1,511 research outputs found
Adverse Effects of Systemic Immunosuppression in Keratolimbal Allograft
Purpose. Keratolimbal allograft (KLAL) is a treatment for limbal stem cell deficiency. One disadvantage is systemic immunosuppression to avoid rejection. Our purpose was to examine the adverse effects of systemic immunosuppression in KLAL. Methods. A retrospective case review of 16 patients with KLAL who received systemic immunosuppression consisting of a corticosteroid, an antimetabolite, and/or a calcineurin inhibitor was performed. Patients were monitored for signs, symptoms, or laboratory evidence of toxicity. Results. Eleven of 16 patients (68%) experienced an adverse effect. The average age of those with adverse effects was 43.5 years and without was 31.4 years. Ten of 11 patients (91%) had resolution during mean followup of 16.4 months. No serious adverse effects occurred. The most common included anemia, hyperglycemia, elevated creatinine, and elevated liver function tests. Prednisone and tacrolimus were responsible for the most adverse effects. Patients with comorbidities were more likely to experience an adverse effect (82% versus 20%, P = 0.036). Conclusions. KLAL requires prolonged systemic immunosuppression. Our data demonstrated that systemic immunosuppression did not result in serious adverse effects in our population and is relatively safe with monitoring for toxicity. In addition, we demonstrated that adverse effects are more likely in older patients with comorbidities
Non-equilibrium phase transitions in biomolecular signal transduction
We study a mechanism for reliable switching in biomolecular
signal-transduction cascades. Steady bistable states are created by system-size
cooperative effects in populations of proteins, in spite of the fact that the
phosphorylation-state transitions of any molecule, by means of which the switch
is implemented, are highly stochastic. The emergence of switching is a
nonequilibrium phase transition in an energetically driven, dissipative system
described by a master equation. We use operator and functional integral methods
from reaction-diffusion theory to solve for the phase structure, noise
spectrum, and escape trajectories and first-passage times of a class of minimal
models of switches, showing how all critical properties for switch behavior can
be computed within a unified framework
d_{x^2-y^2} Symmetry and the Pairing Mechanism
An important question is if the gap in the high temperature cuprates has
d_{x^2-y^2} symmetry, what does that tell us about the underlying interaction
responsible for pairing. Here we explore this by determining how three
different types of electron-phonon interactions affect the d_{x^2-y^2} pairing
found within an RPA treatment of the 2D Hubbard model. These results imply that
interactions which become more positive as the momentum transfer increases
favor d_{x^2-y^2} pairing in a nearly half-filled band.Comment: 9 pages and 2 eps figs, uses revtex with epsf, in press, PR
Effects of Decays of Tau Neutrinos Near A Supernova
We revisit the constraints implied by SN 1987 A observations on the decay
rate of a multi-MeV decaying into the visible channel , if its lifetime is more than 10 {\it sec.}. We
discuss its implication for the minimal left-right symmetric model with see-saw
mechanism for neutrino masses. We also speculate on the possible formation of a
``giant Capacitor" in intergalactic space due to the decay of "neutronization"
's and spin allignment possibility in the supernova.Comment: 29 Pages, Tex file, UMDHEP 94-4
A new method for tracking of motor skill learning through practical application of Fitts’ law
This article is made available through the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund.A novel upper limb motor skill measure, task productivity rate (TPR) was developed integrating speed and spatial error, delivered by a practical motor skill rehabilitation task (MSRT). This prototype task involved placement of 5 short pegs horizontally on a spatially configured rail array. The stability of TPR was tested on 18 healthy right-handed adults (10 women, 8 men, median age 29 years) in a prospective single-session quantitative within-subjects study design. Manipulations of movement rate 10% faster and slower relative to normative states did not significantly affect TPR, F(1.387, 25.009) = 2.465, p = .121. A significant linear association between completion time and error was highest during the normative state condition (Pearson's r = .455, p < .05). Findings provided evidence that improvements in TPR over time reflected motor learning with possible changes in coregulation behavior underlying practice under different conditions. These findings extend Fitts’ law theory to tracking of practical motor skill using a dexterity task, which could have potential clinical applications in rehabilitation
Doping dependence of the many-body effects along the nodal direction in the high-Tc cuprate (Bi,Pb)_2Sr_2CaCu_2O_8
Angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) is used to study the doping
dependence of the lifetime and the mass renormalization of the low energy
excitations in the high-Tc cuprate (Bi,Pb)_2Sr_2CaCu_2O_8 along the zone
diagonal. We find a linear energy de-pendence of the scattering rate for the
underdoped samples and a quadratic energy depend-ence in the overdoped case.
