Dunkl-Pauli Equation

The Pauli equation, an important equation of quantum mechanics, allows us to study the dynamics of spin-$1/2$ particles. The Dunkl derivative, when used instead of the ordinary derivative, allows us to obtain parity-dependent solutions. In this work, we consider a two-dimensional nonrelativistic spin-$1/2$ particle system in the presence of an external magnetic field, and we explore the system's dynamics by solving the Pauli equation in the Dunkl formalism analytically. Then, we assume the system to be in thermal equilibrium, so that, we examine various thermal quantities of the system.Comment: 10 pages, 8 figure

Electronic structure of wurtzite and zinc-blende AlN

The electronic structure of AlN in wurtzite and zinc-blende phases is studied experimentally and theoretically. By using x-ray emission spectroscopy, the Al 3p, Al 3s and N 2p spectral densities are obtained. The corresponding local and partial theoretical densities of states (DOS), as well as the total DOS and the band structure, are calculated by using the full potential linearized augmented plane wave method, within the framework of the density functional theory. There is a relatively good agreement between the experimental spectra and the theoretical DOS, showing a large hybridization of the valence states all along the valence band. The discrepancies between the experimental and theoretical DOS, appearing towards the high binding energies, are ascribed to an underestimation of the valence band width in the calculations. Differences between the wurtzite and zinc-blende phases are small and reflect the slight variations between the atomic arrangements of both phases

Spectrum of the Relativistic Particles in Various Potentials

We extend the notion of Dirac oscillator in two dimensions, to construct a set of potentials. These potentials becomes exactly and quasi-exactly solvable potentials of non-relativistic quantum mechanics when they are transformed into a Schr\"{o}dinger-like equation. For the exactly solvable potentials, eigenvalues are calculated and eigenfunctions are given by confluent hypergeometric functions. It is shown that, our formulation also leads to the study of those potentials in the framework of the supersymmetric quantum mechanics

Prospective observational study in early breast cancer at University Hospital of Tlemcen

Background: Breast cancer is the first cancer in women in Algeria. It affects a significant proportion of young women. Stage at diagnosis is made with a positive, massive, and often lymph node involvement. The objective of this study is to determine the clinicopathological and histological features of patients treated for invasive breast carcinoma. Methods: This is an observational prospective study from January 2006 to December 2011 done at the medical oncology department at the University Hospital Center of Tlemcen: 103 patients with early breast cancer were included. Results: Extreme age is between 29 and 70 years; 50% of patients are under 47 years. The average age at diagnosis of 46.45 ± 0.90 years; 54% are stage T2; 17% are stage T3 and 4% stage T4; stage III is the most frequent with 50.4%. Half of patients have four to nine nodes with relatively wide tumor size, and only one patient was stage I; 10% had more than 10 positive nodes. The infiltrating ductal carcinoma is the most common histological types (83.5%), followed by atypical carcinoma (5.82%). Note the predominance of grade II of Scarf Bloom and Richardson (58.25%), followed by grade III (36.89%) and grade I (1.91%). Over 50% of patients had a tumor size of 35.41 ± 1.82 mm. Hormone receptors were positive in 65% of patients (ER + PR +) and negative in 35%. HER2 status was determined in 82 patients, 12% expressed a positive score, and 67% of were negative. The luminal profile is the most common in our study population with 57.3%, followed by triple negative tumors or basal-like with 26.8%. Conservative surgical treatment was realized in 2.9% and an astectomy in most patients at 97%. Radiotherapy was performed in 83.5% of patients, and 65% of patients received hormone therapy according to hormone positivity. Conclusion: The clinical and histological profiles of the patients in our study population are different from Western populations by the average age of diagnosis of 46 years, 10 years higher for Western women, and the stage is more advanced for our population. The majority are at stage III, while Western women are diagnosed at stage I or II through screening. Given the Algerian profile, women should be offered screening at aged 40 years for earlier diagnosis and improved survival rate

Antidiabetic treatment, obesity, and cancer risk in Algerian patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus

