284 research outputs found
Static and dynamic traversable wormhole geometries satisfying the Ford-Roman constraints
It was shown by Ford and Roman in 1996 that quantum field theory severely
constrains wormhole geometries on a macroscopic scale. The first part of this
paper discusses a wide class of wormhole solutions that meet these constraints.
The type of shape function used is essentially generic. The constraints are
then discussed in conjunction with various redshift functions. Violations of
the weak energy condition and traversability criteria are also considered. The
second part of the paper analyzes analogous time-dependent (dynamic) wormholes
with the aid of differential forms. It is shown that a violation of the weak
energy condition is not likely to be avoidable even temporarily.Comment: 16 pages AMSTe
Static wormholes on the brane inspired by Kaluza-Klein gravity
We use static solutions of 5-dimensional Kaluza-Klein gravity to generate
several classes of static, spherically symmetric spacetimes which are analytic
solutions to the equation , where is the
four-dimensional Ricci scalar. In the Randall & Sundrum scenario they can be
interpreted as vacuum solutions on the brane. The solutions contain the
Schwarzschild black hole, and generate new families of traversable Lorenzian
wormholes as well as nakedly singular spacetimes. They generalize a number of
previously known solutions in the literature, e.g., the temporal and spatial
Schwarzschild solutions of braneworld theory as well as the class of self-dual
Lorenzian wormholes. A major departure of our solutions from Lorenzian
wormholes {\it a la} Morris and Thorne is that, for certain values of the
parameters of the solutions, they contain three spherical surfaces (instead of
one) which are extremal and have finite area. Two of them have the same size,
meet the "flare-out" requirements, and show the typical violation of the energy
conditions that characterizes a wormhole throat. The other extremal sphere is
"flaring-in" in the sense that its sectional area is a local maximum and the
weak, null and dominant energy conditions are satisfied in its neighborhood.
After bouncing back at this second surface a traveler crosses into another
space which is the double of the one she/he started in. Another interesting
feature is that the size of the throat can be less than the Schwarzschild
radius , which no longer defines the horizon, i.e., to a distant observer
a particle or light falling down crosses the Schwarzschild radius in a finite
time
Non-western celebrity politics and diplomacy: introduction
The origins of the specific project featured in this Cultural Report lie in a larger scale project funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council and based at the White Rose East Asia Centre at the Universities of Leeds and Sheffield. The project set out to explore the influence and roles of a range of informal political actors such as former leaders, political spouses and 10 celebrity diplomats, to name but a few, across both the domestic and international levels of analysis in three regions of the world: East Asia, Russia and the Arab World
Financial impact of breast cancer in black versus white women
Purpose Racial variation in the financial impact of cancer may contribute to observed differences in the use of guideline-recommended treatments. We describe racial differences with regard to the financial impact of breast cancer in a large population-based prospective cohort study. Methods The Carolina Breast Cancer Study oversampled black women and women younger than age 50 years with incident breast cancer in North Carolina from 2008 to 2013. Participants provided medical records and data regarding demographics, socioeconomic status, and financial impact of cancer at 5 and 25 months postdiagnosis. We report unadjusted and adjusted financial impact at 25 months postdiagnosis by race. Results The sample included 2,494 women who completed follow-up surveys (49% black, 51% white). Since diagnosis, 58% of black women reported any adverse financial impact of cancer (v 39% of white women; P, .001). In models adjusted for age, stage at diagnosis, and treatment received, black women were more likely to report adverse financial impact attributable to cancer (adjusted risk difference [aRD], +14 percentage points; P, .001), including income loss (aRD, +10 percentage points; P, .001), health care–related financial barriers (aRD, +10 percentage points; P, .001), health care–related transportation barriers (aRD, +10 percentage points; P, .001), job loss (aRD, 6 percentage points; P, .001), and loss of health insurance (aRD, +3 percentage points; P, .001). The effect of race was attenuated when socioeconomic factors were included but remained significant for job loss, transportation barriers, income loss, and overall financial impact. Conclusion Compared with white women, black women with breast cancer experience a significantly worse financial impact. Disproportionate financial strain may contribute to higher stress, lower treatment compliance, and worse outcomes by race. Policies that help to limit the effect of cancer-related financial strain are needed
Surface and capillary transitions in an associating binary mixture model
We investigate the phase diagram of a two-component associating fluid mixture
in the presence of selectively adsorbing substrates. The mixture is
characterized by a bulk phase diagram which displays peculiar features such as
closed loops of immiscibility. The presence of the substrates may interfere the
physical mechanism involved in the appearance of these phase diagrams, leading
to an enhanced tendency to phase separate below the lower critical solution
point. Three different cases are considered: a planar solid surface in contact
with a bulk fluid, while the other two represent two models of porous systems,
namely a slit and an array on infinitely long parallel cylinders. We confirm
that surface transitions, as well as capillary transitions for a large
area/volume ratio, are stabilized in the one-phase region. Applicability of our
results to experiments reported in the literature is discussed.Comment: 12 two-column pages, 12 figures, accepted for publication in Physical
Review E; corrected versio
Vacuum polarization of a scalar field in wormhole spacetimes
An analitical approximation of for a scalar field in a static
