592 research outputs found
Gallbladder agenesis mimicking cholelithiasis in an adult
We present the case of a 24-year-old woman with morbid obesity who came to the emergency department with right upper quadrant abdominal pain associated with nausea and vomiting. Her workup included a right upper quadrant ultrasound suggestive of a small gallbladder with cholelithiasis without sonographic evidence of acute cholecystitis. She underwent attempted laparoscopic cholecystectomy with no identifiable gallbladder during surgery. Postsurgical cross-sectional imaging confirmed gallbladder agenesis. This case provides an example of a rare but convincing clinical and radiologic mimic of cholelithiasis. In certain cases of biliary colic and imaging revealing a small gallbladder, a magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography may be warranted to evaluate gallbladder agenesis and avoid unnecessary surgery
Resonant tunneling and the multichannel Kondo problem: the quantum Brownian motion description
We study mesoscopic resonant tunneling as well as multichannel Kondo problems
by mapping them to a first-quantized quantum mechanical model of a particle
moving in a multi-dimensional periodic potential with Ohmic dissipation. From a
renormalization group analysis, we obtain phase diagrams of the quantum
Brownian motion model with various lattice symmetries. For a symmorphic
lattice, there are two phases at T=0: a localized phase in which the particle
is trapped in a potential minimum, and a free phase in which the particle is
unaffected by the periodic potential. For a non-symmorphic lattice, however,
there may be an additional intermediate phase in which the particle is neither
localized nor completely free. The fixed point governing the intermediate phase
is shown to be identical to the well-known multichannel Kondo fixed point in
the Toulouse limit as well as the resonance fixed point of a quantum dot model
and a double-barrier Luttinger liquid model. The mapping allows us to compute
the fixed-poing mobility of the quantum Brownian motion model exactly,
using known conformal-field-theory results of the Kondo problem. From the
mobility, we find that the peak value of the conductance resonance of a
spin-1/2 quantum dot problem is given by . The scaling form of the
resonance line shape is predicted
Low-temperature nonequilibrium transport in a Luttinger liquid
The temperature-dependent nonlinear conductance for transport of a Luttinger
liquid through a barrier is calculated in the nonperturbative regime for
, where is the dimensionless interaction constant. To
describe the low-energy behavior, we perform a leading-log summation of all
diagrams contributing to the conductance which is valid for .
With increasing external voltage, the asymptotic low-temperature behavior
displays a turnover from the to a universal law.Comment: 13 pages RevTeX 3.0, accepted by Physical Review
Validation of the Liver Imaging Reporting and Data System Treatment Response Criteria After Thermal Ablation for Hepatocellular Carcinoma
Single hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) tumors can be successfully eradicated with thermal ablation (TA). We assessed the validity of the Liver Imaging Reporting and Data System Treatment Response (LR-TR) criteria with a retrospective analysis of a single-center database of patients with small HCC tumors (<3 cm in diameter) who underwent both laparoscopic TA and liver transplantation (LT) from 2004 to 2018. Postablation MRIs were assigned LR-TR categories (nonviable, equivocal, and viable) for ablated lesions and Liver Imaging Reporting and Data System (LI-RADS) categories (probable or definite HCC) for untreated lesions. Interpretations were compared with the histopathology of the post-LT explanted liver. There were 45 patients with 81 tumors (59 ablated and 22 untreated; mean size, 2.2 cm), and 23 (39%) of the ablated tumors had viable HCC on histopathology. The sensitivity/specificity of LR-TR categories (nonviable/equivocal versus viable) of ablated tumors was 30%/99%, with a positive predictive value (PPV)/negative predictive value (NPV) of 93%/69%. The sensitivity varied with residual tumor size. The sensitivity/specificity of LI-RADS 4 and 5 diagnostic criteria at detecting new HCC was 65%/94%, respectively, with a PPV/NPV of 85%/84%. The interrater reliability (IRR) was high for LR-TR categories (90% agreement, Cohenâs Äž = 0.75) and for LI-RADS LR-4 and LR-5 diagnostic categories (91% agreement, Cohenâs Äž = 0.80). In patients with HCC <3 cm in diameter, LR-TR criteria after TA had high IRR but low sensitivity, suggesting that the LR-TR categories are precise but inaccurate. The low sensitivity may be secondary to TAâs disruption in the local blood flow of the tissue, which could affect the arterial enhancement phase on MRI. Additional investigation and new technologies may be necessary to improve imaging after ablation
Interacting one dimensional electron gas with open boundaries
We discuss the properties of interacting electrons on a finite chain with
open boundary conditions. We extend the Haldane Luttinger liquid description to
these systems and study how the presence of the boundaries modifies various
correlation functions. In view of possible experimental applications to quantum
wires, we analyse how tunneling measurements can reveal the underlying
Luttinger liquid properties. The two terminal conductance is calculated. We
also point out possible applications to quasi one dimensional materials and
study the effects of magnetic impurities.Comment: 38 pages, ReVTeX, 7 figures (available upon request
Effect of Dopant on the Nanostructured Morphology of Poly (1-naphthylamine) Synthesized by Template Free Method
The study reports some preliminary investigations on the template free synthesis of ascantlyinvestigated polyaniline (PANI) derivativeâpoly (1-naphthylamine) (PNA) by template free method in presence as well as absence of hydrochloric acid (HCl) (dopant), using ferric chloride as oxidant. The polymerization was carried out in alcoholic medium. Polymerization of 1-naphthylamine (NPA) was confirmed by the FT-IR as well as UVâvisible studies. The morphology and size of PNA particles was strongly influenced by the presence and absence of acid which was confirmed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) studies
The landscape of gifted and talented education in England and Wales: How are teachers implementing policy?
