2,744 research outputs found
Imaging-documented repeated intratumoral hemorrhage in vestibular schwannoma: a case report
Intratumoral hemorrhage in vestibular schwannomas is rare. Symptoms often have an acute onset and include headache, nausea, vomiting, vertigo, and depressed consciousness. Intratumoral hemorrhage is probably caused by vascular fragility associated with tumor characteristics and growth. With hemorrhage in VS being rare, repeated hemorrhage has only been reported twice, and on clinical grounds only. The present report details the case of acute neurological deterioration in a patient with repeated intratumoral hemorrhage inside a vestibular schwannoma with computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging confirmation. To our knowledge, repeated hemorrhage in vestibular schwannoma with radiological confirmation has not been reported before
A Hebbian approach to complex network generation
Through a redefinition of patterns in an Hopfield-like model, we introduce
and develop an approach to model discrete systems made up of many, interacting
components with inner degrees of freedom. Our approach clarifies the intrinsic
connection between the kind of interactions among components and the emergent
topology describing the system itself; also, it allows to effectively address
the statistical mechanics on the resulting networks. Indeed, a wide class of
analytically treatable, weighted random graphs with a tunable level of
correlation can be recovered and controlled. We especially focus on the case of
imitative couplings among components endowed with similar patterns (i.e.
attributes), which, as we show, naturally and without any a-priori assumption,
gives rise to small-world effects. We also solve the thermodynamics (at a
replica symmetric level) by extending the double stochastic stability
technique: free energy, self consistency relations and fluctuation analysis for
a picture of criticality are obtained
The neurobiological characterization of distinct cognitive subtypes in early-phase schizophrenia-spectrum disorders
INTRODUCTION: Cognitive deficits are present in some, but not all patients with schizophrenia-spectrum disorders (SSD). We and others have demonstrated three cognitive clusters: cognitively intact patients, patients with deficits in a few domains and those with global cognitive deficits. This study aimed to identify cognitive subtypes of early-phase SSD with matched controls as a reference group, and evaluated cognitive subgroups regarding clinical and brain volumetric measures. METHODS: Eighty-six early-phase SSD patients were included. Hierarchical cluster analysis was conducted using global performance on the Brief Assessment of Cognition in Schizophrenia (BACS). Cognitive subgroups were subsequently related to clinical and brain volumetric measures (cortical, subcortical and cortical thickness) using ANCOVA. RESULTS: Three distinct cognitive clusters emerged: relative to controls we found one cluster of patients with preserved cognition (n = 25), one moderately impaired cluster (n = 38) and one severely impaired cluster (n = 23). Cognitive subgroups were characterized by differences in volume of the left postcentral gyrus, left middle caudal frontal gyrus and left insula, while differences in cortical thickness were predominantly found in fronto-parietal regions. No differences were demonstrated in subcortical brain volume. DISCUSSION: Current results replicate the existence of three distinct cognitive subgroups including one relatively large group with preserved cognitive function. Cognitive subgroups were characterized by differences in cortical regional brain volume and cortical thickness, suggesting associations with cortical, but not subcortical development and cognitive functioning such as attention, executive functions and speed of processing
Impact of school lunch type on nutritional quality of English children's diets.
OBJECTIVE: Nutrient and food standards exist for school lunches in English primary schools although packed lunches brought from home are not regulated. The aim of the present study was to determine nutritional and dietary differences by lunch type. DESIGN: A cross-sectional survey was carried out in 2007 assessing diet using the Child and Diet Evaluation Tool (CADET), a validated 24 h estimated food diary. The data were analysed to determine nutritional and dietary intakes over the whole day by school meal type: school meals and packed lunches. SETTING: Fifty-four primary schools across England. SUBJECTS: Children (n 2709) aged 6-8 years. RESULTS: Children having a packed lunch consumed on average 11·0 g more total sugars (95 % CI 6·6, 15·3 g) and 101 mg more Na (95 % CI 29, 173 mg) over the whole day. Conversely, children having a school meal consumed, on average, 4·0 g more protein (95 % CI 2·3, 5·7 g), 0·9 g more fibre (NSP; 95 % CI 0·5, 1·3 g) and 0·4 mg more Zn (95 % CI 0·1, 0·6 mg). There was no difference in daily energy intake by lunch type. Children having a packed lunch were more likely to consume snacks and sweetened drinks; while children having a school meal were more likely to consume different types of vegetables and drink water over the whole day. CONCLUSIONS: Compared with children having a school meal, children taking a packed lunch to school consumed a lower-quality diet over the whole day, including higher levels of sugar and Na and fewer vegetables. These findings support the introduction of policies that increase school meal uptake
Entanglement of Dirac fields in non-inertial frames
