Development of bronchiectasis during long-term rituximab treatment for rheumatoid arthritis

Here the cases of three female patients who received long-term rituximab treatment for seropositive, erosive and deforming rheumatoid arthritis was reported. After rituximab treatment, they presented with recurrent sinusitis and pneumonia, followed by the subsequent development of bronchiectasis. A temporal relationship between rituximab treatment and the onset of respiratory complications was exposed as a possible pathogenic mechanism

IN VIVO MEASUREMENT OF STIFFNESS AND VISCOSITY OF SURAL TRICEPS

The purpose of this study is the evaluation of the stiffness and viscosity of a particular muscle-tendon complex (MTC), the Surae Triceps (ST). The knowledge of these properties is essential for assessing and monitoring the physical condition of an athlete or sportman. A measurement procedure based on the free vibration technique, assuming that a part of the body behaves as a one degree of freedom system, has been developed to obtain the aforementioned properties. The apparent properties of MTC are obtained adjusting the experimental record of a force to a theoretical record assuming a one degree of freedom system. Assuming a Hill model for the behaviour of the muscle, the knowledge of these apparent properties leads, by a fitting procedure, to obtain the separate values of these properties for the soleus and the Achilles tendon

A higher quantum bound for the V\'ertesi-Bene-Bell-inequality and the role of POVMs regarding its threshold detection efficiency

Recently, V\'{e}rtesi and Bene [Phys. Rev. A. {\bf 82}, 062115 (2010)] derived a two-qubit Bell inequality, $I_{CH3}$, which they show to be maximally violated only when more general positive operator valued measures (POVMs) are used instead of the usual von Neumann measurements. Here we consider a general parametrization for the three-element-POVM involved in the Bell test and obtain a higher quantum bound for the $I_{CH3}$-inequality. With a higher quantum bound for $I_{CH3}$, we investigate if there is an experimental setup that can be used for observing that POVMs give higher violations in Bell tests based on this inequality. We analyze the maximum errors supported by the inequality to identify a source of entangled photons that can be used for the test. Then, we study if POVMs are also relevant in the more realistic case that partially entangled states are used in the experiment. Finally, we investigate which are the required efficiencies of the $I_{CH3}$-inequality, and the type of measurements involved, for closing the detection loophole. We obtain that POVMs allow for the lowest threshold detection efficiency, and that it is comparable to the minimal (in the case of two-qubits) required detection efficiency of the Clauser-Horne-Bell-inequality.Comment: 11 Pages, 16 Figure

Mapping the visual landscape quality in Europe using physical attributes

he inclusion of environmental care data in the decision-making process should be based on the results obtained after scienti?cally evaluating different environmental variables. Herein, a European landscape geographic model is presented. This landscape map would allow the environmental care variable ?visual landscape?, along with other information related to vegetation, geology, soils, cultural variables, etc., to be integrated into the planning process. The methodology used is not new since it has already been tested in Spain by the authors. Nevertheless, the model was adapted to cope with the much more extensive territory of the European Union. This meant dealing with computational dif?culties, and a lack of information. The result of this work is a raster map (100 m cell size) that evaluates landscape quality in Europe by dividing the area into seven visual quality classes. This is a practical tool for territorial development that will facilitate the environmental assessment of plans, such as infrastructure plans, within a strategic pan-European framework

Analysis and characterization of the backscatter-link frequency in passive UHF-RFID systems

