735 research outputs found
Solvability of some third-order boundary value problems with asymmetric unbounded nonlinearities
In this paper, we present existence and location results for the third-order separated boundary value problems …info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
Pulmonary ventilation/perfusion single photon emission tomography – Initial experience of a Nuclear Medicine Department
AbstractIntroductionLung ventilation/perfusion scintigraphy with planar images (V/QS-planar) is very useful for the diagnosis and follow-up of pulmonary thromboembolism (PTE). Acquiring tomographic images (V/QS-SPECT) is a recent development with potential to increase the technique's accuracy. The purpose of this work is to evaluate the added benefits of V/QS-SPECT studies as opposed to traditional planar imaging.Patients and methodsWe prospectively revised 53 V/QS-planar and V/QS-SPECT exams, performed according to the European Association of Nuclear Medicine guidelines. We evaluated the exams independently, by consensus of two Nuclear Medicine physicians. For both methods, we gave each lung a score expressing the dimension and extension of perfusion defects with normal ventilation. For each lung, we compared the scores with the paired Wilcoxon test, estimating the 95% confidence interval (95CI) for the respective difference.ResultsWe performed V/QS-SPECT exams without technical difficulties. The paired Wilcoxon test estimated the score difference to be −0.75 (95CI of −1.0 to −0.5; p-value=9.6×10−7), expressing a statistically significant difference of about 1 subsegmental defect between both methods, with V/QS-SPECT detecting more defects.DiscussionThe results demonstrate that V/QS-SPECT identifies a slightly larger number of perfusion defects than V/QS-planar, suggesting a higher sensitivity of this technique. However, more studies are necessary to evaluate the clinical meaning of this fact.ConclusionV/QS-SPECT demonstrates a higher capability to identify perfusion defects. This method looks promising, allowing for a greater role of this exam in pulmonary thromboembolism diagnosis and follow-up
Insulin therapy modulates mitochondrial dynamics and biogenesis, autophagy and tau protein phosphorylation in the brain of type 1 diabetic rats
AbstractThe main purpose of this study was to examine whether streptozotocin (STZ)-induced type 1 diabetes (T1D) and insulin (INS) treatment affect mitochondrial function, fission/fusion and biogenesis, autophagy and tau protein phosphorylation in cerebral cortex from diabetic rats treated or not with INS. No significant alterations were observed in mitochondrial function as well as pyruvate levels, despite the significant increase in glucose levels observed in INS-treated diabetic rats. A significant increase in DRP1 protein phosphorylated at Ser616 residue was observed in the brain cortex of STZ rats. Also an increase in NRF2 protein levels and in the number of copies of mtDNA were observed in STZ diabetic rats, these alterations being normalized by INS. A slight decrease in LC3-II levels was observed in INS-treated rats when compared to STZ diabetic animals. An increase in tau protein phosphorylation at Ser396 residue was observed in STZ diabetic rats while INS treatment partially reversed that effect. Accordingly, a modest reduction in the activation of GSK3β and a significant increase in the activity of phosphatase 2A were found in INS-treated rats when compared to STZ diabetic animals. No significant alterations were observed in caspases 9 and 3 activity and synaptophysin and PSD95 levels. Altogether our results show that mitochondrial alterations induced by T1D seem to involve compensation mechanisms since no significant changes in mitochondrial function and synaptic integrity were observed in diabetic animals. In addition, INS treatment is able to normalize the alterations induced by T1D supporting the importance of INS signaling in the brain
3D-Printing of paracetamol tablets by fused deposition modelling
Abstract of poster presented at the 12th PBP World Meeting on Pharmaceutics, Biopharmaceutics and Pharmaceutical Technology, Wien, Austria, 11-14 May 2021 (virtual Meeting)N/
Superconductivity in striped and multi-Fermi-surface Hubbard models: From the cuprates to the pnictides
Single- and multi-band Hubbard models have been found to describe many of the
complex phenomena that are observed in the cuprate and iron-based
high-temperature superconductors. Simulations of these models therefore provide
an ideal framework to study and understand the superconducting properties of
these systems and the mechanisms responsible for them. Here we review recent
dynamic cluster quantum Monte Carlo simulations of these models, which provide
an unbiased view of the leading correlations in the system. In particular, we
discuss what these simulations tell us about superconductivity in the
homogeneous 2D single-orbital Hubbard model, and how charge stripes affect this
behavior. We then describe recent simulations of a bilayer Hubbard model, which
provides a simple model to study the type and nature of pairing in systems with
multiple Fermi surfaces such as the iron-based superconductors.Comment: Published as part of Superstripes 2011 (Rome) conference proceeding
Expansion of a Bose-Einstein Condensate in an atomic waveguide
The expansion of a Bose-Einstein condensate in an atomic waveguide is
analyzed. We study different regimes of expansion, and identify a transient
regime between one-dimensional and three-dimensional dynamics, in which the
properties of the condensate and its further expansion can be well explained by
reducing the transversal dynamics to a two-level system. The relevance of this
regime in current experiments is discussed.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figs, Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.
