Management of Pancreatic Cancer During COVID-19 Pandemic: To Treat or Not to Treat?

Pancreatic cancer is a very aggressive disease and survival remains dismal even with treatment. Currently, management of patients with pancreatic cancer has been complicated by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Medical oncologists face the dilemma of whether to treat or to not treat these patients who are at high-risk of complications and even death from COVID-19. No current guidelines are available and our limited experience at this time makes it more difficult to manage these patients. Although we have general strategies available from experience in Italy, we need more treatment specific strategies to help mitigate risks of complications and toxicities from chemotherapy in order to protect our patients from COVID-19 as much as possible

Quantum Revivals in Periodically Driven Systems close to nonlinear resonance

We calculate the quantum revival time for a wave-packet initially well localized in a one-dimensional potential in the presence of an external periodic modulating field. The dependence of the revival time on various parameters of the driven system is shown analytically. As an example of application of our approach, we compare the analytically obtained values of the revival time for various modulation strengths with the numerically computed ones in the case of a driven gravitational cavity. We show that they are in very good agreement.Comment: 14 pages, 1 figur

On the degree conjecture for separability of multipartite quantum states

We settle the so-called degree conjecture for the separability of multipartite quantum states, which are normalized graph Laplacians, first given by Braunstein {\it et al.} [Phys. Rev. A \textbf{73}, 012320 (2006)]. The conjecture states that a multipartite quantum state is separable if and only if the degree matrix of the graph associated with the state is equal to the degree matrix of the partial transpose of this graph. We call this statement to be the strong form of the conjecture. In its weak version, the conjecture requires only the necessity, that is, if the state is separable, the corresponding degree matrices match. We prove the strong form of the conjecture for {\it pure} multipartite quantum states, using the modified tensor product of graphs defined in [J. Phys. A: Math. Theor. \textbf{40}, 10251 (2007)], as both necessary and sufficient condition for separability. Based on this proof, we give a polynomial-time algorithm for completely factorizing any pure multipartite quantum state. By polynomial-time algorithm we mean that the execution time of this algorithm increases as a polynomial in $m,$ where $m$ is the number of parts of the quantum system. We give a counter-example to show that the conjecture fails, in general, even in its weak form, for multipartite mixed states. Finally, we prove this conjecture, in its weak form, for a class of multipartite mixed states, giving only a necessary condition for separability.Comment: 17 pages, 3 figures. Comments are welcom

Characterization of an H3N2 triple reassortant influenza virus with a mutation at the receptor binding domain (D190A) that occurred upon virus transmission from turkeys to pigs

The hemagglutinin (HA) protein of influenza virus mediates essential viral functions including the binding to host receptor and virus entry. It also has the antigenic sites required for virus neutralization by host antibodies. Here, we characterized an H3N2 triple reassortant (TR) influenza virus (A/turkey/Ohio/313053/04) with a mutation at the receptor binding domain (Asp190Ala) that occurred upon virus transmission from turkeys to pigs in an experimental infection study. The mutant virus replicated less efficiently than the parental virus in human, pig and turkey primary tracheal/bronchial epithelial cells, with more than 3-log10 difference in virus titer at 72 hours post infection. In addition, the mutant virus demonstrated lower binding efficiency to plasma membrane preparations from all three cell types compared to the parental virus. Antisera raised against the parental virus reacted equally to both homologous and heterlogous viruses, however, antisera raised against the mutant virus showed 4-8 folds lower reactivity to the parental virus

Quantum Revivals in a Periodically Driven Gravitational Cavity

Quantum revivals are investigated for the dynamics of an atom in a driven gravitational cavity. It is demonstrated that the external driving field influences the revival time significantly. Analytical expressions are presented which are based on second order perturbation theory and semiclassical secular theory. These analytical results explain the dependence of the revival time on the characteristic parameters of the problem quantitatively in a simple way. They are in excellent agreement with numerical results

COVID-19 Clinical Research.

