179 research outputs found
The Nuts and Bolts of Einstein-Maxwell Solutions
We find new non-supersymmetric solutions of five-dimensional ungauged
supergravity coupled to two vector multiplets. The solutions are regular,
horizonless and have the same asymptotic charges as non-extremal charged black
holes. An essential ingredient in our construction is a four-dimensional
Euclidean base which is a solution to Einstein-Maxwell equations. We construct
stationary solutions based on the Euclidean dyonic Reissner-Nordstrom black
hole as well as a six-parameter family with a dyonic Kerr-Newman-NUT base.
These solutions can be viewed as compactifications of eleven-dimensional
supergravity on a six-torus and we discuss their brane interpretation.Comment: 29 pages, 3 figure
iPSCORE: A Resource of 222 iPSC Lines Enabling Functional Characterization of Genetic Variation across a Variety of Cell Types.
Large-scale collections of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) could serve as powerful model systems for examining how genetic variation affects biology and disease. Here we describe the iPSCORE resource: a collection of systematically derived and characterized iPSC lines from 222 ethnically diverse individuals that allows for both familial and association-based genetic studies. iPSCORE lines are pluripotent with high genomic integrity (no or low numbers of somatic copy-number variants) as determined using high-throughput RNA-sequencing and genotyping arrays, respectively. Using iPSCs from a family of individuals, we show that iPSC-derived cardiomyocytes demonstrate gene expression patterns that cluster by genetic background, and can be used to examine variants associated with physiological and disease phenotypes. The iPSCORE collection contains representative individuals for risk and non-risk alleles for 95% of SNPs associated with human phenotypes through genome-wide association studies. Our study demonstrates the utility of iPSCORE for examining how genetic variants influence molecular and physiological traits in iPSCs and derived cell lines
MIMO radar clutter mitigation based on joint beamforming and joint domain localized processing
Stability, mobility and power currents in a two-dimensional model for waveguide arrays with nonlinear coupling
A two-dimensional nonlinear Schrodinger lattice with nonlinear coupling,
modelling a square array of weakly coupled linear optical waveguides embedded
in a nonlinear Kerr material, is studied. We find that despite a vanishing
energy difference (Peierls-Nabarro barrier) of fundamental stationary modes the
mobility of localized excitations is very poor. This is attributed to a large
separation in parameter space of the bifurcation points of the involved
stationary modes. At these points the stability of the fundamental modes is
changed and an asymmetric intermediate solution appears that connects the
points. The control of the power flow across the array when excited with plane
waves is also addressed and shown to exhibit great flexibility that may lead to
applications for power-coupling devices. In certain parameter regimes, the
direction of a stable propagating plane-wave current is shown to be
continuously tunable by amplitude variation (with fixed phase gradient). More
exotic effects of the nonlinear coupling terms like compact discrete breathers
and vortices, and stationary complex modes with non-trivial phase relations are
also briefly discussed. Regimes of dynamical linear stability are found for all
these types of solutions.Comment: 31 pages, 12 figures, submitted to Physica D (21 September 2006,
revised 23 April 2008
Incidence of synchronous appendiceal neoplasm in patients with colorectal cancer and its clinical significance
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The aims of this study were to evaluate the incidence of synchronous appendiceal neoplasm in patients with colorectal cancer, and to determine its clinical significance.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Pathological reports and medical records were reviewed of patients with colorectal adenocarcinoma who underwent oncological resection of the tumor together with appendectomy at the Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University, Thailand between September 2000 and April 2008.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>This study included 293 patients with an average age of 62 years (range 19–95) and 51 percent were male. Of the patients studied, 228 (78 percent) had right hemicolectomy, whereas the others (22 percent) had surgery for left-sided colon cancer or rectal cancer. One patient (0.3 percent) had epithelial appendiceal neoplasm (mucinous cystadenoma) and 3 patients (1.0 percent) had metastatic colorectal cancer in the mesoappendix. However, the presence of synchronous appendiceal tumors and/or metastasis did not alter postoperative management, as these patients had received adjuvant therapy and were scheduled for surveillance program because of nodal involvement.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The incidence of synchronous primary appendiceal neoplasm and secondary (metastatic) appendiceal neoplasm in colorectal cancer patients was 0.3 and 1.0 percent, respectively. However, these findings did not change the postoperative clinical management.</p
