Selective translational repression of HIV-1 RNA by Sam68DeltaC occurs by altering PABP1 binding to unspliced viral RNA

HIV-1 structural proteins are translated from incompletely spliced 9 kb and 4 kb mRNAs, which are transported to the cytoplasm by Crm1. It has been assumed that once in the cytoplasm, translation of incompletely spliced HIV-1 mRNAs occurs in the same manner as host mRNAs. Previous analyses have demonstrated that Sam68 and a mutant thereof, Sam68ΔC, have dramatic effects on HIV gene expression, strongly enhancing and inhibiting viral structural protein synthesis, respectively. While investigating the inhibition of incompletely spliced HIV-1 mRNAs by Sam68ΔC, we determined that the effect was independent of the perinuclear bundling of the viral RNA. Inhibition was dependent upon the nuclear export pathway used, as translation of viral RNA exported via the Tap/CTE export pathway was not blocked by Sam68ΔC. We demonstrate that inhibition of HIV expression by Sam68ΔC is correlated with a loss of PABP1 binding with no attendant change in polyadenosine tail length of the affected RNAs. The capacity of Sam68ΔC to selectively inhibit translation of HIV-1 RNAs exported by Crm1 suggests that it is able to recognize unique characteristics of these viral RNPs, a property that could lead to new therapeutic approaches to controlling HIV-1 replication

Higher Education and Society: A research report

This report draws on a substantial body of research undertaken by the Open University's Centre for Higher Education Research and Information (CHERI) on the changing relationships between higher education and society. Higher education currently faces many changes, some externally driven by government policies and changing patterns of social and economic demand and some internally driven by changes in the way knowledge is produced and organised within universities and other 'knowledge organisations'. CHERI examines these changes through empirical research which is policy relevant though not policy dictated, frequently international, and broadly focused on the social impacts of higher education. Does higher education make a difference and to whom? In their different ways, the articles in this report seek to provide answers to this important but difficult question

Efficient Quantum Computation using Coherent States

Universal quantum computation using optical coherent states is studied. A teleportation scheme for a coherent-state qubit is developed and applied to gate operations. This scheme is shown to be robust to detection inefficiency.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures, extended and modified (in print, PRA

Teleportation-based number state manipulation with number sum measurement

We examine various manipulations of photon number states which can be implemented by teleportation technique with number sum measurement. The preparations of the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen resources as well as the number sum measurement resulting in projection to certain Bell state may be done conditionally with linear optical elements, i.e., beam splitters, phase shifters and zero-one-photon detectors. Squeezed vacuum states are used as primary entanglement resource, while single-photon sources are not required.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures, Misprints are corrected. 3 figures for number sum measurement are added. Discussion on manipulations are expanded. Calculations for success probabilities are added. Fig.4 is adde

On quantum teleportation with beam-splitter-generated entanglement

Following the lead of Cochrane, Milburn, and Munro [Phys. Rev. A {\bf 62}, 062307 (2000)], we investigate theoretically quantum teleportation by means of the number-sum and phase-difference variables. We study Fock-state entanglement generated by a beam splitter and show that two-mode Fock-state inputs can be entangled by a beam splitter into close approximations of maximally entangled eigenstates of the phase difference and the photon-number sum (Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen -- EPR -- states). Such states could be experimentally feasible with on-demand single-photon sources. We show that the teleportation fidelity can reach near unity when such ``quasi-EPR'' states are used as the quantum channel.Comment: 7 pages (two-column), 7 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. A. Text unmodified, postscript error correcte

Generation of entangled coherent states via cross phase modulation in a double electromagnetically induced transparency regime

The generation of an entangled coherent state is one of the most important ingredients of quantum information processing using coherent states. Recently, numerous schemes to achieve this task have been proposed. In order to generate travelling-wave entangled coherent states, cross phase modulation, optimized by optical Kerr effect enhancement in a dense medium in an electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) regime, seems to be very promising. In this scenario, we propose a fully quantized model of a double-EIT scheme recently proposed [D. Petrosyan and G. Kurizki, {\sl Phys. Rev. A} {\bf 65}, 33833 (2002)]: the quantization step is performed adopting a fully Hamiltonian approach. This allows us to write effective equations of motion for two interacting quantum fields of light that show how the dynamics of one field depends on the photon-number operator of the other. The preparation of a Schr\"odinger cat state, which is a superposition of two distinct coherent states, is briefly exposed. This is based on non-linear interaction via double-EIT of two light fields (initially prepared in coherent states) and on a detection step performed using a $50:50$ beam splitter and two photodetectors. In order to show the entanglement of a generated entangled coherent state, we suggest to measure the joint quadrature variance of the field. We show that the entangled coherent states satisfy the sufficient condition for entanglement based on quadrature variance measurement. We also show how robust our scheme is against a low detection efficiency of homodyne detectors.Comment: 15 pages, 9 figures; extensively revised version; added Section

Entanglement and nonclassicality of photon-added two-mode squeezed thermal state

We introduce a kind of entangled state---photon-addition two-mode squeezed thermal state (TMSTS) by adding photons to each mode of the TMSTS. Using the P-representation of thermal state, the compact expression of the normalization factor is derived, a Jacobi polynomial. The nonclassicality is investigated by exploring especially the negativity of Wigner function. The entanglement is discussed by using Shchukin-Vogel criteria. It is shown that the photon-addtion to the TMSTS may be more effective for the entanglement enhancement than the photon-subtraction from the TMSTS. In addition, the quantum teleportation is also examined, which shows that symmetrical photon-added TMSTS may be more useful for quantum teleportation than the non-symmetric case.Comment: 11 pages, 7 figure

