The creation of large photon-number path entanglement conditioned on photodetection

Large photon-number path entanglement is an important resource for enhanced precision measurements and quantum imaging. We present a general constructive protocol to create any large photon number path-entangled state based on the conditional detection of single photons. The influence of imperfect detectors is considered and an asymptotic scaling law is derived.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure

Baculovirus Transduction of Mesenchymal Stem Cells: In Vitro Responses and In Vivo Immune Responses After Cell Transplantation

Baculovirus holds great promise for the genetic modification of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs). However, whether baculovirus transduction provokes undesired MSCs responses that might compromise their in vivo applications has yet to be examined. Hereby, we unraveled that baculovirus transduction of human MSCs upregulated the transcription of interleukin (IL)-1 beta, interferon (IFN)-alpha and IL-6, but not tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha and IFN-gamma. However, only IL-6 secretion was detectable by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Baculovirus transduction also stimulated transient, low level upregulation of human leukocyte antigen I (HLA-I) on the human MSCs surface, yet it did not either altered the HLA-II expression or impaired the MSCs ability to inhibit lymphocyte proliferation. After transplantation into allogeneic rats, the transduced rat MSCs elicited transient, mild macrophage responses, but the cells remained tolerant as judged by the persistence of transplanted cells and absence of CD8(+) T cells infiltration. Besides, transplantation of the transduced MSCs did not provoke systemic induction of monocytes and CD8(+) T cells. This study, for the first time, explores the responses of MSCs to virus transduction and confirms the safety of transplanting baculovirus-engineered MSCs into immunocompetent animals for cell-based gene therapy

Complex patterns of spontaneous initiations and terminations of reentrant circulation in a loop of cardiac tissue

A two-component model is developed that consists of a discrete loop of cardiac cells that circulates action potentials together with a cardiac pacing mechanism. Physiological properties of cells such as restitutions of refractoriness and of conduction velocity are given via experimentally measured functions. The dynamics of circulating pulses and their interactions with the pacer are regulated by two threshold relations. Patterns of spontaneous initiations and terminations of reentry (SITR) generated by this system are studied through numerical simulations and analytical observations. These patterns can be regular or irregular; causes of irregularities are identified as the threshold bistability of reentrant circulation (T-bistability) and in some cases, also phase-resetting interactions with the pacer.Comment: 27 pages, 10 figures, 61 references; A version of this paper (same results) is to appear in the Journal of Theoretical Biology; arXiv V2 adds helpful commments to facilitate reading and corrects minor errors in presentatio

Light-Front Approach for Heavy Pentaquark Transitions

Assuming the two diquark structure for the pentaquark state as advocated in the Jaffe-Wilczek model, there exist exotic parity-even anti-sextet and parity-odd triplet heavy pentaquark baryons. The theoretical estimate of charmed and bottom pentaquark masses is quite controversial and it is not clear whether the ground-state heavy pentaquark lies above or below the strong-decay threshold. We study the weak transitions of heavy pentaquark states using the light-front quark model. In the heavy quark limit, heavy-to-heavy pentaquark transition form factors can be expressed in terms of three Isgur-Wise functions: two of them are found to be normalized to unity at zero recoil, while the third one is equal to 1/2 at the maximum momentum transfer, in accordance with the prediction of the large-Nc approach or the quark model. Therefore, the light-front model calculations are consistent with the requirement of heavy quark symmetry. Numerical results for form factors and Isgur-Wise functions are presented. Decay rates of the weak decays Theta_b+ to Theta_c0 pi+ (rho+), Theta_c0 to Theta+ pi- (rho-), Sigma'_{5b}+ to Sigma'_{5c}0 pi+ (rho+) and Sigma'_{5c}0 to N_8+ pi- (rho-) with Theta_Q, Sigma'_{5Q} and N_8 being the heavy anti-sextet, heavy triplet and light octet pentaquarks, respectively, are obtained. For weakly decaying Theta_b+ and Theta_c0, the branching ratios of Theta_b+ to Theta_c0 pi+, Theta_c0 to Theta+ pi- are estimated to be at the level of 10^{-3} and a few percents, respectively.Comment: 33 pages, 3 figures, version to be published in Phys. Rev.

