Epitaxial growth of deposited amorphous layer by laser annealing

We demonstrate that a single short pulse of laser irradiation of appropriate energy is capable of recrystallizing in open air an amorphous Si layer deposited on a (100) single-crystal substrate into an epitaxial layer. The laser pulse annealing technique is shown to overcome the interfacial oxide obstacle which usually leads to polycrystalline formation in normal thermal annealing

Complete and safe resection of challenging retroperitoneal tumors: anticipation of multi-organ and major vascular resection and use of adjunct procedures.

BackgroundRetroperitoneal tumors are often massive and can involve adjacent organs and/or vital structures, making them difficult to resect. Completeness of resection is within the surgeon's control and critical for long-term survival, particularly for malignant disease. Few studies directly address strategies for complete and safe resection of challenging retroperitoneal tumors.MethodsFifty-six patients representing 63 cases of primary or recurrent retroperitoneal tumor resection between 2004-2009 were identified and a retrospective chart review was performed. Rates of complete resection, use of adjunct procedures, and perioperative complications were recorded.ResultsIn 95% of cases, complete resection was achieved. Fifty-eight percent of these cases required en bloc multi-organ resection, and 8% required major vascular resection. Complete resection rates were higher for primary versus recurrent disease. Adjunct procedures (ureteral stents, femoral nerve monitoring, posterior laminotomy, etc.) were used in 54% of cases. Major postoperative complications occurred in 16% of cases, and one patient died (2% mortality).ConclusionsComplete resection of challenging retroperitoneal tumors is feasible and can be done safely with important pre- and intraoperative considerations in mind

Misuse Detection in Consent-based Networks

Consent-based networking, which requires senders to have permission to send traffic, can protect against multiple attacks on the network. Highly dynamic networks like Mobile Ad-hoc Networks (MANETs) require destination-based consent networking, where consent needs to be given to send to a destination in any path. These networks are susceptible to multipath misuses by misbehaving nodes. In this paper, we identify the misuses in destination-based consent networking, and provide solution for detecting and recovering from the misuses. Our solution is based on our previously introduced DIPLOMA architecture. DIPLOMA is a deny-by-default distributed policy enforcement architecture that can protect the end-host services and network bandwidth. DIPLOMA uses capabilities to provide consent for sending traffic. In this paper, we identify how senders and receivers can misuse capabilities by using them in multiple paths, and provide distributed solutions for detecting those misuses. To that end, we modify the capabilities to aid in misuse detection and provide protocols for exchanging information for distributed detection. We also provide efficient algorithms for misuse detection, and protocols for providing proof of misuse. Our solutions can handle privacy issues associated with the exchange of information for misuse detection. We have implemented the misuse detection and recovery in DIPLOMA systems running on Linux operating systems, and conducted extensive experimental evaluation of the system in Orbit MANET testbed. The results show our system is effective in detecting and containing multipath misuses

Clinical impact of double protease inhibitor boosting with Lopinavir/Ritonavir and Amprenavir as part of salvage antiretroviral therapy

Purpose: Double protease inhibitor (PI) boosting is being explored as a new strategy in salvage antiretroviral (ARV) therapy. However, if a negative drug interaction leads to decreased drug levels of either or both PIs, double PI boosting could lead to decreased virologic response. A negative drug interaction has been described between amprenavir (APV) and lopinavir/ritonavir (LPV/r). This observational cohort study assessed the virologic impact of the addition of APV to a salvage ARV regimen, which also contains LPV/r, compared to a regimen containing LPV/r alone. Method: Patients initiated on a salvage ARV regimen that included LPV/r obtained from the expanded access program in Toronto, Canada, were evaluated. APV (600-1,200 mg bid) was added at the discretion of the treating physician. Results: Using multivariate Cox proportional hazards models, we found that the addition of APV to a LPV/r-containing salvage regimen was not significantly associated with time to virologic suppression (< 50 copies/mL; adjusted hazard ratio [HR] = 0.75, p = .12) or with time to virologic rebound (adjusted HR = 1.46, p = .34). Those patients who received higher doses of APV had an increased chance of virologic suppression (p = .03). In a subset of 27 patients, the median LPV Ctrough was significantly lower in patients receiving APV (p = .04), and the median APV Ctrough was reduced compared to reported controls. Conclusion: Our data do not support an additional benefit in virologic reduction of double boosting with APV and LPV/r relative to LPV/r alone in salvage ARV therapy. Our study's limitations include its retrospective nature and the imbalance between the two groups potentially confounding the results. Although these factors were adjusted for in the multivariate analysis, a prospective randomized controlled trial is warranted to confirm our findings

Translational Invariance and the Anisotropy of the Cosmic Microwave Background

Primordial quantum fluctuations produced by inflation are conventionally assumed to be statistically homogeneous, a consequence of translational invariance. In this paper we quantify the potentially observable effects of a small violation of translational invariance during inflation, as characterized by the presence of a preferred point, line, or plane. We explore the imprint such a violation would leave on the cosmic microwave background anisotropy, and provide explicit formulas for the expected amplitudes $$ of the spherical-harmonic coefficients.Comment: Notation improve