Baryonic Matter in the Hidden Local Symmetry Induced from Holographic QCD Models

Baryonic matter is studied in the Skyrme model by taking into account the roles of $\pi,$ $\rho$, and $\omega$ mesons through the hidden local symmetry up to $\mathcal{O}(p^4)$ terms including the homogeneous Wess-Zumino (hWZ) terms. Using the master formulas for the low energy constants derived from holographic QCD models the skyrmion matter properties can be quantitatively calculated with the input values of the pion decay constant $f_\pi$ and the vector meson mass $m_\rho^{}$. We find that the hWZ terms are responsible for the repulsive interactions of the $\omega$ meson. In addition, the self-consistently included $\mathcal{O}(p^4)$ terms with the hWZ terms is found to increase the half skyrmion phase transition point above the normal nucleon density.Comment: Contribution to SCGT12 "KMI-GCOE Workshop on Strong Coupling Gauge Theories in the LHC Perspective", 4-7 Dec. 2012, Nagoya Universit

Surgical castration efficiently delays the time of starting a systemic chemotherapy in castration-resistant prostate cancer patients refractory to initial androgen-deprivation therapy

AbstractBackgroundThe aim of this study was to investigate the effects of surgical castration, particularly delaying the time to entrance of systemic chemotherapy, in castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) patients who were refractory to initial combination androgen deprivation therapy.Materials and methodsWe analyzed the clinical data of 14 CRPC patients diagnosed at Seoul National University Bundang Hospital (SNUBH) from November 2008 through May 2015. After exclusion of three patients, we finally analyzed the baseline characteristics of 11 CRPC patients. We also assessed the delaying time of docetaxel administration, which was defined as response duration, after surgical castration.ResultsAfter bilateral orchiectomy, the treatment response rate was 45.4% and the median duration of response was 9 months (range 4–48 mo). Responders had less aggressive biopsy Gleason scores compared to nonresponders. Notably, responders showed the reducing pattern of serum prostate specific antigen levels, while nonresponders demonstrated increasing tendency after surgical castration. Moreover, responders also presented with a reduction pattern of serum testosterone levels, whereas nonresponders showed an increasing pattern of testosterone levels after bilateral orchiectomy.ConclusionsIn summary, despite the limited number of cases for convincing evidence, our results shed light again on the clinical benefits of surgical castration prior to the systemic chemotherapy in some CRPC patients after initial hormone therapy

Hidden Local Symmetry and Infinite Tower of Vector Mesons for Baryons

In an effort to access dense baryonic matter relevant for compact stars in a unified framework that handles both single baryon and multibaryon systems on the same footing, we first address a holographic dual action for a single baryon focusing on the role of the infinite tower of vector mesons deconstructed from five dimensions. To leading order in 't Hooft coupling $\lambda=N_c g_{\rm YM}^2$, one has the Bogomol'nyi-Prasad-Sommerfield (BPS) Skyrmion that results when the warping of the bulk background and the Chern-Simons term in the Sakai-Sugimoto D4/D8-${\bar{\rm D8}}$ model are ignored. The infinite tower was found by Sutcliffe to induce flow to a conformal theory, i.e., the BPS. We compare this structure to that of the SS model consisting of a 5D Yang-Mills action in warped space and the Chern-Simons term in which higher vector mesons are integrated out while preserving hidden local symmetry and valid to $O(\lambda^0)$ and $O(p^4)$ in the chiral counting. We point out the surprisingly important role of the $\omega$ meson that figures in the Chern-Simons term that encodes chiral anomaly in the baryon structure and that may be closely tied to short-range repulsion in nuclear interactions.Comment: 9 pages, REVTeX, to be published in Phys. Rev.

