Quantum energy teleportation in a quantum Hall system

We propose an experimental method for a quantum protocol termed quantum energy teleportation (QET), which allows energy transportation to a remote location without physical carriers. Using a quantum Hall system as a realistic model, we discuss the physical significance of QET and estimate the order of energy gain using reasonable experimental parameters

Pharmacogenetics in Ghana: Reviewing the evidence

Different clinical response of different patients to the same medicine has been recognised and documented since the 1950’s. Variability in response of individuals to standard doses of drug therapy is important in clinicalpractice and can lead to therapeutic failures or adverse drug reactions. Pharmacogenetics seeks to identify individual genetic differences (polymorphisms) in drug absorption, metabolism, distribution and excretion that can affect the activity of a particular drug with theview of improving efficacy and reducing toxicity. Although knowledge of pharmacogenetics is being translated into clinical practice in the developed world, its applicability in the developing countries is low. Severalfactors account for this including the fact that there is very little pharmacogenetic information available in many indigenous African populations including Ghanaians. A number of genes including Cytochrome P450 (CYP) 2A6, CYP2B6, CYP2C8, CYP2C9, CYP2C19, CYP2D6, MDR1 and TPMT have been genotyped in the Ghanaian population since the completion of the Human genome project. There is however, an urgentneed to increase pharmacogenetic research in Ghana to increase availability of data. Introducing Pharmacogenetics into the curriculum of Medical and Pharmacy training institutions will influence translatingknowledge of pharmacogenetics into clinical practice. This will also equip health professionals with the skill to integrate genetic information into public health decision making

Quantum receiver beyond the standard quantum limit of coherent optical communication

The most efficient modern optical communication is known as coherent communication and its standard quantum limit (SQL) is almost reachable with current technology. Though it has been predicted for a long time that this SQL could be overcome via quantum mechanically optimized receivers, such a performance has not been experimentally realized so far. Here we demonstrate the first unconditional evidence surpassing the SQL of coherent optical communication. We implement a quantum receiver with a simple linear optics configuration and achieve more than 90% of the total detection efficiency of the system. Such an efficient quantum receiver will provide a new way of extending the distance of amplification-free channels, as well as of realizing quantum information protocols based on coherent states and the loophole-free test of quantum mechanics.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure

The incidence and risk factors for new onset atrial fibrillation in the PROSPER study

Aims Atrial fibrillation/flutter (AF) is the most common arrhythmia in older people. It associates with reduced exercise capacity, increased risk of stroke, and mortality. We aimed to determine retrospectively whether pravastatin reduces the incidence of AF and whether any electrocardiographic measures or clinical conditions might be risk factors for its development. Methods and results The PROspective Study of Pravastatin in the Elderly at Risk (PROSPER) was a randomized, double-blind controlled trial that recruited 5804 individuals aged 70-82 years with a history of, or risk factors for, vascular disease. A total of 2891 were allocated to pravastatin and 2913 to placebo; mean follow-up was 3.2 years. Electrocardiograms (ECGs), which were recorded at baseline, annually thereafter, and at run-out, were processed by computer and reviewed manually. In all, 264 of 2912 (9.1%) of the placebo group and 283 of 2888 (9.8%) of the pravastatin-treated group developed AF [hazard ratio 1.08 (0.92,1.28), P = 0.35)]. Multivariate analysis showed that PR and QTc intervals, age, left ventricular hypertrophy, and ST-T abnormalities were related to development of AF after adjustment for many variables including alcohol consumption, which itself was univariately predictive of developing AF. Previous myocardial infarction on the ECG was not a risk factor. A history of vascular disease was strongly linked with developing AF but not diabetes and hypertension. Conclusion Pravastatin does not reduce the incidence of AF in older people at risk of vascular disease, at least in the short-medium term. Risk factors for AF include older age, prolongation of PR or QTc intervals, left ventricular hypertrophy, and ST-T abnormalities on the EC

Lutzomyia adiketis sp. n. (Diptera: Phlebotomidae), a vector of Paleoleishmania neotropicum sp. n. (Kinetoplastida: Trypanosomatidae) in Dominican amber

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Amber fossils can be used to trace the history of disease-vector associations because microorganisms are preserved "in situ" inside the alimentary tract and body cavity of blood-sucking insects.</p> <p>Results</p> <p><it>Lutzomyia adiketis </it>sp. n. (Phlebotomidae: Diptera) is described from Dominican amber as a vector of <it>Paleoleishmania neotropicum </it>sp. n. (Kinetoplastida: Trypanosomatidae). The fossil sand fly differs from all previously described extinct and extant members of the genus by the following combination of characters: Sc forked with the branches meeting the costa and radius veins; wing L/W value of 4.1; a δ value of 18; a ratio β/α value of 0.86, and the shape and size of the spatulate rods on the ninth sternite. The trypanosomatid is characterized by the structure of its promastigotes, amastigotes and paramastigotes and its transmission by an extinct species of sand fly.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Morphological characters show that the fossil sand fly is a new extinct species and that it is host to a digenetic species of trypanosomatid. This study provides the first fossil evidence that Neotropical sand flies were vectors of trypanosomatids in the mid-Tertiary (20–30 mya).</p

