3,387 research outputs found
Clinical Experience and Sexual Function Outcome of Patients With Priapism Treated With Penile Cavernosal-Dorsal Vein Shunt Using Saphenous Vein Graft
OBJECTIVES
To assess the outcome of new penile cavernosal-dorsal vein shunt using a saphenous vein graft. Traditional surgeries for priapism have high failure rate and subsequent impotence.
METHODS
We reviewed the medical records of, and administered a questionnaire and the International Index of Erectile Function to, 16 consecutive patients with priapism who had treated with the penile cavernosal-dorsal vein shunt from 1997 to 2007. Their age was 15-65 years. The duration of ischemic priapism was 32 hours to 8 days. Ten patients had previously undergone shunt surgery by other urologists. Of the 16 patients, 5 returned the questionnaires.
RESULTS
Priapism resolved or was improved after surgery in all 16 patients. One patient was lost to follow-up. One pediatric patient was excluded from the analysis. One patient with nonischemic priapism continued to have sexual intercourse. Of the 13 adult patients with ischemic priapism and follow-up for ≤ 6.5 years, 3 patients had no erection, 1 had very little erection, and 9 (69%) had erection. Of the 9 patients with erections possible, six had had sexual intercourse (International Index of Erectile Function score 32-70) and 3 had not; 1 had a mental disorder, 1 was in prison, and for 1, the reason was unknown. After surgery, color Doppler ultrasound studies showed a patent shunt in all patients and restoration of cavernosal arterial flow in 12 of 13 patients studied.
CONCLUSIONS
A penile cavernosal-dorsal shunt appears effective for priapism. It resulted in priapism resolution even in patients who had experienced a previous failed cavernosal-glandular shunt or cavernosalspongiosal shunt, with a high rate of sexual function preservation
Quantum Mechanical Search and Harmonic Perturbation
Perturbation theory in quantum mechanics studies how quantum systems interact
with their environmental perturbations. Harmonic perturbation is a rare special
case of time-dependent perturbations in which exact analysis exists. Some
important technology advances, such as masers, lasers, nuclear magnetic
resonance, etc., originated from it. Here we add quantum computation to this
list with a theoretical demonstration. Based on harmonic perturbation, a
quantum mechanical algorithm is devised to search the ground state of a given
Hamiltonian. The intrinsic complexity of the algorithm is continuous and
parametric in both time T and energy E. More precisely, the probability of
locating a search target of a Hamiltonian in N-dimensional vector space is
shown to be 1/(1+ c N E^{-2} T^{-2}) for some constant c. This result is
optimal. As harmonic perturbation provides a different computation mechanism,
the algorithm may suggest new directions in realizing quantum computers.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, revtex
Unimodular Loop Quantum Cosmology
Unimodular gravity is based on a modification of the usual Einstein-Hilbert
action that allows one to recover general relativity with a dynamical
cosmological constant. It also has the interesting property of providing, as
the momentum conjugate to the cosmological constant, an emergent clock
variable. In this paper we investigate the cosmological reduction of unimodular
gravity, and its quantization within the framework of flat homogeneous and
isotropic loop quantum cosmology. It is shown that the unimodular clock can be
used to construct the physical state space, and that the fundamental features
of the previous models featuring scalar field clocks are reproduced. In
particular, the classical singularity is replaced by a quantum bounce, which
takes place in the same condition as obtained previously. We also find that
requirement of semi-classicality demands the expectation value of the
cosmological constant to be small (in Planck units). The relation to spin foam
models is also studied, and we show that the use of the unimodular time
variable leads to a unique vertex expansion.Comment: 26 pages. Revised version taking into account referee's comment
GUT theories from Calabi-Yau 4-folds with SO(10) Singularities
We consider an SO(10) GUT model from F-theory compactified on an elliptically
fibered Calabi-Yau with a D5 singularity. To obtain the matter curves and the
Yukawa couplings, we use a global description to resolve the singularity. We
identify the vector and spinor matter representations and their Yukawa
couplings and we explicitly build the G-fluxes in the global model and check
the agreement with the semi-local results. As our bundle is of type SU(2k),
some extra conditions need to be applied to match the fluxes.Comment: 27 page
Yukawa hierarchies at the point of in F-theory
We analyse the structure of Yukawa couplings in local SU(5) F-theory models
with enhancement. In this setting the symmetry is broken down to
SU(5) by a 7-brane configuration described by T-branes, all the Yukawa
couplings are generated in the vicinity of a point and only one family of
quarks and leptons is massive at tree-level. The other two families obtain
their masses when non-perturbative effects are taken into account, being
hierarchically lighter than the third family. However, and contrary to previous
results, we find that this hierarchy of fermion masses is not always
appropriate to reproduce measured data. We find instead that different T-brane
configurations breaking to SU(5) give rise to distinct hierarchical
patterns for the holomorphic Yukawa couplings. Only some of these patterns
allow to fit the observed fermion masses with reasonable local model parameter
values, adding further constraints to the construction of F-theory GUTs. We
consider an model where such appropriate hierarchy is realised and
compute its physical Yukawas, showing that realistic charged fermions masses
can indeed be obtained in this case.Comment: 46 pages + appendices, 5 figures. v2, added references and typos
corrected, version accepted on JHEP. v3, typos correcte
A Deformation of Twistor Space and a Chiral Mass Term in N=4 Super Yang-Mills Theory
Super twistor space admits a certain (super) complex structure deformation
that preserves the Poincare subgroup of the symmetry group PSL(4|4) and depends
on 10 parameters. In a previous paper [hep-th/0502076], it was proposed that in
twistor string theory this deformation corresponds to augmenting N=4 super
Yang-Mills theory by a mass term for the left-chirality spinors. In this paper
we analyze this proposal in more detail. We calculate 4-particle scattering
amplitudes of fermions, gluons and scalars and show that they are supported on
holomorphic curves in the deformed twistor space.Comment: 52 pages, 15 figure
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