292 research outputs found
Fluid-fluid demixing curves for colloid-polymer mixtures in a random colloidal matrix
We study fluid-fluid phase separation in a colloid-polymer mixture adsorbed
in a colloidal porous matrix close to the \theta -point. For this purpose we
consider the Asakura-Oosawa model in the presence of a quenched matrix of
colloidal hard spheres. We study the dependence of the demixing curve on the
parameters that characterize the quenched matrix, fixing the polymer-to-colloid
size ratio to 0.8. We find that, to a large extent, demixing curves depend only
on a single parameter f, which represents the volume fraction which is
unavailable to the colloids. We perform Monte Carlo simulations for volume
fractions f equal to 40% and 70%, finding that the binodal curves in the
polymer and colloid packing-fraction plane have a small dependence on disorder.
The critical point instead changes significantly: for instance, the colloid
packing fraction at criticality increases with increasing f. Finally, we
observe for some values of the parameters capillary condensation of the
colloids: a bulk colloid-poor phase is in chemical equilibrium with a
colloid-rich phase in the matrix.Comment: 26 pages, 8 figures. In publication in Molecular Physics, special
volume dedicated to Luciano Reatto for his 70th birthda
How log-normal is your country? An analysis of the statistical distribution of the exported volumes of products
We have considered the statistical distributions of the volumes of the
different products exported by 148 countries. We have found that the form of
these distributions is not unique but heavily depends on the level of
development of the nation, as expressed by macroeconomic indicators like GDP,
GDP per capita, total export and a recently introduced measure for countries'
economic complexity called fitness. We have identified three major classes: a)
an incomplete log-normal shape, truncated on the left side, for the less
developed countries, b) a complete log-normal, with a wider range of volumes,
for nations characterized by intermediate economy, and c) a strongly asymmetric
shape for countries with a high degree of development. The ranking curves of
the exported volumes from each country seldom cross each other, showing a clear
hierarchy of export volumes. Finally, the log-normality hypothesis has been
checked for the distributions of all the 148 countries through different tests,
Kolmogorov-Smirnov and Cramer-Von Mises, confirming that it cannot be rejected
only for the countries of intermediate economy.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures, submitted to IWcee15 conferenc
Spin-sensitive Long-ranged Proximity Effect for Triplet Superconductors
The discovery of noncentrosymmetric superconductors, such as CePtSi, and
chiral superconductors, such as SrRuO, calls for experimental methods
to identify the presence of spin-triplet pairing. We here demonstrate a method
which accomplishes this in an appealingly simple manner: a spin-sensitive
proximity effect in a ferromagnettriplet superconductor bilayer. It is
shown how the orientation of the field can be used to unambiguously distinguish
between different spin-triplet states. Moreover, the proximity effect becomes
long-ranged in spite of the presence of an exchange field and even without any
magnetic inhomogeneities, in contrast to conventional SF junctions. Our
results can be verified by STM-spectroscopy and could be useful as a tool to
characterize the pairing state in unconventional superconducting materials.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
Nilotinib therapy in an imatinib intolerant chronic myeloid leukemia patient with pulmonary severe hypertension
Imatinib mesylate is a tyrosine kinase inhibitor that has significant efficacy in the treatment of chronic myelogenous leukemia. In general, hematologic and extrahematologic side effects of imatinib therapy are mild to moderate, with the large majority of patients tolerating prolonged periods of therapy. However, a minority of patients are completely intolerant of therapy, while others are able to remain on therapy despite significant side effects. Here, we describe a chronic phase CML patient with pulmonary arterial hypertension, mechanical hearth valve, who experienced extrahematologic adverse event (persistent grade III cutaneous rash, despite two discontinuations of imatinib and using of steroid). Necessitating switch to one of new tyrosine kinase inhibitors, nilotinib, has resulted in complete cytogenetic response and major molecular response, after 3 and 6 months, respectively. No cross-intolerance with imatinib was observed during nilotinib therapy. Besides, this clinical case suggests that warfarin and nilotinib can be used concurrently without the risk of increased anticoagulant effect
Contribuição ao estudo das vias bilÃferas intra e extra-hepáticas em capra hircus; sistematização do ramus principalis sinister
