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Background: Lung cancer is considered as the most commonly diagnosed cancer. It is the leading cause of cancer-related mortality. Smoking and environmental pollutants act as important risk factors in majority of lung cancer cases (80%-90%).Material and Methods: This is a hospital-based study carried on in lung cancer patients of North India. Demographic profile of lung cancer patients was recorded. Hematological and biochemical profiles of lung cancer patients and healthy controls were compared.Results: Highest proportion of lung cancer was found in the age group of 46-60 years. Lung cancer was seen in highest number in male gender (76.63%) and also in those patients belonging to the rural category (84.58%). In this study, only 3.98% lung cancer patients having the past history of cancer and 5.47% showing the family history of cancer. Significant differences were found in weight and body mass index (BMI) of lung cancer patients when compared to healthy control (P < 0.0001). Hemoglobin (Hb) was found lower in lung cancer patients as compared with healthy controls. Significant difference was also observed in Hb levels of these two groups (P < 0.000). The serum protein level was lower in lung cancer patients than healthy controls. A significant difference was also observed in the protein levels of these two groups (P < 0.0001). Serum alkaline phosphatase (ALP) levels were higher in lung cancer patients in comparison to healthy controls. A significant difference was also observed in serum ALP levels in lung cancer patients as compared with healthy controls (P < 0.0001).Conclusions: Significant difference between BMI, Hb, serum albumin, and total protein was found in this study. These biomarkers may be helpful in the diagnosis of lung cancer at early stage and also in the follow-up assessment of the effects of treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AIMS: The current study was designed to test that vasa vasorum (VV) plays a role in the progression of cardiac allograft vasculopathy (CAV) in patients with heart transplantation (HTX). METHODS AND RESULTS: Intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) and optical coherence tomography (OCT) were performed in the left anterior descending artery in 19 segments of 19 HTX patients (median 2.1 years from HTX). Each segment is composed of both the continuous lesions: (i) CAV area: intimal thickness >0.5 mm with 5 mm length and (ii) VV area: intimal thickness ≤0.5 mm with 5 mm length. The per cent VV volume (VV volume/vessel volume × 100, %VV) was evaluated in the VV area with OCT (in CAV area VV cannot be assessed because of limited penetration power of OCT). A year later, the association between the baseline %VV and the change in per cent plaque volume (plaque volume/vessel volume × 100, %PV) was evaluated with IVUS. To a normal distribution, Δ%PV (follow-up %PV-initial %PV) was undergone square root transformation. The correlations between the %VV at baseline study and square root-Δ%PV were significant both in the CAV area and in the VV area (r = 0.787, P < 0.001 and r = 0.701, P < 0.001, respectively). In multivariable analysis, only the %VV was significantly correlated with square root-Δ%PV in both areas. CONCLUSION: The current study demonstrated a significant association between the VV volume and the progression of plaque volume in both the CAV area and the VV area. Thus, VV may be a potential predictor and possible therapeutic target to attenuate CAV. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A deeper sense of advantages over the planar quantum dots and the foreseen applications in the single-electron devices and quantum computation have given vertically stacked quantum dots (VSQD) a width of interest. Here, we embark on the collective excitations in a quantum wire made up of vertically stacked, self-assembled InAs/GaAs quantum dots in the presence of an applied magnetic field in the symmetric gauge. We compute and illustrate the influence of an applied magnetic field on the behavior characteristics of the density of states, Fermi energy, and collective (magnetoplasmon) excitations (obtained within the framework of random-phase approximation (RPA)). The Fermi energy is observed to oscillate as a function of the Bloch vector. Remarkably, the intersubband single-particle continuum splits into two with a collective excitation propagating within the gap. This is attributed to the (orbital) quantum number owing to the applied magnetic field. Strikingly, the alteration in the well and barrier widths can enable us to customize the excitation spectrum in the desired energy range. These findings demonstrate, for the very first time, the viability and importance of studying the VSQD subjected to an applied magnetic field. The technological promise that emerges is the route to devices exploiting magnetoplasmon qubits as the potential option in designing quantum gates for the quantum communication networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Quantum wires occupy a unique status among the semiconducting nanostructures with reduced dimensionality – no other system seems to have engaged researchers with as many appealing features to pursue. This letter aims at a core issue related with the magnetoplasmon excitations in the quantum wires characterized by the confining harmonic potential and subjected to a longitudinal electric field and a perpendicular magnetic field in the symmetric gauge. Despite the substantive complexity, we obtain the exact analytical expressions for the eigenfunction and eigenenergy, using the scheme of ladder operators, which fundamentally characterize the quantal system. Crucial to this inquiry is an intersubband collective excitation that evolves into a magnetoroton – above a threshold value of magnetic field – which observes a negative group velocity between the maxon and the roton. The evidence of negative group velocity implies anomalous dispersion in a gain medium with the population inversion that forms the basis for the lasing action of lasers. Thus, the technological pathway that unfolds is the route to devices exploiting the magnetoroton features for designing the novel optical amplifiers at nanoscale and hence paving the way to a new generation of lasers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Original article: EPL, 113 (2016) 57005. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate a one-component, quasi–zero-dimensional, quantum plasma exposed to a parabolic potential and an applied magnetic field in the symmetric gauge. If the size of such a system as can be realized in the semiconducting quantum dots is on the order of the de Broglie wavelength, the electronic and optical properties become highly tunable. Then the quantum size effects challenge the observation of many-particle phenomena such as the magneto-optical absorption, Raman intensity, and electron energy loss spectrum. An exact analytical solution of the problem leads us to infer that these many-particle phenomena are, in fact, dictated by the generalized Kohn's theorem in the long-wavelength limit. Maneuvering the confinement and/or the magnetic field furnishes the resonance energy capable of being explored with the FIR, Raman, or electron energy loss spectroscopy. This implies that either of these probes should be competent in observing the localized magnetoplasmons in the system. A deeper insight into the physics of quantum dots is paving the way for their implementation in diverse fields such as quantum computing and medical imaging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]