732 research outputs found
Factors affecting amninolaevulinic acid-induced generation of protoporphyrin IX
Photodynamic therapy (PDT) may cause tumour cell destruction by direct toxicity or by inducing cellular hypoxia as a result of microcirculatory shutdown. Aminolaevulinic acid (ALA) causes cellular accumulation of protoporphyrin IX (PPIX) in cells exposed to it in excess. PPIX can be used as a photosensitizer for PDT. Microcirculatory shutdown may be induced by toxicity to the endothelial and vascular smooth muscle (VSM) cells or by release of vasoactive substances. We have studied whether PPIX is produced by endothelial, VSM and tumour cells on exposure to ALA and whether these cell lines are directly damaged by PDT in vitro. Tumour endothelial cells are angiogenic and we have, therefore, investigated the effect of cellular proliferation rates on PPIX generation. Tumour cells generate more PPIX intracellularly than the non-neoplastic cell lines studied and are correspondingly more sensitive to PDT-induced cytotoxicity. Endothelial cells are sensitive to PDT-induced cytotoxicity and accumulate between 1.5 and four times more PPIX when proliferating (as during tumour-induced angiogenesis) than when quiescent. We conclude that PPIX-mediated PDT may exert some of its effects on the microcirculation of treated tissues by direct toxicity to endothelial and VSM cells, and that this toxicity may be enhanced in the tumour microenvironment
Evidence for the Gompertz Curve in the Income Distribution of Brazil 1978-2005
This work presents an empirical study of the evolution of the personal income
distribution in Brazil. Yearly samples available from 1978 to 2005 were studied
and evidence was found that the complementary cumulative distribution of
personal income for 99% of the economically less favorable population is well
represented by a Gompertz curve of the form , where
is the normalized individual income. The complementary cumulative
distribution of the remaining 1% richest part of the population is well
represented by a Pareto power law distribution . This
result means that similarly to other countries, Brazil's income distribution is
characterized by a well defined two class system. The parameters , ,
, were determined by a mixture of boundary conditions,
normalization and fitting methods for every year in the time span of this
study. Since the Gompertz curve is characteristic of growth models, its
presence here suggests that these patterns in income distribution could be a
consequence of the growth dynamics of the underlying economic system. In
addition, we found out that the percentage share of both the Gompertzian and
Paretian components relative to the total income shows an approximate cycling
pattern with periods of about 4 years and whose maximum and minimum peaks in
each component alternate at about every 2 years. This finding suggests that the
growth dynamics of Brazil's economic system might possibly follow a
Goodwin-type class model dynamics based on the application of the
Lotka-Volterra equation to economic growth and cycle.Comment: 22 pages, 15 figures, 4 tables. LaTeX. Accepted for publication in
"The European Physical Journal B
What influences healthcare professionals' treatment preferences for older women with operable breast cancer?: an application of the discrete choice experiment
Introduction
Primary endocrine therapy (PET) is used variably in the UK as an alternative to surgery for older women with operable breast cancer. Guidelines state that only patients with âsignificant comorbidityâ or âreduced life expectancyâ should be treated this way and age should not be a factor.
Methods
A Discrete Choice Experiment (DCE) was used to determine the impact of key variables (patient age, comorbidity, cognition, functional status, cancer stage, cancer biology) on healthcare professionals' (HCP) treatment preferences for operable breast cancer among older women. Multinomial logistic regression was used to identify associations.
Results
40% (258/641) of questionnaires were returned. Five variables (age, co-morbidity, cognition, functional status and cancer size) independently demonstrated a significant association with treatment preference (p < 0.05). Functional status was omitted from the multivariable model due to collinearity, with all other variables correlating with a preference for operative treatment over no preference (p < 0.05). Only co-morbidity, cognition and cancer size correlated with a preference for PET over no preference (p < 0.05).
