2,495 research outputs found
Interaction of matter-wave gap solitons in optical lattices
We study mobility and interaction of gap solitons in a Bose-Einstein
condensate (BEC) confined by an optical lattice potential. Such localized
wavepackets can exist only in the gaps of the matter-wave band-gap spectrum and
their interaction properties are shown to serve as a measure of discreteness
imposed onto a BEC by the lattice potential. We show that inelastic collisions
of two weakly localized near-the-band-edge gap solitons provide simple and
effective means for generating strongly localized in-gap solitons through
soliton fusion.Comment: 12 pages, 7 figure
Microsatellite alterations and TP53 mutations in plasma DNA of small-cell lung cancer patients: Follow-up study and prognostic significance
Background: Small-cell lung cancer (SCLC), one of the major types of lung cancer, is associated with many different somatic molecular genetic changes. These alterations, observed in tumor DNA, have also been identified in the plasma DNA of patients. We undertook the present study to make a prospective investigation into the correlation between abnormal plasma DNA and patient survival. Patients and methods: Thirty-five patients with SCLC were selected after histological diagnosis. Polymorphic markers (ACTBP2, UT762 and AR) were chosen for their reported high rate of alterations in SCLC and analyzed in tumor tissue, normal blood cells and plasma DNA. Furthermore, we looked for mutations of the TP53 gene in tumor and plasma DNA. Results: In 25 patients (71%) at least one molecular change precisely matching that of the primary tumor was detected in the plasma DNA. No difference in survival was observed between patients with aberrant plasma DNA and patients without plasma DNA alterations. However, patients with microsatellite modifications and TP53 mutations concomitantly, showed a significant difference (P = 0.02) in survival compared with patients bearing only one of these molecular changes. In 15 cases it was possible to find a correlation either between tumor response and disappearance of abnormal plasma DNA, or tumor progression and persistence of plasma DNA alterations. Conclusions: Free plasma DNA with molecular alterations is present to a high degree in plasma DNA of SCLC patients and may have a role as a prognostic facto
Holographic formula for the determinant of the scattering operator in thermal AdS
A 'holographic formula' expressing the functional determinant of the
scattering operator in an asymptotically locally anti-de Sitter(ALAdS) space
has been proposed in terms of a relative functional determinant of the scalar
Laplacian in the bulk. It stems from considerations in AdS/CFT correspondence
of a quantum correction to the partition function in the bulk and the
corresponding subleading correction at large N on the boundary. In this paper
we probe this prediction for a class of quotients of hyperbolic space by a
discrete subgroup of isometries. We restrict to the simplest situation of an
abelian group where the quotient geometry describes thermal AdS and also the
non-spinning BTZ instanton. The bulk computation is explicitly done using the
method of images and the answer can be encoded in a (Patterson-)Selberg
zeta-function.Comment: 11 pages, published JPA versio
Visualization of the thymus by substance P receptor scintigraphy in man
Substance P, an 11-amino acid neuropeptide, has an important role in modulating pain transmission through neurokinin 1 and 2 receptors. Substance P and other tachykinins may also play a role in the pathogenesis of inflammatory diseases. In this study we present the results concerning the metabolism of the substance P analogue [111In-DTPA-Arg1]-substance P in man, as well as the visualization of the thymus in patients with immune-mediated diseases. Twelve selected patients were investigated, comprising five with inflammatory bowel disease, one with ophthalmic Graves' disease, one with sclerosing cholangitis, one with Sjogren's syndrome, one with rheumatoid arthritis, one with systemic lupus erythematosus and two with myasthenia gravis. During and after intravenous administration of 150-250 MBq (2.5-5.0 ÎŒg) [111In-DTPA-Arg1]-substance P, blood pressure, heart rate and oxygen saturation were monitored. Radioactivity was measured in blood, urine and faeces during the 48 h after injection. Planar and single-photon emission tomographic images were obtained 4 and 24 h after injection. After administration of [111In-DTPA-Arg1]-substance P a transient flush was observed in all patients. Degradation of [111In-DTPA-Arg1] -substance P started in the first minutes after administration, resulting in a half-life of 10 min for the total plasma radioactivity, and of 4 min for the intact radiopharmaceutical, as identified with high-performance liquid chromatography. Urinary excretion accounted for >95% of the radioactivity within 24 h post injection, and up to 0.05% was found in the faeces up to 60 h. In all patients uptake of radioactivity was found in the areolae mammae (in women), liver, spleen, kidneys and urinary bladder. In eight patients a high uptake of [111In-DTPA-Arg1]-substance P was observed in the thymus. We conclude that, despite its short half-life. [111In-DTPA-Arg1]-substance P, a new radiopharmaceutical, can be used to visualize the thymus. This may contribute to the investigation of the role of thymus in immune-mediated diseases. In addition, inflammatory sites in various diseases could be visualized.</p
Visualization of the thymus by substance P receptor scintigraphy in man
Substance P, an 11-amino acid neuropeptide, has an important role in modulating pain transmission through neurokinin 1 and 2 receptors. Substance P and other tachykinins may also play a role in the pathogenesis of inflammatory diseases. In this study we present the results concerning the metabolism of the substance P analogue [111In-DTPA-Arg1]-substance P in man, as well as the visualization of the thymus in patients with immune-mediated diseases. Twelve selected patients were investigated, comprising five with inflammatory bowel disease, one with ophthalmic Graves' disease, one with sclerosing cholangitis, one with Sjogren's syndrome, one with rheumatoid arthritis, one with systemic lupus erythematosus and two with myasthenia gravis. During and after intravenous administration of 150-250 MBq (2.5-5.0 ÎŒg) [111In-DTPA-Arg1]-substance P, blood pressure, heart rate and oxygen saturation were monitored. Radioactivity was measured in blood, urine and faeces during the 48 h after injection. Planar and single-photon emission tomographic images were obtained 4 and 24 h after injection. After administration of [111In-DTPA-Arg1]-substance P a transient flush was observed in all patients. Degradation of [111In-DTPA-Arg1] -substance P started in the first minutes after administration, resulting in a half-life of 10 min for the total plasma radioactivity, and of 4 min for the intact radiopharmaceutical, as identified with high-performance liquid chromatography. Urinary excretion accounted for >95% of the radioactivity within 24 h post injection, and up to 0.05% was found in the faeces up to 60 h. In all patients uptake of radioactivity was found in the areolae mammae (in women), liver, spleen, kidneys and urinary bladder. In eight patients a high uptake of [111In-DTPA-Arg1]-substance P was observed in the thymus. We conclude that, despite its short half-life. [111In-DTPA-Arg1]-substance P, a new radiopharmaceutical, can be used to visualize the thymus. This may contribute to the investigation of the role of thymus in immune-mediated diseases. In addition, inflammatory sites in various diseases could be visualized.</p
A network analysis to identify pathophysiological pathways distinguishing ischaemic from non-ischaemic heart failure
Aims
Heart failure (HF) is frequently caused by an ischaemic event (e.g. myocardial infarction) but might also be caused by a primary disease of the myocardium (cardiomyopathy). In order to identify targeted therapies specific for either ischaemic or nonâischaemic HF, it is important to better understand differences in underlying molecular mechanisms.
