6,909 research outputs found
Perioperative infection prophylaxis and risk factor impact in colon surgery
Background: A prospective observational study was undertaken in 2,481 patients undergoing elective colon resection in 114 German centers to identify optimal drug and dosing modalities and risk factors for postoperative infection. Methods: Patients were pair matched using six risk factors and divided into 672 pairs (ceftriaxone vs, other cephalosporins, group A) and 400 pairs (ceftriaxone vs. penicillins, group B). End points were local and systemic postoperative infection and cost effectiveness. Results: Local infection rates were 6.0 versus 6.5% (group A) and 4.0 versus 10.5% (group B); systemic infection rates in groups A and B were 4.9 versus 6.3% and 3.3 versus 10.5%, respectively. Ceftriaxone was more effective than penicillins overall (6.8 vs. 17.8%, p < 0.001). Length of postoperative hospital stay was 16.2 versus 16.9 days (group A) and 15.8 versus 17.6 days (group B). Of the six risk factors, age and concomitant disease were significant for systemic infection, and blood loss, rectum resection and immunosuppressive therapy were significant for local infection. Penicillin was a risk factor compared to ceftriaxone (p < 0.0001). Ceftriaxone saved Q160.7 versus other cephalosporins and O416.2 versus penicillins. Conclusion: Clinical and microbiological efficacy are responsible for the cost effectiveness of ceftriaxone for perioperative prophylaxis in colorectal surgery. Copyright (C) 2000 S. Karger AG, Basel
Supersymmetric Extensions of Calogero--Moser--Sutherland like Models: Construction and Some Solutions
We introduce a new class of models for interacting particles. Our
construction is based on Jacobians for the radial coordinates on certain
superspaces. The resulting models contain two parameters determining the
strengths of the interactions. This extends and generalizes the models of the
Calogero--Moser--Sutherland type for interacting particles in ordinary spaces.
The latter ones are included in our models as special cases. Using results
which we obtained previously for spherical functions in superspaces, we obtain
various properties and some explicit forms for the solutions. We present
physical interpretations. Our models involve two kinds of interacting
particles. One of the models can be viewed as describing interacting electrons
in a lower and upper band of a one--dimensional semiconductor. Another model is
quasi--two--dimensional. Two kinds of particles are confined to two different
spatial directions, the interaction contains dipole--dipole or tensor forces.Comment: 21 pages, 4 figure
Monitoring Entanglement Evolution and Collective Quantum Dynamics
We generalize a recently developed scheme for monitoring coherent quantum
dynamics with good time-resolution and low backaction [Reuther et al., Phys.
Rev. Lett. 102, 033602 (2009)] to the case of more complex quantum dynamics of
one or several qubits. The underlying idea is to measure with lock-in
techniques the response of the quantum system to a high-frequency ac field. We
demonstrate that this scheme also allows one to observe quantum dynamics with
many frequency scales, such as that of a qubit undergoing Landau-Zener
transitions. Moreover, we propose how to measure the entanglement between two
qubits as well as the collective dynamics of qubit arrays.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figure
QED vacuum fluctuations and induced electric dipole moment of the neutron
Quantum fluctuations in the QED vacuum generate non-linear effects, such as
peculiar induced electromagnetic fields. In particular, we show here that an
electrically neutral particle, possessing a magnetic dipole moment, develops an
induced electric dipole-type moment with unusual angular dependence, when
immersed in a quasistatic, constant external electric field. The calculation of
this effect is done in the framework of the Euler-Heisenberg effective QED
Lagrangian, corresponding to the weak field asymptotic expansion of the
effective action to one-loop order. It is argued that the neutron might be a
good candidate to probe this signal of non-linearity in QED.Comment: A misprint has been corrected, and three new references have been
adde
Two-dimensional Dirac fermions in a topological insulator: transport in the quantum limit
Pulsed magnetic fields of up to 55T are used to investigate the transport
properties of the topological insulator Bi_2Se_3 in the extreme quantum limit.
