3,363 research outputs found
An improved method of supercharged transposed latissimus dorsi flap with the skin paddle for the management of a complicated lumbosacral defect
OBJECTIVE: Treatment of nonhealing wounds of lower back often poses a powerful challenge. We present one of the first
report of treatment of a lumbosacral defect with a supercharged latissimus dorsi flap with the skin paddle.
CASE REPORT: We report a case of a 59 yearold man with myeloma of the sacral spine who underwent radiotherapy and chemotherapy and subsequently, laminectomies and placement of hardware for ongoing paresis and spine instability. Then, he developed an open wound and osteomyelitis of the spine with culture positive tuberculous granulomas. After multiple surgical debridement, he presented to our service and was treated with a single stage debridement followed by the performance of a latissimus dorsi musculocutaneous flap based on paraspinal perforators and supercharged.
RESULTS: This solution, allowed for augmentation of blood flow to the muscle with the inferior gluteal artery, provided coverage of the defect resistant to the pressure, and simplified post-operative management of the patient.
CONCLUSIONS: Alternative treatment options, including free tissue transfer, posed difficulties in finding suitable recipient vessels near the defect, in inserting the flap so as to restore its original length without compromising blood flow, and in postoperative care of the patient. Treatment of a lumbosacral defect with a supercharged latissimus dorsi flap with the skin paddle may represent a milestone procedure for complicated lower spine wounds
Induced scalarization in boson stars and scalar gravitational radiation
The dynamical evolution of boson stars in scalar-tensor theories of gravity
is considered in the physical (Jordan) frame. We focus on the study of
spontaneous and induced scalarization, for which we take as initial data
configurations on the well-known S-branch of a single boson star in general
relativity. We show that during the scalarization process a strong emission of
scalar radiation occurs. The new stable configurations (S-branch) of a single
boson star within a particular scalar-tensor theory are also presented.Comment: 18 pages, 11 figures. Minor changes to match the published versio
The Cauchy problem of scalar-tensor theories of gravity
The 3+1 formulation of scalar-tensor theories of gravity (STT) is obtained in
the physical (Jordan) frame departing from the 4+0 covariant field equations.
Contrary to the common belief (folklore), the new system of ADM-like equations
shows that the Cauchy problem of STT is well formulated (in the sense that the
whole system of evolution equations is of first order in the time-derivative).
This is the first step towards a full first order (in time and space)
formulation from which a subsequent hyperbolicity analysis (a well-posedness
determination) can be performed. Several gauge (lapse and shift) conditions are
considered and implemented for STT. In particular, a generalization of the
harmonic gauge for STT allows us to prove the well posedness of the STT using a
second order analysis which is very similar to the one used in general
relativity. Some spacetimes of astrophysical and cosmological interest are
considered as specific applications. Several appendices complement the ideas of
the main part of the paper.Comment: 29 pages Revtex; typos corrected; references added and updated; a
shorter version of this paper was published in Classical and Quantum Gravit
Generalized harmonic spatial coordinates and hyperbolic shift conditions
We propose a generalization of the condition for harmonic spatial coordinates
analogous to the generalization of the harmonic time slices introduced by Bona
et al., and closely related to dynamic shift conditions recently proposed by
Lindblom and Scheel, and Bona and Palenzuela. These generalized harmonic
spatial coordinates imply a condition for the shift vector that has the form of
an evolution equation for the shift components. We find that in order to
decouple the slicing condition from the evolution equation for the shift it is
necessary to use a rescaled shift vector. The initial form of the generalized
harmonic shift condition is not spatially covariant, but we propose a simple
way to make it fully covariant so that it can be used in coordinate systems
other than Cartesian. We also analyze the effect of the shift condition
proposed here on the hyperbolicity of the evolution equations of general
relativity in 1+1 dimensions and 3+1 spherical symmetry, and study the possible
development of blow-ups. Finally, we perform a series of numerical experiments
to illustrate the behavior of this shift condition.Comment: 18 pages and 12 figures, extensively revised version explaining in
the new Section IV how the shift condition can be made 3-covarian
A comment on "The Cauchy problem of f(R)- gravity", Class. Quantum Grav., 24, 5667 (2007), arXiv:0709.4414
A critical comment on [N. Lanahan--Tremblay and V. Faraoni, 2007, {\it Class.
