Effect of Surgery on Quality of Life with Operable Breast Cancer in Limited Resource Environments: Reply

Ó The Author(s) 2010. This article is published with open access at Springerlink.com We thank Purvi Thakkar et al. for their comments on our article [1]. It is good to see that our results are reproducible. The reported decrease in quality of life may be explained by the fact that a different questionnaire was used. The FACT-B is a disease-specific questionnaire that inquires more into functioning than into satisfaction with functioning. The primary goal of our study was to present surgeons with other factors than only the clinical parameters, such as tumor size, that can help in the decisional process. We hope that more surgeons will assess the personality of a woman with early-stage breast cancer and use this as additional information when counseling her about possible breast cancer treatment modalities. Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial License which permits any noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited

Deep redshift topological lensing: strategies for the T^3 candidate

The 3-torus (T^3) FLRW model better fits the nearly zero large-scale auto-correlation of the WMAP CMB sky maps than the infinite flat model. The T^3 model's WMAP parameters imply approximately equal-redshift topological lensing at z \sim 6. We investigate observational strategies for rejecting the T^3 solution or providing candidate topologically lensed galaxy pairs. T^3 holonomies are applied to (i) existing z \sim 6 observations and (ii) simulated observations, creating multiply connected catalogues. Corresponding simply connected catalogues are generated. Each catalogue is analysed using a successive filter method and collecting matched quadruples. Quadruple statistics between the multiply and simply connected catalogues are compared. The expected rejection of the hypothesis, or detection of candidate topologically lensed galaxies, is possible at a significance of 5% for a pair of T^3 axis-centred northern and southern surveys if photometric redshift accuracy is \sigma(\zphot) < 0.01 for a pair of nearly complete 100 deg^2 surveys with a total of > 500 galaxies over 4.3 < z < 6.6, or for a pair of 196 deg^2 surveys with > 400 galaxies and \sigma(\zphot) < 0.02 over 4<z<7. Dropping the maximum time interval in a pair from \Delta t =1 Gyr/h to \Delta t =0.1 Gyr/h yields a requirement of \sigma(\zphot) < 0.005 or \sigma(\zphot) < 0.01, respectively. Millions of z \sim 6 galaxies will be observed over fields of these sizes during the coming decades, implying much stronger constraints. The question is not if the hypothesis will be rejected or confirmed, it is when.Comment: 13 pages, 9 figures, 5 tables, MNRAS, accepte

Characteristic Energy of the Coulomb Interactions and the Pileup of States

Tunneling data on $\mathrm{La_{1.28}Sr_{1.72}Mn_2O_7}$ crystals confirm Coulomb interaction effects through the $\sqrt{\mathrm{E}}$ dependence of the density of states. Importantly, the data and analysis at high energy, E, show a pileup of states: most of the states removed from near the Fermi level are found between ~40 and 130 meV, from which we infer the possibility of universal behavior. The agreement of our tunneling data with recent photoemission results further confirms our analysis.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, submitted to PR

A Counterexample to Claimed COBE Constraints on Compact Toroidal Universe Models

It has been suggested that if the Universe satisfies a flat, multiply connected, perturbed Friedmann-Lema^itre model, then cosmic microwave background data from the COBE satellite implies that the minimum size of the injectivity diameter (shortest closed spatial geodesic) must be larger than about two fifths of the horizon diameter. To show that this claim is misleading, a simple $T^2 \times R$ universe model of injectivity diameter a quarter of this size, i.e. a tenth of the horizon diameter, is shown to be consistent with COBE four year observational maps of the cosmic microwave background. This is done using the identified circles principle.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figures, accepted for Classical & Quantum Gravit

A measure on the set of compact Friedmann-Lemaitre-Robertson-Walker models

Compact, flat Friedmann-Lemaitre-Robertson-Walker (FLRW) models have recently regained interest as a good fit to the observed cosmic microwave background temperature fluctuations. However, it is generally thought that a globally, exactly-flat FLRW model is theoretically improbable. Here, in order to obtain a probability space on the set F of compact, comoving, 3-spatial sections of FLRW models, a physically motivated hypothesis is proposed, using the density parameter Omega as a derived rather than fundamental parameter. We assume that the processes that select the 3-manifold also select a global mass-energy and a Hubble parameter. The inferred range in Omega consists of a single real value for any 3-manifold. Thus, the obvious measure over F is the discrete measure. Hence, if the global mass-energy and Hubble parameter are a function of 3-manifold choice among compact FLRW models, then probability spaces parametrised by Omega do not, in general, give a zero probability of a flat model. Alternatively, parametrisation by the injectivity radius r_inj ("size") suggests the Lebesgue measure. In this case, the probability space over the injectivity radius implies that flat models occur almost surely (a.s.), in the sense of probability theory, and non-flat models a.s. do not occur.Comment: 19 pages, 4 figures; v2: minor language improvements; v3: generalisation: m, H functions of

