804 research outputs found
Irreducible wavelet representations and ergodic automorphisms on solenoids
We focus on the irreducibility of wavelet representations. We present some
connections between the following notions: covariant wavelet representations,
ergodic shifts on solenoids, fixed points of transfer (Ruelle) operators and
solutions of refinement equations. We investigate the irreducibility of the
wavelet representations, in particular the representation associated to the
Cantor set, introduced in \cite{DuJo06b}, and we present several equivalent
formulations of the problem
Cystic fibrosis mice carrying the missense mutation G551D replicate human genotype phenotype correlations
We have generated a mouse carrying the human G551D mutation in the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator gene (CFTR) by a one-step gene targeting procedure. These mutant mice show cystic fibrosis pathology but have a reduced risk of fatal intestinal blockage compared with 'null' mutants, in keeping with the reduced incidence of meconium ileus in G551D patients. The G551D mutant mice show greatly reduced CFTR-related chloride transport, displaying activity intermediate between that of cftr(mlUNC) replacement ('null') and cftr(mlHGU) insertional (residual activity) mutants and equivalent to approximately 4% of wild-type CFTR activity. The long-term survival of these animals should provide an excellent model with which to study cystic fibrosis, and they illustrate the value of mouse models carrying relevant mutations for examining genotype-phenotype correlations
Extramammary Paget disease of the perianal region:the potential role of imiquimod in achieving disease control
Extramammary Paget disease (EMPD) is a rare perineal neoplasia associated with a high rate of local recurrence. Surgical excision is the standard treatment; however, this has high rates of post-operative morbidity in combination with potentially mutilating results. Previous literature has demonstrated good response with imiquimod 5% cream in patients with vulval EMPD, yet its effectiveness in primary perianal disease is unknown. We describe the case of a 40-year-old woman presenting with EMPD of the perianal region, providing detailed histological and pictoral evidence of its response to topical imiquimod 5% cream over a 16-week period, which initially resulted in remission prior to metastatic lymph node recurrence. This case demonstrates the potential for topical imiquimod cream to avoid major surgery and its associated complications in patients presenting with EMPD of the perianal region. We discuss the current evidence for treating this rare condition with medical therapy, how this case adds to current literature and possible future directions
Involvement of Plasmodium falciparum protein kinase CK2 in the chromatin assembly pathway
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Protein kinase CK2 is a pleiotropic serine/threonine protein kinase with hundreds of reported substrates, and plays an important role in a number of cellular processes. The cellular functions of <it>Plasmodium falciparum </it>CK2 (PfCK2) are unknown. The parasite's genome encodes one catalytic subunit, PfCK2α, which we have previously shown to be essential for completion of the asexual erythrocytic cycle, and two putative regulatory subunits, PfCK2β1 and PfCK2β2.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We now show that the genes encoding both regulatory PfCK2 subunits (PfCK2β1 and PfCK2β2) cannot be disrupted. Using immunofluorescence and electron microscopy, we examined the intra-erythrocytic stages of transgenic parasite lines expressing hemagglutinin (HA)-tagged catalytic and regulatory subunits (HA-CK2α, HA-PfCK2β1 or HA-PfCK2β2), and localized all three subunits to both cytoplasmic and nuclear compartments of the parasite. The same transgenic parasite lines were used to purify PfCK2β1- and PfCK2β2-containing complexes, which were analyzed by mass spectrometry. The recovered proteins were unevenly distributed between various pathways, with a large proportion of components of the chromatin assembly pathway being present in both PfCK2β1 and PfCK2β2 precipitates, implicating PfCK2 in chromatin dynamics. We also found that chromatin-related substrates such as nucleosome assembly proteins (Naps), histones, and two members of the Alba family are phosphorylated by PfCK2α <it>in vitro</it>.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Our reverse-genetics data show that each of the two regulatory PfCK2 subunits is required for completion of the asexual erythrocytic cycle. Our interactome study points to an implication of PfCK2 in many cellular pathways, with chromatin dynamics being identified as a major process regulated by PfCK2. This study paves the way for a kinome-wide interactomics-based approach to elucidate protein kinase function in malaria parasites.</p
Kondo effect and anti-ferromagnetic correlation in transport through tunneling-coupled double quantum dots
We propose to study the transport through tunneling-coupled double quantum
dots (DQDs) connected in series to leads, using the finite- slave-boson mean
field approach developed initially by Kotliar and Ruckenstein [Phys. Rev. Lett.
{\bf 57}, 1362 (1986)]. This approach treats the dot-lead coupling and the
inter-dot tunnelling nonperturbatively at arbitrary Coulomb correlation
, thus allows the anti-ferromagnetic exchange coupling parameter
to appear naturally. We find that, with increasing the inter-dot hopping, the
DQDs manifest three distinct physical scenarios: the Kondo singlet state of
each dot with its adjacent lead, the spin singlet state consisting of local
spins on each dot and the doubly occupied bonding orbital of the coupled dots.
