Multihop Diversity for Fading Mitigation in Multihop Wireless Networks

The concept of multihop diversity is proposed, where all the nodes of a multihop link are assumed to have buffers for temporarily storing their received packets. During each time-slot, the best hop having, for example, the highest signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), is selected from the set of those hops that have packets awaiting transmission in the buffer. The packet is then transmitted over the best hop. This hop-selection procedure yields selection diversity, but it requires the global channel knowledge of the hops’ channel quality. In this paper, we assume having perfect channel knowledge and focus our attention on the principles and performance bounds of the error probability and outage probability. Our studies show that relying on multiple hops has the potential of providing a significant diversity gain, which may be exploited for enhancing the reliability of wireless multihop communications

Generation of cluster states

We propose two schemes for the generation of the cluster states. One is based on cavity quantum electrodynamics (QED) techniques. The scheme only requires resonant interactions between two atoms and a single-mode cavity. The interaction time is very short, which is important in view of decoherence. Furthermore, we also discuss the cavity decay and atomic spontaneous emission case. The other is based on atomic ensembles. The scheme has inherent fault tolerance function and is robust to realistic noise and imperfections. All the facilities used in our schemes are well within the current technology.Comment: Complete rewite version, adding the main results of quant-ph/0511045. 7 pages and 3 figure

Role of Spironolactone Chalcone in the Prevention of Peritoneal Fibrosis in Patients with Peritoneal Dialysis

Purpose: The study was designed to investigate the effects of a novel spironolactone chalcone in the prevention of peritoneal fibrosis.Methods: Wistar rats (n = 30) were randomly assigned to 3 groups: bacteria (B), spironolactone amide treatment (S), and control (C) groups. C group received only dextran beads while S and B groups were given bacteria and dextran beads intraperitoneally, but spironolactone chalcone was also given to S group. The treatments were administered daily. The rats were sacrificed on day 15 to quantify peritoneal adhesion and for histological examination of the peritoneal tissues using hematoxylin, eosin and Masson’s trichrome dyes. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kit was used to determine TGFβ1 content of peritoneal fluids and serum samples.Results: Spironolactone chalcone treatment at a dose of 30 mg/kg body weight daily for 15 days significantly reduced peritoneal total adhesion score in S group compared to untreated B group (p < 0.01). S group also showed significantly lower mean peritoneal thickness, inflammation score, and fibrosis score compared to B group. Serum transforming growth factor β1 was also reduced significantly in S group animals on spironolactone chalcone treatment compared to B group.Conclusion: Spironolactone chalcone is a potentially effective candidate for decreasing the extent of peritoneal injury caused by bacterial peritonitis.Keywords: Peritoneal thickness, Inflammation score, Adhesion score, Bacterial peritonitis, Peritoneal fluid

Research on basis of reverse genetics system of a Sindbis-like virus XJ-160

As a Sindbis-like virus (SINLV), XJ-160 virus was isolated from a pooled sample of Anopheles mosquitoes collected in Xinjiang, China, in 1990. Recombinant plasmid pBR-XJ160 is an infectious full-length cDNA clone of XJ-160 virus, from which rescued virus BR-XJ160 can be obtained by transcription in vitro and transfection. The BR-XJ160 virus raised in BHK-21 cells was indistinguishable from the XJ-160 virus in its biological properties, including its plaque morphology, growth kinetics and suckling mouse neurovirulence. On basis of pBR-XJ160, the effects of substitutions within nonstructural protein 1 (nsP1) or nsP2 on the infectivity and pathogenesis of Sindbis virus (SINV) have been investigated. We have also confirmed the essential role of E2 glycoprotein, especially the domain of 145-150 (amino acid) aa, in SINV infection through the interaction with cellular heparan sulfate (HS). In addition, we have developed XJ-160 virus-based vector system, including replicon vector, defective helper (DH) plasmids and the packaging cell lines (PCLs). Here we provide an update of main development in the field concerned with XJ-160 virus