Neural processing of social rejection: the role of schizotypal personality traits

A fear of being rejected can cause perceptions of more insecurity and stress in close relationships. Healthy individuals activate the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) when experiencing social rejection, while those who are vulnerable to depression deactivate the dACC presumably to downregulate salience of rejection cues and minimize distress. Schizotypal individuals, characterized by unusual perceptual experiences and/or odd beliefs, are more rejection sensitive than normal. We tested the hypothesis, for the first time, that individuals with high schizotypy also have an altered dACC response to rejection stimuli. Twenty-six healthy individuals, 14 with low schizotypy (LS) and 12 with high schizotypy (HS), viewed depictions of rejection and acceptance and neutral scenes while undergoing functional MRI. Activation maps in LS and HS groups during each image type were compared using SPM5, and their relation to participant mood and subjective ratings of the images was examined. During rejection relative to neutral scenes, LS activated and HS deactivated the bilateral dACC, right superior frontal gyrus, and left ventral prefrontal cortex. Across both groups, a temporo-occipito-parieto-cerebellar network was active during rejection, and a left fronto-parietal network during acceptance, relative to neutral scenes, and the bilateral lingual gyrus during rejection relative to acceptance scenes. Our finding of dACC-dorso-ventral PFC activation in LS, but deactivation in HS individuals when perceiving social rejection scenes suggests that HS individuals attach less salience to and distance themselves from such stimuli. This may enable them to cope with their higher-than-normal sensitivity to rejection

A study on the menstruation of Korean adolescent girls in Seoul

PurposeWesternized eating habits have been associated with early-age menstruation, which increases the incidence of dysmenorrhea and premenstrual syndrome among adolescent girls. We therefore surveyed changes in menarche timing and the general menstrual characteristics of adolescent girls in Seoul, Korea.MethodsWe surveyed 538 teenage girls who visited our hospital between July and November 2007. Items explored included age at menarche, general menstrual characteristics, occurrence of premenstrual syndrome and treatment thereof, and an association between present dysmenorrhea and a family history of the condition.ResultsAverage age at menarche was 12.6 years, with 29% (n=156) subjects beginning menstruation at age 12 years. The prevalence of dysmenorrhea was 82% (n=435). The main symptoms were abdominal (53.2%) and lower back pain (34.2%), and 15.2% of girls who experienced such symptoms required medication. Present dysmenorrhea, and a family history thereof, were statistically correlated (P<0.05). In addition, 58.8% (n=316) of teenage girls had symptoms of premenstrual syndrome. The most frequent psychological symptoms were fatigue (36.4%) and nervousness (38.7%), whereas the most common physical symptom was menstrual cramps (46.5%). Most subjects (87.6%) tolerated the symptoms of premenstrual syndrome without medication; 11.4% took medicines including painkillers; but only 0.1% of subjects visited a doctor.ConclusionThe average age at menarche in Korean girls was 12.6 years, thus younger than in the past. Most teenage girls experienced dysmenorrhea and premenstrual syndrome, but few consulted a doctor. Organized treatment plans are required to manage menstrual problems in teenage girls

What’s in a name? The challenge of describing interventions in systematic reviews: analysis of a random sample of reviews of non-pharmacological stroke interventions

Objective: To assess, in a sample of systematic reviews of non-pharmacological interventions, the completeness of intervention reporting, identify the most frequently missing elements, and assess review authors’ use of and beliefs about providing intervention information. Design: Analysis of a random sample of systematic reviews of non-pharmacological stroke interventions; online survey of review authors. Data sources and study selection: The Cochrane Library and PubMed were searched for potentially eligible systematic reviews and a random sample of these assessed for eligibility until 60 (30 Cochrane, 30 non-Cochrane) eligible reviews were identified. Data collection: In each review, the completeness of the intervention description in each eligible trial (n=568) was assessed by 2 independent raters using the Template for Intervention Description and Replication (TIDieR) checklist. All review authors (n=46) were invited to complete a survey. Results: Most reviews were missing intervention information for the majority of items. The most incompletely described items were: modifications, fidelity, materials, procedure and tailoring (missing from all interventions in 97%, 90%, 88%, 83% and 83% of reviews, respectively). Items that scored better, but were still incomplete for the majority of reviews, were: ‘when and how much’ (in 31% of reviews, adequate for all trials; in 57% of reviews, adequate for some trials); intervention mode (in 22% of reviews, adequate for all trials; in 38%, adequate for some trials); and location (in 19% of reviews, adequate for all trials). Of the 33 (71%) authors who responded, 58% reported having further intervention information but not including it, and 70% tried to obtain information. Conclusions: Most focus on intervention reporting has been directed at trials. Poor intervention reporting in stroke systematic reviews is prevalent, compounded by poor trial reporting. Without adequate intervention descriptions, the conduct, usability and interpretation of reviews are restricted and therefore, require action by trialists, systematic reviewers, peer reviewers and editors