385 research outputs found
Do radiation therapists feel able to routinely screen for symptoms and distress in people with cancer: barriers impacting practice
Introduction: This study aimed to evaluate radiation therapistsâ (RTs) perceptions regarding the perceived barriers, knowledge, attitudes, confidence and role in administering an electronic screening tool to routinely screen for cancer patientsâ symptoms and distress.
Methods: RTs at two radiation therapy departments completed a cross-sectional paper/pen survey to assess their demographic and workplace characteristics, perceptions of barriers, knowledge, attitudes, confidence and opinion of their role in symptom and distress screening. Responses were evaluated using simple frequencies and free-text responses using thematic analysis.
Results: Of 39 RTs approached, 37 (95%) participated. The majority had not previously attended any emotional cues (77%) or psychosocial training (86%); 68% reported confidence discussing psychosocial concerns and recognising signs of anxiety and depression in patients, and 65% felt discussing patientsâ psychosocial concerns was part of their role. Administering the tool to patients was agreed to be the role of RTs by 38% of participants. Lack of education about psychosocial issues was the highest-ranked barrier to delivering the patient screening tool, with 74% of RTs responding âit has made it difficultâ.
Conclusion: Whilst RTs are willing to play a role in patientsâ psychosocial support, they do not feel able to fulfil this role adequately because they lacked knowledge and confidence to administer symptom and distress screening. This research has highlighted the need for RT education on psychosocial concerns and recognising and responding to emotional cues. Understanding the impact education may have on the knowledge, attitude, confidence and role of RTs performing routine symptom and distress screening is required
A new catalytic and enantioselective desymmetrization of symmetrical methylidene cycloalkene oxides
Chiral copper complexes of C2-symmetrical hosphoroamidites were found to be highly effective catalysts for both kinetic resolution and novel desymmetrization reactions of new methylidene epoxycycloalkanes.
Weak Chaos in a Quantum Kepler Problem
Transition from regular to chaotic dynamics in a crystal made of singular
scatterers can be reached by varying either sigma
or lambda. We map the problem to a localization problem, and find that in all
space dimensions the transition occurs at sigma=1, i.e., Coulomb potential has
marginal singularity. We study the critical line sigma=1 by means of a
renormalization group technique, and describe universality classes of this new
transition. An RG equation is written in the basis of states localized in
momentum space. The RG flow evolves the distribution of coupling parameters to
a universal stationary distribution. Analytic properties of the RG equation are
similar to that of Boltzmann kinetic equation: the RG dynamics has integrals of
motion and obeys an H-theorem. The RG results for sigma=1 are used to derive
scaling laws for transport and to calculate critical exponents.Comment: 28 pages, ReVTeX, 4 EPS figures, to appear in the I. M. Lifshitz
memorial volume of Physics Report
Moving constraints as stabilizing controls in classical mechanics
The paper analyzes a Lagrangian system which is controlled by directly
assigning some of the coordinates as functions of time, by means of
frictionless constraints. In a natural system of coordinates, the equations of
motions contain terms which are linear or quadratic w.r.t.time derivatives of
the control functions. After reviewing the basic equations, we explain the
significance of the quadratic terms, related to geodesics orthogonal to a given
foliation. We then study the problem of stabilization of the system to a given
point, by means of oscillating controls. This problem is first reduced to the
weak stability for a related convex-valued differential inclusion, then studied
by Lyapunov functions methods. In the last sections, we illustrate the results
by means of various mechanical examples.Comment: 52 pages, 4 figure
Semiclassical theory of quasiparticles in the superconducting state
We have developed a semiclassical approach to solving the Bogoliubov - de
Gennes equations for superconductors. It is based on the study of classical
orbits governed by an effective Hamiltonian corresponding to the quasiparticles
in the superconducting state and includes an account of the Bohr-Sommerfeld
quantisation rule, the Maslov index, torus quantisation, topological phases
arising from lines of phase singularities (vortices), and semiclassical wave
functions for multi-dimensional systems. The method is illustrated by studying
the problem of an SNS junction and a single vortex.Comment: 74 pages, 19 figures, 3 tables. Submitted to Academic Press for
possible publicatio
Universal Drinfeld-Sokolov Reduction and Matrices of Complex Size
We construct affinization of the algebra of ``complex size''
matrices, that contains the algebras for integral values of the
parameter. The Drinfeld--Sokolov Hamiltonian reduction of the algebra
results in the quadratic Gelfand--Dickey structure on the
Poisson--Lie group of all pseudodifferential operators of fractional order.