Variational and Geometric Structures of Discrete Dirac Mechanics
In this paper, we develop the theoretical foundations of discrete Dirac
mechanics, that is, discrete mechanics of degenerate Lagrangian/Hamiltonian
systems with constraints. We first construct discrete analogues of Tulczyjew's
triple and induced Dirac structures by considering the geometry of symplectic
maps and their associated generating functions. We demonstrate that this
framework provides a means of deriving discrete Lagrange-Dirac and nonholonomic
Hamiltonian systems. In particular, this yields nonholonomic Lagrangian and
Hamiltonian integrators. We also introduce discrete
Lagrange-d'Alembert-Pontryagin and Hamilton-d'Alembert variational principles,
which provide an alternative derivation of the same set of integration
algorithms. The paper provides a unified treatment of discrete Lagrangian and
Hamiltonian mechanics in the more general setting of discrete Dirac mechanics,
as well as a generalization of symplectic and Poisson integrators to the
broader category of Dirac integrators.Comment: 26 pages; published online in Foundations of Computational
Mathematics (2011
Primary pancreatic lymphoma – pancreatic tumours that are potentially curable without resection, a retrospective review of four cases
BACKGROUND: Primary pancreatic lymphomas (PPL) are rare tumours of the pancreas. Symptoms, imaging and tumour markers can mimic pancreatic adenocarcinoma, but they are much more amenable to treatment. Treatment for PPL remains controversial, particularly the role of surgical resection. METHODS: Four cases of primary pancreatic lymphoma were identified at Prince of Wales Hospital, Sydney, Australia. A literature review of cases of PPL reported between 1985 and 2005 was conducted, and outcomes were contrasted. RESULTS: All four patients presented with upper abdominal symptoms associated with weight loss. One case was diagnosed without surgery. No patients underwent pancreatectomy. All patients were treated with chemotherapy and radiotherapy, and two of four patients received rituximab. One patient died at 32 months. Three patients are disease free at 15, 25 and 64 months, one after successful retreatment. Literature review identified a further 103 patients in 11 case series. Outcomes in our series and other series of chemotherapy and radiotherapy compared favourably to surgical series. CONCLUSION: Biopsy of all pancreatic masses is essential, to exclude potentially curable conditions such as PPL, and can be performed without laparotomy. Combined multimodality treatment, utilising chemotherapy and radiotherapy, without surgical resection is advocated but a cooperative prospective study would lead to further improvement in treatment outcomes
Central Iliac Arteriovenous Anastomosis for Hypertension: Targeting Mechanical Aspects of the Circulation
Polygenic scores and onset of major mood or psychotic disorders among offspring of affected parents
Objective:
Family history is an established risk factor for mental illness. The authors sought to investigate whether polygenic scores (PGSs) can complement family history to improve identification of risk for major mood and psychotic disorders.
Methods:
Eight cohorts were combined to create a sample of 1,884 participants ages 2–36 years, including 1,339 offspring of parents with mood or psychotic disorders, who were prospectively assessed with diagnostic interviews over an average of 5.1 years. PGSs were constructed for depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), schizophrenia, neuroticism, subjective well-being, p factor, and height (as a negative control). Cox regression was used to test associations between PGSs, family history of major mental illness, and onsets of major mood and psychotic disorders.
Results:
There were 435 onsets of major mood and psychotic disorders across follow-up. PGSs for neuroticism (hazard ratio=1.23, 95% CI=1.12–1.36), schizophrenia (hazard ratio=1.15, 95% CI=1.04–1.26), depression (hazard ratio=1.11, 95% CI=1.01–1.22), ADHD (hazard ratio=1.10, 95% CI=1.00–1.21), subjective well-being (hazard ratio=0.90, 95% CI=0.82–0.99), and p factor (hazard ratio=1.14, 95% CI=1.04–1.26) were associated with onsets. After controlling for family history, neuroticism PGS remained significantly positively associated (hazard ratio=1.19, 95% CI=1.08–1.31) and subjective well-being PGS remained significantly negatively associated (hazard ratio=0.89, 95% CI=0.81–0.98) with onsets.
Conclusions:
Neuroticism and subjective well-being PGSs capture risk of major mood and psychotic disorders that is independent of family history, whereas PGSs for psychiatric illness provide limited predictive power when family history is known. Neuroticism and subjective well-being PGSs may complement family history in the early identification of persons at elevated risk
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