1,019 research outputs found
FDG–PET. A possible prognostic factor in head and neck cancer
Previous studies have shown that high uptake of 18F-fluoro-2-deoxy-glucose in head and neck cancer, as determined by the standardized uptake value on positron emission tomography scan, was associated with poor survival. The aim of this study was to confirm the association and to establish whether a high standardized uptake value had prognostic significance. Seventy-three consecutive patients with newly diagnosed squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck underwent a positron emission tomography study before treatment. Age, gender, performance status tumour grade, stage, maximal tumour diameter and standardized uptake value were analyzed for their possible association with survival. The median standardized uptake value for all primary tumours was 7.16 (90% range 2.30 to 18.60). In univariate survival analysis the cumulative survival was decreased as the stage, tumour diameter and standardized uptake value increased. An standardized uptake value of 10 was taken as a cut-off for high and low uptake tumours. When these two groups were compared, an standardized uptake value >10 predicted for significantly worse outcome (P=0.003). Multivariate analysis demonstrated that an standardized uptake value >10 provided prognostic information independent of the tumour stage and diameter (P=0.002). We conclude that high FDG uptake (standardized uptake value>10) on positron emission tomography is an important marker for poor outcome in primary squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck. Standardized uptake value may be useful in distinguishing those tumours with a more aggressive biological nature and hence identifying patients that require intensive treatment protocols including hyperfractionated radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy
The small angle rear tracking detector of ZEUS
Abstract The design, construction, installation, and performance of the small angle rear tracking detector of the ZEUS experiment are described. The results on electron position measurement, electron energy correction, and background reduction at the first-level trigger are presented. The impact on the measurement of the proton structure function is discussed
Advances in multispectral and hyperspectral imaging for archaeology and art conservation
Multispectral imaging has been applied to the field of art conservation and art history since the early 1990s. It is attractive as a noninvasive imaging technique because it is fast and hence capable of imaging large areas of an object giving both spatial and spectral information. This paper gives an overview of the different instrumental designs, image processing techniques and various applications of multispectral and hyperspectral imaging to art conservation, art history and archaeology. Recent advances in the development of remote and versatile multispectral and hyperspectral imaging as well as techniques in pigment identification will be presented. Future prospects including combination of spectral imaging with other noninvasive imaging and analytical techniques will be discussed
The class of the locus of intermediate Jacobians of cubic threefolds
We study the locus of intermediate Jacobians of cubic threefolds within the
moduli space of complex principally polarized abelian fivefolds, and its
generalization to arbitrary genus - the locus of abelian varieties with a
singular odd two-torsion point on the theta divisor. Assuming that this locus
has expected codimension (which we show to be true for genus up to 5), we
compute the class of this locus, and of is closure in the perfect cone toroidal
compactification, in the Chow, homology, and the tautological ring.
We work out the cases of genus up to 5 in detail, obtaining explicit
expressions for the classes of the closures of the locus of products of an
elliptic curve and a hyperelliptic genus 3 curve, in moduli of principally
polarized abelian fourfolds, and of the locus of intermediate Jacobians in
genus 5. In the course of our computation we also deal with various
intersections of boundary divisors of a level toroidal compactification, which
is of independent interest in understanding the cohomology and Chow rings of
the moduli spaces.Comment: v2: new section 9 on the geometry of the boundary of the locus of
intermediate Jacobians of cubic threefolds. Final version to appear in
Invent. Mat
New views of humpback whale flow dynamics and oral morphology during prey engulfment
The rise of inexpensive, user-friendly cameras and editing software promises to
revolutionize data collection with minimal disturbance to marine mammals. Video sequences
recorded by aerial drones and GoPro cameras provided close-up views and unique perspectives
of humpback whales engulfing juvenile salmon at or just below the water surface in Southeast
Alaska and Prince William Sound. Although humpback feeding is famous for its flexibility,
several stereotyped events were noted in the 47 lunges we analyzed. Engulfment was extremely
rapid (mean 2.07 s), and the entrance through which the tongue inverts into the ventral pouch
was seen as water rushes in. Cranial elevation was a major contributor to gape, and pouch
contraction sometimes began before full gape closure, with reverberating waves indicating
rebounding flow of water within the expanded pouch. Expulsion of filtered water began with a
small splash at the anterior of the mouth, followed by sustained excurrent flow in the mouth’s
central or posterior regions. Apart from a splash of rebounding water, water within the mouth
was surprisingly turbulence-free during engulfment, but submersion of the whale’s head created
visible surface whirlpools and vortices which may aggregate prey for subsequent engulfment.We thank the Northern Southeast Regional Aquaculture Association for assistance and access to
their facilities. Geoff Clark and the Prince William Sound Aquaculture Corporation provided
drone and GoPro footage of their facilities captured by Klint Hischke and Dan Orlando. We are
grateful for field support provided by the Alaska Whale Foundation and to Mark Kelley
Photography which generously donated a percentage from book sales to support this study. We
thank scientists who have aided our understanding of rorqual engulfment, especially Rick
Lambertsen, Jeremy Goldbogen, Bob Shadwick, Jean Potvin, Nick Pyenson, Brian Kot, Haruka
Ito, and Frank Fish. Research in Southeast Alaska was authorized under NOAA Fisheries
permits 14122 & 18529. Research reported in this publication was supported by the National
Institute of General Medical Sciences of the National Institutes of Health under Award Numbers
UL1GM118991, TL4GM118992, or RL5GM118990. The content is solely the responsibility of
the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of
Health.Ye
Measurement of inclusive D*+- and associated dijet cross sections in photoproduction at HERA
Inclusive photoproduction of D*+- mesons has been measured for photon-proton
centre-of-mass energies in the range 130 < W < 280 GeV and a photon virtuality
Q^2 < 1 GeV^2. The data sample used corresponds to an integrated luminosity of
37 pb^-1. Total and differential cross sections as functions of the D*
transverse momentum and pseudorapidity are presented in restricted kinematical
regions and the data are compared with next-to-leading order (NLO) perturbative
QCD calculations using the "massive charm" and "massless charm" schemes. The
measured cross sections are generally above the NLO calculations, in particular
in the forward (proton) direction. The large data sample also allows the study
of dijet production associated with charm. A significant resolved as well as a
direct photon component contribute to the cross section. Leading order QCD
Monte Carlo calculations indicate that the resolved contribution arises from a
significant charm component in the photon. A massive charm NLO parton level
calculation yields lower cross sections compared to the measured results in a
kinematic region where the resolved photon contribution is significant.Comment: 32 pages including 6 figure
Measurement of the diffractive structure function in deep inelastic scattering at HERA
This paper presents an analysis of the inclusive properties of diffractive
deep inelastic scattering events produced in interactions at HERA. The
events are characterised by a rapidity gap between the outgoing proton system
and the remaining hadronic system. Inclusive distributions are presented and
compared with Monte Carlo models for diffractive processes. The data are
consistent with models where the pomeron structure function has a hard and a
soft contribution. The diffractive structure function is measured as a function
of \xpom, the momentum fraction lost by the proton, of , the momentum
fraction of the struck quark with respect to \xpom, and of . The \xpom
dependence is consistent with the form \xpoma where
in all bins of and
. In the measured range, the diffractive structure function
approximately scales with at fixed . In an Ingelman-Schlein type
model, where commonly used pomeron flux factor normalisations are assumed, it
is found that the quarks within the pomeron do not saturate the momentum sum
rule.Comment: 36 pages, latex, 11 figures appended as uuencoded fil
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