spherically symmetric wormhole spacetime is obtained. The scalar field is
assumed to be both massive and massless, with an arbitrary coupling to
the scalar curvature, and in a zero temperature vacuum state.Comment: 10 pages, RevTeX, two eps figure
Breast Cancer-Related Employment Disruption and Financial Hardship in the Sister Study
Background: More than one-half of breast cancer cases are diagnosed among women aged younger than 62 years, which may result in employment challenges. This study examined whether cancer-related employment disruption was associated with increased financial hardship in a national US study of women with breast cancer. Methods: Women with breast cancer who were enrolled in the Sister or Two Sister Studies completed a survivorship survey in 2012. Employment disruption was defined as stopping work completely or working fewer hours after diagnosis. Financial hardship was defined as: 1) experiencing financial problems paying for cancer care, 2) borrowing money or incurring debt, or 3) filing for bankruptcy because of cancer. Prevalence ratios and 95% confidence intervals for the association between employment disruption and financial hardship were estimated using multivariable Poisson regression with robust variance. Results: We analyzed data from women employed at diagnosis (n = 1628). Women were a median age of 48 years at diagnosis and 5.6 years from diagnosis at survey completion. Overall, 27.3% of women reported employment disruption (15.4% stopped working; 11.9% reduced hours), and 21.0% experienced financial hardship (16.0% had difficulty paying for care; 12.6% borrowed money or incurred debt; 1.8% filed for bankruptcy). In adjusted analysis, employment disruption was associated with nearly twice the prevalence of financial hardship (prevalence ratio = 1.93, 95% confidence interval = 1.58 to 2.35). Conclusions: Women experiencing employment disruptions after breast cancer may be more vulnerable to financial hardship. Findings highlight the need to target risk factors for employment disruption, facilitate return to work or ongoing employment, and mitigate financial consequences after cancer
Incident cervical HPV infections in young women: Transition probabilities for CIN and infection clearance
Background: We describe transition probabilities for incident human papillomavirus (HPV) 16/18/31/33/35/45/52/58/59 infections and cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) 1 lesions. Methods: Women ages 16 to 23 years underwent cytology and cervical swab PCR testing for HPV at approximately 6-month intervals for up to 4 years in the placebo arm of an HPV vaccine trial. The cumulative proportion of incident HPV infections with diagnosed CIN, clearing (infection undetectable), or persisting without CIN, were estimated. Results: Most incident infections cleared, without detection of CIN, ranging at 36 months from 66.9% for HPV31 to 91.1% for HPV59. There was little variation in the 36-month proportion of incident HPV16, 18, and 31 infections followed by a CIN1 lesion positive for the relevant HPV type (range 16.7%-18.6%), with lower risks for HPV59 (6.4%) and HPV33 (2.9%). Thirty-six-month transition probabilities for CIN2 ranged across types from 2.2% to 9.1%; however, the number of events was generally too small for statistically significant differences to be seen across types for this endpoint, or CIN3. Conclusions: Some incident HPV types appear more likely to result in diagnosed CIN1 than others. The relative predominance of HPV16, vis-à -vis some other high-risk HPV types (e.g., HPV33) in prevalent CIN2/3, appears more directly associated with relatively greater frequency of incident HPV16 infections within the population, than a higher risk of infection progression to CIN2/3. Impact: Nearly all incident HPV infections either manifest as detectable CIN or become undetectable within 36 months. Some HPV types (e.g., 16 and 33) appear to have similar risk of CIN2/3 despite widely varied incidence. ©2011 AACR
Quantum Anti-Zeno Effect
We demonstrate that near threshold decay processes may be accelerated by
repeated measurements. Examples include near threshold photodetachment of an
electron from a negative ion, and spontaneous emission in a cavity close to the
cutoff frequency, or in a photon band gap material.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
Race and delays in breast cancer treatment across the care continuum in the Carolina Breast Cancer Study
Background: After controlling for baseline disease factors, researchers have found that black women have worse breast cancer survival, and this suggests that treatment differences may contribute to poorer outcomes. Delays in initiating and completing treatment are one proposed mechanism. Methods: Phase 3 of the Carolina Breast Cancer Study involved a large, population-based cohort of women with incident breast cancer. For this analysis, we included black women (n = 1328) and white women (n = 1331) with stage I to III disease whose treatment included surgery with or without adjuvant therapies. A novel treatment pathway grouping was used to benchmark the treatment duration (surgery only, surgery plus chemotherapy, surgery plus radiation, or all 3). Models controlled for the treatment pathway, age, and tumor characteristics and for demographic factors related to health care access. Exploratory analyses of the association between delays and cancer recurrence were performed. Results: In fully adjusted analyses, blacks had 1.73 times higher odds of treatment initiation more than 60 days after their diagnosis in comparison with whites (odds ratio [OR], 1.73; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.04-2.90). Black race was also associated with a longer treatment duration. Blacks were also more likely to be in the highest quartile of treatment duration (OR, 1.69; 95% CI, 1.41-2.02), even after adjustments for demographic and tumor characteristics (OR, 1.31; 95% CI, 1.04-1.64). A nonsignificant trend toward a higher recurrence risk was observed for patients with delayed initiation (hazard ratio, 1.44; 95% CI, 0.89-2.33) or the longest duration (hazard ratio, 1.17; 95% CI, 0.87-1.59). Conclusions: Black women more often had delayed treatment initiation and a longer duration than whites receiving similar treatment. Interventions that target access barriers may be needed to improve timely delivery of care
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