Quantum Meets the Minimum Circuit Size Problem

In this work, we initiate the study of the Minimum Circuit Size Problem (MCSP) in the quantum setting. MCSP is a problem to compute the circuit complexity of Boolean functions. It is a fascinating problem in complexity theory - its hardness is mysterious, and a better understanding of its hardness can have surprising implications to many fields in computer science. We first define and investigate the basic complexity-theoretic properties of minimum quantum circuit size problems for three natural objects: Boolean functions, unitaries, and quantum states. We show that these problems are not trivially in NP but in QCMA (or have QCMA protocols). Next, we explore the relations between the three quantum MCSPs and their variants. We discover that some reductions that are not known for classical MCSP exist for quantum MCSPs for unitaries and states, e.g., search-to-decision reductions and self-reductions. Finally, we systematically generalize results known for classical MCSP to the quantum setting (including quantum cryptography, quantum learning theory, quantum circuit lower bounds, and quantum fine-grained complexity) and also find new connections to tomography and quantum gravity. Due to the fundamental differences between classical and quantum circuits, most of our results require extra care and reveal properties and phenomena unique to the quantum setting. Our findings could be of interest for future studies, and we post several open problems for further exploration along this direction

Metastatic carcinoma of the urinary bladder in a 67-year-old female with underlying triple primary cancers

AbstractDue to progressive ageing of our population and increasing cancer incidence rates, more and more patients are presenting with multiple primary cancers. Here we describe a case of metastatic carcinoma involving the urinary bladder with underlying triple primary adenocarcinoma in a female adult.A 67-year-old Taiwanese female presented to our institution in November 1997 with gastric signet ring cell carcinoma, pT2N0M0, status post subtotal gastrectomy. In February 2003 she was diagnosed with left breast invasive lobular carcinoma status post modified radical mastectomy, pT2N2M0. Further examination in January 2005 revealed proximal transverse colon cancer, Dukes' C2, with status post right hemicolectomy. She achieved disease-free status from all three malignancies after surgical resection and adjuvant chemotherapy for breast and colon cancers sequentially. In November 2011, she complained about sudden onset of gross hematuria for several days. Diagnostic cystoscopy showed a mass lesion over her urinary bladder. Cystoscope-assisted biopsy showed metastatic poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma with signet ring appearance. Herein we have discussed the pathologic role in the diagnosis of metastatic tumor involving a patient with multiple primary cancers. We also explored the epidemiologic risk and potential causal mechanism of patients with multiple primary cancers

A Simple Model for Cavity Enhanced Slow Lights in Vertical Cavity Surface Emission Lasers

We develop a simple model for the slow lights in Vertical Cavity Surface Emission Lasers (VCSELs), with the combination of cavity and population pulsation effects. The dependences of probe signal power, injection bias current and wavelength detuning for the group delays are demonstrated numerically and experimentally. Up to 65 ps group delays and up to 10 GHz modulation frequency can be achieved in the room temperature at the wavelength of 1.3 $\mu$m. The most significant feature of our VCSEL device is that the length of active region is only several $\mu$m long. Based on the experimental parameters of quantum dot VCSEL structures, we show that the resonance effect of laser cavity plays a significant role to enhance the group delays

School Organizational Innovative Indicators For Technical Universities And Institutes

This study aimed to construct the organizational innovation indicators of technical universities and institutes. This study held a group discussion and expert focus meeting and afterward, this study generalized seven facets of school organizational innovation: leadership innovation, administration innovation, student guidance and activity innovation, curriculum and instruction innovation, teacher professional development innovation, resource application innovation, and campus construction innovation. Then 25 criteria and 83 indices were developed

Chinese Herbal Medicine Therapy and the Risk of Mortality for Chronic Hepatitis B Patients with Concurrent Liver Cirrhosis: a Nationwide Population-Based Cohort Study

