369 research outputs found
A Microscopic Derivation of the SO(5)-Symmetric Landau-Ginzburg Potential
We construct a microscopic model of electron interactions which gives rise to
both superconductivity and antiferromagnetism, and which admits an approximate
SO(5) symmetry that relates these two phases. The symmetry can be exact, or it
may exist only in the long-wavelength limit, depending on the detailed form of
the interactions. We compute the macroscopic Landau-Ginzburg free energy for
this model as a function of temperature and doping, by explicitly integrating
out the fermions. We find that the resulting phase diagram can resemble that
observed for the cuprates, with the antiferromagnetism realized as a spin
density wave, whose wavelength might be incommensurate with the lattice spacing
away from half filling.Comment: 29 pp., plain TeX, 7 figures, uses macros.tex (included) and
epsf.tex; added subject clas
Topical and Systemic Cannabidiol Improves Trinitrobenzene Sulfonic Acid Colitis in Mice
Background/Aims: Compounds of Cannabis sativa are known to exert anti-inflammatory properties, some of them without inducing psychotropic side effects. Cannabidiol (CBD) is such a side effect-free phytocannabinoid that improves chemically induced colitis in rodents when given intraperitoneally. Here, we tested the possibility whether rectal and oral application of CBD would also ameliorate colonic inflammation, as these routes of application may represent a more appropriate way for delivering drugs in human colitis. Methods: Colitis was induced in CD1 mice by trinitrobenzene sulfonic acid. Individual groups were either treated with CBD intraperitoneally (10 mg/kg), orally (20 mg/kg) or intrarectally (20 mg/kg). Colitis was evaluated by macroscopic scoring, histopathology and the myeloperoxidase (MPO) assay. Results: Intraperitoneal treatment of mice with CBD led to improvement of colonic inflammation. Intrarectal treatment with CBD also led to a significant improvement of disease parameters and to a decrease in MPO activity while oral treatment, using the same dose as per rectum, had no ameliorating effect on colitis. Conclusion: The data of this study indicate that in addition to intraperitoneal application, intrarectal delivery of cannabinoids may represent a useful therapeutic administration route for the treatment of colonic inflammation. Copyright (C) 2012 S. Karger AG, Base
Superconductivity with hard-core repulsion: BCS-Bose crossover and s-/d-wave competition
We consider fermions on a 2D lattice interacting repulsively on the same site
and attractively on the nearest neighbor sites. The model is relevant, for
instance, to study the competition between antiferromagnetism and
superconductivity in a Kondo lattice. We first solve the two-body problem to
show that in the dilute and strong coupling limit the s-wave Bose condensed
state is always the ground state. We then consider the many-body problem and
treat it at mean-field level by solving exactly the usual gap equation. This
guarantees that the superconducting wave-function correctly vanishes when the
two fermions (with antiparallel spin) sit on the same site. This fact has
important consequences on the superconducting state that are somewhat unusual.
In particular this implies a radial node-line for the gap function. When a next
neighbor hopping t' is present we find that the s-wave state may develop nodes
on the Fermi surface.Comment: 10 pages, 9 fig
Pseudogap phase formation in the crossover from Bose-Einstein condensation to BCS superconductivity
A phase diagram for a 2D metal with variable carrier density has been
derived. It consists of a normal phase, where the order parameter is absent; a
so-called ``abnormal normal'' phase where this parameter is also absent but the
mean number of composite bosons (bound pairs) exceeds the mean number of free
fermions; a pseudogap phase where the absolute value of the order parameter
gradually increases but its phase is a random value, and finally a
superconducting (here Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless) phase. The
characteristic transition temperatures between these phases are found. The
chemical potential and paramagnetic susceptibility behavior as functions of the
fermion density and the temperature are also studied. An attempt is made to
qualitatively compare the resulting phase diagram with the features of
underdoped high- superconducting compounds above their critical
temperature.Comment: 26 pages, revtex, 5 EMTeX figures; more discussion and references
added; to be published in JET
Polymorphisms within immune regulatory pathways predict cetuximab efficacy and survival in metastatic colorectal cancer patients
