7,424 research outputs found
Upper critical field in superconductors near ferromagnetic quantum critical points; UCoGe
We study the strong-coupling superconductivity near ferromagnetic quantum
critical points, mainly focusing on the upper critical fields . Based
on our simple model calculations, we discuss experimentally observed unusual
behaviors of in a recently discovered ferromagnetic superconductor
UCoGe. Especially, the large anisotropy between -axis and
-axis, and the strong-coupling behaviors in
are investigated. We also examine effects of
non-analytic corrections in the spin susceptibility on the superconductivity,
which can arise from effective long range interactions due to particle-hole
excitations.Comment: Proceedings of ICHE2010, Toky
Scaling of the superfluid density in superfluid films
We study scaling of the superfluid density with respect to the film thickness
by simulating the model on films of size ()
using the cluster Monte Carlo. While periodic boundary conditions where used in
the planar () directions, Dirichlet boundary conditions where used along the
film thickness. We find that our results can be scaled on a universal curve by
introducing an effective thickness. In the limit of large our scaling
relations reduce to the conventional scaling forms. Using the same idea we find
scaling in the experimental results using the same value of .Comment: 4 pages, one postscript file replaced by one Latex file and 5
postscript figure
Accuracy and reproducibility of contrast-enhanced mammography in the assessment of response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy in breast cancer patients with calcifications in the tumor bed
This study aimed to evaluate contrast-enhanced mammography (CEM) accuracy and reproducibility in the detection and measurement of residual tumor after neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) in breast cancer (BC) patients with calcifications, using surgical specimen pathology as the reference. Pre-and post-NAC CEM images of 36 consecutive BC patients receiving NAC in 2012–2020, with calcifications in the tumor bed at diagnosis, were retrospectively reviewed by two radiologists; described were absence/presence and size of residual disease based on contrast enhancement (CE) only and CE plus calcifications. Twenty-eight patients (77.8%) had invasive and 5 (13.9%) in situ-only residual disease at surgical specimen pathology. Considering CE plus calcifications instead of CE only, CEM sensitivity for invasive residual tumor increased from 85.7% (95% CI = 67.3–96%) to 96.4% (95% CI = 81.7–99.9% ) and specificity decreased from 5/8 (62.5%; 95% CI = 24.5–91.5%) to 1/8 (14.3%; 95% CI = 0.4–57.9%). For in situ-only residual disease, false negatives decreased from 3 to 0 and false positives increased from 1 to 2. CEM pathology concordance in residual disease measurement increased (R squared from 0.38 to 0.45); inter-reader concordance decreased (R squared from 0.79 to 0.66). Considering CE plus calcifications to evaluate NAC response in BC patients increases sensitivity in detection and accuracy in measurement of residual disease but increases false positives
Scaling of the specific heat in superfluid films
We study the specific heat of the model on lattices with (i.e. on lattices representing a film geometry) using the
Cluster Monte--Carlo method. In the --direction we apply Dirichlet boundary
conditions so that the order parameter in the top and bottom layers is zero. We
find that our results for the specific heat of various thickness size
collapse on the same universal scaling function. The extracted scaling function
of the specific heat is in good agreement with the experimentally determined
universal scaling function using no free parameters.Comment: 4 pages, uuencoded compressed PostScrip
Genomic landscape characterization of large granular lymphocyte leukemia with a systems genetics approach
Non peer reviewe
Scaling of thermal conductivity of helium confined in pores
We have studied the thermal conductivity of confined superfluids on a
bar-like geometry. We use the planar magnet lattice model on a lattice with . We have applied open boundary conditions on the bar
sides (the confined directions of length ) and periodic along the long
direction. We have adopted a hybrid Monte Carlo algorithm to efficiently deal
with the critical slowing down and in order to solve the dynamical equations of
motion we use a discretization technique which introduces errors only
in the time step . Our results demonstrate the
validity of scaling using known values of the critical exponents and we
obtained the scaling function of the thermal resistivity. We find that our
results for the thermal resistivity scaling function are in very good agreement
with the available experimental results for pores using the tempComment: 5 two-column pages, 3 figures, Revtex
The challenges of clinical trials in fragile X syndrome
RATIONALE: Advances in understanding the underlying mechanisms of conditions such as fragile X syndrome (FXS) and autism spectrum disorders have revealed heterogeneous populations. Recent trials of novel FXS therapies have highlighted several challenges including subpopulations with possibly differential therapeutic responses, the lack of specific outcome measures capturing the full range of improvements of patients with FXS, and a lack of biomarkers that can track whether a specific mechanism is responsive to a new drug and whether the response correlates with clinical improvement.
