Non-Hermitian Hamiltonians of Lie algebraic type

We analyse a class of non-Hermitian Hamiltonians, which can be expressed bilinearly in terms of generators of a sl(2,R)-Lie algebra or their isomorphic su(1,1)-counterparts. The Hamlitonians are prototypes for solvable models of Lie algebraic type. Demanding a real spectrum and the existence of a well defined metric, we systematically investigate the constraints these requirements impose on the coupling constants of the model and the parameters in the metric operator. We compute isospectral Hermitian counterparts for some of the original non-Hermitian Hamiltonian. Alternatively we employ a generalized Bogoliubov transformation, which allows to compute explicitly real energy eigenvalue spectra for these type of Hamiltonians, together with their eigenstates. We compare the two approaches.Comment: 27 page

Geo-environmental management of watersheds : the geological systems as the initial decision to land use.

Ap?s a cartografia da bacia do Rio Paracatu (Noroeste de Minas Gerais) ser atualizada em escala de 1:250.000, foi poss?vel elaborar a l?gica para a metodologia de gest?o geoambiental/geossistemas, como parte de uma ampla metodologia de gest?o, em elabora??o desde 1998. Apresenta-se como primeira etapa a verifica??o das rela??es entre rochas, geoformas e solos com as quais se exploram possibilidades e potencialidades de usos da terra para produ??o agr?cola, florestal, industrial, rural, energ?tica e de obras civis. Com o quadro de potencialidades fundamentado sobre os geossistemas, foi poss?vel ent?o realizar uma an?lise avaliativa das condi??es de acerto ou inconveni?ncia dos usos atuais da terra, as possibilidades de expans?o de usos e as necessidades de mitiga??o sob o ponto de vista da estabilidade do substrato. Com a cartografia na escala de 1:250.000 pode-se estabelecer uma vis?o regional e fornecer indicativos para estudos em escala local e a tomada de decis?o que envolve ainda um conjunto de outras ci?ncias, engenharias e modelos econom?tricos. Este artigo apresenta os procedimentos dessa primeira etapa de aux?lio ? elabora??o de decis?es, passo a passo.After the mapping of the Paracatu River basin (Northwestern Minas Gerais, Brazil) was updated on a scale of 1:250,000, it was possible to elaborate the rationale for the methodology of geo-environmental/geosystems management as part of a broad management methodology, under development since 1998. It presents as the first step to verify the relationship between rocks, landforms, and soils with which one can explore possibilities and potential land use for agricultural production, forestry, rural industrial, energy production, and civil works. With the framework of potentials based on geosystems, it was possible to make an evaluation analysis about the terms of settlement or inconvenience of the land current uses, the possibilities for expansion of uses, and the requirements for mitigation under the terms of the substrate stability. With the mapping at the 1:250,000 scale, it was possible to establish a regional vision provide the indicative scale studies and local decision-making that still involves a number of other sciences, engineering as well as the econometric models. This article presented the procedures of the first stage of the aid business decision making, step-by-step

Chemotherapy followed by low dose radiotherapy in childhood Hodgkin's disease: retrospective analysis of results and prognostic factors

PURPOSE: To report the treatment results and prognostic factors of childhood patients with Hodgkin's disease treated with chemotherapy (CT) followed by low dose radiotherapy (RT). PATIENTS AND METHODS: This retrospective series analyzed 166 patients under 18 years old, treated from January 1985 to December 2003. Median age was 10 years (range 2–18). The male to female ratio was 2,3 : 1. Lymphonode enlargement was the most frequent clinical manifestation (68%), and the time of symptom duration was less than 6 months in 55% of the patients. In histological analysis Nodular Sclerosis was the most prevalent type (48%) followed by Mixed Celularity (34.6%). The staging group according Ann Arbor classification was: I (11.7%), II (36.4%), III (32.1%) and IV (19.8%). The standard treatment consisted of chemotherapy multiple drug combination according the period of treatment protocols vigent: ABVD in 39% (n-65) of the cases, by VEEP in 13 %(n-22), MOPP in 13 %(n-22), OPPA-13 %(n-22) and ABVD/OPPA in 22 %(n-33). Radiotherapy was device to all areas of initial presentation of disease. Dose less or equal than 21 Gy was used in 90.2% of patients with most part of them (90%) by involved field (IFRT) or mantle field. RESULTS: The OS and EFS in 10 years were 89% and 87%. Survival according to clinical stage as 94.7%, 91.3%, 82.3% and 71% for stages I to IV(p = 0,005). The OS was in 91.3% of patients who received RT and in 72.6% of patients who did not (p = 0,003). Multivariate analysis showed presence of B symptoms, no radiotherapy and advanced clinical stage to be associated with a worse prognosis. CONCLUSION: This data demonstrating the importance of RT consolidation with low dose and reduced volume, in all clinical stage of childhood HD, producing satisfactory ten years OS and EFS. As the disease is highly curable, any data of long term follow-up should be presented in order to better direct therapy, and to identify groups of patients who would not benefit from radiation treatment

