expansion stage. We consider the hypothesis that the transition to
the accelerated period involves a quantum mechanical process. Three physically
admissible cases are possible. In particular, we identify a minisuperspace
configuration with two Lorentzian sectors, separated by a classically forbidden
region. The Hartle-Hawking and Vilenkin wave functions are computed, together
with the transition amplitudes towards the accelerating epoch. Furthermore, it
is found that for specific initial conditions, the parameters characterizing
the generalized Chaplygin gas become related through an expression involving an
integer . We also introduce a phenomenological association between some
brane-world scenarios and a FRW minisuperspace cosmology with a generalized
Chaplygin gas. The aim is to promote a discussion and subsequent research on
the quantum creation of brane cosmologies from such a perspective. Results
suggest that the brane tension would become related with generalized Chaplygin
gas parameters through another expression involving an integer.Comment: 13 pages, 3 figures, RevTeX
Opportunities for changes in the drug product design to enhance medication safety in older people:Evaluation of a national public portal for medication incidents
AIMS: Medication safety requires urgent attention in hospital pharmacy. This study evaluated the medicationârelated problems/errors as reported to the Dutch medication incident registry and disseminated for information to pharmacists. Through analysis by an expert panel we aimed to better understand which problems could have been mitigated by the drug product design. Additionally, the (wider) implications of the problems for current hospital/clinical practice were discussed. METHODS: Items were extracted from the public Portal for Patient Safety. Items were included if relevant for older people and connected with the drug product design and excluded if they should reasonably have been intercepted by compliance to routine controls or wellâknown professional standards in pharmaceutical care. To explore any underreporting of wellâknown incidents, it was investigated if different medicationârelated problems could be observed in a regional hospital practise over a 1âmonth period. For 6 included items (cases), the implications for hospital/clinical practise were discussed in an expert panel. RESULTS: In total, 307 items were identified in the Portal for Patient Safety; all but 14 were excluded. Six cases were added from daily hospital practice. These 20 cases commonly related to confusing product characteristics, packaging issues such as the lack of a single unit package for an oncolytic product, or incorrect or incomplete user instructions. CONCLUSION: Medication registries provide important opportunities to evaluate realâworld medicationârelated problems. However, underreporting of wellâknown problems should be considered. The product design can be used as an (additional) risk mitigation measure to support medication safety in hospital practice
On new gravitational instantons describing creation of brane-worlds
By considering 5--dimensional cosmological models with a bulk filled with a
pressureless scalar field; equivalently dust matter, and a negative
cosmological constant, we have found a regular instantonic solution which is
free from any singularity at the origin of the extra--coordinate. This
instanton describes 5--dimensional asymptotically anti de Sitter wormhole, when
the bulk has a topology R times S^4. Compactified brane-world instantons which
are built up from such instantonic solution describe either a single brane or a
string of branes. Their analytical continuation to the pseudo--Riemannian
metric can give rise to either 4-dimensional inflating branes or solutions with
the same dynamical behaviour for extra--dimension and branes, in addition to
multitemporal solutions. Dust brane-world models with arbitrary dimensions (D
>= 5) as well as other spatial topologies are also briefly discussed.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figures, LaTeX2e, accepted for publication in Classical
and Quantum Gravit
Conceivable security risks and authentication techniques for smart devices
With the rapidly escalating use of smart devices and fraudulent transaction of usersâ data from their devices, efficient and reliable techniques for authentication of the smart devices have become an obligatory issue. This paper reviews the security risks for mobile devices and studies several authentication techniques available for smart devices. The results from field studies enable a comparative evaluation of user-preferred authentication mechanisms and their opinions about reliability, biometric authentication and visual authentication techniques
Effect of heat treatment on the antioxidant activities of two cultivars of sweet potatoes
Natural sources of antioxidants are derived from fruits, vegetables and wine, whilst artificial supplements are from teas and spices. Sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas) is an excellent natural source of vitamins and minerals, and likely a great source of antioxidant. The objective of this study is to analyze the antioxidant activity of orange sweet potato (Vitato) and purple sweet potato (All purple), prepared as heat dry and moist heat for 30 minutes at 100oC. All the samples were obtained from Pasir Puteh and MARDI Telong, Bachok, Kelantan, respectively. Both samples were soaked into methanol to obtain the crude extract prior to analyzing for antioxidant activity by using 2, 2-diphenyl-1-picryl hydrazyl (DPPH). IC50 values of dry heat and moist heat Vitato were 0.40mg/L and 0.20mg/L while dry heat and moist heat, All purple were 0.32mg/L and 0.19mg/L, respectively. Both moist heat samples enjoyed higher scavenging activities compared to dry heat samples. However, the All purple sample of moist heat is the most superior one. Significant difference of IC50 values between dry heat and moist heat sample differ significantly. Thus, this study clearly demonstrated that moist heat sweet potato exhibited excellent increase in antioxidant activity
Tumor Response to Combination Celecoxib and Erlotinib Therapy in Non-small Cell Lung Cancer Is Associated with a Low Baseline Matrix Metalloproteinase-9 and a Decline in Serum-Soluble E-Cadherin
IntroductionCyclooxygenase-2 overexpression may mediate resistance to epidermal growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase inhibition through prostaglandin E2-dependent promotion of epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT). Suppression of epithelial markers, such as E-cadherin, can lead to resistance to erlotinib. Prostaglandin E2 down-regulates E-cadherin expression by up-regulating transcriptional repressors, including ZEB1 and Snail. Furthermore, E-cadherin can be modulated by matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) and tissue inhibitors of MMPs (TIMPs), promoting tumor invasion and metastasis. Markers of EMT and tumor invasion were evaluated in patient serum from a phase I clinical trial investigating the combination of celecoxib and erlotinib in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients.MethodsSamples from 22 subjects were evaluated. Soluble E-cadherin (sEC) was evaluated by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay in patient serum at baseline, week 4, and week 8 of treatment. Other markers of EMT and angiogenesis were evaluated by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay, including MMP-9, TIMP-1, and CCL15.ResultsSerum sEC, MMP-9, TIMP-1, and CCL15 levels were determined at baseline and week 8. Patients with a partial response to therapy had a significant decrease in sEC, TIMP-1, and CCL15 at week 8. In patients who responded to the combination therapy, baseline MMP-9 was significantly lower compared with nonresponders (p = 0.006).ConclusionssEC, MMP-9, TIMP-1, and CCL15 levels correlate with response to combination therapy with erlotinib and celecoxib in patients with NSCLC. A randomized phase II trial is planned comparing erlotinib and celecoxib with erlotinib plus placebo in advanced NSCLC. This study will prospectively assess these and other biomarkers in serum and tumor tissue
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