Controlled Secret Sharing Protocol using a Quantum Cloning Circuit

We demonstrate the possibility of controlling the success probability of a secret sharing protocol using a quantum cloning circuit. The cloning circuit is used to clone the qubits containing the encoded information and {\em en route} to the intended receipients. The success probability of the protocol depends on the cloning parameters used to clone the qubits. We also establish a relation between the concurrence of initially prepared state, entanglement of the mixed state received by the receivers after cloning scheme and the cloning parameters of cloning machine.Comment: This is a modified version of the previous work quant-ph/arXiv:1011.286

Similarity of molecular phenotype between known epilepsy gene LGI1 and disease candidate gene LGI2

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The LGI2 (leucine-rich, glioma inactivated 2) gene, a prime candidate for partial epilepsy with pericentral spikes, belongs to a family encoding secreted, beta-propeller domain proteins with EPTP/EAR epilepsy-associated repeats. In another family member, LGI1 (leucine-rich, glioma inactivated 1) mutations are responsible for autosomal dominant lateral temporal epilepsy (ADLTE). Because a few LGI1 disease mutations described in the literature cause secretion failure, we experimentally analyzed the secretion efficiency and subcellular localization of several LGI1 and LGI2 mutant proteins corresponding to observed non-synonymous single nucleotide polymorphisms (nsSNPs) affecting the signal peptide, the leucine-rich repeats and the EAR propeller.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Mapping of disease-causing mutations in the EAR domain region onto a 3D-structure model shows that many of these mutations co-localize at an evolutionary conserved surface region of the propeller. We find that wild-type LGI2 is secreted to the extracellular medium in glycosylated form similarly to LGI1, whereas several mutant proteins tested in this study are secretion-deficient and accumulate in the endoplasmic reticulum. Interestingly, mutations at structurally homologous positions in the EAR domain have the same effect on secretion in LGI1 and LGI2.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>This similarity of experimental mislocalization phenotypes for mutations at homologous positions of LGI2 and the established epilepsy gene LGI1 suggests that both genes share a potentially common molecular pathogenesis mechanism that might be the reason for genotypically distinct but phenotypically related forms of epilepsy.</p

DMA, a Bisbenzimidazole, Offers Radioprotection by Promoting NFκB Transactivation through NIK/IKK in Human Glioma Cells

BACKGROUND: Ionizing radiation (IR) exposure often occurs for human beings through occupational, medical, environmental, accidental and/or other sources. Thus, the role of radioprotector is essential to overcome the complex series of overlapping responses to radiation induced DNA damage. METHODS AND RESULTS: Treatment of human glioma U87 cells with DMA (5- {4-methylpiperazin-1-yl}-2-[2'-(3, 4-dimethoxyphenyl)-5'-benzimidazolyl] in the presence or absence of radiation uncovered differential regulation of an array of genes and proteins using microarray and 2D PAGE techniques. Pathway construction followed by relative quantitation of gene expression of the identified proteins and their interacting partners led to the identification of MAP3K14 (NFκB inducing kinase, NIK) as the candidate gene affected in response to DMA. Subsequently, over expression and knock down of NIK suggested that DMA affects NFκB inducing kinase mediated phosphorylation of IKKα and IKKβ both alone and in the presence of ionizing radiation (IR). The TNF-α induced NFκB dependent luciferase reporter assay demonstrated 1.65, 2.26 and 3.62 fold increase in NFκB activation at 10, 25 and 50 µM DMA concentrations respectively, compared to control cells. This activation was further increased by 5.8 fold in drug + radiation (50 µM +8.5 Gy) treated cells in comparison to control. We observed 51% radioprotection in control siRNA transfected cells that attenuated to 15% in siRNA NIK treated U87 cells, irradiated in presence of DMA at 24 h. CONCLUSIONS: Our studies show that NIK/IKK mediated NFκB activation is more intensified in cells over expressing NIK and treated with DMA, alone or in combination with ionizing radiation, indicating that DMA promotes NIK mediated NFκB signaling. This subsequently leads to the radioprotective effect exhibited by DMA

May Measurement Month 2018: a pragmatic global screening campaign to raise awareness of blood pressure by the International Society of Hypertension

Aims Raised blood pressure (BP) is the biggest contributor to mortality and disease burden worldwide and fewer than half of those with hypertension are aware of it. May Measurement Month (MMM) is a global campaign set up in 2017, to raise awareness of high BP and as a pragmatic solution to a lack of formal screening worldwide. The 2018 campaign was expanded, aiming to include more participants and countries. Methods and results Eighty-nine countries participated in MMM 2018. Volunteers (≥18 years) were recruited through opportunistic sampling at a variety of screening sites. Each participant had three BP measurements and completed a questionnaire on demographic, lifestyle, and environmental factors. Hypertension was defined as a systolic BP ≥140 mmHg or diastolic BP ≥90 mmHg, or taking antihypertensive medication. In total, 74.9% of screenees provided three BP readings. Multiple imputation using chained equations was used to impute missing readings. 1 504 963 individuals (mean age 45.3 years; 52.4% female) were screened. After multiple imputation, 502 079 (33.4%) individuals had hypertension, of whom 59.5% were aware of their diagnosis and 55.3% were taking antihypertensive medication. Of those on medication, 60.0% were controlled and of all hypertensives, 33.2% were controlled. We detected 224 285 individuals with untreated hypertension and 111 214 individuals with inadequately treated (systolic BP ≥ 140 mmHg or diastolic BP ≥ 90 mmHg) hypertension. Conclusion May Measurement Month expanded significantly compared with 2017, including more participants in more countries. The campaign identified over 335 000 adults with untreated or inadequately treated hypertension. In the absence of systematic screening programmes, MMM was effective at raising awareness at least among these individuals at risk