2,329 research outputs found
Addressing the clumsiness loophole in a Leggett-Garg test of macrorealism
The rise of quantum information theory has lent new relevance to experimental
tests for non-classicality, particularly in controversial cases such as
adiabatic quantum computing superconducting circuits. The Leggett-Garg
inequality is a "Bell inequality in time" designed to indicate whether a single
quantum system behaves in a macrorealistic fashion. Unfortunately, a violation
of the inequality can only show that the system is either (i)
non-macrorealistic or (ii) macrorealistic but subjected to a measurement
technique that happens to disturb the system. The "clumsiness" loophole (ii)
provides reliable refuge for the stubborn macrorealist, who can invoke it to
brand recent experimental and theoretical work on the Leggett-Garg test
inconclusive. Here, we present a revised Leggett-Garg protocol that permits one
to conclude that a system is either (i) non-macrorealistic or (ii)
macrorealistic but with the property that two seemingly non-invasive
measurements can somehow collude and strongly disturb the system. By providing
an explicit check of the invasiveness of the measurements, the protocol
replaces the clumsiness loophole with a significantly smaller "collusion"
loophole.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figure
Entanglement between smeared field operators in the Klein-Gordon vacuum
Quantum field theory is the application of quantum physics to fields. It
provides a theoretical framework widely used in particle physics and condensed
matter physics. One of the most distinct features of quantum physics with
respect to classical physics is entanglement or the existence of strong
correlations between subsystems that can even be spacelike separated. In
quantum fields, observables restricted to a region of space define a subsystem.
While there are proofs on the existence of local observables that would allow a
violation of Bell's inequalities in the vacuum states of quantum fields as well
as some explicit but technically demanding schemes requiring an extreme
fine-tuning of the interaction between the fields and detectors, an
experimentally accessible entanglement witness for quantum fields is still
missing. Here we introduce smeared field operators which allow reducing the
vacuum to a system of two effective bosonic modes. The introduction of such
collective observables is motivated by the fact that no physical probe has
access to fields in single spatial (mathematical) points but rather smeared
over finite volumes. We first give explicit collective observables whose
correlations reveal vacuum entanglement in the Klein-Gordon field. We then show
that the critical distance between the two regions of space above which two
effective bosonic modes become separable is of the order of the Compton
wavelength of the particle corresponding to the massive Klein-Gordon field.Comment: 21 pages, 11 figure
No evidence for a shift in pyruvate kinase PKM1 to PKM2 expression during tumorigenesis
The Warburg effect describes the circumstance that tumor cells preferentially use glycolysis rather than oxidative phosphorylation for energy production. It has been reported that this metabolic reconfiguration originates from a switch in the expression of alternative splice forms (PKM1 and PKM2) of the glycolytic enzyme pyruvate kinase (PK), which is also important for malignant transformation. However, analytical evidence for this assumption was still lacking. Using mass spectrometry, we performed an absolute quantification of PKM1 and PKM2 splice isoforms in 25 human malignant cancers, 6 benign oncocytomas, tissue matched controls, and several cell lines. PKM2 was the prominent isoform in all analyzed cancer samples and cell lines. However, this PKM2 dominance was not a result of a change in isoform expression, since PKM2 was also the predominant PKM isoform in matched control tissues. In unaffected kidney, lung, liver, and thyroid, PKM2 accounted for a minimum of 93% of total PKM, for 80% - 96% of PKM in colon, and 55% - 61% of PKM in bladder. Similar results were obtained for a panel of tumor and non-transformed cell lines, where PKM2 was the predominant form. Thus, our results reveal that an exchange in PKM1 to PKM2 isoform expression during cancer formation is not occurring, nor do these results support conclusions that PKM2 is specific for proliferating, and PKM1 for non-proliferating tissue
Stapled hemorrhoidopexy, an innovative surgical procedure for hemorrhoidal prolapse: cost-utility analysis
Aim To undertake full economic evaluation of stapled
hemorrhoidopexy (PPH) to establish its cost-effectiveness
and investigate whether PPH can become cost-saving
compared to conventional excisional hemorrhoidectomy
(CH).
Methods A cost–utility analysis in hospital and health care
system (UK) was undertaken using a probabilistic, cohortbased
decision tree to compare the use of PPH with CH.
Sensitivity analyses allowed showing outcomes in regard
to the variations in clinical practice of PPH procedure.
The participants were patients undergoing initial surgical
treatment of third and fourth degree hemorrhoids within
a 1-year time-horizon. Data on clinical effectiveness were
obtained from a systematic review of the literature. Main
outcome measures were the cost per procedure at the
hospital level, total direct costs from the health care system
perspective, quality adjusted life years (QALY) gained
and incremental cost per QALY gained.
Results A decrease in operating theater time and hospital
stay associated with PPH led to a cost saving compared to
CH of GBP 27 (US 52.68,
€37.29) after one year from the societal perspective. Calculation
of QALYs induced an incremental QALY of 0.0076
and showed an incremental cost-effective ratio (ICER) of
GBP 4316 (US $6890.47, €4878.37). Taking into consideration
recent literature on clinical outcomes, PPH becomes
cost saving compared to CH for the health care system.
