19,565 research outputs found
Independent predictors of breast malignancy in screen-detected microcalcifications: biopsy results in 2545 cases
Background: Mammographic microcalcifications are associated with many benign lesions, ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) and invasive cancer. Careful assessment criteria are required to minimise benign biopsies while optimising cancer diagnosis. We wished to evaluate the assessment outcomes of microcalcifications biopsied in the setting of population-based breast cancer screening. Methods: Between January 1992 and December 2007, cases biopsied in which microcalcifications were the only imaging abnormality were included. Patient demographics, imaging features and final histology were subjected to statistical analysis to determine independent predictors of malignancy. Results: In all, 2545 lesions, with a mean diameter of 21.8 mm (s.d. 23.8 mm) and observed in patients with a mean age of 57.7 years (s.d. 8.4 years), were included. Using the grading system adopted by the RANZCR, the grade was 3 in 47.7%; 4 in 28.3% and 5 in 24.0%. After assessment, 1220 lesions (47.9%) were malignant (809 DCIS only, 411 DCIS with invasive cancer) and 1325 (52.1%) were non-malignant, including 122 (4.8%) premalignant lesions (lobular carcinoma in situ, atypical lobular hyperplasia and atypical ductal hyperplasia). Only 30.9% of the DCIS was of low grade. Mammographic extent of microcalcifications >15 mm, imaging grade, their pattern of distribution, presence of a palpable mass and detection after the first screening episode showed significant univariate associations with malignancy. On multivariate modeling imaging grade, mammographic extent of microcalcifications >15 mm, palpable mass and screening episode were retained as independent predictors of malignancy. Radiological grade had the largest effect with lesions of grade 4 and 5 being 2.2 and 3.3 times more likely to be malignant, respectively, than grade 3 lesions. Conclusion: The radiological grading scheme used throughout Australia and parts of Europe is validated as a useful system of stratifying microcalcifications into groups with significantly different risks of malignancy. Biopsy assessment of appropriately selected microcalcifications is an effective method of detecting invasive breast cancer and DCIS, particularly of non-low-grade subtypes.G Farshid, T Sullivan, P Downey, P G Gill, and S Pieters
Hybrid Superconductor-Quantum Point Contact Devices using InSb Nanowires
Proposals for studying topological superconductivity and Majorana bound
states in nanowires proximity coupled to superconductors require that transport
in the nanowire is ballistic. Previous work on hybrid nanowire-superconductor
systems has shown evidence for Majorana bound states, but these experiments
were also marked by disorder, which disrupts ballistic transport. In this
letter, we demonstrate ballistic transport in InSb nanowires interfaced
directly with superconducting Al by observing quantized conductance at
zero-magnetic field. Additionally, we demonstrate that the nanowire is
proximity coupled to the superconducting contacts by observing Andreev
reflection. These results are important steps for robustly establishing
topological superconductivity in InSb nanowires
Unique Mass Texture for Quarks and Leptons
Texture specific quark mass matrices which are hermitian and hierarchical are
examined in detail . In the case of texture 6 zeros matrices, out of sixteen
possibilities examined by us, none is able to fit the low energy data (LED),
for example, , ,
, lies in the range (PDG). Similarly none of the 32 texture 5 zeros mass matrices considered
is able to reproduce LED. In particular, the latest data from LEP regarding
rules out all of them. In the texture 4
zeros case, we find that there is a unique texture structure for and
mass matrices which is able to fit the data.Comment: 12 pages, LaTeX,some changes in the references,minor changes in the
text,to appear in Phys Rev D(Rapid communications
Robustness of Planar Fourier Capture Arrays to Colour Changes and Lost Pixels
Planar Fourier capture arrays (PFCAs) are optical sensors built entirely in
standard microchip manufacturing flows. PFCAs are composed of ensembles of
angle sensitive pixels (ASPs) that each report a single coefficient of the
Fourier transform of the far-away scene. Here we characterize the performance
of PFCAs under the following three non-optimal conditions. First, we show that
PFCAs can operate while sensing light of a wavelength other than the design
point. Second, if only a randomly-selected subset of 10% of the ASPs are
functional, we can nonetheless reconstruct the entire far-away scene using
compressed sensing. Third, if the wavelength of the imaged light is unknown, it
can be inferred by demanding self-consistency of the outputs.Comment: 15 pages including cover page, 12 figures, associated with the 9th
International Conference on Position Sensitive Detector
Analytic Representation of The Dirac Equation
In this paper we construct an analytical separation (diagonalization) of the
full (minimal coupling) Dirac equation into particle and antiparticle
components. The diagonalization is analytic in that it is achieved without
transforming the wave functions, as is done by the Foldy-Wouthuysen method, and
reveals the nonlocal time behavior of the particle-antiparticle relationship.
