Switching to low-dose oral prolonged-release oxycodone/naloxone from WHO-step i drugs in elderly patients with chronic pain at high risk of early opioid discontinuation

Chronic pain has a high prevalence in the aging population. Strong opioids also should be considered in older people for the treatment of moderate to severe pain or for pain that impairs functioning and the quality of life. This study aimed to assess the efficacy and safety of the direct switch to low-dose strong opioids (World Health Organization-Step III drugs) in elderly, opioid-naive patients

Expansion of a lithium gas in the BEC-BCS crossover

We report on experiments in $^6$Li Fermi gases near Feshbach resonances. A broad s-wave resonance is used to form a Bose-Einstein condensate of weakly bound $^6$Li$_2$ molecules in a crossed optical trap. The measured molecule-molecule scattering length of $170^{+100}_{-60}$ nm at 770 G is found in good agreement with theory. The expansion energy of the cloud in the BEC-BCS crossover region is measured. Finally we discuss the properties of p-wave Feshbach resonances observed near 200 Gauss and new s-wave resonances in the heteronuclear $^6$Li- $^7$Li mixture.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figures, Proceedings of ICAP 200

Impact of imaging protocol on left ventricular ejection fraction using gated-SPECT myocardial perfusion imaging

10noopenopenMarcassa, C; Giubbini, R.; Acampa, W.; Cittanti, C.; Djepaxhija, O.; Gimelli, A.; Kokomani, A.; Medolago, G.; Milan, E.; Sciagrà, R.Marcassa, C; Giubbini, Raffaele; Acampa, W.; Cittanti, C.; Djepaxhija, O.; Gimelli, A.; Kokomani, A.; Medolago, Giuseppe; Milan, E.; Sciagrà, R

A review on the formation of heteronuclear cold molecules

Is the characterization of biological systems as complex systems in the mathematical sense a fruitful assertion? In this paper we argue in the affirmative, although obviously we do not attempt to confront all the issues raised by this question. We use the fly's visual system as an example and analyse our experimental results of one particular neuron in the fly's visual system from this point of view. We find that the motion-sensitive ‘H1’ neuron, which converts incoming signals into a sequence of identical pulses or ‘spikes’, encodes the information contained in the stimulus into an alphabet composed of a few letters. This encoding occurs on multilayered sets, one of the features attributed to complex systems. The conversion of intervals between consecutive occurrences of spikes into an alphabet requires us to construct a generating partition. This entails a one-to-one correspondence between sequences of spike intervals and words written in the alphabet. The alphabet dynamics is multifractal both with and without stimulus, though the multifractality increases with the stimulus entropy. This is in sharp contrast to models generating independent spike intervals, such as models using Poisson statistics, whose dynamics is monofractal. We embed the support of the probability measure, which describes the distribution of words written in this alphabet, in a two-dimensional space, whose topology can be reproduced by an M-shaped map. This map has positive Lyapunov exponents, indicating a chaotic-like encoding.FAPESPCNP

Calpain restrains the stem cells compartment in breast cancer

CAPNS1 is essential for the stability and function of ubiquitous CAPN1 and CAPN2. Calpain modulates by proteolytic cleavage many cellular substrates and its activity is often deregulated in cancer cells, therefore calpain inhibition has been proposed as a therapeutical strategy for a number of malignancies. Here we show that CAPNS1 depletion is coupled to impairment of MCF7 and MCF10AT cell lines growth on plate and defective architecture of mammary acini derived from MCF10A cells. In soft agar CAPNS1 depletion leads to cell growth increase in MCF7, and decrease in MCF10AT cells. In both MCF7 and MCF10AT, CAPNS1 depletion leads to the enlargement of the stem cell compartment, as demonstrated by mammosphere formation assays and evaluation of stem cell markers by means of FACS and western blot analysis. Accordingly, activation of calpain by thapsigargin treatment leads to a decrease in the stem cell reservoir. The expansion of the cancer stem cell population in CAPNS1 depleted cells is coupled to a defective shift from symmetric to asymmetric division during mammosphere growth coupled to a decrease in NUMB protein level

Using Photo-Associative Ionization of Sodium to Demonstrate t he Opt ical Control of Cold Collisions

