815 research outputs found
A short report examining the introduction of routine use of patient reported outcome measures in a mixed oncology population
Aims:
People living with treatable but not curable cancer often experience a range of symptoms related to their cancer and its treatment. During the COVID-19 pandemic, face-to-face consultations were reduced and so remote monitoring of these needs was necessary. University Hospitals Sussex implemented the routine use of electronic remote patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) in a mixed oncology population, focusing on those with treatable but not curable cancers.
Materials and methods:
Over a 9-month period, patients were invited to register with My Clinical Outcomes (MCO) – a secure online platform for the collection of electronic PROMs. They were prompted by e-mail to complete assessments (EORTC QLQ-C30, EQ-5D-3L and EQ-5D VAS) routinely every 2 weeks. The team monitored patient scores and changes in these prompted clinical interventions.
Results:
In total, 324 patients completed at least one assessment. The median number of assessments completed by each patient was eight. The most represented tumour groups were secondary breast (28%), prostate (25%) and other (32%). Median scores for the assessments did not deteriorate in a clinically or numerically significant way for patients living with non-curable conditions for the majority of patients monitored.
Conclusion:
Routine collection of electronic remote PROMs is an effective and useful strategy to provide real-time clinical feedback to teams. With integration into existing systems, online platforms (such as MCO) could provide efficient and patient-centred information for those providing care for people with cancer
Shot noise reduction in quantum wires with "0.7 structure"
Shot noise reduction in quantum wires is interpreted within the model for the
''0.7 structure'' in the conductance of near perfect quantum wires [T. Rejec,
A. Ramsak, and J.H. Jefferson, Phys. Rev. B 62, 12985 (2000)]. It is shown how
the Fano factor structure is related to the specific structure of the
conductance as a consequence of the singlet--triplet nature of the resonances
with the probability ratio 1:3. An additional feature in the Fano factor,
related to the ''0.25 structure'' in conductance, is predicted.Comment: minor changes; to appear in Phys. Rev. B, Rapid. Comm. (2005
Commensurability oscillations in the rf conductivity of unidirectional lateral superlattices: measurement of anisotropic conductivity by coplanar waveguide
We have measured the rf magnetoconductivity of unidirectional lateral
superlattices (ULSLs) by detecting the attenuation of microwave through a
coplanar waveguide placed on the surface. ULSL samples with the principal axis
of the modulation perpendicular (S_perp) and parallel (S_||) to the microwave
electric field are examined. For low microwave power, we observe expected
anisotropic behavior of the commensurability oscillations (CO), with CO in
samples S_perp and S_|| dominated by the diffusion and the collisional
contributions, respectively. Amplitude modulation of the Shubnikov-de Haas
oscillations is observed to be more prominent in sample S_||. The difference
between the two samples is washed out with the increase of the microwave power,
letting the diffusion contribution govern the CO in both samples. The failure
of the intended directional selectivity in the conductivity measured with high
microwave power is interpreted in terms of large-angle electron-phonon
scattering.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figure
Lack of correlation of stem cell markers in breast cancer stem cells
BACKGROUND: Various markers are used to identify the unique sub-population of breast cancer cells with stem cell properties. Whether these markers are expressed in all breast cancers, identify the same population of cells, or equate to therapeutic response is controversial. METHODS: We investigated the expression of multiple cancer stem cell markers in human breast cancer samples and cell lines in vitro and in vivo, comparing across and within samples and relating expression with growth and therapeutic response to doxorubicin, docetaxol and radiotherapy. RESULTS: CD24, CD44, ALDH and SOX2 expression, the ability to form mammospheres and side-population cells are variably present in human cancers and cell lines. Each marker identifies a unique rather than common population of cancer cells. In vivo, cells expressing these markers are not specifically localized to the presumptive stem cell niche at the tumour/stroma interface. Repeated therapy does not consistently enrich cells expressing these markers, although ER-negative cells accumulate. CONCLUSIONS: Commonly employed methods identify different cancer cell sub-populations with no consistent therapeutic implications, rather than a single population of cells. The relationships of breast cancer stem cells to clinical parameters will require identification of specific markers or panels for the individual cancer
Magneto-shear modes and a.c. dissipation in a two-dimensional Wigner crystal
The a.c. response of an unpinned and finite 2D Wigner crystal to electric
fields at an angular frequency has been calculated in the dissipative
limit, , where is the scattering rate. For
electrons screened by parallel electrodes, in zero magnetic field the
long-wavelength excitations are a diffusive longitudinal transmission line mode
and a diffusive shear mode. A magnetic field couples these modes together to
form two new magneto-shear modes. The dimensionless coupling parameter where and are the
speeds of transverse and longitudinal sound in the collisionless limit and
and are the tensor components of the
magnetoconductivity. For , both the coupled modes contribute
to the response of 2D electrons in a Corbino disk measurement of
magnetoconductivity. For , the electron crystal rotates rigidly in
a magnetic field. In general, both the amplitude and phase of the measured a.c.
currents are changed by the shear modulus. In principle, both the
magnetoconductivity and the shear modulus can be measured simultaneously.Comment: REVTeX, 7 pp., 4 eps figure
Interaction Effects in a One-Dimensional Constriction
We have investigated the transport properties of one-dimensional (1D)
constrictions defined by split-gates in high quality GaAs/AlGaAs
heterostructures. In addition to the usual quantized conductance plateaus, the
equilibrium conductance shows a structure close to , and in
consolidating our previous work [K.~J. Thomas et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 77, 135
(1996)] this 0.7 structure has been investigated in a wide range of samples as
a function of temperature, carrier density, in-plane magnetic field
and source-drain voltage . We show that the 0.7
structure is not due to transmission or resonance effects, nor does it arise
from the asymmetry of the heterojunction in the growth direction. All the 1D
subbands show Zeeman splitting at high , and in the wide channel
limit the -factor is , close to that of bulk GaAs.
As the channel is progressively narrowed we measure an exchange-enhanced
-factor. The measurements establish that the 0.7 structure is related to
spin, and that electron-electron interactions become important for the last few
conducting 1D subbands.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figures (accepted in Phys. Rev. B
Conductance anomalies and the extended Anderson model for nearly perfect quantum wires
Anomalies near the conductance threshold of nearly perfect semiconductor
quantum wires are explained in terms of singlet and triplet resonances of
conduction electrons with a single weakly-bound electron in the wire. This is
shown to be a universal effect for a wide range of situations in which the
effective single-electron confinement is weak. The robustness of this generic
behavior is investigated numerically for a wide range of shapes and sizes of
cylindrical wires with a bulge. The dependence on gate voltage, source-drain
voltage and magnetic field is discussed within the framework of an extended
Hubbard model. This model is mapped onto an extended Anderson model, which in
the limit of low temperatures is expected to lead to Kondo resonance physics
and pronounced many-body effects
Fertility, Living Arrangements, Care and Mobility
There are four main interconnecting themes around which the contributions in this book are based. This introductory chapter aims to establish the broad context for the chapters that follow by discussing each of the themes. It does so by setting these themes within the overarching demographic challenge of the twenty-first century – demographic ageing. Each chapter is introduced in the context of the specific theme to which it primarily relates and there is a summary of the data sets used by the contributors to illustrate the wide range of cross-sectional and longitudinal data analysed
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