Impact of rainwater hydrogen peroxide on chlorophyll a content of surface Gulf Stream seawater off North Carolina, USA

Bioassays indicate addition of hydrogen peroxide in concentrations similar to rain sometimes decreases chlorophyll a (chl a) production in surface Gulf Stream seawater. Bioassays were conducted on shipboard in the spring and autumn of 1993, 1994, and 1995, using surface Gulf Stream seawater collected off the coast of North Carolina. Chl a increases were observed after addition of FeCl3(in 1 of 5 bioassays), iron (III) EDTA (6 of 6 bioassays), or EDTA alone (4 of 4 bioassays). The chl a increases were suppressed significantly in 7 of 1 1 of these bioassays when the bioassay seawater was initially diluted by 1% with a 30 or 40 μM solution of hydrogen peroxide (a concentration similar to rainwater). Hydrogen peroxide induced inhibition of chl a production was not observed in bioassays in which chl a increased in response to addition of nitrate or ammonium, hence the growth inhibition was associated with added metal or complexing agent. Rainwater therefore plays a complex role in primary productivity in surface seawater, with the specific effect dependent upon rainwater concentrations of nitrate, ammonium, trace metals and hydrogen peroxide, as well as on the extent of nitrogen limitation and the oxidant concentration in the surface seawater

Rainfall Stimulation of Primary Production in Western Atlantic Ocean Waters: Roles of Different Nitrogen Sources and Co-Limiting Nutrients

Using shipboard bioassays, we examined the roles rainfall, individual and combined nutrients play in accelerating primary production in coastal, Gulf Stream and pelagic (Sargasso Sea) locations in the North Atlantic Ocean off North Carolina, USA, from 1993 to 1995. Photosynthetic CO2 fixation and net chlorophyll a (chl a) production were measured In replicated bioassays to assess individual and combined impacts of different constituents of atmospheric deposition, including natural rainfall, a synthetic rain mix, dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN; NH4+ ,NO3-), dissolved organic nitrogen (DON; urea),phosphorus (PO43-) and iron (as EDTA-chelated and unchelated FeCl3).Natural rainfall and DIN additions most often stimulated CO2 fixation and chl a production, but frequencies and magnitudes of biostimulation, relative to controls, varied between these indicators. Spatial differences in the types and magnitudes of stimulation were also observed. When added in equimolar amounts, NH4+ was, at times, more stimulatory than NO3-. The NO3- stimulation was significantly enhanced by Fe-EDTA. Urea was marginally stimulatory at the coastal location. PO43- was never stimulatory. Fe-EDTA and EDTA by themselves stimulated production only at the offshore locations, suggesting increased Fe limitation with increasing distance from land. Synthetic rain, which contained both sources of DIN, but not Fe, generally proved less stimulatory per unit N than natural rainfall. Results indicate a broad sensitivity of these waters to N additions, which in the case of NO3- are enhanced by Fe-EDTA. At all locations, the high level of stimulation of primary production attributable to natural rain may be due to the supply of both DIN and CO-limiting nutrients (e.g. Fe), contributing to the eutrophication potential of waters downwind of urban, industrial and agricultural emissions

Comparison of Bond Character in Hydrocarbons and Fullerenes

We present a comparison of the bond polarizabilities for carbon-carbon bonds in hydrocarbons and fullerenes, using two different models for the fullerene Raman spectrum and the results of Raman measurements on ethane and ethylene. We find that the polarizabilities for single bonds in fullerenes and hydrocarbons compare well, while the double bonds in fullerenes have greater polarizability than in ethylene.Comment: 7 pages, no figures, uses RevTeX. (To appear in Phys. Rev. B.

Glassy Dynamics of Protein Folding

A coarse grained model of a random polypeptide chain, with only discrete torsional degrees of freedom and Hookean springs connecting pairs of hydrophobic residues is shown to display stretched exponential relaxation under Metropolis dynamics at low temperatures with the exponent $\beta\simeq 1/4$, in agreement with the best experimental results. The time dependent correlation functions for fluctuations about the native state, computed in the Gaussian approximation for real proteins, have also been found to have the same functional form. Our results indicate that the energy landscape exhibits universal features over a very large range of energies and is relatively independent of the specific dynamics.Comment: RevTeX, 4 pages, multicolumn, including 5 figures; larger computations performed, error bars improve