This is an Author's Accepted Manuscript of an article published in Research Papers in Education, 27(2), 167-186, 2012, copyright Taylor & Francis, available online at: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/02671522.2010.509514.This paper explores the evidence relating to how primary schools are responding to the âgifted and talentedâ initiative in England and Wales. A questionnaire survey which invited both closed and open-ended responses was carried out with a national sample of primary schools. The survey indicated an increasing proportion of coordinators, compared with a survey carried out in 1996, were identifying their gifted and talented children as well as having associated school policies. However, the survey also highlighted a number of issues which need addressing if the initiative is to achieve its objective of providing the best possible educational opportunities for children. For example, it was found that a significant number of practitioners were not aware of the existence of the National Quality Standards for gifted and talented education, provided by the UK government in 2007, and the subject-specific criteria provided by the UKâs Curriculum Authority for identification and provision have been largely ignored. The process of identifying children to be placed on the âgifted and talentedâ register seems haphazard and based on pragmatic reasons. Analysis of teachersâ responses also revealed a range of views and theoretical positioning held by them, which have implications for classroom practice. As the âgifted and talentedâ initiative in the UK is entering a second decade, and yet more significant changes in policy are introduced, pertinent questions need to be raised and given consideration
Non-monotonic variation with salt concentration of the second virial coefficient in protein solutions
The osmotic virial coefficient of globular protein solutions is
calculated as a function of added salt concentration at fixed pH by computer
simulations of the ``primitive model''. The salt and counter-ions as well as a
discrete charge pattern on the protein surface are explicitly incorporated. For
parameters roughly corresponding to lysozyme, we find that first
decreases with added salt concentration up to a threshold concentration, then
increases to a maximum, and then decreases again upon further raising the ionic
strength. Our studies demonstrate that the existence of a discrete charge
pattern on the protein surface profoundly influences the effective interactions
and that non-linear Poisson Boltzmann and Derjaguin-Landau-Verwey-Overbeek
(DLVO) theory fail for large ionic strength. The observed non-monotonicity of
is compared to experiments. Implications for protein crystallization are
discussed.Comment: 43 pages, including 17 figure
Search for a W' boson decaying to a bottom quark and a top quark in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV
Results are presented from a search for a W' boson using a dataset
corresponding to 5.0 inverse femtobarns of integrated luminosity collected
during 2011 by the CMS experiment at the LHC in pp collisions at sqrt(s)=7 TeV.
The W' boson is modeled as a heavy W boson, but different scenarios for the
couplings to fermions are considered, involving both left-handed and
right-handed chiral projections of the fermions, as well as an arbitrary
mixture of the two. The search is performed in the decay channel W' to t b,
leading to a final state signature with a single lepton (e, mu), missing
transverse energy, and jets, at least one of which is tagged as a b-jet. A W'
boson that couples to fermions with the same coupling constant as the W, but to
the right-handed rather than left-handed chiral projections, is excluded for
masses below 1.85 TeV at the 95% confidence level. For the first time using LHC
data, constraints on the W' gauge coupling for a set of left- and right-handed
coupling combinations have been placed. These results represent a significant
improvement over previously published limits.Comment: Submitted to Physics Letters B. Replaced with version publishe
Search for the standard model Higgs boson decaying into two photons in pp collisions at sqrt(s)=7 TeV
A search for a Higgs boson decaying into two photons is described. The
analysis is performed using a dataset recorded by the CMS experiment at the LHC
from pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV, which corresponds to an
integrated luminosity of 4.8 inverse femtobarns. Limits are set on the cross
section of the standard model Higgs boson decaying to two photons. The expected
exclusion limit at 95% confidence level is between 1.4 and 2.4 times the
standard model cross section in the mass range between 110 and 150 GeV. The
analysis of the data excludes, at 95% confidence level, the standard model
Higgs boson decaying into two photons in the mass range 128 to 132 GeV. The
largest excess of events above the expected standard model background is
observed for a Higgs boson mass hypothesis of 124 GeV with a local significance
of 3.1 sigma. The global significance of observing an excess with a local
significance greater than 3.1 sigma anywhere in the search range 110-150 GeV is
estimated to be 1.8 sigma. More data are required to ascertain the origin of
this excess.Comment: Submitted to Physics Letters
- âŠ