[ES] La tecnología de identificación por radiofrecuencia (RFID) es clave para la visualización de cada objeto en el marco de la Internet de las Cosas. Y más concretamente, la tecnología pasiva es la más extendida e implantada, ya que un lector puede identificar multitud de etiquetas en un corto periodo de tiempo. Cada etiqueta responde al lector a través de una subportadora denominada Frecuencia de Enlace por Retro-dispersión (Backscatter-Link Frequency, BLF). Con el objetivo de caracterizar este parámetro, en este artículo se emplea un conjunto de pruebas para evaluar la aleatoriedad de valores de BLF medidos y obtenidos de etiquetas comerciales. Los resultados muestran grandes variaciones de este parámetro respecto al primer valor esperado por el lector, así como durante el proceso de comunicación. Este comportamiento puede ser aprovechado como una característica diferenciadora de cada etiqueta y puede emplearse en los procesos de comunicación u otros fines. Consiguiendo, en definitiva, e[EN] Radio-frequency identification technology (RFID) is key for the  visualization of each object in the Internet of Things framework. Specifically, passive technology is the most widespread type of the worldwide implemented systems, due to a reader can identify multitude of tags in a short period of time. Each tag responds to the reader at a subcarrier called Backscatter-Link Frequency (BLF). In order to characterize this parameter, a set of tests has been used in this paper to assess the randomness of measured BLF values from commercial tags. The results show great variations of this parameter comparing with the first expected value in the reader, as well as during the communication process. This behavior can be used as a distinguishing feature of each tag, in communication processes or for other purposes. Ultimately, creating and providing more efficient passive tags.Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte, ayudas FPU13/01582 y EST15/00367Blanco, J.; García, A.; Cañas, V. (2020). Análisis y caracterización de la frecuencia de enlace por retro-dispersión en sistemas UHF-RFID pasivos. Revista Iberoamericana de Automática e Informática industrial. 17(1):76-83. https://doi.org/10.4995/riai.2019.11115OJS7683171Arjona, L., Simon, H., & Ruiz, A. 2018. Energy-Aware RFID Anti-Collision Protocol. Sensors, 18(6), 1904. https://doi.org/10.3390/s18061904Badru, A., & Ajayi, N. 2017. Adoption of RFID in large-scale organisation - A review of challenges and solutions. In 2017 IST-Africa Week Conference (IST-Africa) (pp. 1-10). IEEE. https://doi.org/10.23919/ISTAFRICA.2017.8102394Bagheri, N., Alenaby, P., & Safkhani, M. 2017. A new anti-collision protocol based on information of collided tags in RFID systems. International Journal of Communication Systems, 30(3), e2975. https://doi.org/10.1002/dac.2975Bratuz, I., Vodopivec, A., & Trost, A. 2014. Resolving Collision in EPCglobal Class-1 Gen-2 System by Utilizing the Preamble. IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications, 13(10), 5330-5339. https://doi.org/10.1109/TWC.2014.2350975Chen, Y., Su, J., & Yi, W. 2017. An Efficient and Easy-to-Implement Tag Identification Algorithm for UHF RFID Systems. IEEE Communications Letters, 21(7), 1509-1512. https://doi.org/10.1109/LCOMM.2017.2649490Choi, H., Kim, H., & Choi, S. 2017. Capture-Aware Couple-Resolution Blocking Protocol in RFID Systems. Wireless Personal Communications, 93(4), 969-986. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11277-016-3940-2Dawei Shen, Woo, G., Reed, D. P., Lippman, A. B., & Junyu Wang. 2009. Separation of multiple passive RFID signals using Software Defined Radio. In 2009 IEEE International Conference on RFID (pp. 139-146). IEEE. https://doi.org/10.1109/RFID.2009.4911203Duan, L., Zhang, X., Wang, Z. J., & Duan, F. 2017. A Feasible Segment-by-Segment ALOHA Algorithm for RFID Systems. Wireless Personal Communications, 96(2), 2633-2649. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11277-017-4316-yGS1. (2016). EPC Information Services ( EPCIS ) Standard.GS1. (2018). EPC TM Radio-Frequency Identity Protocols Generation-2 UHF RFID Specification for RFID Air Interface. Version 2.1.Huang, K.-S., Hwang, C.-K., Lee, B.-K., & Chung, I.-H. 2017. An exact closed-form formula of collision probability in diverse multiple access communication systems with frame slotted aloha protocol. Journal of the Franklin Institute, 354(13), 5739-5752. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfranklin.2017.05.028Salah, H., Ahmed, H. A., Robert, J., & Heuberger, A. 2015. FFT Based Rate Estimation for UHF RFID Systems. In Smart SysTech 2015 : European Conference on Smart Objects, Systems, and Technologies (pp. 1-5). Aachen, Germany.Shoufeng, W., Dongchen, Z., Xiaoyan, X., Shumeng, S., & Tinglan, W. 2014. A novel anti-collision scheme for RFID systems. In 2014 IEEE World Forum on Internet of Things (WF-IoT) (pp. 458-461). IEEE. https://doi.org/10.1109/WF-IoT.2014.6803210Solic, P., Maras, J., Radic, J., & Blazevic, Z. 2017. Comparing theoretical and experimental results in Gen2 RFID throughput. IEEE Transactions on Automation Science and Engineering, 14(1), 349-357. https://doi.org/10.1109/TASE.2016.2532959Su, J., Sheng, Z., Hong, D., & Wen, G. 2016. An Effective Frame Breaking Policy for Dynamic Framed Slotted Aloha in RFID. IEEE Communications Letters, 20(4), 692-695. https://doi.org/10.1109/LCOMM.2016.2521839White, G., Nallur, V., & Clarke, S. 2017. Quality of service approaches in IoT: A systematic mapping. Journal of Systems and Software, 132, 186-203. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jss.2017.05.125Wijayasekara, S. K., Robithoh, A., Sasithong, P., Vanichchanunt, P., Nakpeerayuth, S., & Wuttisittikulkij, L. 2017. A Reduced Complexity of Vahedi's Tag Estimation Method for DFSA. Engineering Journal, 21(6), 111-125. https://doi.org/10.4186/ej.2017.21.6.111Wu, H., Wang, Y., & Zeng, Y. 2018. Capture-aware Bayesian RFID tag estimate for large-scale identification. IEEE/CAA Journal of Automatica Sinica, 5(1), 119-127. https://doi.org/10.1109/JAS.2017.7510757Yong, W., Qing, L., Lei, W., & Hao, S. 2017. Research on Anti-Collision Algorithm in Radio Frequency Identification Technology. In 2017 9th International Conference on Intelligent Human-Machine Systems and Cybernetics (IHMSC) (pp. 239-244). IEEE. https://doi.org/10.1109/IHMSC.2017.167Zhang, T., Li, Q., Zhang, C.-S., Liang, H.-W., Li, P., Wang, T.-M., … Wu, C. 2017. Current trends in the development of intelligent unmanned autonomous systems. Frontiers of Information Technology & Electronic Engineering, 18(1), 68-85. https://doi.org/10.1631/FITEE.160165

