Experimental pre-assessing entanglement in Gaussian states mixing

We suggest and demonstrate a method to assess entanglement generation schemes based on mixing of Gaussian states at a beam splitter (BS). Our method is based on the fidelity criterion and represents a tool to analyze the effect of losses and noise before the BS in both symmetric and asymmetric channels with and without thermal effects. More generally, our scheme allows one to pre-assess entanglement resources and to optimize the design of BS-based schemes for the generation of continuous variable entanglement.Comment: 10 pages, 15 figure

Clinical outcomes of endurant II stent-graft for infrarenal aortic aneurysm repair: Comparison of on-label versus off-label use

PURPOSE We aimed to compare the outcomes of the Endurant II (Medtronic) stent-graft used under instructions for use versus off-label in high-risk patients considered unfit for conventional surgery. METHODS Data from patients treated with the Endurant II stent-graft between December 2012 and March 2015 were retrospectively analyzed. Sixty-four patients were included. Patients were assigned to group A if treated under instructions for use (n=34, 53%) and to group B if treated off-label (n=30, 47%). Outcome measures included perioperative mortality and morbidity, survival, freedom from reintervention, endoleak incidence, in-hospital length of stay, and mean stent-graft component used. Mean follow-up was 22.61±12 months (median, 21.06 months; range, 0–43 months). RESULTS One perioperative mortality (1.6%) and one perioperative complication (1.6%) occurred in group B. At two months follow-up, one iliac limb occlusion (1.6%) occurred in group A. No type I/III endoleaks were recorded. A type II endoleak was identified in three cases (4.7%). Overall survival at three years was 89% (97% for group A, 82% for group B; P = 0.428). Reintervention-free survival at three years was 97% for both groups (P = 0.991). A longer in-hospital stay was observed in group B (P = 0.012). CONCLUSION The Endurant II (Medtronic) new generation device was safe in off-label setting at mid-term follow-up. The off-label use of the Endurant II (Medtronic) is justified in patients considered unfit for conventional surgery. Larger studies are required in this subgroup of patients

Early stages of the HFCVD process on multi-vicinal silicon surfaces studied by electron microscopy probes (SEM, TEM)

In this paper, we show that silicon dimples are suitable samples to study diamond nucleation on a controlled distribution of defects by SEM FEG and HRTEM observations. Indeed, multi-vicinal surfaces generated by a UHV thermal treatment have been characterised by STM experiments. On these terraces, we observed a strong increase of the nucleation density higher than two orders of magnitude compared to pristine silicon samples. Moreover, a preferential location of diamond nuclei along the steps is reported. This result is explained by the large surface diffusion length of carbon species compared to the terrace's width. Indeed, during the early stages of growth, oriented silicon carbide nano-crystals are observed with the relationship SiC(220)//Si(220)

Neurological complications of Anderson-Fabry disease

Characteristic clinical manifestations of AFD such as acroparesthesias, angiokeratoma, corneal opacity, hypo/ and anhidrosis, gastrointestinal symptoms, renal and cardiac dysfunctions can occur in male and female patients, although heterozygous females with AFD usually seems to be less severely affected. The most prominent CNS manifestations consist of cerebrovascular events such as transient ischaemic attacks (TIAs) and (recurrent) strokes . For the most part, CNS complications in AFD have been attributed to cerebral vasculopathy, including anatomical abnormalities. The natural history of Fabry patients includes transitory cerebral ischaemia and strokes, even in very young persons of both genders. The mechanism is partly due to vascular endothelial accumulation of Gb-3. White matter lesions (WML) on MRI occur. Both males and females can be safely treated with enzyme replacement; and thus screening for Fabry disease of young stroke populations should be considered. There are, however, no hard data of treatment effect on mortality and morbidity. Stroke in Anderson-Fabry disease study of 721 patients with cryptogenic stroke, aged 18-55 years, showed a high prevalence of Fabry disease in this group: 5% (21/432) of men and 3% (7/289) of women. Combining results for both sexes showed that 4% of young patients with stroke of previously unknown cause had Fabry disease, corresponding to about 1-2% of the general population of young stroke patients. Cerebral micro- and macro-vasculopathy have been described in Fabry disease. Neuronal globotriaosylceramide accumulation in selective cortical and brain stem areas including the hippocampus has been reported by autopsy studies in FD, but clinical surrogates as well as the clinical relevance of these findings have not been investigated so far. Another Neurologic hallmarks of Fabry disease (FD) include small fiber neuropathy as well as cerebral micro- and macroangiopathy with premature stroke. Cranial MRI shows progressive white matter lesions (WML) at an early age, increased signal intensity in the pulvinar, and tortuosity and dilatation of the larger vessels. Conventional MRI shows a progressive load of white matter lesions (WMLs) due to cerebral vasculopathy in the course of FD. Another study has been conducted to quantify brain structural changes in clinically affected male and female patients with FD. The peripheral neuropathy in Fabry disease manifests as neuropathic pain, reduced cold and warm sensation and possibly gastrointestinal disturbances. Patients with Fabry disease begin having pain towards the end of the first decade of life or during puberty. Children as young as 6 years of age have complained of pain often associated with febrile illnesses with reduced heat and exercise tolerance. The patients describe the pain as burning that is often associated with deep ache or paresthesiae. Some patients also have joint pain. A high proportion of patients with Fabry disease is at increased risk of developing neuropsychiatric symptoms, such as depression and neuropsychological deficits. Due to both somatic and psychological impairment, health-related quality of life (QoL) is considerably reduced in patients with Fabry disease. Targeted screening for Fabry disease among young individuals with stroke seems to disclose unrecognized cases and may therefore very well be recommended as routine in the future. Furthermore, ischemic stroke is related to inflammation and arterial stiffness [and no study had addressed this relationship in patients with AF disease and cerebrovascular disease, so this topic could represent a possible future research line

Blood cyanide determination in two cases of fatal imtoxication: comparison between headspace gas chromatography and a spectrophotometric method

Blood samples of two cases were analyzed preliminarily by a classical spectrophotometric method (VIS) and by an automated headspace gas chromatographic method with nitrogen-phosphorus detector (HS-GC \u2044 NPD). In the former, hydrogen cyanide (HCN) was quantitatively determined by measuring the absorbance of chromophores forming as a result of interaction with chloramine T. In the automated HS-GC \u2044NPD method, blood was placed in a headspace vial, internal standard (acetonitrile) and acetic acid were then added. This resulted in cyanide being liberated as HCN. The spectrophotometric (VIS) and HS-GC\u2044NPD methods were validated on postmortem blood samples fortified with potassium cyanide in the ranges 0.5\u201310 and 0.05\u20135 lg \u2044 mL, respectively. Detection limits were 0.2 lg \u2044mL for VIS and 0.05 lg \u2044mL for HS-GC\u2044NPD. This work shows that results obtained by means of the two procedures were insignificantly different and that they compared favorably. They are suitable for rapid diagnosis of cyanide in postmortem cases

Multi-objective genetic algorithm applied to spectroscopic ellipsometry of organic-inorganic hybrid planar waveguides

The applicably of multi-objective optimization to ellipsometric data analysis is presented and a method to handle complex ellipsometric problems such as multi sample or multi angle analysis using multi-objective optimization is described. The performance of a multi-objective genetic algorithm (MOGA) is tested against a single objective common genetic algorithm (CGA). The procedure is applied to the characterization (refractive index and thickness) of planar waveguides intended for the production of optical components prepared sol-gel derived organic-inorganic hybrids, so-called di-ureasils, modified with zirconium tetrapropoxide, Zr(OPr(n))(4) deposited on silica on silicon substrates. The results show that for the same initial conditions, MOGA performs better than the CGA, showing a higher success rate in the task of finding the best final solution. (C) 2010 Optical Society of AmericaFCTFEDERPTDC/CTM/72093/2006SFRH/BD/41943/2007MP070

Genetic diversity of Brazilian isolates of feline immunodeficiency virus

We isolated Feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) from three adult domestic cats, originating from two open shelters in Brazil. Viruses were isolated from PBMC following co-cultivation with the feline T-lymphoblastoid cell line MYA-1. All amplified env gene products were cloned directly into pGL8MYA. The nucleic acid sequences of seven clones were determined and then compared with those of previously described isolates. The sequences of all of the Brazilian virus clones were distinct and phylogenetic analysis revealed that all belong to subtype B. Three variants isolated from one cat and two variants were isolated from each of the two other cats, indicating that intrahost diversity has the potential to pose problems for the treatment and diagnosis of FIV infection

