Non separable Werner states in spontaneous parametric down-conversion

The multiphoton states generated by high-gain spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC) in presence of large losses are investigated theoretically and experimentally. The explicit form for the two-photon output state has been found to exhibit a Werner structure very resilient to losses for any value of the gain parameter, g. The theoretical results are found in agreement with the experimental data. The last ones are obtained by quantum tomography of the state generated by a high-gain SPDC.Comment: 16 pages, 6 figure

Experimental reversion of the optimal quantum cloning and flipping processes

The quantum cloner machine maps an unknown arbitrary input qubit into two optimal clones and one optimal flipped qubit. By combining linear and non-linear optical methods we experimentally implement a scheme that, after the cloning transformation, restores the original input qubit in one of the output channels, by using local measurements, classical communication and feedforward. This significant teleportation-like method demonstrates how the information is preserved during the cloning process. The realization of the reversion process is expected to find useful applications in the field of modern multi-partite quantum cryptography.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figure

Targeting Brutons Tyrosine Kinase in Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia at the Crossroad between Intrinsic and Extrinsic Pro-survival Signals

Chemo immunotherapies for chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) showed a positive impact on clinical outcome, but many patients relapsed or become refractory to the available treatments. The main goal of the researchers in CLL is the identification of specific targets in order to develop new therapeutic strategies to cure the disease. The B cell receptor-signalling pathway is necessary for survival of malignant B cells and its related molecules recently become new targets for therapy. Moreover, leukemic microenvironment delivers survival signals to neoplastic cells also overcoming the apoptotic effect induced by traditional drugs. In this context, the investigation of Bruton\u2019s tyrosine kinase (Btk) is useful in: i) dissecting CLL pathogenesis; ii) finding new therapeutic approaches striking simultaneously intrinsic as well as extrinsic pro-survival signals in CLL. This paper will review these main topics

Realization of a Decoherence-free, Optimally Distinguishable Mesoscopic Quantum Superposition

We report the realization of an entangled quantum superposition of M=12 photons by a high gain, quantum-injected optical parametric amplification. The system is found so highly resilient against decoherence to exhibit directly accessible mesoscopic interference effects at normal temperature. By modern tomographic methods the non-separability and the quantum superposition are demonstrated for the overall mesoscopic output state of the dynamic ''closed system''. The device realizes the condition conceived by Erwin Schroedinger with his 1935 paradigmatic ''Cat'' apologue, a fundamental landmark in quantum mechanics.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figure

Entanglement, EPR correlations and mesoscopic quantum superposition by the high-gain quantum injected parametric amplification

We investigate the multiparticle quantum superposition and the persistence of multipartite entanglement of the quantum superposition generated by the quantum injected high-gain optical parametric amplification of a single photon. The physical configuration based on the optimal universal quantum cloning has been adopted to investigate how the entanglement and the quantum coherence of the system persists for large values of the nonlinear parametric gain g.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figure

Simian virus 40 in humans

Simian virus 40 (SV40) is a monkey virus that was administered to human populations by contaminated vaccines which were produced in SV40 naturally infected monkey cells

Identification of a prognostic signature based on the expression of genes related to the insulin pathway in early breast cancer

INTRODUCTION: Insulin and the insulin-like growth factor (IGF) family play a key role in breast cancer (BC). OBJECTIVE: In this study, we evaluated on a genomic scale the potential prognostic value of insulin signaling in early BC. METHODS: Candidate genes were selected from the published literature and gene expression profiling experiments. Three publicly available BC datasets, containing gene expression data on 502 cases, were used to test the prognostic ability of the score. The gene signature was developed on GSE1456, containing microarray data from 159 patients, split into a training set (102 breast tumors) and a validation set (n = 57). GSE3494 and GSE2990 (350 patients) were used for external validation. Univariate Mann-Whitney test was used to identify genes differentially expressed between relapsed and nonrelapsed patients. Expression of genes significantly correlated with relapse was combined in a linear score. Patients were classified as low or high risk with respect to the median value. RESULTS: On the training set, 15 genes turned out to be differentially expressed: 8-year disease-free survival (DFS) was 51 and 91% in the high- and low-risk group (p < 0.001), respectively. In the validation set, DFS was 97 and 54% (p = 0.009), respectively. External validation: 8-year DFS was 72 and 61%, respectively, in GSE3494 (p = 0.03) and 74 and 55% in GSE2990 (p = 0.03). By multivariate analyses, the insulin signature was significantly associated with DFS, independently of age, hormone receptor status, nodal status, and grade. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings indicate that the insulin pathway is involved in BC prognosis at a genomic level and provide a window of selectivity for preventive and treatment strategies targeting the insulin/IGF pathway in BC patients

Granulocytic myeloid-derived suppressor cells increased in early phases of primary HIV infection depending on TRAIL plasma level

Background It has been demonstrated that Myeloid Derived Suppressor Cells (MDSC) are expanded in HIV-1 infected individuals and correlated with disease progression. The phase of HIV infection during which MDSC expansion occurs, and the mechanisms that regulate this expansion remain to be established. In this study we evaluated the frequency of MDSC in patients during primary HIV infection, and factors involved in MDSC control. Methods Patients with primary (PHI) and chronic (CHI) HIV infection were enrolled. PHI staging was performed according to Fiebig classification, and circulating MDSC frequency and function were evaluated by flow cytometry. Cytokine levels were evaluated by Luminex technology. Results We found that granulocytic MDSC (Gr-MDSC) frequency was higher in PHI compared to healthy donors, but lower than CHI. Interestingly, Gr-MDSC expansion was observed in the early phases of HIV infection (Fiebig II/III), but it was not associated to HIV viral load and CD4 T cell count. Interestingly, in PHI Gr-MDSC frequency was inversely correlated with plasmatic level of TRAIL, while a direct correlation was observed in CHI. Further, lower level of GMCSF was observed in PHI compared with CHI. In vitro experiments demonstrated that, differently from CHI, recombinant TRAIL induced apoptosis of Gr-MDSC from PHI, can effect that can be abrogated by GM-CSF. Conclusion We found that Gr-MDSC are expanded early during primary HIV infection and may be regulated by TRAIL and GM-CSF levels. These findings shed light on the fine mechanisms regulating the immune system during HIV infection, and open new perspectives for immune-based strategies

Cross-talk between chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) tumor B cells and mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs): implications for neoplastic cell survival

Leukemic cells from Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL) patients interact with stromal cells of the surrounding microenvironment. Mesenchymal Stromal Cells (MSCs) represent the main population in CLL marrow stroma, which may play a key role for disease support and progression. In this study we evaluated whether MSCs influence in vitro CLL cell survival. MSCs were isolated from the bone marrow of 46 CLL patients and were characterized by flow cytometry analysis. Following co-culture of MSCs and leukemic B cells, we demonstrated that MSCs were able to improve leukemic B cell viability, this latter being differently dependent from the signals coming from MSCs. In addition, we found that the co-culture of MSCs with leukemic B cells induced an increased production of IL-8, CCL4, CCL11, and CXCL10 chemokines.As far as drug resistance is concerned, MSCs counteract the cytotoxic effect of Fludarabine/Cyclophosphamide administration in vivo, whereas they do not protect CLL cells from the apoptosis induced by the kinase inhibitors Bafetinib and Ibrutinib. The evidence that leukemic clones are conditioned by environmental stimuli suggest new putative targets for therapy in CLL patients