63 research outputs found
The importance of circulating tumor products as „liquid biopsies” in colorectal cancer
Liquid biopsies represent an array of plasma analysis tests that are studied to evaluate and identify circulating tumor products, especially circulating tumor cells (CTCs) and circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA). Examining such biomarkers in the plasma of colorectal cancer patients has attracted attention due to its clinical significance in the treatment of malignant diseases. Given that tissue samples are sometimes challenging to procure or unsatisfactory for genomic profiling from patients with colorectal cancer, trustworthy biomarkers are mandatory for guiding treatment, monitoring therapeutic response, and detecting recurrence.
This review considers the relevance of flowing tumor products like circulating tumor cells (CTCs), circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA), circulating messenger RNA (mRNA), circulating micro RNA (miRNA), circulating exosomes, and tumor educated platelets (TEPs) for patients with colorectal cancer
The importance of circulating tumor products as „liquid biopsies” in colorectal cancer
Liquid biopsies represent an array of plasma analysis tests that are studied to evaluate and identify circulating tumor products, especially circulating tumor cells (CTCs) and circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA). Examining such biomarkers in the plasma of colorectal cancer patients has attracted attention due to its clinical significance in the treatment of malignant diseases. Given that tissue samples are sometimes challenging to procure or unsatisfactory for genomic profiling from patients with colorectal cancer, trustworthy biomarkers are mandatory for guiding treatment, monitoring therapeutic response, and detecting recurrence.
This review considers the relevance of flowing tumor products like circulating tumor cells (CTCs), circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA), circulating messenger RNA (mRNA), circulating micro RNA (miRNA), circulating exosomes, and tumor educated platelets (TEPs) for patients with colorectal cancer
Time Evolution within a Comoving Window: Scaling of signal fronts and magnetization plateaus after a local quench in quantum spin chains
We present a modification of Matrix Product State time evolution to simulate
the propagation of signal fronts on infinite one-dimensional systems. We
restrict the calculation to a window moving along with a signal, which by the
Lieb-Robinson bound is contained within a light cone. Signal fronts can be
studied unperturbed and with high precision for much longer times than on
finite systems. Entanglement inside the window is naturally small, greatly
lowering computational effort. We investigate the time evolution of the
transverse field Ising (TFI) model and of the S=1/2 XXZ antiferromagnet in
their symmetry broken phases after several different local quantum quenches.
In both models, we observe distinct magnetization plateaus at the signal
front for very large times, resembling those previously observed for the
particle density of tight binding (TB) fermions. We show that the normalized
difference to the magnetization of the ground state exhibits similar scaling
behaviour as the density of TB fermions. In the XXZ model there is an
additional internal structure of the signal front due to pairing, and wider
plateaus with tight binding scaling exponents for the normalized excess
magnetization. We also observe parameter dependent interaction effects between
individual plateaus, resulting in a slight spatial compression of the plateau
widths.
In the TFI model, we additionally find that for an initial Jordan-Wigner
domain wall state, the complete time evolution of the normalized excess
longitudinal magnetization agrees exactly with the particle density of TB
fermions.Comment: 10 pages with 5 figures. Appendix with 23 pages, 13 figures and 4
tables. Largely extended and improved versio
Complete devil's staircase and crystal--superfluid transitions in a dipolar XXZ spin chain: A trapped ion quantum simulation
Systems with long-range interactions show a variety of intriguing properties:
they typically accommodate many meta-stable states, they can give rise to
spontaneous formation of supersolids, and they can lead to counterintuitive
thermodynamic behavior. However, the increased complexity that comes with
long-range interactions strongly hinders theoretical studies. This makes a
quantum simulator for long-range models highly desirable. Here, we show that a
chain of trapped ions can be used to quantum simulate a one-dimensional model
of hard-core bosons with dipolar off-site interaction and tunneling, equivalent
to a dipolar XXZ spin-1/2 chain. We explore the rich phase diagram of this
model in detail, employing perturbative mean-field theory, exact
diagonalization, and quasiexact numerical techniques (density-matrix
renormalization group and infinite time evolving block decimation). We find
that the complete devil's staircase -- an infinite sequence of crystal states
existing at vanishing tunneling -- spreads to a succession of lobes similar to
