20,927 research outputs found
Indications for colonoscopy An analysis based on indications and diagnostic yield
Open access colonoscopy for patients with suspected colonic disease is often not practical and some fonn of patient selection may be necessary. One year's colonoscopic data from our unit were analysed to determine the major indications for the procedure and the diagnostic yield, and to evaluate the suitability of colonoscopy for each indication. The seven major indications were rectal bleeding, iron deficiency anaemia, cancer follow-up, polyp follow-up, abdominal pain, abnormal bowel habit and 'other'. Four hundred and forty-eight procedures were included in the analysis, with rectal bleeding, polyp follow-up and iron deficiency anaemia producing the highest diagnostic yields of 69,1%, 53,3% and 47,7% respectively. Lower yields were obtained for cancer follow-up (21%), abdominal pain (38,2%) and abnormal bowel habit (46,8%). The indication, 'other', produced a combined yield of 66,7%; the majority of patients in this group were known to have colitis. On the basis of these findings we propose that where facilities and expertise do not allow for routine colonoscopy, some fonn ofpatient selection should be employed and we believe this selection should take place according to the diagnostic yield for each indication
Thermal alteration of organic matter in recent marine sediments. 1: Pigments
Sediment from Tanner Basin, the outer continental shelf off Southern California, was analyzed for photosynthetic pigments and their derivatives, namely carotenes and chlorins. Samples of the sediment were also exposed to raised temperatures (65, 100, 150 C) for various periods of time (1 week, 1 month, 2 months). Analysis of the heat-treated sediment revealed the presence of alpha-ionene and 2,6-dimethylnapthalene, thermal degradation products of Betacarotente. Chlorins were converted to nickel porphyrins of both DPEP and etio series. Possible mechanisms of these transformations are presented
Eigenstate Structure in Graphs and Disordered Lattices
We study wave function structure for quantum graphs in the chaotic and
disordered regime, using measures such as the wave function intensity
distribution and the inverse participation ratio. The result is much less
ergodicity than expected from random matrix theory, even though the spectral
statistics are in agreement with random matrix predictions. Instead, analytical
calculations based on short-time semiclassical behavior correctly describe the
eigenstate structure.Comment: 4 pages, including 2 figure
On Toroidal Horizons in Binary Black Hole Inspirals
We examine the structure of the event horizon for numerical simulations of
two black holes that begin in a quasicircular orbit, inspiral, and finally
merge. We find that the spatial cross section of the merged event horizon has
spherical topology (to the limit of our resolution), despite the expectation
that generic binary black hole mergers in the absence of symmetries should
result in an event horizon that briefly has a toroidal cross section. Using
insight gained from our numerical simulations, we investigate how the choice of
time slicing affects both the spatial cross section of the event horizon and
the locus of points at which generators of the event horizon cross. To ensure
the robustness of our conclusions, our results are checked at multiple
numerical resolutions. 3D visualization data for these resolutions are
available for public access online. We find that the structure of the horizon
generators in our simulations is consistent with expectations, and the lack of
toroidal horizons in our simulations is due to our choice of time slicing.Comment: Submitted to Phys. Rev.
Case report: A Stauffer’s syndrome variant associated with renal cell carcinoma and thrombocytopenia
Stauffer’s syndrome is a rare paraneoplastic manifestation of renal cell carcinoma which is characterized by elevated alkaline phosphatase, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, -2-globulin, -glutamyl transferase, thrombocytosis, prolongation of prothrombin time and hepatosplenomegaly, in the absence of hepatic metastasis and jaundice. In this case report, we report a patient who was admitted with fever, fatigue, abdominal pain, weight loss and pruritus in whom renal cell carcinoma was incidentally found in the right kidney during an initial workup.KEYWORDS: Cholestasis; Paraneoplastic syndrome; RCC; Stauffer’s syndrome; Thrombocytopeni
New Limits on Radio Emission from X-ray Dim Isolated Neutron Stars
We have carried out a search for radio emission at 820 MHz from six X-ray dim
isolated neutron stars with the Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Radio Telescope. No
transient or pulsed emission was found using fast folding, fast Fourier
transform, and single-pulse searches. The corresponding flux limits are about
0.01 mJy for pulsed emission, depending on the integration time for the
particular source and assuming a duty cycle of 2%, and 20 mJy for single
dispersed pulses. These are the most sensitive limits to date on radio emission
from X-ray dim isolated neutron stars. There is no evidence for isolated radio
pulses, as seen in a class of neutron stars known as rotating radio transients.
Our results imply that either the radio luminosities of these objects are lower
than those of any known radio pulsars, or they could simply be long-period
nearby radio pulsars with high magnetic fields beaming away from the Earth. To
test the latter possibility, we would need around 40 similar sources to provide
a 1 sigma probability of at least one of them beaming toward us. We also give a
detailed description of our implementation of the Fast Folding Algorithm.Comment: 16 pages, 8 figures, 3 tables, accepted to Ap
On the Disambiguation of Weighted Automata
We present a disambiguation algorithm for weighted automata. The algorithm
admits two main stages: a pre-disambiguation stage followed by a transition
removal stage. We give a detailed description of the algorithm and the proof of
its correctness. The algorithm is not applicable to all weighted automata but
we prove sufficient conditions for its applicability in the case of the
tropical semiring by introducing the *weak twins property*. In particular, the
algorithm can be used with all acyclic weighted automata, relevant to
applications. While disambiguation can sometimes be achieved using
determinization, our disambiguation algorithm in some cases can return a result
that is exponentially smaller than any equivalent deterministic automaton. We
also present some empirical evidence of the space benefits of disambiguation
over determinization in speech recognition and machine translation
applications
Scarring Effects on Tunneling in Chaotic Double-Well Potentials
The connection between scarring and tunneling in chaotic double-well
potentials is studied in detail through the distribution of level splittings.
The mean level splitting is found to have oscillations as a function of energy,
as expected if scarring plays a role in determining the size of the splittings,
and the spacing between peaks is observed to be periodic of period
{} in action. Moreover, the size of the oscillations is directly
correlated with the strength of scarring. These results are interpreted within
the theoretical framework of Creagh and Whelan. The semiclassical limit and
finite-{} effects are discussed, and connections are made with reaction
rates and resonance widths in metastable wells.Comment: 22 pages, including 11 figure
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