Quantum mechanical Gaussian wavepackets of single relativistic particles

We study the evolutions of selected quasi-(1+1) dimensional wavepacket solutions to the Klein-Gordon equation for a relativistic charged particle in uniform motion or accelerated by a uniform electric field in Minkowski space. We explore how good the charge density of a Klein-Gordon wavepacket can be approximated by a Gaussian state with the single-particle interpretation. We find that the minimal initial width of a wavepacket for a good Gaussian approximation in position space is about the Compton wavelength of the particle divided by its Lorentz factor at the initial moment. Relativistic length contraction also manifests in the spreading of the wavepacket's charge density.Comment: 15 pages, 8 figure

Quantitative measures of functional outcomes and quality of life in patients with C5 palsy

AbstractBackgroundIt is generally understood that postoperative C5 palsy can occur with anterior or posterior decompression surgery, but functional measures of the palsy have not been well documented. This study aimed to investigate the incidence of C5 palsy in different surgical procedures, examine the correlations between muscle strength, upper extremity functional measures, and health-related quality of life, and to observe potential risk factors contributing to C5 palsy.MethodsOur investigation involved a retrospective study design. A total of 364 patients who underwent decompression surgery were indicated within the selected exclusion criteria. Additionally, 12 C5 palsy patients were recruited. The relationships between the manual muscle test (MMT), the action research arm test (ARAT), the Jebsen test of hand function (JTHF), and the European quality of life-5 dimensions (EQ-5D) were studied, and univariate analyses were performed to search possible risk factors and recovery investigation.ResultsThe data analyzed in the 12 cases and C5 palsy incidences (3.3%) were: 0.7% in anterior procedures (n = 2), 8.8% in posterior procedures (n = 6), and 36.4% in combined procedures (n = 4). Moderate-to-high correlations were observed between the ARAT, JTHF, EQ-5D visual analog scale scores, and MMT (r = 0.636–0.899). There were significant differences in patient age, etiology of cervical lesion, variable decompression procedures, and the number of decompression levels between the C5 palsy and non-C5 palsy groups. For female patients (p = 0.018) and number of decompression levels (p = 0.028), there were significant differences between the complete recovery and the incomplete recovery groups.ConclusionPatients undergoing combined anterior–posterior decompression surgery had the highest incidence of C5 palsy, and correlations between the ARAT, JTHF, EQ-5D visual analog scale clinical tools, and MMT scores supported these findings. Female status and lower decompression levels could also be predictive factors for complete recovery, although additional research is needed to substantiate these findings

Cellular prostatic acid phosphatase (cPAcP) serves as a useful biomarker of histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors in prostate cancer cell growth suppression.

BACKGROUND: Prostate cancer (PCa) is the most commonly diagnosed solid tumor and the second leading cancer death in the United States, and also one of the major cancer-related deaths in Chinese. Androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) is the first line treatment for metastatic PCa. PCa ultimately relapses with subsequent ADT treatment failure and becomes castrate-resistant (CR). It is important to develop effective therapies with a surrogate marker towards CR PCa. METHOD: Histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors were examined to determine their effects in androgen receptor (AR)/cellular prostatic acid phosphatase (cPAcP)-positive PCa cells, including LNCaP C-33, C-81, C4-2 and C4-2B and MDA PCa2b androgen-sensitive and androgen-independent cells, and AR/cPAcP-negative PCa cells, including PC-3 and DU 145 cells. Cell growth was determined by cell number counting. Western blot analyses were carried out to determine AR, cPAcP and PSA protein levels. RESULTS: cPAcP protein level was increased by HDAC inhibitor treatment. Valproic acid, a HDAC inhibitor, suppressed the growth of AR/cPAcP-positive PCa cells by over 50% in steroid-reduced conditions, higher than on AR/cPAcP-negative PCa cells. Further, HDAC inhibitor pretreatments increased androgen responsiveness as demonstrated by PSA protein level quantitation. CONCLUSION: Our results clearly demonstrate that HDAC inhibitors can induce cPAcP protein level, increase androgen responsiveness, and exhibit higher inhibitory activities on AR/cPAcP-positive PCa cells than on AR/cPAcP-negative PCa cells. Upon HDAC inhibitor pretreatment, PSA level was greatly elevated by androgens. This data indicates the potential clinical importance of cPAcP serving as a useful biomarker in the identification of PCa patient sub-population suitable for HDAC inhibitor treatment

Long-term Clinical Outcomes Following Elective Stent Implantation for Unprotected Left Main Coronary Artery Disease

