773 research outputs found
A new approach to electromagnetic wave tails on a curved spacetime
We present an alternative method for constructing the exact and approximate
solutions of electromagnetic wave equations whose source terms are arbitrary
order multipoles on a curved spacetime. The developed method is based on the
higher-order Green's functions for wave equations which are defined as
distributions that satisfy wave equations with the corresponding order
covariant derivatives of the Dirac delta function as the source terms. The
constructed solution is applied to the study of various geometric effects on
the generation and propagation of electromagnetic wave tails to first order in
the Riemann tensor. Generally the received radiation tail occurs after a time
delay which represents geometrical backscattering by the central gravitational
source. It is shown that the truly nonlocal wave-propagation correction (the
tail term) takes a universal form which is independent of multipole order. In a
particular case, if the radiation pulse is generated by the source during a
finite time interval, the tail term after the primary pulse is entirely
determined by the energy-momentum vector of the gravitational field source: the
form of the tail term is independent of the multipole structure of the
gravitational source. We apply the results to a compact binary system and
conclude that under certain conditions the tail energy can be a noticeable
fraction of the primary pulse energy. We argue that the wave tails should be
carefully considered in energy calculations of such systems.Comment: RevTex, 28 pages, 5 eps figures, http://www.tpu.ee/~tony/texdocs/, 4
changes made (pp. 2, 4, 22, 24), 2 references adde
Diffusion and Current of Brownian Particles in Tilted Piecewise Linear Potentials: Amplification and Coherence
Overdamped motion of Brownian particles in tilted piecewise linear periodic
potentials is considered. Explicit algebraic expressions for the diffusion
coefficient, current, and coherence level of Brownian transport are derived.
Their dependencies on temperature, tilting force, and the shape of the
potential are analyzed. The necessary and sufficient conditions for the
non-monotonic behavior of the diffusion coefficient as a function of
temperature are determined. The diffusion coefficient and coherence level are
found to be extremely sensitive to the asymmetry of the potential. It is
established that at the values of the external force, for which the enhancement
of diffusion is most rapid, the level of coherence has a wide plateau at low
temperatures with the value of the Peclet factor 2. An interpretation of the
amplification of diffusion in comparison with free thermal diffusion in terms
of probability distribution is proposed.Comment: To appear in PR
Tissue microarray immunohistochemical detection of brachyury is not a prognostic indicator in chordoma.
Brachyury is a marker for notochord-derived tissues and neoplasms, such as chordoma. However, the prognostic relevance of brachyury expression in chordoma is still unknown. The improvement of tissue microarray technology has provided the opportunity to perform analyses of tumor tissues on a large scale in a uniform and consistent manner. This study was designed with the use of tissue microarray to determine the expression of brachyury. Brachyury expression in chordoma tissues from 78 chordoma patients was analyzed by immunohistochemical staining of tissue microarray. The clinicopathologic parameters, including gender, age, location of tumor and metastatic status were evaluated. Fifty-nine of 78 (75.64%) tumors showed nuclear staining for brachyury, and among them, 29 tumors (49.15%) showed 1+ (<30% positive cells) staining, 15 tumors (25.42%) had 2+ (31% to 60% positive cells) staining, and 15 tumors (25.42%) demonstrated 3+ (61% to 100% positive cells) staining. Brachyury nuclear staining was detected more frequently in sacral chordomas than in chordomas of the mobile spine. However, there was no significant relationship between brachyury expression and other clinical variables. By Kaplan-Meier analysis, brachyury expression failed to produce any significant relationship with the overall survival rate. In conclusion, brachyury expression is not a prognostic indicator in chordoma
Gibbs attractor: a chaotic nearly Hamiltonian system, driven by external harmonic force
A chaotic autonomous Hamiltonian systems, perturbed by small damping and
small external force, harmonically dependent on time, can acquire a strange
attractor with properties similar to that of the canonical distribution - the
Gibbs attractor. The evolution of the energy in such systems can be described
as the energy diffusion. For the nonlinear Pullen - Edmonds oscillator with two