We analyze the entanglement between two modes of a free Dirac field as seen
by two relatively accelerated parties. The entanglement is degraded by the
Unruh effect and asymptotically reaches a non-vanishing minimum value in the
infinite acceleration limit. This means that the state always remains entangled
to a degree and can be used in quantum information tasks, such as
teleportation, between parties in relative uniform acceleration. We analyze our
results from the point of view afforded by the phenomenon of entanglement
sharing and in terms of recent results in the area of multi-qubit
complementarity.Comment: 15 pages, with 8 figures (Mar 2006); accepted to Physical Review A,
July 2006 - slightly revise
On the zig-zag pilot-wave approach for fermions
We consider a pilot-wave approach for the Dirac theory that was recently
proposed by Colin and Wiseman. In this approach, the particles perform a
zig-zag motion, due to stochastic jumps of their velocity. We respectively
discuss the one-particle theory, the many-particle theory and possible
extensions to quantum field theory. We also discuss the non-relativistic limit
of the one-particle theory. For a single particle, the motion is always
luminal, a feature that persists in the non-relativistic limit. For more than
one particle the motion is in general subluminal.Comment: 23 pages, no figures, LaTe
Compton and double Compton scattering processes at colliding electron-photon beams
Radiative corrections (RC) to the Compton scattering cross section are
calculated in the leading and next-to leading logarithmic approximation to the
case of colliding high energy photon-electron beams.
RC to the double Compton scattering cross section in the same experimental
set-up are calculated in the leading logarithmic approximation.
We consider the case when no pairs are created in the final state. We show
that the differential cross section can be written in the form of the Drell-Yan
process cross-section.
Numerical values of the -factor and the leading order distribution on the
scattered electron energy fraction and scattering angle are presented
Probability in Orthodox Quantum Mechanics: Probability as a Postulate Versus Probability as an Emergent Phenomenon
The role of probability in quantum mechanics is reviewed, with a discussion
of the ``orthodox'' versus the statistical interpretive frameworks, and of a
number of related issues. After a brief summary of sources of unease with
quantum mechanics, a survey is given of attempts either to give a new
interpretive framework assuming quantum mechanics is exact, or to modify
quantum mechanics assuming it is a very accurate approximation to a more
fundamental theory. This survey focuses particularly on the issues of whether
probabilities in quantum mechanics are postulated or emergent.Comment: Latex; Submitted to the Proceedings of the Ischia Conference on
``Chance in Physics: Foundations and Perspectives'
Gauge theories as a geometrical issue of a Kaluza-Klein framework
We present a geometrical unification theory in a Kaluza-Klein approach that
achieve the geometrization of a generic gauge theory bosonic component.
We show how it is possible to derive the gauge charge conservation from the
invariance of the model under extra-dimensional translations and to geometrize
gauge connections for spinors, thus we can introduce the matter just by free
spinorial fields. Then, we present the applications to i)a pentadimensional
manifold , so reproducing the original Kaluza-Klein theory,
unless some extensions related to the rule of the scalar field contained in the
metric and the introduction of matter by spinors with a phase dependence from
the fifth coordinate, ii)a seven-dimensional manifold , in which we geometrize the electro-weak model by
introducing two spinors for any leptonic family and quark generation and a
scalar field with two components with opposite hypercharge, responsible of
spontaneous symmetry breaking.Comment: 37 pages, no figure
Designing Contextualized Learning
Specht, M. (2008). Designing Contextualized Learning. In H. H. Adelsberger, Kinshuk, J. M. Pawlowski & D. Sampson (Eds.), Handbook on Information Technologies for Education and Training (2th ed., pp. 101-111). Springer, Berlin Heidelberg 2008: International Handbook on Information Systems Series.Contextualized and ubiquitous learning are relatively new research areas
that combine the latest developments in ubiquitous and context aware
computing with pedagogical approaches relevant to structure more situated
and context aware learning support. Searching for different backgrounds of
mobile and contextualized learning authors have identified the relations
between existing educational paradigms and new classes of mobile appli-
cations for education (Naismith, Lonsdale, Vavoula, & Sharples, 2004).
Furthermore best practices of mobile learning applications have been iden-
tified and discussed in focused workshops (Stone, Alsop, Briggs, & Tomp-
sett, 2002; Tatar, Roschelle, Vahey, & Peunel, 2002). Especially in the
area of educational field trips (Equator Project, 2003; RAFT, 2003) in the
last years innovative approaches for intuitive usage of contextualized mo-
bile interfaces have been developed. The following paper describes the motivation and background for con-
textualizing learning and illustrates the implementation of a service based
and flexible learning toolkit developed in the RAFT project for supporting
contextualized collaborative learning support
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