7,094 research outputs found
Association of One-Step Nucleic Acid Amplification Detected Micrometastases with Tumour Biology and Adjuvant Chemotherapy.
One-step nucleic acid amplification (OSNA) is an intraoperative technique with a high sensitivity and specificity for sentinel node assessment. The aim of this study was to assess the impact of OSNA on micrometastases detection rates and use of adjuvant chemotherapy. A retrospective review of patients with sentinel node micrometastases over a five-year period was carried out and a comparison of micrometastases detection using OSNA and H&E techniques was made. Out of 1285 patients who underwent sentinel node (SLN) biopsy, 76 patients had micrometastases. Using H&E staining, 36 patients were detected with SLN micrometastases (9/year) in contrast to 40 patients in the OSNA year (40/year) (p< 0.0001), demonstrating a fourfold increase with the use of OSNA. In the OSNA group, there was also a proportional increase in Grade III, triple-negative, ER-negative, and HER-2-positive tumours being diagnosed with micrometastases. Also on interactive PREDICT tool, the number of patients with a predicted 10-year survival benefit of more than 3% with adjuvant chemotherapy increased from 52 to 70 percent. OSNA has resulted in an increased detection rate of micrometastases especially in patients with aggressive tumour biology. This increased the number of patients who had a predicted survival benefit from adjuvant chemotherapy
Effects of a torsion field on Big Bang nucleosynthesis
In this paper it is investigated whether torsion, which arises naturally in
most theories of quantum gravity, has observable implications for the Big Bang
nucleosynthesis. Torsion can lead to spin flips amongst neutrinos thus turning
them into sterile neutrinos. In the early Universe they can alter the helium
abundance which is tightly constrained by observations. Here I calculate to
what extent torsion of the string theory type leads to a disagreement with the
Big Bang nucleosynthesis predictions.Comment: accepted by General Relativity and Gravitatio
Multiple scattering of matter waves: an analytic model of the refractive index for atomic and molecular gases
We present an analytic model of the refractive index for matter waves
propagating through atomic or molecular gases. The model, which combines a WKB
treatment of the long range attraction with the Fraunhofer model treatment of
the short range repulsion, furnishes a refractive index in compelling agreement
with recent experiments of Jacquey et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 98, 240405 (2007)]
on Li atom matter waves passing through dilute noble gases. We show that the
diffractive contribution, which arises from scattering by a two dimensional
"hard core" of the potential, is essential for obtaining a correct imaginary
part of the refractive index.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figure, 2 table
Evaluation report of families experiences of Partners of Prisoners (POPs) prison-based visitor centre services
Formation of atomic tritium clusters and condensates
We present an extensive study of the static and dynamic properties of systems
of spin-polarized tritium atoms. In particular, we calculate the two-body
|F,m_F>=|0,0> s-wave scattering length and show that it can be manipulated via
a Feshbach resonance at a field strength of about 870G. Such a resonance might
be exploited to make and control a Bose-Einstein condensate of tritium in the
|0,0> state. It is further shown that the quartet tritium trimer is the only
bound hydrogen isotope and that its single vibrational bound state is a
Borromean state. The ground state properties of larger spin-polarized tritium
clusters are also presented and compared with those of helium clusters.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure
Phase diagram of Rydberg atoms with repulsive van der Waals interaction
We report a quantum Monte Carlo calculation of the phase diagram of bosons
interacting with a repulsive inverse sixth power pair potential, a model for
assemblies of Rydberg atoms in the local van der Waals blockade regime. The
model can be parametrized in terms of just two parameters, the reduced density
and temperature. Solidification happens to the fcc phase. At zero temperature
the transition density is found with the diffusion Monte Carlo method at
density , where is the strength of the
interaction. The solidification curve at non-zero temperature is studied with
the path integral Monte Carlo approach and is compared with transitions in
corresponding harmonic and classical crystals. Relaxation mechanisms are
considered in relation to present experiments, especially pertaining to hopping
of the Rydberg excitation
Monte Carlo energy and variance minimization techniques for optimizing many-body wave functions
We investigate Monte Carlo energy and variance minimization techniques for
optimizing many-body wave functions. Several variants of the basic techniques
are studied, including limiting the variations in the weighting factors which
arise in correlated sampling estimations of the energy and its variance. We
investigate the numerical stability of the techniques and identify two reasons
why variance minimization exhibits superior numerical stability to energy
minimization. The characteristics of each method are studied using a
non-interacting 64-electron model of crystalline silicon. While our main
interest is in solid state systems, the issues investigated are relevant to
Monte Carlo studies of atoms, molecules and solids. We identify a robust and
efficient variance minimization scheme for optimizing wave functions for large
systems.Comment: 14 pages, including 7 figures. To appear in Phys. Rev. B. For related
publications see http://www.tcm.phy.cam.ac.uk/Publications/many_body.htm
Self-efficacy enhanced in a cross-cultural context through an initiative in under-resourced schools in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
This paper discusses the Khanyisa Programme, an initiative in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, where learners from under-resourced schools are supported by teachers and high achievers in Grade 11 and 12 from a previously advantaged state school under apartheid. A qualitative, evaluative study was undertaken to identify key elements in the ongoing success of the programme and collect participant suggestions for improvement. The findings, discussed within the framework of self-efficacy theory, identified enormous gains by Khanyisa learners, leading to vastly improved career prospects
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