56 research outputs found
Quantum Control at the Boundary
We present a scheme for controlling the state of a quantum system by
modifying the boundary conditions. This constitutes an infinite-dimensional
control problem. We provide conditions for the existence of solutions of the
dynamics and prove that this system is approximately controllable
Barium Titanate Nanoparticles: Highly Cytocompatible Dispersions in Glycol-chitosan and Doxorubicin Complexes for Cancer Therapy
In the latest years, innovative nanomaterials have attracted a dramatic and exponentially increasing interest, in particular for their potential applications in the biomedical field. In this paper, we reported our findings on the cytocompatibility of barium titanate nanoparticles (BTNPs), an extremely interesting ceramic material. A rational and systematic study of BTNP cytocompatibility was performed, using a dispersion method based on a non-covalent binding to glycol-chitosan, which demonstrated the optimal cytocompatibility of this nanomaterial even at high concentration (100 ÎŒg/ml). Moreover, we showed that the efficiency of doxorubicin, a widely used chemotherapy drug, is highly enhanced following the complexation with BTNPs. Our results suggest that innovative ceramic nanomaterials such as BTNPs can be realistically exploited as alternative cellular nanovectors
Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension Affects the Rat Gut Microbiome
We have analysed whether pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) alters the rat faecal microbiota.
Wistar rats were injected with the VEGF receptor antagonist SU5416 (20 mg/kg s.c.) and followed
for 2 weeks kept in hypoxia (10% O2, PAH) or injected with vehicle and kept in normoxia (controls).
Faecal samples were obtained and microbiome composition was determined by 16S rRNA gene
sequencing and bioinformatic analysis. No effect of PAH on the global microbiome was found (α- or
ÎČ-diversity). However, PAH-exposed rats showed gut dysbiosis as indicated by a taxonomy-based
analysis. Specifically, PAH rats had a three-fold increase in Firmicutes-to-Bacteroidetes ratio. Within
the Firmicutes phylum, there were no large changes in the relative abundance of the bacterial families
in PAH. Among Bacteroidetes, all families were less abundant in PAH. A clear separation was observed
between the control and PAH clusters based on short chain fatty acid producing bacterial genera.
Moreover, acetate was reduced in the serum of PAH rats. In conclusion, faecal microbiota composition is
altered as a result of PAH. This misbalanced bacterial ecosystem might in turn play a pathophysiological
role in PAH by altering the immunologic, hormonal and metabolic homeostasis.This study is supported by grants from Mineco (SAF2014-55399-R, SAF2014-55523-R,
SAF2016-77222 and SAF2017-84494-C2-1R), Instituto de Salud Carlos III (PI15/01100), with funds from the
European Union (Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional FEDER). M.C., G.M-P. and S.E-R. are funded by
Universidad Complutense, Fondo de GarantĂa Juvenil (Comunidad de Madrid) and Ciberes grant with funds
from FundaciĂłn Contra la HipertensiĂłn Pulmonar, a FPU grant from Ministerio de EducaciĂłn, respectively.
J.L.I.G is a CNIC IPP COFUND Fellow and has received funding from the People Programme (Marie Curie
Actions) of the FP7/2007-2013 under REA grant agreement n° 600396. The CNIC is supported by MEIC-AEI and
the Pro CNIC Foundation, and is a Severo Ochoa Center of Excellence (MEIC award SEV-2015-0505)
Epidemiology of forest malaria in Central Vietnam: the hidden parasite reservoir
BackgroundAfter successfully reducing the malaria burden to pre-elimination levels over the past two decades, the national malaria programme in Vietnam has recently switched from control to elimination. However, in forested areas of Central Vietnam malaria elimination is likely to be jeopardized by the high occurrence of asymptomatic and submicroscopic infections as shown by previous reports. This paper presents the results of a malaria survey carried out in a remote forested area of Central Vietnam where we evaluated malaria prevalence and risk factors for infection.MethodsAfter a full census (four study villages?=?1,810 inhabitants), the study population was screened for malaria infections by standard microscopy and, if needed, treated according to national guidelines. An additional blood sample on filter paper was also taken in a random sample of the population for later polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and more accurate estimation of the actual burden of malaria infections. The risk factor analysis for malaria infections was done using survey multivariate logistic regression as well as the classification and regression tree method (CART).ResultsA total of 1,450 individuals were screened. Malaria prevalence by microscopy was 7.8% (ranging from 3.9 to 10.9% across villages) mostly Plasmodium falciparum (81.4%) or Plasmodium vivax (17.7%) mono-infections; a large majority (69.9%) was asymptomatic. By PCR, the prevalence was estimated at 22.6% (ranging from 16.4 to 42.5%) with a higher proportion of P. vivax mono-infections (43.2%). The proportion of sub-patent infections increased with increasing age and with decreasing prevalence across villages. The main risk factors were young age, village, house structure, and absence of bed net.ConclusionThis study confirmed that in Central Vietnam a substantial part of the human malaria reservoir is hidden. Additional studies are urgently needed to assess the contribution of this hidden reservoir to the maintenance of malaria transmission. Such evidence will be crucial for guiding elimination strategies
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Portable Acceleration of CMS Computing Workflows with Coprocessors as a Service
A preprint version of the article is available at: arXiv:2402.15366v2 [physics.ins-det], https://arxiv.org/abs/2402.15366 . Comments: Replaced with the published version. Added the journal reference and the DOI. All the figures and tables can be found at https://cms-results.web.cern.ch/cms-results/public-results/publications/MLG-23-001 (CMS Public Pages). Report numbers: CMS-MLG-23-001, CERN-EP-2023-303.Data Availability: No datasets were generated or analyzed during the current study.Computing demands for large scientific experiments, such as the CMS experiment at the CERN LHC, will increase dramatically in the next decades. To complement the future performance increases of software running on central processing units (CPUs), explorations of coprocessor usage in data processing hold great potential and interest. Coprocessors are a class of computer processors that supplement CPUs, often improving the execution of certain functions due to architectural design choices. We explore the approach of Services for Optimized Network Inference on Coprocessors (SONIC) and study the deployment of this as-a-service approach in large-scale data processing. In the studies, we take a data processing workflow of the CMS experiment and run the main workflow on CPUs, while offloading several machine learning (ML) inference tasks onto either remote or local coprocessors, specifically graphics processing units (GPUs). With experiments performed at Google Cloud, the Purdue Tier-2 computing center, and combinations of the two, we demonstrate the acceleration of these ML algorithms individually on coprocessors and the corresponding throughput improvement for the entire workflow. This approach can be easily generalized to different types of coprocessors and deployed on local CPUs without decreasing the throughput performance. We emphasize that the SONIC approach enables high coprocessor usage and enables the portability to run workflows on different types of coprocessors.SCOAP3. Open access funding provided by CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research
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