Cognitive impairment among prostate cancer patients: an overview of reviews

To identify and clarify definitions and methods of measuring cancer-related cognitive impairment among prostate cancer patients treated with Androgen Deprivation Therapy (ADT) and to assess the incidence and prevalence of cognitive impairment. A systematic review of Medline, EMBASE, PubMed, PsycINFO and CINAHL up to December 2015 was undertaken to identify English-language reviews. A total of twenty-eight reviews were identified describing twenty primary studies. There were no studies of incidence. Reported prevalence rates varied between 10 and 69%. Cognitive domains impaired by ADT included: verbal memory, visuospatial ability and executive functions. Cognitive impairment was infrequently defined and four definitions were reported. A variety of measures and methods were used to assess cognitive function including neuropsychological tests, self-report measures and clinical assessments. The finding that, often, one measure was used to assess more than one aspect of cognition is likely to have contributed to imprecise estimates. There is a need to agree a definition of cognitive impairment in the clinical epidemiology of cancer and to standardise the selection of measures in order to aid accurate assessment and fair comparisons across studies regarding the prevalence of cognitive impairment among prostate cancer patient

A Quantum-Mechanical Equivalent-Photon Spectrum for Heavy-Ion Physics

In a previous paper, we calculated the fully quantum-mechanical cross section for electromagnetic excitation during peripheral heavy-ion collisions. Here, we examine the sensitivity of that cross section to the detailed structure of the projectile and target nuclei. At the transition energies relevant to nuclear physics, we find the cross section to be weakly dependent on the projectile charge radius, and to be sensitive to only the leading momentum-transfer dependence of the target transition form factors. We exploit these facts to derive a quantum-mechanical ``equivalent-photon spectrum'' valid in the long-wavelength limit. This improved spectrum includes the effects of projectile size, the finite longitudinal momentum transfer required by kinematics, and the response of the target nucleus to the off-shell photon.Comment: 19 pages, 5 figure

An in situ transmission electron microscopy study of the ion irradiation induced amorphisation of silicon by He and Xe

Transmission electron microscopy with in situ ion irradiation has been used to examine the ionbeam-induced amorphisation of crystalline silicon under irradiation with light (He) and heavy (Xe) ions at room temperature. Analysis of the electron diffraction data reveal the heterogeneous amorphisation mechanism to be dominant in both cases. The differences in the amorphisation curves are discussed in terms of intra-cascade dynamic recovery, and the role of electronic and nuclear loss mechanisms

Electromagnetic Dissociation of Nuclei in Heavy-Ion Collisions

Large discrepancies have been observed between measured Electromagnetic Dissociation(ED) cross sections and the predictions of the semiclassical Weiz\"acker-Williams-Fermi(WWF) method. In this paper, the validity of the semiclassical approximation is examined. The total cross section for electromagnetic excitation of a nuclear target by a spinless projectile is calculated in first Born approximation, neglecting recoil. The final result is expressed in terms of correlation functions and convoluted densities in configuration space. The result agrees with the WWF approximation to leading order(unretarded electric dipole approximation), but the method allows an analytic evaluation of the cutoff, which is determined by the details of the electric dipole transition charge density. Using the Goldhaber-Teller model of that density, and uniform charge densities for both projectile and target, the cutoff is determined for the total cross section in the nonrelativistic limit, and found to be smaller than values currently used for ED calculations. In addition, cross sections are calculated using a phenomenological momentum space cutoff designed to model final state interactions. For moderate projectile energies, the calculated ED cross section is found to be smaller than the semiclassical result, in qualitative agreement with experiment.Comment: 28 page

Comparison of K+K^+ and e−e^- Quasielastic Scattering

We formulate $K^+$-nucleus quasielastic scattering in a manner which closely parallels standard treatments of $e^-$-nucleus quasielastic scattering. For $K^+$ scattering, new responses involving scalar contributions appear in addition to the Coulomb (or longitudinal) and transverse $(e,e')$ responses which are of vector character. We compute these responses using both nuclear matter and finite nucleus versions of the Relativistic Hartree Approximation to Quantum Hadrodynamics including RPA correlations. Overall agreement with measured $(e,e')$ responses and new $K^+$ quasielastic scattering data for $^{40}$Ca at |\qs|=500 MeV/c is good. Strong RPA quenching is essential for agreement with the Coulomb response. This quenching is notably less for the $K^+$ cross section even though the new scalar contributions are even more strongly quenched than the vector contributions. We show that this ``differential quenching'' alters sensitive cancellations in the expression for the $K^+$ cross section so that it is reduced much less than the individual responses. We emphasize the role of the purely relativistic distinction between vector and scalar contributions in obtaining an accurate and consistent description of the $(e,e')$ and $K^+$ data within the framework of our nuclear structure model.Comment: 26 pages, 5 uuencoded figures appended to end of this fil

Vector-field statistics for the analysis of time varying clinical gait data.

