2,908 research outputs found
A multicenter retrospective study of childhood brucellosis in Chicago, Illinois from 1986 to 2008
SummaryObjectivesTo determine risk factors in children for the acquisition of Brucella, clinical presentation, treatment, and disease outcomes.MethodsA retrospective multicenter chart review was undertaken of children identified with brucellosis from 1986 to 2008 at three tertiary care centers in Chicago, Illinois, USA. The charts were reviewed for data regarding risk factors for acquisition, clinical presentation, and outcomes.ResultsTwenty-one charts were available for review. The median age was 6.5 years (range 2–14 years); 62% were female. Ethnic background was 67% Hispanic and 24% Arabic. Risk factors included travel to an endemic area (86%), particularly Mexico, and consumption of unpasteurized milk products (76%). Common findings included fever (95%), bacteremia (86%), elevated liver transaminases (80%), constitutional symptoms (76%), splenomegaly (60%), and hepatomegaly (55%). Relapse occurred in three of six subjects started on single drug treatment, but in only one of 15 subjects who started on two or more drugs (p=0.053). No relapses occurred in children whose initial therapy included rifampin or those administered three-drug regimens.ConclusionsBrucella is an infrequent pathogen but should be considered in children with compatible epidemiologic and clinical characteristics. Blood cultures should be obtained, and initial therapy with two or more drugs may decrease the risk of relapse
Electron spectral function and algebraic spin liquid for the normal state of underdoped high superconductors
We propose to describe the spin fluctuations in the normal state of
underdoped high superconductors as a manifestation of an algebraic spin
liquid. We have performed calculations within the slave-boson model to support
our proposal. Under the spin-charge separation picture, the normal state (the
spin-pseudogap phase) is described by massless Dirac fermions, charged bosons,
and a gauge field. We find that the gauge interaction is a marginal
perturbation and drives the mean-field free-spinon fixed point to a more
complicated spin-quantum-fixed-point -- the algebraic spin liquid, where
gapless excitations interact at low energies. The electron spectral function in
the normal state was found to have a Luttinger-liquid-like line shape as
observed in experiments. The spectral function obtained in the superconducting
state shows how a coherent quasiparticle peak appears from the incoherent
background as spin and charge recombine.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures. published versio
Epirubicin With Cyclophosphamide Followed by Docetaxel With Trastuzumab and Bevacizumab as Neoadjuvant Therapy for HER2-Positive Locally Advanced Breast Cancer or as Adjuvant Therapy for HER2-Positive Pathologic Stage III Breast Cancer: A Phase II Trial of the NSABP Foundation Research Group, FB-5
Background The purpose of this study was to determine the cardiac safety and clinical activity of trastuzumab and bevacizumab with docetaxel after epirubicin with cyclophosphamide (EC) in patients with HER2-positive locally advanced breast cancer (LABC) or pathologic stage 3 breast cancer (PS3BC). Patients and Methods Patients received every 3 week treatment with 4 cycles of EC (90/600 mg/m2) followed by 4 cycles of docetaxel (100 mg/m2). Targeted therapy with standard-dose trastuzumab with bevacizumab 15 mg/kg was given for a total of 1 year. Coprimary end points were (1) rate of cardiac events (CEs) in all patients defined as clinical congestive heart failure with a significant decrease in left ventricular ejection fraction or cardiac deaths; and (2) pathologic complete response (pCR) in breast and nodes in the neoadjuvant cohort. An independent cardiac review panel determined whether criteria for a CE were met. Results A total of 105 patients were accrued, 76 with LABC treated with neoadjuvant therapy and 29 with PS3BC treated with adjuvant therapy. Median follow-up was 59.2 months. Among 99 evaluable patients for cardiac safety, 4 (4%; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.1%-10.0%) met CE criteria. The pCR percentage in LABC patients was 46% (95% CI, 34%-59%). Five-year recurrence-free survival (RFS) and overall survival (OS) for all patients was 79.9% and 90.8%, respectively. Conclusion The regimen met predefined criteria for activity of interest with an acceptable rate of CEs. Although the pCR percentage was comparable with chemotherapy regimens with trastuzumab alone the high RFS and OS are of interest in these high-risk populations
Markov chain analysis of random walks on disordered medium
We study the dynamical exponents and for a particle diffusing
in a disordered medium (modeled by a percolation cluster), from the regime of
extreme disorder (i.e., when the percolation cluster is a fractal at )
to the Lorentz gas regime when the cluster has weak disorder at and
the leading behavior is standard diffusion. A new technique of relating the
velocity autocorrelation function and the return to the starting point
probability to the asymptotic spectral properties of the hopping transition
probability matrix of the diffusing particle is used, and the latter is
numerically analyzed using the Arnoldi-Saad algorithm. We also present evidence
for a new scaling relation for the second largest eigenvalue in terms of the
size of the cluster, , which provides a
very efficient and accurate method of extracting the spectral dimension
where .Comment: 34 pages, REVTEX 3.
