Minor salivary gland sialolithiasis: a clinical diagnostic challenge

Sialolithiasis is a non-neoplastic salivary gland disease that rarely affects the minor salivary glands. There are no guidelines in the literature which can suggest which is the best surgical approach to treat Minor Salivary Glands Sialolithiasis (MSGL). The present case was of a 48-year-old male patient complaining of painful swelling localized in the left back-commissural zone which was 0.5 mm in diameter, for which surgical enucleation approach was done and in that some small calcific masses ranging from 0.2 to 4 mm in diameter were found. They were surrounded by granulation tissue and associated with small pus oozing. Histopathological examination was carried out leading to a final diagnosis of MSGL

"Credit Cycle" in an OLG Economy with Money and Bequest

In the late '90s Kiyotaki and Moore (KM) put forward a new framework (Kiyotaki and Moore,1997) to explore the Financial Accelerator hypothesis. The original model was framed in an Infinitely Lived Agent context (ILA-KM economy). As in KM we develop a dynamic model in which the durable asset ("land") is not only an input but also collateralizable wealth to secure lenders from the risk of borrowers' default. In this paper, however, we model an OLG-KM economy whose novel feature is the role of money as a store of value and of bequest as a vehicle of resources to be "invested" in landholding. The dynamics generated by the model are complex. Not only cyclical patterns are routinely generated but the periodicity and amplitude are irregular. A route to chaotic dynamics is open.

Faster annealing schedules for quantum annealing

New annealing schedules for quantum annealing are proposed based on the adiabatic theorem. These schedules exhibit faster decrease of the excitation probability than a linear schedule. To derive this conclusion, the asymptotic form of the excitation probability for quantum annealing is explicitly obtained in the limit of long annealing time. Its first-order term, which is inversely proportional to the square of the annealing time, is shown to be determined only by the information at the initial and final times. Our annealing schedules make it possible to drop this term, thus leading to a higher order (smaller) excitation probability. We verify these results by solving numerically the time-dependent Schrodinger equation for small size systemsComment: 10 pages, 5 figures, minor correction

Editorial: Adipose Tissue: Which Role in Aging and Longevity?

Editorial on the Research Topic Adipose Tissue: Which Role in Aging and Longevity? Since 2018, we are living in a world where there are more people over age 65 than there are children under five. Predictions indicate, if this trend continues, by the year 2050, the number of people over 65 will be double the number of people under five (1). Consequently, an understanding of the optimal physiological, endocrinological, and anthropometric conditions associated with better health during aging is to be considered a priority topic. In parallel with the increasing aging of the population, there is a parallel increase of overweight and obese individuals among older adults (2). Normal aging involves important changes to body composition, including decreased muscle mass and increased fat mass (3). Basal metabolism, for the majority of the elderly, is the main daily energetic expenditure and its decrease with age provides one explanation for the tendency to gain weight, with age. In addition to this physiological statement, lifestyle changes in aged people and the associated reduction in physical activity level favors weight increase with age. Total body fat peaks at about 65\u201370 years, while in advanced old age it decreases. Aging, indeed, modifies adipose tissue accumulation and redistribution resulting in accumulation of abdominal fat. These age-related changes alter many physiological functions including inflammation and contribute to age-related diseases such as cardiovascular events, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, stroke, and several types of cancer (4). However, to what extent, the age-related adipose tissue remodeling impacts the health status in elderly is incompletely understood. ..

Adiabatic quantum dynamics of the Lipkin-Meshkov-Glick model

The adiabatic quantum evolution of the Lipkin-Meshkov-Glick (LMG) model across its quantum critical point is studied. The dynamics is realized by linearly switching the transverse field from an initial large value towards zero and considering different transition rates. We concentrate our attention on the residual energy after the quench in order to estimate the level of diabaticity of the evolution. We discuss a Landau-Zener approximation of the finite size LMG model, that is successful in reproducing the behavior of the residual energy as function of the transition rate in the most part of the regimes considered. We also support our description through the analysis of the entanglement entropy of the evolved state. The system proposed is a paradigm of infinite-range interaction or high-dimensional models.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figures. (v2) minor revisions, published versio

Adiabatic quantum dynamics of a random Ising chain across its quantum critical point

We present here our study of the adiabatic quantum dynamics of a random Ising chain across its quantum critical point. The model investigated is an Ising chain in a transverse field with disorder present both in the exchange coupling and in the transverse field. The transverse field term is proportional to a function $\Gamma(t)$ which, as in the Kibble-Zurek mechanism, is linearly reduced to zero in time with a rate $\tau^{-1}$, $\Gamma(t)=-t/\tau$, starting at $t=-\infty$ from the quantum disordered phase ($\Gamma=\infty$) and ending at $t=0$ in the classical ferromagnetic phase ($\Gamma=0$). We first analyze the distribution of the gaps -- occurring at the critical point $\Gamma_c=1$ -- which are relevant for breaking the adiabaticity of the dynamics. We then present extensive numerical simulations for the residual energy $E_{\rm res}$ and density of defects $\rho_k$ at the end of the annealing, as a function of the annealing inverse rate $\tau$. %for different lenghts of the chain. Both the average $E_{\rm res}(\tau)$ and $\rho_k(\tau)$ are found to behave logarithmically for large $\tau$, but with different exponents, $[E_{\rm res}(\tau)/L]_{\rm av}\sim 1/\ln^{\zeta}(\tau)$ with $\zeta\approx 3.4$, and $[\rho_k(\tau)]_{\rm av}\sim 1/\ln^{2}(\tau)$. We propose a mechanism for $1/\ln^2{\tau}$-behavior of $[\rho_k]_{\rm av}$ based on the Landau-Zener tunneling theory and on a Fisher's type real-space renormalization group analysis of the relevant gaps. The model proposed shows therefore a paradigmatic example of how an adiabatic quantum computation can become very slow when disorder is at play, even in absence of any source of frustration.Comment: 10 pages, 11 figures; v2: added references, published versio

Radiological and surgical aspects of polymorphous low-grade neuroepithelial tumor of the young (PLNTY)

Background: Polymorphous low-grade neuroepithelial tumor of the young (PLNTY) is a low-grade epilepsy-associated tumor recently introduced in WHO 2021 classification. Since it has been recognized as an independent nosological entity, PLNTY has been mainly studied from a genetic and molecular perspective, not recognizing unique characteristic clinical and radiological features. Methods: A systematic literature research has been conducted aiming to identify all relevant studies about the radiological, clinical and surgical features of PLNTY. We described a representative case of a 45-year-old man treated with awake-surgery with confirmed diagnosis of PLNTY, reporting the radiological and surgical characteristics through imaging and intra-operative video. We performed a statistical meta-analysis attempting to assess the presence of relationships between surgical and radiologic tumor characteristics and clinical outcome and type of surgery. Results: A total of 16 studies were included in the systematic review. The final cohort was composed of 51 patients. Extent of resection (EOR) and outcome are not significantly associated with the different genetic profiling (p = 1), the presence of cystic intralesional component, calcification (p = 0.85), contrast-enhancing and lesion boundaries (p = 0.82). No significant correlation there is between EOR and remission or better control of epilepsy-related symptoms (p = 0.38). The contrast enhancement in the tumor is significantly associated with recurrence or poor control of epileptic symptoms (p = 0.07). Conclusions: In PLNTYs, contrast enhancement seems to impact prognosis, recurrence, and seizure control much more than radiological features, genetic features and type of resection of the tumor