1,334 research outputs found

    Fermionic entanglement extinction in non-inertial frames

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    We study families of fermionic field states in non-inertial frames which show no entanglement survival in the infinite acceleration limit. We generalise some recent results where some particular examples of such states where found. We analyse the abundance and characteristics of the states showing this behaviour and discuss its relation with the statistics of the field. We also consider the phenomenon beyond the single mode approximation.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, revtex4-

    Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the care of cancer patients in Spain

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    Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2; COVID-19; 2019-nCoV; Càncer; EspanyaCoronavirus SARS-CoV-2; COVID-19; 2019-nCoV; Cáncer; EspañaCoronavirus SARS-CoV-2; COVID-19; 2019-nCoV; Cancer; SpainBackground Studies evaluating the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on public healthcare systems are limited, particularly in cancer management. As no such studies have been carried out in Spain, our objective is to describe and quantify the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on cancer patients in Spanish hospitals during the first wave of the pandemic. Materials and methods This retrospective, multicenter, nationwide study collected information from hospital departments treating oncology patients. An electronic questionnaire comparing outcomes and management of oncohematological patients for the March-June 2019 and March-June 2020 periods was used. Results Information from 78 departments (36 tertiary hospitals) was analyzed. Forty-four departments implemented adapted protocols during March 2020. Most of these (n = 38/44; 86.4%) carried out COVID-19 triage, while 26 of 44 (59.1%) carried out onsite polymerase chain reaction tests for clinically suspected cases. A shift from in-person to telephone visits was observed in 43 of 44 (97.7%) departments. Comparing the March-June 2019 and March-June 2020 periods, the number of new patients decreased by 20.8% (from 160.2 to 126.4). Decreases were also seen in the mean number of total (2858.2 versus 1686.1) and cancer (465.5 versus 367.2) biopsies, as well as the mean number of bone marrow biopsies (30.5 versus 18.6). Concerning the number of patients visiting specific cancer care departments, a decrease from 2019 to 2020 was seen for mean number of chemotherapy treatments (712.7 versus 643.8) and radiation therapy (2169.9 versus 2139.9). Finally, a reduction from 2019 to 2020 of 12.9% (from 8.6 to 7.4) in the mean number of patients included in clinical trials was noted. Conclusions This study provides the first comprehensive data concerning the impact of COVID-19 on cancer care in Spain. The pandemic caused a 20.8% decrease in newly diagnosed patients, which may impact future outcomes. Measures must be taken to ensure cancer management receives priority in times of healthcare emergencies.This work was supported by funding from the AECC, a non-profit organization, whose medical department funded the study and the medical writing (no grant number)

    Kinetic study of the hydrodechlorination of chloromethanes with activated-carbon-supported metallic catalysts

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    This document is the unedited author's version of a Submitted Work that was subsequently accepted for publication in Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Research, copyright © American Chemical Society after peer review. To access the final edited and published work, see http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/ie5042484The kinetics of the hydrodechlorination (HDC) of dichloromethane (DCM) and chloroform (TCM) with Pd, Pt, Rh, and Ru on activated carbon catalysts has been studied at temperatures between 100 and 250 °C. Different kinetic models have been checked, namely, pseudo-first-order and Langmuir-Hinshelwood-Hougen-Watson (LHHW) with adsorption, chemical reaction, or desorption control. The HDC of DCM and TCM with the Pd and Pt catalysts was well-described by the LHHW model with reactant adsorption as the rate-controlling step. However, with Rh and Ru catalysts, chemical reaction and desorption of the reaction products appear to be the rate-controlling steps in the HDC of DCM and TCM, respectively. In this last case, different sets of complex reactions seem to occur on the surface of the catalyst depending on the temperature, preventing determination of a confident value of the activation energy, because of the formation of oligomeric coke-like deposits and the subsequent severe deactivation of these catalysts. The corresponding kinetic parameters for the proposed models have been calculatedThe authors gratefully acknowledge financial support from the Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (MINECO) through the project CTM2011-28352. M. Martín Martínez and A. Arévalo Bastante acknowledges the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e nnovación (MICINN) and the European Social Fund for her research gran

    TERRA regulate the transcriptional landscape of pluripotent cells through TRF1-dependent recruitment of PRC2

