Dynamics of mass transport during nanohole drilling by local droplet etching

Local droplet etching (LDE) utilizes metal droplets during molecular beam epitaxy for the self-assembled drilling of nanoholes into III/V semiconductor surfaces. An essential process during LDE is the removal of the deposited droplet material from its initial position during post-growth annealing. This paper studies the droplet material removal experimentally and discusses the results in terms of a simple model. The first set of experiments demonstrates that the droplet material is removed by detachment of atoms and spreading over the substrate surface. Further experiments establish that droplet etching requires a small arsenic background pressure to inhibit re-attachment of the detached atoms. Surfaces processed under completely minimized As pressure show no hole formation but instead a conservation of the initial droplets. Under consideration of these results, a simple kinetic scaling model of the etching process is proposed that quantitatively reproduces experimental data on the hole depth as a function of the process temperature and deposited amount of droplet material. Furthermore, the depth dependence of the hole side-facet angle is analyzed

Tyrol Prostate Cancer Demonstration Project : early detection, treatment, outcome, incidence and mortality

This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of a well-controlled programme of early detection and treatment of prostate cancer in the population of Tyrol, Austria, where such a programme of early detection and treatment was initiated in 1988 and where prostate-specific antigen (PSA) testing was offered for free to all men aged 45-75 years from 1993. Comparison of prostate cancer mortality rates in Tyrol and the rest of Austria was accomplished through a generalized additive model. A piecewise linear change-point Poisson regression model was used to compare mortality rates in Tyrol and the rest of Austria. Standardized mortality ratios were calculated with reference to the mortality rates in 1986-1990. In all, 86.6% of eligible men have been tested at least once since 1993. Cancer deaths in Tyrol in 2005 were 54% (95% confidence interval [CI] 34-69%) lower than expected compared with 29% (95% CI 22-35%) in the rest of Austria. The decreasing trend in prostate cancer mortality was significantly greater in Tyrol compared with the rest of Austria (P = 0.001). A significant migration to lower stage disease occurred and radical prostatectomy was associated with low morbidity. In the Tyrol region where treatment is freely available to all patients, where widespread PSA testing and treatment with curative intent occurs, there was a reduction in prostate cancer mortality rates which was significantly greater than the reduction in the rest of Austria. This reduction in prostate cancer mortality is most probably due to early detection, consequent down-staging and effective treatment of prostate cancer

Dose–response relationship between physical activity and mortality in people with non-communicable diseases: a study protocol for the systematic review and meta-analysis of cohort studies

Introduction This study protocol outlines our planned systematic review and dose-response meta-analysis of postdiagnosis physical activity and mortality in people with non-communicable diseases (NCDs). Methods and analysis This study is based on the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analysis for Protocols. A systematic literature search will be conducted in various databases—namely, PubMed, Scopus and Web of Science—by two researchers in order to identify prospective observational studies that investigate postdiagnosis physical activity or activity-related energy expenditure and mortality in individuals with NCDs. The target population is adults (≥18 years of age) with one of the following nine NCDs: low back pain, type 2 diabetes mellitus, osteoarthritis, depressive disorder, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, breast cancer, lung cancer, stroke or ischaemic heart disease. We will focus on all-cause mortality as the primary outcome and investigate indication-specific mortality as the secondary outcome. For each study identified as a result of the literature search, we will conduct graphical dose-response analyses of mortality as a function of activity-related energy consumption. If more than two studies are available for one disease, we will perform linear and non-linear dose-response meta-analyses for said disease using random-effects models. We will investigate the heterogeneity of the studies and publication bias. To assess the risk of bias and the quality of the included studies, we will use the Risk Of Bias In Non-randomised Studies - of Interventions tool, which is a Cochrane tool

Expert Discussion: SABCS 2021.

peer reviewe

Prostate-specific antigen testing in Tyrol, Austria: prostate cancer mortality reduction was supported by an update with mortality data up to 2008

Objectives: The objective of this study was to update an in-depth analysis of the time trend for prostate cancer (PCA) mortality in the population of Tyrol by 5 years, namely to 2008. In Tyrol, prostate-specific antigen (PSA) tests were introduced in 1988/89; more than three-quarters of all men in the age group 45–74 had at least one PSA test in the past decade. Methods: We applied the same model as in a previous publication, i.e., an age-period-cohort model using Poisson regression, to the mortality data covering more than three decades from 1970 to 2008. Results: For Tyrol from 2004 to 2008 in the age group 60+ period terms show a significant reduction in prostate cancer mortality with a risk ratio of 0.70 (95% confidence interval 0.57, 0.87) for Tyrol, and for Austria excluding Tyrol a moderate reduction with a risk ratio of 0.92 (95% confidence interval 0.87, 0.97), each compared to the mortality rate in the period 1989–1993. Conclusions: This update strengthens our previously published results, namely that PSA testing offered to a population at no charge can reduce prostate cancer mortality. The extent of mortality reduction is in line with that reported in the other recent publications. However, our data do not permit us to fully assess the harms associated with PCA screening, and no recommendation for PSA screening can be made without a careful evaluation of overdiagnosis and overtreatment

Postnatal subventricular zone progenitors switch their fate to generate neurons with distinct synaptic input patterns

