48 research outputs found
The effect of short-term perindopril and telmisartan treatment on circulating levels of anti-inflammatory cytokines in hypertensive patients
Introduction: Both angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors and angiotensin II receptor blockers were found to reduce plasma levels of proinflammatory cytokines. No previous study has compared their effect on the production of anti-inflammatory cytokines.Material and methods: The study enrolled 52 patients with grade 1 and grade 2 arterial hypertension. The participants were divided into two groups treated with either perindopril (4 mg daily) or telmisartan (40 mg daily). Blood pressure, plasma lipids, glucose homeostasis markers, as well as plasma levels of uric acid, interleukins 4, 10, 13 (IL-4, IL-10, IL-13), and high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP)were measured at the beginning of the study and six weeks later.Results: Both perindopril and telmisartan reduced systolic (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP). Although both agents increased serum levels of IL-10, this effect was more pronounced in patients treated with telmisartan. Neither telmisartan nor perindopril affected circulating levels of uric acid, glucose, total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, triglycerides, IL-4, IL-13, and hsCRP. The effect of telmisartan on IL-10 slightly correlated with an improvement in insulin sensitivity. Treatment-induced changes in IL-10 did not correlatewith hypotensive properties of perindopril and telmisartan.Conclusions: The obtained results indicate that angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors and angiotensin II receptor blockers administered for a short period of time produce a relatively week effect on anti-inflammatory cytokines, limited to IL-10, and stronger for telmisartan than for perindopril.
Phase-locking of two self-seeded tapered amplifier lasers
We report on the phase-locking of two diode lasers based on self-seeded
tapered amplifiers. In these lasers, a reduction of linewidth is achieved using
narrow-band high-transmission interference filters for frequency selection. The
lasers combine a compact design with a Lorentzian linewidth below 200 kHz at an
output power of 300 mW. We characterize the phase noise of the phase-locked
laser system and study its potential for coherent beam-splitting in atom
interferometers.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figure
A compact dual atom interferometer gyroscope based on laser-cooled rubidium
We present a compact and transportable inertial sensor for precision sensing
of rotations and accelerations. The sensor consists of a dual Mach-Zehnder-type
atom interferometer operated with laser-cooled Rb. Raman processes are
employed to coherently manipulate the matter waves. We describe and
characterize the experimental apparatus. A method for passing from a compact
geometry to an extended interferometer with three independent atom-light
interaction zones is proposed and investigated. The extended geometry will
enhance the sensitivity by more than two orders of magnitude which is necessary
to achieve sensitivities better than rad/s/.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figure
Versatile compact atomic source for high resolution dual atom interferometry
We present a compact Rb atomic source for high precision dual atom
interferometers. The source is based on a double-stage magneto-optical trap
(MOT) design, consisting of a 2-dimensional (2D)-MOT for efficient loading of a
3D-MOT. The accumulated atoms are precisely launched in a horizontal moving
molasses. Our setup generates a high atomic flux ( atoms/s) with
precise and flexibly tunable atomic trajectories as required for high
resolution Sagnac atom interferometry. We characterize the performance of the
source with respect to the relevant parameters of the launched atoms, i.e.
temperature, absolute velocity and pointing, by utilizing time-of-flight
techniques and velocity selective Raman transitions.Comment: uses revtex4, 9 pages, 12 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.
