2,060 research outputs found
The impact of anti-inflammatory agents on the outcome of patients with colorectal cancer
Although there is increasing appreciation of the role of the host inflammatory response in determining outcome in patients in colorectal cancer, there has been little concerted effort to favourably manipulate cancer-associated inflammation, either alone or in combination with current oncological treatment. Epidemiological and cardiovascular disease studies have identified aspirin, other nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and statins as potential chemotherapeutic agents which may manipulate the host inflammatory response to the benefit of the patient with cancer. Similarly, evidence of a chemotherapeutic effect of histamine-2 receptor antagonists, again mediated by an immunomodulatory effect, has previously led to increased interest in their use in gastrointestinal cancer. Extensive pre-clinical data and a limited number of clinical investigations have proposed a direct effect of these agents on tumour biology, with an anti-tumour effect on several of the hallmarks of cancer, including proliferative capacity, evasion from apoptosis and cell cycle regulation, and invasive capability of tumour cells. Furthermore, clinical evidence has suggested a pertinent role in down-regulating the systemic inflammatory response whilst favourably influencing the local inflammatory response within the tumour microenvironment. Despite such compelling results, the clinical applicability of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, statins and histamine-2 receptor antagonists has not been fully realised, particularly in patients identified at high risk on the basis of inflammatory parameters. In the present review, we examine the potential role that these agents may play in improving survival and reducing recurrence in patients with potentially curative colorectal cancer, and in particular focus on their effects on the local and systemic inflammatory response
Outcome in colorectal cancer – tumour, stroma and so much more
No abstract available
Long range order for lattice dipoles
We consider a system of classical Heisenberg spins on a cubic lattice in
dimensions three or more, interacting via the dipole-dipole interaction. We
prove that at low enough temperature the system displays orientational long
range order, as expected by spin wave theory. The proof is based on reflection
positivity methods. In particular, we demonstrate a previously unproven
conjecture on the dispersion relation of the spin waves, first proposed by
Froehlich and Spencer, which allows one to apply infrared bounds for estimating
the long distance behavior of the spin-spin correlation functions.Comment: 9 page
Discovery of GeV Emission from the Circinus galaxy with the Fermi-LAT
We report the discovery of gamma-ray emission from the Circinus galaxy using
the Large Area Telescope (LAT) onboard the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope.
Circinus is a nearby (~4 Mpc) starburst with a heavily obscured Seyfert-type
active nucleus, bipolar radio lobes perpendicular to the spiral disk, and
kpc-scale jet-like structures. Our analysis of 0.1-100 GeV events collected
during 4 years of LAT observations reveals a significant (~ 7.3 sigma) excess
above the background. We find no indications of variability or spatial
extension beyond the LAT point-spread function. A power-law model used to
describe the 0.1-100 GeV gamma-ray spectrum yields a flux of
(18.8+/-5.8)x10^{-9} ph cm^{-2} s^{-1} and photon index 2.19+/-0.12,
corresponding to an isotropic gamma-ray luminosity of 3 x 10^{40} erg s^{-1}.
This observed gamma-ray luminosity exceeds the luminosity expected from
cosmic-ray interactions in the interstellar medium and inverse Compton
radiation from the radio lobes. Thus the origin of the GeV excess requires
further investigation.Comment: 7 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication in the Astrophysical
Journa
Constructing 3D crystal templates for photonic band gap materials using holographic optical tweezers
A simple and robust method is presented for the construction of 3-dimensional crystals from silica and polystyrene microspheres. The crystals are suitable for use as templates in the production of three-dimensional photonic band gap (PBG) materials. Manipulation of the microspheres was achieved using a dynamic holographic assembler (DHA) consisting of computer controlled holographic optical tweezers. Attachment of the microspheres was achieved by adjusting their colloidal interactions during assembly. The method is demonstrated by constructing a variety of 3-dimensional crystals using spheres ranging in size from 3 µm down to 800 nm. A major advantage of the technique is that it may be used to build structures that cannot be made using self-assembly. This is illustrated through the construction of crystals in which line defects have been deliberately included, and by building simple cubic structures
Partially spin polarized quantum Hall effect in the filling factor range 1/3 < nu < 2/5
The residual interaction between composite fermions (CFs) can express itself
through higher order fractional Hall effect. With the help of diagonalization
in a truncated composite fermion basis of low-energy many-body states, we
predict that quantum Hall effect with partial spin polarization is possible at
several fractions between and . The estimated excitation
gaps are approximately two orders of magnitude smaller than the gap at
, confirming that the inter-CF interaction is extremely weak in higher
CF levels.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
Structures for Interacting Composite Fermions: Stripes, Bubbles, and Fractional Quantum Hall Effect
Much of the present day qualitative phenomenology of the fractional quantum
Hall effect can be understood by neglecting the interactions between composite
fermions altogether. For example the fractional quantum Hall effect at
corresponds to filled composite-fermion Landau levels,and
the compressible state at to the Fermi sea of composite fermions.
Away from these filling factors, the residual interactions between composite
fermions will determine the nature of the ground state. In this article, a
model is constructed for the residual interaction between composite fermions,
and various possible states are considered in a variational approach. Our study
suggests formation of composite-fermion stripes, bubble crystals, as well as
fractional quantum Hall states for appropriate situations.Comment: 16 pages, 7 figure
Mesoscopic interplay of superconductivity and ferromagnetism in ultra-small metallic grains
We review the effects of electron-electron interactions on the ground-state
spin and the transport properties of ultra-small chaotic metallic grains. Our
studies are based on an effective Hamiltonian that combines a superconducting
BCS-like term and a ferromagnetic Stoner-like term. Such terms originate in
pairing and spin exchange correlations, respectively. This description is valid
in the limit of a large dimensionless Thouless conductance. We present the
ground-state phase diagram in the fluctuation-dominated regime where the
single-particle mean level spacing is comparable to the bulk BCS pairing gap.
This phase diagram contains a regime in which pairing and spin exchange
correlations coexist in the ground-state wave function. We discuss the
calculation of the tunneling conductance for an almost-isolated grain in the
Coulomb-blockade regime, and present measurable signatures of the competition
between superconductivity and ferromagnetism in the mesoscopic fluctuations of
the conductance.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, To be published in the proceedings of the NATO
Advance Research Workshop "Recent Advances in Nonlinear Dynamics and Complex
System Physics.
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