Cogent Communication: Overcoming Reading Overload (Book Review)

published or submitted for publicatio

Insulator-Metal Transition in the One and Two-Dimensional Hubbard Models

We use Quantum Monte Carlo methods to determine $T=0$ Green functions, $G(\vec{r}, \omega)$, on lattices up to $16 \times 16$ for the 2D Hubbard model at $U/t =4$. For chemical potentials, $\mu$, within the Hubbard gap, $|\mu | < \mu_c$, and at {\it long} distances, $\vec{r}$, $G(\vec{r}, \omega = \mu) \sim e^{ -|\vec{r}|/\xi_l}$ with critical behavior: $\xi_l \sim | \mu - \mu_c |^{-\nu}$, $\nu = 0.26 \pm 0.05$. This result stands in agreement with the assumption of hyperscaling with correlation exponent $\nu = 1/4$ and dynamical exponent $z = 4$. In contrast, the generic band insulator as well as the metal-insulator transition in the 1D Hubbard model are characterized by $\nu = 1/2$ and $z = 2$.Comment: 9 pages (latex) and 5 postscript figures. Submitted for publication in Phys. Rev. Let

Renewing Criminalized and Hegemonic Cultural Landscapes

The Mafia's long historical pedigree in Mezzogiorno, Southern Italy, has empowered the Mafioso as a notorious, uncontested, and hegemonic figure. The counter-cultural resistance against the mafiosi culture began to be institutionalized in the early 1990s. Today, Libera Terra is the largest civil society organization in the country that uses the lands confiscated from the Mafia as a space of cultural repertoire to realize its ideals. Deploying labor force through volunteer participation, producing biological fruits and vegetables, and providing information to the students on the fields are the principal cultural practices of this struggle. The confiscated lands make the Italian experience of anti-Mafia resistance a unique example by connecting the land with the ideals of cultural change. The sociocultural resistance of Libera Terra conveys a political message through these practices and utters that the Mafia is not invincible. This study draws the complex panorama of the Mafia and anti-Mafia movement that uses the ‘confiscated lands’ as cultural and public spaces for resistance and socio-cultural change. In doing so, this article sheds new light on the relationship between rural criminology and crime prevention policies in Southern Italy by demonstrating how community development practice of Libera Terra changes the meaning of landscape through iconographic symbolism and ethnographic performance

Understanding the Benefit of Magnetic Resonance-guided Adaptive Radiotherapy in Rectal Cancer Patients: a Single-centre Study.

AIMS: Neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy followed by surgery is the mainstay of treatment for patients with rectal cancer. Standard clinical target volume (CTV) to planning target volume (PTV) margins of 10 mm are used to accommodate inter- and intrafraction motion of target. Treating on magnetic resonance-integrated linear accelerators (MR-linacs) allows for online manual recontouring and adaptation (MRgART) enabling the reduction of PTV margins. The aim of this study was to investigate motion of the primary CTV (CTVA; gross tumour volume and macroscopic nodes with 10 mm expansion to cover microscopic disease) in order to develop a simultaneous integrated boost protocol for use on MR-linacs. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Patients suitable for neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy were recruited for treatment on MR-linac using a two-phase technique; only the five phase 1 fractions on MR-linac were used for analysis. Intrafraction motion of CTVA was measured between pre-treatment and post-treatment MRI scans. In MRgART, isotropically expanded pre-treatment PTV margins from 1 to 10 mm were rigidly propagated to post-treatment MRI to determine overlap with 95% of CTVA. The PTV margin was considered acceptable if overlap was >95% in 90% of fractions. To understand the benefit of MRgART, the same methodology was repeated using a reference computed tomography planning scan for pre-treatment imaging. RESULTS: In total, nine patients were recruited between January 2018 and December 2020 with T3a-T4, N0-N2, M0 disease. Forty-five fractions were analysed in total. The median motion across all planes was 0 mm, demonstrating minimal intrafraction motion. A PTV margin of 3 and 5mm was found to be acceptable in 96 and 98% of fractions, respectively. When comparing to the computed tomography reference scan, the analysis found that PTV margins to 5 and 10 mm only acceptably covered 51 and 76% of fractions, respectively. CONCLUSION: PTV margins can be reduced to 3-5 mm in MRgART for rectal cancer treatment on MR-linac within an simultaneous integrated boost protocol

Telomerase and breast cancer

Current therapies for breast cancer include treatments that are toxic and often result in drug resistance. Telomerase, a cellular reverse transcriptase that maintains the ends of chromosomes (telomeres), is activated in the vast majority of breast cancers (over 90% of breast carcinomas) but not in normal adjacent tissues. Telomerase is thus an attractive target for both diagnosis and therapy because of its distinct pattern of expression. We address the use of telomerase in the diagnostics of breast pathology, as well as the use of telomerase inhibitors in the treatment and prevention of breast cancer

Norovirus Recombination in ORF1/ORF2 Overlap

Norovirus (NoV) genogroups I and II (GI and GII) are now recognized as the predominant worldwide cause of outbreaks of acute gastroenteritis in humans. Three recombinant NoV GII isolates were identified and characterized, 2 of which are unrelated to any previously published recombinant NoV. Using data from the current study, published sequences, database searches, and molecular techniques, we identified 23 recombinant NoV GII and 1 recombinant NoV GI isolates. Analysis of the genetic relationships among the recombinant NoV GII isolates identified 9 independent recombinant sequences; the other 14 strains were close relatives. Two of the 9 independent recombinant NoV were closely related to other recombinants only in the polymerase region, and in a similar fashion 1 recombinant NoV was closely related to another only in the capsid region. Breakpoint analysis of recombinant NoV showed that recombination occurred in the open reading frame (ORF)1/ORF2 overlap. We provide evidence to support the theory of the role of subgenomic RNA promoters as recombination hotspots and describe a simple mechanism of how recombination might occur in NoV

