Retarded Greens Functions and Forward Scattering Amplitudes in Thermal Field Theory

In this paper, we give a simple diagrammatic identification of the unique combination of the causal n-point vertex functions in the real time formalism that would coincide with the corresponding functions obtained in the imaginary time formalism. Furthermore, we give a simple calculational method for evaluating the temperature dependent parts of the retarded vertex functions, to one loop, by identifying them with the forward scattering amplitudes of on-shell thermal particles. As an application of the method, we calculate and show that the temperature dependent parts of all the retarded functions vanish at one loop order for 1+1 dimensional massless QED. We further point out that, in this model, in fact, the temperature dependent parts of all the retarded vertex functions vanish to all orders in perturbation theory.Comment: 10 pages and figures in the eepic forma

Hypermethylation of the TGF-β target, ABCA1 is associated with poor prognosis in ovarian cancer patients

Background The dysregulation of transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) signaling plays a crucial role in ovarian carcinogenesis and in maintaining cancer stem cell properties. Classified as a member of the ATP-binding cassette (ABC) family, ABCA1 was previously identified by methylated DNA immunoprecipitation microarray (mDIP-Chip) to be methylated in ovarian cancer cell lines, A2780 and CP70. By microarray, it was also found to be upregulated in immortalized ovarian surface epithelial (IOSE) cells following TGF-β treatment. Thus, we hypothesized that ABCA1 may be involved in ovarian cancer and its initiation. Results We first compared the expression level of ABCA1 in IOSE cells and a panel of ovarian cancer cell lines and found that ABCA1 was expressed in HeyC2, SKOV3, MCP3, and MCP2 ovarian cancer cell lines but downregulated in A2780 and CP70 ovarian cancer cell lines. The reduced expression of ABCA1 in A2780 and CP70 cells was associated with promoter hypermethylation, as demonstrated by bisulfite pyro-sequencing. We also found that knockdown of ABCA1 increased the cholesterol level and promoted cell growth in vitro and in vivo. Further analysis of ABCA1 methylation in 76 ovarian cancer patient samples demonstrated that patients with higher ABCA1 methylation are associated with high stage (P = 0.0131) and grade (P = 0.0137). Kaplan-Meier analysis also found that patients with higher levels of methylation of ABCA1 have shorter overall survival (P = 0.019). Furthermore, tissue microarray using 55 ovarian cancer patient samples revealed that patients with a lower level of ABCA1 expression are associated with shorter progress-free survival (P = 0.038). Conclusions ABCA1 may be a tumor suppressor and is hypermethylated in a subset of ovarian cancer patients. Hypermethylation of ABCA1 is associated with poor prognosis in these patients

Scaling violations: Connections between elastic and inelastic hadron scattering in a geometrical approach

Starting from a short range expansion of the inelastic overlap function, capable of describing quite well the elastic pp and $\bar{p}p$ scattering data, we obtain extensions to the inelastic channel, through unitarity and an impact parameter approach. Based on geometrical arguments we infer some characteristics of the elementary hadronic process and this allows an excellent description of the inclusive multiplicity distributions in $pp$ and $\bar{p}p$ collisions. With this approach we quantitatively correlate the violations of both geometrical and KNO scaling in an analytical way. The physical picture from both channels is that the geometrical evolution of the hadronic constituents is principally reponsible for the energy dependence of the physical quantities rather than the dynamical (elementary) interaction itself.Comment: 16 pages, aps-revtex, 11 figure

Effects of Growth Hormone Treatment on Height, Weight, and Obesity in Taiwanese Patients with Prader-Willi Syndrome