Cetuximab, an IgG1 EGFR-directed antibody, promotes antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity. We hypothesized that single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in immune regulatory pathways may predict outcomes in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer treated with cetuximab-based regimens. A total of 924 patients were included: 105 received cetuximab in IMCL-0144 and cetuximab/irinotecan in GONO-ASL608LIOM01 (training cohort), 225 FOLFIRI/cetuximab in FIRE-3 (validation cohort 1), 74 oxaliplatin/cetuximab regimens in JACCRO CC-05/06 (validation cohort 2), and 520 FOLFIRI/bevacizumab in FIRE-3 and TRIBE (control cohorts). Twelve SNPs in five genes (IDO1; PD-L1; PD-1; CTLA-4; CD24) were evaluated by PCR-based direct sequencing. We analyzed associations between genotype and clinical outcomes. In the training cohort; patients with the CD24 rs52812045 A/A genotype had a significantly shorter median PFS and OS than those with the G/G genotype (PFS 1.3 vs. 3.6 months; OS 2.3 vs. 7.8 months) in univariate (PFS HR 3.62; p = 0.001; OS HR 3.27; p = 0.0004) and multivariate (PFS HR 3.18; p = 0.009; OS HR 4.93; p = 0.001) analyses. Similarly; any A allele carriers in the JACCRO validation cohort had a significantly shorter PFS than G/G carriers (9.2 vs. 11.8 months; univariate HR 1.90; p = 0.011; multivariate HR 2.12; p = 0.018). These associations were not demonstrated in the control cohorts. CD24 genetic variants may help select patients with metastatic colorectal cancer most likely to benefit from cetuximab-based therapy
On the correct strong-coupling limit in the evolution from BCS superconductivity to Bose-Einstein condensation
We consider the problem of the crossover from BCS superconductivity to
Bose-Einstein condensation in three dimensions for a system of fermions with an
attractive interaction, for which we adopt the simplifying assumption of a
suitably regularized point-contact interaction. We examine in a critical way
the fermionic (self-consistent) T-matrix approximation which has been widely
utilized in the literature to describe this crossover above the superconducting
critical temperature, and show that it fails to yield the correct behaviour of
the system in the strong-coupling limit, where composite bosons form as tightly
bound fermion pairs. We then set up the correct approximation for a ``dilute''
system of composite bosons and show that an entire new class of diagrams has to
be considered in the place of the fermionic T-matrix approximation for the
self-energy. This new class of diagrams correctly describes both the weak- and
strong-coupling limits, and consequently results into an improved interpolation
scheme for the intermediate (crossover) region. In this context, we provide
also a systematic mapping between the corresponding diagrammatic theories for
the composite bosons and the constituent fermions. As a preliminary result to
demonstrate the numerical effect of our new class of diagrams on physical
quantities, we calculate the value of the scattering length for composite
bosons in the strong-coupling limit and show that it is considerably modified
with respect to the result obtained within the self-consistent fermionic
T-matrix approximation.Comment: 25 pages, 14 figures included in pape
Density-induced BCS to Bose-Einstein crossover
We investigate the zero-temperature BCS to Bose-Einstein crossover at the
mean-field level, by driving it with the attractive potential and the particle
density.We emphasize specifically the role played by the particle density in
this crossover.Three different interparticle potentials are considered for the
continuum model in three spatial dimensions, while both s- and d-wave solutions
are analyzed for the attractive (extended) Hubbard model on a two-dimensional
square lattice. For this model the peculiar behavior of the crossover for the
d-wave solution is discussed.In particular, in the strong-coupling limit when
approaching half filling we evidence the occurrence of strong correlations
among antiparallel-spin fermions belonging to different composite bosons, which
give rise to a quasi-long-range antiferromagnetic order in this limit.Comment: 10 pages, 5 enclosed figure
Role of symmetry and dimension on pseudogap phenomena
The attractive Hubbard model in d=2 is studied through Monte Carlo
simulations at intermediate coupling. There is a crossover temperature
where a pseudogap appears with concomitant precursors of Bogoliubov
quasiparticles that are not local pairs. The pseudogap in occurs
in the renormalized classical regime when the correlation length is larger than
the direction-dependent thermal de Broglie wave length, The ratio for the pseudogap may be made
arbitrarily large when the system is close to a point where the order parameter
has SO(n) symmetry with n>2. This is relevant in the context of SO(5) theories
of high but has more general applicability.Comment: 4 pages, LaTeX, 4 epsf figures included. Corrected to agree with
published version. Main change, one new figur
Ginzburg-Landau theory of superconductors with short coherence length
We consider Fermions in two dimensions with an attractive interaction in the
singlet d-wave channel of arbitrary strength. By means of a
Hubbard-Stratonovich transformation a statistical Ginzburg-Landau theory is
derived, which describes the smooth crossover from a weak-coupling BCS
superconductor to a condensate of composite Bosons. Adjusting the interaction
strength to the observed slope of H_c2 at T_c in the optimally doped high-T_c
compounds YBCO and BSCCO, we determine the associated values of the
Ginzburg-Landau correlation length xi and the London penetration depth lambda.
The resulting dimensionless ratio k_F xi(0) approx 5-8 and the Ginzburg-Landau
parameter kappa=lambda xi approx 90-100 agree well with the experimentally
observed values. These parameters indicate that the optimally doped materials
are still on the weak coupling side of the crossover to a Bose regime.Comment: 12 pages, RevTeX, 6 postscript figures, resubmitted with minor
changes in section III, to appear in Physical Review
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