Hsp70 in mitochondrial biogenesis

The family of hsp70 (70 kilodalton heat shock protein) molecular chaperones plays an essential and diverse role in cellular physiology, Hsp70 proteins appear to elicit their effects by interacting with polypeptides that present domains which exhibit non-native conformations at distinct stages during their life in the cell. In this paper we review work pertaining to the functions of hsp70 proteins in chaperoning mitochondrial protein biogenesis. Hsp70 proteins function in protein synthesis, protein translocation across mitochondrial membranes, protein folding and finally the delivery of misfolded proteins to proteolytic enzymes in the mitochondrial matrix

Clinical trial of the anti-PD-L1 antibody BMS-936559 in HIV-1 infected participants on suppressive antiretroviral therapy

Background. Reversing immune exhaustion with an anti-PD-L1 antibody may improve human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1)-specific immunity and increase clearance of HIV-1-expressing cells. Methods. We conducted a phase I, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, dose-escalating study of BMS-936559, including HIV-1-infected adults aged >18 to 350 cells/μL and detectable plasma HIV-1 RNA by single-copy assay. Data on single infusions of BMS-936559 (0.3 mg/kg) versus placebo are described. The primary outcomes were safety defined as any grade 3 or greater or immune-related adverse event (AE) and the change in HIV-1 Gag-specific CD8+ T cell responses from baseline to day 28 after infusion. Results. Eight men enrolled: 6 received 0.3 mg/kg of BMS-936559, and 2 received placebo infusions. There were no BMS- 936559-related grade 3 or greater AEs. In 1 participant, asymptomatic hypophysitis (a protocol-defined immune-related AE) was identified 266 days after BMS-936559 infusion; it resolved over time. The mean percentage of HIV-1 Gag-specific CD8+ T cells expressing interferon γ increased from baseline (0.09%) through day 28 (0.20%; P = .14), driven by substantial increases in 2 participants who received BMS-936559. Conclusions. In this first evaluation of an immunologic checkpoint inhibitor in healthy HIV-1-infected persons, single lowdose BMS-936559 infusions appeared to enhance HIV-1-specific immunity in a subset of participants

Raditive decay of single charmed baryons

The electromagnetic transitions between ($J^{P}={3/2}^{+}$) and ($J^{P}={1/2}^{+}$) baryons are important decay modes to observe new hadronic states experimentally. For the estimation of these transitions widths, we employ a non-relativistic quark potential model description with color coulomb plus linear confinement potential. Such a description has been employed to compute the ground state masses and magnetic moments of the single heavy flavor baryons. The magnetic moments of the baryons are obtained using the spin-flavor structure of the constituting quark composition of the baryon. Here, we also define an effective constituent mass of the quarks (ecqm) by taking into account the binding effects of the quarks within the baryon. The radiative transition widths are computed in terms of the magnetic moments of the baryon and the photon energy. Our results are compared with other theoretical models.Comment: 06 Pages, Presented at XVIII DAE-BRNS symposium on High energy Physics, Banaras Hindu University, Varansi, INDI

A Theory for the High-T_c Cuprates: Anomalous Normal-State and Spectroscopic Properties, Phase Diagram, and Pairing

A theory of highly correlated layered superconducting materials isapplied for the cuprates. Differently from an independent-electron approximation, their low-energy excitations are approached in terms of auxiliary particles representing combinations of atomic-like electron configurations, where the introduction of a Lagrange Bose field enables treating them as bosons or fermions. The energy spectrum of this field accounts for the tendency of hole-doped cuprates to form stripe-like inhomogeneities. Consequently, it induces a different analytical behavior for auxiliary particles corresponding to "antinodal" and "nodal" electrons, enabling the existence of different pairing temperatures at T^* and T_c. This theory correctly describes the observed phase diagram of the cuprates, including the non-Fermi-liquid to FL crossover in the normal state, the existence of Fermi arcs below T^* and of a "marginal-FL" critical behavior above it. The qualitative anomalous behavior of numerous physical quantities is accounted for, including kink- and waterfall-like spectral features, the drop in the scattering rates below T^* and more radically below T_c, and an effective increase in the density of carriers with T and \omega, reflected in transport, optical and other properties. Also is explained the correspondence between T_c, the resonance-mode energy, and the "nodal gap".Comment: 28 pages, 7 figure

Trans-ancestry genome-wide association study identifies 12 genetic loci influencing blood pressure and implicates a role for DNA methylation

We carried out a trans-ancestry genome-wide association and replication study of blood pressure phenotypes among up to 320,251 individuals of East Asian, European and South Asian ancestry. We find genetic variants at 12 new loci to be associated with blood pressure (P = 3.9 × 10-11 to 5.0 × 10-21). The sentinel blood pressure SNPs are enriched for association with DNA methylation at multiple nearby CpG sites, suggesting that, at some of the loci identified, DNA methylation may lie on the regulatory pathway linking sequence variation to blood pressure. The sentinel SNPs at the 12 new loci point to genes involved in vascular smooth muscle (IGFBP3, KCNK3, PDE3A and PRDM6) and renal (ARHGAP24, OSR1, SLC22A7 and TBX2) function. The new and known genetic variants predict increased left ventricular mass, circulating levels of NT-proBNP, and cardiovascular and all-cause mortality (P = 0.04 to 8.6 × 10-6). Our results provide new evidence for the role of DNA methylation in blood pressure regulation