Comparison and Uniqueness Results for the Periodic Boundary Value Problem for Linear First-Order Differential Equations Subject to a Functional Perturbation

This is a post-peer-review, pre-copyedit version of a chapter published in Area I. et al. (eds) Nonlinear Analysis and Boundary Value Problems. NABVP 2018. Springer Proceedings in Mathematics & Statistics, vol 292. Springer, Cham. The final authenticated version is available online at: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-26987-6_14We improve some comparison results for the periodic boundary value problem related to a first-order differential equation perturbed by a functional term. The comparison results presented cover many cases as differential equations with delay, differential equations with maxima and integro-differential equations. The interesting case of functional perturbation with piecewise constant arguments is also analyzed

Plasmapheresis reverses all side-effects of a cisplatin overdose – a case report and treatment recommendation

BACKGROUND: Cisplatin is widely used as an antineoplastic agent since it is effective against a broad spectrum of different tumours. Nevertheless, it has several potential side effects affecting different organ systems and an overdose may lead to life-threatening complications and even death. CASE PRESENTATION: We report on a 46-year old woman with non-small cell lung cancer who accidentally received 225 mg/m(2 )of cisplatin, which was threefold the dose as scheduled, within a 3-day period. Two days later, the patient presented with hearing loss, severe nausea and vomiting, acute renal failure as well as elevated liver enzymes. In addition, she developed a severe myelodepression. After plasmapheresis on two consecutive days and vigorous supportive treatment, the toxicity-related symptoms improved and the patient recovered without any sequelae. CONCLUSION: To date, no general accepted guidelines for the treatment of cisplatin overdoses are available. Along with the experience from other published cases, our report shows that plasmapheresis is capable of lowering cisplatin plasma and serum levels efficiently. Therefore, plasma exchange performed as soon as possible can ameliorate all side effects of a cisplatin overdose and be a potential tool for clinicians for treatment. However, additional intensive supportive treatment-modalities are necessary to control all occurring side effects

Strong interface-induced spin-orbit coupling in graphene on WS2

Interfacial interactions allow the electronic properties of graphene to be modified, as recently demonstrated by the appearance of satellite Dirac cones in the band structure of graphene on hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) substrates. Ongoing research strives to explore interfacial interactions in a broader class of materials in order to engineer targeted electronic properties. Here we show that at an interface with a tungsten disulfide (WS2) substrate, the strength of the spin-orbit interaction (SOI) in graphene is very strongly enhanced. The induced SOI leads to a pronounced low-temperature weak anti-localization (WAL) effect, from which we determine the spin-relaxation time. We find that spin-relaxation time in graphene is two-to-three orders of magnitude smaller on WS2 than on SiO2 or hBN, and that it is comparable to the intervalley scattering time. To interpret our findings we have performed first-principle electronic structure calculations, which both confirm that carriers in graphene-on-WS2 experience a strong SOI and allow us to extract a spin-dependent low-energy effective Hamiltonian. Our analysis further shows that the use of WS2 substrates opens a possible new route to access topological states of matter in graphene-based systems.Comment: Originally submitted version in compliance with editorial guidelines. Final version with expanded discussion of the relation between theory and experiments to be published in Nature Communication

Patients with Asthma and Comorbid Allergic Rhinitis: Is Optimal Quality of Life Achievable in Real Life?

Asthma trials suggest that patients reaching total disease control have an optimal Health Related Quality of Life (HRQoL). Moreover, rhinitis is present in almost 80% of asthmatics and impacts asthma control and patient HRQoL. We explored whether optimal HRQoL was reachable in a real-life setting, and evaluated the disease and patient related patterns associated to optimal HRQoL achievement. = 7.617; p<0.006).Approximately one third of the patients in our survey were found to have an optimal HRQoL. While unsatisfactory disease control was the primary reason why the remainder failed to attain optimal HRQoL, it is clear that illness perception and mood also played parts. Therefore, therapeutic plans should be directed not only toward achieving the best possible clinical control of asthma and comorbid rhinitis, but also to incorporating individualized elements according to patient-related characteristics

Serially measured high-sensitivity cardiac troponin T, N-terminal-pro-B-type natriuretic peptide, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein, and growth differentiation factor 15 for risk assessment after acute coronary syndrome: the BIOMArCS cohort

Aims: Evidence regarding the role of serial measurements of biomarkers for risk assessment in post-acute coronary syndrome (ACS) patients is limited. The aim was to explore the prognostic value of four, serially measured biomarkers in a large, real-world cohort of post-ACS patients.// Methods and results: BIOMArCS is a prospective, multi-centre, observational study in 844 post-ACS patients in whom 12 218 blood samples (median 17 per patient) were obtained during 1-year follow-up. The longitudinal patterns of high-sensitivity cardiac troponin T (hs-cTnT), N-terminal-pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP), high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), and growth differentiation factor 15 (GDF-15) were analysed in relation to the primary endpoint (PE) of cardiovascular mortality and recurrent ACS using multivariable joint models. Median age was 63 years, 78% were men and the PE was reached by 45 patients. The average biomarker levels were systematically higher in PE compared with PE-free patients. After adjustment for 6-month post-discharge Global Registry of Acute Coronary Events score, 1 standard deviation increase in log[hs-cTnT] was associated with a 61% increased risk of the PE [hazard ratio (HR) 1.61, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.02–2.44, P = 0.045], while for log[GDF-15] this was 81% (HR 1.81, 95% CI 1.28–2.70, P = 0.001). These associations remained significant after multivariable adjustment, while NT-proBNP and hs-CRP were not. Furthermore, GDF-15 level showed an increasing trend prior to the PE (Structured Graphical Abstract).// Conclusion: Longitudinally measured hs-cTnT and GDF-15 concentrations provide prognostic value in the risk assessment of clinically stabilized patients post-ACS.// Clinical Trial Registration: The Netherlands Trial Register. Currently available at URL https://trialsearch.who.int/; Unique Identifiers: NTR1698 and NTR1106

