2,682 research outputs found
NAIL COSMETICS
Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/66131/1/j.1365-4362.1992.tb01368.x.pd
Results of a randomized, double-blind phase II clinical trial of NY-ESO-1 vaccine with ISCOMATRIX adjuvant versus ISCOMATRIX alone in participants with high-risk resected melanoma.
BACKGROUND: To compare the clinical efficacy of New York Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma-1 (NY-ESO-1) vaccine with ISCOMATRIX adjuvant versus ISCOMATRIX alone in a randomized, double-blind phase II study in participants with fully resected melanoma at high risk of recurrence. METHODS: Participants with resected stage IIc, IIIb, IIIc and IV melanoma expressing NY-ESO-1 were randomized to treatment with three doses of NY-ESO-1/ISCOMATRIX or ISCOMATRIX adjuvant administered intramuscularly at 4-week intervals, followed by a further dose at 6 months. Primary endpoint was the proportion free of relapse at 18 months in the intention-to-treat (ITT) population and two per-protocol populations. Secondary endpoints included relapse-free survival (RFS) and overall survival (OS), safety and NY-ESO-1 immunity. RESULTS: The ITT population comprised 110 participants, with 56 randomized to NY-ESO-1/ISCOMATRIX and 54 to ISCOMATRIX alone. No significant toxicities were observed. There were no differences between the study arms in relapses at 18 months or for median time to relapse; 139 vs 176 days (p=0.296), or relapse rate, 27 (48.2%) vs 26 (48.1%) (HR 0.913; 95% CI 0.402 to 2.231), respectively. RFS and OS were similar between the study arms. Vaccine recipients developed strong positive antibody responses to NY-ESO-1 (p≤0.0001) and NY-ESO-1-specific CD4+ and CD8+ responses. Biopsies following relapse did not demonstrate differences in NY-ESO-1 expression between the study populations although an exploratory study demonstrated reduced (NY-ESO-1)+/Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) class I+ double-positive cells in biopsies from vaccine recipients performed on relapse in 19 participants. CONCLUSIONS: The vaccine was well tolerated, however, despite inducing antigen-specific immunity, it did not affect survival endpoints. Immune escape through the downregulation of NY-ESO-1 and/or HLA class I molecules on tumor may have contributed to relapse
Three "universal" mesoscopic Josephson effects
1. Introduction
2. Supercurrent from Excitation Spectrum
3. Excitation Spectrum from Scattering Matrix
4. Short-Junction Limit
5. Universal Josephson Effects
5.1 Quantum Point Contact
5.2 Quantum Dot
5.3 Disordered Point Contact (Average supercurrent, Supercurrent
fluctuations)Comment: 21 pages, 2 figures; legacy revie
Unusual exanthema combined with cerebral vasculitis in pneumococcal meningitis: a case report
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p>Bacterial meningitis is a complex, rapidly progressive disease in which neurological injury is caused in part by the causative organism and in part by the host's own inflammatory responses.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>We present the case of a two-year-old Greek girl with pneumococcal meningitis and an atypical curvilinear-like skin eruption, chronologically associated with cerebral vasculitis. A diffusion-weighted MRI scan showed lesions with restricted diffusion, reflecting local areas of immunologically mediated necrotizing vasculitis.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Atypical presentations of bacterial meningitis may occur, and they can be accompanied by serious unexpected complications.</p
Collapse of superconductivity in a hybrid tin-graphene Josephson junction array
When a Josephson junction array is built with hybrid
superconductor/metal/superconductor junctions, a quantum phase transition from
a superconducting to a two-dimensional (2D) metallic ground state is predicted
to happen upon increasing the junction normal state resistance. Owing to its
surface-exposed 2D electron gas and its gate-tunable charge carrier density,
graphene coupled to superconductors is the ideal platform to study the
above-mentioned transition between ground states. Here we show that decorating
graphene with a sparse and regular array of superconducting nanodisks enables
to continuously gate-tune the quantum superconductor-to-metal transition of the
Josephson junction array into a zero-temperature metallic state. The
suppression of proximity-induced superconductivity is a direct consequence of
the emergence of quantum fluctuations of the superconducting phase of the
disks. Under perpendicular magnetic field, the competition between quantum
fluctuations and disorder is responsible for the resilience at the lowest
temperatures of a superconducting glassy state that persists above the upper
critical field. Our results provide the entire phase diagram of the disorder
and magnetic field-tuned transition and unveil the fundamental impact of
quantum phase fluctuations in 2D superconducting systems.Comment: 25 pages, 6 figure
Revision and Update of the Consensus Definitions of Invasive Fungal Disease From the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer and the Mycoses Study Group Education and Research Consortium.