the Mott-lobes found in Bose--Hubbard models. Investigating the melting of
these crystal states at increased tunneling, we do not find (contrary to
similar two-dimensional models) clear indications of supersolid behavior in the
region around the melting transition. However, we find that inside the
insulating lobes there are quasi-long range (algebraic) correlations, opposed
to models with nearest-neighbor tunneling which show exponential decay of
correlations
Tensor network techniques for the computation of dynamical observables in 1D quantum spin systems
We analyze the recently developed folding algorithm [Phys. Rev. Lett. 102,
240603 (2009)] to simulate the dynamics of infinite quantum spin chains, and
relate its performance to the kind of entanglement produced under the evolution
of product states. We benchmark the accomplishments of this technique with
respect to alternative strategies using Ising Hamiltonians with transverse and
parallel fields, as well as XY models. Additionally, we evaluate its ability to
find ground and thermal equilibrium states.Comment: 33 pages, 22 figure
Optimal Investment-Consumption Problem with Constraint
In this paper, we consider an optimal investment-consumption problem subject to a closed convex constraint. In the problem, a constraint is imposed on both the investment and the consumption strategy, rather than just on the investment. The existence of solution is established by using the Martingale technique and convex duality. In addition to investment, our technique embeds also the consumption into a family of fictitious markets. However, with the addition of consumption, it leads to nonreflexive dual spaces. This difficulty is overcome by employing the so-called technique of \relaxation-projection" to establish the existence of solution to the problem. Furthermore, if the solution to the dual problem is obtained, then the solution to the primal problem can be found by using the characterization of the solution. An illustrative example is given with a dynamic risk constraint to demonstrate the method
Polyurethane scaffold with in situ swelling capacity for nucleus pulposus replacement
Nucleus pulposus (NP) replacement offers a minimally invasive alternative to spinal fusion or total disc replacement for the treatment of intervertebral disc (IVD) degeneration. This study aimed to develop a cytocompatible {NP} replacement material, which is feasible for non-invasive delivery and tunable design, and allows immediate mechanical restoration of the IVD. A bi-phasic polyurethane scaffold was fabricated consisting of a core material with rapid swelling property and a flexible electrospun envelope. The scaffold was assessed in a bovine whole {IVD} organ culture model under dynamic load for 14 days. Nucleotomy was achieved by incision through the endplate without damaging the annulus fibrosus. After implantation of the scaffold and in situ swelling, the dynamic compressive stiffness and disc height were restored immediately. The scaffold also showed favorable cytocompatibility for native disc cells. Implantation of the scaffold in a partially nucleotomized {IVD} down-regulated catabolic gene expression, increased proteoglycan and type {II} collagen intensity and decreased type I collagen intensity in remaining {NP} tissue, indicating potential to retard degeneration and preserve the {IVD} cell phenotype. The scaffold can be delivered in a minimally invasive manner, and the geometry of the scaffold post-hydration is tunable by adjusting the core material, which allows individualized design.
Keywords : Intervertebral disc degeneratio
European economic integration and migration in Romania
Considering the recent debates on the benefits of European economic integration, the purpose of this paper is to assess the impact of EU membership on the migration process in the case of Romania. The paper focussed on two directions of research: comparisons with neighbouring countries that are not member or candidates for EU and the explanation of the remittances based on the economic situation in the destination countries. The approach based on comparisons used difference-in-difference estimator as quantitative method, while the approach based on economic factors in destination countries employed mixed-effects models. The results based on these two approaches indicated that Romania did not send more migrants abroad in the period 2002–2017 compared to Ukraine and Republic of Moldova due its EU membership. On the other hand, Romania gained around 2.5 percentage points more remittances due its EU membership compared to Republic of Moldova and Ukraine. However, the unemployment and the GDP per capita in the destination countries are more important determinants of remittances rather than EU membership in the period 2010–2017. The results reveal that the remittances of Romanian migrants are conditioned by labour market issues in the destination countries, the unemployment in host country having a greater impact on remittances compared to GDP per capita and EU membership. It is expected that a future economic crisis will reduce remittances gained by Romania from other EU countries
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