159 research outputs found
On the worldsheet theory of the type IIA AdS(4) x CP(3) superstring
We perform a detailed study of the type IIA superstring in AdS(4) x CP(3).
After introducing suitable bosonic light-cone and fermionic kappa worldsheet
gauges we derive the pure boson and fermion SU(2|2) x U(1) covariant light-cone
Hamiltonian up to quartic order in fields.
As a first application of our derivation we calculate energy shifts for
string configurations in a closed fermionic subsector and successfully match
these with a set of light-cone Bethe equations. We then turn to investigate the
mismatch between the degrees of freedom of scattering states and oscillatory
string modes. Since only light string modes appear as fundamental Bethe roots
in the scattering theory, the physical role of the remaining massive
oscillators is rather unclear. By continuing a line of research initiated by
Zarembo, we shed light on this question by calculating quantum corrections for
the propagators of the bosonic massive fields. We show that, once loop
corrections are incorporated, the massive coordinates dissolve in a continuum
state of two light particles.Comment: 40 pages, 2 figures. v3: Minor clarifications made and reference list
updated. Published version
Classical integrability and quantum aspects of the AdS(3) x S(3) x S(3) x S(1) superstring
In this paper we continue the investigation of aspects of integrability of
the type IIA AdS(3) x S(3) x S(3) x S(1) and AdS(3) x S(3) x T(4) superstrings.
By constructing a one parameter family of flat connections we prove that the
Green-Schwarz string is classically integrable, at least to quadratic order in
fermions, without fixing the kappa-symmetry. We then compare the quantum
dispersion relation, fixed by integrability up to an unknown interpolating
function h(lambda), to explicit one-loop calculations on the string worldsheet.
For AdS(3) x S(3) x S(3) x S(1) the spectrum contains heavy, as well as light
and massless modes, and we find that the one-loop contribution differs
depending on how we treat these modes showing that similar regularization
ambiguities as appeared in AdS(4)/CFT(3) occur also here.Comment: 29 pages; v2: updated references and acknowledgmen
Pain control after total knee arthroplasty: a randomized trial comparing local infiltration anesthesia and continuous femoral block
Local infiltration analgesia (LIA) is a new multimodal wound infiltration method. It
has attracted growing interest in recent years and is widely used all over the world for
treating postoperative pain after knee and hip arthroplasty. This method is based on
systematic infiltration of a mixture of ropivacaine, a long acting local anesthetic,
ketorolac, a cyclooxygenase inhibitor (NSAID), and adrenalin around all structures
subject to surgical trauma inknee and hip arthroplasty.
Two patient cohorts of 40 patients scheduled for elective total knee arthroplasty
(TKA) and 15 patients scheduled for total hip arthroplasty (THA) contributed to the
work presented in this thesis. In a randomized trial the efficacy of LIA in TKA with
regard to pain at rest and upon movement was compared to femoral block. Both
methods result in a high quality pain relief and similar morphine consumption, but
fewer patients in the LIA group reported pain of 7/10 on any occasion during the 24 h
monitoring period (paper I).
In the same patient cohort the maximal total plasma concentration of ropivacaine was
below the established toxic threshold for most patients although a few reached
potentially toxic concentrations of 1.4-1.7 mg/L. The time to maximal detected
plasma concentration was around 4-6 h after release of tourniquet in TKA (paper II).
All patients in the THA cohort were subjected to the routine LIA protocol. In these
patients both the total and unbound plasma concentration of ropivacaine was
determined. The concentration was below the established toxic threshold. As
ropivacaine binds to a-1 acid glycoprotein(AAG) we assessed the possibility that
increased AAG may decrease the unbound concentration of ropivacaine. A40 %
increase in AAG was detected during the first 24 h after surgery, however the
fraction of unbound ropivacaine remained the same. There was a trend towards
increased C max of ropivacaine with increasing age and decreasing creatinine
clearance but the statistical power was too low to draw any conclusion (paper III).
Administration of 30mg ketorolac according to the LIA protocol both in TKA and
THA resulted in a similar Cmax as previously reported after 10 mg intramuscular
ketorolac (paper II, paper IV). Neither age, nor body weight or BMI, nor creatinine
clearance, correlates to maximal ketorolac plasma concentration or total exposure to
ketorolac (AUC) (paper IV).
In conclusion, LIA provides good postoperative analgesia which is similar to femoral
block after total knee arthroplasty. The plasma concentration of ropivacaine seems to
be below toxic levels in most TKA patients. The unbound plasma concentration of
ropivcaine in THA seems to be below the toxic level.
