228 research outputs found
Theory of the Jamming Transition at Finite Temperature
A theory for the microscopic structure and the vibrational properties of soft
sphere glass at finite temperature is presented. With an effective potential,
derived here, the phase diagram and vibrational properties are worked out
around the Maxwell critical point at zero temperature and pressure .
Variational arguments and effective medium theory identically predict a
non-trivial temperature scale with
such that low-energy vibrational properties are hard-sphere like for , and zero-temperature soft-sphere like otherwise. However, due to
crossovers in the equation of state relating , , and the packing fraction
, these two regimes lead to four regions where scaling behaviors differ
when expressed in terms of and . Scaling predictions are presented
for the mean-squared displacement, characteristic frequency, shear modulus, and
characteristic elastic length in all regions of the phase diagram.Comment: 8 pages + 3 pages S
Successful enteral nutrition in the treatment of esophagojejunal fistula after total gastrectomy in gastric cancer patients
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Esophagojejunal fistula is a serious complication after total gastrectomy in gastric cancer patients. This study describes the successful conservative management in 3 gastric cancer patients with esophagojejunal fistula after total gastrectomy using total enteral nutrition.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Between January 2004 to December 2008, 588 consecutive patients with a proven diagnosis of gastric cancer were taken to the operation room to try a curative treatment. Of these, 173 underwent total gastrectomy, 9 of them had esophagojejunal fistula (5.2%). In three selected patients a trans-anastomotic naso-enteral feeding tube was placed under fluoroscopic vision when the fistula was clinically detected and a complete polymeric enteral formula was used.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The complete closing of the esophagojejunal fistula was obtained in day 8, 14 and 25 respectively.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>In some selected cases it is possible to make a successful enteral nutrition using a feeding tube distal to the leak area inserted with the help of fluoroscopic vision. The specialized management of a gastric surgery unit and nutritional therapy unit are highlighted.</p
Adhesive loose packings of small dry particles
5 pages, 4 figure
Ratio-based staging systems are better than the 7th and 8th editions of the TNM in stratifying the prognosis of gastric cancer patients: A multicenter retrospective study.
BACKGROUND:
The current and the previous editions of the tumor-node-metastasis (TNM) system for gastric cancer (GC; TNM8 and TNM7) have a high risk of stage-migration bias when the node count after gastrectomy is suboptimal. Hence, they are possibly not the optimal staging systems for GC patients. This study aims to compare the TNM with two systems less affected by the stage-migration bias, namely, the lymph nodes ratio (LNR) and the log odds of positive lymph nodes (LODDS), to assess which one is the best in stratifying the prognosis of GC patients.
METHODS:
The sample study included 1221 GC patients. Two 7-cluster staging systems based on the combination of pT categories and LNR and LODDS categories (TLNR and TLODDS) were compared with the two last editions of TNM, using the Akaike information criteria, the Bayesian information criteria, and the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve graphs. Further validation on an independent sample of 251 patients was carried out.
RESULTS:
The univariable and multivariable analyses and the ROC curves detected an advantage of the TLNR and TLODDS systems over the TNM. The TLNR and TLODDS showed the best accuracy both in the subgroup of patients with ≥16 nodes examined. The results were confirmed in the validation analysis.
CONCLUSIONS:
TLNR and TLODDS staging systems should be considered a valid implementation of the TNM for the prognostic stratification of GC patients. If these results are confirmed in further studies, the future implementation of the TNM should consider the introduction of the LNR or the LODDS along with the number of metastatic nodes
The marginally stable Bethe lattice spin glass revisited
Bethe lattice spins glasses are supposed to be marginally stable, i.e. their
equilibrium probability distribution changes discontinuously when we add an
external perturbation. So far the problem of a spin glass on a Bethe lattice
has been studied only using an approximation where marginally stability is not
present, which is wrong in the spin glass phase. Because of some technical
difficulties, attempts at deriving a marginally stable solution have been
confined to some perturbative regimes, high connectivity lattices or
temperature close to the critical temperature. Using the cavity method, we
propose a general non-perturbative approach to the Bethe lattice spin glass
problem using approximations that should be hopeful consistent with marginal
stability.Comment: 23 pages Revised version, hopefully clearer that the first one: six
pages longe
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