LVe present a study of cold collisions in a sample of magneto-optically trapped sodium atoms througli the technique of two-color photoassociative ionization spectroscopy. We demonstrate the inhibition of the process by adding an auxiliary %uppressor" laser beam and analyze tlie dependence of this optical shielding effect on the laser frequency and intensity. The possibility of using photons to control the atomic collision and to modify the thermodynamic properties of tlie cold gas is discussed. Tlie study of collisions involving laser cooled and trapped atorns has been the subject of intense investigations during the past few years. TIiis interest has been motivated by tlie desire of achieving the regime of a degenerated quantum gas and also by intrinsic features it presents, inainly tliat in tlie presence of light, collisions involving excited state atoms have duration comparable to the spontaneous emission time. In this regime, the exchange of energy between the atom ,and the modes of the radiation field (including vacuum) provides a prototype for studying the properties of nonequilibrium open systems coupled to reservoirs. As the kinetic energy of a two-body collision approaches zero, the number of partia1 waves coiitributing to the elastic collision reduces to one, the s-wave, and the information about the atomic interaction is comyletely contained in the scattering length a. The properties of a cold gas are therefore dependent on the scattering lengtli and its sign can determine the behavior of the system. Tlie recente achievement of the quantum gas regime iii a sample of laser cooled and magnetic trapped rubidium atoms[lI has opened new possibilities of studies involving the thermodymanics of a gas in such regime. Controlling the atomic interaction with photons can provide the condition to stabilize tlie gas in a single quantum state of the confining potential and also the manipulation of its thermodynamical properties. We liave recently demonstrated the possibility of controlling the atomic interaction by using photo-associative ionization (PAI) in a sample of cold sodium atoms held in a trapt2]. In this paper we present the studies of cold collisions using PAI as a prototype and the route we liave taken towards the demonstration of optical control of cold collisions. We discuss the possibility of using photons as a to01 to cliange the course of the atomic encounter, including the modification of attraction into repulsion aiid its applications. Photo-associative ionization as a prototype of cold collisions Conventional associative ionization occurring at ordinary temperatures proceeds in two distinct steps: excitation of isolated atoms followed by the collisional interaction between excited atomic states. Tlie collision event is fast compared to the radiative relaxation and the two steps are decoupled. In contrast, PAI starts with ground state partners moving sufficiently slow that they have time to absorb and spontaneously emit photons prior to the final ionizing interaction. The partners inust be close enough when the initial absorption takes place such tliat a significant fraction of the excited population survives to relaxation back to the ground state. Thus, PAI starts by promoting the ground state of the colliding species, designated by [Na,,Na], to a

Radiative lifetime measurements of rubidium Rydberg states

We have measured the radiative lifetimes of ns, np and nd Rydberg states of rubidium in the range 28 < n < 45. To enable long-lived states to be measured, our experiment uses slow-moving Rb atoms in a magneto-optical trap (MOT). Two experimental techniques have been adopted to reduce random and systematic errors. First, a narrow-bandwidth pulsed laser is used to excite the target Rydberg state, resulting in minimal shot-to-shot variation in the initial state population. Second, we monitor the target state population as a function of time delay from the laser pulse using a short-duration, millimetre-wave pulse that is resonant with a one- or two-photon transition. We then selectively field ionize the monitor state, and detect the resulting electrons with a micro-channel plate. This signal is an accurate mirror of the target state population, and is uncontaminated by contributions from other states which are populated by black body radiation. Our results are generally consistent with other recent experimental results obtained using a less sensitive method, and are also in excellent agreement with theory.Comment: 27 pages,6 figure

AC-induced superfluidity

We argue that a system of ultracold bosonic atoms in a tilted optical lattice can become superfluid in response to resonant AC forcing. Among others, this allows one to prepare a Bose-Einstein condensate in a state associated with a negative effective mass. Our reasoning is backed by both exact numerical simulations for systems consisting of few particles, and by a theoretical approach based on Floquet-Fock states.Comment: Accepted for publication in Europhysics letters, 6 pages, 4 figures, Changes in v2: reference 7 replaced by a more recent on

Two-species magneto-optical trap with 40K and 87Rb

We trap and cool a gas composed of 40K and 87Rb, using a two-species magneto-optical trap (MOT). This trap represents the first step towards cooling the Bose-Fermi mixture to quantum degeneracy. Laser light for the MOT is derived from laser diodes and amplified with a single high power semiconductor amplifier chip. The four-color laser system is described, and the single-species and two-species MOTs are characterized. Atom numbers of 1x10^7 40K and 2x10^9 87Rb are trapped in the two-species MOT. Observation of trap loss due to collisions between species is presented and future prospects for the experiment are discussed.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures; accepted for publication in Physical Review