654 research outputs found
Nanoparticles Induce Changes of the Electrical Activity of Neuronal Networks on Microelectrode Array Neurochips
Information-theoretic postulates for quantum theory
Why are the laws of physics formulated in terms of complex Hilbert spaces?
Are there natural and consistent modifications of quantum theory that could be
tested experimentally? This book chapter gives a self-contained and accessible
summary of our paper [New J. Phys. 13, 063001, 2011] addressing these
questions, presenting the main ideas, but dropping many technical details. We
show that the formalism of quantum theory can be reconstructed from four
natural postulates, which do not refer to the mathematical formalism, but only
to the information-theoretic content of the physical theory. Our starting point
is to assume that there exist physical events (such as measurement outcomes)
that happen probabilistically, yielding the mathematical framework of "convex
state spaces". Then, quantum theory can be reconstructed by assuming that (i)
global states are determined by correlations between local measurements, (ii)
systems that carry the same amount of information have equivalent state spaces,
(iii) reversible time evolution can map every pure state to every other, and
(iv) positivity of probabilities is the only restriction on the possible
measurements.Comment: 17 pages, 3 figures. v3: some typos corrected and references updated.
Summarizes the argumentation and results of arXiv:1004.1483. Contribution to
the book "Quantum Theory: Informational Foundations and Foils", Springer
Verlag (http://www.springer.com/us/book/9789401773027), 201
Long spin-flip time and large Zeeman splitting of holes in type-II ZnTe/ZnSe submonolayer quantum dots
The Zeeman splitting and degree of circular polarization (DCP) of photoluminescence (PL) from type-II submonolayer ZnTe/ZnSe quantum dots (QDs) have been investigated in magnetic fields up to 18 T. To explain the observed relative intensities and energy positions of the σ+and the σ-PL, a non-Boltzmann distribution for holes with ultra-long spin-flip time, confined to submonolayer QDs, is proposed. The g-factor of electrons, located in the ZnSe barriers, was obtained from fitting the temperature dependence of the DCP, and its value is in excellent agreement with that of bulk ZnSe. The g-factor of type-II excitons was extracted by analyzing the Zeeman splitting, from which the g-factor of holes confined within submonolayer ZnTe QDs was found to be ∼2.65 ± 0.40. This value is considerably larger than that in bulk ZnTe. Tight-binding calculations using an sp3s∗ model were employed to understand the origin of such an increase. The results of the simulation match the experiment and show that the enhancement of the hole g-factor is mostly caused by a reduced orbital contribution to Zeeman splitting arising from the submonolayer thickness of these QDs
Co-targeting IGF-1R and c-kit: synergistic inhibition of proliferation and induction of apoptosis in H 209 small cell lung cancer cells
Chronic diarrhea associated with persistent norovirus excretion in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia: report of two cases
BACKGROUND: Chronic diarrhea in patients treated with immunosuppressive agents or suffering from immunosuppressive disease can represent a diagnostic and therapeutic challenge to the clinician. Norovirus infection, a major cause of acute epidemic diarrhea, has been described as a cause of chronic diarrhea in patients who are immunosuppressed, including transplant recipients and the very young. CASE PRESENTATIONS: We describe two patients, a 64 year-old man and a 59 year-old woman, both suffering from chronic lymphocytic leukemia and hypogammaglobulinemia, who developed chronic diarrhea resistant to therapy. In both cases, after months of symptoms, persistent norovirus infection--documented by repeatedly-positive high-sensitivity stool enzyme immunoassay--was found to be the cause. Both patients died with active diarrheal symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: We describe the first cases of advanced chronic lymphocytic leukemia to suffer from chronic symptomatic norovirus infection. Clinicians caring for such patients, particularly those with concomitant hypogammaglobulinema, who have chronic unexplained diarrhea, should consider norovirus infection in the differential diagnosis
A DNMT3B Alternatively Spliced Exon and Encoded Peptide Are Novel Biomarkers of Human Pluripotent Stem Cells
A major obstacle in human stem cell research is the limited number of reagents capable of distinguishing pluripotent stem cells from partially differentiated or incompletely reprogrammed derivatives. Although human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) express numerous alternatively spliced transcripts, little attention has been directed at developing splice variant-encoded protein isoforms as reagents for stem cell research. In this study, several genes encoding proteins involved in important signaling pathways were screened to detect alternatively spliced transcripts that exhibited differential expression in pluripotent stem cells (PSCs) relative to spontaneously differentiated cells (SDCs). Transcripts containing the alternatively spliced exon 10 of the de novo DNA methyltransferase gene, DNMT3B, were identified that are expressed in PSCs. To demonstrate the utility and superiority of splice variant specific reagents for stem cell research, a peptide encoded by DNMT3B exon 10 was used to generate an antibody, SG1. The SG1 antibody detects a single DNMT3B protein isoform that is expressed only in PSCs but not in SDCs. The SG1 antibody is also demonstrably superior to other antibodies at distinguishing PSCs from SDCs in mixed cultures containing both pluripotent stem cells and partially differentiated derivatives. The tightly controlled down regulation of DNMT3B exon 10 containing transcripts (and exon 10 encoded peptide) upon spontaneous differentiation of PSCs suggests that this DNMT3B splice isoform is characteristic of the pluripotent state. Alternatively spliced exons, and the proteins they encode, represent a vast untapped reservoir of novel biomarkers that can be used to develop superior reagents for stem cell research and to gain further insight into mechanisms controlling stem cell pluripotency
Measurement of the running of the QED coupling in small-angle Bhabha scattering at LEP
Using the OPAL detector at LEP, the running of the effective QED coupling
alpha(t) is measured for space-like momentum transfer from the angular
distribution of small-angle Bhabha scattering. In an almost ideal QED
framework, with very favourable experimental conditions, we obtain:
Delta alpha(-6.07GeV^2) - Delta alpha(-1.81GeV^2) = (440 pm 58 pm 43 pm 30) X
10^-5, where the first error is statistical, the second is the experimental
systematic and the third is the theoretical uncertainty. This agrees with
current evaluations of alpha(t).The null hypothesis that alpha remains constant
within the above interval of -t is excluded with a significance above 5sigma.
Similarly, our results are inconsistent at the level of 3sigma with the
hypothesis that only leptonic loops contribute to the running. This is
currently the most significant direct measurment where the running alpha(t) is
probed differentially within the measured t range.Comment: 43 pages, 12 figures, Submitted to Euro. Phys. J.
A Measurement of Rb using a Double Tagging Method
The fraction of Z to bbbar events in hadronic Z decays has been measured by
the OPAL experiment using the data collected at LEP between 1992 and 1995. The
Z to bbbar decays were tagged using displaced secondary vertices, and high
momentum electrons and muons. Systematic uncertainties were reduced by
measuring the b-tagging efficiency using a double tagging technique. Efficiency
correlations between opposite hemispheres of an event are small, and are well
understood through comparisons between real and simulated data samples. A value
of Rb = 0.2178 +- 0.0011 +- 0.0013 was obtained, where the first error is
statistical and the second systematic. The uncertainty on Rc, the fraction of Z
to ccbar events in hadronic Z decays, is not included in the errors. The
dependence on Rc is Delta(Rb)/Rb = -0.056*Delta(Rc)/Rc where Delta(Rc) is the
deviation of Rc from the value 0.172 predicted by the Standard Model. The
result for Rb agrees with the value of 0.2155 +- 0.0003 predicted by the
Standard Model.Comment: 42 pages, LaTeX, 14 eps figures included, submitted to European
Physical Journal
Measurement of the B+ and B-0 lifetimes and search for CP(T) violation using reconstructed secondary vertices
The lifetimes of the B+ and B-0 mesons, and their ratio, have been measured in the OPAL experiment using 2.4 million hadronic Z(0) decays recorded at LEP. Z(0) --> b (b) over bar decays were tagged using displaced secondary vertices and high momentum electrons and muons. The lifetimes were then measured using well-reconstructed charged and neutral secondary vertices selected in this tagged data sample. The results aretau(B+) = 1.643 +/- 0.037 +/- 0.025 pstau(Bo) = 1.523 +/- 0.057 +/- 0.053 pstau(B+)/tau(Bo) = 1.079 +/- 0.064 +/- 0.041,where in each case the first error is statistical and the second systematic.A larger data sample of 3.1 million hadronic Z(o) decays has been used to search for CP and CPT violating effects by comparison of inclusive b and (b) over bar hadron decays, No evidence fur such effects is seen. The CP violation parameter Re(epsilon(B)) is measured to be Re(epsilon(B)) = 0.001 +/- 0.014 +/- 0.003and the fractional difference between b and (b) over bar hadron lifetimes is measured to(Delta tau/tau)(b) = tau(b hadron) - tau((b) over bar hadron)/tau(average) = -0.001 +/- 0.012 +/- 0.008
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