550 research outputs found
Quantum Circuits Architecture
We present a method for optimizing quantum circuits architecture. The method
is based on the notion of "quantum comb", which describes a circuit board in
which one can insert variable subcircuits. The method allows one to efficiently
address novel kinds of quantum information processing tasks, such as
storing-retrieving, and cloning of channels.Comment: 10 eps figures + Qcircuit.te
The SPICE carbon isotope excursion in Siberia: a combined study of the upper Middle Cambrian-lowermost Ordovician Kulyumbe River section, northwestern Siberian Platform
An integrated, high-resolution chemostratigraphic (C, O and Sr isotopes) and
magnetostratigraphic study through the upper Middle Cambrian–lowermost Ordovician shallowmarine
carbonates of the northwestern margin of the Siberian Platform is reported. The interval was
analysed at the Kulyumbe section, which is exposed along the Kulyumbe River, an eastern tributary
of the Enisej River. It comprises the upper Ust’-Brus, Labaz, Orakta, Kulyumbe, Ujgur and lower
Iltyk formations and includes the Steptoean positive carbon isotopic excursion (SPICE) studied here
in detail from upper Cambrian carbonates of the Siberian Platform for the first time. The peak of the
excursion, showing δ13C positive values as high as+4.6‰and least-altered 87Sr/86Sr ratios of 0.70909,
is reported herein from the Yurakhian Horizon of the Kulyumbe Formation. The stratigraphic position
of the SPICE excursion does not support traditional correlation of the boundary between theOrakta and
Labaz formations at the Kulyumbe River with its supposedly equivalent level in Australia, Laurentia,
South China and Kazakhstan, where the Glyptagnostus stolidotus and G. reticulatus biozones are
known to immediately precede the SPICE excursion and span the Middle–Upper Cambrian boundary.
The Cambrian–Ordovician boundary is probably situated in the middle Nyajan Horizon of the Iltyk
Formation, in which carbon isotope values show a local maximum below a decrease in the upper
part of the Nyajan Horizon, attributed herein to the Tremadocian Stage. A refined magnetic polarity
sequence confirms that the geomagnetic reversal frequency was very high during Middle Cambrian
times at 7–10 reversals per Ma, assuming a total duration of about 10 Ma and up to 100 magnetic
intervals in the Middle Cambrian. By contrast, the sequence attributed herein to the Upper Cambrian
on chemostratigraphic grounds contains only 10–11 magnetic intervals
Sedimentary and tectonic evolution of the arc zone of southwestern Ecuador during Late Cretaceous and Early Tertiary times
A criterion for separating process calculi
We introduce a new criterion, replacement freeness, to discern the relative
expressiveness of process calculi. Intuitively, a calculus is strongly
replacement free if replacing, within an enclosing context, a process that
cannot perform any visible action by an arbitrary process never inhibits the
capability of the resulting process to perform a visible action. We prove that
there exists no compositional and interaction sensitive encoding of a not
strongly replacement free calculus into any strongly replacement free one. We
then define a weaker version of replacement freeness, by only considering
replacement of closed processes, and prove that, if we additionally require the
encoding to preserve name independence, it is not even possible to encode a non
replacement free calculus into a weakly replacement free one. As a consequence
of our encodability results, we get that many calculi equipped with priority
are not replacement free and hence are not encodable into mainstream calculi
like CCS and pi-calculus, that instead are strongly replacement free. We also
prove that variants of pi-calculus with match among names, pattern matching or
polyadic synchronization are only weakly replacement free, hence they are
separated both from process calculi with priority and from mainstream calculi.Comment: In Proceedings EXPRESS'10, arXiv:1011.601
Review of 1,447 Breast Augmentation Patients Using PERTHESE Silicone Implants
Introduction A survey of surgeons in Brazil on their experience with PERTHESE silicone breast implants was performed. Materials and methods Surgeons that used PERTHESE implants between 2002 and 2008 were surveyed on the shape and volume of the implants used, surgical incision site, surgical plane of insertion, key postoperative complications, and surgeon and patient satisfaction. Results The survey had a response rate of 20%, with ten surgeons reporting data on 1447 patients. The majority of the implants used were 200-300 cc, round, and high profile. Preference for the traditional inframammary incision site (47% of patients) was favored over transaxillary (33%) and periareolar (19%), and both subglandular (55%) and submuscular (44%) planes of insertion were used. Over 97% of surgeons and patients were satisfied with the results and surgeons indicated that the implants were easy to use. Conclusions This review demonstrates that these implants are safe, maybe easier to introduce than other implants, and result in a high level of surgeon and patient satisfaction.341111