Domain wall roughening in dipolar films in the presence of disorder
We derive a low-energy Hamiltonian for the elastic energy of a N\'eel domain
wall in a thin film with in-plane magnetization, where we consider the
contribution of the long-range dipolar interaction beyond the quadratic
approximation. We show that such a Hamiltonian is analogous to the Hamiltonian
of a one-dimensional polaron in an external random potential. We use a replica
variational method to compute the roughening exponent of the domain wall for
the case of two-dimensional dipolar interactions.Comment: REVTEX, 35 pages, 2 figures. The text suffered minor changes and
references 1,2 and 12 were added to conform with the referee's repor
Demand and supply of outdoor tourism activities in Northern Portugal: a survey-based approach
This paper focuses on the North of Portugal, as a diversified region with unique natural resources, to create information regarding both resources and equipment and business dynamics; the evolution of tourism supply and demand.This research is a part of a project title “TURNOUT: Desenvolvimento do Turismo Outdoor da Região Norte de
Portugal”, with the reference POCI-01-0145-FEDER-032289; funded by the European Regional Development
Fund (FEDER) (through the Operational Programme ‘Innovation and competitiveness’) and by the Portuguese
Foundation for the Development of Science and Technology (FCT), of the Ministry of Science, Technology and
Higher Education. This work is, also, funded by National Funds through the Foundation for Science and
Technology under the project UIDB/04752/2020. The SABI database was made available by the Applied
Management Research Unit (UNIAG), according to the protocol between UNIAG and COFACE.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
A note on a class of problems for a higher-order fully nonlinear equation under one-sided Nagumo-type condition
The purpose of this work is to establish existence and location results for the higher order fully nonlinear differential equation
u⁽ⁿ⁾(t)=f(t,u(t),u′(t),…,u⁽ⁿ⁻¹⁾(t)), n≥2,
with the boundary conditions
u^{(i)}(a) = A, for i=0,⋯,n-3, u⁽ⁿ⁻¹⁾(a) = B, u⁽ⁿ⁻¹⁾(b)=C
or
u^{(i)}(a)=A, for i=0,⋯,n-3,
c₁u⁽ⁿ⁻²⁾(a)-c₂u⁽ⁿ⁻¹⁾(a)=B,
c₃u⁽ⁿ⁻²⁾(b)+c₄u⁽ⁿ⁻¹⁾(b)=C,
with A_{i},B,C∈R, for i=0,⋯,n-3, and c₁, c₂, c₃, c₄ real positive constants.
It is assumed that f:[a,b]×Rⁿ⁻¹→R is a continuous function satisfying one-sided Nagumo-type conditions which allows an asymmetric unbounded behavior on the nonlinearity. The arguments are based on Leray-Schauder topological degree and lower and upper solutions method
Measuring the elements of the optical density matrix
Most methods for experimentally reconstructing the quantum state of light
involve determining a quasiprobability distribution such as the Wigner
function. In this paper we present a scheme for measuring individual density
matrix elements in the photon number state representation. Remarkably, the
scheme is simple, involving two beam splitters and a reference field in a
coherent state.Comment: 6 pages and 1 figur
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