BACKGROUND: Invasive fungal diseases (IFDs) remain important causes of morbidity and mortality. The consensus definitions of the Infectious Diseases Group of the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer and the Mycoses Study Group have been of immense value to researchers who conduct clinical trials of antifungals, assess diagnostic tests, and undertake epidemiologic studies. However, their utility has not extended beyond patients with cancer or recipients of stem cell or solid organ transplants. With newer diagnostic techniques available, it was clear that an update of these definitions was essential. METHODS: To achieve this, 10 working groups looked closely at imaging, laboratory diagnosis, and special populations at risk of IFD. A final version of the manuscript was agreed upon after the groups' findings were presented at a scientific symposium and after a 3-month period for public comment. There were several rounds of discussion before a final version of the manuscript was approved. RESULTS: There is no change in the classifications of "proven," "probable," and "possible" IFD, although the definition of "probable" has been expanded and the scope of the category "possible" has been diminished. The category of proven IFD can apply to any patient, regardless of whether the patient is immunocompromised. The probable and possible categories are proposed for immunocompromised patients only, except for endemic mycoses. CONCLUSIONS: These updated definitions of IFDs should prove applicable in clinical, diagnostic, and epidemiologic research of a broader range of patients at high-risk
Disorder Effects on Exciton-Polariton Condensates
The impact of a random disorder potential on the dynamical properties of Bose
Einstein condensates is a very wide research field. In microcavities, these
studies are even more crucial than in the condensates of cold atoms, since
random disorder is naturally present in the semiconductor structures. In this
chapter, we consider a stable condensate, defined by a chemical potential,
propagating in a random disorder potential, like a liquid flowing through a
capillary. We analyze the interplay between the kinetic energy, the
localization energy, and the interaction between particles in 1D and 2D
polariton condensates. The finite life time of polaritons is taken into account
as well. In the first part, we remind the results of [G. Malpuech et al. Phys.
Rev. Lett. 98, 206402 (2007).] where we considered the case of a static
condensate. In that case, the condensate forms either a glassy insulating phase
at low polariton density (strong localization), or a superfluid phase above the
percolation threshold. We also show the calculation of the first order spatial
coherence of the condensate versus the condensate density. In the second part,
we consider the case of a propagating non-interacting condensate which is
always localized because of Anderson localization. The localization length is
calculated in the Born approximation. The impact of the finite polariton life
time is taken into account as well. In the last section we consider the case of
a propagating interacting condensate where the three regimes of strong
localization, Anderson localization, and superfluid behavior are accessible.
The localization length is calculated versus the system parameters. The
localization length is strongly modified with respect to the non-interacting
case. It is infinite in the superfluid regime whereas it is strongly reduced if
the fluid flows with a supersonic velocity.Comment: chapter for a book "Exciton Polaritons in Microcavities: New
Frontiers" by Springer (2012), the original publication is available at
http://www.springerlink.co
Optical Lattices: Theory
This chapter presents an overview of the properties of a Bose-Einstein
condensate (BEC) trapped in a periodic potential. This system has attracted a
wide interest in the last years, and a few excellent reviews of the field have
already appeared in the literature (see, for instance, [1-3] and references
therein). For this reason, and because of the huge amount of published results,
we do not pretend here to be comprehensive, but we will be content to provide a
flavor of the richness of this subject, together with some useful references.
On the other hand, there are good reasons for our effort. Probably, the most
significant is that BEC in periodic potentials is a truly interdisciplinary
problem, with obvious connections with electrons in crystal lattices, polarons
and photons in optical fibers. Moreover, the BEC experimentalists have reached
such a high level of accuracy to create in the lab, so to speak, paradigmatic
Hamiltonians, which were first introduced as idealized theoretical models to
study, among others, dynamical instabilities or quantum phase transitions.Comment: Chapter 13 in Part VIII: "Optical Lattices" of "Emergent Nonlinear
Phenomena in Bose-Einstein Condensates: Theory and Experiment," edited by P.
G. Kevrekidis, D. J. Frantzeskakis, and R. Carretero-Gonzalez (Springer
Series on Atomic, Optical, and Plasma Physics, 2007) - pages 247-26
Thermodynamic analysis of the Quantum Critical behavior of Ce-lattice compounds
A systematic analysis of low temperature magnetic phase diagrams of Ce
compounds is performed in order to recognize the thermodynamic conditions to be
fulfilled by those systems to reach a quantum critical regime and,
alternatively, to identify other kinds of low temperature behaviors. Based on
specific heat () and entropy () results, three different types of
phase diagrams are recognized: i) with the entropy involved into the ordered
phase () decreasing proportionally to the ordering temperature
(), ii) those showing a transference of degrees of freedom from the
ordered phase to a non-magnetic component, with their jump
() vanishing at finite temperature, and iii) those ending in a
critical point at finite temperature because their do not decrease
with producing an entropy accumulation at low temperature.
Only those systems belonging to the first case, i.e. with as
, can be regarded as candidates for quantum critical behavior.
Their magnetic phase boundaries deviate from the classical negative curvature
below \,K, denouncing frequent misleading extrapolations down to
T=0. Different characteristic concentrations are recognized and analyzed for
Ce-ligand alloyed systems. Particularly, a pre-critical region is identified,
where the nature of the magnetic transition undergoes significant
modifications, with its discontinuity strongly
affected by magnetic field and showing an increasing remnant entropy at . Physical constraints arising from the third law at are discussed
and recognized from experimental results
Organizational aspects and implementation of data systems in large-scale epidemiological studies in less developed countries
BACKGROUND: In the conduct of epidemiological studies in less developed countries, while great emphasis is placed on study design, data collection, and analysis, often little attention is paid to data management. As a consequence, investigators working in these countries frequently face challenges in cleaning, analyzing and interpreting data. In most research settings, the data management team is formed with temporary and unskilled persons. A proper working environment and training or guidance in constructing a reliable database is rarely available. There is little information available that describes data management problems and solutions to those problems. Usually a line or two can be obtained in the methods section of research papers stating that the data are doubly-entered and that outliers and inconsistencies were removed from the data. Such information provides little assurance that the data are reliable. There are several issues in data management that if not properly practiced may create an unreliable database, and outcomes of this database will be spurious. RESULTS: We have outlined the data management practices for epidemiological studies that we have modeled for our research sites in seven Asian countries and one African country. CONCLUSION: Information from this model data management structure may help others construct reliable databases for large-scale epidemiological studies in less developed countries
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