Superconducting Gap Anisotropy and Quasiparticle Interactions: a Doping Dependent ARPES Study
Comparing ARPES measurements on Bi2212 with penetration depth data, we show
that a description of the nodal excitations of the d-wave superconducting state
in terms of non-interacting quasiparticles is inadequate, and we estimate the
magnitude and doping dependence of the Landau interaction parameter which
renormalizes the linear T contribution to the superfluid density. Furthermore,
although consistent with d-wave symmetry, the gap with underdoping cannot be
fit by the simple coskx-cosky form, which suggests an increasing importance of
long range interactions as the insulator is approached.Comment: 4 pages, 3 eps figs, manuscript and Fig. 3 significantly revise
Phase fluctuations, dissipation and superfluid stiffness in d-wave superconductors
We study the effect of dissipation on quantum phase fluctuations in d-wave
superconductors. Dissipation, arising from a nonzero low frequency optical
conductivity which has been measured in experiments below , has two
effects: (1) a reduction of zero point phase fluctuations, and (2) a reduction
of the temperature at which one crosses over to classical thermal fluctuations.
For parameter values relevant to the cuprates, we show that the crossover
temperature is still too large for classical phase fluctuations to play a
significant role at low temperature. Quasiparticles are thus crucial in
determining the linear temperature dependence of the in-plane superfluid
stiffness. Thermal phase fluctuations become important at higher temperatures
and play a role near .Comment: Presentation improved, new references added (10 latex pages, 3 eps
figures). submitted to PR
Fermi liquid interactions and the superfluid density in d-wave superconductors
We construct a phenomenological superfluid Fermi liquid theory for a
two-dimensional d-wave superconductor on a square lattice, and study the effect
of quasiparticle interactions on the superfluid density. Using simple models
for the dispersion and the Landau interaction function, we illustrate the
deviation of these results from those for the isotropic superfluid. This allows
us to reconcile the value and doping dependence of the superfluid density slope
at low temperature obtained from penetration depth measurements, with
photoemission data on nodal quasiparticles.Comment: 5 latex pages, 1 eps-figure. submitted to PR
The effect of phase fluctuations on the single-particle properties of the underdoped cuprates
We study the effect of order parameter phase fluctuations on the
single-particle properties of fermions in the underdoped cuprate
superconductors using a phenomenological low-energy theory. We identify the
fermion-phase field coupling as the Doppler-shift of the quasiparticle spectrum
induced by the fluctuating superfluid velocity and we calculate the effect of
these fluctuations on the fermion self-energy. We show that the vortex pair
unbinding near the superconducting transition causes a significant broadening
in the fermion spectral function, producing a pseudogap-like feature. We also
discuss the specific heat and show that the phase fluctuation effect is visible
due to the short coherence length.Comment: RevTex 11 pages; 11 epsf figures included. Added and updated
reference
Nodal quasiparticle meltdown in ultra-high resolution pump-probe angle-resolved photoemission
High- cuprate superconductors are characterized by a strong
momentum-dependent anisotropy between the low energy excitations along the
Brillouin zone diagonal (nodal direction) and those along the Brillouin zone
face (antinodal direction). Most obvious is the d-wave superconducting gap,
with the largest magnitude found in the antinodal direction and no gap in the
nodal direction. Additionally, while antinodal quasiparticle excitations appear
only below , superconductivity is thought to be indifferent to nodal
excitations as they are regarded robust and insensitive to . Here we
reveal an unexpected tie between nodal quasiparticles and superconductivity
using high resolution time- and angle-resolved photoemission on optimally doped
BiSrCaCuO. We observe a suppression of the nodal
quasiparticle spectral weight following pump laser excitation and measure its
recovery dynamics. This suppression is dramatically enhanced in the
superconducting state. These results reduce the nodal-antinodal dichotomy and
challenge the conventional view of nodal excitation neutrality in
superconductivity.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figure. To be published in Nature Physic
C-axis electronic Raman scattering in Bi_2Sr_2CaCu_2O_{8+\delta}
We report a c-axis-polarized electronic Raman scattering study of
Bi_2Sr_2CaCu_2O_{8+\delta} single crystals. In the normal state, a resonant
electronic continuum extends to 1.5 eV and gains significant intensity as the
incoming photon energy increases. In the superconducting state, a coherence
2\Delta peak appears around 50 meV, with a suppression of the scattering
intensity at frequencies below the peak position. The peak energy, which is
higher than that seen with in-plane polarizations, signifies distinctly
different dynamics of quasiparticle excitations created with out-of-plane
polarization.Comment: 12 pages, REVTEX, 3 postscript figure
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