Interdisciplinary Monte Carlo Simulations

Biological, linguistic, sociological and economical applications of statistical physics are reviewed here. They have been made on a variety of computers over a dozen years, not only at the NIC computers. A longer description can be found in our new book, an emphasis on teaching in Eur.J.Phys. 26, S 79 and AIP Conf. Proc. 779, 49, 56, 69 and 75.Comment: 11 pages including many Figs.; for 3rd NIC Symposium, Julich, 3/0

New molecular mediators in tumor angiogenesis

Angiogenesis is essential for tumor growth and progression. It has been demonstrated that tumor growth beyond a size 1 to 2 mm3 requires the induction of new vessels. Angiogenesis is regulated by several endogenous stimulators and inhibitors of endothelial cell migration, proliferation and tube formation. Under physiological conditions these mediators of endothelial cell growth are in balance and vessel growth is limited. In fact, within the angiogenic balance endothelial cell turnover is sufficient to maintain a functional vascular wall but does not allow vessel growth. Tumor growth an progression has successfully been correlated to the serum concentration of angiogenic mediators. Furthermore, the vascular density of tumor tissues could be correlated to the clinical course of the disease in several tumor entities. Within the last years several new mediators of endothelial cell growth have been isolated e.g. angiopoietin 1, angiopoietin 2, midkine, pleiotropin, leptin and maspin. In this review we discuss the mechanisms leading to tumor angiogenesis and describe some of the newer mediators of endothelial cell stimulation and inhibition

Localization under the effect of randomly distributed decoherence

Electron transport through disordered quasi one-dimensional quantum systems is studied. Decoherence is taken into account by a spatial distribution of virtual reservoirs, which represent local interactions of the conduction electrons with their environment. We show that the decoherence distribution has observable effects on the transport. If the decoherence reservoirs are distributed randomly without spatial correlations, a minimal degree of decoherence is necessary to obtain Ohmic conduction. Below this threshold the system is localized and thus, a decoherence driven metal-insulator transition is found. In contrast, for homogenously distributed decoherence, any finite degree of decoherence is sufficient to destroy localization. Thus, the presence or absence of localization in a disordered one-dimensional system may give important insight about how the electron phase is randomized.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figure