Conclusions PPH is a cost-effective procedure with an
ICER of GBP 4136 and it seems that an innovative surgical
procedure could be cost saving in routine clinical practice
Seventy-five mosses and liverworts found frozen with the late Neolithic Tyrolean Iceman: Origins, taphonomy and the Iceman’s last journey
The Iceman site is unique in the bryology of the Quaternary. Only 21 bryophytes (mosses and liverworts) grow now in the immediate vicinity of the 5,300 year old Iceman discovery site at 3,210m above sea level in the Ötztal Alps, Italy. By contrast 75 or more species including at least ten liverworts were recovered as subfossils frozen in, on and around the Iceman from before, at and after his time. About two thirds of the species grow in the nival zone (above 3,000m above sea level) now while about one third do not. A large part of this third can be explained by the Iceman having both deliberately and inadvertently carried bryophytes during his last, fatal journey. Multivariate analyses (PCA, RDA) provide a variety of explanations for the arrivals of the bryophytes in the rocky hollow where the mummy was discovered. This is well into the nival zone of perennial snow and ice with a very sparse, non-woody flora and very low vegetation cover. Apart from the crucial anthropochory (extra-local plants), both hydrochory (local species) and zoochory (by wild game such as ibex of both local and extra-local species) have been important. Anemochory of mainly local species was of lesser importance and of extra-local species probably of little or no importance. The mosses Neckera complanata and several other ecologically similar species as well as a species of Sphagnum (bogmoss) strongly support the claim that the Iceman, took northwards up Schnalstal, South Tyrol, as the route of the last journey. A different species of bogmoss, taken from his colon is another indication the Iceman’s presence at low altitude south of Schnalstal during his last hours when he was first high up, low down and finally at over 3,000m
Neuropsychological and neurophysiological correlates of fatigue in post-acute patients with neurological manifestations of COVID-19: Insights into a challenging symptom
More than half of patients who recover from COVID-19 experience fatigue. We studied fatigue using neuropsychological and neurophysiological investigations in post-COVID-19 patients and healthy subjects. Neuropsychological assessment included: Fatigue Severity Scale (FSS), Fatigue Rating Scale, Beck Depression Inventory, Apathy Evaluation Scale, cognitive tests, and computerized tasks. Neurophysiological examination was assessed before (PRE) and 2 min after (POST) a 1-min fatiguing isometric pinching task and included: maximum compound muscle action potential (CMAP) amplitude in first dorsal interosseous muscle (FDI) following ulnar nerve stimulation, resting motor threshold, motor evoked potential (MEP) amplitude and silent period (SP) duration in right FDI following transcranial magnetic stimulation of the left motor cortex. Maximum pinch strength was measured. Perceived exertion was assessed with the Borg-Category-Ratio scale. Patients manifested fatigue, apathy, executive deficits, impaired cognitive control, and reduction in global cognition. Perceived exertion was higher in patients. CMAP and MEP were smaller in patients both PRE and POST. CMAP did not change in either group from PRE to POST, while MEP amplitudes declined in controls POST. SP duration did not differ between groups PRE, increased in controls but decreased in patients POST. Patients' change of SP duration from PRE to POST was negatively correlated to FSS. Abnormal SP shortening and lack of MEP depression concur with a reduction in post-exhaustion corticomotor inhibition, suggesting a possible GABAB-ergic dysfunction. This impairment might be related to the neuropsychological alterations. COVID-19-associated inflammation might lead to GABAergic impairment, possibly representing the basis of fatigue and explaining apathy and executive deficits
Bell Correlations and the Common Future
Reichenbach's principle states that in a causal structure, correlations of
classical information can stem from a common cause in the common past or a
direct influence from one of the events in correlation to the other. The
difficulty of explaining Bell correlations through a mechanism in that spirit
can be read as questioning either the principle or even its basis: causality.
In the former case, the principle can be replaced by its quantum version,
accepting as a common cause an entangled state, leaving the phenomenon as
mysterious as ever on the classical level (on which, after all, it occurs). If,
more radically, the causal structure is questioned in principle, closed
space-time curves may become possible that, as is argued in the present note,
can give rise to non-local correlations if to-be-correlated pieces of classical
information meet in the common future --- which they need to if the correlation
is to be detected in the first place. The result is a view resembling Brassard
and Raymond-Robichaud's parallel-lives variant of Hermann's and Everett's
relative-state formalism, avoiding "multiple realities."Comment: 8 pages, 5 figure
Quantum Histories and Quantum Gravity
This paper reviews the histories approach to quantum mechanics. This
discussion is then applied to theories of quantum gravity. It is argued that
some of the quantum histories must approximate (in a suitable sense) to
classical histories, if the correct classical regime is to be recovered. This
observation has significance for the formulation of new theories (such as
quantum gravity theories) as it puts a constraint on the kinematics, if the
quantum/classical correspondence principle is to be preserved. Consequences for
quantum gravity, particularly for Lorentz symmetry and the idea of "emergent
geometry", are discussed.Comment: 35 pages (29 pages main body), two figure
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