ABSTRACT New granule cell neurons (GCs) generated in the neonatal and adult subventricular zone (SVZ) have distinct patterns of input synapses in their dendritic domains. These synaptic input patterns determine the computations that the neurons eventually perform in the olfactory bulb. We observed that GCs generated earlier in postnatal life had acquired an 'adult' synaptic development only in one dendritic domain, and only later-born GCs showed an 'adult' synaptic development in both dendritic domains. It is unknown to what extent the distinct synaptic input patterns are already determined in SVZ progenitors and/or by the brain circuit into which neurons integrate. To distinguish these possibilities, we heterochronically transplanted retrovirally labeled SVZ progenitor cells. Once these transplanted progenitors, which mainly expressed Mash1, had differentiated into GCs, their glutamatergic input synapses were visualized by genetic tags. We observed that GCs derived from neonatal progenitors differentiating in the adult maintained their characteristic neonatal synapse densities. Grafting of adult SVZ progenitors to the neonate had a different outcome. These GCs formed synaptic densities that corresponded to neither adult nor neonatal patterns in two dendritic domains. In summary, progenitors in the neonatal and adult brain generate distinct GC populations and switch their fate to generate neurons with specific synaptic input patterns. Once they switch, adult progenitors require specific properties of the circuit to maintain their characteristic synaptic input patterns. Such determination of synaptic input patterns already at the progenitor-cell level may be exploited for brain repair to engineer neurons with defined wiring patterns

Temporal stability of soil moisture and radar backscatter observed by the advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar (ASAR)

The high spatio-temporal variability of soil moisture is the result of atmospheric forcing and redistribution processes related to terrain, soil, and vegetation characteristics. Despite this high variability, many field studies have shown that in the temporal domain soil moisture measured at specific locations is correlated to the mean soil moisture content over an area. Since the measurements taken by Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) instruments are very sensitive to soil moisture it is hypothesized that the temporally stable soil moisture patterns are reflected in the radar backscatter measurements. To verify this hypothesis 73 Wide Swath (WS) images have been acquired by the ENVISAT Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar (ASAR) over the REMEDHUS soil moisture network located in the Duero basin, Spain. It is found that a time-invariant linear relationship is well suited for relating local scale (pixel) and regional scale (50 km) backscatter. The observed linear model coefficients can be estimated by considering the scattering properties of the terrain and vegetation and the soil moisture scaling properties. For both linear model coefficients, the relative error between observed and modelled values is less than 5 % and the coefficient of determination (R-2) is 86 %. The results are of relevance for interpreting and downscaling coarse resolution soil moisture data retrieved from active (METOP ASCAT) and passive (SMOS, AMSR-E) instruments

Cornering New Physics in b --> s Transitions

We derive constraints on Wilson coefficients of dimension-six effective operators probing the b --> s transition, using recent improved measurements of the rare decays Bs --> mu+mu-, B --> K mu+mu- and B --> K* mu+mu- and including all relevant observables in inclusive and exclusive decays. We consider operators present in the SM as well as their chirality-flipped counterparts and scalar operators. We find good agreement with the SM expectations. Compared to the situation before winter 2012, we find significantly more stringent constraints on the chirality-flipped coefficients due to complementary constraints from B --> K mu+mu- and B --> K* mu+mu- and due to the LHCb measurement of the angular observable S_3 in the latter decay. We also list the full set of observables sensitive to new physics in the low recoil region of B --> K* mu+mu-.Comment: 18 pages, 6 figures, 4 tables. v3: typos correcte

Racial differences in serum prostate-specific antigen (PSA) doubling time, histopathological variables and long-term PSA recurrence between African-American and white American men undergoing radical prostatectomy for clinically localized prostate cancer

To determine if there are significant differences in biochemical characteristics, biopsy variables, histopathological data, and rates of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) recurrence between African-American (AA) and white American (WA) men undergoing radical prostatectomy (RP), as AA men are twice as likely to die from prostate cancer than their white counterparts. PATIENTS AND METHODS We established a cohort of 1058 patients (402 AA, 646 WA) who had RP and were followed for PSA recurrence. Age, race, serum PSA, biopsy Gleason score, clinical stage, pathological stage, and PSA recurrence data were available for the cohort. The chi-square test of proportions and t -tests were used to assess basic associations with race, and log-rank tests and Cox regression models for time to PSA recurrence. Forward stepwise variable selection was used to assess the effect on the risk of PSA recurrence for race, adjusted by the other variables added one at a time. RESULTS The AA men had higher baseline PSA levels, more high-grade prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia (HGPIN) in the biopsy, and more HGPIN in the pathology specimen than WA men. The AA men also had a shorter mean (sd) PSA doubling time before RP, at 4.2 (4.7) vs 5.2 (5.9) years. However, race was not an independent predictor of PSA recurrence ( P  = 0.225). Important predictors for PSA recurrence in a multivariable model were biopsy HGPIN ( P  < 0.014), unilateral vs bilateral cancer ( P  < 0.006), pathology Gleason score and positive margin status (both P  < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS This study indicates that while there are racial differences in baseline serum PSA and incidence of HGPIN, race is not an independent risk factor for PSA recurrence. Rather, other variables such as pathology Gleason score, bilateral cancers, HGPIN and margin positivity are independently associated with PSA recurrence. The PSA doubling time after recurrence may also be important, leading to the increased mortality of AA men with prostate cancer.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/74706/1/j.1464-410X.2005.05561.x.pd