Quantum Grav.}, {\bf 24}, 5667, arXiv:0709.4414] is given discussing the
well-formulation of the Chauchy problem for -gravity in metric-affine
theories.Comment: 3 page
Numerical approach for high precision 3-D relativistic star models
A multi-domain spectral method for computing very high precision 3-D stellar
models is presented. The boundary of each domain is chosen in order to coincide
with a physical discontinuity (e.g. the star's surface). In addition, a
regularization procedure is introduced to deal with the infinite derivatives on
the boundary that may appear in the density field when stiff equations of state
are used. Consequently all the physical fields are smooth functions on each
domain and the spectral method is absolutely free of any Gibbs phenomenon,
which yields to a very high precision. The power of this method is demonstrated
by direct comparison with analytical solutions such as MacLaurin spheroids and
Roche ellipsoids. The relative numerical error reveals to be of the order of
. This approach has been developed for the study of relativistic
inspiralling binaries. It may be applied to a wider class of astrophysical
problems such as the study of relativistic rotating stars too.Comment: Minor changes, Phys. Rev. D in pres
Effects of Strong Magnetic Fields on Neutron Star Structure
We study static neutron stars with poloidal magnetic fields and a simple
class of electric current distributions consistent with the requirement of
stationarity. For this class of electric current distributions, we find that
magnetic fields are too large for static configurations to exist when the
magnetic force pushes a sufficient amount of mass off-center that the
gravitational force points outward near the origin in the equatorial plane. (In
our coordinates an outward gravitational force corresponds to , where and are respectively time and radial
coordinates and is coefficient of in the line element.) For the
equations of state (EOSs) employed in previous work, we obtain configurations
of higher mass than had been reported; we also present results with more recent
EOSs. For all EOSs studied, we find that the maximum mass among these static
configurations with magnetic fields is noticeably larger than the maximum mass
attainable by uniform rotation, and that for fixed values of baryon number the
maximum mass configurations are all characterized by an off-center density
maximum.Comment: Submitted to the Astrophysical Journal. 37 pages, 8 figures, uses
aastex macro
The Emerging QCD Frontier: The Electron Ion Collider
The self-interactions of gluons determine all the unique features of QCD and
lead to a dominant abundance of gluons inside matter already at moderate .
Despite their dominant role, the properties of gluons remain largely
unexplored. Tantalizing hints of saturated gluon densities have been found in
+p collisions at HERA, and in d+Au and Au+Au collisions at RHIC. Saturation
physics will have a profound influence on heavy-ion collisions at the LHC. But
unveiling the collective behavior of dense assemblies of gluons under
conditions where their self-interactions dominate will require an Electron-Ion
Collider (EIC): a new facility with capabilities well beyond those In this
paper I outline the compelling physics case for +A collisions at an EIC and
discuss briefly the status of machine design concepts. of any existing
accelerator.Comment: 11 pages, 9 figures, prepared for 20th International Conference on
Ultra-Relativistic Nucleus-Nucleus Collisions: Quark Matter 2008 (QM2008),
Jaipur, India, 4-10 Feb. 200
Hyperbolicity of the Kidder-Scheel-Teukolsky formulation of Einstein's equations coupled to a modified Bona-Masso slicing condition
We show that the Kidder-Scheel-Teukolsky family of hyperbolic formulations of
the 3+1 evolution equations of general relativity remains hyperbolic when
coupled to a recently proposed modified version of the Bona-Masso slicing
condition.Comment: 4 pages. Several changes. Main corrections are in eqs. 4.9 and 4.1
Theoretical Overview Quark Matter '04
The much wider transverse-momentum range accessible in heavy-ion collisions
at RHIC and at the LHC allows us to disentangle the dynamics of partonic
equilibration from the dynamics of delayed hadronization. This provides a novel
tool for testing the equilibration mechanisms underlying QCD thermodynamics.
Here, I argue, on the basis of simple formation-time arguments, why this is so,
and I review recent theoretical developments in this context.Comment: 12 pages, Latex, 3 eps figures, invited introductory talk at Quark
Matter 2004, Oakland, January 11-17, 200
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