Exact norm-conserving stochastic time-dependent Hartree-Fock

We derive an exact single-body decomposition of the time-dependent Schroedinger equation for N pairwise-interacting fermions. Each fermion obeys a stochastic time-dependent norm-preserving wave equation. As a first test of the method we calculate the low energy spectrum of Helium. An extension of the method to bosons is outlined.Comment: 21 pages, 3 figures, LaTeX fil

Implementation of the Walrasian Correspondence by Market Games

In this paper we present a set of axioms guaranteeing that, in exchange economies with or without indivisible goods, the set of Nash, Strong and active Walrasian Equilibria all coincide in the framework of market games.Market Games, Implementation

Patient perspectives and experiences of remote consultations in people receiving kidney care: A scoping review

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a rapid and sometimes chaotic change in how clinical care was delivered for people living with kidney disease, with increased reliance on digital technologies and the introduction of remote services. Objective: To conduct a scoping review of studies about peoples’ experiences and perspectives in receipt of remote consultations for kidney care. Methods: Using Arksey and O’Malley’s (2005) framework, three databases (CINAHL, MEDLINE, and PsycINFO) were searched simultaneously on EBSCO The search included studies published in English from August 2010 to August 2021. Results: Eight cross-sectional studies met the scoping review criteria (two quantitative, two mixed-method, and four qualitative). Four themes were identified: overall satisfaction with remote services, benefits to patients (convenience, involvement in care, and patient safety), barriers to remote consultations (technical difficulties, digital literacy, loss of interpersonal communication, existing patient-practitioner relationship, and access to technology), and patients’ concerns (need for physical examination, privacy, and confidentiality). Conclusion: Remote consultations confer multiple advantages to patients; therefore, remote consultations should be offered as an option to patients living with kidney disease beyond the COVID-19 pandemic. However, there are several barriers to remote consultation that need to be addressed and understood before implementing remote care long-term. Future research should examine the impact of remote consultations on people living with kidney disease from under-served groups to identify barriers and ensure their suitability and accessibility to the wider population for a more patient-centred approach to kidney care

Cytokines in \u3ci\u3eMycoplasma hyorhinis\u3c/i\u3e-Induced Arthritis in Pigs Bred Selectively for High and Low Immune Responses

Yorkshire pigs were bred selectively for high and low immune responses (H and L pigs, respectively) based on multiple antibody (Ab) and cell-mediated immune response traits. In a previous experiment, generation 4 (G4) pigs of each line were infected with Mycoplasma hyorhinis. High responders had a more rapid and higher Ab response and less polyserositis, but arthritis was more severe in H pigs than in L pigs. To test the hypothesis that line differences were attributable to differential expression of cytokines, M. hyorhinis infection was induced in pigs of G8. Arthritis was more severe clinically (P, ≤0.05) and postmortem (P, ≤0.001) when M. hyorhinis CFU were more numerous in synovial fluid (SF) of H pigs than of L pigs (P, ≤0.03). In H pigs but not L pigs, CFU and lesion scores were correlated positively. In H pigs, infection increased the frequency of expression of mRNAs for interleukin-8 (IL-8), IL-10, and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) in mononuclear cells from synovial membranes (SM). In L pigs, IL-1a, IL-6, IL-10, and TNF-a mRNAs were increased in frequency of expression. The quantity of the cytokine message for IL-6 was increased in infected H pigs. For L pigs, infection increased the cytokine message for IL-1 α, IL-6, IL-10, and TNF-a. IL-6 in SM and gamma interferon (IFN-ϒ) in SF were produced at a higher copy number in H pigs than in L pigs after infection. For H pigs, there were no positive rank correlations between lesion or CFU scores and cytokines. For L pigs, IL-1 α, IL-8, IL-10, and TNF- α in SM correlated with CFU, while IL-6, TNF- β, and IFN-ϒ in SF correlated with CFU. Lesion score in L pigs correlated with IL-1 α in SF. While these results indicate that H and L pigs differ in the cytokine response to M. hyorhinis infection, they do not confirm a characteristic cytokine response in association with the relative susceptibility to infection and arthritis observed in H pigs

Studies on the synthesis of ribonucleotide homopolymers

Previous work has shown that cytoplasmic fractions of animal cells are capable of the incorporation of ribonucleoside triphosphates into RNA. The present investigation was carried out to elucidate the mechanism and properties of such enzymes in rat liver cells. Female rats were anaesthetised, the abdomens opened, the livers perfused, and then removed. Enzyme fractions were prepared by differential centrifugation of liver homogenates. The incorporation of radioactive labelled ribonucleoside triphosphates into polyribonucleotides catalysed by such fractions was measured. The microsomal fraction was most active in incorporating (a-32P) UTP into polyribonucleotides. Such activity required a pH of 7.5-8.0 and the addition of Mg++ rather then Mn++ ions. The uptake of (a--32P) UTP was promoted presence of ATP, GTP and CTP, and an ATP generating system. While the addition of RNA stimulated the reaction and ribonuclease completely abolished the reaction, the addition of DNA, deoxy- ribonuclease or actinomycin had no effect on the uptake of (a-32P) UTP. It was concluded that incorporation of ribonucleoside triphosphates was by an RNA-, rather than a DNA- dependent reaction. Alkaline hydrolysis of the reaction products after (a-32P) UTP incorporation, end measurement of the radio-activity in the 2'(3') monophosphates so obtained, indicated that the main product was sequences of uridylic acid. It was not possible, however, to exclude hetero-polymer formation. All four ribonucleoside triphosphates were incorporated into acid insoluble products. In no case was maximum incorporation obtained in the presence of all four ribonucleoside triphosphates, reducing the probability of heteropolymer formation. The microsomes were fractionated into rough surfaced vesicles, smooth surfaced vesicles and free ribosomes. No activity was recovered from the smooth surfaced vesicle fraction. Activity in the rough surfaced vesicle fraction, appeared to be due to contamination by a supernatant fraction. An enzyme fraction with very high specific activity was recovered with the free ribosomes. Washing the ribosomes in dense sucrose solutions and isolation of the free ribosome fraction from media containing high concentrations of EDTA had no effect on the activity. It could be demonstrated unequivocally that the incorporation of UTP represented addition of seven to eight residues of uridylic acid to the 2'(3') ends of pre-existing RNA chains. ATP end CTP, but not GTP, were also incorporated into polyribonucleotides. Following the uptake of 3H-UTP, the nucleic acids were extracted from reaction mixtures, Using a combination of fractionation by sucrose gradient centrifugation and on columns of G-100 Sephadex, it was possible to exclude ribosomal RNA, 5S-RNA and transfer RNA as endogenous primers. This left the interesting possibility that messenger RNA acted as acceptors for the homopolymer sequences. The biological significance and the relationship of the free ribosomal enzyme(s) to other known enzymes of polynucleotide metabolism are discussed in some detail. The uptake of ribonucleoside triphosphates by a supernatant fraction was investigated. The uptake of UTP required. the presence of Mg++ ions and en added RNA primer. The incorporation of UTP could adequately be described as terminal addition of one to two ribonucleotides to the 2'(3') ends of pre-existing RNA primers. The enzyme (s) appeared to require free 2' (3') hydroxyl groups on the primer molecules. The significance of this activity is discussed

Cytokines in Pigs Bred Selectively for High and Low Immune Response [abstract only]

Yorkshire pigs have been bred for high (H) and low (L) immune response based on selection for multiple antibody (Ab) and cell mediated immune response traits. High responders have better production and larger litter size when compared with controls and low responders. The ability of high and low line pigs to resist M. hyorhinis infection has been tested. The high responders had more rapid and higher Ab response and the severity of the disease was less, as judged by clinical and postmortem signs. However, arthritis was found to be relatively more severe in high responders. We hypothesized that the immune response differences between genetically different lines could be attributed to either dominant or differential cytokine expression. To test the above hypothesis, quantitative RNA PCR (Q.RNA PCR), to quantitate the porcine cytokines at the mRNA level, was developed by constructing an internal control. Two synthetic oligos, namely 5\u27 construct (FPC) and 3\u27 construct (TPC), were designed based on the nt sequences of porcine cytokine genes. FPC represented the upstream primer sequences of nine cytokines sequentially in the order IL-1, IL-4, IL-6, IL-8, IL-2, IL-1O, TNF-α, TNF-β and IFN-γ, and TPC, the downstream primer sequences in the same order. The primers were designed such that when cRNA and target RNA were amplified, they give two non-overlapping products. FPCs and TPCs were constructed by overlapping and the extension method of PCR amplification utilizing six oligos for each, and were cloned into pSP 64 poly A vector. The application of Q.RNA PCR has been tested for determining quantitatively the cytokines in peripheral blood mononuclear cells in H-L line pigs. Preliminary study indicated differential expression of cytokines, namely IL-1, IL-6, IL-1O, TNF-α and IFN-γ, in naive animals. Expression of other cytokines, namely IL-2, IL-4, IL-8 and TNF-β, was absent in the pigs tested. Future studies involve the determination of cytokines in the context of immunization to the antigens (HEWL, BCG, etc.) as well as during infection (ex: M. hyorhinis) in conjunction with cytokine expression regulation strategies, namely MAbs and/or antisense ODNs or gene therapy

Suppression of decoherence via strong intra-environmental coupling

We examine the effects of intra-environmental coupling on decoherence by constructing a low temperature spin--spin-bath model of an atomic impurity in a Debye crystal. The impurity interacts with phonons of the crystal through anti-ferromagnetic spin-spin interactions. The reduced density matrix of the central spin representing the impurity is calculated by dynamically integrating the full Schroedinger equation for the spin--spin-bath model for different thermally weighted eigenstates of the spin-bath. Exact numerical results show that increasing the intra-environmental coupling results in suppression of decoherence. This effect could play an important role in the construction of solid state quantum devices such as quantum computers.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, Revtex fil

Stochastic time-dependent current-density functional theory: a functional theory of open quantum systems

The dynamics of a many-body system coupled to an external environment represents a fundamentally important problem. To this class of open quantum systems pertains the study of energy transport and dissipation, dephasing, quantum measurement and quantum information theory, phase transitions driven by dissipative effects, etc. Here, we discuss in detail an extension of time-dependent current-density-functional theory (TDCDFT), we named stochastic TDCDFT [Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 98}, 226403 (2007)], that allows the description of such problems from a microscopic point of view. We discuss the assumptions of the theory, its relation to a density matrix formalism, and the limitations of the latter in the present context. In addition, we describe a numerically convenient way to solve the corresponding equations of motion, and apply this theory to the dynamics of a 1D gas of excited bosons confined in a harmonic potential and in contact with an external bath.Comment: 17 pages, 7 figures, RevTex4; few typos corrected, a figure modifie

Monkey Steering Responses Reveal Rapid Visual-Motor Feedback

The neural mechanisms underlying primate locomotion are largely unknown. While behavioral and theoretical work has provided a number of ideas of how navigation is controlled, progress will require direct physiolgical tests of the underlying mechanisms. In turn, this will require development of appropriate animal models. We trained three monkeys to track a moving visual target in a simple virtual environment, using a joystick to control their direction. The monkeys learned to quickly and accurately turn to the target, and their steering behavior was quite stereotyped and reliable. Monkeys typically responded to abrupt steps of target direction with a biphasic steering movement, exhibiting modest but transient overshoot. Response latencies averaged approximately 300 ms, and monkeys were typically back on target after about 1 s. We also exploited the variability of responses about the mean to explore the time-course of correlation between target direction and steering response. This analysis revealed a broad peak of correlation spanning approximately 400 ms in the recent past, during which steering errors provoke a compensatory response. This suggests a continuous, visual-motor loop controls steering behavior, even during the epoch surrounding transient inputs. Many results from the human literature also suggest that steering is controlled by such a closed loop. The similarity of our results to those in humans suggests the monkey is a very good animal model for human visually guided steering

Data Fusion of Remote-sensing and In-lake chlorophyll a Data Using Statistical Downscaling

Chlorophyll a is a green pigment, used as an indirect measure of lake water quality. Its strong absorption of blue and red light allows for quantification through satellite images, providing better spatial coverage than traditional in-lake samples. However, grid-cell scale imagery must be calibrated spatially using in-lake point samples, presenting a change-of-support problem. This paper presents a method of statistical downscaling, namely a Bayesian spatially-varying coefficient regression, which assimilates remotely-sensed and in-lake data, resulting in a fully calibrated spatial map of chlorophyll a with associated uncertainty measures. The model is applied to a case study dataset from Lake Balaton, Hungary