60 research outputs found
Validity of Stokes-Einstein Relation in Soft Colloids up to the Glass Transition
We investigate the dynamics of kinetically frozen block copolymer micelles of
different softness across a wide range of particle concentrations, from the
fluid to the onset of glassy behavior, through a combination of rheology,
dynamic light scattering and pulsed field gradient NMR spectroscopy. We
additionally perform Brownian dynamics simulations based on an ultrasoft
coarse-grained potential, which are found to be in quantitative agreement with
experiments, capturing even the very details of dynamic structure factors S(Q,
t) on approaching the glass transition. We provide evidence that for these
systems the Stokes-Einstein relation holds up to the glass transition; given
that it is violated for dense suspensions of hard colloids, our findings
suggest that its validity is an intriguing signature of ultrasoft interactions.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, Supplementary Information, Accepted to Physical
Review Letters (PRL) (2015
Endoscopic submucosal dissection for early esophageal adenocarcinoma: low rates of metastases in mucosal cancers with poor differentiation
Background and aims
Endoscopic resection (ER) is accepted as standard treatment for intramucosal esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC) with well or moderate differentiation. Poor differentiation (PD) is judged as a risk factor for lymph node metastasis (LNM) and surgery is recommended. However, the evidence for this recommendation is weak. Study aim was to analyze the clinical course of patients after ER of EAC with PD.
Patients and methods
Patients undergoing endoscopic submucosal dissection for EAC were included from 16 German centers. Inclusion criteria were PD in the resection specimen, R0 resection and endoscopic follow-up. Primary outcome was the metastasis rate during follow-up. Analysis was performed retrospectively in a prospectively collected database.
Results
25 patients with PD as single risk factor (group A) and 15 patients with PD and additional risk factors (submucosal invasion and/or lymphovascular invasion) were included. The metastasis rate was was 1/25 (4.0%; 95%CI 0.4-17.2) in group A and 3/15 (20.0%; 95%CI 6.0-44.4%) in group B, respectively (p=0.293). The rate of EAC-associated deaths was 1/25 (4%; 95%CI 0.4-17.2%) versus 3/15 (20%; 95%CI 6.0-44.4%) in group B (p=0.293) while the overall death rate was 7/25 (28.0%; 95%CI 13.5-47.3%) versus 3/15 (20%; 95%CI 6.0-44.4%) (p=0.715). Median follow-up was 30 months (IQR 15-53).
Conclusions
During long-term follow-up the risk of metastasis is low after ER of mucosal EAC with PD as single risk factor. A conservative approach seems justified in this small patient group. However, the treatment strategy has to be determined on an individualized basis until further prospective data are available
Corona Health -- A Study- and Sensor-based Mobile App Platform Exploring Aspects of the COVID-19 Pandemic
Physical and mental well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic is typically
assessed via surveys, which might make it difficult to conduct longitudinal
studies and might lead to data suffering from recall bias. Ecological momentary
assessment (EMA) driven smartphone apps can help alleviate such issues,
allowing for in situ recordings. Implementing such an app is not trivial,
necessitates strict regulatory and legal requirements, and requires short
development cycles to appropriately react to abrupt changes in the pandemic.
Based on an existing app framework, we developed Corona Health, an app that
serves as a platform for deploying questionnaire-based studies in combination
with recordings of mobile sensors. In this paper, we present the technical
details of Corona Health and provide first insights into the collected data.
Through collaborative efforts from experts from public health, medicine,
psychology, and computer science, we released Corona Health publicly on Google
Play and the Apple App Store (in July, 2020) in 8 languages and attracted 7,290
installations so far. Currently, five studies related to physical and mental
well-being are deployed and 17,241 questionnaires have been filled out. Corona
Health proves to be a viable tool for conducting research related to the
COVID-19 pandemic and can serve as a blueprint for future EMA-based studies.
The data we collected will substantially improve our knowledge on mental and
physical health states, traits and trajectories as well as its risk and
protective factors over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic and its diverse
prevention measures
Inattention and reaction time variability are linked to ventromedial prefrontal volume in adolescents
Background
Neuroimaging studies of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have most commonly reported volumetric abnormalities in the basal ganglia, cerebellum, and prefrontal cortices. Few studies have examined the relationship between ADHD symptomatology and brain structure in population-based samples. We investigated the relationship between dimensional measures of ADHD symptomatology, brain structure, and reaction time variability—an index of lapses in attention. We also tested for associations between brain structural correlates of ADHD symptomatology and maps of dopaminergic gene expression.
Methods
Psychopathology and imaging data were available for 1538 youths. Parent ratings of ADHD symptoms were obtained using the Development and Well-Being Assessment and the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). Self-reports of ADHD symptoms were assessed using the youth version of the SDQ. Reaction time variability was available in a subset of participants. For each measure, whole-brain voxelwise regressions with gray matter volume were calculated.
Results
Parent ratings of ADHD symptoms (Development and Well-Being Assessment and SDQ), adolescent self-reports of ADHD symptoms on the SDQ, and reaction time variability were each negatively associated with gray matter volume in an overlapping region of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex. Maps of DRD1 and DRD2 gene expression were associated with brain structural correlates of ADHD symptomatology.
Conclusions
This is the first study to reveal relationships between ventromedial prefrontal cortex structure and multi-informant measures of ADHD symptoms in a large population-based sample of adolescents. Our results indicate that ventromedial prefrontal cortex structure is a biomarker for ADHD symptomatology. These findings extend previous research implicating the default mode network and dopaminergic dysfunction in ADHD
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