Whole brain radiotherapy for brain metastases from breast cancer: estimation of survival using two stratification systems

BACKGROUND: Brain metastases (BM) are the most common form of intracranial cancer. The incidence of BM seems to have increased over the past decade. Recursive partitioning analysis (RPA) of data from three Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG) trials (1200 patients) has allowed three prognostic groups to be identified. More recently a simplified stratification system that uses the evaluation of three main prognostics factors for radiosurgery in BM was developed. METHODS: To analyze the overall survival rate (OS), prognostic factors affecting outcomes and to estimate the potential improvement in OS for patients with BM from breast cancer, stratified by RPA class and brain metastases score (BS-BM). From January 1996 to December 2004, 174 medical records of patients with diagnosis of BM from breast cancer, who received WBRT were analyzed. The surgery followed by WBRT was used in 15.5% of patients and 84.5% of others patients were submitted at WBRT alone; 108 patients (62.1%) received the fractionation schedule of 30 Gy in 10 fractions. Solitary BM was present in 37.9 % of patients. The prognostic factors evaluated for OS were: age, Karnofsky Performance Status (KPS), number of lesions, localization of lesions, neurosurgery, chemotherapy, absence extracranial disease, RPA class, BS-BM and radiation doses and fractionation. RESULTS: The OS in 1, 2 and 3 years was 33.4 %, 16.7%, and 8.8 %, respectively. The RPA class analysis showed strong relation with OS (p < 0.0001). The median survival time by RPA class in months was: class I 11.7, class II 6.2 and class III 3.0. The significant prognostic factors associated with better OS were: higher KPS (p < 0.0001), neurosurgery (P < 0.0001), single metastases (p = 0.003), BS-BM (p < 0.0001), control primary tumor (p = 0.002) and absence of extracranial metastases (p = 0.001). In multivariate analysis, the factors associated positively with OS were: neurosurgery (p < 0.0001), absence of extracranial metastases (p <0.0001) and RPA class I (p < 0.0001). CONCLUSION: Our data suggests that patients with BM from breast cancer classified as RPA class I may be effectively treated with local resection followed by WBRT, mainly in those patients with single BM, higher KPS and cranial extra disease controlled. RPA class was shown to be the most reliable indicators of survival

Spinning Gland Transcriptomics from Two Main Clades of Spiders (Order: Araneae) - Insights on Their Molecular, Anatomical and Behavioral Evolution

Characterized by distinctive evolutionary adaptations, spiders provide a comprehensive system for evolutionary and developmental studies of anatomical organs, including silk and venom production. Here we performed cDNA sequencing using massively parallel sequencers (454 GS-FLX Titanium) to generate ∼80,000 reads from the spinning gland of Actinopus spp. (infraorder: Mygalomorphae) and Gasteracantha cancriformis (infraorder: Araneomorphae, Orbiculariae clade). Actinopus spp. retains primitive characteristics on web usage and presents a single undifferentiated spinning gland while the orbiculariae spiders have seven differentiated spinning glands and complex patterns of web usage. MIRA, Celera Assembler and CAP3 software were used to cluster NGS reads for each spider. CAP3 unigenes passed through a pipeline for automatic annotation, classification by biological function, and comparative transcriptomics. Genes related to spider silks were manually curated and analyzed. Although a single spidroin gene family was found in Actinopus spp., a vast repertoire of specialized spider silk proteins was encountered in orbiculariae. Astacin-like metalloproteases (meprin subfamily) were shown to be some of the most sampled unigenes and duplicated gene families in G. cancriformis since its evolutionary split from mygalomorphs. Our results confirm that the evolution of the molecular repertoire of silk proteins was accompanied by the (i) anatomical differentiation of spinning glands and (ii) behavioral complexification in the web usage. Finally, a phylogenetic tree was constructed to cluster most of the known spidroins in gene clades. This is the first large-scale, multi-organism transcriptome for spider spinning glands and a first step into a broad understanding of spider web systems biology and evolution