278 research outputs found
A biochemical study of the minialbumin to be found in the urine of men and animals poisoned by cadmium
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Evaluation of the BCS Approximation for the Attractive Hubbard Model in One Dimension
The ground state energy and energy gap to the first excited state are
calculated for the attractive Hubbard model in one dimension using both the
Bethe Ansatz equations and the variational BCS wavefunction. Comparisons are
provided as a function of coupling strength and electron density. While the
ground state energies are always in very good agreement, the BCS energy gap is
sometimes incorrect by an order of magnitude, particularly at half-filling.
Finite size effects are also briefly discussed for cases where an exact
solution in the thermodynamic limit is not possible. In general, the BCS result
for the energy gap is poor compared to the exact result.Comment: 25 pages, 5 Postscript figure
Diagonalization of an Integrable Discretization of the Repulsive Delta Bose Gas on the Circle
We introduce an integrable lattice discretization of the quantum system of n
bosonic particles on a ring interacting pairwise via repulsive delta
potentials. The corresponding (finite-dimensional) spectral problem of the
integrable lattice model is solved by means of the Bethe Ansatz method. The
resulting eigenfunctions turn out to be given by specializations of the
Hall-Littlewood polynomials. In the continuum limit the solution of the
repulsive delta Bose gas due to Lieb and Liniger is recovered, including the
orthogonality of the Bethe wave functions first proved by Dorlas (extending
previous work of C.N. Yang and C.P. Yang).Comment: 25 pages, LaTe
Localizability of Tachyonic Particles and Neutrinoless Double Beta Decay
The quantum field theory of superluminal (tachyonic) particles is plagued
with a number of problems, which include the Lorentz non-invariance of the
vacuum state, the ambiguous separation of the field operator into creation and
annihilation operators under Lorentz transformations, and the necessity of a
complex reinterpretation principle for quantum processes. Another unsolved
question concerns the treatment of subluminal components of a tachyonic wave
packets in the field-theoretical formalism, and the calculation of the
time-ordered propagator. After a brief discussion on related problems, we
conclude that rather painful choices have to be made in order to incorporate
tachyonic spin-1/2 particles into field theory. We argue that the field theory
needs to be formulated such as to allow for localizable tachyonic particles,
even if that means that a slight unitarity violation is introduced into the S
matrix, and we write down field operators with unrestricted momenta. We find
that once these choices have been made, the propagator for the neutrino field
can be given in a compact form, and the left-handedness of the neutrino as well
as the right-handedness of the antineutrino follow naturally. Consequences for
neutrinoless double beta decay and superluminal propagation of neutrinos are
briefly discussed.Comment: 12 pages, 5 figure
Classification of minimal actions of a compact Kac algebra with amenable dual
We show the uniqueness of minimal actions of a compact Kac algebra with
amenable dual on the AFD factor of type II. This particularly implies the
uniqueness of minimal actions of a compact group. Our main tools are a Rohlin
type theorem, the 2-cohomology vanishing theorem, and the Evans-Kishimoto type
intertwining argument.Comment: 68 pages, Introduction rewritten; minor correction
A prospective evaluation of the predictive value of faecal calprotectin in quiescent Crohn’s disease
Background: The faecal calprotectin (FC) test is a non-invasive marker for gastrointestinal inflammation.
Aim: To determine whether higher FC levels in individuals with quiescent Crohn’s disease are associated with clinical relapse over the ensuing 12 months.<p></p>
Methods: A single centre prospective study was undertaken in Crohn's disease patients in clinical remission attending for routine review. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve for the primary endpoint of clinical relapse by 12 months, based on FC at baseline, was calculated. Kaplan-Meier curves of time to relapse were based on the resulting optimal FC cutoff for predicting relapse.<p></p>
Results: Of 97 patients recruited, 92 were either followed up for 12 months without relapsing, or reached the primary endpoint within that period. Of these, 10 (11%) had relapsed by 12 months. The median FC was lower for non-relapsers, 96µg/g (IQR 39-237), than for relapsers, 414µg/g (IQR 259-590), (p=0.005). The area under the ROC curve to predict relapse using FC was 77.4%. An optimal cutoff FC value of 240µg/g to predict relapse of quiescent Crohn’s had sensitivity of 80.0% and specificity of 74.4%. Negative predictive value was 96.8% and positive predictive value was 27.6%. FC≥240μg/g was associated with likelihood of relapse 5.7 (95% CI 1.9-17.3) times higher within 2.3 years than lower values (p=0.002).<p></p>
Conclusions: In this prospective dataset, FC appears to be a useful, non-invasive tool to help identify quiescent Crohn’s disease patients at a low risk of relapse over the ensuing 12 months. FC of 240µg/g was the optimal cutoff in this cohort.<p></p>
Expression of LMO4 and outcome in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma
Identification of a biomarker of prognosis and response to therapy that can be assessed preoperatively would significantly improve overall outcomes for patients with pancreatic cancer. In this study, patients whose tumours exhibited high LMO4 expression had a significant survival advantage following operative resection, whereas the survival of those patients whose tumours had low or no LMO4 expression was not significantly different when resection was compared with operative biopsy alone
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