BackgroundInformation regarding the efficacy of growth hormone (GH) therapy in Asian Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS) patients is lacking. We report our experience with GH treatment in children with PWS in Taiwan.MethodsForty-six PWS patients (27 males, 19 females; age range, 1 year 4 months to 13 years 7 months) who received and/or who are currently receiving GH treatment (0.1 IU/kg/day subcutaneously) for a period from 1 year to 3 years were retro-spectively analyzed. We evaluated height, weight, body mass index (BMI) and Rohrer index, before and after GH treatment.ResultsAfter patients had received GH for 1, 2 and 3 years, a significant improvement in mean height standard deviation score (SDS) was noted from −1.24 to −0.31 (p <0.01), 0.00 (p <0.001) and −0.26 (p <0.001), respectively. Mean BMI SDS decreased significantly from 1.93 to 1.13 (p <0.05) after 1 year of treatment; however, no significant changes were observed afterward. Mean Rohrer index decreased significantly, from 224.2 to 186.6 (p <0.001), 178.9 (p <0.001) and 169.3 (p <0.001). No significant gender or genotype pattern differences were noted among the 4 parameters examined.ConclusionThis 3-year, retrospective study indicates that PWS patients benefit from GH therapy in height increase and improved body composition

miRTarBase update 2014: an information resource for experimentally validated miRNA-target interactions

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small non-coding RNA molecules capable of negatively regulating gene expression to control many cellular mechanisms. The miRTarBase database (http://mirtarbase.mbc.nctu.edu.tw/) provides the most current and comprehensive information of experimentally validated miRNA-target interactions. The database was launched in 2010 with data sources for >100 published studies in the identification of miRNA targets, molecular networks of miRNA targets and systems biology, and the current release (2013, version 4) includes significant expansions and enhancements over the initial release (2010, version 1). This article reports the current status of and recent improvements to the database, including (i) a 14-fold increase to miRNA-target interaction entries, (ii) a miRNA-target network, (iii) expression profile of miRNA and its target gene, (iv) miRNA target-associated diseases and (v) additional utilities including an upgrade reminder and an error reporting/user feedback system

Fermion-fermion and boson-boson amplitudes: surprising similarities

Amplitudes for fermion-fermion, boson-boson and fermion-boson interactions are calculated in the second order of perturbation theory in the Lobachevsky space. An essential ingredient of the model is the Weinberg's 2(2j+1)-component formalism for describing a particle of spin j. The boson-boson amplitude is then compared with the two-fermion amplitude obtained long ago by Skachkov on the basis of the Hamiltonian formulation of quantum field theory on the mass hyperboloid, p_0^2 - p^2=M^2, proposed by Kadyshevsky. The parametrization of the amplitudes by means of the momentum transfer in the Lobachevsky space leads to same spin structures in the expressions of T-matrices for the fermion case and the boson case. However, certain differences are found. Possible physical applications are discussed.Comment: 7 pages, no figures, talks given at the 5th International Symposium on "Quantum Theory and Symmetries", July 22-28, 2007, Valladolid, Spain and the 10th Workshop "What comes beyond the Standard Model?", July 17-27, 2007, Bled, Sloveni

Purification and Characterization of Enterovirus 71 Viral Particles Produced from Vero Cells Grown in a Serum-Free Microcarrier Bioreactor System

[[abstract]]Background: Enterovirus 71 (EV71) infections manifest most commonly as a childhood exanthema known as hand-foot-and-mouth disease (HFMD) and can cause neurological disease during acute infection. Principal Finding: In this study, we describe the production, purification and characterization of EV71 virus produced from Vero cells grown in a five-liter serum-free bioreactor system containing 5 g/L Cytodex 1 microcarrier. The viral titer was >106 TCID50/mL by 6 days post infection when a MOI of 10?5 was used at the initial infection. Two EV71 virus fractions were separated and detected when the harvested EV71 virus concentrate was purified by sucrose gradient zonal ultracentrifugation. The EV71 viral particles detected in the 24–28% sucrose fractions had an icosahedral structure 30–31 nm in diameter and had low viral infectivity and RNA content. Three major viral proteins (VP0, VP1 and VP3) were observed by SDS-PAGE. The EV71 viral particles detected in the fractions containing 35–38% sucrose were 33–35 nm in size, had high viral infectivity and RNA content, and were composed of four viral proteins (VP1, VP2, VP3 and VP4), as shown by SDS-PAGE analyses. The two virus fractions were formalin-inactivated and induced high virus neutralizing antibody responses in mouse immunogenicity studies. Both mouse antisera recognized the immunodominant linear neutralization epitope of VP1 (residues 211–225). Conclusion:These results provide important information for cell-based EV71 vaccine development, particularly for the preparation of working standards for viral antigen quantification