Exposure to graphene in a pilot production plant

Workers exposure to graphene was measured in a pilot production plant. Reduced graphene oxide was produced through graphite oxidation and posterior thermal reduction. The monitoring was performed using two handheld on-line devices covering the particle size range from 10 nm to 10 μm (CPC3007 and OPS3330). Simultaneously, personal and area filter samples were collected for off line analysis, including gravimetric, elemental carbon analysis and SEM/EDX. Significant releases of particles were identified in two tasks, during the graphene oxide washing, and during its milling. However, the analysis of the particles size distribution and of their morphology suggested that the released particles were not the target nanomaterial but engine generated nanoparticles. The mass of elemental carbon in the collected filters was below the quantification limit and the calculated graphene mass concentrations were quite below the selected reference exposure limit. Overall, this work showed that worker exposure to graphene was low in this pilot plant, contributing to guarantee a safe process, prior to its industrialization.This research was carried out as part of the project FAST- Functionally Graded Additive Manufacturing Scaffolds by Hybrid Manufacturing. The project FAST has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 685825

High-dimensional decoy-state quantum key distribution over 0.3 km of multicore telecommunication optical fibers

Multiplexing is a strategy to augment the transmission capacity of a communication system. It consists of combining multiple signals over the same data channel and it has been very successful in classical communications. However, the use of enhanced channels has only reached limited practicality in quantum communications (QC) as it requires the complex manipulation of quantum systems of higher dimensions. Considerable effort is being made towards QC using high-dimensional quantum systems encoded into the transverse momentum of single photons but, so far, no approach has been proven to be fully compatible with the existing telecommunication infrastructure. Here, we overcome such a technological challenge and demonstrate a stable and secure high-dimensional decoy-state quantum key distribution session over a 0.3 km long multicore optical fiber. The high-dimensional quantum states are defined in terms of the multiple core modes available for the photon transmission over the fiber, and the decoy-state analysis demonstrates that our technique enables a positive secret key generation rate up to 25 km of fiber propagation. Finally, we show how our results build up towards a high-dimensional quantum network composed of free-space and fiber based linksComment: Please see the complementary work arXiv:1610.01812 (2016

Epigenetic control of the EWS-FLI1 promoter in Ewing's sarcoma

Q2Q1Ewing sarcoma (ES) is a primary bone marrow tumor that very rarely develops in extra-osseous tissues, such as lung. The hallmark of ES tumors is a translocation between chromosomes 11 and 22, resulting in a fusion protein, commonly referred to as EWS-FLI1. The epigenetic profile (histone acetylation and methylation enrichment of the promoter region) that may regulate the expression of the aberrant transcription factor EWS-FLI1, remains poorly studied and understood. Knowledge of epigenetic patterns associated with covalent histone modification and expression of enzymes associated with this process, can contribute to the understanding of the molecular basis of the disease, as well as to the identification of possible molecular targets involved in expression of the EWS-FLI1 gene, so that therapeutic strategies may be improved in the future. In the present study, the transcriptional activation and repression of the EWS-FLI1 fusion gene in ES was accompanied by selective deposition of histone markers on its promoter. The EWS-FLI1 fusion gene was evaluated in two patients with ES using conventional cytogenetic, fluorescence in situ hybridization and nested PCR assays, which revealed that the aberrant expression of the EWS-FLI1 gene is accompanied by enrichment of H3K4Me3, H3K9ac and H3K27ac at the promoter region.N/

Linkage disequilibrium, persistence of phase, and effective population size in Spanish local beef cattle breeds assessed through a high-density single nucleotide polymorphism chip

We have used the BovineHD Genotyping BeadChip to obtain high density genotypes (>700, 000 SNP after quality control) from 116 trios in five Spanish local beef cattle breeds. Linkage disequilibrium (LD) was meas- ured through the r2 statistic. Average r2 for adjacent markers in the five breeds were very close, around 0.52, and de- creased with increasing distance between markers, although in long distances some LD remained (0.07 and 0.05 for markers 200 kb and 1000 kb apart, respectively). At all distances the standard deviations were large and the shape of the distribution varied depending upon the marker dis- tance. Average r2 varied also between chromosomes. Pair- wise correlations between the r’s estimated in two breeds at short distances (5 kb) was in the rank of 0.6 – 0.7. Similarly to r2 estimates, this correlation decreased with increasing marker distance