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Background: In the last 30 years there has been an incidence increase of medullary carcinoma due to the development in diagnostic methods. MC represents 2% out of all thyroid carcinomas. Objective: Objective: Monitoring the therapeutic approach in medullary carcinoma Material and methods: Our retrospective analysis includes a cohort study of patients that underwent surgeries in 2nd Department of Surgery, UMFST Targu Mures, during 2018-2023. I have included individuals with the diagnosis of medullary carcinoma, meanwhile the exclusion criteria were: other type of thyroid dysfunction that underwent surgery, or associated with other types of anomalies (parathyroid). The results were statistically analyzed. Results: Within the examined period there were 422 cases of thyroid intervention, including 4% of which were represented by medullary carcinoma. 75% of those cases were women and 25% men, with the average age of 55. In 7% of the cases, the tumor was located in both lobes, 27% in the left lobe, and 67% in the right lobe. In 5 of the cases, total thyroidectomy (TT) was performed with CCND (central compartment neck dissection) and selective bilateral neck dissection; in 4 cases TT with CCND and selective unilateral neck dissection; one case of TT with CCND; 4 cases of TT; one case of right isthmolobectomy; one case of reoccurrence in central compartment Conclusions: Medullary carcinoma is a rare oncological condition which requires an extensive approach based on the clinical stage of the disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We review the status of bouncing cosmologies as alternatives to cosmological inflation for providing a description of the very early universe, and a source for the cosmological perturbations which are observed today. We focus on the motivation for considering bouncing cosmologies, the origin of fluctuations in these models, and the challenges which various implementations face. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present and expand the simplest possible quantum cosmological bouncing model already discussed in previous works: the trajectory formulation of quantum mechanics applied to cosmology (through the Wheeler-De Witt equation) in the Friedmann-Lemaître-Robertson-Walker (FLRW) minisuperspace without spatial curvature. The initial conditions that were previously assumed were such that the wave function would not change its functional form but instead provide a dynamics to its parameters. Here, we consider a more general situation, in practice consisting of modified Gaussian wave functions, aiming at obtaining a nonsingular bounce from a contracting phase. Whereas previous works consistently obtain very symmetric bounces, we find that it is possible to produce highly non-symmetric solutions, and even cases for which multiple bounces naturally occur. We also introduce a means of treating the shear in this category of models by quantizing in the Bianchi I minisuperspace. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the inflationary paradigm is the most widely accepted explanation for the current cosmological observations, it does not necessarily correspond to what actually happened in the early stages of our Universe. To decide on this issue, two paths can be followed: first, all the possible predictions it makes must be derived thoroughly and compared with available data, and second, all the imaginable alternatives must be ruled out. Leaving the first task to all other contributors of this volume, we concentrate here on the second option, focusing on the bouncing alternatives and their consequences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given the proliferation of bouncing models in recent years, we gather and critically assess these proposals in a comprehensive review. The PLANCK data shows an unmistakably red, quasi scale-invariant, purely adiabatic primordial power spectrum and no primary non-Gaussianities. While these observations are consistent with inflationary predictions, bouncing cosmologies aspire to provide an alternative framework to explain them. Such models face many problems, both of the purely theoretical kind, such as the necessity of violating the NEC and instabilities, and at the cosmological application level, as exemplified by the possible presence of shear. We provide a pedagogical introduction to these problems and also assess the fitness of different proposals with respect to the data. For example, many models predict a slightly blue spectrum and must be fine-tuned to generate a red spectral index; as a side effect, large non-Gaussianities often result. We highlight several promising attempts to violate the NEC without introducing dangerous instabilities at the classical and/or quantum level. If primordial gravitational waves are observed, certain bouncing cosmologies, such as the cyclic scenario, are in trouble, while others remain valid. We conclude that, while most bouncing cosmologies are far from providing an alternative to the inflationary paradigm, a handful of interesting proposals have surfaced, which warrant further research. The constraints and lessons learned as laid out in this review might guide future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: We clarify the question of clock transformations and trajectories in quantum cosmology in a vacuum Bianchi I minisuperspace. We consider a simple cosmological model consisting of an empty Bianchi I Universe, whose Hamiltonian we deparametrise to provide a natural clock variable. The model thus effectively describes an isotropic universe with an induced clock given by the shear. By quantising this model, we obtain various different possible bouncing trajectories (semiquantum expectation values on coherent states or obtained by the de Broglie–Bohm formulation) and explicit their clock dependence, specifically emphasising the question of symmetry across the bounce. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: We briefly review the problem of time in quantum cosmology and present two possible solutions. Time in quantum gravity is not a well-defined notion despite its central role in the very definition of dynamics. Using the formalism of quantum geometrodynamics, we briefly review the problem and illustrate it with two proposed solutions. Our main application is quantum cosmology—the application of quantum gravity to the Universe as a whole. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aviation aims to reduce its climate effect by exploiting the potential of identifying alternative climate optimized aircraft trajectories. Such climate-optimized trajectories require a dedicated meteorological service in order to inform on those regions of the atmosphere where aviation emissions have a large effect on climate, for example, by contrail formation or nitrogen-oxide (NOx)-induced ozone formation. With the algorithmic Climate Change Functions (aCCFs) prototypes of a mathematical formulation for the temporal and spatial climate effects of aviation emissions in the atmosphere is provided, which relies solely on numerical weather prediction at the time and location of emissions. Based on the recently published consistent set of aCCF-V1.0, we here introduce newly derived calibration factors for the individual non-CO2 effects of aviation (NOx, water vapour, contrail cirrus) and establish version V1.0A of aCCFs (aCCF-V1.0A). ACCF-V1.0A represents an updated formulation of aCCF while exploring the current level of scientific understanding of individual climate effects of aviation emissions by evaluating quantitative estimates of climate effects with the state-of-the-art climate-response model AirClim. Individual scaling factors (i.e. AirClim calibration factors) are provided for the respective non-CO2 effects comprising contrail cirrus, water vapour and NOx-induced climate effects on ozone and methane, resulting uniformly in lower estimates in aCCF-V1.0A for all species compared to the earlier version aCCF-V1.0. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using climate-optimized flight trajectories is one essential measure to reduce aviation's climate impact. Detailed knowledge of temporal and spatial climate sensitivity for aviation emissions in the atmosphere is required to realize such a climate mitigation measure. The algorithmic Climate Change Functions (aCCFs) represent the basis for such purposes. This paper presents the first version of the Algorithmic Climate Change Function submodel (ACCF 1.0) within the European Centre HAMburg general circulation model (ECHAM) and Modular Earth Submodel System (MESSy) Atmospheric Chemistry (EMAC) model framework. In the ACCF 1.0, we implement a set of aCCFs (version 1.0) to estimate the average temperature response over 20 years (ATR20) resulting from aviation CO 2 emissions and non-CO 2 impacts, such as NO x emissions (via ozone production and methane destruction), water vapour emissions, and contrail cirrus. While the aCCF concept has been introduced in previous research, here, we publish a consistent set of aCCF formulas in terms of fuel scenario, metric, and efficacy for the first time. In particular, this paper elaborates on contrail aCCF development, which has not been published before. ACCF 1.0 uses the simulated atmospheric conditions at the emission location as input to calculate the ATR20 per unit of fuel burned, per NO x emitted, or per flown kilometre. In this research, we perform quality checks of the ACCF 1.0 outputs in two aspects. Firstly, we compare climatological values calculated by ACCF 1.0 to previous studies. The comparison confirms that in the Northern Hemisphere between 150–300 hPa altitude (flight corridor), the vertical and latitudinal structure of NO x -induced ozone and H 2 O effects are well represented by the ACCF model output. The NO x -induced methane effects increase towards lower altitudes and higher latitudes, which behaves differently from the existing literature. For contrail cirrus, the climatological pattern of the ACCF model output corresponds with the literature, except that contrail-cirrus aCCF generates values at low altitudes near polar regions, which is caused by the conditions set up for contrail formation. Secondly, we evaluate the reduction of NO x -induced ozone effects through trajectory optimization, employing the tagging chemistry approach (contribution approach to tag species according to their emission categories and to inherit these tags to other species during the subsequent chemical reactions). The simulation results show that climate-optimized trajectories reduce the radiative forcing contribution from aviation NO x -induced ozone compared to cost-optimized trajectories. Finally, we couple the ACCF 1.0 to the air traffic simulation submodel AirTraf version 2.0 and demonstrate the variability of the flight trajectories when the efficacy of individual effects is considered. Based on the 1 d simulation results of a subset of European flights, the total ATR20 of the climate-optimized flights is significantly lower (roughly 50 % less) than that of the cost-optimized flights, with the most considerable contribution from contrail cirrus. The CO 2 contribution observed in this study is low compared with the non-CO 2 effects, which requires further diagnosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report on the existence of a new type of cosmic string solutions in the Witten model with U ( 1 ) × U ( 1 ) symmetry. These solutions are superconducting with radially excited condensates that exist for both gauged and ungauged currents. Our results suggest that these new configurations can be macroscopically stable, but microscopically unstable to