1,312 research outputs found

    Sign-changing tower of bubbles for a sinh-Poisson equation with asymmetric exponents

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    Motivated by the statistical mechanics description of stationary 2D-turbulence, for a sinh-Poisson type equation with asymmetric nonlinearity, we construct a concentrating solution sequence in the form of a tower of singular Liouville bubbles, each of which has a different degeneracy exponent. The asymmetry parameter γ(0,1]\gamma\in(0,1] corresponds to the ratio between the intensity of the negatively rotating vortices and the intensity of the positively rotating vortices. Our solutions correspond to a superposition of highly concentrated vortex configurations of alternating orientation; they extend in a nontrivial way some known results for γ=1\gamma=1. Thus, by analyzing the case γ1\gamma\neq1 we emphasize specific properties of the physically relevant parameter γ\gamma in the vortex concentration phenomena

    Effects of Extracorporeal Magnetic Stimulation in Fecal Incontinence.

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    Background: Fecal incontinence (FI) is a common condition that has devastating consequences for patients' QOL. In some patients, the conventional functional pelvic floor electrical stimulation has been effective but is an invasive and embarrassing treatment. The object of the study was to evaluate the feasibility of functional extracorporeal magnetic stimulation (FMS) in strengthening the pelvic floor muscles without an anal plug and the embarrassment of undressing. Materials and Methods: Thirty patients (26 female and 4 males) with FI were enrolled. All patients were assessed during a specialized coloproctology evaluation followed by endoanal ultrasonography and anorectal manometry. All patients underwent an FMS treatment once weekly for 8 weeks. Patients' outcome was assessed by the Cleveland Clinic Fecal Incontinence Score (CCFIS) and by the fecal incontinence QOL questionnaire (FIQL). Results: After 8 weeks, the number of solid and liquid stool leakage per week was significantly reduced (p<0.05) with a significant improvement of the CCFIS and of the FIQL (p<0.05). Moreover, the authors recorded a missed recruitment of the agonist and antagonists' defecation muscles. Conclusion: FMS is a safe, non-invasive and painless treatment for FI. It could be recommended for selected patients with non-surgical FI to ensure a rapid clinical improvement

    Pemetrexed plus carboplatin in elderly patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma: combined analysis of two phase II trials

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    The incidence of malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) in elderly patients is increasing. In this study, pooled data from two phase II trials of pemetrexed and carboplatin (PC) as first-line therapy were retrospectively analysed for comparisons between age groups. Patients received pemetrexed 500 mg m−2 and carboplatin AUC 5 mg ml−1 min−1 intravenously every 21 days with standard vitamin supplementation. Elderly patients were defined as those ⩾70 years old. A total of 178 patients with an ECOG performance status of ⩽2 were included. Median age was 65 years (range 38–79), with 48 patients ⩾70 years (27%). Grade 3–4 haematological toxicity was slightly worse in ⩾70 vs <70-year-old patients, with neutropenia observed in 25.0 vs 13.8% (P=0.11), anaemia in 20.8 vs 6.9% (P=0.01) and thrombocytopenia in 14.6 vs 8.5% (P=0.26). Non-haematological toxicity was mild and similar in the two groups. No significant difference was observed in terms of overall disease control (60.4 vs 66.9%, P=0.47), time to progression (7.2 vs 7.5 months, P=0.42) and survival (10.7 vs 13.9 months, P=0.12). Apart from slightly worse haematological toxicity, there was no significant difference in outcome or toxicity between age groups. The PC regimen is effective and well tolerated in selected elderly patients with MPM

    Targeting SMYD3 to sensitize homologous recombination-proficient tumors to PARP-mediated synthetic lethality

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    SMYD3 is frequently overexpressed in a wide variety of cancers. Indeed, its inactivation reduces tumor growth in preclinical in vivo animal models. However, extensive characterization in vitro failed to clarify SMYD3 function in cancer cells, although confirming its importance in carcinogenesis. Taking advantage of a SMYD3 mutant variant identified in a high-risk breast cancer family, here we show that SMYD3 phosphorylation by ATM enables the formation of a multiprotein complex including ATM, SMYD3, CHK2, and BRCA2, which is required for the final loading of RAD51 at DNA double-strand break sites and completion of homologous recombination (HR). Remarkably, SMYD3 pharmacological inhibition sensitizes HR-proficient cancer cells to PARP inhibitors, thereby extending the potential of the synthetic lethality approach in human tumors

    Search for squarks and gluinos in events with isolated leptons, jets and missing transverse momentum at s√=8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

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    The results of a search for supersymmetry in final states containing at least one isolated lepton (electron or muon), jets and large missing transverse momentum with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider are reported. The search is based on proton-proton collision data at a centre-of-mass energy s√=8 TeV collected in 2012, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 20 fb−1. No significant excess above the Standard Model expectation is observed. Limits are set on supersymmetric particle masses for various supersymmetric models. Depending on the model, the search excludes gluino masses up to 1.32 TeV and squark masses up to 840 GeV. Limits are also set on the parameters of a minimal universal extra dimension model, excluding a compactification radius of 1/R c = 950 GeV for a cut-off scale times radius (ΛR c) of approximately 30
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