Nodular lymphocyte predominant Hodgkin lymphoma behaves as a distinct clinical entity with good outcome: evidence from 14-year followup in the West of Scotland Cancer Network

Clinically and biologically, nodular lymphocyte predominant Hodgkin lymphoma (NLPHL) has much more in common with germinal-center derived B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) than with classical Hodgkin lymphoma (cHL). Management of NLPHL remains controversial. In a 14-year multicenter series, 69 cases were analyzed, and the median follow-up was 53 months (range 11–165.) B-symptoms were present in only 4.3% of patients, and 81.1% of patients had stage I/II disease. Treatment was with radiotherapy (53.6%), chemotherapy (21.7%), combined modality (17.4%), and observation (7.2%). In all, 10.1% of patients relapsed and 2.9% of patients developed high-grade transformation to DLBCL. All relapses and transformations were salvageable. No patient died of their disease. The 5-year relapse-free survival was 92%, transformation-free survival 98.4%, and overall survival 100%. We conclude that NLPHL behaves as a distinct clinical entity, often presenting at an early stage without risk factors. It has an excellent outcome. It may be possible, in early-stage disease, to reduce the intensity of therapy in NLPHL, to single-modality radiotherapy, without affecting OS

Anti-resonance, inhibited coupling and mode transition in depressed core fibers

The depressed core fiber (DCF), consisting of a low-index solid core, a high-index cladding and air surrounding, is in effect a bridge between the conventional step-index fiber and the tube-type hollow-core fiber from the point of view of the index profile. In this paper the dispersion diagram of a DCF is obtained by solving the full-vector eigenvalue equations and analyzed using the theory of anti-resonant and the inhibited coupling mechanisms. While light propagation in tube-type hollow-core fibers is commonly described by the symmetric planar waveguide model, here we propose an asymmetric planar waveguide for the DCFs in an anti-resonant reflecting optical waveguide (ARROW) model. It is found that the anti-resonant core modes in the DCFs have real effective indices, compared to the anti-resonant core modes with complex effective indices in the tube-type hollow-core fibers. The anti-resonant core modes in the DCFs exhibit similar qualitative and quantitative behavior as the core modes in the conventional step-index fibers. The full-vector analytical results for the simple-structure DCFs can contribute to a better understanding of the anti-resonant and inhibited coupling guidance mechanisms in other complex inversed index fibers

Axioms for higher torsion invariants of smooth bundles

We explain the relationship between various characteristic classes for smooth manifold bundles known as ``higher torsion'' classes. We isolate two fundamental properties that these cohomology classes may or may not have: additivity and transfer. We show that higher Franz-Reidemeister torsion and higher Miller-Morita-Mumford classes satisfy these axioms. Conversely, any characteristic class of smooth bundles satisfying the two axioms must be a linear combination of these two examples. We also show how higher torsion invariants can be computed using only the axioms. Finally, we explain the conjectured formula of S. Goette relating higher analytic torsion classes and higher Franz-Reidemeister torsion.Comment: 24 pages, 0 figure

Homicide in Canada and the crime drop

In contrast to the Canadian crime drop of the 1990s, homicide appeared as an anomaly with a peak in the 1970s. Yet previous studies tend to refer only to completed homicides, and here we also include attempts. The resulting trend is remarkably similar to that in Canadian property crime for five decades. This seems unlikely to be a coincidence and we speculate about a causal link

Deterministic Factors of Stock Networks based on Cross-correlation in Financial Market

The stock market has been known to form homogeneous stock groups with a higher correlation among different stocks according to common economic factors that influence individual stocks. We investigate the role of common economic factors in the market in the formation of stock networks, using the arbitrage pricing model reflecting essential properties of common economic factors. We find that the degree of consistency between real and model stock networks increases as additional common economic factors are incorporated into our model. Furthermore, we find that individual stocks with a large number of links to other stocks in a network are more highly correlated with common economic factors than those with a small number of links. This suggests that common economic factors in the stock market can be understood in terms of deterministic factors.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figur

