284 research outputs found
On the relation of Thomas rotation and angular velocity of reference frames
In the extensive literature dealing with the relativistic phenomenon of
Thomas rotation several methods have been developed for calculating the Thomas
rotation angle of a gyroscope along a circular world line. One of the most
appealing concepts, introduced in \cite{rindler}, is to consider a rotating
reference frame co-moving with the gyroscope, and relate the precession of the
gyroscope to the angular velocity of the reference frame. A recent paper
\cite{herrera}, however, applies this principle to three different co-moving
rotating reference frames and arrives at three different Thomas rotation
angles. The reason for this apparent paradox is that the principle of
\cite{rindler} is used for a situation to which it does not apply. In this
paper we rigorously examine the theoretical background and limitations of
applicability of the principle of \cite{rindler}. Along the way we also
establish some general properties of {\it rotating reference frames}, which may
be of independent interest.Comment: 14 pages, 2 figure
Diversidade de minhocas e atributos quĂmicos em sistemas de plantio direto e integração lavoura-pecuĂĄria do oeste catarinense.
Resumo tambĂ©m apresentado no CONGRESSO DE INICIAĂĂO CIENTĂFICA E PĂS-GRADUAĂĂO, 2., 2012, SĂŁo Leopoldo. Mostra de iniciação cientĂfica da UNISINOS. SĂŁo Leopoldo: Casa Leiria, 2012. e-book. II CICPG. Disposição dos autores: ORSO, R.; BARTZ, M. L. C.; BROWN, G. G.; KLAUBER FILHO, O.; ROSA, M. G. da; LOCATELLI, M.; ZORTĂA, T.; CASAROTTO, K.; DECĂENS, T.; BARETTA, D
Performance bounds on compressed sensing with Poisson noise
This paper describes performance bounds for compressed sensing in the
presence of Poisson noise when the underlying signal, a vector of Poisson
intensities, is sparse or compressible (admits a sparse approximation). The
signal-independent and bounded noise models used in the literature to analyze
the performance of compressed sensing do not accurately model the effects of
Poisson noise. However, Poisson noise is an appropriate noise model for a
variety of applications, including low-light imaging, where sensing hardware is
large or expensive, and limiting the number of measurements collected is
important. In this paper, we describe how a feasible positivity-preserving
sensing matrix can be constructed, and then analyze the performance of a
compressed sensing reconstruction approach for Poisson data that minimizes an
objective function consisting of a negative Poisson log likelihood term and a
penalty term which could be used as a measure of signal sparsity.Comment: 5 pages; to appear in Proc. ISIT 200
The Role of Calcineurin/NFAT in SFRP2 Induced AngiogenesisâA Rationale for Breast Cancer Treatment with the Calcineurin Inhibitor Tacrolimus
Tacrolimus (FK506) is an immunosuppressive drug that binds to the immunophilin FKBPB12. The FK506-FKBP12 complex associates with calcineurin and inhibits its phosphatase activity, resulting in inhibition of nuclear translocation of nuclear factor of activated T-cells (NFAT). There is increasing data supporting a critical role of NFAT in mediating angiogenic responses stimulated by both vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and a novel angiogenesis factor, secreted frizzled-related protein 2 (SFRP2). Since both VEGF and SFRP2 are expressed in breast carcinomas, we hypothesized that tacrolimus would inhibit breast carcinoma growth. Using IHC (IHC) with antibodies to FKBP12 on breast carcinomas we found that FKBP12 localizes to breast tumor vasculature. Treatment of MMTV-neu transgenic mice with tacrolimus (3 mg/kg i.p. daily) (nâ=â19) resulted in a 73% reduction in the growth rate for tacrolimus treated mice compared to control (nâ=â15), pâ=â0.003; which was associated with an 82% reduction in tumor microvascular density (p<0.001) by IHC. Tacrolimus (1 ”M) inhibited SFRP2 induced endothelial tube formation by 71% (pâ=â0.005) and inhibited VEGF induced endothelial tube formation by 67% (pâ=â0.004). To show that NFATc3 is required for SFRP2 stimulated angiogenesis, NFATc3 was silenced with shRNA in endothelial cells. Sham transfected cells responded to SFRP2 stimulation in a tube formation assay with an increase in the number of branch points (p<0.003), however, cells transfected with shRNA to NFATc3 showed no increase in tube formation in response to SFRP2. This demonstrates that NFATc3 is required for SFRP2 induced tube formation, and tacrolimus inhibits angiogenesis in vitro and breast carcinoma growth in vivo. This provides a rationale for examining the therapeutic potential of tacrolimus at inhibiting breast carcinoma growth in humans
