T-cell receptor gene expression in tumour-infiltrating lymphocytes and peripheral blood lymphocytes of patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

The T-cell receptor (TCR) repertoire expression of tumour-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) from 19 nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) biopsies was compared with those of lymphocytes from 18 control nasopharyngeal biopsies. mRNA was extracted from these lymphocytes and the cDNA transcribed. A panel of 18 V alpha- and 21 V beta-specific primers was used to detect the TCR gene use from cDNA. The use of V alpha and V beta genes was restricted in TILs compared with lymphocytes from biopsies. The frequencies of V alpha 2, V alpha 3, V alpha 9, V alpha 10, V alpha 11, V alpha 13, V alpha 14, V alpha 15, V beta 11, V beta 15 and V beta 20 were decreased and the frequencies of V alpha 10 [Pc = 0.04; relative risk (RR) = 0.05], V alpha 11 (Pc = 0.02; RR = 0.07), V alpha 13 (Pc = 0.002; RR = 0), V alpha 14 (Pc = 0.04; RR = 0.05), V beta 14 (Pc = 0.001; RR = 0.03) and V beta 20 (Pc = 0.001; RR = 0.03) remained significantly reduced after correction for the number of families typed. The frequency of V alpha 17 was higher in NPC biopsies than in NPC PBLs (P = 0.05), and the frequency of V beta 15 was lower in NPC biopsies than in NPC PBLs (P = 0.02). The frequencies of V alpha 17 and V alpha 18 in HLA-B46+ patients were significantly lower (P = 0.009; P = 0.044) than in B46+ controls. The results suggest that the restriction of TCR gene use in NPC patients may be important in NPC pathogenesis

Exterior optical cloaking and illusions by using active sources: a boundary element perspective

Recently, it was demonstrated that active sources can be used to cloak any objects that lie outside the cloaking devices [Phys. Rev. Lett. \textbf{103}, 073901 (2009)]. Here, we propose that active sources can create illusion effects, so that an object outside the cloaking device can be made to look like another object. invisibility is a special case in which the concealed object is transformed to a volume of air. From a boundary element perspective, we show that active sources can create a nearly "silent" domain which can conceal any objects inside and at the same time make the whole system look like an illusion of our choice outside a virtual boundary. The boundary element method gives the fields and field gradients (which can be related to monopoles and dipoles) on continuous curves which define the boundary of the active devices. Both the cloaking and illusion effects are confirmed by numerical simulations

On the Abundance of Circumbinary Planets

We present here the first observationally based determination of the rate of occurrence of circumbinary planets. This is derived from the publicly available Kepler data, using an automated search algorithm and debiasing process to produce occurrence rates implied by the seven systems already known. These rates depend critically on the planetary inclination distribution: if circumbinary planets are preferentially coplanar with their host binaries, as has been suggested, then the rate of occurrence of planets with $R_p>6R_\oplus$ orbiting with $P_p<300$\ d is $10.0 ^{+18}_{-6.5}$\% (95\% confidence limits), higher than but consistent with single star rates. If on the other hand the underlying planetary inclination distribution is isotropic, then this occurrence rate rises dramatically, to give a lower limit of 47\%. This implies that formation and subsequent dynamical evolution in circumbinary disks must either lead to largely coplanar planets, or proceed with significantly greater ease than in circumstellar disks. As a result of this investigation we also show that giant planets (${>}10R_\oplus$) are significantly less common in circumbinary orbits than their smaller siblings, and confirm that the proposed shortfall of circumbinary planets orbiting the shorter period binaries in the Kepler sample is a real effect.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS (1st August 2014). 12 pages. Update to match final version, including clarifications and new figures. Results are unchange

Measuring longitudinal amplitudes for electroproduction of pseudoscalar mesons using recoil polarization in parallel kinematics

We propose a new method for measuring longitudinal amplitudes for electroproduction of pseudoscalar mesons that exploits a symmetry relation for polarization observables in parallel kinematics. This polarization technique does not require variation of electron scattering kinematics and avoids the major sources of systematic errors in Rosenbluth separation.Comment: intended for Phys. Rev. C as a Brief Repor

Why Nature has made a choice of one time and three space coordinates?

We propose a possible answer to one of the most exciting open questions in physics and cosmology, that is the question why we seem to experience four- dimensional space-time with three ordinary and one time dimensions. We have known for more than 70 years that (elementary) particles have spin degrees of freedom, we also know that besides spin they also have charge degrees of freedom, both degrees of freedom in addition to the position and momentum degrees of freedom. We may call these ''internal degrees of freedom '' the ''internal space'' and we can think of all the different particles, like quarks and leptons, as being different internal states of the same particle. The question then naturally arises: Is the choice of the Minkowski metric and the four-dimensional space-time influenced by the ''internal space''? Making assumptions (such as particles being in first approximation massless) about the equations of motion, we argue for restrictions on the number of space and time dimensions. (Actually the Standard model predicts and experiments confirm that elementary particles are massless until interactions switch on masses.) Accepting our explanation of the space-time signature and the number of dimensions would be a point supporting (further) the importance of the ''internal space''.Comment: 13 pages, LaTe

Analytic Confinement and Regge Trajectories

A simple relativistic quantum field model with the Yukawa-type interaction is considered to demonstrate that the analytic confinement of the constituent ("quarks") and carrier ("gluons") particles explains qualitatively the basic dynamical properties of the spectrum of mesons considered as two-particle stable bound states of quarks and gluons: the quarks and gluons are confined, the glueballs represent bound states of massless gluons, the masses of mesons are larger than the sum of the constituent quark masses and the Regge trajectories of mesonic orbital excitations are almost linear.Comment: RevTeX, 16 pages, 3 figures and 2 table

Charging management protocol for near field communication charging

The current multiplicity of mobile communication devices has provided an impetus for the research into new mechanisms to supplement battery charge. Wireless charging is a solution that serves to eliminate the cable requirements of typical battery charging implementations. Numerous wireless charging implementations are based on inductive coupling, similar to existing non-radiative short range communication systems. This study proposes incorporating a charge management protocol into the existing Near Field Communication Interface and Protocol-1 (NFCIP-1) specification to achieve NFC-enabled wireless charging. To this end, the original NFCIP-1 protocol has been modified through a time-sharing arrangement to support a charging task within the protocol cycle. Simulations of the modified protocol cycle were implemented using an appropriate battery model and charging algorithm. Numerical results show that the modified protocol is able to charge the target battery with minimum communication overhead. Satisfactory performance is also observed for charging up to 2 target devices in a single session

Properties of Regge Trajectories

Early Chew-Frautschi plots show that meson and baryon Regge trajectoies are approximately linear and non-intersecting. In this paper, we reconstruct all Regge trajectories from the most recent data. Our plots show that meson trajectories are non-linear and intersecting. We also show that all current meson Regge trajectories models are ruled out by data.Comment: 30 pages, latex, 18 figures, to be published in Physical Review

Spontaneous decay in the presence of dispersing and absorbing bodies: general theory and application to a spherical cavity

A formalism for studying spontaneous decay of an excited two-level atom in the presence of dispersing and absorbing dielectric bodies is developed. An integral equation, which is suitable for numerical solution, is derived for the atomic upper-state-probability amplitude. The emission pattern and the power spectrum of the emitted light are expressed in terms of the Green tensor of the dielectric-matter formation including absorption and dispersion. The theory is applied to the spontaneous decay of an excited atom at the center of a three-layered spherical cavity, with the cavity wall being modeled by a band-gap dielectric of Lorentz type. Both weak coupling and strong coupling are studied, the latter with special emphasis on the cases where the atomic transition is (i) in the normal-dispersion zone near the medium resonance and (ii) in the anomalous-dispersion zone associated with the band gap. In a single-resonance approximation, conditions of the appearance of Rabi oscillations and closed solutions to the evolution of the atomic state population are derived, which are in good agreement with the exact numerical results.Comment: 12 pages, 6 figures, typos fixed, 1 figure adde

A One Month Review of the Types of Medical Emergencies and their Treatment Outcomes at Two Urban Public Health Clinics.

INTRODUCTION Our study was to examine prevalence and treatment outcomes of medical emergencies at two urban public health clinics in the Petaling district, Selangor, Malaysia. METHODS A prospective universal sampling was employed to recruit all emergencies over one month period (12 April to 11 May 2011). A structured case record form was used to capture demographic data, whether the index case was selfpresenting or decided by health care workers as a medical emergency, presenting complaints, diagnoses, concurrent chronic diseases and their treatment outcomes at the clinic level. Emergency presentations and diagnoses were classified according to the International Classification of Primary Care, revised second edition (ICPC-2-R). RESULTS A total of 125 medical emergencies with 276 presenting complaints were recorded. The mean age was 30.7 years old (SD 19.9). The prevalence of medical emergency was 0.56% (125/22,320). Chief complaints were mainly from ICPC-2-R chapter R (respiratory system) and chapter A (general and unspecified), 40.0% and 28.0% respectively. The most common diagnosis was acute exacerbation of bronchial asthma (34.6%). Forty percent were referred to hospitals. After adjusting for age and gender, patients who presented with painful emergency (OR 4.9 95% CI 2.0 to 11.7), cardiovascular emergency (OR 63.4 95% CI 12.9 to 310.4) and non-respiratory emergency were predictors of hospital referral (OR 4.6 95% CI 1.1 to 19.1). CONCLUSION There was about one medical emergency for every 200 patients presenting to these urban public polyclinics which were mainly acute asthma. More than half were discharged well and given a follow-up