Determining the shape of the Universe using discrete sources

Suppose we have identified three clusters of galaxies as being topological copies of the same object. How does this information constrain the possible models for the shape of our Universe? It is shown here that, if the Universe has flat spatial sections, these multiple images can be accommodated within any of the six classes of compact orientable 3-dimensional flat space forms. Moreover, the discovery of two more triples of multiple images in the neighbourhood of the first one, would allow the determination of the topology of the Universe, and in most cases the determination of its size.Comment: 11 pages, no figure

The association between patient's and partner's fatigue in couples coping with colorectal cancer:A longitudinal study

Background:  Couples coping with colorectal cancer were monitored during the first year after diagnosis to evaluate the following: (i) levels of patients' and partners' fatigue-hereby comparing their scores to each other and a normative population, (ii) association between patients' and partners' fatigue, (iii) the course of partners' fatigue, and (iv) biopsychosocial predictors of the partners' fatigue, including the patients' level of fatigue. Method:  Couples (n = 171) preoperatively completed questions regarding age and sex as well as questionnaires assessing neuroticism and trait anxiety. Questionnaires assessing fatigue, anxiety, and depressive symptoms were measured preoperative (time-0) and 3 (time-1), 6 (time-2), and 12 months (time-3) postoperative. Patients' clinical characteristics were retrieved from the Eindhoven Cancer Registry. Descriptive statistics, correlations, and linear mixed effect models were used. Results:  Compared with a normative population, partners' fatigue was similar (p > .05), while patients' fatigue was higher at Time-2 and Time-3 (p values <.001). At each time point, correlations between patients' and partners' fatigue were small (r < .30). Partner's course of fatigue was as follows: 18.2 at time-0, 19.0 at time-1, 19.4 at time-2, and 19.2 at time-3 (p = 0.64). Scoring higher on neuroticism (β = .12) and trait anxiety (β = .23), and more depressive symptoms (β = .30) significantly contributed to higher partners' fatigue. Conclusion:  Trait anxiety, neuroticism, and depressive symptoms predicted higher levels of partners' fatigue, while demographic factors, patients' fatigue, and clinical factors did not. Health professionals are advised to be alert for partners with a vulnerable personality and depressive symptoms. If needed, they can for instance refer to a psychologist for treatment

Constraints on the Detectability of Cosmic Topology from Observational Uncertainties

Recent observational results suggest that our universe is nearly flat and well modelled within a $\Lambda$CDM framework. The observed values of $\Omega_{m}$ and $\Omega_{\Lambda}$ inevitably involve uncertainties. Motivated by this, we make a systematic study of the necessary and sufficient conditions for undetectability as well as detectability (in principle) of cosmic topology (using pattern repetition) in presence of such uncertainties. We do this by developing two complementary methods to determine detectability for nearly flat universes. Using the first method we derive analytical conditions for undetectability for infinite redshift, the accuracy of which is then confirmed by the second method. Estimates based on WMAP data together with other measurements of the density parameters are used to illustrate both methods, which are shown to provide very similar results for high redshifts.Comment: 16 pages, 1 figure, LaTeX2

Measuring the Angular Correlation Function for Faint Galaxies in High Galactic Latitude Fields

A photometric survey of faint galaxies in three high Galactic latitude fields (each $\sim49~\rm{arcmin^{2}}$) with sub-arcsecond seeing is used to study the clustering properties of the faint galaxy population. Multi-color photometry of the galaxies has been obtained to magnitude limits of $V\sim25$, $R\sim25$ and $I\sim24$. Angular correlation analysis is applied to magnitude-limited and color-selected samples of galaxies from the three fields for angular separations ranging from $10-126''$. General agreement is obtained with other recent studies which show that the amplitude of the angular correlation function, $\omega(\theta)$, is smoothly decreasing as a function of limiting magnitude. The observed decline of $\omega(\theta)$ rules out the viability of ``maximal merger'' galaxy evolution models. Using redshift distributions extrapolated to faint magnitude limits, models of galaxy clustering evolution are calculated and compared to the observed I-band $\omega(\theta)$. Faint galaxies are determined to have correlation lengths and clustering evolution parameters of either $r_{0}\sim4~h^{-1}~Mpc$ and $\epsilon\sim0-1$; $r_{0}\sim5-6~h^{-1}~Mpc$ and $\epsilon>1$; or $r_{0}\sim2-3~h^{-1}~ Mpc$ and $\epsilon\sim-1.2$, assuming $q_{0}=0.5$ and with $h=H_{0}/100~ km~s^{-1}~Mpc^{-1}$. The latter case is for clustering fixed in co-moving coordinates and is probably unrealistic since most local galaxies are observed to be more strongly clustered. No significant variations in the clustering amplitude as a function of color are detected, for all the color-selected galaxy samples considered. (Abridged)Comment: LaTeX (aaspp4.sty), 54 pages including 15 postscript figures; 3 additional uuencoded, gzipped postscript files (~300 kb each) of Figs. 1, 2 and 3 available at ftp://ftp.astro.ubc.ca/pub/woods ; To be published in the Nov. 20, 1997 issue of The Astrophysical Journa