Multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging of the prostate-a basic tutorial.

Prostate cancer is the second most common cause of cancer related death in the United States and the most commonly diagnosed malignancy in men. In general, prostate cancer is slow growing, though there is a broad spectrum of disease that may be indolent, or aggressive and rapidly progressive. Screening for prostate is controversial and complicated by lack of specificity and over diagnosis of clinically insignificant cancer. Imaging has played a role in diagnosis of prostate cancer, primarily through systemic transrectal ultrasound (TRUS) guided biopsy. While TRUS guided biopsy radically changed prostate cancer diagnosis, it still remains limited by low resolution, poor tissue characterization, relatively low sensitivity and positive predictive value. Advances in multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging (mpMRI) have allowed more accurate detection, localization, and staging as well as aiding in the role of active surveillance (AS). The use of mpMRI for the evaluation of prostate cancer has increased dramatically and this trend is likely to continue as the technique is rapidly improving and its applications expand. The purpose of this article is to review the basic principles of mpMRI of the prostate and its clinical applications, which will be reviewed in greater detail in subsequent chapters of this issue

The Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa density matrices

The flavor changing charged currents of the weak sector of the Standard Model are studied in the framework of a quantum statistical approach. The quantum superposition of same-type quarks, generated by the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa matrix, is used to define three density matrices, one for each quark family. The properties of such density matrices are analyzed, in particular, the associated von Neumann entropy. It is proven that, due to the unitarity of the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa matrix, the quantum mixtures of quarks resulting from the weak interaction do not increase entropy and, therefore, the violation of CP and T symmetries cannot be related to the second law of thermodynamics.Comment: 3 page

Tricritical Point in Quantum Phase Transitions of the Coleman-Weinberg Model at Higgs Mass

The tricritical point, which separates first and second order phase transitions in three-dimensional superconductors, is studied in the four-dimensional Coleman-Weinberg model, and the similarities as well as the differences with respect to the three-dimensional result are exhibited. The position of the tricritical point in the Coleman-Weinberg model is derived and found to be in agreement with the Thomas-Fermi approximation in the three-dimensional Ginzburg-Landau theory. From this we deduce a special role of the tricritical point for the Standard Model Higgs sector in the scope of the latest experimental results, which suggests the unexpected relevance of tricritical behavior in the electroweak interactions.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figure, published in Phys. Lett.