Simultaneity and generalized connections in general relativity
Stationary extended frames in general relativity are considered. The
requirement of stationarity allows to treat the spacetime as a principal fiber
bundle over the one-dimensional group of time translations. Over this bundle a
connection form establishes the simultaneity between neighboring events
accordingly with the Einstein synchronization convention. The mathematics
involved is that of gauge theories where a gauge choice is interpreted as a
global simultaneity convention. Then simultaneity in non-stationary frames is
investigated: it turns to be described by a gauge theory in a fiber bundle
without structure group, the curvature being given by the Fr\"olicher-Nijenhuis
bracket of the connection. The Bianchi identity of this gauge theory is a
differential relation between the vorticity field and the acceleration field.
In order for the simultaneity connection to be principal, a necessary and
sufficient condition on the 4-velocity of the observers is given.Comment: RevTeX, 9 pages, 2 figures, 1 table. Previous title "The gauge nature
of simultaneity". Classical and Quantum Gravity
http://www.iop.org/EJ/journal/CQ
An early peak of relapse after surgery for breast cancer
There is great interest among oncologists concerning what we might learn by examining the pattern of relapse after breast cancer surgery. What you see depends upon how hard you look. Up to now, investigators have examined the hazard ratio for relapse every 6â12 months. In a research paper, published in this issue of Breast Cancer Research, the Milan group have looked at the hazard ratio every three months and have found, for the first time, a distinct, very early peak of relapse in a group of premenopausal, node-positive patients not given chemotherapy or hormone therapy. What is now needed is for other groups to repeat this observation and, if found, to examine the characteristics of the tumours producing this phenomenon in order to develop hypotheses about its cause and possible treatments
Cosmetic Outcomes for Accelerated Partial Breast Irradiation Prior to Surgical Excision of Early Stage Breast Cancer Using Single Dose Intraoperative Radiotherapy
Determine cosmetic outcome and toxicity profile of intraoperative radiation delivered prior-to tumor excision for patients with early stage breast cancer
Molecular Characterization of Human Breast Tumor Vascular Cells
A detailed understanding of the assortment of genes that are expressed in breast tumor vessels is needed to facilitate the development of novel, molecularly targeted anti-angiogenic agents for breast cancer therapies. Rapid immunohistochemistry using factor VIII-related antibodies was performed on sections of frozen human luminal-A breast tumors (n = 5) and normal breast (n = 5), followed by laser capture microdissection of vascular cells. RNA was extracted and amplified, and fluorescently labeled cDNA was synthesized and hybridized to 44,000-element long-oligonucleotide DNA microarrays. Statistical analysis of microarray was used to compare differences in gene expression between tumor and normal vascular cells, and Expression Analysis Systematic Explorer was used to determine enrichment of gene ontology categories. Protein expression of select genes was confirmed using immunohistochemistry. Of the 1176 genes that were differentially expressed between tumor and normal vascular cells, 55 had a greater than fourfold increase in expression level. The extracellular matrix gene ontology category was increased while the ribosome gene ontology category was decreased. Fibroblast activation protein, secreted frizzled-related protein 2, Janus kinase 3, and neutral sphingomyelinase 2 proteins localized to breast tumor endothelium as assessed by immunohistochemistry, showing significantly greater staining compared with normal tissue. These tumor endothelial marker proteins also exhibited increased expression in breast tumor vessels compared with that in normal tissues. Therefore, these genetic markers may serve as potential targets for the development of angiogenesis inhibitors
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