Introduction:While the global COVID-19 pandemic has challenged the entire humanity and health systems, it also triggered researchers to urgently perform clinical trials to assess the safety and efficacy of many agents and modalities to combat COVID-19. As of April 22, over 650 clinical studies have been registered both in USA and internationally. Results from these studies are also coming at a brisk pace in this unprecedented emergency. Areas covered:We searched the NCI website and Medline and summarize various national and international clinical trials and summarize few of the pivotal ones in this paper, including those specific to oncology population. Two hundred and eighty four studies are actively recruiting adults and children with confirmed COVID-19, including 25 are early-phase I/phase I, 72 phase II, 58 phase III, 12 phase IV, and 31 other trials. They can be categorized into four groups: drugs that combat SARS-CoV-2, immunomodulatory agents to counteract cytokine storm, convalescence plasma therapies and vaccines trials. Expert opinion:It is hoped that these efforts will results in a successful treatment to COVID-19, especially in a timely fashion before the second pandemic expected in fall. It is essential to acknowledge the devotion and hard work of the clinical research team and clinical research volunteers

An Atomic Gravitational Wave Interferometric Sensor in Low Earth Orbit (AGIS-LEO)

We propose an atom interferometer gravitational wave detector in low Earth orbit (AGIS-LEO). Gravitational waves can be observed by comparing a pair of atom interferometers separated over a ~30 km baseline. In the proposed configuration, one or three of these interferometer pairs are simultaneously operated through the use of two or three satellites in formation flight. The three satellite configuration allows for the increased suppression of multiple noise sources and for the detection of stochastic gravitational wave signals. The mission will offer a strain sensitivity of < 10^(-18) / Hz^(1/2) in the 50 mHz - 10 Hz frequency range, providing access to a rich scientific region with substantial discovery potential. This band is not currently addressed with the LIGO or LISA instruments. We analyze systematic backgrounds that are relevant to the mission and discuss how they can be mitigated at the required levels. Some of these effects do not appear to have been considered previously in the context of atom interferometry, and we therefore expect that our analysis will be broadly relevant to atom interferometric precision measurements. Finally, we present a brief conceptual overview of shorter-baseline (< 100 m) atom interferometer configurations that could be deployed as proof-of-principle instruments on the International Space Station (AGIS-ISS) or an independent satellite.Comment: 37 pages, 21 figure

A Cross-Sectional Survey of Iraqi Herbalist Practicing in the Middle Euphrates Area with a Recognition of their Knowledge, Practice and Attitude(Conference Paper )#

High percentage of the Iraqi population profoundly rely on folk medicine to meet their health needs which makes their safety questionable. This study aims to evaluate Iraqi herbalists' knowledge and practice to ensure the public's safety. This study was conducted in a cross-sectional design between October 2021 and March 2022, using a pretested questionnaire administered to Iraqi herbalists practicing in Middle Euphrates Area. Through face-to-face meetings, participants completed a multicomponent questionnaire comprising 15 items in four sections. The data obtained were analyzed using a statistical package for social sciences; Chi-square was used to correlate some variables, and P-values of <0.05 were considered significant.  A total of 54 male herbalists from five Iraqi provinces joined this survey, the majority practicing in Kabala. Most herbalists had 10- 20 years of experience, and more than 50% had a university degree. Data showed that 72.2% of herbalists identify their herbal items using their own experience, and 35.2% use this experience as their sole source of knowledge. Only 35.1% use herbal books in conjugation with their experiences, and a few (1.9%( use multiple sources of information. Herbalists with more years of experience (79.6%( evaluate patient conditions properly, follow up (40.7%(, and refer patients to their physicians when needed (42.6%(. Although fifty percent of herbalists educate their patients regarding the storage condition of remedies, most of them refrain from writing the complete ingredients on their final product regardless of their experience. Results also showed that most herbalists do not have a record tracking adverse reaction. Most Iraqi herbalists lack the proper system for prescribing and dispensing their remedies and adequately identifying the sold herbs. The study showed a variation in practice among herbalists using approaches based mainly on their experience