BACKGROUND: In clinical settings, the time varying analysis of gait data relies heavily on the experience of the individual(s) assessing these biological signals. Though three dimensional kinematics are recognised as time varying waveforms (1D), exploratory statistical analysis of these data are commonly carried out with multiple discrete or 0D dependent variables. In the absence of an a priori 0D hypothesis, clinicians are at risk of making type I and II errors in their analyis of time varying gait signatures in the event statistics are used in concert with prefered subjective clinical assesment methods. The aim of this communication was to determine if vector field waveform statistics were capable of providing quantitative corroboration to practically significant differences in time varying gait signatures as determined by two clinically trained gait experts. METHODS: The case study was a left hemiplegic Cerebral Palsy (GMFCS I) gait patient following a botulinum toxin (BoNT-A) injection to their left gastrocnemius muscle. FINDINGS: When comparing subjective clinical gait assessments between two testers, they were in agreement with each other for 61% of the joint degrees of freedom and phases of motion analysed. For tester 1 and tester 2, they were in agreement with the vector-field analysis for 78% and 53% of the kinematic variables analysed. When the subjective analyses of tester 1 and tester 2 were pooled together and then compared to the vector-field analysis, they were in agreement for 83% of the time varying kinematic variables analysed. INTERPRETATION: These outcomes demonstrate that in principle, vector-field statistics corroborates with what a team of clinical gait experts would classify as practically meaningful pre- versus post time varying kinematic differences. The potential for vector-field statistics to be used as a useful clinical tool for the objective analysis of time varying clinical gait data is established. Future research is recommended to assess the usefulness of vector-field analyses during the clinical decision making process

Changes in muscle activation following balance and technique training and a season of Australian football

Objectives: Determine if balance and technique training implemented adjunct to 1001 male Australian football players’ training influenced the activation/strength of the muscles crossing the knee during pre-planned and unplanned sidestepping. Design: Randomized Control Trial. Methods: Each Australian football player participated in either 28 weeks of balance and technique training or ‘sham’ training. Twenty-eight Australian football players (balance and technique training, n = 12; ‘sham’ training, n = 16) completed biomechanical testing pre-to-post training. Peak knee moments and directed co-contraction ratios in three degrees of freedom, as well as total muscle activation were calculated during pre-planned and unplanned sidestepping. Results: No significant differences in muscle activation/strength were observed between the ‘sham’ training and balance and technique training groups. Following a season of Australian football, knee extensor (p = 0.023) and semimembranosus (p = 0.006) muscle activation increased during both pre-planned sidestepping and unplanned sidestepping. Following a season of Australian football, total muscle activation was 30% lower and peak valgus knee moments 80% greater (p = 0.022) during unplanned sidestepping when compared with pre-planned sidestepping. Conclusions: When implemented in a community level training environment, balance and technique training was not effective in changing the activation of the muscles crossing the knee during side stepping. Following a season of Australian football, players are better able to support both frontal and sagittal plane knee moments. When compared to pre-planned sidestepping, Australian football players may be at increased risk of anterior cruciate ligament injury during unplanned sidestepping in the latter half of an Australian football season

Dynamics of vortex tangle without mutual friction in superfluid 4^4He

A recent experiment has shown that a tangle of quantized vortices in superfluid $^4$He decayed even at mK temperatures where the normal fluid was negligible and no mutual friction worked. Motivated by this experiment, this work studies numerically the dynamics of the vortex tangle without the mutual friction, thus showing that a self-similar cascade process, whereby large vortex loops break up to smaller ones, proceeds in the vortex tangle and is closely related with its free decay. This cascade process which may be covered with the mutual friction at higher temperatures is just the one at zero temperature Feynman proposed long ago. The full Biot-Savart calculation is made for dilute vortices, while the localized induction approximation is used for a dense tangle. The former finds the elementary scenario: the reconnection of the vortices excites vortex waves along them and makes them kinked, which could be suppressed if the mutual friction worked. The kinked parts reconnect with the vortex they belong to, dividing into small loops. The latter simulation under the localized induction approximation shows that such cascade process actually proceeds self-similarly in a dense tangle and continues to make small vortices. Considering that the vortices of the interatomic size no longer keep the picture of vortex, the cascade process leads to the decay of the vortex line density. The presence of the cascade process is supported also by investigating the classification of the reconnection type and the size distribution of vortices. The decay of the vortex line density is consistent with the solution of the Vinen's equation which was originally derived on the basis of the idea of homogeneous turbulence with the cascade process. The obtained result is compared with the recent Vinen's theory.Comment: 16 pages, 16 figures, submitted to PR

Parity Violating Measurements of Neutron Densities

Parity violating electron nucleus scattering is a clean and powerful tool for measuring the spatial distributions of neutrons in nuclei with unprecedented accuracy. Parity violation arises from the interference of electromagnetic and weak neutral amplitudes, and the $Z^0$ of the Standard Model couples primarily to neutrons at low $Q^2$. The data can be interpreted with as much confidence as electromagnetic scattering. After briefly reviewing the present theoretical and experimental knowledge of neutron densities, we discuss possible parity violation measurements, their theoretical interpretation, and applications. The experiments are feasible at existing facilities. We show that theoretical corrections are either small or well understood, which makes the interpretation clean. The quantitative relationship to atomic parity nonconservation observables is examined, and we show that the electron scattering asymmetries can be directly applied to atomic PNC because the observables have approximately the same dependence on nuclear shape.Comment: 38 pages, 7 ps figures, very minor changes, submitted to Phys. Rev.