Experimental observation of the breaking and recombination of single Cooper pairs

We observe the real-time breaking of single Cooper pairs by monitoring the radio-frequency impedance of a superconducting double quantum dot. The Cooper pair breaking rate in the microscale islands of our device decreases as temperature is reduced, saturating at 2 kHz for temperatures beneath 100 mK. In addition, we measure in real-time the quasiparticle recombination into Cooper pairs. Analysis of the recombination rates shows that, in contrast to bulk lms, a multi-stage recombination pathway is followed.A.J.F. would like to acknowledge the Hitachi Research fellowship, support from Hitachi Cambridge Laboratory and support from the EPSRC grant EP/H016872/1. B.W.L. is supported by a Royal Society University Research Fellowship. F.A.P. would like to thank the Leverhulme Trust for fi nancial support.This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from APS via http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.90.14050

Immunotherapy for arterial ischaemic stroke in childhood: a systematic review

BACKGROUND: There is little evidence about either prevention or treatment of childhood arterial ischaemic stroke (AIS). However, drugs that regulate the immune and inflammatory response could theoretically prevent occurrence or recurrence of AIS. Additionally, as an acute treatment, they may limit the neurological damage caused by AIS. Here, we systematically review the evidence on the use of immunotherapy in childhood AIS. DESIGN: A systematic review of publications in databases Embase and Medline from inception. All types of evidence were included from trials, cohorts, case-control and cross-sectional studies and case reports. RESULTS: 34 reports were included: 32 observational studies and 2 trials. Immunotherapy was used in two key patient groups: arteriopathy and acute infection. The majority were cases of varicella and primary angiitis of the central nervous system. All three cohorts and 80% of the case studies were treated with steroids. Recurrence rates were low. Analytical studies weakly associated steroids with lower odds of new stroke and neurological deficits, and better cognitive outcomes in the context of Moyamoya disease and tuberculosis. CONCLUSIONS: Immunotherapies are used in children with AIS, mainly as steroids for children with arteriopathy. However, there is currently little robust evidence to either encourage or discourage this practice. There is weak evidence consistent with the hypothesis that in certain children at risk, steroids may both reduce the risk of occurrent/recurrent stroke and enhance neurological outcomes. As the potential benefit is still uncertain, this indicates that a trial of steroids in childhood AIS may be justified

The metformin in tuberous sclerosis (MiTS) study: A randomised double-blind placebo-controlled trial

Background: Tuberous Sclerosis Complex (TSC) is a genetic disorder characterised by the development of benign tumours secondary to loss of inhibitory regulation of the mTOR (mechanistic Target of Rapamycin) intracellular growth pathway. Metformin inhibits the mTOR pathway. We investigated whether metformin would reduce growth of hamartomas associated with tuberous sclerosis complex. / Methods: In this multicentre randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, patients with a clinical diagnosis of tuberous sclerosis, aged over 10 years and with at least one renal angiomyolipoma of greater than 1 cm in diameter were enrolled. Participants were randomly allocated (1:1) by a secure website to receive metformin or placebo for 12 months. The primary outcome was percentage volume change of renal angiomyolipomas (AML) at 12 months compared to baseline. Secondary outcomes were percentage change at 12 months from baseline in volume of cerebral Subependymal Giant Cell Astrocytomas (SEGA); appearance of facial and ungual hamartomas; frequency of epileptic seizures; and adaptive behaviour. The trial is registered with The International Standard Randomised Controlled Trial Number (ISRCTN), number 92545532, and the European Union Drug Regulating Authorities Clinical Trials (EUDRACT), number 2011-001319-30. / Findings: Between 1 November 2012 and 30 September 2015 72 patients were screened and 55 were randomly assigned to metformin (28) or placebo (27). Four participants withdrew between randomisation and starting treatment. All 51 patients who started therapy completed the trial and were assessed for outcome at 12 months. The median percentage change in angiomyolipoma (AML) volume was +7.6% (IQR -1.8% to +42.6%) for the placebo group and +8.9% (IQR 1.3% to 19.5%) for the metformin group (p = 0.28). Twenty-seven patients had SEGAs: 13 received placebo and 14 metformin. The median percentage change in SEGA volume was +3.0% (IQR -22.8% to +27.7%) for the placebo group and – 20.8% (IQR – 47.1% to - 5.0%) for the metformin group (p = 0.03). Twenty-one patients were assessed for seizure frequency: 9 received placebo and 12 received metformin. In the metformin group, a mean reduction of 43.7% from baseline in seizures was observed and in the placebo group a 3.1% mean reduction was observed, with a difference in response of 40.6% (95% CI -3.1% to +84.2%, p = 0.03). There were no significant differences between metformin and placebo groups for the other secondary outcomes. There were no deaths. Three serious adverse events (SAEs) occurred during the trial (all patients on metformin). / Interpretation: Metformin did not reduce AML volume. Metformin did reduce SEGA volume and seizure frequency compared with placebo. There may be a role for metformin in slowing or reversing growth of some life-threatening hamartomas in TSC and for reducing seizure frequency. Further study is justified. / Funding: This study was funded by the National Institute for Health and Research (NIHR) through the The Research for Patient Benefit Programme (RfPB)

Field-Aligned Current During an Interval of BY-Dominated Interplanetary-Field; Modeled-to-Observed Comparisons

We model an interval of remarkable interplanetary magnetic field (IMF), for which we have a comprehensive set of observational data. This interval is associated with the arrival of an interplanetary coronal mass ejection. The solar wind densities at the time are particularly high and the IMF is primarily northward over many hours. This results in strong auroral emissions within the polar cap in a cusp spot, which we associate with lobe reconnection at the high-latitude magnetopause. We also observe areas of upwards field-aligned current (FAC) within the summer Northern Hemisphere polar cap that exhibit large current magnitudes. The model can reproduce the spatial distribution of the FACs well, even under changing conditions in the incoming IMF. Discrepancies exist between the modeled and observed current magnitudes. Notably, the winter Southern Hemisphere exhibits much lower current magnitudes overall. We also model a sharp transition of the location of magnetopause reconnection at the beginning of the interval, before the IMF remained northward for many hours. The reconnection location changed rapidly from a subsolar location at the low-latitude magnetopause under southward IMF conditions, to a high-latitude lobe reconnection location when the field is northward. This occurs during a fast rotation of the IMF at the shock front of a magnetic cloud

Ground-motion networks in the Groningen field: usability and consistency of surface recordings

Several strong-motion networks have been installed in the Groningen gas field in the Netherlands to record ground motions associated with induced earthquakes. There are now more than 450 permanent surface accelerographs plus a mobile array of 450 instruments, which, in addition to many instrumented boreholes, yield a wealth of data. The database of recordings has been of fundamental importance to the development of ground-motion models that form a key element of the seismic hazard and risk estimations for the field. In order to maximise the benefit that can be derived from these recordings, this study evaluates the usability of the recordings from the different networks, in general terms and specifically with regards to the frequency ranges with acceptable signal-to-noise ratios. The study also explores the consistency among the recordings from the different networks, highlighting in particular how a configuration error was identified and resolved. The largest accelerograph network consists of instruments housed in buildings around the field, frequently installed on the lower parts of walls rather than on the floor. A series of experiments were conducted, using additional instruments installed adjacent to these buildings and replicating the installation configuration in full-scale shake table tests, to identify the degree to which structural response contaminated the recordings. The general finding of these efforts was that for PGV and oscillator periods above 0.1 s, the response spectral ordinates from these recordings can be used with confidence

The attachments of the anteromedial and posterolateral fibre bundles of the anterior cruciate ligament: Part 1: tibial attachment.

Accepted versio

The Cesàro operator on Korenblum type spaces of analytic functions

[EN] The spectrum of the CesA ro operator , which is always continuous (but never compact) when acting on the classical Korenblum space and other related weighted Fr,chet or (LB) spaces of analytic functions on the open unit disc, is completely determined. It turns out that such spaces are always Schwartz but, with the exception of the Korenblum space, never nuclear. Some consequences concerning the mean ergodicity of are deduced.The research of the first two authors was partially supported by the projects MTM2013-43540-P and MTM2016-76647-P. The second author gratefully acknowledges the support of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.Albanese, A.; Bonet Solves, JA.; Ricker, WJ. (2018). The Cesàro operator on Korenblum type spaces of analytic functions. Collectanea mathematica. 69(2):263-281. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13348-017-0205-7S263281692Albanese, A.A., Bonet, J., Ricker, W.J.: Mean ergodic operators in Fréchet spaces. Ann. Acad. Sci. Fenn. Math. 34, 401–436 (2009)Albanese, A.A., Bonet, J., Ricker, W.J.: Montel resolvents and uniformly mean ergodic semigroups of linear operators. Quaest. Math. 36, 253–290 (2013)Albanese, A.A., Bonet, J., Ricker, W.J.: The Cesàro operator in growth Banach spaces of analytic functions. Integral Equ. Oper. Theory 86, 97–112 (2016)Albanese, A.A., Bonet, J., Ricker, W.J.: The Cesàro operator in the Fréchet spaces $$\ell ^{p+}$$ ℓ p + and $$L^{p-}$$ L p - . Glasgow Math. J. 59, 273–287 (2017)Albanese, A.A., Bonet, J., Ricker, W.J.: The Cesàro operator on power series spaces. Stud. Math. doi: 10.4064/sm8590-2-2017Aleman, A.: A class of integral operators on spaces of analytic functions, In: Proceedings of the Winter School in Operator Theory and Complex Analysis, Univ. Málaga Secr. Publ., Málaga, pp. 3–30 (2007)Aleman, A., Constantin, O.: Spectra of integration operators on weighted Bergman spaces. J. Anal. Math. 109, 199–231 (2009)Aleman, A., Peláez, J.A.: Spectra of integration operators and weighted square functions. Indiana Univ. Math. J. 61, 1–19 (2012)Aleman, A., Persson, A.-M.: Resolvent estimates and decomposable extensions of generalized Cesàro operators. J. Funct. Anal. 258, 67–98 (2010)Aleman, A., Siskakis, A.G.: An integral operator on $$H^p$$ H p . Complex Var. Theory Appl. 28, 149–158 (1995)Aleman, A., Siskakis, A.G.: Integration operators on Bergman spaces. Indiana Univ. Math. J. 46, 337–356 (1997)Barrett, D.E.: Duality between $$A^\infty$$ A ∞ and $$A^{- \infty }$$ A - ∞ on domains with nondegenerate corners, Multivariable operator theory (Seattle, WA, 1993), pp. 77–87, Contemporary Math. Vol. 185, Amer. Math. Soc., Providence (1995)Bierstedt, K.D., Bonet, J., Galbis, A.: Weighted spaces of holomorphic functions on bounded domains. Mich. Math. J. 40, 271–297 (1993)Bierstedt, K.D., Bonet, J., Taskinen, J.: Associated weights and spaces of holomorphic functions. Stud. Math. 127, 137–168 (1998)Bierstedt, K.D., Meise, R., Summers, W.H.: A projective description of weighted inductive limits. Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 272, 107–160 (1982)Bierstedt, K.D., Summers, W.H.: Biduals of weighted Banach spaces of analytic functions. J. Aust. Math. Soc. (Ser. A) 54, 70–79 (1993)Bonet, J., Domański, P., Lindström, M., Taskinen, J.: Composition operators between weighted Banach spaces of analytic functions. J. Aust. Math. Soc. (Ser. A) 64, 101–118 (1998)Diestel, J., Jarchow, H., Tonge, A.: Absolutely Summing Operators. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge (1995)Domenig, T.: Composition operators on weighted Bergman spaces and Hardy spaces. Atomic Decompositions and Diagonal Operators, Ph.D. Thesis, University of Zürich (1997). [Zbl 0909.47025]Domenig, T.: Composition operators belonging to operator ideals. J. Math. Anal. Appl. 237, 327–349 (1999)Dunford, N., Schwartz, J.T.: Linear Operators I: General Theory. 2nd Printing. 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Differential effects of pre and post-payment on neurologists' response rates to a postal survey

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Monetary incentives are an effective way of increasing response rates to surveys, though they are generally less effective in physicians, and are more effective when the incentive is paid up-front rather than when made conditional on completion.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>In this study we examine the effectiveness of pre- and post-completion incentives on the response rates of all the neurologists in the UK to a survey about conversion disorder, using a cluster randomised controlled design. A postal survey was sent to all practicing consultant neurologists, in two rounds, including either a book token, the promise of a book token, or nothing at all.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Three hundred and fifty-one of 591 eligible neurologists completed the survey, for a response rate of 59%. While the post-completion incentive exerted no discernible influence on response rates, a pre-completion incentive did, with an odds-ratio of 2.1 (95% confidence interval 1.5 - 3.0).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>We conclude that neurologists, in the UK at least, may be influenced to respond to a postal survey by a pre-payment incentive but are unaffected by a promised reward.</p

The Chemical Probes Portal: an expert review-based public resource to empower chemical probe assessment, selection and use.

We describe the Chemical Probes Portal (https://www.chemicalprobes.org/), an expert review-based public resource to empower chemical probe assessment, selection and use. Chemical probes are high-quality small-molecule reagents, often inhibitors, that are important for exploring protein function and biological mechanisms, and for validating targets for drug discovery. The publication, dissemination and use of chemical probes provide an important means to accelerate the functional annotation of proteins, the study of proteins in cell biology, physiology, and disease pathology, and to inform and enable subsequent pioneering drug discovery and development efforts. However, the widespread use of small-molecule compounds that are claimed as chemical probes but are lacking sufficient quality, especially being inadequately selective for the desired target or even broadly promiscuous in behaviour, has resulted in many erroneous conclusions in the biomedical literature. The Chemical Probes Portal was established as a public resource to aid the selection and best-practice use of chemical probes in basic and translational biomedical research. We describe the background, principles and content of the Portal and its technical development, as well as examples of its applications and use. The Chemical Probes Portal is a community resource and we therefore describe how researchers can be involved in its content and development

The attachments of the anteromedial and posterolateral fibre bundles of the anterior cruciate ligament. Part 2: femoral attachment.

Accepted versio