The mass enhancement of the quasiparticles due to the many body effects at the
Fermi energy is found to be in the order of 2 and the renormalization extends
over a large energy range for both the normal and the superconducting state.
The much discussed kink in the dispersion around 70 meV is interpreted as a
small additional effect at low temperatures.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figure
Movement variability in stroke patients and controls performing two upper limb functional tasks: a new assessment methodology
Background: In the evaluation of upper limb impairment post stroke there remains a gap between detailed kinematic analyses with expensive motion capturing systems and common clinical assessment tests. In particular, although many clinical tests evaluate the performance of functional
tasks, metrics to characterise upper limb kinematics are generally not applicable to such tasks and very limited in scope. This paper reports on a novel, user-friendly methodology that allows for the assessment of both signal magnitude and timing variability in upper limb movement trajectories during functional task performance. In order to demonstrate the technique, we report on a study
in which the variability in timing and signal magnitude of data collected during the performance of two functional tasks is compared between a group of subjects with stroke and a group of individually matched control subjects.
Methods: We employ dynamic time warping for curve registration to quantify two aspects of movement variability: 1) variability of the timing of the accelerometer signals' characteristics and 2) variability of the signals' magnitude. Six stroke patients and six matched controls performed several trials of a unilateral ('drinking') and a bilateral ('moving a plate') functional task on two different days, approximately 1 month apart. Group differences for the two variability metrics were investigated on both days.
Results: For 'drinking from a glass' significant group differences were obtained on both days for
the timing variability of the acceleration signals' characteristics (p = 0.002 and p = 0.008 for test and
retest, respectively); all stroke patients showed increased signal timing variability as compared to
their corresponding control subject. 'Moving a plate' provided less distinct group differences.
Conclusion: This initial application establishes that movement variability metrics, as determined
by our methodology, appear different in stroke patients as compared to matched controls during unilateral task performance ('drinking'). Use of a user-friendly, inexpensive accelerometer makes this methodology feasible for routine clinical evaluations. We are encouraged to perform larger studies to further investigate the metrics' usefulness when quantifying levels of impairment
Surprises in the doping dependence of the Fermi surface in Bi(Pb)-2212
A detailed and systematic ARPES investigation of the doping-dependence of the
normal state Fermi surface (FS) of modulation-free (Pb,Bi)-2212 is presented.
The FS does not change in topology away from hole-like at any stage. The data
reveal, in addition, a number of surprises. Firstly the FS area does not follow
the usual curve describing Tc vs x for the hole doped cuprates, but is
down-shifted in doping by ca. 0.05 holes per Cu site, indicating either the
break-down of Luttinger's theorem or the consequences of a significant bi-layer
splitting of the FS. Secondly, the strong k-dependence of the FS width is shown
to be doping independent. Finally, the relative strength of the shadow FS has a
doping dependence mirroring that of Tc.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures (revtex
Measurements of Charged Current Reactions of on
Charged Current reactions of on have been studied using a
decay-at-rest beam at the Los Alamos Neutron Science Center.
The cross section for the exclusive reaction
was measured to be cm. The observed
energy dependence of the cross section and angular distribution of the outgoing
electron agree well with theoretical expectations. Measurements are also
presented for inclusive transitions to excited states,
and compared with theoretical expectations. The
measured cross section, cm, is somewhat
lower than previous measurements and than a continuum random phase
approximation calculation. It is in better agreement with a recent shell model
calculation.Comment: 34 pages, 18 figures, accepted to PRC, replaced with the accepted on
Multiband model of high Tc superconductors
We propose an extension to other high T_{c } compounds of a model introduced
earlier for YBCO. In the ''self-doped'' compounds we assume that the doping
part (namely the BiO, HgO, TlO planes in BSCCO, HBCCO, TBCCO respectively) is
metallic, which leads to a multiband model. This assumption is supported by
band structure calculations. Taking a repulsive pairing interaction between
these doping bands and the CuO_{2} bands leads to opposite signs for the order
parameter on these bands and to nodes whenever the Fermi surfaces of these
bands cross. We show that in BSCCO the low temperature dependence of the
penetration depth is reasonably accounted for. In this case the nodes are not
located near the 45^{o} direction, which makes the experimental determination
of the node locations an important test for our model. The situation in HBCCO
and TBCCO is rather analogous to BSCCO. We consider the indications given by
NMR and find that they rather favor a metallic character for the doping bands.
Finally we discuss the cases of NCCO and LSCO which are not ''self-doped'' and
where our model does not give nodes.Comment: 11 pages, revtex, 1 figure
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