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    The mechanisms that regulate pluripotency are still largely unknown. Here, we show that Telomere Repeat Binding Factor 1 (TRF1), a component of the shelterin complex, regulates the genome-wide binding of polycomb and polycomb H3K27me3 repressive marks to pluripotency genes, thereby exerting vast epigenetic changes that contribute to the maintenance of mouse ES cells in a na\uefve state. We further show that TRF1 mediates these effects by regulating TERRA, the lncRNAs transcribed from telomeres. We find that TERRAs are enriched at polycomb and stem cell genes in pluripotent cells and that TRF1 abrogation results in increased TERRA levels and in higher TERRA binding to those genes, coincidental with the induction of cell-fate programs and the loss of the na\uefve state. These results are consistent with a model in which TRF1-dependent changes in TERRA levels modulate polycomb recruitment to pluripotency and differentiation genes. These unprecedented findings explain why TRF1 is essential for the induction and maintenance of pluripotency

    p53 and bcl-2 expression in high-grade B-cell lymphomas: correlation with survival time.

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    B-cell high-grade lymphomas are heterogeneous in terms of histology, clinical presentation, treatment response and prognosis. As bcl-2 and p53 gene deregulations are frequently involved in several types of lymphoid malignancies, we aimed our investigation at the study of the relation between bcl-2 and p53 expression and survival probability in a group of 119 patients with B-cell high-grade lymphoma. These were obtained from the Virgen de la Salud Hospital, Toledo, Spain (73 cases), John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, UK (31 cases), and the Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori, Milan, Italy (15 cases). The relation between bcl-2 protein expression and survival was small, depending on the primary localisation of the tumour (in lymph node of mucosae), and lacked a significant correlation with overall survival. In contrast with this, p53 expression was related to survival probability in our series, this relation being both significant and independent of histological diagnosis. p53-positive patients showed a sudden decrease in life expectancy in the first months after diagnosis. Multivariant regression analysis confirmed that the only parameters significantly related with survival were extranodal origin, which is associated with a better prognosis, and p53 expression, which indicates a poor prognosis. Simultaneous expression of bcl-2 and p53 was associated with a poorer prognosis than p53 alone. This is particularly significant for large B-cell lymphomas presenting in lymph nodes. The cumulative poor effect of both p53 and bcl-2 in large B-cell lymphomas, which is more significant in nodal tumours, could confirm the existence of a multistep genetic deregulation in non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. This indicates that the genetic mechanisms controlling apoptosis and their disregulation are critical steps in the progression of lymphomas

    Molecular epidemiology of Plasmodium vivax in Latin America: polymorphism and evolutionary relationships of the circumsporozoite gene

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    BACKGROUND: The origins and dispersal of Plasmodium vivax to its current worldwide distribution remains controversial. Although progress on P. vivax genetics and genomics has been achieved worldwide, information concerning New World parasites remains fragmented and largely incomplete. More information on the genetic diversity in Latin America (LA) is needed to better explain current patterns of parasite dispersion and evolution. METHODS: Plasmodium vivax circumsporozoite protein gene polymorphism was investigated using polymerase chain reaction amplification and restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP), and Sanger sequencing in isolates from the Pacific Ocean coast of Mexico, Nicaragua, and Peru. In conjunction with worldwide sequences retrieved from the Genbank, mismatch distribution analysis of central repeat region (CRR), frequency estimation of unique repeat types and phylogenetic analysis of the 3′ terminal region, were performed to obtain an integrative view of the genetic relationships between regional and worldwide isolates. RESULTS: Four RFLP subtypes, vk210a, b, c and d were identified in Southern Mexico and three subtypes vk210a, e and f in Nicaragua. The nucleotide sequences showed that Mexican vk210a and all Nicaraguan isolates were similar to other American parasites. In contrast, vk210b, c and d were less frequent, had a domain ANKKAEDA in their carboxyl end and clustered with Asian isolates. All vk247 isolates from Mexico and Peru had identical RFLP pattern. Their nucleotide sequences showed two copies of GGQAAGGNAANKKAGDAGA at the carboxyl end. Differences in mismatch distribution parameters of the CRR separate vk247 from most vk210 isolates. While vk247 isolates display a homogeneous pattern with no geographical clustering, vk210 isolates display a heterogeneous geographically clustered pattern which clearly separates LA from non-American isolates, except vk210b, c and d from Southern Mexico. CONCLUSIONS: The presence of vk210a in Mexico and vk210e, f and g in Nicaragua are consistent with other previously reported LA isolates and reflect their circulation throughout the continent. The vk210b, c and d are novel genotypes in LA. Their genetic relationships and low variability within these vk210 and/or within the vk247 parasites in Southern Mexico suggest its recent introduction and/or recent expansion to this region. The global analysis of P. vivax csp suggests this parasite introduction to the region and likely LA by different independent events