We interpret the zitterbewegung and the result that a velocity measurement (of
a Dirac particle) at any instant in time is, as reflections of the fact that
the Dirac equation makes a spatially extended particle appear as a point in the
present by forcing it to oscillate between the past and future at speed c. From
this we infer that, although the form of the Dirac equation serves to make
space and time appear on an equal footing mathematically, it is clear that they
are still not on an equal footing from a physical point of view. On the other
hand, the Foldy-Wouthuysen transformation, which connects the Dirac and square
root operator, is unitary. Reflection on these results suggests that a more
refined notion (than that of unitary equivalence) may be required for physical
systems
Texture Specific Mass Matrices and CP violating asymmetry in B^o_d({\bar B}^o_d) -> \psi K_S
In the context of texture 4 - zero and texture 5 - zero hierarchical quark
mass matrices, CP violating asymmetry in
(sin2) has been evaluated by considering quark masses at scale.
For a particular viable texture 4 - zero mass matrix the range of sin2\beta is:
0.27 - 0.60 and for the corresponding texture 5 - zero case it is 0.31 - 0.59.
Further our calculations reveal a crucial dependence of sin2 on light
quark masses as well as the phase in this sector.Comment: 10 latex pages, 4 EPS figure
The ‘Ombuds Watchers’: Collective Dissent and Legal Protest Among Users of Public Services Ombuds
This article examines the phenomenon of the ‘ombuds watchers’. These are groups of dissatisfied users of public service ombuds schemes who engage in legal protest against the current system of redress for citizen-state complaints. Through the lens of legal consciousness scholarship we propose a framework that conceptualizes the collectivized protest of the ombuds watchers. Based on an empirical dataset, our analysis has shown that the ombuds watchers meet each of the defining characteristics of dissenting collectivism and demonstrates the existence of forms of legal consciousness which present ‘opportunities to build alternative imaginaries and institutions’ (Morgan and Kutch 2015, p. 567). Our case study provides an insight into the potential for dissenting collectives to challenge the hegemonic structures of state law, while at the same time emphasising the continuing power of legal ideology in shaping popular understandings of justice. The article also suggests a pathway for future empirical research into ombuds
Ion-Acoustic Solitons in Bi-Ion Dusty Plasma
The propagation of ion-acoustic solitons in a warm dusty plasma containing
two ion species is investigated theoretically. Using an approach based on the
Korteveg-de-Vries equation, it is shown that the critical value of the negative
ion density that separates the domains of existence of compressi- on and
rarefaction solitons depends continuously on the dust density. A modified
Korteveg-de Vries equation for the critical density is derived in the higher
order of the expansion in the small parameter. It is found that the nonlinear
coefficient of this equation is positive for any values of the dust density and
the masses of positive and negative ions. For the case where the negative ion
density is close to its critical value, a soliton solution is found that takes
into account both the quadratic and cubic nonlinearities. The propagation of a
solitary wave of arbitrary amplitude is investigated by the quasi-potential
method. It is shown that the range of the dust densities around the critical
value within which solitary waves with positive and negative potentials can
exist simultaneously is relatively wide.Comment: 17 pages, 5 figure
Texture of Yukawa coupling matrices in general two-Higgs-doublet model
We discuss possible parallel textures of the Yukawa coupling matrices in the
generaltwo-Higgs-doublet model (2HDM). In those textures the flavor changing
neutral currentsare naturally suppressed. Motivated by a phenomenologically
successful texturewith four texture zeros in the standard model, we propose a
predictive ansatz for the Yukawa coupling matrices with the same texture in the
general 2HDM. Compared with the six texture-zero based ansatz proposed by Cheng
and Sher, it is in a better agreement with the data of quark mixings and CP
violation. The four texture-zero based ansatz predicts a different hierarchy in
the Yukawa coupling matrix elements. As a consequence, in the lepton sector,
the related Yukawa couplings are less constrained by the experimental upper
bound of , which allows significantly larger predictions for
other processes. The contributions from neutral scalar interactions to the
lepton number violation decay modes are
calculated in both ansatz. It is shown that the predictions from the four
texture-zero based ansatz could be two order of magnitude greater than that
from the six texture-zero based one. The branching ratio of and
can reach and 1.3\tiems 10^{-10}
respectively. The predicted ratio of is also
larger and almost parameter independent. Those differences make the two ansatz
to be easily distinguished by the future experiments.Comment: 12 pages, 2 figure
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