Methods and results
We performed a biological physical proteinâprotein interaction network analysis to identify pathophysiological pathways distinguishing ischaemic from nonâischaemic HF. First, differentially expressed plasma protein biomarkers were identified in 1160 patients enrolled in the BIOSTATâCHF study, 715 of whom had ischaemic HF and 445 had nonâischaemic HF. Second, we constructed an enriched physical proteinâprotein interaction network, followed by a pathway overârepresentation analysis. Finally, we identified key network proteins. Data were validated in an independent HF cohort comprised of 765 ischaemic and 100 nonâischaemic HF patients. We found 21/92 proteins to be upâregulated and 2/92 downâregulated in ischaemic relative to nonâischaemic HF patients. An enriched network of 18 proteins that were specific for ischaemic heart disease yielded six pathways, which are related to inflammation, endothelial dysfunction superoxide production, coagulation, and atherosclerosis. We identified five key network proteins: acid phosphatase 5, epidermal growth factor receptor, insulinâlike growth factor binding proteinâ1, plasminogen activator urokinase receptor, and secreted phosphoprotein 1. Similar results were observed in the independent validation cohort.
Conclusions
Pathophysiological pathways distinguishing patients with ischaemic HF from those with nonâischaemic HF were related to inflammation, endothelial dysfunction superoxide production, coagulation, and atherosclerosis. The five key pathway proteins identified are potential treatment targets specifically for patients with ischaemic HF
Boosting the Figure Of Merit of LSPR-based refractive index sensing by phase-sensitive measurements
Localized surface plasmon resonances possess very interesting properties for
a wide variety of sensing applications. In many of the existing applications
only the intensity of the reflected or transmitted signals is taken into
account, while the phase information is ignored. At the center frequency of a
(localized) surface plasmon resonance, the electron cloud makes the transition
between in- and out-of-phase oscillation with respect to the incident wave.
Here we show that this information can experimentally be extracted by
performing phase-sensitive measurements, which result in linewidths that are
almost one order of magnitude smaller than those for intensity based
measurements. As this phase transition is an intrinsic property of a plasmon
resonance, this opens up many possibilities for boosting the figure of merit
(FOM) of refractive index sensing by taking into account the phase of the
plasmon resonance. We experimentally investigated this for two model systems:
randomly distributed gold nanodisks and gold nanorings on top of a continuous
gold layer and a dielectric spacer and observed FOM values up to 8.3 and 16.5
for the respective nanoparticles
Two-dimensional loosely and tightly bound solitons in optical lattices and inverted traps
We study the dynamics of nonlinear localized excitations (solitons) in
two-dimensional (2D) Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) with repulsive
interactions, loaded into an optical lattice (OL), which is combined with an
external parabolic potential. First, we demonstrate analytically that a broad
(loosely bound, LB) soliton state, based on a 2D Bloch function near the edge
of the Brillouin zone (BZ), has a negative effective mass (while the mass of a
localized state is positive near the BZ center). The negative-mass soliton
cannot be held by the usual trap, but it is safely confined by an inverted
parabolic potential (anti-trap). Direct simulations demonstrate that the LB
solitons (including the ones with intrinsic vorticity) are stable and can
freely move on top of the OL. The frequency of elliptic motion of the
LB-soliton's center in the anti-trapping potential is very close to the
analytical prediction which treats the solition as a quasi-particle. In
addition, the LB soliton of the vortex type features real rotation around its
center. We also find an abrupt transition, which occurs with the increase of
the number of atoms, from the negative-mass LB states to tightly bound (TB)
solitons. An estimate demonstrates that, for the zero-vorticity states, the
transition occurs when the number of atoms attains a critical number N=10^3,
while for the vortex the transition takes place at N=5x10^3 atoms. The
positive-mass LB states constructed near the BZ center (including vortices) can
move freely too. The effects predicted for BECs also apply to optical spatial
solitons in bulk photonic crystals.Comment: 17 pages, 12 figure
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