Protective effects of antiâ C5a peptide antibodies in experimental sepsis
We evaluated antibodies to different peptide regions of rat C5a in the sepsis model of cecal ligation and puncture (CLP) for their protective effects in rats. Rabbit polyclonal antibodies were developed to the following peptide regions of rat C5a: aminoâ terminal region (A), residues 1â 16; middle region (M), residues 17â 36; and the carboxylâ terminal region (C), residues 58â 77. With rat neutrophils, the chemotactic activity of rat C5a was significantly inhibited by antibodies with the following rank order: antiâ C > antiâ M â « antiâ A. In vivo, antibodies to the M and C (but not A) regions of C5a were protective in experimental sepsis, as determined by survival over a 10â day period, in a doseâ dependent manner. The relative protective efficacies of antiâ C5a preparations (in descending order of efficacy) were antiâ C â ¥ antiâ M â « antiâ A. In CLP rats, a delay in infusion of antibodies, which were injected at 6 or 12 h after CLP, still resulted in significant improvement in survival rates. These in vivo and in vitro data suggest that there are optimal targets on C5a for blockade during sepsis and that delayed infusion of antiâ C5a antibody until after onset of clinical evidence of sepsis still provides protective effects.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/154417/1/fsb2fj000653fje-sup-0001.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/154417/2/fsb2fj000653fje.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/154417/3/fsb2fj000653fje-sup-0002.pd
An adaptive phase II/III safety and efficacy randomized controlled trial of single day or three-day fixed-dose albendazole-ivermectin co-formulation versus albendazole for the treatment of Trichuris trichiura and other STH infections. ALIVE trial protocol
18 páginas, 2 tablas, 1 figura.Background: Soil-transmitted helminths (STH) are targeted for control through mass drug-administration campaigns to prevent morbidity affecting at-risk groups in endemic regions. Although broadly successful, the use of albendazole and mebendazole achieved variable progress, with deficiencies against Trichuris trichiura and a predictable low efficacy against Strongyloides stercoralis. Novel drug combinations offer a potential solution, providing they can be delivered safely and maintain efficacy against all STH species. Here we present the protocol of a clinical trial to evaluate a fixed-dose combination (FDC) tablet containing albendazole and ivermectin that will be compared against albendazole against STH. Methods: An adaptive phase II/III randomized controlled trial will be undertaken in STH endemic sites in Ethiopia, Kenya and Mozambique to evaluate an oral FDC of 400 mg albendazole and either 9- or 18 mg ivermectin. FDC will be administered as a single dose or single doses over three-consecutive days and assessed against a single dose of 400 mg albendazole. In the phase II trial, 126 T. trichiura-infected children weighting 15 to 45 kg will be treated in a dose-escalation manner to determine safety objectives. In the phase III trial, 1097 participants aged 5 to 18 years old infected with T. trichiura, hookworm and S. stercoralis will be recruited to determine safety and efficacy. The trial will be open-label with blinded outcome assessors. Cure rate measured 21-days after-treatment in duplicate Kato-Katz is the primary efficacy outcome. Secondary objectives include efficacy evaluation by quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) as an outcome measurement, description of pharmacokinetic parameters, palatability and acceptability evaluations, and monitoring of anthelmintic resistance. Conclusions: This trial with registrational goals seeks to evaluate an innovative fixed-dose combination of albendazole and ivermectin co-formulated tablets, with the goal of providing an anthelmintic regimen with improved efficacy and spectrum of coverage against STH. ClinicalTrials.gov registration: NCT05124691 (18/11/2021)
A systematic review of the evidence for single stage and two stage revision of infected knee replacement
BACKGROUND:
Periprosthetic infection about the knee is a devastating complication that may affect between 1% and 5% of knee replacement. With over 79 000 knee replacements being implanted each year in the UK, periprosthetic infection (PJI) is set to become an important burden of disease and cost to the healthcare economy. One of the important controversies in treatment of PJI is whether a single stage revision operation is superior to a two-stage procedure. This study sought to systematically evaluate the published evidence to determine which technique had lowest reinfection rates.
METHODS:
A systematic review of the literature was undertaken using the MEDLINE and EMBASE databases with the aim to identify existing studies that present the outcomes of each surgical technique. Reinfection rate was the primary outcome measure. Studies of specific subsets of patients such as resistant organisms were excluded.
RESULTS:
63 studies were identified that met the inclusion criteria. The majority of which (58) were reports of two-stage revision. Reinfection rated varied between 0% and 41% in two-stage studies, and 0% and 11% in single stage studies. No clinical trials were identified and the majority of studies were observational studies.
CONCLUSIONS:
Evidence for both one-stage and two-stage revision is largely of low quality. The evidence basis for two-stage revision is significantly larger, and further work into direct comparison between the two techniques should be undertaken as a priority
Final Report of the Fifth Meeting of Scientific Experts on Fish Stocks in the Central Arctic Ocean
This report provides a summary of the 5th meeting of scientific experts on Fish Stocks in the Central
Arctic Ocean (FiSCAO) on October 24‐26, 2017, in Ottawa, Canada.
At the request of the 10 parties negotiating on an agreement to prevent unregulated commercial fishing
in the High Seas portion of the Central Arctic Ocean (CAO), participants of the 5th FiSCAO meeting were
tasked with addressing four Terms of Reference, summarized below:
ToR 1. Design a 1‐3 year long mapping program.
ToR 2. Design a monitoring program.
ToR 3. Identify human, financial, vessel/equipment resources needed for mapping and
monitoring.
ToR 4. Develop data collection, sharing, and hosting protocols that outline the details of what
and how data shall be collected, shared, and hosted for consideration by the Parties.
The 5th FiSCAO meeting included scientific representatives from seven states including Canada, the
People's Republic of China, the European Union, Iceland, the Republic of Korea, the Kingdom of Norway
and the United States of America. The meeting also included representatives from the International
Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES), the North Pacific Marine Science Organization (PICES) and
the Arctic Council’s Protection of the Arctic Marine Environment (PAME) and Conservation of Arctic
Flora and Fauna (CAFF) working groups.
The report summarizes the elements for collecting baseline data (i.e., a mapping program) in the high
seas CAO to achieve the goals of documenting species distributions, relative abundances and key
ecosystem parameters (ToR 1). The mapping program describes the priority areas to sample, the types
of data to collect and possible data collection approaches to employ. Participants emphasized that
existing planned surveys are very limited, and that significant dedicated resources will be required to
implement the mapping program.
The report outlines a strategy for monitoring indicators of fish stocks and ecosystem components (ToR
2). The report includes a list of existing monitoring programs and a prioritized list of indicators to detect
environmental change in the high seas CAO. Further refinement of a monitoring program will use
information from the mapping program (ToR 1). Participants emphasized the need to begin monitoring
as soon as possible and that additional research is required to operationalize monitoring indicators.
The report summarizes the preliminary cost estimates (ToR 3) to implement a mapping program to
collect data in the high seas portion of the CAO using a vessel of opportunity and in the Pacific Gateway
region of the CAO using an independently‐organized survey. Cost implications for the monitoring
program and other scientific activities are also listed (e.g., data analysis, data management).
The report includes a draft data sharing policy as the foundation for a future data sharing protocol,
including the technical specifications for data sharing (ToR 4). The development of the data sharing
protocol will require negotiation and legal review among the participating states. A data management
and data sharing pilot study on a CAO fish database is suggested to test a framework
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