Flow and critical velocity of an imbalanced Fermi gas through an optical potential

Optical lattices offer the possibility to investigate the superfluid properties of both Bose condensates and Fermionic superfluid gases. When a population imbalance is present in a Fermi mixture, this leads to frustration of the pairing, and the superfluid properties will be affected. In this contribution, the influence of imbalance on the flow of a Fermi superfluid through an optical lattice is investigated. The flow through the lattice is analysed by taking into account coupling between neighbouring layers of the optical lattice up to second order in the interlayer tunneling amplitude for single atoms. The critical velocity of flow through the lattice is shown to decrease monotonically to zero as the imbalance is increased to 100%. Closed-form analytical expressions are given for the tunneling contribution to the action and for the critical velocity as a function of the binding energy of pairs in the (quasi) two-dimensional Fermi superfluid and as a function of the imbalance.Comment: 8 pages, 1 figure, contribution for the QFS 2007 conferenc

Errata: Initial results of imaging melanoma metastasis in resected human lymph nodes using photoacoustic computed tomography

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Product-service Systems as a Promising Approach to Sustainability: Exploring the Sustainable Aspects of a PSS in Brazil

AbstractProduct-Service Systems (PSS) represent a business proposition with potential to provide a wide range of economic, environmental, and social benefits, allowing achievingthe sustainability. However, PSS does not necessarily lead to sustainable solutions and this potential must be assessed in each case. In this sense, the aim of this paper is to investigate sustainable aspects of a ‘result oriented PSS’(a reverse osmosis water filter system) available in Brazil and compares it with the conventional product, the bottled water. Some aspects from the literature, mentioned as important in each sustainability dimension, were selected to analyze the PSS under study. A qualitative analysis was performed and demonstrates that in comparison with bottled water, the water filter PSS is competitive, satisfy customer needs, and has a relatively lower environmental impact. However, besides conceiving sustainable solutions, is necessary to identify which factors drive the implementation and diffusion of PSS. Some findings of this study suggest that the effects caused by unexpected consumer behavior and incorrect PSS application may compromise PSS sustainable performance during operational phase. An analysis of these effects during transition process is essential to successful sustainable strategies. The study aimed to contribute to the PSS empirical knowledge and to assist building a theoretical basis regarding PSS and sustainability

Postoperative outcomes of primary and interval cytoreductive surgery for advanced ovarian cancer registered in the Dutch Gynecological Oncology Audit (DGOA) (vol 162, pg 331, 2021)

Analysis and support of clinical decision makin

Clinical auditing as an instrument to improve care for patients with ovarian cancer: the Dutch Gynecological Oncology Audit (DGOA)

Introduction: The Dutch Gynecological Oncology Audit (DGOA) was initiated in 2014 to serve as a nationwide audit, which registers the four most prevalent gynecological malignancies. This study presents the first results of clinical auditing for ovarian cancer in the Netherlands.Methods: The Dutch Gynecological Oncology Audit is facilitated by the Dutch Institute of Clinical Auditing (DICA) and run by a scientific committee. Items are collected through a web-based registration based on a set of predefined quality indicators. Results of quality indicators are shown, and benchmarked information is given back to the user. Data verification was done in 2016. Results: Between January 01, 2014 and December 31, 2018, 6535 patients with ovarian cancer were registered. The case ascertainment was 98.3% in 2016. The number of patients with ovarian cancer who start therapy within 28 days decreased over time from 68.7% in 2014 to 62.7% in 2018 (p < 0.001). The percentage of patients with primary cytoreductive surgery decreased over time (57.8%-39.7%, P < 0.001). However, patients with complete primary cytoreductive surgery improved over time (53.5%-69.1%, P < 0.001). Other quality indicators did not significantly change over time.Conclusion: The Dutch Gynecological Oncology Audit provides valuable data on the quality of care on patients with ovarian cancer in the Netherlands. Data show variation between hospitals with regard to pre-determined quality indicators. Results of & lsquo;best practices & rsquo; will be shared with all participants of the clinical audit with the aim of improving quality of care nationwide.(c) 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).Analysis and support of clinical decision makin

Study protocol: Cost effectiveness of two strategies to implement the NVOG guidelines on hypertension in pregnancy: An innovative strategy including a computerised decision support system compared to a common strategy of professional audit and feedback, a randomized controlled trial

