Conjunctival Keratoacanthoma.

Keratoacanthoma generally occurs on the skin; it is rarely found in the conjunctiva. A case of a 34-year-old woman with a rapidly growing conjunctival mass is reported. The tumor was excised with a safety margin to exclude squamous cell carcinoma. Histopathologically it was crateriform and consistent with atypical keratoacanthoma. There has been no recurrence in 2 years of follow-up. Conjunctival keratoacanthoma is rare; differential diagnosis of conventional squamous cell carcinoma and keratoacanthoma can be difficult. We recommend complete surgical excision and careful follow-up of crateriform squamous proliferations.59313513

Standardization of pattern electroretinograms by alternate reversion in normal volunteers

PURPOSE: To standardize recordings of pattern electroretinograms (PERG) in normal human subjects. METHODS: The standardization followed the model proposed by the International Organization of Eletroretinography and was specific for the laboratory of evoked potentials of the Department of Neurology, Faculty of Medical Sciences, State University of Campinas. Two types of stimuli were used, one of 30 minutes of arch of visual angle and another of 60 minutes of arch of visual angle. RESULTS: In all patients a positive wave, defined internationally as P50, and a negative, called N95, were obtained without interferences. The normal range for latency, amplitude and duration of each wave was obtained. There were significative differences in amplitude, latency and duration of P50 and N95 waves among the several age groups. There was an increase in latency and a decrease in amplitude with increasing age. No significative differences were found among the variables comparing different stimuli, sex or when eyes were compared with each other. CONCLUSIONS: The standardization of pattern electroretinograms yield reproductibility of results and the possibility of further comparative studies.OBJETIVO: Realizar a normatização do eletrorretinograma por reversão alternada em indivíduos oftalmologicamente normais e sem doenças neurológicas associadas, determinando a faixa de normalidade estratificada por sexo, faixa etária e estímulo utilizado. MÉTODOS: A padronização seguiu o modelo proposto pela Organização Internacional de Eletrorretinografia e a normatização foi específica para o laboratório de potenciais evocados do Departamento de Neurologia da Faculdade de Ciências Médicas - Universidade Estadual de Campinas. Dois tipos de estímulos foram utilizados: o denominado estímulo 16, que proporciona ângulo visual de 60 minutos de arco e o de 32, que proporciona ângulo visual de 30. RESULTADOS: Em todos os pacientes obteve-se uma onda positiva, definida internacionalmente como P50 e uma negativa, chamada N95, sem a presença de artefatos. Foram observados intervalos de normalidade que continham a média das latências, amplitudes e durações das curvas positiva e negativa, internacionalmente aceitas. As ondas P50 e N95 apresentaram diferenças significativas na amplitude, latência e duração quando comparadas às diversas faixas etárias, ocorrendo diminuição na amplitude das ondas e aumento na latência total do eletrorretinograma com o aumento da idade. Construíram-se tabelas com intervalo de predição de 95% em relação à idade para a amplitude, latência e duração das curvas P50 e N95. CONCLUSÕES: A normatização do eletrorretinograma por reversão alternada proporciona a reprodutibilidade dos resultados e a possibilidade de estudos comparativos.50551

Gravitational waveforms for 2- and 3-body gravitating systems

Different numbers of self-gravitating particles (in different types of periodic motion) are most likely to generate very different shapes of gravitational waves, some of which, however, can be accidentally almost the same. One such example is a binary and a three-body system for Lagrange's solution. To track the evolution of these similar waveforms, we define a chirp mass to the triple system. Thereby, we show that the quadrupole waveforms cannot distinguish the sources. It is suggested that waveforms with higher $\ell$-th multipoles will be important for classification of them (with a conjecture of $\ell \leq N$ for N particles).Comment: 11 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in PR

Adsorption of 2,2 '-dithiodipyridine as a tool for the assembly of silver nanoparticles

Silver nanostructured thin films stabilized by 2,2’-dithiodipyridine (2dtpy) were prepared. The Ag nanoparticles were obtained by treating the complex [Ag(2dtpy)]NO3 with NaBH4 in a methanol–toluene mixture. The films were transferred to borosilicate glass slips by a dip-coating method and were found to consist of Ag nanoparticles possibly linked via 2dtpy molecules. Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) studies have offered the possibility of investigating the adsorption modes of 2dtpy at the Ag nanoparticle surfaces in the fil

Optimality of mutation and selection in germinal centers

The population dynamics theory of B cells in a typical germinal center could play an important role in revealing how affinity maturation is achieved. However, the existing models encountered some conflicts with experiments. To resolve these conflicts, we present a coarse-grained model to calculate the B cell population development in affinity maturation, which allows a comprehensive analysis of its parameter space to look for optimal values of mutation rate, selection strength, and initial antibody-antigen binding level that maximize the affinity improvement. With these optimized parameters, the model is compatible with the experimental observations such as the ~100-fold affinity improvements, the number of mutations, the hypermutation rate, and the "all or none" phenomenon. Moreover, we study the reasons behind the optimal parameters. The optimal mutation rate, in agreement with the hypermutation rate in vivo, results from a tradeoff between accumulating enough beneficial mutations and avoiding too many deleterious or lethal mutations. The optimal selection strength evolves as a balance between the need for affinity improvement and the requirement to pass the population bottleneck. These findings point to the conclusion that germinal centers have been optimized by evolution to generate strong affinity antibodies effectively and rapidly. In addition, we study the enhancement of affinity improvement due to B cell migration between germinal centers. These results could enhance our understandings to the functions of germinal centers.Comment: 5 figures in main text, and 4 figures in Supplementary Informatio

CAMELOT: Design and performance verification of the detector concept and localization capability

A fleet of nanosatellites using precise timing synchronization provided by the Global Positioning System is a new concept for monitoring the gamma-ray sky that can achieve both all-sky coverage and good localization accuracy. We are proposing this new concept for the mission CubeSats Applied for MEasuring and LOcalising Transients (CAMELOT). The differences in photon arrival times at each satellite are to be used for source localization. Detectors with good photon statistics and the development of a localization algorithm capable of handling a large number of satellites are both essential for this mission. Large, thin CsI scintillator plates are the current candidates for the detectors because of their high light yields. It is challenging to maximize the light-collection efficiency and to understand the position dependence of such thin plates. We have found a multi-channel readout that uses the coincidence technique to be very effective in increasing the light output while keeping a similar noise level to that of a single channel readout. Based on such a detector design, we have developed a localization algorithm for this mission and have found that we can achieve a localization accuracy better than 20 arc minutes and a rate of about 10 short gamma-ray bursts per year

CAMELOT: Cubesats Applied for MEasuring and LOcalising Transients mission overview

We propose a fleet of nanosatellites to perform an all-sky monitoring and timing based localisation of gamma-ray transients. The fleet of at least nine 3U cubesats shall be equipped with large and thin CsI(Tl) scintillator based soft gamma-ray detectors read out by multi-pixel photon counters. For bright short gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), by cross-correlating their light curves, the fleet shall be able to determine the time difference of the arriving GRB signal between the satellites and thus determine the source position with an accuracy of similar to 10'. This requirement demands precise time synchronization and accurate time stamping of the detected gamma-ray photons, which will be achieved by using on-board GPS receivers. Rapid follow up observations at other wavelengths require the capability for fast, nearly simultaneous downlink of data using a global inter-satellite communication network. In terms of all-sky coverage, the proposed fleet will outperform all GRB monitoring missions

Effect of tempering treatment upon the residual stress of bimetallic roll

2018 International Conference on Material Strength and Applied Mechanics (MSAM 2018), 10–13 April, 2018, Kitakyushu City, Japa