Measuring Cosmic Defect Correlations in Liquid Crystals

From the theory of topological defect formation proposed for the early universe, the so called Kibble mechanism, it follows that the density correlation functions of defects and anti-defects in a given system should be completely determined in terms of a single length scale $\xi$, the relevant domain size. Thus, when lengths are expressed in units of $\xi$, these distributions should show universal behavior, depending only on the symmetry of the order parameter, and space dimensions. We have verified this prediction by analyzing the distributions of defects/anti-defects formed in the isotropic-nematic phase transition in a thin layer of nematic liquid crystals. Our experimental results confirm this prediction and are in reasonable agreement with the results of numerical simulations.Comment: 15 pages, 4 figures, minor changes, few new references adde

Elevated lactate dehydrogenase isoenzyme 1 as a tumour marker in patients with germ cell testicular tumours

In a series of 50 patients with testicular tumours evaluated prior to orchidectomy, 12 out of 19 with pure seminoma and seven out of 31 with non-seminomatous or mixed seminomatous and non-seminomatous germ cell tumours had elevated plasma lactate dehydrogenase isoenzyme 1 concentrations. In contrast, seven of the 19 seminoma patients had elevated serum human chorionic gonadotrophin (hCG) concentrations and 25 of the 31 non-seminomatous and mixed seminomatous and non-seminomatous germ cell tumour patients had elevations of hCG and/or alpha-fetoprotein. Using these three markers, 12 out of 19 seminoma patients and 27 out of 31 non-seminomatous or mixed seminomatous and non-seminomatous tumour patients were positive for one or more of these tumour markers

Fatal ventricular tachycardia in association with propafenone, a new class IC antiarrhythmic agent.

A man with a past history of malignant ventricular arrhythmias occurring late after myocardial infarction was admitted for assessment. Monitoring revealed frequent ventricular premature beats and occasional non-sustained runs of ventricular tachycardia. Other drugs having failed, he was started on oral propafenone which is a new Vaughan Williams class IC antiarrhythmic agent. Several hours after starting this drug he had incessant ventricular tachycardia and subsequently died. Other class IC agents have been shown to have a high incidence of proarrhythmic effects, and particular care should be taken with these potent new drugs