Hydrodynamic Spinodal Decomposition: Growth Kinetics and Scaling Functions

We examine the effects of hydrodynamics on the late stage kinetics in spinodal decomposition. From computer simulations of a lattice Boltzmann scheme we observe, for critical quenches, that single phase domains grow asymptotically like $t^{\alpha}$, with $\alpha \approx .66$ in two dimensions and $\alpha \approx 1.0$ in three dimensions, both in excellent agreement with theoretical predictions.Comment: 12 pages, latex, Physical Review B Rapid Communication (in press

Intermediate-Mass Black Holes in Globular Clusters

There have been reports of possible detections of intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs) in globular clusters (GCs). Empirically, there exists a tight correlation between the central supermassive black hole (SMBH) mass and the mean velocity dispersion of elliptical galaxies, "pseudobulges" and classical bulges of spiral galaxies. We explore such a possible correlation for IMBHs in spherical GCs. In our model of self-similar general polytropic quasi-static dynamic evolution of GCs, a criterion of forming an IMBH is proposed. The key result is M(BH) = L o^1/(1-n) where M(BH) is the IMBH mass, o is the GC mean stellar velocity, L is a coefficient, and 2/3 < n < 1

A combined "electrochemical-frustrated Lewis pair" approach to hydrogen activation: surface catalytic effects at platinum electrodes

Herein, we extend our “combined electrochemical–frustrated Lewis pair” approach to include Pt electrode surfaces for the first time. We found that the voltammetric response of an electrochemical–frustrated Lewis pair (FLP) system involving the B(C6F5)3/[HB(C6F5)3]− redox couple exhibits a strong surface electrocatalytic effect at Pt electrodes. Using a combination of kinetic competition studies in the presence of a H atom scavenger, 6-bromohexene, and by changing the steric bulk of the Lewis acid borane catalyst from B(C6F5)3 to B(C6Cl5)3, the mechanism of electrochemical–FLP reactions on Pt surfaces was shown to be dominated by hydrogen-atom transfer (HAT) between Pt, [Pt[BOND]H] adatoms and transient [HB(C6F5)3]⋅ electrooxidation intermediates. These findings provide further insight into this new area of combining electrochemical and FLP reactions, and proffers additional avenues for exploration beyond energy generation, such as in electrosynthesis

High sensitivity ammonia gas sensor based on a silica gel coated microfiber coupler

In this paper, a high sensitivity ammonia gas sensor is proposed based on a silica gel coated microfiber coupler (MFC). The MFC structure is formed by the two tapered fibers with 3 μm waist diameter each, which were fabricated by using a customized microheater brushing technique. Silica gel coating was prepared by a sol-gel technique and applied on the surface of the MFC as a thin layer. The spectral characteristics of the proposed sensor were studied under various ammonia gas concentrations. The experimental results show that the coating thickness strongly affected the sensitivity of the MFC-based sensor to ammonia gas concentration. For the sensor with a 90 nm silica gel coating thickness, the highest measurement sensitivity is 2.23 nm/ppm for ammonia gas concentration, and the resolution is as good as 5 ppb, while the measured response and recovery times are ~ 50 and 35 seconds, respectively. Finally, it is demonstrated that the proposed sensor offers good repeatability and selectivity to ammonia gas

Local biases drive, but do not determine, the perception of illusory trajectories

When a dot moves horizontally across a set of tilted lines of alternating orientations, the dot appears to be moving up and down along its trajectory. This perceptual phenomenon, known as the slalom illusion, reveals a mismatch between the veridical motion signals and the subjective percept of the motion trajectory, which has not been comprehensively explained. In the present study, we investigated the empirical boundaries of the slalom illusion using psychophysical methods. The phenomenon was found to occur both under conditions of smooth pursuit eye movements and constant fixation, and to be consistently amplified by intermittently occluding the dot trajectory. When the motion direction of the dot was not constant, however, the stimulus display did not elicit the expected illusory percept. These findings confirm that a local bias towards perpendicularity at the intersection points between the dot trajectory and the tilted lines cause the illusion, but also highlight that higher-level cortical processes are involved in interpreting and amplifying the biased local motion signals into a global illusion of trajectory perception