345 research outputs found
The 'molecularly unstratified' patient: a focus for moral, psycho-social and societal research
The biomedical paradigm of personalised precision medicine - identification of specific molecular targets for treatment of an individual patient - offers great potential for treatment of many diseases including cancer. This article provides a critical analysis of the promise, the hype and the pitfalls attending this approach. In particular, we focus on 'molecularly unstratified' patients - those who, for various reasons, are not eligible for a targeted therapy. For these patients, hope-laden therapeutic options are closed down, leaving them left out, and left behind, bobbing untidily about in the wake of technological and scientific 'advance'. This process creates a distinction between groups of patients on the basis of biomarkers and challenges our ability to provide equitable access to care for all patients. In broadening our consideration of these patients to include the research ecosystem that shapes their experience, we hypothesise that the combination of immense promise with significant complexity creates particular individual and organisational challenges for researchers. The novelty and complexity of their research consumes high levels of resource, possibly in parallel with undervaluing other 'low hanging fruit', and may be challenging current regulatory thinking. We outline future research to consider the societal, psycho-social and moral issues relating to 'molecularly unstratified' patients, and the impact of the drive towards personalisation on the research, funding, and regulatory ecosystem
Investigating the role of reducing agents on mechanosynthesis of Au nanoparticles
Control over the bottom up synthesis of metal nanoparticles (NP) depends on many experimental factors, including the choice of stabilising and reducing agents. By selectively manipulating these species, it is possible to control NP characteristics through solution-phase synthesis strategies. It is not known, however, whether NPs produced from mechanochemical syntheses are governed by the same rules. Using the Au NPs mechanosynthesis as a model system, we investigate how a series of common reducing agents affect both the reduction kinetics and size of Au NPs. It is shown that the relative effects of reducing agents on mechanochemical NP synthesis differ significantly from their role in analogous solution-phase reactions. Hence, strategies developed for control over NP growth in solution are not directly transferrable to environmentally benign mechanochemical approaches. This work demonstrates a clear need for dedicated, systematic studies on NP mechanosynthesis.Peer reviewe
RoboPol: First season rotations of optical polarization plane in blazars
We present first results on polarization swings in optical emission of
blazars obtained by RoboPol, a monitoring program of an unbiased sample of
gamma-ray bright blazars specially designed for effective detection of such
events. A possible connection of polarization swing events with periods of high
activity in gamma rays is investigated using the dataset obtained during the
first season of operation. It was found that the brightest gamma-ray flares
tend to be located closer in time to rotation events, which may be an
indication of two separate mechanisms responsible for the rotations. Blazars
with detected rotations have significantly larger amplitude and faster
variations of polarization angle in optical than blazars without rotations. Our
simulations show that the full set of observed rotations is not a likely
outcome (probability ) of a random walk of the
polarization vector simulated by a multicell model. Furthermore, it is highly
unlikely () that none of our rotations is physically
connected with an increase in gamma-ray activity.Comment: 16 pages, 9 figure
CORDATA: an open data management web application to select corrosion inhibitors
The large amount of corrosion inhibition efficiencies in literature, calls for a more efficient way to organize, access and compare this information. The CORDATA open data management application (https://datacor.shinyapps.io/cordata/) can help select appropriate corrosion inhibitors for application specific challenges.publishe
Selective nanomanipulation using optical forces
We present a detailed theoretical study of the recent proposal for selective
nanomanipulation of nanometric particles above a substrate using near-field
optical forces [Chaumet {\it et al.} Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 88}, 123601 (2002)].
Evanescent light scattering at the apex of an apertureless near-field probe is
used to create an optical trap. The position of the trap is controlled on a
nanometric scale via the probe and small objects can be selectively trapped and
manipulated. We discuss the influence of the geometry of the particles and the
probe on the efficiency of the trap. We also consider the influence of multiple
scattering among the particles on the substrate and its effect on the
robustness of the trap.Comment: 12 pages, 17 figure
Observation of the thermal Casimir force
Quantum theory predicts the existence of the Casimir force between
macroscopic bodies, due to the zero-point energy of electromagnetic field modes
around them. This quantum fluctuation-induced force has been experimentally
observed for metallic and semiconducting bodies, although the measurements to
date have been unable to clearly settle the question of the correct
low-frequency form of the dielectric constant dispersion (the Drude model or
the plasma model) to be used for calculating the Casimir forces. At finite
temperature a thermal Casimir force, due to thermal, rather than quantum,
fluctuations of the electromagnetic field, has been theoretically predicted
long ago. Here we report the experimental observation of the thermal Casimir
force between two gold plates. We measured the attractive force between a flat
and a spherical plate for separations between 0.7 m and 7 m. An
electrostatic force caused by potential patches on the plates' surfaces is
included in the analysis. The experimental results are in excellent agreement
(reduced of 1.04) with the Casimir force calculated using the Drude
model, including the T=300 K thermal force, which dominates over the quantum
fluctuation-induced force at separations greater than 3 m. The plasma
model result is excluded in the measured separation range.Comment: 6 page
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