degrees of freedom the properties of the Gibbs attractor and their dependence
on parameters of the perturbation are studied both analytically and
numerically.Comment: 8 pages RevTeX, 3 figure
Osteoblastic differentiation and P-glycoprotein multidrug resistance in a murine osteosarcoma model
A recent study of multidrug resistance (MDR) 1 gene transfected osteosarcoma cells found a cause-effect relationship between increased expression of P-glycoprotein (P-gp) and a low aggressive phenotype. However, several experimental and clinical studies have observed contradictory findings in that P-gp expression has been associated with tumour progression. In the present study, we characterized P-gp-positive and P-gp-negative single-cell clones of a murine osteosarcoma, to further investigate the relationship between P-gp expression and changes in cell phenotype. Although these clones were all selected by doxorubicin (DOX) exposure, they were heterogeneous with respect to MDR1 gene expression. The P-gp-positive clones revealed MDR phenotype, whereas the P-gp-negative clones showed no resistance to drugs. Morphological and functional analysis showed that both the P-gp-positive and P-gp-negative clones were more differentiated than the parent cells in terms of enhanced activity of cellular alkaline phosphatase, an increase in well-organized actin stress fibres and enhanced osteogenic activity. Moreover, these subclones all displayed a decrease in malignant potential such as oncogenic activity, tumour growth rate and metastatic ability, regardless of their P-gp status. These results indicate that the observed osteoblastic differentiation and less aggressive phenotype in DOX-selected osteosarcoma cells may not only be explained by the direct effect of P-gp, and accordingly, consideration of the effect of DOX, as well as P-gp, appears to be important. © 2000 Cancer Research Campaig
Comparison of QG-Induced Dispersion with Standard Physics Effects
One of the predictions of quantum gravity phenomenology is that, in
situations where Planck-scale physics and the notion of a quantum spacetime are
relevant, field propagation will be described by a modified set of laws.
Descriptions of the underlying mechanism differ from model to model, but a
general feature is that electromagnetic waves will have non-trivial dispersion
relations. A physical phenomenon that offers the possibility of experimentally
testing these ideas in the foreseeable future is the propagation of high-energy
gamma rays from GRB's at cosmological distances. With the observation of
non-standard dispersion relations within experimental reach, it is thus
important to find out whether there are competing effects that could either
mask or be mistaken for this one. In this letter, we consider possible effects
from standard physics, due to electromagnetic interactions, classical as well
as quantum, and coupling to classical geometry. Our results indicate that, for
currently observed gamma-ray energies and estimates of cosmological parameter
values, those effects are much smaller than the quantum gravity one if the
latter is first-order in the energy; some corrections are comparable in
magnitude with the second-order quantum gravity ones, but they have a very
different energy dependence.Comment: 8 pages; Version to be published in CQG as a letter; Includes some
new comments and references, but no changes in the result
Future directions for the management of pain in osteoarthritis.
Osteoarthritis (OA) is the predominant form of arthritis worldwide, resulting in a high degree of functional impairment and reduced quality of life owing to chronic pain. To date, there are no treatments that are known to modify disease progression of OA in the long term. Current treatments are largely based on the modulation of pain, including NSAIDs, opiates and, more recently, centrally acting pharmacotherapies to avert pain. This review will focus on the rationale for new avenues in pain modulation, including inhibition with anti-NGF antibodies and centrally acting analgesics. The authors also consider the potential for structure modification in cartilage/bone using growth factors and stem cell therapies. The possible mismatch between structural change and pain perception will also be discussed, introducing recent techniques that may assist in improved patient phenotyping of pain subsets in OA. Such developments could help further stratify subgroups and treatments for people with OA in future
Current pathology work-up of extremity soft tissue sarcomas, evaluation of the validity of different techniques
Model for analyzing the mechanical behavior of articular cartilage under creep indentation test
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