1,315 research outputs found
Natural killer (NK) cells and their involvement in different types of cancer. Current status of clinical research
Natural killer cells are the main agents of innate immunity. Since 1970, various studies have repeatedly confirmed their involvement in decreasing local tumor growth and also decreasing the risk of metastasis, due to their cytotoxic effects and also through the release of immunostimulatory cytokines such as IFN-gamma. In the 1990s, several studies demonstrated the existence of certain inhibiting and stimulating receptors of these cells, leading to the concept of “induced self”, thus explaining why tumors with MHC-1 are destroyed and autologous cells without it are saved out. Recognition and destruction of tumor cells by the NK cells are the result of complex interactions between inhibiting and activating factors. This paper, based on extensive research of currently available studies, summarizes the mechanisms employed by the NK cells to destroy the cancer cells, thus highlighting their role in the risk of tumor recurrence as well as their use and handling in certain types of immunotherapy
Electronic states in a graphene flake strained by a Gaussian bump
The effect of strain in graphene is usually modeled by a pseudo-magnetic
vector potential which is, however, derived in the limit of small strain. In
realistic cases deviations are expected in view of graphene's very high strain
tolerance, which can be up to 25%. Here we investigate the pseudo-magnetic
field generated by a Gaussian bump and we show that it exhibits significant
differences with numerical tight-binding results. Furthermore, we calculate the
electronic states in the strained region for a hexagon shaped flake with
armchair edges. We find that the six-fold symmetry of the wave functions inside
the Gaussian bump is directly related to the different effect of strain along
the fundamental directions of graphene: zigzag and armchair. Low energy
electrons are strongly confined in the armchair directions and are localized on
the carbon atoms of a single sublattice
Veselago lensing in graphene with a p-n junction: classical versus quantum effects
The feasibility of Veselago lensing in graphene with a p-n junction is
investigated numerically for realistic injection leads. Two different set-ups
with two narrow leads are considered with absorbing or reflecting side edges.
This allows us to separately determine the influence of scattering on electron
focusing for the edges and the p-n interface. Both semiclassical and
tight-binding simulations show a distinctive peak in the transmission
probability that is attributed to the Veselago lensing effect. We investigate
the robustness of this peak on the width of the injector, the position of the
p-n interface and different gate potential profiles. Furthermore, the influence
of scattering by both short- and long-range impurities is considered.Comment: 10 pages, 7 figure
The prevalence of high dysplastic colonic adenomatous polyps in a 3 year endoscopic retrospective study from a single clinical center
Introduction: Many colon neoplastic tumors come from the malignancy of adenomatous polyps (70%-90%) that were not timely diagnosed in order to be resected. Materials and Methods: We conducted a retrospective study regarding the incidence of adenomatous polyps during 1.000 consecutive colonoscopies performed in our Upper and Lower Digestive Endoscopy Laboratory during a three-year period. Results: During these colonoscopies, some targeted polyps were biopsied or completely removed and the samples had been sent to a complete anatomopathological examination. Taking into consideration the results, the polyps were classified after the histological type and the form of dysplasia, in order to determine the polyp forms that present a high risk of malignancy. Conclusion: Given the rather high frequency of malignant polyps discovered during our study, we highly recommend colonoscopy as a method of choice for routine monitoring of selected cases
Electronic properties of bilayer phosphorene quantum dots in the presence of perpendicular electric and magnetic fields
Using the tight-binding approach, we investigate the electronic properties of
bilayer phosphorene (BLP) quantum dots (QDs) in the presence of perpendicular
electric and magnetic fields. Since BLP consists of two coupled phosphorene
layers, it is of interest to examine the layer-dependent electronic properties
of BLP QDs, such as the electronic distributions over the two layers and the
so-produced layer-polarization features, and to see how these properties are
affected by the magnetic field and the bias potential. We find that in the
absence of a bias potential only edge states are layer-polarized while the bulk
states are not, and the layer-polarization degree (LPD) of the unbiased edge
states increases with increasing magnetic field. However, in the presence of a
bias potential both the edge and bulk states are layer-polarized, and the LPD
of the bulk (edge) states depends strongly (weakly) on the interplay of the
bias potential and the interlayer coupling. At high magnetic fields, applying a
bias potential renders the bulk electrons in a BLP QD to be mainly distributed
over the top or bottom layer, resulting in layer-polarized bulk Landau levels
(LLs). In the presence of a large bias potential that can drive a
semiconductor-to-semimetal transition in BLP, these bulk LLs exhibit different
magnetic-field dependences, i.e., the zeroth LLs exhibit a linear-like
dependence on the magnetic field while the other LLs exhibit a square-root-like
dependence.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figure
A proposed therapeutic algorithm for colorectal cancer prevention, based on endoscopic polypectomies in patients with multiple colonic polyps
Introduction. Results from single medical centers having large numbers of patients with multiple colonic polyps that have undergone colonoscopy management are rare.
