Lower intrafamilial transmission rate of hepatitis B in patients with hepatitis D coinfection: A data-mining approach

demographic and viral characteristics of family members affect the transmission rate. Objectives: In this study, we have used data mining techniques to investigate the impact of different variables in intrafamilial transmission of HBV infection. Patients and Methods: demographic information, viral markers, and medical history of 330 patients with chronic hepatitis B and their offspring attending a referral center in Tehran were collected. Data-mining techniques were administered to detect patterns. Results: The overall transmission rate was 15.7 (5.4 and 27.3 for male and female index cases respectively). In female patients, HBe Ag positively affected the transmission rate (49 vs. 23.4). There was a dominant change in transmission rate of female patients with negative results for Hbe Ag with HDV coinfection, where the transmission rate changed from 25 in patients with negative results for HDV Ab to 5 in those with positive results. In Hbe Ag negative male index cases, the transmission rate was 1.3 in cases with positive results for HDV Ab compared to 7 in those with negative findings. The overall transmission rate was statistically different between patients with positive and negative results for HDV Ab (P = 0.016). Conclusions: There is a minor but consistent pattern change in the presence of HDV infection which reduces familial transmission of HBV, especially in female patients with negative results for HBe Ag. © 2013, Kowsar Corp

Multiphoton Quantum Optics and Quantum State Engineering

We present a review of theoretical and experimental aspects of multiphoton quantum optics. Multiphoton processes occur and are important for many aspects of matter-radiation interactions that include the efficient ionization of atoms and molecules, and, more generally, atomic transition mechanisms; system-environment couplings and dissipative quantum dynamics; laser physics, optical parametric processes, and interferometry. A single review cannot account for all aspects of such an enormously vast subject. Here we choose to concentrate our attention on parametric processes in nonlinear media, with special emphasis on the engineering of nonclassical states of photons and atoms. We present a detailed analysis of the methods and techniques for the production of genuinely quantum multiphoton processes in nonlinear media, and the corresponding models of multiphoton effective interactions. We review existing proposals for the classification, engineering, and manipulation of nonclassical states, including Fock states, macroscopic superposition states, and multiphoton generalized coherent states. We introduce and discuss the structure of canonical multiphoton quantum optics and the associated one- and two-mode canonical multiphoton squeezed states. This framework provides a consistent multiphoton generalization of two-photon quantum optics and a consistent Hamiltonian description of multiphoton processes associated to higher-order nonlinearities. Finally, we discuss very recent advances that by combining linear and nonlinear optical devices allow to realize multiphoton entangled states of the electromnagnetic field, that are relevant for applications to efficient quantum computation, quantum teleportation, and related problems in quantum communication and information.Comment: 198 pages, 36 eps figure