278 research outputs found
Quantum plasmonic waveguides: Au nanowires
Combining miniaturization and good operating speed is a compelling yet
crucial task for our society. Plasmonic waveguides enable the possibility of
carrying information at optical operating speed while maintaining the dimension
of the device in the nanometer range. Here we present a theoretical study of
plasmonic waveguides extending our investigation to structures so small that
Quantum Size Effects (QSE) become non negligible, namely quantum plasmonic
waveguides. Specifically, we demonstrate and evaluate a blue-shift in Surface
Plasmon (SP) resonance energy for an ultra-thin gold nanowire
Gevrey local solvability in locally integrable structures
We consider a locally integrable real-analytic structure, and we investigate
the local solvability in the category of Gevrey functions and
ultradistributions of the complex d' naturally induced by the de Rham complex.
We prove that the so-called condition Y(q) on the signature of the Levi form,
for local solvability of d' u=f, is still necessary even if we take f in the
classes of Gevrey functions and look for solutions u in the corresponding
spaces of ultradistributions.Comment: 12 page
Optimizing aesthetic outcomes after goldilocks mastectomy: A new method of nipple reconstruction
Dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans arising in post-mastectomy irradiated breast after autologous fat-transfer reconstruction
Determinants of surgeon choice in cases of suspected implant rupture following mastectomy or aesthetic breast surgery: Clinical implications
Implant ruptures may be diagnosed by physical examination, ultrasound (US), and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The absence of standard guidelines to approach to implant ruptures may cause unnecessary surgical revisions in the absence of radiological confirmation of prosthetic damages.The purpose of this study was to analyze the diagnostic procedures applied to patients with suspected prosthetic rupture and surgeon choices to perform a revision or to plan a clinical and radiological follow-up.We conducted a retrospective study on 62 women submitted to revision surgery due to radiological diagnosis of suspected implant rupture, following mastectomy or aesthetic reconstruction, and admitted to a Plastic Surgery Department between 2008 and 2018.Seventy-three implants, believed to be ruptured, were explanted. One-third of these were intact and unnecessarily explanted. US associated with MRI evaluation resulted in the most helpful diagnostical method.A standardized clinical and radiological approach is essential to manage breast implant ruptures successfully. An innovative protocol is proposed in order to: ensure the appropriate management of implant ruptures and prevent unnecessary surgical revisions; reduce the risk of claims for medical malpractice in cases of unsatisfactory final aesthetic results or worse than before
Subcutaneous Adipose Tissue Transcriptome Highlights Specific Expression Profiles in Severe Pediatric Obesity: A Pilot Study
The prevalence of pediatric obesity is rising rapidly worldwide, and "omic" approaches are helpful in investigating the molecular pathophysiology of obesity. This work aims to identify transcriptional differences in the subcutaneous adipose tissue (scAT) of children with overweight (OW), obesity (OB), or severe obesity (SV) compared with those of normal weight (NW). Periumbilical scAT biopsies were collected from 20 male children aged 1-12 years. The children were stratified into the following four groups according to their BMI z-scores: SV, OB, OW, and NW. scAT RNA-Seq analyses were performed, and a differential expression analysis was conducted using the DESeq2 R package. A pathways analysis was performed to gain biological insights into gene expression. Our data highlight the significant deregulation in both coding and non-coding transcripts in the SV group when compared with the NW, OW, and OB groups. A KEGG pathway analysis showed that coding transcripts were mainly involved in lipid metabolism. A GSEA analysis revealed the upregulation of lipid degradation and metabolism in SV vs. OB and SV vs. OW. Bioenergetic processes and the catabolism of branched-chain amino acids were upregulated in SV compared with OB, OW, and NW. In conclusion, we report for the first time that a significant transcriptional deregulation occurs in the periumbilical scAT of children with severe obesity compared with those of normal weight or those with overweight or mild obesity
N=8 BPS Black Holes with 1/2 or 1/4 Supersymmetry and Solvable Lie Algebra Decompositions
In the context of N=8 supergravity we construct the general form of BPS
0--branes that preserve either 1/2 or 1/4 of the original supersymmetry. We
show how such solutions are related to suitable decompositions of the 70
dimensional solvable Lie algebra that describes the scalar field sector. We
compare our new results to those obtained in a previous paper for the case of
1/8 supersymmetry preserving black holes. Each of the three cases is based on a
different solvable Lie algebra decomposition and leads to a different structure
of the scalar field evolution and of their fixed values at the horizon of the
black hole.Comment: first section restructured, typos corrected, 1 LaTeX file, 37 pages,
2 eps-figure
Orthotopic induction of CH157MN convexity and skull base meningiomas into nude mice using stereotactic surgery and MRI characterization.
Top-down platform for deciphering the human salivary proteome
Proteomic platforms can be classified in bottom-up strategies, which analyze the sample after proteolytic digestion, and top-down strategies, which analyze the intact naturally occurring proteome. Bottom-up platforms are high-throughput because they can investigate a large number of proteins, regardless of their dimension. Nonetheless, information on post-translational modifications (PTMs) can be lost, especially those regarding naturally occurring cleavages and alternative splicing. Top-down platforms cannot cover vast proteomes, however, they can disclose subtle structural variations occurring during protein maturation and allow label-free relative quantifications in an unlimited number of samples. A repertoire of 256 masses belonging to naturally occurring proteins and peptides consistently detected by RP-HPLC-ESI-MS analysis of the acidic soluble fraction of human whole saliva is presented in this study. Of them, 233 have been identified, while 23 are still pending for the definitive characterization. The present review reports average and mono-isotopic masses of the peptides and proteins detected, RP-HPLC elution times, PTMs, origin and quali-quantitative variations observed in several physiological and pathological conditions. The information reported can be a reference for users of top-down RP-HPLC-ESI-MS proteomic platforms applied to the study of the human salivary proteome as well as of other human bodily fluids
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