52,543 research outputs found
Computational probabilistic quantification of pro-arrhythmic risk from scar and left-to-right heterogeneity in the human ventricles
Both scar and left-to-right ventricular (LV/RV) differences in repolarization properties have been implicated as risk factors for lethal arrhythmias. As a possible mechanism for the initiation of re-entry, a recent study has indicated that LV/RV heterogeneities in action potential duration (APD) adaptation can cause a transient increase in APD dispersion following rate acceleration, promoting unidirectional block of conduction at the LV/RV junction. In the presence of an ischemic region and ectopic stimulation, a pathological dispersion in repolarization has been suggested to increase the risk of electrical re-entry. However, the exact location and timing of the ectopic activation play a crucial role in initiation of re-entry, and certain combinations may lead to re-entry even under normal LV/RV dispersion in repolarization. This suggests that the phenomenon needs to be investigated in a quantitative way. In this study we employ a computationally efficient, phenomenological model in order to investigate the proarrhythmic properties of a range of combinations of position and timing of an ectopic activation. This allows us to probabilistically study how increasing interventricular dispersion of repolarization increases arrhythmic risk. Results indicate that a larger LV/RV dispersion in repolarization allows ectopic beats to initiate re-entry during a significantly larger time window and from a greater number of locations compared to the case of smaller LV/RV dispersion
Low polarized emission from the core of coronal mass ejections
In white-light coronagraph images, cool prominence material is sometimes
observed as bright patches in the core of coronal mass ejections (CMEs). If, as
generally assumed, this emission is caused by Thomson-scattered light from the
solar surface, it should be strongly polarised tangentially to the solar limb.
However, the observations of a CME made with the SECCHI/STEREO coronagraphs on
31 August 2007 show that the emission from these bright core patches is
exceptionally low polarised. We used the polarisation ratio method of Moran and
Davila (2004) to localise the barycentre of the CME cloud. By analysing the
data from both STEREO spacecraft we could resolve the plane-of-the-sky
ambiguity this method usually suffers from. Stereoscopic triangulation was used
to independently localise the low-polarisation patch relative to the cloud. We
demonstrated for the first time that the bright core material is located close
to the centre of the CME cloud. We show that the major part of the CME core
emission, more than 85% in our case, is H radiation and only a small
fraction is Thomson-scattered light. Recent calculations also imply that the
plasma density in the patch is 8 10 cm or more compared to 2.6
10 cm for the Thomson-scattering CME environment surrounding the
core material.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure
Partitioning Schemes and Non-Integer Box Sizes for the Box-Counting Algorithm in Multifractal Analysis
We compare different partitioning schemes for the box-counting algorithm in
the multifractal analysis by computing the singularity spectrum and the
distribution of the box probabilities. As model system we use the Anderson
model of localization in two and three dimensions. We show that a partitioning
scheme which includes unrestricted values of the box size and an average over
all box origins leads to smaller error bounds than the standard method using
only integer ratios of the linear system size and the box size which was found
by Rodriguez et al. (Eur. Phys. J. B 67, 77-82 (2009)) to yield the most
reliable results.Comment: 10 pages, 13 figure
Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless Transition in Spin-Charge Separated Superconductor
A model for spin-charge separated superconductivity in two dimensions is
introduced where the phases of the spinon and holon order parameters couple
gauge-invariantly to a statistical gauge-field representing chiral
spin-fluctuations. The model is analyzed in the continuum limit and in the
low-temperature limit. In both cases we find that physical electronic phase
correlations show a superconducting-normal phase transition of the
Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless type, while statistical gauge-field excitations
are found to be strictly gapless. The normal-to-superconductor phase boundary
for this model is also obtained as a function of carrier density, where we find
that its shape compares favorably with that of the experimentally observed
phase diagram for the oxide superconductors.Comment: 35 pages, TeX, CSLA-P-93-
Population of human ventricular cell models calibrated with in vivo measurements unravels ionic mechanisms of cardiac alternans
Cardiac alternansis an important risk factor in cardiac physiology, and is related to the initiation of many pathophysiological conditions. However, the mechanisms underlying the generation of alternans remain unclear. In this study, we used a population of computational human ventricle models based onthe O’Hara model [1] to explore the effect of 11 key factors experimentally reported to be related to alternans. In vivo experimental datasets coming from patients undergoing cardiac surgery were used in the calibration of our in silico population of models. The calibrated models in the population were divided into two groups (Normal and Alternans) depending on alternans occurrence. Our results showed that there were significant differences in the following 5 ionic currents between the two groups: fast sodium current, sodium calcium exchanger current, sodium potassium pump current, sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) calcium release flux and SR calcium reuptake flux. Further analysis indicated that fast sodium current and SR calcium uptake were the two most significant currents that contributed to voltage and calcium alternans generation, respectively
The dynamics of quasi-isometric foliations
If the stable, center, and unstable foliations of a partially hyperbolic
system are quasi-isometric, the system has Global Product Structure. This
result also applies to Anosov systems and to other invariant splittings.
If a partially hyperbolic system on a manifold with abelian fundamental group
has quasi-isometric stable and unstable foliations, the center foliation is
without holonomy. If, further, the system has Global Product Structure, then
all center leaves are homeomorphic.Comment: 18 pages, 1 figur
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