2,855 research outputs found
Expression of Rb2/p130 in breast and endometrial cancer: correlations with hormone receptor status
Rb2/p130 is a member of the retinoblastoma family of proteins, consisting of Rb, Rb2 and p107, which are important negative regulators of cell cycle progression and differentiation. While Rb2 downregulation was observed in several malignant tumours including endometrial cancer, the role of p130 in breast carcinomas is still unknown. We investigated Rb2 protein expression in tumour tissue from 68 mammary and 41 endometrial carcinomas, 4 mammary cell lines, and normal tissue samples. Therefore, we performed Western blot experiments for Rb2, Rb, and the oestrogen and progesterone receptors (ER, PR-A, PR-B). Weak or absent Rb2 expression was more often found in endometrial (59%) than in mammary carcinomas (24%). We found significant positive correlations of Rb2 expression with Rb, ER, and PR-B in breast cancer samples, and of Rb2 with Rb, PR-A, PR-B, and younger age in endometrial carcinomas. No significant associations with histological grading, stage, nodal involvement, or Ki67 staining were detected. Rb2 mRNA expression was studied by semi-quantitative RT-PCR in 56 endometrial or mammary tissue samples and correlated significantly with Western blot results. Our results indicate that loss of Rb2 expression, mostly by transcriptional down-regulation, may be associated with the development and dedifferentiation of most endometrial and a subset of mammary carcinomas. © 2001 Cancer Research Campaign http://bjcancer.co
Density-functional studies of tungsten trioxide, tungsten bronzes, and related systems
Tungsten trioxide adopts a variety of structures which can be intercalated
with charged species to alter the electronic properties, thus forming `tungsten
bronzes'. Similar optical effects are observed upon removing oxygen from WO_3,
although the electronic properties are slightly different. Here we present a
computational study of cubic and hexagonal alkali bronzes and examine the
effects on cell size and band structure as the size of the intercalated ion is
increased. With the exception of hydrogen (which is predicted to be unstable as
an intercalate), the behaviour of the bronzes are relatively consistent. NaWO_3
is the most stable of the cubic systems, although in the hexagonal system the
larger ions are more stable. The band structures are identical, with the
intercalated atom donating its single electron to the tungsten 5d valence band.
Next, this was extended to a study of fractional doping in the Na_xWO_3 system
(0 < x < 1). A linear variation in cell parameter, and a systematic change in
the position of the Fermi level up into the valence band was observed with
increasing x. In the underdoped WO_3-x system however, the Fermi level
undergoes a sudden jump into the conduction band at around x = 0.2. Lastly,
three compounds of a layered WO_4×a,wdiaminoalkane hybrid series were
studied and found to be insulating, with features in the band structure similar
to those of the parent WO_3 compound which relate well to experimental
UV-visible spectroscopy results.Comment: 12 pages, 16 figure
Determining the Elemental and Isotopic Composition of the preSolar Nebula from Genesis Data Analysis: The Case of Oxygen
We compare element and isotopic fractionations measured in solar wind samples
collected by NASA's Genesis mission with those predicted from models
incorporating both the ponderomotive force in the chromosphere and conservation
of the first adiabatic invariant in the low corona. Generally good agreement is
found, suggesting that these factors are consistent with the process of solar
wind fractionation. Based on bulk wind measurements, we also consider in more
detail the isotopic and elemental abundances of O. We find mild support for an
O abundance in the range 8.75 - 8.83, with a value as low as 8.69 disfavored. A
stronger conclusion must await solar wind regime specific measurements from the
Genesis samples.Comment: 6 pages, accepted by Astrophysical Journal Letter
Anisotropy of the upper critical field in superconductors with anisotropic gaps. Anisotropy parameters of MgB2
The upper critical field Hc2 is evaluated for weakly-coupled two-band
superconductors. By modeling the actual bands and the gap distribution of MgB2
by two Fermi surface spheroids with average parameters of the real material, we
show that H_{c2,ab}/H_{c2,c} increases with decreasing temperature in agreement
with available data.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure
Competing effects of mass anisotropy and spin Zeeman coupling on the upper critical field of a mixed - and s-wave superconductor
Based on the linearized Eilenberger equations, the upper critical field
of mixed d- and s-wave superconductors has been microscopically
studied with an emphasis on the competing effects of mass anisotropy and spin
Zeeman coupling. We find the mass anisotropy always enhance while the