Self-alignment of a compact large-area atomic Sagnac interferometer
We report on the realization of a compact atomic Mach-Zehndertype Sagnac interferometer of 13.7 cm length, which covers an area of 19 mm(2) previously reported only for large thermal beam interferometers. According to Sagnac's formula, which holds for both light and atoms, the sensitivity for rotation rates increases linearly with the area enclosed by the interferometer. The use of cold atoms instead of thermal atoms enables miniaturization of Sagnac interferometers without sacrificing large areas. In comparison with thermal beams, slow atoms offer better matching of the initial beam velocity and the velocity with which the matter waves separate. In our case, the area is spanned by a cold atomic beam of 2.79m s(-1), which is split, deflected and combined by driving a Raman transition between the two hyperfine ground states of Rb-87 in three spatially separated light zones. The use of cold atoms requires a precise angular alignment and high wave front quality of the three independent light zones over the cloud envelope. We present a procedure for mutually aligning the beam splitters at the microradian level by making use of the atom interferometer itself in different configurations. With this method, we currently achieve a sensitivity of 6.1 x 10(-7) rad s(-1) Hz(-1/2).DFG/SFB/407EU/NESTEU/FINAQSEU/EuroquasarEU/IQSQUESTMax-Planck-GesellschaftINTERCAN networkUFA-DF
Gauss sum factorization with cold atoms
We report the first implementation of a Gauss sum factorization algorithm by
an internal state Ramsey interferometer using cold atoms. A sequence of
appropriately designed light pulses interacts with an ensemble of cold rubidium
atoms. The final population in the involved atomic levels determines a Gauss
sum. With this technique we factor the number N=263193.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure
Factorization of Numbers with the temporal Talbot effect: Optical implementation by a sequence of shaped ultrashort pulses
We report on the successful operation of an analogue computer designed to
factor numbers. Our device relies solely on the interference of classical light
and brings together the field of ultrashort laser pulses with number theory.
Indeed, the frequency component of the electric field corresponding to a
sequence of appropriately shaped femtosecond pulses is determined by a Gauss
sum which allows us to find the factors of a number
The placental RCAS1 expression during stillbirth
Background: Independently of the fetal death cause the beginning and course of stillbirth is closely related with the growing cytotoxic activity at the maternal-fetal interface. RCAS1 participates in the inhibition of maternal immune response during pregnancy. The alterations of RCAS1 protein expression in placental cells seem to determine the beginning of the labor and participate in the placental abruption. The aim of the present study was to investigate RCAS1 expression in placentas obtained following stillbirths or normal term births. Methods: RCAS1 expression was evaluated by Western blot method with the use of monoclonal anti-RCAS1 antibody in 67 placental tissue samples. Pregnant women were divided into four groups according to the mode of labor onset – spontaneous or induced, and the type of labor, stillbirth or labor at term. Placental beta-Actin expression was chosen as a control protein. Relative amounts of placental RCAS1 were compared with the use of Student's t-test, whereas beta-Actin control data were compared with the use of Mann-Whitney U test. Results: The average relative amount of RCAS1 was significantly lower in women with induced stillbirths than in women with induced labor at term. Similarly, significantly lower RCAS1 placental levels were observed in patients with spontaneous stillbirths than in women with spontaneous labor at term. Significant differences in RCAS1 expression were also observed with the respect to the beginning of the stillbirth: spontaneous and induced. Lowest RCAS1 placental levels were observed in women with spontaneous stillbirth. Conclusions: These preliminary results indicate that the alterations of RCAS1 expression in the human placenta may be involved in the changes of maternal immune system that take place during stillbirth
Computing prime factors with a Josephson phase qubit quantum processor
A quantum processor (QuP) can be used to exploit quantum mechanics to find
the prime factors of composite numbers[1]. Compiled versions of Shor's
algorithm have been demonstrated on ensemble quantum systems[2] and photonic
systems[3-5], however this has yet to be shown using solid state quantum bits
(qubits). Two advantages of superconducting qubit architectures are the use of
conventional microfabrication techniques, which allow straightforward scaling
to large numbers of qubits, and a toolkit of circuit elements that can be used
to engineer a variety of qubit types and interactions[6, 7]. Using a number of
recent qubit control and hardware advances [7-13], here we demonstrate a
nine-quantum-element solid-state QuP and show three experiments to highlight
its capabilities. We begin by characterizing the device with spectroscopy.
Next, we produces coherent interactions between five qubits and verify bi- and
tripartite entanglement via quantum state tomography (QST) [8, 12, 14, 15]. In
the final experiment, we run a three-qubit compiled version of Shor's algorithm
to factor the number 15, and successfully find the prime factors 48% of the
time. Improvements in the superconducting qubit coherence times and more
complex circuits should provide the resources necessary to factor larger
composite numbers and run more intricate quantum algorithms.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure