The Role of the Environment in Chaotic Quantum Dynamics

We study how the interaction with an external incoherent environment induces a crossover from quantum to classical behavior for a particle whose classical motion is chaotic. Posing the problem in the semiclassical regime, we find that noise produced by the bath coupling rather than dissipation is primarily responsible for the dephasing that results in the ``classicalization'' of the particle. We find that the bath directly alters the phase space structures that signal the onset of classical chaos. This dephasing is shown to have a semiclassical interpretation: the noise renders the interfering paths indistinguishable and therefore incoherent. The noise is also shown to contribute to the quantum inhibition of mixing by creating new paths that interfere coherently.Comment: 10 pages RevTex. Three figures in Postscript as a uuencoded compressed tar file have been submitted as wel

The Inhibition of Mixing in Chaotic Quantum Dynamics

We study the quantum chaotic dynamics of an initially well-localized wave packet in a cosine potential perturbed by an external time-dependent force. For our choice of initial condition and with $\hbar$ small but finite, we find that the wave packet behaves classically (meaning that the quantum behavior is indistinguishable from that of the analogous classical system) as long as the motion is confined to the interior of the remnant separatrix of the cosine potential. Once the classical motion becomes unbounded, however, we find that quantum interference effects dominate. This interference leads to a long-lived accumulation of quantum amplitude on top of the cosine barrier. This pinning of the amplitude on the barrier is a dynamic mechanism for the quantum inhibition of classical mixing.Comment: 20 pages, RevTeX format with 6 Postscript figures appended in uuencoded tar.Z forma

Recurrences in Driven Quantum Systems

We consider an initially bound quantum particle subject to an external time-dependent field. When the external field is large, the particle shows a tendency to repeatedly return to its initial state, irrespective of whether the frequency of the field is sufficient for escape from the well. These recurrences, which are absent in a classical calculation, arise from the system evolving primarily like a free particle in the external field.Comment: 10 pages in RevTeX format, with three PS files appende

Decoherence, Chaos, and the Correspondence Principle

We present evidence that decoherence can produce a smooth quantum-to-classical transition in nonlinear dynamical systems. High-resolution tracking of quantum and classical evolutions reveals differences in expectation values of corresponding observables. Solutions of master equations demonstrate that decoherence destroys quantum interference in Wigner distributions and washes out fine structure in classical distributions bringing the two closer together. Correspondence between quantum and classical expectation values is also re-established.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures (color figures embedded at low resolution), uses RevTeX plus macro (included). Phys. Rev. Lett. (in press

Will emergency and surgical patients participate in and complete alcohol interventions? A systematic review

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>In the everyday surgical life, staff may experience that patients with Alcohol Use Disorders (AUDs) seem reluctant to participate in alcohol intervention programs. The objective was therefore to assess acceptance of screening and intervention as well as adherence to the intervention program among emergency department (ED) and surgical patients with AUDs.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A systematic literature search was followed by extraction of acceptance and adherence rates in ED and surgical patients. Numbers needed to screen (NNS) were calculated. Subgroup analyses were carried out based on different study characteristics.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The literature search revealed 33 relevant studies. Of these, 31 were randomized trials, 28 were conducted in EDs and 31 evaluated the effect of brief alcohol intervention. Follow-up was mainly conducted after six and/or twelve months.</p> <p>Four in five ED patients accepted alcohol screening and two in three accepted participation in intervention. In surgical patients, two in three accepted screening and the intervention acceptance rate was almost 100%. The adherence rate was above 60% for up to twelve months in both ED and surgical patients. The NNS to identify one eligible AUD patient and to get one eligible patient to accept participation in alcohol intervention varied from a few up to 70 patients.</p> <p>The rates did not differ between randomized and non-randomized trials, brief and intensive interventions or validated and self-reported alcohol consumption. Adherence rates were not affected by patients' group allocation and type of follow-up.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Most emergency and surgical patients with AUD accept participation in alcohol screening and interventions and complete the intervention program.</p

RNA metabolism is the primary target of formamide in vivo

The synthesis, processing and function of coding and non-coding RNA molecules and their interacting proteins has been the focus of a great deal of research that has boosted our understanding of key molecular pathways that underlie higher order events such as cell cycle control, development, innate immune response and the occurrence of genetic diseases. In this study, we have found that formamide preferentially weakens RNA related processes in vivo. Using a non-essential Schizosaccharomyces pombe gene deletion collection, we identify deleted loci that make cells sensitive to formamide. Sensitive deletions are significantly enriched in genes involved in RNA metabolism. Accordingly, we find that previously known temperature-sensitive splicing mutants become lethal in the presence of the drug under permissive temperature. Furthermore, in a wild type background, splicing efficiency is decreased and R-loop formation is increased in the presence of formamide. In addition, we have also isolated 35 formamide-sensitive mutants, many of which display remarkable morphology and cell cycle defects potentially unveiling new players in the regulation of these processes. We conclude that formamide preferentially targets RNA related processes in vivo, probably by relaxing RNA secondary structures and/or RNA-protein interactions, and can be used as an effective tool to characterize these processes