The A. has analised the sistematization of the ramus principalis sinister of the liver, in 30 goats (Capra hircus), 17 males and 13 females. The system of the ramus principalis sinister holds the ramus medialis lobi sinistri, ramus lateralis lobi sinistri, ramus lobi quadrati, ramus processi papillaris, and two stams: one including the medial group of the rami intermedii lobi sinister, and other, the lateral one of them; the A. also identifies contributions from the lobus caudatus (pars supraportalis and pons) and lobus quadratus.O artigo apresenta resumo em inglês
Rapid and sustained molecular response to nilotinib in a patient with sub-optimal response to imatinib
We describe here the case of a 40-years-old woman diagnosed as having chronic phase chronic myeloid leukemia and treated with standard dose of imatinib; the patient obtained the complete cytogenetic remission in 7 months, but she failed to achieve major molecular response (MMolR) after more than18 months of imatinib therapy. Sub-optimal response, defined according European LeukemiaNet guidelines, persisted despite of increasing imatinib dose to 600 mg daily. No BCR-ABL mutations were detected. Three months after switching to nilotinib 800 mg bid, the patient obtained MMolR. She experienced any toxicities due to nilotinib. We speculate about use of nilotinib in patients classified as sub-optimal at 18 months from imatinib
Targeted nanoparticles for the delivery of novel bioactive molecules to pancreatic cancer cells
Pancreatic cancer (PaCa) is a multifaceted disorder with an extremely poor prognosis. There is an urgent need to identify new and safe drugs as well as to develop novel
tumor-targeted controlled release systems for effective treatment of late stage and resistant PaCa. Active targeting via the inclusion of specific ligands on the nanoparticles (NPs) is envisioned to provide a powerful therapeutic strategy.
Herein, we present a study on the design and the development of novel DFCencapsulated biocompatible polymeric NPs, functionalized with peptides to selectively
bind to Plec-1 (PTP), or densely decorated by low molecular weight organic molecules as alternative targeting ligands (2-ABA), and evaluated a) the impact on ligand binding
and b) the in vitro antiproliferative efficacy against a panel of PaCa cells
Selective transcription and cellular proliferation induced by PDGF require histone deacetylase activity
Histone deacetylases (HDACs) are key regulatory enzymes involved in the control of gene expression and their inhibition by specific drugs has been widely correlated to cell cycle arrest, terminal differentiation, and apoptosis. Here, we investigated whether HDAC activ- ity was required for PDGF-dependent signal transduction and cellular proliferation. Exposure of PDGF-stimulated NIH3T3 fibroblasts to the HDAC inhibitor trichostatin A (TSA) potently repressed the expression of a group of genes correlated to PDGF-dependent cel- lular growth and pro-survival activity. Moreover, we show that TSA interfered with STAT3-dependent transcriptional activity induced by PDGF. Still, neither phosphorylation nor nuclear translocation and DNA-binding in vitro and in vivo of STAT3 were affected by using TSA to interfere with PDGF stimulation. Finally, TSA treatment resulted in the suppression of PDGF-dependent cellular prolif- eration without affecting cellular survival of NIH3T3 cells. Our data indicate that inhibition of HDAC activity antagonizes the mitogenic effect of PDGF, suggesting that these drugs may specifically act on the expression of STAT-dependent, PDGF-responsive genes
Does a ferromagnet with spin-dependent masses produce a spin-filtering effect in a ferromagnetic/insulator/superconductor junction?
We analyze charge transport through a ballistic
ferromagnet/insulator/superconductor junction by means of the Bogoliubov-de
Gennes equations. We take into account the possibility that ferromagnetism in
the first electrode may be driven by a mass renormalization of oppositely
polarized carriers, i.e. by a spin bandwidth asymmetry, rather than by a rigid
splitting of up-and down-spin electron bands as in a standard Stoner
ferromagnet. By evaluating the averaged charge conductance for both an s- and a
-wave order parameter for the S side, we show that the mass
mismatch in the ferromagnetic electrode may mimic a spin active barrier.
Indeed, in the -wave case we show that under suitable conditions the spin
dependent conductance of minority carriers below the energy gap can
be larger than for majority carriers, and lower above . On the other
hand, for a d_{x^2-y^2}-wave superconductor similar spin-dependent effects give
rise to an asymmetric peak splitting in the conductance. These results suggest
that the junction may work as a spin-filtering device.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figure
- …