311 research outputs found
On the quantumness of correlations in nuclear magnetic resonance
Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) was successfully employed to test several
protocols and ideas in Quantum Information Science. In most of these
implementations the existence of entanglement was ruled out. This fact
introduced concerns and questions about the quantum nature of such bench tests.
In this article we address some issues related to the non-classical aspects of
NMR systems. We discuss some experiments where the quantum aspects of this
system are supported by quantum correlations of separable states. Such
quantumness, beyond the entanglement-separability paradigm, is revealed via a
departure between the quantum and the classical versions of information theory.
In this scenario, the concept of quantum discord seems to play an important
role. We also present an experimental implementation of an analogous of the
single-photon Mach-Zehnder interferometer employing two nuclear spins to encode
the interferometric paths. This experiment illustrate how non-classical
correlations of separable states may be used to simulate quantum dynamics. The
results obtained are completely equivalent to the optical scenario, where
entanglement (between two field modes) may be present
Normalization procedure for relaxation studies in NMR quantum information processing
NMR quantum information processing studies rely on the reconstruction of the
density matrix representing the so-called pseudo-pure states (PPS). An
initially pure part of a PPS state undergoes unitary and non-unitary
(relaxation) transformations during a computation process, causing a "loss of
purity" until the equilibrium is reached. Besides, upon relaxation, the nuclear
polarization varies in time, a fact which must be taken into account when
comparing density matrices at different instants. Attempting to use time-fixed
normalization procedures when relaxation is present, leads to various anomalies
on matrices populations. On this paper we propose a method which takes into
account the time-dependence of the normalization factor. From a generic form
for the deviation density matrix an expression for the relaxing initial pure
state is deduced. The method is exemplified with an experiment of relaxation of
the concurrence of a pseudo-entangled state, which exhibits the phenomenon of
sudden death, and the relaxation of the Wigner function of a pseudo-cat state.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures, to appear in QI
Elastic effects on relaxation volume tensor calculations
Relaxation volume tensors quantify the effect of stress on diffusion of
crystal defects. Continuum linear elasticity predicts that calculations of
these parameters using periodic boundary conditions do not suffer from
systematic deviations due to elastic image effects and should be independent of
supercell size or symmetry. In practice, however, calculations of formation
volume tensors of the interstitial in Stillinger-Weber silicon
demonstrate that changes in bonding at the defect affect the elastic moduli and
result in system-size dependent relaxation volumes. These vary with the inverse
of the system size. Knowing the rate of convergence permits accurate estimates
of these quantities from modestly sized calculations. Furthermore, within the
continuum linear elasticity assumptions the average stress can be used to
estimate the relaxation volume tensor from constant volume calculations.Comment: 31 pages, 6 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.
Quantum state tomography and quantum logical operations in a three qubits NMR quadrupolar system
In this work, we present an implementation of quantum logic gates and
algorithms in a three effective qubits system, represented by a (I = 7/2) NMR
quadrupolar nuclei. To implement these protocols we have used the strong
modulating pulses (SMP). The various stages of each implementation were
verified by quantum state tomography (QST). It is presented here the results
for the computational base states, Toffolli logic gates, and Deutsch-Jozsa and
Grover algorithms. Also, we discuss the difficulties and advantages of
implementing such protocols using the SMP technique in quadrupolar systems.Comment: 24 pages, 8 figure
Pulmonary Embolism Mimicking Pneumonia in a HIV Patient
Recent studies have shown an increased risk of arterial and venous vascular diseases in HIV patients, pulmonary thromboembolism being one of them. HIV-infected individuals may have procoagulants predisposing them to thromboembolism. Patients with thromboembolism may have a clinical presentation mimicking common opportunistic infections. It is important to consider pulmonary embolism in the differential of HIV patients with fever, cough, and dyspnea, particularly in those with well-controlled HIV infection
Structural analysis of the O-acetylated O-polysaccharide isolated from Salmonella Paratyphi A and used for vaccine preparation