Oncologic impact of delay between diagnosis and radical nephroureterectomy

PurposeThis study aimed to evaluate the oncological outcome of delayed surgical wait time from the diagnosis of upper tract urothelial carcinoma (UTUC) to radical nephroureterectomy (RNU).MethodsIn this multicenter retrospective study, medical records were collected between 1988 and 2021 from 18 participating Taiwanese hospitals under the Taiwan UTUC Collaboration Group. Patients were dichotomized into the early (≤90 days) and late (&gt;90 days) surgical wait-time groups. Overall survival, disease-free survival, and bladder recurrence-free survival were calculated using the Kaplan–Meier method and multivariate Cox regression analysis. Multivariate analysis was performed using stepwise linear regression.ResultsOf the 1251 patients, 1181 (94.4%) were classifed into the early surgical wait-time group and 70 (5.6%) into the late surgical wait-time group. The median surgical wait time was 21 days, and the median follow-up was 59.5 months. Our study showed delay-time more than 90 days appeared to be associated with worse overall survival (hazard ratio [HR] 1.974, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.166−3.343, p = 0.011), and disease-free survival (HR 1.997, 95% CI 1.137−3.507, p = 0.016). This remained as an independent prognostic factor after other confounding factors were adjusted. Age, ECOG performance status, Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI), surgical margin, tumor location and adjuvant systemic therapy were independent prognostic factors for overall survival. Tumor location and adjuvant systemic therapy were also independent prognostic factors for disease-free survival.ConclusionsFor patients with UTUC undergoing RNU, the surgical wait time should be minimized to less than 90 days. Prolonged delay times may be associated with poor overall and disease-free survival

U(2)_{L}\times U(2)_{R} Chiral Theory of Mesons

A $U(2)_{L}\times U(2)_{R}$ chiral theory of pseudoscalar, vector, and axial-vector mesons has been proposed. VMD has been revealed from this theory. The physical processes of normal parity and abnormal parity have been studied by using the same lagrangian and the universality of coupling has been revealed. Two new mass relations between vector and axial-vector mesons have been found. Weinberg's first sum rule and new relations about the amplitude of $a_{1}$ decay are satisfied. KSFR sum rule is satisfied pretty well. The $\rho$ pole in pion form factor has been achieved. The theoretical results of $\rho\rightarrow\pi\pi$, $\omega\rightarrow \pi\pi$, $a_{1}\rightarrow\rho\pi$ and $\pi\gamma$, $\tau\rightarrow \rho\nu$, $\tau\rightarrow a_{1}\nu$, $\pi^{0}\rightarrow \gamma\gamma$, $\omega \rightarrow\pi\gamma$, $\rho\rightarrow\pi\gamma$, $f_{1} \rightarrow\rho\pi\pi$, $f_{1}\rightarrow\eta\pi\pi$, $\rho\rightarrow\eta\gamma$, $\omega \rightarrow\eta\gamma$ are in good agreement with data. Weinberg's $\pi\pi$ scattering lengths and slopes and $a^{0}_{2}$, $a^{2}_{2}$, and $b^{1}_{1}$ have been obtained. Especially, the $\rho$ resonance in the amplitude $T^{1}_{1}$ of $\pi\pi$ scattering has been revealed from this theory. Two coefficients of chiral perturbation theory have been determined and they are close to the values used by chiral perturbation theory.Comment: 55 pages, send e-mail to [email protected] to get the figur