2,342 research outputs found
Entanglement and teleportation via chaotic system
The dynamics of entangled state interacting with a single cavity mode is
investigated in the presence of a random parameter. We have shown that degree
of entanglement decays with time and rate of decay is defined by features of
random parameter. Quantum teleportation through dissipative channal and
teleportation fidelity as a function of damping rates has been studied. The
sensitivity of the fidelity with respect to random parameter is discussed. We
have evaluated the time interval during which one can perform the quantum
teleportation and send the information with reasonable fidelity, for a given
values of correlation length of random parameter.Comment: Accepted in Physica
Perception and attitude of physicians toward local generic medicines in Saudi Arabia: A questionnaire-based study
AbstractObjectives: The current study aimed to explore the knowledge, perception, and attitude of physicians toward generic medicines in Saudi Arabia.Background: The local market of generic medicine share in Saudi Arabia is low compared to global and regional statistics. The reason for this low market share and the role of physicians has not previously been investigated. The purpose of this study was to assess health practitioner level of perceived knowledge, opinions and attitudes about local generic medication, and identify factors that influence infrequency of generic prescriptions.Methods: A random sample of 231 physicians was recruited from two hospitals in Riyadh (one government one private) and 178 (77%) responded. Information on the physiciansâ perceived knowledge, opinions and attitude toward local generic medication was extracted, analyzed and interpreted. Factors that influence infrequent prescription of local generic drugs were identified.Results: Among the 178 participants in the physiciansâ survey, 76% and 47% reported that they are knowledgeable about the terms âgenericâ and âbioequivalenceâ respectively, while 44% reported that they are able to explain bioequivalence to their patients. Approximately 52% of physicians reported that local generics should be substituted for brands if suitable for the case, and 21.9% reported that they believe SFDA approved local generics are therapeutically equivalent to their brands. Clinical effectiveness was reported by 71.9% of physicians as the most influential factor effecting prescription of brand over local generic medication. The three independent significant predictors for infrequent prescription of local generics among physicians: Government sector employment (OR=3.74, [95%CI 1.50â9.43]), consultant level (OR=3.94, [95%CI 1.50â10.31]) and low level of knowledge about local generics (OR=4.11, [95%CI 1.56â10.84]).Conclusion: The low market share of local generics medicines attributed to low prescription rates is significantly more among senior-level physicians working in governmental hospitals. Low level of knowledge about generic drugs among physicians was the strongest predictive factor for low prescription. Future bigger studies are needed to confirm these results
Information loss in local dissipation environments
The sensitivity of entanglement to the thermal and squeezed reservoirs'
parameters is investigated regarding entanglement decay and what is called
sudden-death of entanglement, ESD, for a system of two qubit pairs. The
dynamics of information is investigated by means of the information disturbance
and exchange information. We show that for squeezed reservoir, we can keep both
of the entanglement and information survival for a long time. The sudden death
of information is seen in the case of thermal reservoir
Influence of the gut microbiome on IgE and non-IgE-mediated food allergies
Congress of the European-Academy-of-Allergy-and-Clinical-Immunology (EAACI) -- MAY 26-30, 2018 -- Munich, GERMANYWOS: 000441690400204Background: The prevalence of food allergy (FA) in children has been increasing in last decade. Recent studies show changes in gut microbiome with FA. However, whether gut microbiome may differ between IgE and nonâIgEâmediated FA is not defined. The aim of this study is to examine the intestinal microbiome composition in infants with IgE and nonâIgEâmediated FA and healthy infants. Method: Infants younger than 1âyearâold, breastfed and diagnosed with FA by a physician were included in the study. DNA was isolated from stool samples of infants with nonâIgEâmediated FA (n = 25) and IgEâmediated FA (n = 11) and healthy infants (n = 7). Whole genome shotgun sequencing was applied to identify the composition of microbial DNA (an average depth of 3.1 ± 0.8 million paired end reads and 0.9 ± 0.2 gigabase pairs). Results: There were compositional differences among 3 different groups. Shannon index was significantly higher in IgEâmediated FA compared to nonâIgEâmediated FA group (KruskalâWallis test, P = 0.034). Even though ÎČâdiversity was similar, the Sparse Partial Least Square Discriminant Analysis (sPLSâDA) demonstrated that there were taxaâlevel differences among three groups. In species level, Veillonella parvula was in a significantly higher density in healthy infants compared to IgE and nonâIgEâmediated FA groups. Rahnella aquatilis and Lactobacillus salivarius were significantly lower and Treponema succinifaciens significantly higher in IgEâmediated FA group compared to other groups. Additionally, Prevotella sp. oral taxon 299 was significantly lower in nonâIgEâmediated FA group compared to others. Prevotella sp oral taxon 299 was related to mucus in stool whereas urticaria related species were Olsenall uli, Bactreoides thetaiotaomicron, Klebsiella variiocola, Rahnella aquatilis, Treponema succinfaciens, Ethanoligenens harbinenese. Conclusion: Analysis of microbiome differences in FA patients may aid in the understanding of the disease process. The present data suggest that there are compositional variations mostly in speciesâ level among infants with FA and healthy ones. Our results suggest that the gut microbiome has a stronger relationship to IgEâmediated than nonâIgEâmediated FA. Further functional analysis of the microbiome may help better understand the changes seen in the gut microbiome in FAs and improve our knowledge in the disease etiopathology.European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunolog
Enhancement of nonclassical properties of two qubits via deformed operators
We explore the dynamics of two atoms interacting with a cavity field via
deformed operators. Properties of the asymptotic regularization of entanglement