    Recovery of early meteorological records from Extremadura region (SW Iberia): The ''CliPastExtrem'' (v1.0) database

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    In this work, we provide instrumental meteorological data recovered for the Extremadura region (interior SW Iberia), from 1826 to mid-20th century. Meteorological variables such as air temperature, atmospheric pressure, precipitation, wind direction and humidity, among others, were retrieved. In total, more than 750 000 instrumental data in 157 meteorological series belonging to 131 different locations throughout Extremadura were rescued. It must be noted that daily resolution data constitutes 80% of the database. This great effort of digitization and data collection has been carried out with the aim of contributing to a significant expansion of the length of the databases with meteorological information in this region. Therefore, this database will provide a better understanding of climate variability, trends and extreme events of the Extremadura region

    Entropy based parametrization of soils: Models and Tools

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    Particle-size distribution (PSD) is a fundamental soil physical property. The PSD is commonly reported in terms of the mass percentages of sand, silt and clay present

    INTEGRACIÓN DE MODELOS FOTOVOLTAICO E HIDRÁULICO PARA LA MEJORA DE LA GESTIÓN DE BOMBEOS SOLARES DE INYECCIÓN DIRECTA A SISTEMAS DE RIEGO

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    [EN] The agricultural irrigaation systems spend big quantity of energy to extract wáter from groundwater or surface water and maintain the pressure demand in the irrigation subunits. At the moment, the high fossil fuels and energy prices moreover the deep concern by the emissions of CO2 have made that the solar water pumping have had an important impact because the solar energy is clean and renewable energy, easy installation and maintenance with a long service life and great reliability. In this study analyze the hydraulic model and photovoltaic model togheter used to managing the dripping irrigation by direct injection in almond fields of 90 ha that is fed by photovoltaic system to optimizing the pressure and flow rate in a different subunits. Moreover, another important thing is the uniformity of the system to know the quality of irrigation[ES] Los sistemas de riego en agricultura suponen una gran demanda de energía debido a las extracciones desde captaciones subterráneas o superficiales y a la aplicación de la presión necesaria en las subunidades de riego. Actualmente, los elevados precios en los combustibles fósiles y la energía junto a la preocupación por la reducción de las emisiones de CO2, han propiciado un importante avance en los sistemas de bombeo solar, siendo la energía solar fotovoltaica una energía limpia y renovable, de fácil instalación y mantenimiento, con una larga vida útil y una alta fiabilidad. En el desarrollo de este estudio se ha analizado de forma conjunta el modelo hidráulico y fotovoltaico creado para gestionar el riego por goteo en inyección directa de una plantación de almendro de 90 ha, alimentada con placas solares con el fin de optimizar los valores de presión y caudal necesarios en las diferentes subunidades de riego existentes. Además, se ha tenido en cuenta un aspecto clave como es la uniformidad de emisión para la determinación de la calidad del riego en la explotación.Cervera Gascó, J.; Del Castillo Sánchez Cañamares, A.; Montero Martinez, J.; Tarjuelo Martín-Benito, J.; Moreno Hidalgo, M. (2015). INTEGRACIÓN DE MODELOS FOTOVOLTAICO E HIDRÁULICO PARA LA MEJORA DE LA GESTIÓN DE BOMBEOS SOLARES DE INYECCIÓN DIRECTA A SISTEMAS DE RIEGO. En XXXIII CONGRESO NACIONAL DE RIEGOS. Valencia 16-18 junio de 2015. Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/CNRiegos.2015.1520OC
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