4,376 research outputs found
Key messages for communicating information about BRCA1 and BRCA2 to women with breast or ovarian cancer: Consensus across health professionals and service users
Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Background: Genetic testing of cancer predisposing genes will increasingly be needed in oncology clinics to target cancer treatment. This Delphi study aimed to identify areas of agreement and disagreement between genetics and oncology health professionals and service users about the key messages required by women with breast/ovarian cancer who undergo BRCA1/BRCA2 genetic testing and the optimal timing of communicating key messages. Methods: Participants were 16 expert health professionals specialising in oncology/genetics and 16 service users with breast/ovarian cancer and a pathogenic BRCA1/BRCA2 variant. Online questionnaires containing 53 inductively developed information messages were circulated to the groups separately. Participants rated each message as key/not key on a Likert scale and suggested additional messages. Questionnaires were modified according to the feedback and up to 3 rounds were circulated. Consensus was reached when there was ≥75% agreement. Results: Thirty key messages were agreed by both groups with 7 of the key messages agreed by ≥95% of participants: dominant inheritance, the availability of predictive testing, the importance of pretest discussion, increased risk of breast and ovarian cancer, and the option of risk-reducing mastectomy and bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy. Both groups agreed that key messages should be communicated before genetic testing and once a pathogenic variant has been identified. Conclusions: There was a high level of agreement within and between the groups about the information requirements of women with breast/ovarian cancer about BRCA1/BRCA2. These key messages will be helpful in developing new approaches to the delivery of information as genetic testing becomes further integrated into mainstream oncology services
Floppy modes and the free energy: Rigidity and connectivity percolation on Bethe Lattices
We show that negative of the number of floppy modes behaves as a free energy
for both connectivity and rigidity percolation, and we illustrate this result
using Bethe lattices. The rigidity transition on Bethe lattices is found to be
first order at a bond concentration close to that predicted by Maxwell
constraint counting. We calculate the probability of a bond being on the
infinite cluster and also on the overconstrained part of the infinite cluster,
and show how a specific heat can be defined as the second derivative of the
free energy. We demonstrate that the Bethe lattice solution is equivalent to
that of the random bond model, where points are joined randomly (with equal
probability at all length scales) to have a given coordination, and then
subsequently bonds are randomly removed.Comment: RevTeX 11 pages + epsfig embedded figures. Submitted to Phys. Rev.
Comparison of spin anisotropy and exchange alternation
Quasi‐1‐D magnetic systems with on the one hand an Ising‐Heisenberg type spin anisotropy and on the other hand an alternating (dimerized) character have many interesting features in common and a few interesting differences in their phase behavior and general magnetic properties. This report reviews results rather scattered in the literature in addition to presenting new results. These rather complex quantum models present a theoretical challenge. It is also hoped that this work will be helpful to magnetochemists interested in identifying the underlying magnetic character of their systems, and to experimentalists in general
Superconducting Gap Anisotropy and Quasiparticle Interactions: a Doping Dependent ARPES Study
Comparing ARPES measurements on Bi2212 with penetration depth data, we show
that a description of the nodal excitations of the d-wave superconducting state
in terms of non-interacting quasiparticles is inadequate, and we estimate the
magnitude and doping dependence of the Landau interaction parameter which
renormalizes the linear T contribution to the superfluid density. Furthermore,
although consistent with d-wave symmetry, the gap with underdoping cannot be
fit by the simple coskx-cosky form, which suggests an increasing importance of
long range interactions as the insulator is approached.Comment: 4 pages, 3 eps figs, manuscript and Fig. 3 significantly revise
Theta angle versus CP violation in the leptonic sector
Assuming that the axion mechanism of solving the strong CP problem does not
exist and the vanishing of theta at tree level is achieved by some
model-building means, we study the naturalness of having large CP-violating
sources in the leptonic sector. We consider the radiative mechanisms which
transfer a possibly large CP-violating phase in the leptonic sector to the
theta parameter. It is found that large theta cannot be induced in the models
with one Higgs doublet as at least three loops are required in this case. In
the models with two or more Higgs doublets the dominant source of theta is the
phases in the scalar potential, induced by CP violation in leptonic sector.
Thus, in the MSSM framework the imaginary part of the trilinear soft-breaking
parameter A_l generates the corrections to the theta angle already at one loop.
These corrections are large, excluding the possibility of large phases, unless
the universality in the slepton sector is strongly violated.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figure
Constraints on T-Odd, P-Even Interactions from Electric Dipole Moments
We construct the relationship between nonrenormalizable,effective,
time-reversal violating (TV) parity-conserving (PC) interactions of quarks and
gauge bosons and various low-energy TVPC and TV parity-violating (PV)
observables. Using effective field theory methods, we delineate the scenarious
under which experimental limits on permanent electric dipole moments (EDM's) of
the electron, neutron, and neutral atoms as well as limits on TVPC observables
provide the most stringent bounds on new TVPC interactions. Under scenarios in
which parity invariance is restored at short distances, the one-loop EDM of
elementary fermions generate the most severe constraints. The limits derived
from the atomic EDM of Hg are considerably weaker. When parity symmetry
remains broken at short distances, direct TVPC search limits provide the least
ambiguous bounds. The direct limits follow from TVPC interactions between two
quarks.Comment: 43 pages, 9 figure
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