Zeeman interaction suppresses . As required by the thermodynamics, we
find is saturated at zero temperature. We compare the theoretical
calculations with recent experimental data of
YBaCuO.Comment: To appear in PRB in Feb. 200
Entropy and Spin Susceptibility of s-wave Type-II Superconductors near
A theoretical study is performed on the entropy and the spin
susceptibility near the upper critical field of s-wave
type-II superconductors with arbitrary impurity concentrations. The changes of
these quantities through may be expressed as , for example, where is the average flux density
and denotes entropy in the normal state. It is found that the
slopes and at T=0 are identical, connected
directly with the zero-energy density of states, and vary from 1.72 in the
dirty limit to in the clean limit. This mean-free-path dependence
of and at T=0 is quantitatively the same as that
of the slope for the flux-flow resistivity studied
previously. The result suggests that and near
T=0 are convex downward (upward) in the dirty (clean) limit, deviating
substantially from the linear behavior . The specific-heat
jump at also shows fairly large mean-free-path dependence.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figure
Superconducting gap anisotropy of LuNi2B2C thin films from microwave surface impedance measurements
Surface impedance measurements of LuNi2B2C superconducting thin films as a
function of temperature have been performed down to 1.5 K and at 20 GHz using a
dielectric resonator technique. The magnetic penetration depth closely
reproduces the standard B.C.S. result, but with a reduced value of the energy
gap at low temperature. These data provide evidence for an anisotropic s-wave
character of the order parameter symmetry in LuNi2B2C. From the evaluation of
the real part of complex conductivity, we have observed constructive (type II)
coherence effects in the electromagnetic absorption below Tc.Comment: 15 pages, 4 figure
Anomalous Self-Energy Effects of the B_1g Phonon in Y_{1-x}(Pr,Ca)_xBa_2Cu_3O_7 Films
In Raman spectra of cuprate superconductors the gap shows up both directly,
via a redistribution of the electronic background, the so-called "2Delta
peaks", and indirectly, e.g. via the renormalization of phononic excitations.
We use a model that allows us to study the redistribution and the related
phonon self-energy effects simultaneously. We apply this model to the B_1g
phonon of Y_{1-x}(Pr,Ca)_xBa_2Cu_3O_7 films, where Pr or Ca substitution
enables us to investigate under- and overdoped samples. While various
self-energy effects can be explained by the strength and energy of the 2\Delta
peaks, anomalies remain. We discuss possible origins of these anomalies.Comment: 6 pages including 4 figure
Magnesium isotopes of the bulk solar wind from Genesis diamondâlike carbon films
NASA's Genesis Mission returned solar wind (SW) to the Earth for analysis to derive the composition of the solar photosphere from solar material. SW analyses control the precision of the derived solar compositions, but their ultimate accuracy is limited by the theoretical or empirical models of fractionation due to SW formation. Mg isotopes are âground truthâ for these models since, except for CAIs, planetary materials have a uniform Mg isotopic composition (within â€1â°) so any significant isotopic fractionation of SW Mg is primarily that of SW formation and subsequent acceleration through the corona. This study analyzed Mg isotopes in a bulk SW diamondâlike carbon (DLC) film on silicon collector returned by the Genesis Mission. A novel data reduction technique was required to account for variable ion yield and instrumental mass fractionation (IMF) in the DLC. The resulting SW Mg fractionation relative to the DSMâ3 laboratory standard was (â14.4â°, â30.2â°) ± (4.1â°, 5.5â°), where the uncertainty is 2ÆĄ SE of the data combined with a 2.5â° (total) error in the IMF determination. Two of the SW fractionation models considered generally agreed with our data. Their possible ramifications are discussed for O isotopes based on the CAI nebular composition of McKeegan et al. (2011)
Analytical Formulation of the Local Density of States around a Vortex Core in Unconventional Superconductors
On the basis of the quasiclassical theory of superconductivity, we obtain a
formula for the local density of states (LDOS) around a vortex core of
superconductors with anisotropic pair-potential and Fermi surface in arbitrary
directions of magnetic fields. Earlier results on the LDOS of d-wave
superconductors and NbSe are naturally interpreted within our theory
geometrically; the region with high intensity of the LDOS observed in numerical
calculations turns out to the enveloping curve of the trajectory of Andreev
bound states. We discuss experimental results on YNiBC within the
quasiclassical theory of superconductivity.Comment: 13 pages, 16 figure
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