This construction is extended to the simultaneous deformation of orthogonal and
simplectic algebras that produces self-adjoint operators, and it has a
counterpart for the Toda lattices with fractional number of particles.Comment: 29 pages, no figure
The leading Ruelle resonances of chaotic maps
The leading Ruelle resonances of typical chaotic maps, the perturbed cat map
and the standard map, are calculated by variation. It is found that, excluding
the resonance associated with the invariant density, the next subleading
resonances are, approximately, the roots of the equation , where
is a positive number which characterizes the amount of stochasticity
of the map. The results are verified by numerical computations, and the
implications to the form factor of the corresponding quantum maps are
discussed.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures included. To appear in Phys. Rev.
Poisson-Lie group of pseudodifferential symbols
We introduce a Lie bialgebra structure on the central extension of the Lie
algebra of differential operators on the line and the circle (with scalar or
matrix coefficients). This defines a Poisson--Lie structure on the dual group
of pseudodifferential symbols of an arbitrary real (or complex) order. We show
that the usual (second) Benney, KdV (or GL_n--Adler--Gelfand--Dickey) and KP
Poisson structures are naturally realized as restrictions of this Poisson
structure to submanifolds of this ``universal'' Poisson--Lie group.
Moreover, the reduced (=SL_n) versions of these manifolds (W_n-algebras in
physical terminology) can be viewed as subspaces of the quotient (or Poisson
reduction) of this Poisson--Lie group by the dressing action of the group of
functions.
Finally, we define an infinite set of functions in involution on the
Poisson--Lie group that give the standard families of Hamiltonians when
restricted to the submanifolds mentioned above. The Poisson structure and
Hamiltonians on the whole group interpolate between the Poisson structures and
Hamiltonians of Benney, KP and KdV flows. We also discuss the geometrical
meaning of W_\infty as a limit of Poisson algebras W_\epsilon as \epsilon goes
to 0.Comment: 64 pages, no figure
Angular Conditions,Relations between Breit and Light-Front Frames, and Subleading Power Corrections
We analyze the current matrix elements in the general collinear (Breit)
frames and find the relation between the ordinary (or canonical) helicity
amplitudes and the light-front helicity amplitudes. Using the conservation of
angular momentum, we derive a general angular condition which should be
satisfied by the light-front helicity amplitudes for any spin system. In
addition, we obtain the light-front parity and time-reversal relations for the
light-front helicity amplitudes. Applying these relations to the spin-1 form
factor analysis, we note that the general angular condition relating the five
helicity amplitudes is reduced to the usual angular condition relating the four
helicity amplitudes due to the light-front time-reversal condition. We make
some comments on the consequences of the angular condition for the analysis of
the high- deuteron electromagnetic form factors, and we further apply the
general angular condition to the electromagnetic transition between spin-1/2
and spin-3/2 systems and find a relation useful for the analysis of the
N- transition form factors. We also discuss the scaling law and the
subleading power corrections in the Breit and light-front frames.Comment: 24 pages,2 figure
Senataxin helicase, the causal gene defect in ALS4, is a significant modifier of C9orf72 ALS G4C2 and arginine-containing dipeptide repeat toxicity
Identifying genetic modifiers of familial amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) may reveal targets for therapeutic modulation with potential application to sporadic ALS. GGGGCC (G4C2) repeat expansions in the C9orf72 gene underlie the most common form of familial ALS, and generate toxic arginine-containing dipeptide repeats (DPRs), which interfere with membraneless organelles, such as the nucleolus. Here we considered senataxin (SETX), the genetic cause of ALS4, as a modifier of C9orf72 ALS, because SETX is a nuclear helicase that may regulate RNAâprotein interactions involved in ALS dysfunction. After documenting that decreased SETX expression enhances arginine-containing DPR toxicity and C9orf72 repeat expansion toxicity in HEK293 cells and primary neurons, we generated SETX fly lines and evaluated the effect of SETX in flies expressing either (G4C2)58 repeats or glycine-arginine-50 [GR(50)] DPRs. We observed dramatic suppression of disease phenotypes in (G4C2)58 and GR(50) Drosophila models, and detected a striking relocalization of GR(50) out of the nucleolus in flies co-expressing SETX. Next-generation GR(1000) fly models, that show age-related motor deficits in climbing and movement assays, were similarly rescued with SETX co-expression. We noted that the physical interaction between SETX and arginine-containing DPRs is partially RNA-dependent. Finally, we directly assessed the nucleolus in cells expressing GR-DPRs, confirmed reduced mobility of proteins trafficking to the nucleolus upon GR-DPR expression, and found that SETX dosage modulated nucleolus liquidity in GR-DPR-expressing cells and motor neurons. These findings reveal a hitherto unknown connection between SETX function and cellular processes contributing to neuron demise in the most common form of familial ALS
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