There needs to be a consensus regarding the definition of body image in oncology the literature. This lack of agreement leads to conflicting results in psychosocial interventions aimed to improve ...body image among breast cancer patients. Through an instrumentalist approach, this systematic review aims to analyze how body image as a concept is described and operationalized in breast cancer studies with the focus to enhance body image through psychosocial interventions. Databases were searched in October 2022 and updated in February 2023 to find empirical studies reporting psychosocial intervention targeting body image efficacy. The results from 24 studies show many similarities and differences between the definitions (e.g. characteristics) and questionnaires (e.g. Cronbach's alpha coefficient) used to evaluate this concept. Most definitions include thoughts, feelings, and behaviors related to body image. Finally, the psychosocial implications are discussed. This systematic review is registered on the International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews (PROSPERO; CRD42022326393).
Background
The COVID-19 pandemic led to the prioritization of breast cancer services towards patients who are currently in treatment or diagnosed with advanced stages of breast cancer, and the ...self-assessment of both tumor growth and treatment side effects. Alongside the stress associated with cancer itself, delays and complications due to COVID-19 may impact patients’ mental health.
Purpose
To describe the experiences of Canadians living with breast cancer who received a diagnosis and/or treatment during the pandemic, and to identify their recommendations for improving patients well-being during future pandemics.
Methods
Semi-structured interviews were conducted with eighteen women living with breast cancer who also completed the Distress Thermometer questionnaire. The transcripts were analyzed using a descriptive thematic content methodology.
Results
Women who started their breast cancer screening or treatment before the pandemic reported fewer delays and less psychological distress than those who started during the pandemic. Participants reported feeling dehumanized while receiving their medical care, being unable to be accompanied during medical visits, and fearing treatment interruption during the pandemic. Patient recommendations for improving care and psychological support included the presence of family caregivers at consultations to receive the diagnosis and for the first treatment session.
Conclusion
Study findings provide new insights on how healthcare restrictions during the pandemic impacted on patient experiences and their well-being during screening and treatment for breast cancer. The need for cancer nursing practices and care delivery strategies that promote the delivery of compassionate, patient-centred care and the provision of psychological support during future pandemics are identified.
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α-Sn is an elemental topological material, whose topological phases can be tuned by strain and magnetic field. Such tunability offers a substantial potential for topological ...electronics. However, InSb substrates, commonly used to stabilize α-Sn allotrope, suffer from parallel conduction, restricting transport investigations and potential applications. Here, the successful MBE growth of high-quality α-Sn layers on insulating, hybrid (001) CdTe/GaAs substrates, with bulk electron mobility approaching 20000 cm2V−1s−1 is reported. The electronic properties of the samples are systematically investigated by independent complementary techniques, enabling thorough characterization of the 3D Dirac (DSM) and Weyl (WSM) semimetal phases induced by the strains and magnetic field, respectively. Magneto-optical experiments, corroborated with band structure modelling, provide an exhaustive description of the bulk states in the DSM phase. The modelled electronic structure is directly observed in angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy, which reveals linearly dispersing bands near the Fermi level. The first detailed study of negative longitudinal magnetoresistance relates this effect to the chiral anomaly and, consequently, to the presence of WSM. Observation of the π Berry phase in Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations agrees with the topologically non-trivial nature of the investigated samples. Our findings establish α-Sn as an attractive topological material for exploring relativistic physics and future applications.
Abstract
When a Dirac fermion system acquires an energy-gap, it is said to have either trivial (positive energy-gap) or non-trivial (negative energy-gap) topology, depending on the parity ordering of ...its conduction and valence bands. The non-trivial regime is identified by the presence of topological surface or edge-states dispersing in the energy gap of the bulk and is attributed a non-zero topological index. In this work, we show that such topological indices can be determined experimentally via an accurate measurement of the effective velocity of bulk massive Dirac fermions. We demonstrate this approach analytically starting from the Bernevig-Hughes-Zhang Hamiltonian to show how the topological index depends on this velocity. We then experimentally extract the topological index in Pb
1-x
Sn
x
Se and Pb
1-
x
Sn
x
Te using infrared magnetooptical Landau level spectroscopy. This approach is argued to be universal to all material classes that can be described by a Bernevig-Hughes-Zhang-like model and that host a topological phase transition.
The van de Waals heterostructure formed by an epitaxial trilayer graphene is of particular interest due to its unique tunable electronic band structure and stacking sequence. However, to date, there ...has been a lack in the fundamental understanding of the electronic properties of epitaxial trilayer graphene. Here, we investigate the electronic properties of large-area epitaxial trilayer graphene on a 4° off-axis SiC(0001) substrate. Micro-Raman mappings and atomic force microscopy (AFM) confirmed predominantly trilayer on the sample obtained under optimized conditions. We used angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) and Density Functional Theory (DFT) calculations to study in detail the structure of valence electronic states, in particular the dispersion of π bands in reciprocal space and the exact determination of the number of graphene layers. Using far-infrared magneto-transmission (FIR-MT), we demonstrate, that the electron cyclotron resonance (CR) occurs between Landau levels with a (B)(1/2) dependence. The CR line-width is consistent with a high Dirac fermions mobility of ~3000 cm(2)·V(-1)·s(-1) at 4 K.