For samples with a bulk carrier density of n = 2.9\times10^16cm^-3, the lowest
Landau level of the bulk 3D Fermi surface is reached by a field of 4T. For
fields well beyond this limit, Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations arising from
quantization of the 2D surface state are observed, with the \nu =1 Landau level
attained by a field of 35T. These measurements reveal the presence of
additional oscillations which occur at fields corresponding to simple rational
fractions of the integer Landau indices.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure
Forces Induced by Non-Equilibrium Fluctuations: The Soret-Casimir Effect
The notion of fluctuation-induced forces is generalized to the cases where
the fluctuations have nonequilibrium origin. It is shown that a net force is
exerted on a single flat plate that restricts scale-free fluctuations of a
scalar field in a temperature gradient. This force tends to push the object to
the colder regions, which is a manifestation of thermophoresis or the Soret
effect. In the classic two-plate geometry, it is shown that the Casimir forces
exerted on the two plates differ from each other, and thus the Newton's third
law is violated.Comment: 8 pages, 5 postscript figures, uses (old) RevTe
Ray splitting in paraxial optical cavities
We present a numerical investigation of the ray dynamics in a paraxial
optical cavity when a ray splitting mechanism is present. The cavity is a
conventional two-mirror stable resonator and the ray splitting is achieved by
inserting an optical beam splitter perpendicular to the cavity axis. We show
that depending on the position of the beam splitter the optical resonator can
become unstable and the ray dynamics displays a positive Lyapunov exponent.Comment: 13 pages, 7 figures, 1 tabl
Active Galactic Nuclei with Candidate Intermediate-Mass Black Holes
We present an initial sample of 19 intermediate-mass black hole candidates in
active galactic nuclei culled from the First Data Release of the Sloan Digital
Sky Survey. Using the linewidth-luminosity-mass scaling relation established
for broad-line active nuclei, we estimate black hole masses in the range of 8 x
10^4 - 10^6 solar masses, a regime in which only two objects are currently
known. The absolute magnitudes are faint for active galactic nuclei, ranging
from M_g of -15 to -18 mag, while the bolometric luminosities are all close to
the Eddington limit. The entire sample formally satisfies the linewidth
criterion for so-called narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxies; however, they display a
wider range of FeII and [OIII] (5007) line strengths than is typically observed
in this class of objects. Although the available imaging data are of
insufficient quality to ascertain the detailed morphologies of the host
galaxies, it is likely that the majority of the hosts are relatively late-type
systems. The host galaxies have estimated g-band luminosities ~ 1 mag fainter
than M* for the general galaxy population at z of 0.1. Beyond simply extending
the known mass range of central black holes in galactic nuclei, these objects
provide unique observational constraints on the progenitors of supermassive
black holes. They are also expected to contribute significantly to the
integrated signal for future gravitational wave experiments.Comment: ApJ Accepted, 13 pages, 9 figures, uses emulateapj.cl
Accounting for both electron--lattice and electron--electron coupling in conjugated polymers: minimum total energy calculations on the Hubbard--Peierls hamiltonian
Minimum total energy calculations, which account for both electron--lattice
and electron--electron interactions in conjugated polymers are performed for
chains with up to eight carbon atoms. These calculations are motivated in part
by recent experimental results on the spectroscopy of polyenes and conjugated
polymers and shed light on the longstanding question of the relative importance
of electron--lattice vs. electron--electron interactions in determining the
properties of these systems.Comment: 6 pages, Plain TeX, FRL-PSD-93GR
First principles calculation of structural and magnetic properties for Fe monolayers and bilayers on W(110)
Structure optimizations were performed for 1 and 2 monolayers (ML) of Fe on a
5 ML W(110) substrate employing the all-electron full-potential linearized
augmented plane-wave (FP-LAPW) method. The magnetic moments were also obtained
for the converged and optimized structures. We find significant contractions
( 10 %) for both the Fe-W and the neighboring Fe-Fe interlayer spacings
compared to the corresponding bulk W-W and Fe-Fe interlayer spacings. Compared
to the Fe bcc bulk moment of 2.2 , the magnetic moment for the surface
layer of Fe is enhanced (i) by 15% to 2.54 for 1 ML Fe/5 ML W(110), and
(ii) by 29% to 2.84 for 2 ML Fe/5 ML W(110). The inner Fe layer for 2
ML Fe/5 ML W(110) has a bulk-like moment of 2.3 . These results agree
well with previous experimental data
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