The three states exhibit remarkably distinct behavior in transmission spectrum,
linear and differential conductance and their magnetic-field dependence.
Theoretical predictions agree with numerical renormalization group and Lanczos
calculations, and some of them have been observed in recent experiments.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures. Physics Review B (Rapid Communication) (in press
NRG Oncology-Radiation Therapy Oncology Group Study 1014: 1-Year Toxicity Report From a Phase 2 Study of Repeat Breast-Preserving Surgery and 3-Dimensional Conformal Partial-Breast Reirradiation for In-Breast Recurrence.
PURPOSE: To determine the associated toxicity, tolerance, and safety of partial-breast reirradiation.
METHODS AND MATERIALS: Eligibility criteria included in-breast recurrence occurring \u3e1 year after whole-breast irradiation, \u3c3 \u3ecm, unifocal, and resected with negative margins. Partial-breast reirradiation was targeted to the surgical cavity plus 1.5 cm; a prescription dose of 45 Gy in 1.5 Gy twice daily for 30 treatments was used. The primary objective was to evaluate the rate of grade ≥3 treatment-related skin, fibrosis, and/or breast pain adverse events (AEs), occurring ≤1 year from re-treatment completion. A rate of ≥13% for these AEs in a cohort of 55 patients was determined to be unacceptable (86% power, 1-sided α = 0.07).
RESULTS: Between 2010 and 2013, 65 patients were accrued, and the first 55 eligible and with 1 year follow-up were analyzed. Median age was 68 years. Twenty-two patients had ductal carcinoma in situ, and 33 had invasive disease: 19 ≤1 cm, 13 \u3e1 to ≤2 cm, and 1 \u3e2 cm. All patients were clinically node negative. Systemic therapy was delivered in 51%. All treatment plans underwent quality review for contouring accuracy and dosimetric compliance. All treatment plans scored acceptable for tumor volume contouring and tumor volume dose-volume analysis. Only 4 (7%) scored unacceptable for organs at risk contouring and organs at risk dose-volume analysis. Treatment-related skin, fibrosis, and/or breast pain AEs were recorded as grade 1 in 64% and grade 2 in 7%, with only 1 (
CONCLUSION: Partial-breast reirradiation with 3-dimensional conformal radiation therapy after second lumpectomy for patients experiencing in-breast failures after whole-breast irradiation is safe and feasible, with acceptable treatment quality achieved. Skin, fibrosis, and breast pain toxicity was acceptable, and grade 3 toxicity was rare
First order transition from correlated electron semiconductor to ferromagnetic metal in single crystalline FeSi1-xGex
The phase diagram of FeSi1-xGex, obtained from magnetic, thermal and
transport measurements on single crystals, shows a first-order transition from
a correlated electron semiconductor to a ferromagnetic metal at a critical
concentration, x ~ 0.25. The gap of the insulating phase strongly decreases
with x. The specific heat coefficient appears to track the density of states of
a Kondo insulator. The phase diagram is consistent with a correlation induced
insulator-metal transition in conjunction with disorder on the Si/Ge ligand
site
Multiplet Effects in the Quasiparticle Band Structure of the Anderson Model
In this paper, we examine the mean field electronic structure of the
Anderson lattice model in a slave boson approximation, which should
be useful in understanding the physics of correlated metals with more than one
f electron per site such as uranium-based heavy fermion superconductors. We
find that the multiplet structure of the ion acts to quench the crystal
field splitting in the quasiparticle electronic structure. This is consistent
with experimental observations in such metals as .Comment: 9 pages, revtex, 3 uuencoded postscript figures attached at en
Critical fluctuation conductivity in layered superconductors in strong electric field
The paraconductivity, originating from critical superconducting
order-parameter fluctuations in the vicinity of the critical temperature in a
layered superconductor is calculated in the frame of the self-consistent
Hartree approximation, for an arbitrarily strong electric field and zero
magnetic field. The paraconductivity diverges less steep towards the critical
temperature in the Hartree approximation than in the Gaussian one and it shows
a distinctly enhanced variation with the electric field. Our results indicate
that high electric fields can be effectively used to suppress order-parameter
fluctuations in high-temperature superconductors.Comment: 11 pages, 2 figures, to be published in Phys. Rev.
Effective three-band model for double perovskites
We start from a six-band model describing the transition-metal t2g orbitals
of half-metallic double perovskite systems, such as Sr2FeMoO6, in which only
one of the transition metal ions (Fe) contains important intratomic repulsion
Ufe. By eliminating the Mo orbitals using a low-energy reduction similar to
that used in the cuprates, we construct a Hamiltonian which contains only
effective t2g Fe orbitals. This allows to treat exactly Ufe, and most of the
Fe-Mo hopping. As an application, we treat the effective Hamiltonian in the
slave-boson mean-field approximation and calculate the position of the
metal-insulator transition and other quantities as a function of pressure or
on-site energy difference.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figure
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