This book celebrates the relaunch of the African Pollen Database, presents state-of-the-art of modern and ancient pollen data from sub-Saharan Africa, and promotes Open Access science. Pollen grains ...are powerful tools for the study of past vegetation dynamics because they preserve well within sedimentary deposits and have a huge diversity in ornamentation that allows different taxa to be determined. The reconstruction of past vegetation from the examination of ancient pollen records thus can be used to characterize the nature of past landscapes (e.g. abundance of forests vs. grasslands), provide insights into changes in biodiversity, and gain empirical evidence of vegetation response to climatic change and human activity. In this, the 35th Volume of "Palaeoecology of Africa", we bring together new data and extensive synthetic reviews to provide novel insights into the relationships between human evolution, human activity, climate change and vegetation dynamics during the Quaternary, the last 2.6 million years. Current and ongoing climate and land-use change is exerting pressure on modern vegetation formations and threatening the livelihoods and wellbeing of many peoples in Africa. In this book the focus is on the Quaternary because it is during this geological period that the modern vegetation formations developed into their current configurations against a backdrop of high magnitude global climate change (glacial-interglacial cycles), human evolution, and a growing human land-use footprint. In this book the latest information is presented and collated from around the African continent to parameterize past vegetation states, identify the drivers of vegetation change, and assess the vegetation resilience to change. To achieve this research from two broad themes are covered: (i) the present is the key to the past (i.e. studies which improve our understanding of modern environments so that we can better interpret evidence from the past), and (ii) the past is the key to the future (i.e. studies which unlock information on how and why vegetation changed in the past so one can better anticipate trajectories of future change). This Open Access book will provide a strong foundation for future research exploring past ecological, environmental and climatic change within Africa and the surrounding islands. The book is organized regionally (covering western, eastern, central, and southern Africa) and it contains specialized articles focused on particular topics (such as modern pollen-vegetation relationships and fire as a driver of vegetation change), as well as regional and pan-African syntheses drawing together decades of research to assess key scientific questions (including the role of climate in driving vegetation change and the role of vegetation change in human evolution). These articles will be useful to students and teachers from high school to the highest level of university who are interested in the origins and dynamics of vegetation in Africa. Furthermore, it is also meant to provide societally relevant information that can act as an inspiration for the development of sustainable management practices for the future.
Abstract
Topological surface-states can acquire an energy gap when time-reversal symmetry is broken by interfacing with a magnetic insulator. This gap has yet to be measured. Such ...topological-magnetic insulator heterostructures can host a quantized anomalous Hall effect and can allow the control of the magnetic state of the insulator in a spintronic device. In this work, we observe the energy gap of topological surface-states in proximity to a magnetic insulator using magnetooptical Landau level spectroscopy. We measure Pb
1-x
Sn
x
Se–EuSe heterostructures grown by molecular beam epitaxy exhibiting a record mobility and low Fermi energy. Through temperature dependent measurements and theoretical calculations, we show this gap is likely due to quantum confinement and conclude that the magnetic proximity effect is weak in this system. This weakness is disadvantageous for the realization of the quantum anomalous Hall effect, but favorable for spintronic devices which require the preservation of spin-momentum locking at the Fermi level.
A completely automatic near-field mapping system has been developed within the Research Institute for Electronic Embedded Systems (IRSEEM) in order to determine the electromagnetic field created by ...electronic systems and components. This test bench uses a 3-D positioning system of the probe to make accurate measurements. This paper presents some applications of the near-field techniques in EMC investigations. In the first part, near-field measurements are used to locate precisely the electromagnetic sources of a limiter device. In the second part, we present an equivalent model of the radiated emission of an integrated circuit. In the last part, the near-field test bench is used to characterize faults in a cable.
In this paper, a simple method to obtain the equivalent radiation emitting sources of an electronic circuit using the near-field scanning method is presented. The model is based on a set of elemental ...dipoles that substitutes the electronic circuit and radiates the same magnetic field. Two different approaches are presented: a set of electric dipoles and a set of magnetic dipoles. In order to build the model, both the magnitude and phase of the magnetic field are required. These measurements are carried out using the "near-field scanning method," and two procedures are presented: using the vector network analyzer and the spectrum analyzer. Finally, the model is applied to two different cases: to obtain the radiated near-field of a component (microcontroller) and to obtain the field of a complete electronic board.
Topological crystalline insulators (TCIs) are topological materials that have Dirac surface states occurring at crystalline symmetric points in the Brillouin zone. This topological state has been ...experimentally shown to occur in the lead–tin salts Pb1−xSnxSe and Pb1−xSnxTe. More recent works also took interest in studying the topological phase transition from trivial to non-trivial topology that occurs in such materials as a function of increasing Sn content. A peculiar property of these materials is the fact that their bulk bands disperse following a massive Dirac dispersion that is linear at low energies above the energy gap. This makes Pb1−xSnxSe and Pb1−xSnxTe ideal platforms to simultaneously study 3D and 2D Dirac physics. In this review, we will go over infrared magneto-optical studies of the Landau level dispersion of Pb1−xSnxSe and Pb1−xSnxTe for both the bulk and surface bands and summarize work that has been done on this matter. We will review recent work on probing the topological phase transition in TCI. We will finally present our views on prospects and open questions that have yet to be addressed in magneto-optical spectroscopy studies on Pb1-xSnxSe and Pb1−xSnxTe.
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