Efficacy and tolerability of pegloticase for the treatment of chronic gout in patients refractory to conventional treatment: Two randomized controlled trials

Context Patients with chronic disabling gout refractory to conventional urate-lowering therapy need timely treatment to control disease manifestations related to tissue urate crystal deposition. Pegloticase, monomethoxypoly(ethylene glycol)–conjugated mammalian recombinant uricase, was developed to fulfill this need. Objective To assess the efficacy and tolerability of pegloticase in managing refractory chronic gout. Design, Setting, and Patients Two replicate, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trials (C0405 and C0406) were conducted between June 2006 and October 2007 at 56 rheumatology practices in the United States, Canada, and Mexico in patients with severe gout, allopurinol intolerance or refractoriness, and serum uric acid concentration of 8.0 mg/dL or greater. A total of 225 patients participated: 109 in trial C0405 and 116 in trial C0406. Intervention Twelve biweekly intravenous infusions containing either pegloticase 8 mg at each infusion (biweekly treatment group), pegloticase alternating with placebo at successive infusions (monthly treatment group), or placebo (placebo group). Main Outcome Measure Primary end point was plasma uric acid levels of less than 6.0 mg/dL in months 3 and 6. Results In trial C0405 the primary end point was reached in 20 of 43 patients in the biweekly group (47%; 95% CI, 31%-62%), 8 of 41 patients in the monthly group (20%; 95% CI, 9%-35%), and in 0 patients treated with placebo (0/20; 95% CI, 0%-17%; P < .001 and <.04 for comparisons between biweekly and monthly groups vs placebo, respectively). Among patients treated with pegloticase in trial C0406, 16 of 42 in the biweekly group (38%; 95% CI, 24%-54%) and 21 of 43 in the monthly group (49%; 95% CI, 33%-65%) achieved the primary end point; no placebo-treated patients reached the primary end point (0/23; 95% CI, 0%-15%; P = .001 and < .001, respectively). When data in the 2 trials were pooled, the primary end point was achieved in 36 of 85 patients in the biweekly group (42%; 95% CI, 32%-54%), 29 of 84 patients in the monthly group (35%; 95% CI, 24%-46%), and 0 of 43 patients in the placebo group (0%; 95% CI, 0%-8%; P < .001 for each comparison). Seven deaths (4 in patients receiving pegloticase and 3 in the placebo group) occurred between randomization and closure of the study database (February 15, 2008). Conclusion Among patients with chronic gout, elevated serum uric acid level, and allopurinol intolerance or refractoriness, the use of pegloticase 8 mg either every 2 weeks or every 4 weeks for 6 months resulted in lower uric acid levels compared with placebo

Herschel-ATLAS: Far-infrared properties of radio-loud and radio-quiet quasars

This is pre-copyedited, author-produced pdf of an article accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society following peer review. The version of record, E. Kalfountzou, et al., ‘Herschel-ATLAS: Far-infrared properties of radio-loud and radio-quiet quasars’, MNRAS, Vol 42(2): 1181-1196, first published online June 11, 2014, is available online via doi: 10.1093/mnras/stu782 Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society.We have constructed a sample of radio-loud and radio-quiet quasars from the Faint Images Radio Sky at Twenty-one centimetres and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 7, over the Herschel-ATLAS Phase 1 area (9h, 12h and 14 h . 5 ). Using a stacking analysis, we find a significant correlation between the far-infrared (FIR) luminosity and 1.4-GHz luminosity for radio-loud quasars. Partial correlation analysis confirms the intrinsic correlation after removing the redshift contribution, while for radio-quiet quasars, no partial correlation is found. Using a single-temperature grey-body model, we find a general trend of lower dust temperatures in case of radio-loud quasars compared to radio-quiet quasars. Also, radio-loud quasars are found to have almost constant mean values of dust mass along redshift and optical luminosity bins. In addition, we find that radio-loud quasars at lower optical luminosities tend to have on average higher FIR and 250-μm luminosity with respect to radio-quiet quasars with the same optical luminosites. Even if we use a two-temperature grey-body model to describe the FIR data, the FIR luminosity excess remains at lower optical luminosities. These results suggest that powerful radio jets are associated with star formation especially at lower accretion ratesPeer reviewe

Measurements of fiducial and differential cross sections for Higgs boson production in the diphoton decay channel at s√=8 TeV with ATLAS

Measurements of fiducial and differential cross sections are presented for Higgs boson production in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of s√=8 TeV. The analysis is performed in the H → γγ decay channel using 20.3 fb−1 of data recorded by the ATLAS experiment at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. The signal is extracted using a fit to the diphoton invariant mass spectrum assuming that the width of the resonance is much smaller than the experimental resolution. The signal yields are corrected for the effects of detector inefficiency and resolution. The pp → H → γγ fiducial cross section is measured to be 43.2 ±9.4(stat.) − 2.9 + 3.2 (syst.) ±1.2(lumi)fb for a Higgs boson of mass 125.4GeV decaying to two isolated photons that have transverse momentum greater than 35% and 25% of the diphoton invariant mass and each with absolute pseudorapidity less than 2.37. Four additional fiducial cross sections and two cross-section limits are presented in phase space regions that test the theoretical modelling of different Higgs boson production mechanisms, or are sensitive to physics beyond the Standard Model. Differential cross sections are also presented, as a function of variables related to the diphoton kinematics and the jet activity produced in the Higgs boson events. The observed spectra are statistically limited but broadly in line with the theoretical expectations