Partial-measurement back-action and non-classical weak values in a superconducting circuit

We realize indirect partial measurement of a transmon qubit in circuit quantum electrodynamics by interaction with an ancilla qubit and projective ancilla measurement with a dedicated readout resonator. Accurate control of the interaction and ancilla measurement basis allows tailoring the measurement strength and operator. The tradeoff between measurement strength and qubit back-action is characterized through the distortion of a qubit Rabi oscillation imposed by ancilla measurement in different bases. Combining partial and projective qubit measurements, we provide the solid-state demonstration of the correspondence between a non-classical weak value and the violation of a Leggett-Garg inequality.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, and Supplementary Information (8 figures

Gut microbiota, metabolism and psychopathology:A critical review and novel perspectives

Psychiatric disorders are often associated with metabolic comorbidities. However, the mechanisms through which metabolic and psychiatric disorders are connected remain unclear. Pre-clinical studies in rodents indicate that the bidirectional signaling between the intestine and the brain, the so-called microbiome-gut-brain axis, plays an important role in the regulation of both metabolism and behavior. The gut microbiome produces a vast number of metabolites that may be transported into the host and play a part in homeostatic control of metabolism as well as brain function. In addition to short chain fatty acids, many of these metabolites have been identified in recent years. To what extent both microbiota and their products control human metabolism and behavior is a subject of intense investigation. In this review, we will discuss the most recent findings concerning alterations in the gut microbiota as a possible pathophysiological factor for the co-occurrence of metabolic comorbidities in psychiatric disorders

The Rumsfeld paradox: some of the things we know that we don’t know about plant virus infection

Plant-infecting viruses cause significant crop losses around the world and the majority of emerging threats to crop production have a viral etiology. Significant progress has been made and continues to be made in understanding how viruses induce disease and overcome some forms of resistance–particularly resistance based on RNA silencing. However, it is still not clear how other antiviral mechanisms work, how viruses manage to exploit their hosts so successfully, or how viruses affect the interactions of susceptible plants with other organisms and if this is advantageous to the virus, the host, or both. In this article we explore these questions

Learning and Becoming in Design Reviews

Drawing from the prior work of McNair and Paretti (2010), this study investigates how language practices and design artifacts mediate the interactions among novice and expert designers to shape the nature of design, and specifically design learning. By analyzing data collected from two design courses in different fields, this study addresses two research questions: 1) how do language practices mediate the interactions between design mentors and design learners; and 2) how do design artifacts mediate these interactions between mentors and learners? Drawing on activity theory and discourse analysis, we use these questions to explore how students work with experts to make meaning within their design experiences. In doing so, we treat meaning-making as an array of social processes situated within a complex activity system that includes instructors, professionals, team members, and artifacts

The stuff that motor chunks are made of: Spatial instead of motor representations?

In order to determine how participants represent practiced, discrete keying sequences in the discrete sequence production task, we had 24 participants practice two six-key sequences on the basis of two pre-learned six-digit numbers. These sequences were carried out by fingers of the left (L) and right (R) hand with between-hand transitions always occurring between the second and third, and the fifth and sixth responses. This yielded the so-called LLRRRL and RRLLLR sequences. Early and late in practice, the keypad used for the right hand was briefly relocated from the front of the participants to 90° at their right side. The results indicate that after 600 practice trials, executing a keying sequence relies heavily on a spatial cross-hand representation in a trunk- or head-based reference frame that after about only 15 trials is fully adjusted to the changed hand location. The hand location effect was not found with the last sequence element. This is attributed to the application of explicit knowledge. The between-hand transitions appeared to induce initial segmentation in some of the participants, but this did not consolidate into a concatenation point of successive motor chunks

Let's talk about grief:Protocol of a study on the recognition and psychoeducation of prolonged grief disorder in outpatients with common mental disorders