The use of ketorolac in LIA may not be safer than other routes of administration, and
similar restrictions should be applied in patients at risk of developing side effects
Viral Findings in Adult Hematological Patients with Neutropenia
BACKGROUND: Until recently, viral infections in patients with hematological malignancies were concerns primarily in allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT) recipients. During the last years, changed treatment regimens for non-transplanted patients with hematological malignancies have had potential to increase the incidence of viral infections in this group. In this study, we have prospectively investigated the prevalence of a broad range of respiratory viruses in nasopharyngeal aspirate (NPA) as well as viruses that commonly reactivate after allogeneic HSCT. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Patients with hematological malignancies and therapy induced neutropenia (n = 159) were screened regarding a broad range of common respiratory viruses in the nasopharynx and for viruses commonly detected in severely immunosuppressed patients in peripheral blood. Quantitative PCR was used for detection of viruses. A viral pathogen was detected in 35% of the patients. The detection rate was rather similar in blood (22%) and NPA (18%) with polyoma BK virus and rhinovirus as dominating pathogens in blood and NPA, respectively. Patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) (p<0.01) and patients with fever (p<0.001) were overrepresented in the virus-positive group. Furthermore, viral findings in NPA were associated with upper respiratory symptoms (URTS) (p<0.0001). CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Both respiratory viral infections and low titers of viruses in blood from patients with neutropenia were common. Patients with CLL and patients with fever were independently associated to these infections, and viral findings in NPA were associated to URTS indicating active infection. These findings motivate further studies on viruses' impact on this patient category and their potential role as causative agents of fever during neutropenia
Incidence of lameness and abrasions in piglets in identical farrowing pens with four different types of floor
Genetic association study of QT interval highlights role for calcium signaling pathways in myocardial repolarization.
The QT interval, an electrocardiographic measure reflecting myocardial repolarization, is a heritable trait. QT prolongation is a risk factor for ventricular arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death (SCD) and could indicate the presence of the potentially lethal mendelian long-QT syndrome (LQTS). Using a genome-wide association and replication study in up to 100,000 individuals, we identified 35 common variant loci associated with QT interval that collectively explain âŒ8-10% of QT-interval variation and highlight the importance of calcium regulation in myocardial repolarization. Rare variant analysis of 6 new QT interval-associated loci in 298 unrelated probands with LQTS identified coding variants not found in controls but of uncertain causality and therefore requiring validation. Several newly identified loci encode proteins that physically interact with other recognized repolarization proteins. Our integration of common variant association, expression and orthogonal protein-protein interaction screens provides new insights into cardiac electrophysiology and identifies new candidate genes for ventricular arrhythmias, LQTS and SCD
The index herd with PMWS in Sweden: Presence of serum amyloid A, circovirus 2 viral load and antibody levels in healthy and PMWS-affected pigs
Near BMN dynamics of the AdS(3) x S(3) x S(3) x S(1) superstring
We investigate the type IIA AdS(3) x S(3) x M(4) superstring with M(4)=S(3) x
S(1) or M(4)=T(4). String theory in this background is interesting because of
AdS3/CFT2 and its newly discovered integrable structures. We derive the kappa
symmetry gauge-fixed Green-Schwarz string action to quadratic order in fermions
and quartic order in fields utilizing a near BMN expansion. As a first
consistency check of our results we show that the two point functions are
one-loop finite in dimensional regularization. We then perform a Hamiltonian
analysis where we compare the energy of string states with the predictions of a
set of conjectured Bethe equations. While we find perfect agreement for single
rank one sectors, we find that the product SU(2) x SU(2) sector does not match
unless the Bethe equations decouple completely. We then calculate 2 to 2
bosonic tree-level scattering processes on the string worldsheet and show that
the two-dimensional S-matrix is reflectionless. This might be important due to
the presence of massless worldsheet excitations which are generally not
described by the Bethe equations.Comment: 28 pages; v2: Fixed signs and eq. (B.1), results unchanged, one
reference added; v3: Matches published versio
Downregulation of TFPI in breast cancer cells induces tyrosine phosphorylation signaling and increases metastatic growth by stimulating cell motility
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Increased hemostatic activity is common in many cancer types and often causes additional complications and even death. Circumstantial evidence suggests that tissue factor pathway inhibitor-1 (TFPI) plays a role in cancer development. We recently reported that downregulation of TFPI inhibited apoptosis in a breast cancer cell line. In this study, we investigated the effects of TFPI on self-sustained growth and motility of these cells, and of another invasive breast cancer cell type (MDA-MB-231).</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Stable cell lines with TFPI (both α and ÎČ) and only TFPIÎČ downregulated were created using RNA interference technology. We investigated the ability of the transduced cells to grow, when seeded at low densities, and to form colonies, along with metastatic characteristics such as adhesion, migration and invasion.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Downregulation of TFPI was associated with increased self-sustained cell growth. An increase in cell attachment and spreading was observed to collagen type I, together with elevated levels of integrin α2. Downregulation of TFPI also stimulated migration and invasion of cells, and elevated MMP activity was involved in the increased invasion observed. Surprisingly, equivalent results were observed when TFPIÎČ was downregulated, revealing a novel function of this isoform in cancer metastasis.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Our results suggest an anti-metastatic effect of TFPI and may provide a novel therapeutic approach in cancer.</p
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