3,135 research outputs found
Coagulation and anticoagulation in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis
Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is an incurable, progressive interstitial lung disease with a prognosis that is worse than that of many cancers. Epidemiological studies have demonstrated a link between IPF and thrombotic vascular events. Coagulation and fibrinolytic systems play central roles in wound healing and repair, processes hypothesised to be abnormal within the IPF lung. Animal models of pulmonary fibrosis have demonstrated an imbalance between thrombosis and fibrinolysis within the alveolar compartment, a finding that is also observed in IPF patients. A systemic prothrombotic state also occurs in IPF and is associated with increased mortality, but trials of anticoagulation in IPF have provided conflicting results. Differences in methodology, intervention and study populations may contribute to the inconsistent trial outcomes. The new oral anticoagulants have properties that may prove advantageous in targeting both thrombotic risk and progression of lung fibrosis
Cluster optimisation using Cgroups at a tier-2
The Linux kernel feature Control Groups (cgroups) has been used to gather metrics on the resource usage of single and eight-core ATLAS workloads. It has been used to study the effects on performance of a reduction in the amount of physical memory. The results were used to optimise cluster performance, and consequently increase cluster throughput by up to 10%
Non-equilibrium Relations for Spin Glasses with Gauge Symmetry
We study the applications of non-equilibrium relations such as the Jarzynski
equality and fluctuation theorem to spin glasses with gauge symmetry. It is
shown that the exponentiated free-energy difference appearing in the Jarzynski
equality reduces to a simple analytic function written explicitly in terms of
the initial and final temperatures if the temperature satisfies a certain
condition related to gauge symmetry. This result is used to derive a lower
bound on the work done during the non-equilibrium process of temperature
change. We also prove identities relating equilibrium and non-equilibrium
quantities. These identities suggest a method to evaluate equilibrium
quantities from non-equilibrium computations, which may be useful to avoid the
problem of slow relaxation in spin glasses.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures, submitted to JPS
Increased platelet reactivity in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis is mediated by a plasma factor
Introduction Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF) is a progressive, incurable fibrotic interstitial lung disease with a prognosis worse than many cancers. Its pathogenesis is poorly understood. Activated platelets can release pro-fibrotic mediators that have the potential to contribute to lung fibrosis. We determine platelet reactivity in subjects with IPF compared to age-matched controls. Methods Whole blood flow cytometry was used to measure platelet-monocyte aggregate formation, platelet P-selectin expression and platelet fibrinogen binding at basal levels and following stimulation with platelet agonists. A plasma swap approach was used to assess the effect of IPF plasma on control platelets. Results Subjects with IPF showed greater platelet reactivity than controls. Platelet P-selectin expression was significantly greater in IPF patients than controls following stimulation with 0.1 µM ADP (1.9% positive ±0.5 (mean ± SEM) versus 0.7%±0.1; p = 0.03), 1 µM ADP (9.8%±1.3 versus 3.3%±0.8; p<0.01) and 10 µM ADP (41.3%±4.2 versus 22.5%±2.6; p<0.01). Platelet fibrinogen binding was also increased, and platelet activation resulted in increased platelet-monocyte aggregate formation in IPF patients. Re-suspension of control platelets in plasma taken from subjects with IPF resulted in increased platelet activation compared to control plasma. Conclusions IPF patients exhibit increased platelet reactivity compared with controls. This hyperactivity may result from the plasma environment since control platelets exhibit increased activation when exposed to IPF plasma
Classical and Quantum Fluctuation Theorems for Heat Exchange
The statistics of heat exchange between two classical or quantum finite
systems initially prepared at different temperatures are shown to obey a
fluctuation theorem.Comment: 4 pages, 1 included figure, to appear in Phys Rev Let
On the Quantum Jarzynski Identity
In this note, we will discuss how to compactly express and prove the
Jarzynski identity for an open quantum system with dissipative dynamics. We
will avoid explicitly measuring the work directly, which is tantamount to
continuously monitoring the system, and instead measure the heat flow from the
environment. We represent the measurement of heat flow with Hermitian map
superoperators that act on the system density matrix. Hermitian maps provide a
convenient and compact representation of sequential measurement and correlation
functions.Comment: 4 page
Posterior probability and fluctuation theorem in stochastic processes
A generalization of fluctuation theorems in stochastic processes is proposed.
The new theorem is written in terms of posterior probabilities, which are
introduced via the Bayes theorem. In usual fluctuation theorems, a forward path
and its time reversal play an important role, so that a microscopically
reversible condition is essential. In contrast, the microscopically reversible
condition is not necessary in the new theorem. It is shown that the new theorem
adequately recovers various theorems and relations previously known, such as
the Gallavotti-Cohen-type fluctuation theorem, the Jarzynski equality, and the
Hatano-Sasa relation, when adequate assumptions are employed.Comment: 4 page
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