A simple model of price formation

A simple Ising spin model which can describe the mechanism of price formation in financial markets is proposed. In contrast to other agent-based models, the influence does not flow inward from the surrounding neighbors to the center site, but spreads outward from the center to the neighbors. The model thus describes the spread of opinions among traders. It is shown via standard Monte Carlo simulations that very simple rules lead to dynamics that duplicate those of asset prices.Comment: Version 2: 4 pages, 4 figures; added more stringent statistical analysis; to appear in Int. J. Modern Physics C, Vol. 13, No. 1 (2002

Expression of PIK3CA mutant E545K in the mammary gland induces heterogeneous tumors but is less potent than mutant H1047R.

The phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) signaling cascade is a key mediator of cellular growth, survival and metabolism and is frequently subverted in human cancer. The gene encoding for the alpha catalytic subunit of PI3K (PIK3CA) is mutated and/or amplified in ∼30% of breast cancers. Mutations in either the kinase domain (H1047R) or the helical domain (E545K) are most common and result in a constitutively active enzyme with oncogenic capacity. PIK3CA(H1047R) was previously demonstrated to induce tumors in transgenic mouse models; however, it was not known whether overexpression of PIK3CA(E545K) is sufficient to induce mammary tumors and whether tumor initiation by these two types of mutants differs. Here, we demonstrate that expression of PIK3CA(E545K) in the mouse mammary gland induces heterogenous mammary carcinomas but with a longer latency than PIK3CA(H1047R)-expressing mice. Our results suggest that the helical domain mutant PIK3CA(E545K) is a less potent inducer of mammary tumors due to less efficient activation of downstream Akt signaling

COMPLETE SOLUTION OF THE XXZ-MODEL ON FINITE RINGS. DYNAMICAL STRUCTURE FACTORS AT ZERO TEMPERATURE.

The finite size effects of the dynamical structure factors in the XXZ-model are studied in the euclidean time $(\tau)$-representation. Away from the critical momentum $p=\pi$ finite size effects turn out to be small except for the large $\tau$ limit. The large finite size effects at the critical momentum $p=\pi$ signal the emergence of infrared singularities in the spectral $(\omega)$-representation of the dynamical structure factors.Comment: PostScript file with 12 pages + 11 figures uuencoded compresse

N-glycans of human amniotic fluid transferrin stimulate progesterone production in human first trimester trophoblast cells in vitro

Aims: During pregnancy, the placenta produces a variety of steroid hormones and proteins. Several of these substances have been shown to exert immunomodulatory effects. Progesterone is thought to mediate some of these effects by regulating uterine responsiveness. The aim of this study was to clarify the effect of amniotic fluid transferrin and its N-glycans on the release of progesterone by first trimester trophoblast cells in vitro. Methods: Cytotrophoblast cells were prepared from human first trimester placentae by trypsin-DNAse dispersion of villous tissue followed by a percoll gradient centrifugation and depletion of CD45 positive cells by magnetic cell sorting. Trophoblasts were incubated with varying concentrations (50-300 mug/ml) of transferrin from human amniotic fluid and serum as well as with N-glycans obtained from amniotic fluid transferrin. Culture supernatants were assayed for progesterone by enzyme-immunometric methods. Results: The release of progesterone increased in amniotic fluid transferrin- and N-glycan-treated trophoblast cell cultures compared to untreated trophoblast cells. There was no stimulating effect of serum transferrin on the progesterone production of trophoblast cells. Conclusions: The results suggest that amnion-transferrin and especially its N-glycans modulate the endocrine function of trophoblasts in culture by up regulating progesterone secretion

Far-infrared photometric observations of the outer planets and satellites with Herschel-PACS

We present all Herschel PACS photometer observations of Mars, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Callisto, Ganymede, and Titan. All measurements were carefully inspected for quality problems, were reduced in a (semi-)standard way, and were calibrated. The derived flux densities are tied to the standard PACS photometer response calibration, which is based on repeated measurements of five fiducial stars. The overall absolute flux uncertainty is dominated by the estimated 5% model uncertainty of the stellar models in the PACS wavelength range between 60 and 210 micron. A comparison with the corresponding planet and satellite models shows excellent agreement for Uranus, Neptune, and Titan, well within the specified 5%. Callisto is brighter than our model predictions by about 4-8%, Ganymede by about 14-21%. We discuss possible reasons for the model offsets. The measurements of these very bright point-like sources, together with observations of stars and asteroids, show the high reliability of the PACS photometer observations and the linear behavior of the PACS bolometer source fluxes over more than four orders of magnitude (from mJy levels up to more than 1000 Jy). Our results show the great potential of using the observed solar system targets for cross-calibration purposes with other ground-based, airborne, and space-based instruments and projects. At the same time, the PACS results will lead to improved model solutions for future calibration applications.Comment: 25 pages, 11 figures, 11 table

Polarization operator approach to electron-positron pair production in combined laser and Coulomb fields

The optical theorem is applied to the process of electron-positron pair creation in the superposition of a nuclear Coulomb and a strong laser field. We derive new representations for the total production rate as two-fold integrals, both for circular laser polarization and for the general case of elliptic polarization, which has not been treated before. Our approach allows us to obtain by analytical means the asymptotic behaviour of the pair creation rate for various limits of interest. In particular, we consider pair production by two-photon absorption and show that, close to the energetic threshold of this process, the rate obeys a power law in the laser frequency with different exponents for linear and circular laser polarization. With the help of the upcoming x-ray laser sources our results could be tested experimentally.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figure

The Alzheimer variant of Lewy body disease: A pathologically confirmed case-control study

The objective of the study was to identify clinical features that distinguish patients with dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB), who were classified as Alzheimer's disease ( AD) patients, from patients with AD. We examined a group of 27 patients from our memory clinic, originally diagnosed with AD, of whom 6 were postmortem found to have DLB. For the present study, we compared cognitive, noncognitive and neurological symptoms between the two groups. We found that there were no differences on ratings of dementia and scales for activities of daily living. Patients with DLB performed better on the MMSE and the memory subtest of the CAMCOG, but there was no difference in any other cognitive domain. Furthermore, genetic risk factors, including family history of dementia or allele frequency of the apolipoprotein epsilon 4, did not discriminate between the two groups, and there were no differences on CCT scans. Taken together, our findings suggest that Lewy body pathology may be present in patients who do not show the typical clinical features which distinguish DLB from AD. Copyright (C) 2005 S. Karger AG, Basel