Robustness of noise-present Bell's inequality violation by entangled state

The robustness of Bell's inequality (in CHSH form) violation by entangled state in the simultaneous presence of colored and white noise in the system is considered. A twophoton polarization state is modeled by twoparameter density matrix. Setting parameter values one can vary the relative fraction of pure entangled Bell's state as well as white and colored noise fractions. Bell's operator-parameter dependence analysis is made. Computational results are compared with experimental data [quant-ph/0511265] and with results computed using a oneparameter density matrix [doi: 10.1103/PhysRevA.72.052112], which one can get as a special case of the model considered in this work.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figure

Improved RA classification among early arthritis patients with the concordant presence of three RA autoantibodies: Analysis in two early arthritis clinics

Background: The patients with RA benefit from early identification soon after the first clinical symptoms appear. The 2010 ACR/EULAR classification criteria were developed to fulfill this need and their application has been demonstrated to be effective. However, there is still room for improvement. Therefore, we aimed to evaluate the potential of the concordant presence of RF, anti-CCP and anti-carbamylated protein antibodies to improve current RA classification among early arthritis (EA) patients. Methods: Data from the first visit of 1057 patients in two EA prospective cohorts were used. The serological scores from the 2010 ACR/EULAR criteria and the concordant presence of the three RA autoantibodies were assessed relative to a gold standard consisting of the RA classification with the 1987 ACR criteria at the 2 years of follow-up. Results: The concordant presence of three antibodies showed predictive characteristics allowing for direct classification as RA (positive predictive value = 96.1% and OR = 80.9). They were significantly better than the corresponding to the high antibody titers defined as in the 2010 classification criteria (PPV = 88.8%, OR = 26.1). In addition, the concordant presence of two antibodies was also very informative (PPV = 82.3%, OR = 15.1). These results allowed devising a scoring system based only on antibody concordance that displayed similar overall performance as the serological scoring system of the 2010 criteria. However, the best classification was obtained combining the concordance and 2010 serological systems, a combination with a significant contribution from each of the two systems. Discussion: The concordant presence of RA autoantibodies showed an independent contribution to the classification of EA patients that permitted increased discrimination and precision.This work was supported by the Instituto de Salud Carlos III (Spain) through grants [PI17/01606 and RD16/0012/0014 to AG; RD16/0012/0011 to IG-A and RD16/0012/0012 to AB]. These grants are partially financed by the European Regional Development Fund of the EU (FEDER). CR was supported by Ministerio de Educacion Cultura y Deporte (Spain) through a FPU pre-doctoral fellowship [FPU15/03434]. LR-M was supported by a Xunta de Galicia predoctoral contract

Entanglement quantification from incomplete measurements: Applications using photon-number-resolving weak homodyne detectors

The certificate of success for a number of important quantum information processing protocols, such as entanglement distillation, is based on the difference in the entanglement content of the quantum states before and after the protocol. In such cases, effective bounds need to be placed on the entanglement of non-local states consistent with statistics obtained from local measurements. In this work, we study numerically the ability of a novel type of homodyne detector which combines phase sensitivity and photon-number resolution to set accurate bounds on the entanglement content of two-mode quadrature squeezed states without the need for full state tomography. We show that it is possible to set tight lower bounds on the entanglement of a family of two-mode degaussified states using only a few measurements. This presents a significant improvement over the resource requirements for the experimental demonstration of continuous-variable entanglement distillation, which traditionally relies on full quantum state tomography.Comment: 18 pages, 6 figure

A predominant involvement of the triple seropositive patients and others with rheumatoid factor in the association of smoking with rheumatoid arthritis

The major environmental risk factor for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is smoking, which according to a widely accepted model induces protein citrullination in the lungs, triggering the production of anticitrullinated protein antibodies (ACPA) and RA development. Nevertheless, some research findings do not fit this model. Therefore, we obtained six independent cohorts with 2253 RA patients for a detailed analysis of the association between smoking and RA autoantibodies. Our results showed a predominant association of smoking with the concurrent presence of the three antibodies: rheumatoid factor (RF), ACPA and anti-carbamylated protein antibodies (ACarPA) (3 Ab vs. 0 Ab: OR = 1.99, p = 2.5 × 10?8). Meta-analysis with previous data (4491 patients) confirmed the predominant association with the concurrent presence of the three antibodies (3 Ab vs. 0 Ab: OR = 2.00, p = 4.4 ×10?16) and revealed that smoking was exclusively associated with the presence of RF in patients with one or two antibodies (RF+ 1+2 vs. RF? 0+1+2: OR = 1.32, p = 0.0002). In contrast, no specific association with ACPA or ACarPA was found. Therefore, these results showed the need to understand how smoking favors the concordance of RA specific antibodies and RF triggering, perhaps involving smoking-induced epitope spreading and other hypothesized mechanisms

Comparison of classic and generalized intersection approach for the synthesis of transmitarrays with near-field constraints

