Partial scaling transform of multiqubit states as a criterion of separability

The partial scaling transform of the density matrix for multiqubit states is introduced to detect entanglement of quantum states. The transform contains partial transposition as a special case. The scaling transform corresponds to partial time scaling of subsystem (or partial Planck's constant scaling) which was used to formulate recently separability criterion for continous variables.A measure of entanglement which is a generalization of negativity measure is introduced being based on tomographic probability description of spin states.Comment: 16 pages, 5 figures, submitted to J. Phys. A: Math. Ge

Relationship between depressive symptom severity and emergency department use among low-income, depressed homebound older adults aged 50 years and older

Namkee G. Choi, and C. Nathan Marti are with The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA. -- Martha L. Bruce is with the Weill Cornell Medical College, White Plains, NY, USA. -- Mark E. Kunik is with the VA HSRD Houston Center of Excellence, Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center, Houston, TX, USA, and Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA, and VA South Central Mental Illness Research, Education and Clinical Center, Houston, TX, USA.Background: Previous research found a high prevalence of depression, along with chronic illnesses and disabilities, among older ED patients. This study examined the relationship between depressive symptom severity and the number of ED visits among low-income homebound older adults who participated in a randomized controlled trial of telehealth problem-solving therapy (PST). Methods: The number of and reasons for ED visits were collected from the study participants (n=121 at baseline) at all assessment points—baseline and 12- and 24-week follow-ups. Depressive symptoms were measured with the 24-item Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HAMD). All multivariable analyses examining the relationships between ED visits and depressive symptoms were conducted using zero-inflated Poisson regression models. Results: Of the participants, 67.7% used the ED at least once and 61% of the visitors made at least one return visit during the approximately 12-month period. Body pain (not from fall injury and not including chest pain) was the most common reason. The ED visit frequency at baseline and at follow-up was significantly positively associated with the HAMD scores at the assessment points. The ED visit frequency at follow-up, controlling for the ED visits at baseline, was also significantly associated with the HAMD score change since baseline. Conclusions: The ED visit rate was much higher than those reported in other studies. Better education on self-management of chronic conditions, depression screening by primary care physicians and ED, and depression treatment that includes symptom management and problem-solving skills may be important to reduce ED visits among medically ill, low-income homebound adults. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT00903019Psycholog

Effect of surface roughness on rate-dependent slip in simple fluids

Molecular dynamics simulations are used to investigate the influence of molecular-scale surface roughness on the slip behavior in thin liquid films. The slip length increases almost linearly with the shear rate for atomically smooth rigid walls and incommensurate structures of the liquid/solid interface. The thermal fluctuations of the wall atoms lead to an effective surface roughness, which makes the slip length weakly dependent on the shear rate. With increasing the elastic stiffness of the wall, the surface roughness smoothes out and the strong rate dependence is restored again. Both periodically and randomly corrugated rigid surfaces reduce the slip length and its shear rate dependence.Comment: 15 pages, 5 figures; submitted to J. Chem. Phy

OBSCN Mutations Associated with Dilated Cardiomyopathy and Haploinsufficiency

Studies of the functional consequences of DCM-causing mutations have been limited to a few cases where patients with known mutations had heart transplants. To increase the number of potential tissue samples for direct investigation we performed whole exon sequencing of explanted heart muscle samples from 30 patients that had a diagnosis of familial dilated cardiomyopathy and screened for potentially disease-causing mutations in 58 HCM or DCM-related genes.We identified 5 potentially disease-causing OBSCN mutations in 4 samples; one sample had two OBSCN mutations and one mutation was judged to be not disease-related. Also identified were 6 truncating mutations in TTN, 3 mutations in MYH7, 2 in DSP and one each in TNNC1, TNNI3, MYOM1, VCL, GLA, PLB, TCAP, PKP2 and LAMA4. The mean level of obscurin mRNA was significantly greater and more variable in healthy donor samples than the DCM samples but did not correlate with OBSCN mutations. A single obscurin protein band was observed in human heart myofibrils with apparent mass 960 ± 60 kDa. The three samples with OBSCN mutations had significantly lower levels of obscurin immunoreactive material than DCM samples without OBSCN mutations (45±7, 48±3, and 72±6% of control level).Obscurin levels in DCM controls, donor heart and myectomy samples were the same.OBSCN mutations may result in the development of a DCM phenotype via haploinsufficiency. Mutations in the obscurin gene should be considered as a significant causal factor of DCM, alone or in concert with other mutations

Targeting kidney mesangium by nanoparticles of defined size

Nanoparticles are being investigated for numerous medical applications and are showing potential as an emerging class of carriers for drug delivery. Investigations on how the physicochemical properties (e.g., size, surface charge, shape, and density of targeting ligands) of nanoparticles enable their ability to overcome biological barriers and reach designated cellular destinations in sufficient amounts to elicit biological efficacy are of interest. Despite proven success in nanoparticle accumulation at cellular locations and occurrence of downstream therapeutic effects (e.g., target gene inhibition) in a selected few organs such as tumor and liver, reports on effective delivery of engineered nanoparticles to other organs still remain scarce. Here, we show that nanoparticles of ~75 ± 25-nm diameters target the mesangium of the kidney. These data show the effects of particle diameter on targeting the mesangium of the kidney. Because many diseases originate from this area of the kidney, our findings establish design criteria for constructing nanoparticle-based therapeutics for targeting diseases that involve the mesangium of the kidney