35,599 research outputs found
The clinical application of PET/CT: a contemporary review
The combination of positron emission tomography (PET) scanners and x-ray computed tomography (CT) scanners into a single PET/CT scanner has resulted in vast improvements in the diagnosis of disease, particularly in the field of oncology. A decade on from the publication of the details of the first PET/CT scanner, we review the technology and applications of the modality. We examine the design aspects of combining two different imaging types into a single scanner, and the artefacts produced such as attenuation correction, motion and CT truncation artefacts. The article also provides a discussion and literature review of the applications of PET/CT to date, covering detection of tumours, radiotherapy treatment planning, patient management, and applications external to the field of oncology
From Markovian to pairwise epidemic models and the performance of moment closure approximations
Many if not all models of disease transmission on networks can be linked to the exact state-based Markovian formulation. However the large number of equations for any system of realistic size limits their applicability to small populations. As a result, most modelling work relies on simulation and pairwise models. In this paper, for a simple SIS dynamics on an arbitrary network, we formalise the link between a well known pairwise model and the exact Markovian formulation. This involves the rigorous derivation of the exact ODE model at the level of pairs in terms of the expected number of pairs and triples. The exact system is then closed using two different closures, one well established and one that has been recently proposed. A new interpretation of both closures is presented, which explains several of their previously observed properties. The closed dynamical systems are solved numerically and the results are compared to output from individual-based stochastic simulations. This is done for a range of networks with the same average degree and clustering coefficient but generated using different algorithms. It is shown that the ability of the pairwise system to accurately model an epidemic is fundamentally dependent on the underlying large-scale network structure. We show that the existing pairwise models are a good fit for certain types of network but have to be used with caution as higher-order network structures may compromise their effectiveness
Quantum information storage and state transfer based on spin systems
The idea of quantum state storage is generalized to describe the coherent
transfer of quantum information through a coherent data bus. In this universal
framework, we comprehensively review our recent systematical investigations to
explore the possibility of implementing the physical processes of quantum
information storage and state transfer by using quantum spin systems, which may
be an isotropic antiferromagnetic spin ladder system or a ferromagnetic
Heisenberg spin chain. Our studies emphasize the physical mechanisms and the
fundamental problems behind the various protocols for the storage and transfer
of quantum information in solid state systems.Comment: 11 pages, 9 figures, Review article on the quantum spin based quantum
information processing, to appear the special issue of Low Temperature
Physics dedicated to the 70-th anniversary of creation of concept
"antiferromagnetism" in physics of magnetis
Structure of isolated Z-disks from honeybee flight muscle
The Z-disk is a complex structure comprising some 40 proteins that are involved in the transmission of force developed during muscle contraction and in important signalling pathways that govern muscle homeostasis. In the Z-disk the ends of antiparallel thin filaments from adjacent sarcomeres are crosslinked by α-actinin. The structure of the Z-disk lattice varies greatly throughout the animal kingdom. In vertebrates the thin filaments form a tetragonal lattice, whereas invertebrate flight muscle has a hexagonal lattice. The width of the Z-disk varies considerably and correlates with the number of α-actinin bridges. A detailed description at a high resolution of the Z-disk lattice is needed in order to better understand muscle function and disease. The molecular architecture of the Z-disk lattice in honeybee (Apis mellifera) is known from plastic embedded thin sections to a resolution of 7 nm, which is not sufficient to dock component protein crystal structures. It has been shown that sectioning is a damaging process that leads to the loss of finer details present in biological specimens. However, the Apis Z-disk is a thin structure (120 nm) suitable for cryo EM. We have isolated intact honeybee Z-disks from indirect flight muscle, thus obviating the need of plastic sectioning. We have employed cryo electron tomography and image processing to investigate the arrangement of proteins within the hexagonal lattice of the Apis Z-disk. The resolution obtained, ~6 nm, was probably limited by damage caused by the harshness of the conditions used to extract the myofibrils and isolate the Z-disks
Electron transport through dipyrimidinyl-diphenyl diblock molecular wire: protonation effect
Recently, rectifying direction inversion has been observed in
dipyrimidinyl-diphenyl (PMPH) diblock molecular wire [J. Am. Chem. Soc. (2005)
127, 10456], and a protonation mechanism was suggested to explain this
interesting phenomena. In this paper, we study the protonation effect on
transport properties of PMPH molecule by first principles calculations. No
significant rectification is found for the pristine diblock molecular wire.
Protonation leads to conductance enhancement and rectification. However, for
all considered junctions with rectifying effect, the preferential current
directions are samely from dipyrimidinyl side to diphenyl side. Effect of
molecule-electrode anchoring geometry is studied, and it is not responsible for
the discrepancy between experiment and theory.Comment: 17 pages, 8 figure
Green functions and dimensional reduction of quantum fields on product manifolds
We discuss Euclidean Green functions on product manifolds P=NxM. We show that
if M is compact then the Euclidean field on P can be approximated by its zero
mode which is a Euclidean field on N. We estimate the remainder of this
approximation. We show that for large distances on N the remainder is small. If
P=R^{D-1}xS^{beta}, where S^{beta} is a circle of radius beta, then the result
reduces to the well-known approximation of the D dimensional finite temperature
quantum field theory to D-1 dimensional one in the high temperature limit.
Analytic continuation of Euclidean fields is discussed briefly.Comment: 17 page
- …