Conclusion
The majority of respondents selected treatment in accordance with current guidelines, however in some scenarios, opinion was divided, and age did appear to be an independent factor that HCPs considered when making a treatment decision in this population
Large Deviations in the Superstable Weakly Imperfect Bose Gas
The superstable Weakly Imperfect Bose Gas {(WIBG)} was originally derived to
solve the inconsistency of the Bogoliubov theory of superfluidity. Its
grand-canonical thermodynamics was recently solved but not at {point of} the
{(first order)} phase transition. This paper proposes to close this gap by
using the large deviations formalism and in particular the analysis of the Kac
distribution function. It turns out that, as a function of the chemical
potential, the discontinuity of the Bose condensate density at the phase
transition {point} disappears as a function of the particle density. Indeed,
the Bose condensate continuously starts at the first critical particle density
and progressively grows but the free-energy per particle stays constant until
the second critical density is reached. At higher particle densities, the Bose
condensate density as well as the free-energy per particle both increase
{monotonously}
How model sets can be determined by their two-point and three-point correlations
We show that real model sets with real internal spaces are determined, up to
translation and changes of density zero by their two- and three-point
correlations. We also show that there exist pairs of real (even one
dimensional) aperiodic model sets with internal spaces that are products of
real spaces and finite cyclic groups whose two- and three-point correlations
are identical but which are not related by either translation or inversion of
their windows. All these examples are pure point diffractive.
Placed in the context of ergodic uniformly discrete point processes, the
result is that real point processes of model sets based on real internal
windows are determined by their second and third moments.Comment: 19 page
On the Global Existence of Bohmian Mechanics
We show that the particle motion in Bohmian mechanics, given by the solution
of an ordinary differential equation, exists globally: For a large class of
potentials the singularities of the velocity field and infinity will not be
reached in finite time for typical initial values. A substantial part of the
analysis is based on the probabilistic significance of the quantum flux. We
elucidate the connection between the conditions necessary for global existence
and the self-adjointness of the Schr\"odinger Hamiltonian.Comment: 35 pages, LaTe
Soil water measurements relevant to agronomic and environmental functions of chemically treated soil
Modern agricultural, turf, and landscape management routinely apply and depend upon
chemical applications to optimize system function for specific outcomes. The effectiveness of these applied
chemicals to achieve desired outcomes usually depends upon their interaction with and transport by water.
To fully and accurately assess the role of water as a chemical delivery and activation system requires a
good understanding of how the applied chemicals, soil, and water interact, the scale at which a phenomenon
is important, the nature of soil variability, and which of the three dominant soil water properties
?content, movement, or potential energy? is most suited to assessing waterâs role. The science of this
assessment process is extensive and its literature is voluminous. For the uninitiated, however, it is worth
being aware at least of the basics of soil water assessment and where some of the pitfalls lie. This
presentation describes soil as a three-phase system ?solids, liquid, and gases? and highlights some of the
key measurements and measurement considerations necessary to appropriately characterize treatment
efficacy for specific, and especially, non-intuitive effects. The presentation cannot be comprehensive or
substitute for requisite university-level courses in soil physics and soil chemistry, but can, perhaps, alert
applicators to situations and considerations that demand more than mere cursory assessment for proper
evaluation and interpretation
The Dirac system on the Anti-de Sitter Universe
We investigate the global solutions of the Dirac equation on the
Anti-de-Sitter Universe. Since this space is not globally hyperbolic, the
Cauchy problem is not, {\it a priori}, well-posed. Nevertheless we can prove
that there exists unitary dynamics, but its uniqueness crucially depends on the
ratio beween the mass of the field and the cosmological constant
: it appears a critical value, , which plays a role
similar to the Breitenlohner-Freedman bound for the scalar fields. When
there exists a unique unitary dynamics. In opposite, for
the light fermions satisfying , we construct several asymptotic
conditions at infinity, such that the problem becomes well-posed. In all the
cases, the spectrum of the hamiltonian is discrete. We also prove a result of
equipartition of the energy.Comment: 33 page
Imprints of the Quantum World in Classical Mechanics
The imprints left by quantum mechanics in classical (Hamiltonian) mechanics
are much more numerous than is usually believed. We show Using no physical
hypotheses) that the Schroedinger equation for a nonrelativistic system of
spinless particles is a classical equation which is equivalent to Hamilton's
equations.Comment: Paper submitted to Foundations of Physic
Nonlinear Dynamical Stability of Newtonian Rotating White Dwarfs and Supermassive Stars
We prove general nonlinear stability and existence theorems for rotating star
solutions which are axi-symmetric steady-state solutions of the compressible
isentropic Euler-Poisson equations in 3 spatial dimensions. We apply our
results to rotating and non-rotating white dwarf, and rotating high density
supermassive (extreme relativistic) stars, stars which are in convective
equilibrium and have uniform chemical composition. This paper is a continuation
of our earlier work ([28])
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