341 research outputs found
Is it possible for peritoneal dialysis uremic patients who continue to do PD at peri-nephrectomy duration?
Non-Markovian finite-temperature two-time correlation functions of system operators: beyond the quantum regression theorem
An extremely useful evolution equation that allows systematically calculating
the two-time correlation functions (CF's) of system operators for non-Markovian
open (dissipative) quantum systems is derived. The derivation is based on
perturbative quantum master equation approach, so non-Markovian open quantum
system models that are not exactly solvable can use our derived evolution
equation to easily obtain their two-time CF's of system operators, valid to
second order in the system-environment interaction. Since the form and nature
of the Hamiltonian are not specified in our derived evolution equation, our
evolution equation is applicable for bosonic and/or fermionic environments and
can be applied to a wide range of system-environment models with any factorized
(separable) system-environment initial states (pure or mixed). When applied to
a general model of a system coupled to a finite-temperature bosonic environment
with a system coupling operator L in the system-environment interaction
Hamiltonian, the resultant evolution equation is valid for both L = L^+ and L
\neq L^+ cases, in contrast to those evolution equations valid only for L = L^+
case in the literature. The derived equation that generalizes the quantum
regression theorem (QRT) to the non-Markovian case will have broad applications
in many different branches of physics. We then give conditions on which the QRT
holds in the weak system-environment coupling case, and apply the derived
evolution equation to a problem of a two-level system (atom) coupled to a
finite-temperature bosonic environment (electromagnetic fields) with L \neq
L^+.Comment: To appear in the Journal of Chemical Physics (12 pages, 1 figure
Tissue-engineered constructs for urethral regeneration
AbstractThose who have urethral injury, long-distance urethral stricture, hypospadias, or epispadias need tissue for urethral repair. Tissue engineering is one of the solutions for urethroplasty. Three components essential for tissue engineering are cells, scaffolds, and bioactive factors. Several animal studies of tissue-engineered urethras have been conducted and progressed to human clinical trials by 1999. These studies have shown that the maximum distance for normal tissue regeneration in tubularized urethral replacement with unseeded matrices is 0.5cm. Although autologous tissue-engineered tabularized urethras have been successful in clinical trials, this method could be an alternative treatment for urethral reconstruction
Nested Quantization Index Modulation for Reversible Watermarking and Its Application to Healthcare Information Management Systems
Digital watermarking has attracted lots of researches to healthcare information management systems for access control, patients' data protection, and information retrieval. The well-known quantization index modulation-(QIM-) based watermarking has its limitations as the host image will be destroyed; however, the recovery of medical images is essential to avoid misdiagnosis. In this paper, we propose the nested QIM-based watermarking, which is preferable to the QIM-based watermarking for the medical image applications. As the host image can be exactly reconstructed by the nested QIM-based watermarking. The capacity of the embedded watermark can be increased by taking advantage of the proposed nest structure. The algorithm and mathematical model of the nested QIM-based watermarking including forward and inverse model is presented. Due to algorithms and architectures of forward and inverse nested QIM, the concurrent programs and special processors for the nested QIM-based watermarking are easily implemented
En-Mass Retraction of Maxillary Anterior Teeth with Severe Proclination and Root Resorption—A Case Report
Non-Markovian finite-temperature two-time correlation functions of system operators of a pure-dephasing model
We evaluate the non-Markovian finite-temperature two-time correlation
functions (CF's) of system operators of a pure-dephasing spin-boson model in
two different ways, one by the direct exact operator technique and the other by
the recently derived evolution equations, valid to second order in the
system-environment interaction Hamiltonian. This pure-dephasing spin-boson
model that is exactly solvable has been extensively studied as a simple
decoherence model. However, its exact non-Markovian finite-temperature two-time
system operator CF's, to our knowledge, have not been presented in the
literature. This may be mainly due to the fact, illustrated in this article,
that in contrast to the Markovian case, the time evolution of the reduced
density matrix of the system (or the reduced quantum master equation) alone is
not sufficient to calculate the two-time system operator CF's of non-Markovian
open systems. The two-time CF's obtained using the recently derived evolution
equations in the weak system-environment coupling case for this non-Markovian
pure-dephasing model happen to be the same as those obtained from the exact
evaluation. However, these results significantly differ from the non-Markovian
two-time CF's obtained by wrongly directly applying the quantum regression
theorem (QRT), a useful procedure to calculate the two-time CF's for
weak-coupling Markovian open systems. This demonstrates clearly that the
recently derived evolution equations generalize correctly the QRT to
non-Markovian finite-temperature cases. It is believed that these evolution
equations will have applications in many different branches of physics.Comment: To appear in Phys. Rev.
Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome Caused by Enteroviral Infection
A 4-year-old boy presented with enteroviral infection complicated with atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome (aHUS). Enterovirus RNA was detected by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) of both blood and kidney biopsy specimens. A survey of the complement system did not reveal a specific complement defect. Supportive therapy with blood components transfusion, plasma therapy, and immunosuppressants was administered, however, renal function did not recover. The results of this report demonstrate that the enterovirus is the cause of aHUS
Recombinant hemagglutinin proteins formulated in a novel PELC/CpG adjuvant for H7N9 subunit vaccine development
Humans infected with H7N9 avian influenza viruses can result in severe pneumonia and acute respiratory syndrome with an approximately 40% mortality rate, and there is an urgent need to develop an effective vaccine to reduce its pandemic potential. In this study, we used a novel PELC/CpG adjuvant for recombinant H7HA (rH7HA) subunit vaccine development. After immunizing BALB/c mice intramuscularly, rH7HA proteins formulated in this adjuvant instead of an alum adjuvant elicited higher IgG, hemagglutination-inhibition, and virus neutralizing antibodies in sera; induced higher numbers of H7HA-specific IFN-γ-secreting T cells and antibody secreting cells in spleen; and provided improved protection against live virus challenges. Our results indicate that rH7HA proteins formulated in PELC/CpG adjuvant can induce potent anti-H7N9 immunity that may provide useful information for H7N9 subunit vaccine development
Non-Markovian dynamics of a nanomechanical resonator measured by a quantum point contact
We study the dynamics of a nanomechanical resonator (NMR) subject to a
measurement by a low transparency quantum point contact (QPC) or tunnel
junction in the non-Markovian domain. We derive the non-Markovian
number-resolved (conditional) and unconditional master equations valid to
second order in the tunneling Hamiltonian without making the rotating-wave
approximation and the Markovian approximation, generally made for systems in
quantum optics. Our non-Markovian master equation reduces, in appropriate
limits, to various Markovian versions of master equations in the literature. We
find considerable difference in dynamics between the non-Markovian cases and
its Markovian counterparts. We also calculate the time-dependent transport
current through the QPC which contains information about the measured NMR
system. We find an extra transient current term proportional to the expectation
value of the symmetrized product of the position and momentum operators of the
NMR. This extra current term, with a coefficient coming from the combination of
the imaginary parts of the QPC reservoir correlation functions, has a
substantial contribution to the total transient current in the non-Markovian
case, but was generally ignored in the studies of the same problem in the
literature. Considering the contribution of this extra term, we show that a
significantly qualitative and quantitative difference in the total transient
current between the non-Markovian and the Markovian wide-band-limit cases can
be observed. Thus, it may serve as a witness or signature of the non-Markovian
features in the coupled NMR-QPC system.Comment: Accepted for publication in Physical Review B (20 pages, 13 figures
Prevalence of latent tuberculosis infection in persons with and without human immunodeficiency virus infection using two interferon-gamma release assays and tuberculin skin test in a low human immunodeficiency virus prevalence, intermediate tuberculosis-burden country
BackgroundThe risk of tuberculosis (TB) is higher in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected patients and intravenous drug users (IDUs). We determined the prevalence and risk factors of latent TB infection (LTBI) in individuals with or without HIV infection, including IDUs, in a country with a low HIV prevalence, an intermediate TB burden, and a high Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine coverage using two interferon-gamma release assays (IGRAs) and the tuberculin skin test (TST).MethodsFor this prospective, cross-sectional study, HIV-infected and -uninfected patients from a regional hospital and medical center in Taiwan were enrolled. Results of the two IGRAs [QuantiFERON-TB Gold (QFT-G) and QuantiFERON-TB Gold In-Tube (QFT-GIT)] and the TST were compared. Risk factors for positivity were analyzed.ResultsWe recruited 233 patients [198 (85%) men; mean age, 39.4 years]. Most patients (74%) were BCG vaccinated. The prevalence of LTBI was estimated to be 22.8% by TST, 15.9% by QFT-G, and 20.6% by QFT-GIT. HIV-infected individuals had fewer positive QFT-GIT [7.0% vs. 28.6%, p < 0.001, adjusted odds ratio (aOR) = 0.28, p = 0.05] and TST results, and more indeterminate QFT-G responses (9.3% vs. 0.7%, p = 0.002). Concordance between IGRAs and TST was very poor in HIV-infected patients (κ < 0.05). Independent risk factors for IGRA positivity were increasing age (QFT-G: aOR = 1.98, p = 0.03; QFT-GIT: aOR = 2.00, p = 0.01) and IDUs (aOR = 4.33, p = 0.05 by QFT-G).ConclusionHIV-infected persons had a significantly lower response to both IGRAs and TST. High discordance was found between the two generations of IGRAs and between IGRAs and TST. Increasing age, a known risk factor for LTBI, was significantly associated with IGRAs, but not with TST
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