Explicit lower and upper bounds on the entangled value of multiplayer XOR games

XOR games are the simplest model in which the nonlocal properties of entanglement manifest themselves. When there are two players, it is well known that the bias --- the maximum advantage over random play --- of entangled players can be at most a constant times greater than that of classical players. Recently, P\'{e}rez-Garc\'{i}a et al. [Comm. Math. Phys. 279 (2), 2008] showed that no such bound holds when there are three or more players: the advantage of entangled players over classical players can become unbounded, and scale with the number of questions in the game. Their proof relies on non-trivial results from operator space theory, and gives a non-explicit existence proof, leading to a game with a very large number of questions and only a loose control over the local dimension of the players' shared entanglement. We give a new, simple and explicit (though still probabilistic) construction of a family of three-player XOR games which achieve a large quantum-classical gap (QC-gap). This QC-gap is exponentially larger than the one given by P\'{e}rez-Garc\'{i}a et. al. in terms of the size of the game, achieving a QC-gap of order $\sqrt{N}$ with $N^2$ questions per player. In terms of the dimension of the entangled state required, we achieve the same (optimal) QC-gap of $\sqrt{N}$ for a state of local dimension $N$ per player. Moreover, the optimal entangled strategy is very simple, involving observables defined by tensor products of the Pauli matrices. Additionally, we give the first upper bound on the maximal QC-gap in terms of the number of questions per player, showing that our construction is only quadratically off in that respect. Our results rely on probabilistic estimates on the norm of random matrices and higher-order tensors which may be of independent interest.Comment: Major improvements in presentation; results identica

Large violation of Bell inequalities with low entanglement

In this paper we obtain violations of general bipartite Bell inequalities of order $\frac{\sqrt{n}}{\log n}$ with $n$ inputs, $n$ outputs and $n$-dimensional Hilbert spaces. Moreover, we construct explicitly, up to a random choice of signs, all the elements involved in such violations: the coefficients of the Bell inequalities, POVMs measurements and quantum states. Analyzing this construction we find that, even though entanglement is necessary to obtain violation of Bell inequalities, the Entropy of entanglement of the underlying state is essentially irrelevant in obtaining large violation. We also indicate why the maximally entangled state is a rather poor candidate in producing large violations with arbitrary coefficients. However, we also show that for Bell inequalities with positive coefficients (in particular, games) the maximally entangled state achieves the largest violation up to a logarithmic factor.Comment: Reference [16] added. Some typos correcte

Production of traditional medicine: preparations accepted as medicines in Mali

A symposium paper on the preparation of medicinal herbs from Mali's plant species.Mali is a West African country without a coastline. Its sanitary situation is characterized by the predominance of parasitic illnesses, infections and nutritional diseases together with an insufficiency of qualified health workers, medicines and equipment. Due to this situation, 80% of the population use traditional medicine. In the Bandiagara District a study has shown that only 19.4% of current diseases have been cured by conventional medicine. Generally traditional medicine has been through 4 stages: • the only means of therapy; • the clandestine practice; • the tolerance period; • the creation of a research institute to promote traditional medicine.International Organization for Chemical Sciences in Development (IOCD

Screening of malian medicinal plants for antifungal, larvicidal, molluscicidal, antioxidant and radical scavenging activities

A total of 78 different extracts from 20 medicinal plants belonging to 14 plant families from Mali were tested for their antifungal, larvicidal, molluscicidal, antioxidant and radical scavenging activities. Dichloromethane, methanol, water and ethanol extracts were used. TLC autobiography for antifungal activity was run with Cladosporium cucumerinum and Candida albicans. Extracts were also tested on the larvae of the mosquitoes Aedes aegypti, Anopheles gambiae and Culex quinquefasciatus. Molluscicidal activities were established with the snails Biomphalaria glabrata, Biomphalaria pfeifferi and Bulinus truncatus. Beta-Carotene and DPPH solutions sprayed on TLC plates were used for antioxidant and radical scavenging assays. Of the extracts investigated, 20% were antioxidant and radical scavengers, 19% fungicidal, 30% were larvicidal and 11% were molluscicidal. Three of the plant extracts, from Cussonia barteri (Araliaceae), Glinus oppositifolius (Aizoaceae) and Lannea velutina (Anacardiaceae) gave positive responses in all four tests. Copyright (C) 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd

Successful scale-up of human embryonic stem cell production in a stirred microcarrier culture system

Future clinical applications of human embryonic stem (hES) cells will require high-yield culture protocols. Currently, hES cells are mainly cultured in static tissue plates, which offer a limited surface and require repeated sub-culturing. Here we describe a stirred system with commercial dextran-based microcarriers coated with denatured collagen to scale-up hES cell production. Maintenance of pluripotency in the microcarrier-based stirred system was shown by immunocytochemical and flow cytometry analyses for pluripotency-associated markers. The formation of cavitated embryoid bodies expressing markers of endoderm, ectoderm and mesoderm was further evidence of maintenance of differentiation capability. Cell yield per volume of medium spent was more than 2-fold higher than in static plates, resulting in a significant decrease in cultivation costs. A total of 10(8) karyotypically stable hES cells were obtained from a unitary small vessel that needed virtually no manipulation during cell proliferation, decreasing risks of contamination. Spinner flasks are available up to working volumes in the range of several liters. If desired, samples from the homogenous suspension can be withdrawn to allow process validation needed in the last expansion steps prior to transplantation. Especially when thinking about clinical trials involving from dozens to hundreds of patients, the use of a small number of larger spinners instead of hundreds of plates or flasks will be beneficial. To our knowledge, this is the first description of successful scale-up of feeder- and Matrigel™-free production of undifferentiated hES cells under continuous agitation, which makes this system a promising alternative for both therapy and research needs

Exosomal proteins as prognostic biomarkers in non-small cell lung cancer

BACKGROUND: Use of exosomes as biomarkers in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is an intriguing approach in the liquid-biopsy era. Exosomes are nano-sized vesicles with membrane-bound proteins that reflect their originating cell. Prognostic biomarkers are needed to improve patient selection for optimal treatment. We here evaluate exosomes by protein phenotyping as a prognostic biomarker in NSCLC.METHODS: Exosomes from plasma of 276 NSCLC patients were phenotyped using the Extracellular Vesicle Array; 49 antibodies captured the proteins on the exosomes, and a cocktail of biotin-conjugated antibodies binding the general exosome markers CD9, CD81 and CD63 was used to visualise the captured exosomes. For each individual membrane-bound protein, results were analysed based on presence, in a concentration-dependent manner, and correlated to overall survival (OS).RESULTS: The 49 proteins attached to the exosomal membrane were evaluated. NY-ESO-1, EGFR, PLAP, EpCam and Alix had a significant concentration-dependent impact on inferior OS. Due to multiple testing, NY-ESO-1 was the only marker that maintained a significant impact on inferior survival (hazard rate (HR) 1.78 95% (1.78-2.44); p = 0.0001) after Bonferroni correction. Results were adjusted for clinico-pathological characteristics, stage, histology, age, sex and performance status.CONCLUSION: We illustrate the promising aspects associated with the use of exosomal membrane-bound proteins as a biomarker and demonstrate that they are a strong prognostic biomarker in NSCLC.</p