Measurements of neutrino oscillation in appearance and disappearance channels by the T2K experiment with 6.6 x 10(20) protons on target

111 pages, 45 figures, submitted to Physical Review D. Minor revisions to text following referee comments111 pages, 45 figures, submitted to Physical Review D. Minor revisions to text following referee comments111 pages, 45 figures, submitted to Physical Review D. Minor revisions to text following referee commentsWe thank the J-PARC staff for superb accelerator performance and the CERN NA61/SHINE Collaboration for providing valuable particle production data. We acknowledge the support of MEXT, Japan; NSERC, NRC, and CFI, Canada; CEA and CNRS/IN2P3, France; DFG, Germany; INFN, Italy; National Science Centre (NCN), Poland; RSF, RFBR and MES, Russia; MINECO and ERDF funds, Spain; SNSF and SER, Switzerland; STFC, UK; and the U. S. Deparment of Energy, USA. We also thank CERN for the UA1/NOMAD magnet, DESY for the HERA-B magnet mover system, NII for SINET4, the WestGrid and SciNet consortia in Compute Canada, GridPP, UK, and the Emerald High Performance Computing facility in the Centre for Innovation, UK. In addition, participation of individual researchers and institutions has been further supported by funds from ERC (FP7), EU; JSPS, Japan; Royal Society, UK; and DOE Early Career program, USA

Deep-Inelastic Inclusive ep Scattering at Low x and a Determination of alpha_s

A precise measurement of the inclusive deep-inelastic e^+p scattering cross section is reported in the kinematic range 1.5<= Q^2 <=150 GeV^2 and 3*10^(-5)<= x <=0.2. The data were recorded with the H1 detector at HERA in 1996 and 1997, and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 20 pb^(-1). The double differential cross section, from which the proton structure function F_2(x,Q^2) and the longitudinal structure function F_L(x,Q^2) are extracted, is measured with typically 1% statistical and 3% systematic uncertainties. The measured partial derivative (dF_2(x,Q^2)/dln Q^2)_x is observed to rise continuously towards small x for fixed Q^2. The cross section data are combined with published H1 measurements at high Q^2 for a next-to-leading order DGLAP QCD analysis.The H1 data determine the gluon momentum distribution in the range 3*10^(-4)<= x <=0.1 to within an experimental accuracy of about 3% for Q^2 =20 GeV^2. A fit of the H1 measurements and the mu p data of the BCDMS collaboration allows the strong coupling constant alpha_s and the gluon distribution to be simultaneously determined. A value of alpha _s(M_Z^2)=0.1150+-0.0017 (exp) +0.0009-0.0005 (model) is obtained in NLO, with an additional theoretical uncertainty of about +-0.005, mainly due to the uncertainty of the renormalisation scale.Comment: 68 pages, 24 figures and 18 table

Measurement of the electron neutrino charged-current interaction rate on water with the T2K ND280 pi(0) detector

10 pages, 6 figures, Submitted to PRDhttp://journals.aps.org/prd/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevD.91.112010© 2015 American Physical Society11 pages, 6 figures, as accepted to PRD11 pages, 6 figures, as accepted to PRD11 pages, 6 figures, as accepted to PR

Plxdc2 Is a Mitogen for Neural Progenitors

The development of different brain regions involves the coordinated control of proliferation and cell fate specification along and across the neuraxis. Here, we identify Plxdc2 as a novel regulator of these processes, using in ovo electroporation and in vitro cultures of mammalian cells. Plxdc2 is a type I transmembrane protein with some homology to nidogen and to plexins. It is expressed in a highly discrete and dynamic pattern in the developing nervous system, with prominent expression in various patterning centres. In the chick neural tube, where Plxdc2 expression parallels that seen in the mouse, misexpression of Plxdc2 increases proliferation and alters patterns of neurogenesis, resulting in neural tube thickening at early stages. Expression of the Plxdc2 extracellular domain alone, which can be cleaved and shed in vivo, is sufficient for this activity, demonstrating a cell non-autonomous function. Induction of proliferation is also observed in cultured embryonic neuroepithelial cells (ENCs) derived from E9.5 mouse neural tube, which express a Plxdc2-binding activity. These experiments uncover a direct molecular activity of Plxdc2 in the control of proliferation, of relevance in understanding the role of this protein in various cancers, where its expression has been shown to be altered. They also implicate Plxdc2 as a novel component of the network of signalling molecules known to coordinate proliferation and differentiation in the developing nervous system

Local coexpression domains in the genome of rice show no microsynteny with Arabidopsis domains

Chromosomal coexpression domains are found in a number of different genomes under various developmental conditions. The size of these domains and the number of genes they contain vary. Here, we define local coexpression domains as adjacent genes where all possible pair-wise correlations of expression data are higher than 0.7. In rice, such local coexpression domains range from predominantly two genes, up to 4, and make up ∼5% of the genomic neighboring genes, when examining different expression platforms from the public domain. The genes in local coexpression domains do not fall in the same ontology category significantly more than neighboring genes that are not coexpressed. Duplication, orientation or the distance between the genes does not solely explain coexpression. The regulation of coexpression is therefore thought to be regulated at the level of chromatin structure. The characteristics of the local coexpression domains in rice are strikingly similar to such domains in the Arabidopsis genome. Yet, no microsynteny between local coexpression domains in Arabidopsis and rice could be identified. Although the rice genome is not yet as extensively annotated as the Arabidopsis genome, the lack of conservation of local coexpression domains may indicate that such domains have not played a major role in the evolution of genome structure or in genome conservation