Salmonella paratyphi A is increasingly recognized as a common cause of enteric fever cases and there are no licensed vaccines against this infection. Antibodies directed against the O-polysaccharide of the lipopolysaccharide of Salmonella are protective and conjugation of the O-polysaccharide to a carrier protein represents a promising strategy for vaccine development. O-Acetylation of S. paratyphi A O-polysaccharide is considered important for the immunogenicity of S. paratyphi A conjugate vaccines. Here, as part of a programme to produce a bivalent conjugate vaccine against both S. typhi and S. paratyphi A diseases, we have fully elucidated the O-polysaccharide structure of S. paratyphi A by use of HPLC\u2013SEC, HPAEC\u2013PAD/CD, GLC, GLC\u2013MS, 1D and 2D-NMR spectroscopy. In particular, chemical and NMR studies identified the presence of O-acetyl groups on C-2 and C-3 of rhamnose in the lipopolysaccharide repeating unit, at variance with previous reports of O-acetylation at a single position. Moreover HR-MAS NMR analysis performed directly on bacterial pellets from several strains of S. paratyphi A also showed O-acetylation on C-2 and C-3 of rhamnose, thus this pattern is common and not an artefact from O-polysaccharide purification. Conjugation of the O-polysaccharide to the carrier protein had little impact on O-acetylation and therefore should not adversely affect the immunogenicity of the vaccine
Poly (ethyl 2-cyanoacrylate) nanoparticles (PECA-NPs) as possible agents in tumor treatment
Tumor eradication has many challenges due to the difficulty of selectively delivering anticancer drugs to malignant cells avoiding contact with healthy tissues/organs. The improvement of antitumor efficacy and the reduction of systemic side effects can be achieved using drug loaded nanoparticles. In this study, poly (ethyl 2-cyanoacrylate) nanoparticles (PECA-NPs) were prepared using an emulsion polymerization method and their potential for cancer treatment was investigated. The size, polydispersity index and zeta potential of prepared nanoparticles are about 80 nm, 0.08 and −39.7 mV, respectively. The stability test shows that the formulation is stable for 15 days, while an increase in particle size occurs after 30 days. TEM reveals the spherical morphology of nanoparticles; furthermore, FTIR and 1 H NMR analyses confirm the structure of PECA-NPs and the complete polymerization. The nanoparticles demonstrate an in vitro concentration-dependent cytotoxicity against human epithelial colorectal adenocarcinoma cell lines (Caco-2), as assessed by MTT assay. The anticancer activity of PECA-NPs was studied on 3D tumor spheroids models of hepatocellular carcinoma (HepG2) and kidney adenocarcinoma cells (A498) to better understand how the nanoparticles could interact with a complex structure such as a tumor. The results confirm the antitumor activity of PECA-NPs. Therefore, these systems can be considered good candidates in tumor treatment
Purification of antibodies to O antigen of Salmonella Typhimurium from human serum by affinity chromatography
AbstractNontyphoidal Salmonellae (NTS) are a common cause of bacteraemia in children and HIV-infected adults in Sub-Saharan Africa. We have previously shown that antibodies play a key role in both bactericidal and cellular mechanisms of immunity to NTS, but found that high concentrations of antibody to Salmonella Typhimurium O antigen (OAg) in the serum of some HIV-infected African adults is associated with impaired killing of NTS. To further investigate the function of antibodies to the OAg of NTS, we developed a method to purify these antibodies from human serum by affinity chromatography. Purified Salmonella Typhimurium OAg was activated with adipic acid dihydrazide (ADH) via two different chemistries before linking to N-hydroxysuccinamide-Sepharose resin: one ADH molecule was introduced per OAg chain on its terminal 3-deoxy-D-manno-octulosonic acid sugar (OAg–ADH), or multiple ADH molecules were attached along the OAg chain after oxidation with sodium periodate (OAgoxADH). Both resulting columns worked well when tested with commercial polyclonal anti-O:4,5 antibodies from rabbit serum. Over 90% of the applied antibodies bound to the resin and 89% of these antibodies were then eluted as detected by ELISA. OAg–ADH was preferred as the method for OAg derivatisation as it does not modify the saccharide chain and can be applied to OAg from different bacteria. Both columns were able to bind OAg-specific antibodies in human serum, but antibody recovery was initially low. Different elution buffers were tested and different amounts of OAg–ADH were linked to the resin to improve the yield. Optimal recovery (51%) was obtained by loading 1mg of activated OAg per ml of resin and eluting with 0.1M glycine, 0.1M NaCl pH2.4. The column matrix could be regenerated following elution with no detectable loss in performance for over ten uses. This method offers the potential to purify antibodies to Salmonella OAg from polyclonal serum following vaccination or natural exposure to Salmonella and so investigate the functionality and diversity of the antibody response to OAg
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