Background/PurposePercutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) has been increasingly adopted for unprotected left main coronary artery (LMCA) disease. The aim of this study was to evaluate the predictors of long-term clinical outcomes in patients after elective stent implantation for unprotected LMCA disease.MethodsA total of 122 patients with medically refractory angina who received coronary stenting for unprotected LMCA disease between August 1997 and December 2008 were included.ResultsDuring the follow-up period of 45 ± 35 months (range: 1–137 months), the incidence of repeated PCI and/or coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG), and cardiovascular and total mortality were 28% (34 patients), 20% (24 patients), and 25% (31 patients), respectively. Multivariate analysis revealed that young age [p = 0.02; hazard ratio (HR): 2.19, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.11–4.30] and bare-metal stent (BMS) use (p = 0.02; HR: 5.35, 95% CI: 1.27–22.57) were the independent predictors of repeated PCI and/or CABG. Only lower left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) could predict both cardiovascular mortality (p = 0.003; HR: 4.25, 95% CI: 1.63–11.08) and total mortality (p = 0.002; HR: 3.95, 95% CI: 1.65–9.45). Lower LVEF (p = 0.001; HR: 0.31, 95% CI: 0.16–0.61) and small stent size (p = 0.01; HR: 5.95, 95% CI: 1.43–24.80) could predict the composite endpoint, including target vessel revascularization and total mortality.ConclusionWe showed that young age and BMS implantation could predict repeated PCI and/or CABG after stent implantation for unprotected LMCA disease. Only lower LVEF could predict both cardiovascular and total mortality. Lower LVEF and small stent size but not BMS implantation could predict composite target vessel revascularization/total mortality

Long-Term Effects Of River Bed Variations Downstream Of The Shihmen Reservoir Due To Climate Change

Most rivers in Taiwan are suffered from serious sedimentation problems due to extreme weather in recent years. In order to decrease sediment trap in Shihmen Reservoir, the reservoir sediment was effluent into downstream river during flood period. The river sediment deposition and erosion would be thus more violent. The quasi-two dimensional model, NETSTARS, was applied to investigate hydraulic characteristics and corresponding river sedimentation behavior in Da-Han basin. The model was calibrated and verified with field survey data and then was utilized to predict the spatial and temporal variations of downstream suspended solid concentration. Through investigating the change of suspended solid concentration at Yuan-Shan Dam- which is one of the most important water supply facility in Taipei metropolitan area- the success of lowing the suspended solid concentration was certain. The water level and bed elevation movement in typhoon events were investigated via the numerical model at different river reaches. The joint operation of Shihmen sluice gate and Yuan-Shan weir was also discussed for Long-term effects due to climate change

Ventricular divergence correlates with epicardial wavebreaks and predicts ventricular arrhythmia in isolated rabbit hearts during therapeutic hypothermia

INTRODUCTION: High beat-to-beat morphological variation (divergence) on the ventricular electrogram during programmed ventricular stimulation (PVS) is associated with increased risk of ventricular fibrillation (VF), with unclear mechanisms. We hypothesized that ventricular divergence is associated with epicardial wavebreaks during PVS, and that it predicts VF occurrence. METHOD AND RESULTS: Langendorff-perfused rabbit hearts (n = 10) underwent 30-min therapeutic hypothermia (TH, 30°C), followed by a 20-min treatment with rotigaptide (300 nM), a gap junction modifier. VF inducibility was tested using burst ventricular pacing at the shortest pacing cycle length achieving 1:1 ventricular capture. Pseudo-ECG (p-ECG) and epicardial activation maps were simultaneously recorded for divergence and wavebreaks analysis, respectively. A total of 112 optical and p-ECG recordings (62 at TH, 50 at TH treated with rotigaptide) were analyzed. Adding rotigaptide reduced ventricular divergence, from 0.13±0.10 at TH to 0.09±0.07 (p = 0.018). Similarly, rotigaptide reduced the number of epicardial wavebreaks, from 0.59±0.73 at TH to 0.30±0.49 (p = 0.036). VF inducibility decreased, from 48±31% at TH to 22±32% after rotigaptide infusion (p = 0.032). Linear regression models showed that ventricular divergence correlated with epicardial wavebreaks during TH (p<0.001). CONCLUSION: Ventricular divergence correlated with, and might be predictive of epicardial wavebreaks during PVS at TH. Rotigaptide decreased both the ventricular divergence and epicardial wavebreaks, and reduced the probability of pacing-induced VF during TH

Effect Of Sediment Releasing Operation From Reservoir Outlets On The Water Treatment Plant Downstream

