Multi-Link Vision stent vs. first-generation drug-eluting stents: systematic review and meta-analysis

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Current Concepts on Antiplatelet Therapy: Focus on the Novel Thienopyridine and Non-Thienopyridine Agents

Thienopyridines are a class of drug targeting the platelet adenosine diphosphate (ADP) 2 receptor. They significantly reduce platelet activity and are therefore clinically beneficial in settings where platelet activation is a key pathophysiological feature, particularly myocardial infarction. Ticlopidine, the first of the class introduced to clinical practice, was soon challenged and almost completely replaced by clopidogrel for its better tolerability. More recently, prasugrel and ticagrelor have been shown to provide a more powerful antiplatelet action compared to clopidogrel but at a cost of higher risk of bleeding complications. Cangrelor, a molecule very similar to ticagrelor, is currently being evaluated against clopidogrel. Considering the key balance of ischemic protection and bleeding risk, this paper discusses the background to the development of prasugrel, ticagrelor, and cangrelor and aims to characterise their risk-benefit profile and possible implementation in daily practice

Relational EPR

We study the EPR-type correlations from the perspective of the relational interpretation of quantum mechanics. We argue that these correlations do not entail any form of 'non-locality', when viewed in the context of this interpretation. The abandonment of strict Einstein realism implied by the relational stance permits to reconcile quantum mechanics, completeness, (operationally defined) separability, and locality.Comment: Revised, published versio

Quantum mechanical effect of path-polarization contextuality for a single photon

Using measurements pertaining to a suitable Mach-Zehnder(MZ) type setup, a curious quantum mechanical effect of contextuality between the path and the polarization degrees of freedom of a polarized photon is demonstrated, without using any notion of realism or hidden variables - an effect that holds good for the product as well as the entangled states. This form of experimental context-dependence is manifested in a way such that at \emph{either} of the two exit channels of the MZ setup used, the empirically verifiable \emph{subensemble} statistical properties obtained by an arbitrary polarization measurement depend upon the choice of a commuting(comeasurable) path observable, while this effect disappears for the \emph{whole ensemble} of photons emerging from the two exit channels of the MZ setup.Comment: To be published in IJT

Quantum Locality

It is argued that while quantum mechanics contains nonlocal or entangled states, the instantaneous or nonlocal influences sometimes thought to be present due to violations of Bell inequalities in fact arise from mistaken attempts to apply classical concepts and introduce probabilities in a manner inconsistent with the Hilbert space structure of standard quantum mechanics. Instead, Einstein locality is a valid quantum principle: objective properties of individual quantum systems do not change when something is done to another noninteracting system. There is no reason to suspect any conflict between quantum theory and special relativity.Comment: Introduction has been revised, references added, minor corrections elsewhere. To appear in Foundations of Physic

Sample preparation and blank values at the AMS radiocarbon facility of the University of Lecce

In this paper we present the system we have developed in Lecce for the sample preparation of organic and inorganic materials for accelerator mass spectrometry measurements. The system consisting of two separated lines for CO2 transfer and graphitization will be described. It includes an equipment we specifically realized for cracking the tubes containing the CO2 gas produced from the sample. The performances of the whole system and the memory effects have been investigated by using test samples like oxalic acid II as modern sample, and IAEA C4 standard as blanks. The study of the reduction process versus time and temperature and a spectroscopic investigation of the graphite is also given

Against the 'No-Go' Philosophy of Quantum Mechanics

In the area of the foundations of quantum mechanics a true industry appears to have developed in the last decades, with the aim of proving as many results as possible concerning what there cannot be in the quantum realm. In principle, the significance of proving ‘no-go’ results should consist in clarifying the fundamental structure of the theory, by pointing out a class of basic constraints that the theory itself is supposed to satisfy. In the present paper I will discuss some more recent no-go claims and I will argue against the deep significance of these results, with a two-fold strategy. First, I will consider three results concerning respectively local realism, quantum covariance and predictive power in quantum mechanics, and I will try to show how controversial the main conditions of the negative theorem turn out to be – something that strongly undermines the general relevance of these theorems. Second, I will try to discuss what I take to be a common feature of these theoretical enterprises, namely that of aiming at establishing negative results for quantum mechanics in absence of a deeper understanding of the overall ontological content and structure of the theory. I will argue that the only way toward such an understanding may be to cast in advance the problems in a clear and well-defined interpretational framework – which in my view means primarily to specify the ontology that quantum theory is supposed to be about – and after to wonder whether problems that seemed worth pursuing still are so in the framework