Material and method. The present study is based on 2,000 cases enrolled during 2009 and 2017, including patients that underwent colonoscopy for various reasons in the Department for Upper and Lower Endoscopy of Witting Clinical Hospital, Bucharest, Romania.
Results. Of the 2,000 patients examined during 2009 - 2017, 594 tumor formations were detected; 148 (24.9%) patients had colorectal malignancies, and 446 (75%) polypoid formations in 313 patients who had one or more colon polyps were found.
Discussions. After performing statistical analyses on several general parameters (such as age, sex, overall clinical outcome of the patient) and polyp-related characteristics (such as: dimensions, location, histological type), we developed a stepwise algorithm for clinical management (with endoscopic polypectomy) of patients with multiple polyposis, with the goal of reducing unnecessary colorectal surgeries.
Conclusions. We believe that this type of stepwise algorithm-based approach in the clinical management of patients with multiple polyposis can lead to a substantial decrease in unnecessary colectomies (no matter the approach, via laparotomy or laparoscopic procedures), with the accompanying benefit of avoiding the complications and negative long-life impact that they impose
Characterisation of dispersions within annealed HVOLF thermally sprayed AlSnCu coatings
High velocity oxy-liquid fuel (HVOLF) AlSnCu coatings are characterised following annealing for up to 5 hours at 300°C. A combination of statistical analysis of BSE images and TEM observations demonstrate the decrease in the number of sub-micron and nanoscale Sn particles with annealing, commensurate with a decrease in the coating microhardness. TEM evidence further suggests the coarsening of nanoscale Sn through a mechanism of a liquid phase migration within the Al matrix. EELS and EFTEM additionally allow the identification of the precipitation of theta'
Low Temperature Susceptibility of the Noncentrosymmetric Superconductor CePt_3Si
We report ac susceptibility measurements of polycrystalline CePt_3Si down to
60 mK and in applied fields up to 9 T. In zero field, a full Meissner state
emerges at temperatures T/Tc < 0.3, where Tc=0.65 K is the onset transition
temperature. Though transport measurements show a relatively high upper
critical field Bc2 ~ 4-5 T, the low temperature susceptibility, \chi', is quite
fragile to applied field, with \chi' diminishing rapidly in fields of a few kG.
Interestingly, the field dependence of \chi' is well described by the power
law, 4\pi\chi'=(B/B_c)^{1/2}, where Bc is the field at which the onset of
resistance is observed in transport measurements.Comment: 5 figure
Does economic policy uncertainty impact inflation?
Using the monthly economic policy uncertainty (EPU) index of Baker et al. (2016), we examine its impact on inflation rate in the UK over the period from 1998 to 2020. We adopt a vector autoregressive (VAR) model and generate impulse response functions. To ensure that the identified shocks will be uncorrelated, based on economic theoretical considerations, we employed Cholesky restrictions. The results show that a positive innovation in EPU index leads to a weakening of the real exchange rate and unemployment rate and at the same time a rise in inflation rate. The broad implication of the present research is that under economic policy uncertainty shocks, inflation and unemployment rate respond in accordance with the effects described by the economic theory and the Phillips curve, which emphasizes that there is a trade-off between inflation and unemployment.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
- …