The 31 Deg2^2 Release of the Stripe 82 X-ray Survey: The Point Source Catalog

We release the next installment of the Stripe 82 X-ray survey point-source catalog, which currently covers 31.3 deg$^2$ of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Stripe 82 Legacy field. In total, 6181 unique X-ray sources are significantly detected with {\it XMM-Newton} ($>5\sigma$) and {\it Chandra} ($>4.5\sigma$). This catalog release includes data from {\it XMM-Newton} cycle AO 13, which approximately doubled the Stripe 82X survey area. The flux limits of the Stripe 82X survey are $8.7\times10^{-16}$ erg s$^{-1}$ cm$^{-2}$, $4.7\times10^{-15}$ erg s$^{-1}$ cm$^{-2}$, and $2.1\times10^{-15}$ erg s$^{-1}$ cm$^{-2}$ in the soft (0.5-2 keV), hard (2-10 keV), and full bands (0.5-10 keV), respectively, with approximate half-area survey flux limits of $5.4\times10^{-15}$ erg s$^{-1}$ cm$^{-2}$, $2.9\times10^{-14}$ erg s$^{-1}$ cm$^{-2}$, and $1.7\times10^{-14}$ erg s$^{-1}$ cm$^{-2}$. We matched the X-ray source lists to available multi-wavelength catalogs, including updated matches to the previous release of the Stripe 82X survey; 88\% of the sample is matched to a multi-wavelength counterpart. Due to the wide area of Stripe 82X and rich ancillary multi-wavelength data, including coadded SDSS photometry, mid-infrared {\it WISE} coverage, near-infrared coverage from UKIDSS and VHS, ultraviolet coverage from {\it GALEX}, radio coverage from FIRST, and far-infrared coverage from {\it Herschel}, as well as existing $\sim$30\% optical spectroscopic completeness, we are beginning to uncover rare objects, such as obscured high-luminosity AGN at high-redshift. The Stripe 82X point source catalog is a valuable dataset for constraining how this population grows and evolves, as well as for studying how they interact with the galaxies in which they live.Comment: accepted for publication in ApJ; 23 pages (emulateapj

Key Features Relevant to Select Antigens and TCR From the MHC-Mismatched Repertoire to Treat Cancer

Adoptive transfer of T cells transgenic for tumor-reactive T-cell receptors (TCR) is an attractive immunotherapeutic approach. However, clinical translation is so far limited due to challenges in the identification of suitable target antigens as well as TCRs that are concurrent safe and efficient. Definition of key characteristics relevant for effective and specific tumor rejection is essential to improve current TCR-based adoptive T-cell immunotherapies. We here characterized in-depth two TCRs derived from the human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-mismatched allogeneic repertoire targeting two different myeloperoxidase (MPO)-derived peptides presented by the same HLA-restriction element side by side comprising state of the art biochemical and cellular in vitro, in vivo, and in silico experiments. In vitro experiments reveal comparable functional avidities, off-rates, and cytotoxic activities for both TCRs. However, we observed differences especially with respect to cytokine secretion and cross-reactivity as well as in vivo activity. Biochemical and in silico analyses demonstrate different binding qualities of MPO-peptides to the HLA-complex determining TCR qualities. We conclude from our biochemical and in silico analyses of peptide-HLA-binding that rigid and high-affinity binding of peptides is one of the most important factors for isolation of TCRs with high specificity and tumor rejection capacity from the MHC-mismatched repertoire. Based on our results, we developed a workflow for selection of such TCRs with high potency and safety profile suitable for clinical translation

Inter-familial and intra-familial phenotypic variability in three Sicilian families with Anderson-Fabry disease.

Abstract BACKGROUND: Anderson-Fabry disease (AFD) is an inborn lysosomal enzymopathy resulting from the deficient or absent activity of the lysosomal exogalactohydrolase, α-galactosidase A. This deficiency, results in the altered metabolism of glycosphingolipids which leads to their accumulation in lysosomes, thus to cellular and vascular dysfunction. To date, numerous mutations (according to recent data more than 1000 mutations) have been reported in the GLA intronic and exonic mutations. Traditionally, clinical manifestations are more severe in affected hemizygous males than in females. Nevertheless, recent studies have described severe organ dysfunction in women. THE AIM OF THE STUDY: This study reports clinical, biochemical, and molecular findings of the members of three Sicilian families. The clinical history of these patients highlights a remarkable interfamilial and intrafamilial phenotypic variability which characterizes Fabry disease relative to target organs and severity of clinical manifestations. DISCUSSION: Our findings, in agreement with previous data, report a little genotype-phenotype correlation for the disease, suggesting that the wide phenotypic variability of Anderson-Fabry disease is not completely ascribable to different gene mutations but other factors and mechanisms seem to be involved in the pathogenesis and clinical expression of the disease. Moreover, this study emphasies the importance of pedigree analysis in the family of each proband for identifying other possibly affected relatives