Current concepts of ectopic nodal inclusions with special emphasis on nodal nevi

Nodal inclusions of ectopic tissue within lymph nodes are seen comparatively often in dermatopathology and general pathology. Glandular and nonglandular epithelium, as well as melanocytic nevi can be observed within lymph nodes and represent mostly incidental findings without any relevance. The main challenge in reporting these morphologic features is to differentiate such benign inclusions from metastatic settlements of distinct organ tumors. As sentinel node biopsy and lymph node dissection have become standard procedure in clinical oncology and have an immense clinical impact, the correct evaluation of these nodal inclusions is indispensable to avoid undertreatment or overtreatment of patients. In addition, the genesis of these inclusions has not yet been satisfactorily clarified. Two concepts have been laid out: the theory of benign metastases and the migration arrest theory. However, neither theory has so far been able to answer the following questions: Why do we find more nodal nevi in patients with melanoma who had a sentinel node biopsy than in patients without melanoma, and why do we not find nodal nevi in deep visceral lymph nodes? We present a comprehensive review of the current knowledge on nodal inclusions, proposing a concept for the pathogenesis of nodal nevi, to answer these questions

Multiple sequence alignment based on set covers

We introduce a new heuristic for the multiple alignment of a set of sequences. The heuristic is based on a set cover of the residue alphabet of the sequences, and also on the determination of a significant set of blocks comprising subsequences of the sequences to be aligned. These blocks are obtained with the aid of a new data structure, called a suffix-set tree, which is constructed from the input sequences with the guidance of the residue-alphabet set cover and generalizes the well-known suffix tree of the sequence set. We provide performance results on selected BAliBASE amino-acid sequences and compare them with those yielded by some prominent approaches

Process Control by Means of Non Destructive Ultrasonic Testing of Complex W-Cu Contact Components for Energy Transmission and Distribution

Abstract In cooperation with VOGT Ultrasonics GmbH a test stand for non destructive testing of electron beam welded WCu-components and blanks was conceived for testing under serial production conditions by means of the Ultrasonic Phased Array Technology. The early, clear and easy recognition of the quality of the welding zone of WCu welded components with a user friendly Set-Up and software increases the process stability. A fundamental attribute of the ultrasonic test stand is the option to classify the component immediately and online according the defined quality criteria. The challenge amongst high cycle times is to scan powder metallurgical produced WCu composite material components to evaluate the quality of the welding zone underneath. The WCu composite material is usually welded to a homogeneous copper or steel based material. For several reasons it is not possible to send the ultrasonic beam through the homogeneous material in any case. Therefore the measurement has to be carried out through the inhomogeneous WCu part. Herewith the challenge is to avoid a significant ultra sound re-or deflection caused by the microstructure of a WCu composite showing big differences in density, weight and homogenity

A methodology for determining amino-acid substitution matrices from set covers

We introduce a new methodology for the determination of amino-acid substitution matrices for use in the alignment of proteins. The new methodology is based on a pre-existing set cover on the set of residues and on the undirected graph that describes residue exchangeability given the set cover. For fixed functional forms indicating how to obtain edge weights from the set cover and, after that, substitution-matrix elements from weighted distances on the graph, the resulting substitution matrix can be checked for performance against some known set of reference alignments and for given gap costs. Finding the appropriate functional forms and gap costs can then be formulated as an optimization problem that seeks to maximize the performance of the substitution matrix on the reference alignment set. We give computational results on the BAliBASE suite using a genetic algorithm for optimization. Our results indicate that it is possible to obtain substitution matrices whose performance is either comparable to or surpasses that of several others, depending on the particular scenario under consideration

Skewed parton distributions and the scale dependence of the transverse size parameter

We discuss the scale dependence of a skewed parton distribution of the pion obtained from a generalized light-cone wave function overlap formula. Using a simple ansatz for the transverse momentum dependence of the light-cone wave function and restricting ourselves to the case of a zero skewedness parameter, the skewed parton distribution can be expressed through an ordinary parton distribution multiplied by an exponential function. Matching the generalized and ordinary DGLAP evolution equations of the skewed and ordinary parton distributions, respectively, we derive a constraint for the scale dependence of the transverse size parameter, which describes the width of the pion wave function in transverse momentum space. This constraint has implications for the Fock state probability and valence distribution. We apply our results to the pion form factor.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures; version to appear in Phys. Rev. D; Refs. added, new discussion of results for pion form factor in view of new dat