Background: Hypertensive disease in pregnancy remains the leading cause of maternal mortality in the Netherlands. Seventeen percent of the clinical pregnancies are complicated by hypertension and 2% by preeclampsia. The Dutch Society of Obstetrics and Gynaecology (NVOG) has developed evidence-based guidelines on the management of hypertension in pregnancy and chronic hypertension. Previous studies showed a low adherence rate to other NVOG guidelines and a large variation in usual care in the different hospitals. An explanation is that the NVOG has no general strategy of practical implementation and evaluation of its guidelines. The development of an effective and cost effective implementation strategy to improve adherence to the guidelines on hypertension in pregnancy is needed.Methods/Design: The objective of this study is to assess the cost effectiveness of an innovative implementation strategy of the NVOG guidelines on hypertension including a computerised decision support system (BOS) compared to a common strategy of professional audit and feedback. A cluster randomised controlled trial with an economic evaluation alongside will be performed. Both pregnant women who develop severe hypertension or pre-eclampsia and professionals involved in the care for these women will participate. The main outcome measures are a combined rate of major maternal complications and process indicators extracted from the guidelines. A total of 472 patients will be included in both groups. For analysis, descriptive as well as regression techniques will be used. A cost effectiveness and cost utility analysis will be performed according to the intention-to-treat principle and from a societal perspective. Cost effectiveness ratios will be calculated using bootstrapping techniques

The Dutch institute for clinical auditing achieving Codman's dream on a nationwide basis

Supplemental Digital Content is available in the textSurgical oncolog

Neoadjuvant cytoreductive treatment with BRAF/MEK inhibition of prior unresectable regionally advanced melanoma to allow complete surgical resection, REDUCTOR: a prospective, single-arm, open-label phase II trial

Objective: To evaluate the potency of short-term neoadjuvant cytoreductive therapy with dabrafenib plus trametinib (BRAF and MEK inhibitor) to allow for radical surgical resection in patients with unresectable locally advanced melanoma. Summary Background Data: Approximately 5% of stage III melanoma patients presents with unresectable locally advanced disease, making standard of care with resection followed by adjuvant systemic therapy impossible. Although neoadjuvant targeted therapy has shown promising results in resectable stage III melanoma, its potency to enable surgical resection in patients with primarily unresectable locally advanced stage III melanoma is still unclear. Methods: In this prospective, single-arm, phase II trial, patients with unresectable BRAF-mutated locally advanced stage IIIC or oligometastatic stage IV melanoma were included. After 8 weeks of treatment with dabrafenib and trametinib, evaluation by positron emission tomography/computed tomography and physical examination were used to assess sufficient downsizing of the tumor to enable resection. The primary objective was the percentage of patients who achieved a radical (R0) resection. Results: Between August 2014 and March 2019, 21 patients (20/21 stage IIIC American Joint Committee on Cancer staging manual 7th edition) were included. Planned inclusion of 25 patients was not reached due to slow accrual and changing treatment landscape. Despite this, the predefined endpoint was successfully met. In 18/21 (86%) patients a resection was performed, of which 17 were R0 resections. At a median follow-up of 50 months (interquartile range 37.7-57.1 months), median recurrence-free survival was 9.9 months (95% confidence interval 7.52-not reached) in patients undergoing surgery. Conclusions: This prospective, single-arm, open-label phase II trial, shows neoadjuvant dabrafenib plus trametinib as a potent cytoreductive treatment, allowing radical resection of metastases in 17/21 (81%) patients with prior unresectable locally advanced melanoma.Analysis and support of clinical decision makin

Pathological response and tumour bed histopathological features correlate with survival following neoadjuvant immunotherapy in stage III melanoma

Background: Guidelines for pathological evaluation of neoadjuvant specimens and pathological response categories have been developed by the International Neoadjuvant Melanoma Consortium (INMC). As part of the Optimal Neo-adjuvant Combination Scheme of Ipilimumab and Nivolumab (OpACIN-neo) clinical trial of neoadjuvant combination anti-programmed cell death protein 1/anti-cytotoxic T-Iymphocyte-associated protein 4 immunotherapy for stage III melanoma, we sought to determine interobserver reproducibility of INMC histopathological assessment principles, identify specific tumour bed histopathological features of immunotherapeutic response that correlated with recurrence and relapse-free survival (RFS) and evaluate proposed INMC pathological response categories for predicting recurrence and RFS.Patients and methods: Clinicopathological characteristics of lymph node dissection specimens of 83 patients enrolled in the OpACIN-neo clinical trial were evaluated. Two methods of assessing histological features of immunotherapeutic response were evaluated: the previously described immune-related pathologic response (irPR) score and our novel immunotherapeutic response score (ITRS). For a subset of cases (n = 29), cellular composition of the tumour bed was analysed by flow cytometry.Results: There was strong interobserver reproducibility in assessment of pathological response (kappa = 0.879) and percentage residual viable melanoma (intraclass correlation coefficient = 0.965). The immunotherapeutic response subtype with high fibrosis had the strongest association with lack of recurrence (P = 0.008) and prolonged RFS (P = 0.019). Amongst patients with criteria for pathological non-response (pNR, >50% viable tumour), all who recurred had >= 70% viable melanoma. Higher ITRS and irPR scores correlated with lack of recurrence in the entire cohort (P = 0.002 and P = 70% viable melanoma and incorporating additional criteria of <10% fibrosis subtype of response may identify those at highest risk of recurrence, but requires validation.Analysis and support of clinical decision makin