radial perturbations. Nevertheless, they might have important consequences for the network evolution and particle emission. We discuss these effects and their possible signatures. We also comment on analogies with non-relativistic condensed matter systems where these solutions may be observable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Modular Earth Submodel System (MESSy) provides an interface to couple submodels to a base model via a modular flexible data management facility. This paper presents the newly developed MESSy submodel, ACCF version 1.0 (ACCF 1.0), based on algorithmic Climate Change Functions version 1.0 (aCCFs 1.0), which describes the climate impact of aviation emissions. The ACCF 1.0 is coupled via the second version of the standard MESSy infrastructure. ACCF 1.0 takes the simulated atmospheric conditions at the location of emission as input to calculate the climate impact (in terms of average temperature response over 20 years (ATR20)) of aviation emissions, including CO2 and non-CO2 impacts, such as from NOx emissions (via ozone production and methane destruction), water vapour emissions, and contrail-cirrus. The online calculated ATR20 value per emitted mass fuel burn or flown-kilometer using ACCF 1.0 in the ECHAM5/MESSy Atmospheric Chemistry (EMAC) model is presented. We perform quality checks of the ACCF 1.0 outputs in two aspects. Firstly, we compare climatological values calculated by the ACCF 1.0 to previous studies. Secondly, we evaluate the reduction of NOx-induced O3 effects through trajectory optimization, employing the tagging chemistry approach (contribution approach to tag species according to their emission categories and to inherit these tags to other species during the subsequent chemical reactions). Finally, we couple the ACCF 1.0 to the air traffic simulation submodel AirTraf version 2.0 and demonstrate the variability of the flight trajectories when the efficacy of individual effect is considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following recent claims relative to the question of large anisotropy production in regular bouncing scenarios, we study the evolution of such anisotropies in a model where an ekpyrotic phase of contraction is followed by domination of a Galileon-type Lagrangian which generates a non-singular bounce. We show that the anisotropies decrease during the phase of ekpyrotic contraction (as expected) and that they can be constrained to remain small during the non-singular bounce phase (a non-trivial result). Specifically,we derive the e-folding number of the phase of ekpyrotic contraction which leads to a present-day anisotropy in agreement with current observational bounds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The intermediate filament protein, desmin, was purified from pork longissimus dorsi and incubated with either μ-calpain, m-calpain or cathepsin B. Proteolysis of desmin was followed using SDS–PAGE and Western blotting. After incubation of desmin with the proteases, cleavage sites on the desmin molecule were identified by N-terminal sequencing of the different proteolytic fragments. Desmin incubated with either m-calpain or μ-calpain was primarily cleaved in the head and tail region leaving the rod domain relatively intact even after prolonged incubation. Incubation with cathepsin B produces a sequential C-terminal degradation pattern characteristic of this dipeptylpeptidase. The substrate primary structure was not found to be essential for regulation of the proteolytic activity of the cysteine peptidases studied. However, the degradation patterns obtained imply that calpains are involved in degradation of desmin early post-mortem, targeting the non-helical region of the desmin molecule and resulting in depolymerisation and initial disorganisation of the intermediate filament structures of the muscle cell. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Electron beam freeform fabrication is a wire feed direct energy deposition additive manufacturing process, where the vacuum condition ensures excellent shielding against the atmosphere and enables processing of highly reactive materials. In this work, this technique is applied for the α + β-titanium alloy Ti-6Al-4V to determine suitable process parameter for robust building. The correlation between dimensions and the dilution of single beads based on selected process parameters, leads to an overlapping distance in the range of 70–75% of the bead width, resulting in a multi-bead layer with a uniform height and with a linear build-up rate. Moreover, the stacking of layers with different numbers of tracks using an alternating symmetric welding sequence allows the manufacturing of simple structures like walls and blocks. Microscopy investigations reveal that the primary structure consists of epitaxial grown columnar prior β-grains, with some randomly scattered macro and micropores. The developed microstructure consists of a mixture of martensitic and finer α-lamellar structure with a moderate and uniform hardness of 334 HV, an ultimate tensile strength of 953 MPa and rather low fracture elongation of 4.5%. A subsequent stress relief heat treatment leads to a uniform hardness distribution and an extended fracture elongation of 9.5%, with a decrease of the ultimate strength to 881 MPa due to the fine α-lamellar structure produced during the heat treatment. Residual stresses measured by energy dispersive X-ray diffraction shows after deposition 200–450 MPa in tension in the longitudinal direction, while the stresses reach almost zero when the stress relief treatment is carried out. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Investigates the electrostatic actuation of microscale liquid-metal droplets. Contact angle; Determination of sliding condition parameter; Proportionality between minimum driving force and droplet dimension.