Separation of Quasiparticle and Phononic Heat Currents in YBCO

Measurements of the transverse (k_{xy}) and longitudinal (k_{xx}) thermal conductivity in high magnetic fields are used to separate the quasiparticle thermal conductivity (k_{xx}^{el}) of the CuO_2-planes from the phononic thermal conductivity in YBa_2Cu_3O_{7-\delta}. k_{xx}^{el} is found to display a pronounced maximum below T_c. Our data analysis reveals distinct transport (\tau) and Hall (\tau_H) relaxation times below T_c: Whereas \tau is strongly enhanced, \tau_H follows the same temperature dependence as above T_c

A Rydberg Quantum Simulator

Following Feynman and as elaborated on by Lloyd, a universal quantum simulator (QS) is a controlled quantum device which reproduces the dynamics of any other many particle quantum system with short range interactions. This dynamics can refer to both coherent Hamiltonian and dissipative open system evolution. We investigate how laser excited Rydberg atoms in large spacing optical or magnetic lattices can provide an efficient implementation of a universal QS for spin models involving (high order) n-body interactions. This includes the simulation of Hamiltonians of exotic spin models involving n-particle constraints such as the Kitaev toric code, color code, and lattice gauge theories with spin liquid phases. In addition, it provides the ingredients for dissipative preparation of entangled states based on engineering n-particle reservoir couplings. The key basic building blocks of our architecture are efficient and high-fidelity n-qubit entangling gates via auxiliary Rydberg atoms, including a possible dissipative time step via optical pumping. This allows to mimic the time evolution of the system by a sequence of fast, parallel and high-fidelity n-particle coherent and dissipative Rydberg gates.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figure

Studies of parton thermalization at RHIC

We consider the evolution of a parton system which is formed in the central region just after a relativistic heavy ion collision. The parton consist of mostly gluons, minijets, which are produced by elastic scattering between constituent partons of the colliding nuclei. We assume the system can be described by a semi-classical Boltzmann transport equation, which we solve by means of the test particle Monte-Carlo method including retardation. The partons proliferate via secondary radiative $gg \to ggg$ processes until the thermalization is reached for some assumptions. The extended system is thermalized at about $t=1.6$ fm/$c$ with $T = 570$ MeV and stays in equilibrium for about 2 fm/$c$ with breaking temperature $T = 360$ MeV in the rapidity central region.Comment: 14 page

Radial Development of a Solar Cosmic Ray Event Between 0.4 and 1 AU on March 3, 1975 as Observed from HELIOS 1 and IMP-7

A micro event was observed by cosmic ray particle experiments on board of Helios 1 and IMP on March 3, 1975. At the time of the event Helios 1 was at a radial distance of 0.4 AU from the sun. The IMP space craft near earth was connected via interplanetary magnetic fieldline with a solar region about 7° west of Helios. The roots of both fieldlines were well within the fast propagation region of two active centers which were capable to accelerate solar particles. This relative position of the two space craft allows to separate solar injection and interplanetary propagation processes and to check existing models. The observed intensity-time profiles and anisotropies require a finite solar injection process; from a comparison of the event profiles and the absolute intensities at the two space craft the amount of interplanetary scattering is derived

Charmonium absorption by nucleons

$J/\Psi$ dissociation in collisions with nucleons is studied within a boson exchange model and the energy dependence of the dissociation cross section is calculated from the threshold for $\Lambda_c{\bar D}$ production to high energies. We illustrate the agreement of our results with calculations based on short distance QCD and Regge theory. The compatibility between our calculations and the data on $J/\Psi$ photoproduction on a nucleon is discussed. We evaluate the elastic $J/\Psi{+}N$ cross section using a forward dispersion relation and demonstrate the overall agreement with the predictions from QCD sum rules. Our results are compatible with the phenomenological dissociation cross section evaluated from the experimental data on $J/\Psi$ production from $\gamma{+}A$, $p{+}A$ and $A{+}A$ collisions.Comment: 14 pages, revtex, including 13 figures, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.