Background: Recognition that the loss of a loved one may result in prolonged grief disorder (PGD) has gained broad attention recently. PGD may disturb daily functioning to such a degree that mental health treatment is required. Because PGD symptoms often resemble symptoms of common mental disorders (CMD) such as anxiety, depressive, and post-traumatic stress disorder, clinicians may not consider a PGD diagnosis. Moreover, cultural varieties in expression of PGD may complicate recognition. This study explores the prevalence of PGD among both natives and refugees with anxiety, depressive, or trauma- and/or stressor-related disorders as well as clinicians' awareness and knowledge of PGD symptoms. In addition, a psychoeducation module on PGD symptoms is developed through patient expert collaboration. Methods: Prevalence of PGD symptoms is investigated among 50 participants who are referred to outpatient clinics for anxiety, depression, or post-traumatic stress, using the Traumatic Grief Inventory—Self Report Plus (TGI-SR+) and the Bereavement and Grief—Cultural Formulation Interview (BG-CFI). Clinicians will be interviewed on knowledge (gaps) with respect to PGD symptoms. Finally, focus groups with patient experts are held to develop a psychoeducation module tailored to the patients' needs, norms and values. Results: This study will show prevalence of PGD among patients who are referred for anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress, awareness and knowledge of clinicians on PGD symptoms, and will offer patient expert informed psychoeducation. Discussion: Research on prevalence and recognition of PGD is vital. Study results of the prevalence of PGD will be compared to previous studies. Recognition of PGD as distinct disorder from CMDs requires clinicians' awareness of symptoms related to the loss of a loved one. Thereby, clinicians need to take cultural aspects related to death, bereavement and mourning into consideration. Ethics and dissemination: The study protocol will be carried out in accordance with relevant guidelines and regulations. Exploratory research to assess the prevalence of PGD in patients suffering from CMDs will facilitate adequate diagnosis by increasing clinician's awareness of PGD symptoms. Tailored PGD psychoeducation, co-created by culturally diverse patient experts and clinicians will be made publicly available

Decoding circulating tumor DNA to identify durable benefit from immunotherapy in lung cancer

Objectives: Predicting the outcome of immunotherapy-treated non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients is challenging. Measuring circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) in plasma is promising, but its application for outcome delineation needs further refinement. Since most information from the next-generation sequencing (NGS) panel is typically left unused, we aim to integrate more information. Materials and Methods: Patient and ctDNA data were compiled from five published studies involving advanced NSCLC. Plasma samples collected prior (t0) and early during (t1) immunotherapy were selected, tracking the changes of the highest t0 variant per gene. Durable benefit (DB, defined as progression free survival ≥ ½ year) was predicted. Performance was quantified using the integrated receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC AUC) and compared with the traditional molecular response (MR). Results: A total of 365 patients were pooled. Seven recurrently mutated genes were selected which optimally predicted DB (ROC AUC: 0.77-0.11+0.10), outperforming the MR predictor (with a ROC AUC: 0.64-0.11+0.11). Inclusion of patient characteristics led to a slight further improvement (ROC AUC: 0.80-0.10+0.09). The model performed satisfactory across all ctDNA platforms despite differences in panel size and content. Conclusion: Relative to a non-informative classifier (ROC AUC: 0.5), a twofold improvement in predictive value was achieved compared to MR by an integration of changes across seven selected genes in immunotherapy-treated NSCLC patients, whilst being broadly applicable across ctDNA NGS panels

A wireless body area network of intelligent motion sensors for computer assisted physical rehabilitation

BACKGROUND: Recent technological advances in integrated circuits, wireless communications, and physiological sensing allow miniature, lightweight, ultra-low power, intelligent monitoring devices. A number of these devices can be integrated into a Wireless Body Area Network (WBAN), a new enabling technology for health monitoring. METHODS: Using off-the-shelf wireless sensors we designed a prototype WBAN which features a standard ZigBee compliant radio and a common set of physiological, kinetic, and environmental sensors. RESULTS: We introduce a multi-tier telemedicine system and describe how we optimized our prototype WBAN implementation for computer-assisted physical rehabilitation applications and ambulatory monitoring. The system performs real-time analysis of sensors' data, provides guidance and feedback to the user, and can generate warnings based on the user's state, level of activity, and environmental conditions. In addition, all recorded information can be transferred to medical servers via the Internet and seamlessly integrated into the user's electronic medical record and research databases. CONCLUSION: WBANs promise inexpensive, unobtrusive, and unsupervised ambulatory monitoring during normal daily activities for prolonged periods of time. To make this technology ubiquitous and affordable, a number of challenging issues should be resolved, such as system design, configuration and customization, seamless integration, standardization, further utilization of common off-the-shelf components, security and privacy, and social issues