International audienceIn this work, two different methods based on the Intersection Approach (IA) for the synthesis of transmitarrays are compared. The first method leverages the Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) to efficiently seek solutions when constraints are enforced only on planes parallel to the radiating aperture.The second method aims to overcome the limitations of the first one in terms of generality, using a different model for the nearfield computation and an alternative algorithm for thebackward operator. To benchmark the two methods, the synthesis of a relatively large (576 elements) Ka-band transmitarray with a shaped near-field pattern is performed.The results reveal certain advantages and disadvantages for each method. The classic IA demonstrates faster convergence to a solution due the reduced computational complexity of the FFT. Conversely, the generalized IA yields slightly better fulfillment of the imposed requirements. Importantly, both solutions closely align with the challenging objectives of thesynthesis

Compact Continuous-Variable Entanglement Distillation

We introduce a new scheme for continuous-variable entanglement distillation that requires only linear temporal and constant physical or spatial resources. Distillation is the process by which high-quality entanglement may be distributed between distant nodes of a network in the unavoidable presence of decoherence. The known versions of this protocol scale exponentially in space and doubly exponentially in time. Our optimal scheme therefore provides exponential improvements over existing protocols. It uses a fixed-resource module-an entanglement distillery-comprising only four quantum memories of at most 50% storage efficiency and allowing a feasible experimental implementation. Tangible quantum advantages are obtainable by using existing off-resonant Raman quantum memories outside their conventional role of storage

Value of Measuring Anti-Carbamylated Protein Antibodies for Classification on Early Arthritis Patients

Abstract Classification of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) as quickly as possible improves their prognosis. This reason motivates specially dedicated early arthritis (EA) clinics. Here, we have used 1062 EA patients with two years of follow-up to explore the value of anti-carbamylated protein (anti-CarP) antibodies, a new type of RA specific autoantibodies, for classification. Specifically, we aimed to determine whether the addition of anti-CarP antibodies to IgM rheumatoid factor (RF) and anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide (anti-CCP) antibodies, which are helpful in RA classification, improves it or not. Our analysis showed that incorporation of the anti-CarP antibodies to combinations of the other two antibodies (all joint by the OR Boolean operator) produces a modest increase in sensitivity (2.2% higher), at the cost of decreased specificity (8.1% lower). The cost-benefit ratio was more favorable in the patients lacking the other autoantibodies. However, it did not improve by considering different titer levels of the anti-CarP antibodies, or after exhaustively exploring other antibody combinations. Therefore, the place in RA classification of these antibodies is questionable in the context of current treatments and biomarkers. This conclusion does not exclude their potential value for stratifying patients in joint damage, disease activity, disability, or mortality categories

Persistent high disease activity in the anticarbamylated protein antibody positive early arthritis patients independently of treatment

Background: There is great interest in the identification of prognostic biomarkers informing early therapeutic decisions for the improvement of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) evolution. Promising results in early arthritis (EA) patients indicate the anti-carbamylated protein antibodies (ACarPA) may serve this function. In effect, they are associated with high baseline disease activity and, in our patients, with less improvement in the first 6-months of follow-up. This association was independent of sex, age at diagnosis, time since symptoms onset, smoking and the year of onset. However, the influence of the treatment has not been explored yet. Objectives: We aimed to explore the influence of the initial treatment on the persistent high disease activity associated with the presence of ACarPA in EA patients. Methods: Samples were obtained at the first visit of two EA cohorts from Hospital Universitario La Paz and Hospital Universitario La Princesa, which recruit patients within one year from the clinical onset. Information on the initial treatment and the disease activity at the baseline and at 6-months of follow-up was available from 546 patients. Treatment was categorized according to the use of corticosteroids, methotrexate (MTX) and other DMARDs, and considering changes in the first 6 months. In addition, MTX dose was considered either quantitatively or as a dichotomous variable (? 12.5 mg and < 12.5 mg). Main effects general linear regression was used for analysis, including the treatment and the other confounders as covariates. Results: A large fraction (83%) of the EA patients received specific treatment from the initial visit. It comprised DMARD (50.1%), corticosteroids (10.6%), or a combination of both (39.3%). The most common DMARD was MTX (82.2%), whereas less frequently used medications included sulfasalazine (5.4%), leflunomide (3.2%), hydroxychloroquine (8.1%) and other (1.0%). The 35.5% of the treated patients maintained the treatment during the 6-month follow-up. The presence of ACarPA was associated with a 0.45 higher mean baseline DAS28 and with less decrease of DAS28 (?DAS28) from the baseline to 6 months of follow-up (? = 0.08, p = 0.016), as already communicated. This latter association persisted without modification after accounting for the initial treatment (DMARD, corticosteroids, and changes in treatment). In addition, it was independent of the consideration of all DMARDs in a single group, or separated into two categories: MTX and the other. Similarly, the association was independent on MTX dose, defined both as a categorical or a quantitative variable. Conclusion: The association of ACarPA with a persistently increased disease activity in EA patients is independent of the initial treatment. These results reinforce the possibility that ACarPA can be useful as prognostic biomarkers for the first 6 months of evolution and indicate the need for personalized management of the patients carrying ACarPA