OBJECTIVE: Several studies have shown that antidiabetic drugs and obesity can modulate the risk of developing cancer. The objective of this study was to assess the impact of the use of antidiabetic drugs and obesity on the risk of developing cancers in type 2 diabetics. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Data for 1220 patients were collected from the processing of files and a pre-established questionnaire. The anthropobiological parameters and the associated treatment type have been unspecified. RESULTS: Women (OR=17.26; 95% CI=2.88-103.45, p<0.01), overweight individuals (OR=4.81; 95% CI=1.63-14.14, p<0.01) and hypertensive diabetic subjects (OR=3.82; 95% CI=1.39-10.49, p< 0.01) are more exposed to cancers. It is interesting to note that diabetic subjects treated with insulin have a reduced risk of developing cancer (OR=0.22; 95% CI=0.07-0.67, p<0.01). Diabetic subjects treated with metformin have a four and a half times higher risk of developing cancer (OR=4.61; 95% CI=1.48-14.37, p<0.01). CONCLUSIONS: In type 2 diabetic subjects, cancer is significantly linked to overweight, to the presence of essential hypertension in individuals under hypotensive as well as in patients treated with metformin

Quantum Smoluchowski equation: Escape from a metastable state

We develop a quantum Smoluchowski equation in terms of a true probability distribution function to describe quantum Brownian motion in configuration space in large friction limit at arbitrary temperature and derive the rate of barrier crossing and tunneling within an unified scheme. The present treatment is independent of path integral formalism and is based on canonical quantization procedure.Comment: 10 pages, To appear in the Proceedings of Statphys - Kolkata I

Life-threatening hypersensitivity pneumonitis induced by docetaxel (taxotere)

4 patients with advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) treated with docetaxel developed life-threatening pneumonitis requiring mechanical ventilation. Docetaxel (30–60 mg m−2, according to a different protocol) was infused within one hour with standard premedications. One patient's pneumonitis occurred 5 days after the first dose of docetaxel, and that of the other 3 between the 2nd and 6th cycles. Based on the clinical course, radiological findings of an interstitial pneumonitis, and exclusion of other possible resultant causes, including metastatic cancer, radiation pulmonary injury, infection, or connective tissue disease, hypersensitivity pneumonitis was diagnosed. The patients were treated with hydrocortisone at 1200 mg per day or methylprednisolone at 240 mg per day. Although 3 of the 4 had a partial improvement in lung oxygenation, all patients’ conditions of hypersensitivity pneumonitis persisted and were complicated by other events, such as hospital-acquired infection and tension pneumothorax. The presence of this unusual hypersensitivity pneumonitis, which was so severe as to be life-threatening and refractory to high-dose corticosteroid therapy, should be taken into account during docetaxel treatment. © 2001 Cancer Research Campaig

In vivo confocal microscopy and histopathology of the conjunctiva in trachomatous scarring and normal tissue: a systematic comparison.

AIM: To compare in vivo confocal microscopy (IVCM) with the histopathological examination of tissue and cellular changes in normal and diseased conjunctiva. METHODS: Participants underwent clinical examination and IVCM of the tarsal conjunctiva. A biopsy of the upper tarsal conjunctiva was collected and stained with tinctorial stains and by immunohistochemical staining for CD45 and CD83. Connective tissue scarring, inflammatory cell density and the presence of dendritiform cells were quantitatively assessed in a masked manner by both IVCM and histological assessments for comparative analysis. RESULTS: Thirty-four participants with severe trachomatous conjunctival scarring and 33 participants with healthy conjunctiva were recruited. The IVCM connective tissue scarring score was strongly associated with the histological grading of scarring (p<0.001). There was limited evidence of an association between the IVCM inflammatory cell infiltrate and the histological inflammatory cell grade (p=0.05). We did not find any evidence to support the hypothesis that dendritiform cells seen with IVCM are mature, conventional dendritic cells. CONCLUSIONS: The results show that IVCM can be used to robustly quantitate connective tissue scarring and also has a role in measuring the inflammatory cell infiltrate. The discordance between IVCM dendritiform cells and immunohistochemical dendritic cells may be a result of study limitations or may be because these dendritiform structures represent another cell type, such as fibroblasts, rather than dendritic cells