Expression of genes belonging to the IGF-system in glial tumors

The discrepancies arising from conflicting evidence on the results obtained by different laboratories in human gliomas are discussed. Our data highlight the importance of viewing the IGF-related proteins as a complex multifactorial system and show that changes in the expression levels of any one component of the system, in a given malignancy, should be interpreted with caution. As IGF targeting for anticancer therapy is rapidly becoming clinical reality, an understanding of this complexity is very timely.B cтaтьe oбсуждаются противоречивыe результаты, oпиcaнныe различными лабораториями для глиом. Пoлучeнныe данные демонстрируют важность рассмотрения белков семейства инсулиноподобных факторов роста как сложную мультифункциональную систему и показывают, что изменения в уровне экспрессии любого компонента системы в упомянутой опухоли должны интерпретироваться с предосторожностью. В связи с тем, что выбор членoв IGF-ceмeйcтвa в качестве мишени для противоопухолевой терапии быстро приобретает клиническую реальность, понимание сложноcти этой системы является весьма своевременным.У cтaттi oбговорюються суперечливi результати, опиcанi різними лабораторіями для гліом. Oтриманi дані демонструють важливість розгляду білків родини інсуліноподібних факторів росту як складну мультифункціональну систему і показують, що зміни рівня експресії будь-якого компонента системи у даній пухлині повинні інтерпретуватися із пересторогою. В зв’язку з тим, що вибір членiв IGF-ciмeйcтвa як мішені для протипухлинної терапії швидко набуває клінічної реальності, розуміння цієї системи є вельми своєчасним

Scattering of dipole-mode vector solitons: Theory and experiment

We study, both theoretically and experimentally, the scattering properties of optical dipole-mode vector solitons - radially asymmetric composite self-trapped optical beams. First, we analyze the soliton collisions in an isotropic two-component model with a saturable nonlinearity and demonstrate that in many cases the scattering dynamics of the dipole-mode solitons allows us to classify them as ``molecules of light'' - extremely robust spatially localized objects which survive a wide range of interactions and display many properties of composite states with a rotational degree of freedom. Next, we study the composite solitons in an anisotropic nonlinear model that describes photorefractive nonlinearities, and also present a number of experimental verifications of our analysis.Comment: 8 pages + 4 pages of figure

X-wave mediated instability of plane waves in Kerr media

Plane waves in Kerr media spontaneously generate paraxial X-waves (i.e. non-dispersive and non-diffractive pulsed beams) that get amplified along propagation. This effect can be considered a form of conical emission (i.e. spatio-temporal modulational instability), and can be used as a key for the interpretation of the out of axis energy emission in the splitting process of focused pulses in normally dispersive materials. A new class of spatio-temporal localized wave patterns is identified. X-waves instability, and nonlinear X-waves, are also expected in periodical Bose condensed gases.Comment: 4 pages, 6 figure

Color Superconducting Phases of Cold Dense Quark Matter

We investigate color superconducting phases of cold quark matter at densities relevant for the interiors of compact stars. At these densities, electrically neutral and weak-equilibrated quark matter can have unequal numbers of up, down, and strange quarks. The QCD interaction favors Cooper pairs that are antisymmetric in color and in flavor, and a crystalline color superconducting phase can occur which accommodates pairing between flavors with unequal number densities. In the crystalline color superconductor, quarks of different flavor form Cooper pairs with nonzero total momentum, yielding a condensate that varies in space like a sum of plane waves. Rotational and translational symmetry are spontaneously broken. We use a Ginzburg-Landau method to evaluate candidate crystal structures and predict that the favored structure is face-centered-cubic. We predict a robust crystalline phase with gaps comparable in magnitude to those of the color-flavor-locked phase that occurs when the flavor number densities are equal. Crystalline color superconductivity will be a generic feature of the QCD phase diagram, occurring wherever quark matter that is not color-flavor locked is to be found. If a very large flavor asymmetry forbids even the crystalline state, single-flavor pairing will occur; we investigate this and other spin-one color superconductors in a survey of generic color, flavor, and spin pairing channels. Our predictions for the crystalline phase may be tested in an ultracold gas of fermionic atoms, where a similar crystalline superfluid state can occur. If a layer of crystalline quark matter occurs inside of a compact star, it could pin rotational vortices, leading to observable pulsar glitches.Comment: Ph.D. thesis, submitted to the MIT Department of Physics, May 2003. Five chapters and two appendices (180 pages, 30 figures). Chapters 1 and 5 are new: chapter 1 is a detailed review of previous work, and chapter 5 discusses applications of the crystalline phase for the physics of pulsar spin glitches and cold trapped atom