Chronic hepatitis B (CHB) is increasingly recognized as a public health problem in Taiwan. After affected patients are diagnosed with contaminant liver cirrhosis (LC), adverse clinical outcomes, especially death, are common. This study aimed to investigate the effect of Chinese herbal medicine (CHM), an essential branch of Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), on the mortality risk among CHB patients with contaminant LC. This longitudinal cohort study used the Taiwanese National Health Insurance Research Database to identify 1522 patients 20–70 years of age with newly diagnosed CHB with LC during 1998–2007. Among them, 508 (33.37%) had received CHM products after the onset of CHB (CHM users), and the remaining 1014 patients (66.63%) were designated as a control group (non-CHM users). All enrollees were followed until the end of 2012 to determine deaths during the study period. We applied the Cox proportional hazards regression model to compute the hazard ratio for the association of CHM use and the subsequent risk of death. During the follow-up period, 156 CHM users and 493 non-CHM users died. After controlling for potential confounders, CHM users were found to have a significantly reduced risk of death compared with non-CHM users by 56%, and the effect was predominantly observed among those treated with CHM for \u3e 180 days. CHM therapy lowered the risk of death among CHB patients with contaminant LC, which supported CHM might provide further treatment options for those with chronic liver diseases

Abdominal Tuberculosis in Adult: 10-Year Experience in a Teaching Hospital in Central Taiwan

Background/PurposeTuberculosis (TB) is an important communicable disease worldwide. The clinical presentation of abdominal TB often mimics various gastrointestinal disorders and may delay accurate diagnosis. In this study, we conducted a 10-year retrospective study to investigate the clinical manifestations, treatment responses and outcomes of abdominal TB.MethodsThis retrospective study recruited patients presenting between January 1998 and December 2007; all patients ≥ 18 years of age with a diagnosis of abdominal TB were enrolled. Patient charts were thoroughly reviewed and clinical specimens were processed in the laboratory using the BBL MycoPrep System and BACTEC MGIT 960 Mycobacterial Detection System. Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex was confirmed by acid fast stain and the BD ProbeTec ET System.ResultsDuring the study period, 34 patients were diagnosed with abdominal TB. The mean age was 55+18 years. Fourteen patients (41%) had no risk factors; however, 20 patients (59%) had at least one risk factor. Abdominal pain (94.1%), abdominal fullness (91.2%), anorexia (88.2%) and ascites (76.5%) were the most common presenting symptoms. The peritoneum (88%) was the most commonly involved site. Patients with risk factors such as liver cirrhosis, end-stage renal disease and diabetes mellitus had a higher positive rate of acid-fast stain and mycobacterial culture from abdominal specimens (p = 0.02 and 0.05, respectively). The crude mortality rate was 9% and the attributed mortality rate was 3%.ConclusionIn an endemic area like Taiwan, regardless of whether a patient has risk factors for TB, abdominal TB should be seriously considered as a differential diagnosis when a patient presents with gastrointestinal symptoms and unexplained ascites

Deranged Bioenergetics and Defective Redox Capacity in T Lymphocytes and Neutrophils Are Related to Cellular Dysfunction and Increased Oxidative Stress in Patients with Active Systemic Lupus Erythematosus

Urinary excretion of N-benzoyl-glycyl-Nε-(hexanonyl)lysine, a biomarker of oxidative stress, was higher in 26 patients with active systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) than in 11 non-SLE patients with connective tissue diseases and in 14 healthy volunteers. We hypothesized that increased oxidative stress in active SLE might be attributable to deranged bioenergetics, defective reduction-oxidation (redox) capacity, or other factors. We demonstrated that, compared to normal cells, T lymphocytes (T) and polymorphonuclear neutrophils (PMN) of active SLE showed defective expression of facilitative glucose transporters GLUT-3 and GLUT-6, which led to increased intracellular basal lactate and decreased ATP production. In addition, the redox capacity, including intracellular GSH levels and the enzyme activity of glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) and γ-glutamyl-transpeptidase (GGT), was decreased in SLE-T. Compared to normal cells, SLE-PMN showed decreased intracellular GSH levels, and GGT enzyme activity was found in SLE-PMN and enhanced expression of CD53, a coprecipitating molecule for GGT. We conclude that deranged cellular bioenergetics and defective redox capacity in T and PMN are responsible for cellular immune dysfunction and are related to increased oxidative stress in active SLE patients