With steep slope and strong rainfall intensity, landslide and debris flow could generate huge amount of sediment yield from the watershed, typically during typhoon floods in Taiwan. As such huge amount of sediment moved into a reservoir, serious sedimentation problem reduced storage of reservoir due to decrease of flow velocity and without sufficient sediment releasing bottom outlet. As a result, using flood discharge to release sediment during Typhoon or rain fall duration is very important. This study adopts the data of field observation from outlet structures of the Shihmen reservoir to establish the operational strategies of sediment releasing rule and keep water sustained supply at downstream river intake. Based on the numerical simulation by using 1-D and 2-D models, the relationship of sediment concentration between the Shihmen reservoir and downstream withdraw intake at the YuanShan weir can be established. The sediment concentration reduction ratio is calculated to be 89% from the Shihmen reservoir to the YuanShan weir. This study also focuses on the sediment concentration mitigation influence of tunnel spillway due to the high sediment concentration releasing from bottom outlet. From simulated results, when the extra discharge of tunnel spillway reaches 830m3/s for specific event, the influence of reducing sediment concentration to downstream river by tunnel spillway can maintain water supply of downstream withdraw intake at YuanShan weir. In practice, when using the extra discharge of tunnel spillway to reduce sediment concentration during Typhoon Haitang and Typhoon Wipha, the sediment concentration at YuanShan weir can reduce water turbidity lower than 6000NTU that water treatment plant can deal with

Molecular Cloning of a New Immunomodulatory Protein from Anoectochilus formosanus which Induces B Cell IgM Secretion through a T-Independent Mechanism

An immunomodulatory protein (IPAF) was purified and cloned from Anoectochilus formosanus, an Orchidaceae herbal plant in Asia. The major targeting immune cells of IPAF and its modulating effects toward B lymphocytes were investigated. Rapid amplification of cDNA ends (RACE) was conducted to clone the IPAF gene, and the obtained sequence was BLAST compared on the NCBI database. MACS-purified mouse T and B lymphocytes were stimulated with IPAF and the cell proliferation, activation, and Igs production were examined. IPAF comprised a 25 amino acids signal peptide and a 138 amino acids protein which was homologous to the lectins from Orchidaceae plant. IPAF selectively induced the cell proliferation in mouse splenic B lymphocytes but not T lymphocytes. The IPAF-induced B cells exhibited increased CD69 and MHC class II expression, and a dose- and time-dependent enhancement in IgM production. These results suggested potential benefits of IPAF to strengthen the humoral immunity

Serologic and Molecular Biologic Methods for SARS-associated Coronavirus Infection, Taiwan

Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) has raised a global alert since March 2003. After its causative agent, SARS-associated coronavirus (SARS-CoV), was confirmed, laboratory methods, including virus isolation, reverse transcriptase–polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), and serologic methods, have been quickly developed. In this study, we evaluated four serologic tests ( neutralization test, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay [ELISA], immunofluorescent assay [IFA], and immunochromatographic test [ICT]) for detecting antibodies to SARS-CoV in sera of 537 probable SARS case-patients with correlation to the RT-PCR . With the neutralization test as a reference method, the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value were 98.2%, 98.7%, 98.7%, and 98.4% for ELISA; 99.1%, 87.8%, 88.1% and 99.1% for IFA; 33.6%, 98.2%, 95.7%, and 56.1% for ICT, respectively. We also compared the recombinant-based western blot with the whole virus–based IFA and ELISA; the data showed a high correlation between these methods, with an overall agreement of >90%. Our results provide a systematic analysis of serologic and molecular methods for evaluating SARS-CoV infection

Women with endometriosis have higher comorbidities: Analysis of domestic data in Taiwan

AbstractEndometriosis, defined by the presence of viable extrauterine endometrial glands and stroma, can grow or bleed cyclically, and possesses characteristics including a destructive, invasive, and metastatic nature. Since endometriosis may result in pelvic inflammation, adhesion, chronic pain, and infertility, and can progress to biologically malignant tumors, it is a long-term major health issue in women of reproductive age. In this review, we analyze the Taiwan domestic research addressing associations between endometriosis and other diseases. Concerning malignant tumors, we identified four studies on the links between endometriosis and ovarian cancer, one on breast cancer, two on endometrial cancer, one on colorectal cancer, and one on other malignancies, as well as one on associations between endometriosis and irritable bowel syndrome, one on links with migraine headache, three on links with pelvic inflammatory diseases, four on links with infertility, four on links with obesity, four on links with chronic liver disease, four on links with rheumatoid arthritis, four on links with chronic renal disease, five on links with diabetes mellitus, and five on links with cardiovascular diseases (hypertension, hyperlipidemia, etc.). The data available to date support that women with endometriosis might be at risk of some chronic illnesses and certain malignancies, although we consider the evidence for some comorbidities to be of low quality, for example, the association between colon cancer and adenomyosis/endometriosis. We still believe that the risk of comorbidity might be higher in women with endometriosis than that we supposed before. More research is needed to determine whether women with endometriosis are really at risk of these comorbidities