Assessment of the Prognostic Factors for a Local Recurrence of Rectal Cancer: the Utility of Preoperative MR Imaging

OBJECTIVE: To determine the utility of MR imaging in evaluating the prognostic factors for a local recurrence of rectal cancer following a curative resection. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The preoperative MR images obtained from 17 patients with a local recurrence and 54 patients without a local recurrence, who had undergone a curative resection, were independently evaluated by three radiologists. The following findings were analyzed: the direct invasion of the perirectal fat by the primary rectal carcinoma, involvement of the perirectal lymph nodes, perirectal spiculate nodules, perivascular encasement, and an enlargement of the pelvic wall lymph nodes. The clinical and surgical profiles were obtained from the patients' medical records. The association of a local recurrence with the MR findings and the clinicosurgical variables was statistically evaluated. RESULTS: Of the MR findings, the presence of perivascular encasement (p = 0.001) and perirectal spiculate nodules (p = 0.001) were found to be significant prognostic factors for a local recurrence. Of the clinicosurgical profiles, the presence of a microscopic vascular invasion (p = 0.005) and the involvement of the regional lymph nodes (p = 0.006) were associated with a local recurrence. Logistic regression analysis showed that the presence of perirectal spiculate nodules was an independent predictor of a local recurrence (odds ratio, 7.382; 95% confidence interval, 1.438, 37.889; p = 0.017). CONCLUSION: The presence of perirectal spiculate nodules and perivascular encasement on the preoperative MR images are significant predictors of a local recurrence after curative surgery for a rectal carcinoma. This suggests that preoperative MR imaging can provide useful information to help in the planning of preoperative adjuvant therapy.ope

Characteristics and surgical outcomes of cleft palate in kabuki syndrome: a case series of 11 patients

Objective A significant number of patients with KS have cleft palate (CP) or submucous cleft palate (SMCP) and show delayed speech development. However, few reports have discussed the characteristics of CP in KS and the outcomes of postoperative speech development. The purpose of this study was to investigate the characteristics and surgical outcomes of CP in patients with KS, and to discuss the importance of the diagnosis of CP or SMCP. Methods We conducted a retrospective study on patients with clinically diagnosed KS who underwent palatoplasty. Clinical and surgical data were collected from patients medical records, and velopharyngeal function was evaluated using nasopharyngoscopy and speech analysis. Results In 11 cases, 5 patients had CP (45.5%) and 6 had SMCP (54.5%). Four patients who were genetically tested had a pathogenic variant of KMT2D. Seven of nine patients (77.8%) who underwent conventional palatoplasty showed velopharyngeal insufficiency and hypernasality. All patients who underwent pharyngeal flap surgery achieved velopharyngeal competency. Statistical analysis revealed a statistically significant difference in postoperative results between non-syndromic and KS patients. Conclusion Patients with SMCP may be more common than previously reported. The results showed that it is difficult to produce optimal results with conventional palatoplasty; therefore, pharyngeal flap surgery should be considered as a treatment to obtain favorable results. Pharyngeal flap surgery in patients with KS should be carefully designed based on speech evaluation and nasopharyngoscopic findings

Young age: an independent risk factor for disease-free survival in women with operable breast cancer

BACKGROUND: The incidence of breast cancer in young women (age < 35) is low. The biology of the disease in this age group is poorly understood, and there are conflicting data regarding the prognosis for these women compared to older patients. METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed 2040 consecutive primary invasive breast cancer patients who underwent surgical procedures at our institution between 1990 and 1999. The younger age group was defined as patients aged <35 years at the time of diagnosis. The clinicopathological characteristics and treatment outcomes were compared between younger and older age groups. RESULTS: A total of 256 (12.5%) patients were aged <35. There was a significantly higher incidence of nuclear grade 3 and medullary histological-type tumors in younger patients compared to older patients. Axillary lymph node status, T stage, histological grade, c-erbB2 expression and estrogen receptor status did not differ significantly between the two age groups. Younger patients had a greater probability of recurrence and death at all time periods. Although there was no significant difference in disease-free survival between the two age groups in lymph node-negative patients, the younger group showed worse prognosis among lymph node-positive patients (p < 0.001). In multivariate analysis, young age remained a significant predictor of recurrence (p = 0.010). CONCLUSION: Young age (<35) is an independent risk factor for relapse in operable breast cancer patients