Light scattering spectroscopy is a powerful tool for studying various media, but interpretation of its results requires a detailed knowledge of how media excitations are coupled to electromagnetic ...waves. In electrically conducting media, an accurate description of propagating electromagnetic waves is a non-trivial problem because of non-local light-matter interactions. Among other consequences, the non-locality gives rise to the anomalous (ASE) and superanomalous (SASE) skin effects. As is well known, ASE is related to an increase in the electromagnetic field absorption in the radio frequency domain. This work demonstrates that the Landau damping underlying SASE gives rise to another absorption peak at optical frequencies. In contrast to ASE, SASE suppresses only the longitudinal field component, and this difference results in the strong polarization dependence of the absorption. The mechanism behind the suppression is generic and is observed also in plasma. Neither SASE, nor the corresponding light absorption increase can be described using popular simplified models for the non-local dielectric response.
Metastatic prostate cancer (PCa) has no curative treatment options. Some forms of PCa are indolent and slow growing, while others metastasise quickly and may prove fatal within a very short time. The ...basis of this variable prognosis is poorly understood, despite considerable research. The aim of this study was to identify markers associated with the progression of PCa.
Artificial neuronal network analysis combined with data from literature and previous work produced a panel of putative PCa progression markers, which were used in a transcriptomic analysis of 29 radical prostatectomy samples and correlated with clinical outcome.
Statistical analysis yielded seven putative markers of PCa progression, ANPEP, ABL1, PSCA, EFNA1, HSPB1, INMT and TRIP13. Two data transformation methods were utilised with only markers that were significant in both selected for further analysis. ANPEP and EFNA1 were significantly correlated with Gleason score. Models of progression co-utilising markers ANPEP and ABL1 or ANPEP and PSCA had the ability to correctly predict indolent or aggressive disease, based on Gleason score, in 89.7% and 86.2% of cases, respectively. Another model of TRIP13 expression in combination with preoperative PSA level and Gleason score was able to correctly predict recurrence in 85.7% of cases.
This proof of principle study demonstrates a novel association of carcinogenic and tumourigenic gene expression with PCa stage and prognosis.
Purpose To investigate graft survival and surgical experience on clinical outcome following deep anterior lamellar keratoplasty (DALK). Design Multicenter cohort study. Methods The United Kingdom ...Transplant Database was used to identify patients who had undergone a first DALK or penetrating keratoplasty (PKP) for keratoconus. Data were collected at the time of surgery and at 1, 2, and 5 years postoperatively. Graft survival, best-corrected visual acuity, and refractive error were analyzed for 3 consecutive time periods. DALK outcomes were analyzed according to surgeon experience. Results A total of 4521 patients were included. Graft survival was 92% (95% CI: 90–92) for PKP and 90% (95% CI: 88–92) for DALK ( P = .09). For corneal transplants undertaken in the periods 1999–2002, 2002–2005, and 2005–2007, graft survival was 90%, 92%, and 88% following DALK, and 93%, 91%, and 92% following PKP, respectively. There was no evidence of a difference between surgeons in terms of case mix ( P = .4) or outcome ( P = .2). Surgeon experience, in terms of the number of previous DALK undertaken, had no significant effect on outcome. A donor recipient trephine size disparity of 0.5 mm was associated with an increased risk of graft failure for both DALK ( P = .03) and PKP ( P = .002), whereas ocular surface disease was a significant risk factor for DALK ( P = .04) but not PKP. Conclusions There has been little change in graft survival for DALK and PKP over the past decade. Ocular surface disease is an important risk factor for graft failure following DALK. A surgical learning curve for DALK could not be demonstrated in terms of clinical outcome.
It is commonly assumed that surface plasmon-polariton (SPP) excitations on a metal-dielectric interface decay exponentially inside the metallic sample. Here, we show that in a wide spectral interval ...the SPP field decays much slower, being inversely proportional to the distance to the interface modified by an additional logarithmic factor. This dependence differs from the standard anomalous skin effect and is provisionally referred to as superanomalous. Its origin is the nonlocality and the logarithmic singularity of the dielectric permittivity in metals. This type of decay is pronounced for SPP modes of higher frequencies, but it is suppressed for light waves.
We present Fermi liquid expressions for the low temperature behavior of the superfluid stiffness, explain why they differ from those suggested recently by Lee and Wen, and discuss their applicability ...to data on high-
T
c superconductors. We find that a consistent description requires a strong, doping dependent anisotropy, which affects states near the zone corners much more strongly than those near the zone diagonals.
The superconductivity in very thin rings is suppressed by quantum phase slips. As a result, the amplitude of the persistent current oscillations with flux becomes exponentially small, and their shape ...changes from sawtooth to a sinusoidal one. We reduce the problem of low-energy properties of a superconducting nanoring to that of a quantum particle in a sinusoidal potential and show that the dependence of the current on the flux belongs to a one-parameter family of functions obtained by solving the respective Schrödinger equation with twisted boundary conditions.
The incidence of external ventricular drain (EVD) infections remains high. Chlorhexidine dressings have demonstrated efficacy in reducing infections associated with indwelling catheters at other body ...sites, although evidence for their use with EVDs is limited. The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to evaluate the efficacy of chlorhexidine dressings in reducing EVD-associated cerebrospinal fluid infection (EVDAI). MEDLINE, EMBASE and the Cochrane library were queried for articles from inception. The primary outcome was the incidence of EVDAI. Secondary outcomes included device safety, microbiological outcomes and shunt-dependency. From 896 unique records, five studies were included of which four presented suitable data for quantitative analysis including three case series and one underpowered randomized controlled trial. There was a high risk of bias in all studies. A total of 880 patients were included with a mean age of 57.7 years (95% confidence interval (CI) 57.4–58.0 years). In primary outcome analysis, the chlorhexidine dressing group had a significantly lower incidence of EVDAI (1.7% vs 7.9%, risk difference (RD) = 0.07, 95% CI 0.00–0.13, P=0.04). In conclusion, chlorhexidine dressings may reduce the incidence of EVDAI but require future study in randomized trials to definitively determine efficacy.
The terms glass'' and liquid'' are defined in a dynamic sense, with a sublinear response rho=partial derivativeital E/partial derivativeital jvert barsub ital jr arrow0 characterizing the truly ...superconducting vortex glass and a finite resistivity rho(ital jr arrow0)gt0 being the signature of the liquid phase. The smallness of ital jsub ital c/ital jsub o allows one to discuss the influence of quenched disorder in terms of the weak collective pinning theory. Supplementing the traditional theory of weak collective pinning to take into account thermal and quantum fluctuations, as well as the new scaling concepts for elastic media subject to a random potential, this modern version of the weak collective pinning theory consistently accounts for a large number of novel phenomena, such as the broad resistive transition, thermally assisted flux flow, giant and quantum creep, and the glassiness of the solid state. The strong layering of the oxides introduces additional new features into the thermodynamic phase diagram, such as a layer decoupling transition, and modifies the mechanism of pinning and creep in various ways. The presence of strong (correlated) disorder in the form of twin boundaries or columnar defects not only is technologically relevant but also provides the framework for the physical realization of novel thermodynamic phases such as the Bose glass. On a macroscopic scale the vortex system exhibits self-organized criticality, with both the spatial and the temporal scale accessible to experimental investigations.
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