OBJECTIVES: We review the phenotypic heterogeneity of FXS and the implications for clinical research in FXS and other neurodevelopmental disorders.
RESULTS: Residual levels of fragile X mental retardation protein (FMRP) expression explain in part the heterogeneity in the FXS phenotype; studies indicate a correlation with both cognitive and behavioral deficits. However, this does not fully explain the extent of phenotypic variance observed or the variability of drug response. Post hoc analyses of studies involving the selective mGluR5 antagonist mavoglurant and the GABAB agonist arbaclofen have uncovered significant therapeutic responses following patient stratification according to FMR1 promoter methylation patterns or baseline severity of social withdrawal, respectively. Future studies designed to quantify disease modification will need to develop new strategies to track changes effectively over time and in multiple symptom domains.
CONCLUSION: Appropriate selection of patients and outcome measures is central to optimizing future clinical investigations of these complex disorders
Biomarkers changes after neoadjuvant chemotherapy in breast cancer: A seven-year single institution experience
The adoption of neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) for breast cancer (BC) is increasing. The need to repeat the biomarkers on a residual tumor after NACT is still a matter of debate. We verified estrogen receptors (ER), progesterone receptors (PR), Ki67 and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) status changes impact in a retrospective monocentric series of 265 BCs undergoing NACT. All biomarkers changed with an overall tendency toward a reduced expression. Changes in PR and Ki67 were statistically significant (p = 0.001). Ki67 changed in 114/265 (43.0%) cases, PR in 44/265 (16.6%), ER in 31/265 (11.7%) and HER2 in 26/265 (9.8%). Overall, intrinsic subtype changed in 72/265 (27.2%) cases after NACT, and 10/265 (3.8%) cases switched to a different adjuvant therapy accordingly. Luminal subtypes changed most frequently (66/175; 31.7%) but with less impact on therapy (5/175; 2.8%). Only 3 of 58 triple-negative BCs (5.2%) changed their intrinsic subtype, but all of them switched treatment. No correlation was found between intrinsic subtype changes and clinicopathological features. To conclude, biomarkers changes with prognostic implications occurred in all BC intrinsic subtypes, albeit they impacted therapy mostly in HER2 negative and/or hormone receptors negative BCs. Biomarkers retesting after NACT is important to improve both tailored adjuvant therapies and prognostication of patients
Casimir force in O(n) lattice models with a diffuse interface
On the example of the spherical model we study, as a function of the
temperature , the behavior of the Casimir force in O(n) systems with a
diffuse interface and slab geometry , where is
the dimensionality of the system. We consider a system with nearest-neighbor
anisotropic interaction constants parallel to the film and
across it. The model represents the limit of O(n) models
with antiperiodic boundary conditions applied across the finite dimension
of the film. We observe that the Casimir amplitude of the anisotropic -dimensional system is
related to that one of the isotropic system via
. For we find the exact Casimir amplitude , as well as the exact scaling functions of
the Casimir force and of the helicity modulus . We obtain that
, where is the critical temperature of the
bulk system. We find that the effect of the helicity is thus strong that the
Casimir force is repulsive in the whole temperature region.Comment: 15 pages, 3 figure
Post-graduate medical education in public health: The case of Italy and a call for action
Public health technical expertise is of crucial importance to inform decision makers\u2019
action in the field of health and its broader determinants. Improving education and
training of public health professionals for both practice and research is the starting
point to strengthen the role of public health so that current health challenges can
be efficiently tackled. At the Association of Schools of Public Health in the European
Region (ASPHER) Deans\u2019 & Directors\u2019 2017 Annual Retreat, we presented the structure
and management of public health training system in Italy, and we reported recent data
on Italian public health specialists\u2019 educational experience, employment opportunities
and job satisfaction. Public health training in Italy is implemented in the context
of the post-graduate medical education residency programme in Hygiene and
Preventive Medicine, delivered by 34 University-based Schools of Public Health.
We report relatively high employment rates across the county and wide
spectrum of career opportunities for young public health specialists. However,
job security is low and training expectations only partially met. We call upon
other Schools of Public Health to scale up the survey within the broad ASPHER
community in a shared and coordinated action of systematically collecting useful
data that can inform the development of public health education and training
models, their implementation and fruitful interaction with population health,
health systems and services
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