measures proving, for example, purity cost, regularized fidelity and accuracy
of information transfer are analyzed. We show that the robustness of a
bipartite system having a finite number of quantum states vanishes at finite
photon numbers, for arbitrary interactions between its constituents and with
cavity field. Finally it is shown that the stability of the purity and the
fidelity is improved in the absence of the deformation parameters
Genetic variation in the TLL1 gene is not associated with fibrosis in patients with metabolic associated fatty liver disease
Metabolic associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD) is the most prevalent liver disease in Western nations, with high heritability. A recent study of Japanese patients with the disease suggested that TLL1 rs17047200 is associated with fibrosis; whether a similar association is observed in Caucasian patients with MAFLD is unknown. We investigated the association of the TLL1 rs17047200 polymorphism with liver fibrosis in a cohort of Caucasian patients with MAFLD (n = 728). We also investigated whether TLL1 expression is altered during liver injury in humans, in murine models of fibrosis, and in in-vitro. While TLL1 expression is upregulated in the liver of humans with MAFLD and in mice, the rs17047200 variant was not associated with fibrosis or any other histological features, or with hepatic TLL1 expression. In conclusion, the TLL1 rs17047200 variant is not a risk variant for fibrosis in Caucasian patients with MAFLD. However, TLL1 could be involved in the pathogenesis of liver fibrosis
Copy number variation and expression of exportin-4 associates with severity of fibrosis in metabolic associated fatty liver disease
Background: Liver fibrosis risk is a heritable trait, the outcome of which is the net deposition of extracellular matrix by hepatic stellate cell-derived myofibroblasts. Whereas nucleotide sequence variations have been extensively studied in liver fibrosis, the role of copy number variations (CNV) in which genes exist in abnormal numbers of copies (mostly due to duplication or deletion) has had limited exploration. Methods: The impact of the XPO4 CNV on histological liver damage was examined in a cohort comprised 646 Caucasian patients with biopsy-proven MAFLD and 170 healthy controls. XPO4 expression was modulated and function was examined in human and animal models. Findings: Here we demonstrate in a cohort of 816 subjects, 646 with biopsy-proven metabolic associated liver disease (MAFLD) and 170 controls, that duplication in the exportin 4 (XPO4) CNV is associated with the severity of liver fibrosis. Functionally, this occurs via reduced expression of hepatic XPO4 that maintains sustained activation of SMAD3/SMAD4 and promotes TGF-ÎČ1-mediated HSC activation and fibrosis. This effect was mediated through termination of nuclear SMAD3 signalling. XPO4 demonstrated preferential binding to SMAD3 compared to other SMADs and led to reduced SMAD3-mediated responses as shown by attenuation of TGFÎČ1 induced SMAD transcriptional activity, reductions in the recruitment of SMAD3 to target gene promoters following TGF-ÎČ1, as well as attenuation of SMAD3 phosphorylation and disturbed SMAD3/SMAD4 complex formation. Interpretation: We conclude that a CNV in XPO4 is a critical mediator of fibrosis severity and can be exploited as a therapeutic target for liver fibrosis. Funding: ME and JG are supported by the Robert W. Storr Bequest to the Sydney Medical Foundation, University of Sydney; a National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia (NHMRC) Program Grant (APP1053206) and Project and ideas grants (APP2001692, APP1107178 and APP1108422). AB is supported by an Australian Government Research Training Program (RTP) scholarship. EB is supported by Horizon 2020 under grant 634413 for the project EPoS
Mistranslation Drives Alterations in Protein Levels and the Effects of a Synonymous Variant at the Fibroblast Growth Factor 21 Locus
Fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF21) is a liver-derived hormone with pleiotropic beneficial effects on metabolism. Paradoxically, FGF21 levels are elevated in metabolic diseases. Interventions that restore metabolic homeostasis reduce FGF21. Whether abnormalities in FGF21 secretion or resistance in peripheral tissues is the initiating factor in altering FGF21 levels and function in humans is unknown. A genetic approach is used to help resolve this paradox. The authors demonstrate that the primary event in dysmetabolic phenotypes is the elevation of FGF21 secretion. The latter is regulated by translational reprogramming in a genotype- and context-dependent manner. To relate the findings to tissues outcomes, the minor (A) allele of rs838133 is shown to be associated with increased hepatic inflammation in patients with metabolic associated fatty liver disease. The results here highlight a dominant role for translation of the FGF21 protein to explain variations in blood levels that is at least partially inherited. These results provide a framework for translational reprogramming of FGF21 to treat metabolic diseases
A diverse virome in kidney transplant patients contains multiple viral subtypes with distinct polymorphisms
Recent studies have established that the human urine contains a complex microbiome, including a virome about which little is known. Following immunosuppression in kidney transplant patients, BK polyomavirus (BKV) has been shown to induce nephropathy (BKVN), decreasing graft survival. In this study we investigated the urine virome profile of BKV+ and BKVâ kidney transplant recipients. Virus-like particles were stained to confirm the presence of VLP in the urine samples. Metagenomic DNA was purified, and the virome profile was analyzed using metagenomic shotgun sequencing. While the BK virus was predominant in the BKV+ group, it was also found in the BKVâ group patients. Additional viruses were also detected in all patients, notably including JC virus (JCV) and Torque teno virus (TTV) and interestingly, we detected multiple subtypes of the BKV, JCV and TTV. Analysis of the BKV subtypes showed that nucleotide polymorphisms were detected in the VP1, VP2 and Large T Antigen proteins, suggesting potential functional effects for enhanced pathogenicity. Our results demonstrate a complex urinary virome in kidney transplant patients with multiple viruses with several distinct subtypes warranting further analysis of virus subtypes in immunosuppressed hosts
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