Floquet interface states in illuminated three-dimensional topological insulators

Recent experiments showed that the surface of a three dimensional topological insulator develops gaps in the Floquet-Bloch band spectrum when illuminated with a circularly polarized laser. These Floquet-Bloch bands are characterized by non-trivial Chern numbers which only depend on the helicity of the polarization of the radiation field. Here we propose a setup consisting of a pair of counter-rotating lasers, and show that one-dimensional chiral states emerge at the interface between the two lasers. These interface states turn out to be spin-polarized and may trigger interesting applications in the field of optoelectronics and spintronics.Comment: 5 pages with 3 figures + supplemental materia

NIKEL: Electronics and data acquisition for kilopixels kinetic inductance camera

A prototype of digital frequency multiplexing electronics allowing the real time monitoring of microwave kinetic inductance detector (MKIDs) arrays for mm-wave astronomy has been developed. Thanks to the frequency multiplexing, it can monitor simultaneously 400 pixels over a 500 MHz bandwidth and requires only two coaxial cables for instrumenting such a large array. The chosen solution and the performances achieved are presented in this paper.Comment: 21 pages, 14 figure

Q fever mimicking herpetic encephalitis

We describe a patient with temporal lobe encephalitis associated with primary Coxiella burnetii infection who lsresented with CT and MRI findings suggestive of herpes simplex encephaktis and an initial improvement during treatment with acyclovir. Q fever should be considered in the differential diagnosis of patients whose manifestations suggest herpes encephalitis

Are congenital malformations more frequent in fetuses with intrahepatic persistent right umbilical vein? A comparative study

Objective Persistent right umbilical vein (PRUV) is a vascular anomaly where the right umbilical vein remains as the only conduit that returns oxygenated blood to the fetus. It has classically been described as associated with numerous defects. We distinguish the intrahepatic variant (better prognosis) and the extrahepatic variant (associated with worse prognosis). The objective of this study was to compare rates of congenital malformations in fetuses with intrahepatic PRUV (I-PRUV) versus singleton pregnancies without risk factors. Materials and Methods A multicenter, crossover design, comparative study was performed between 2003 and 2013 on fetuses diagnosed with I-PRUV (n = 56), and singleton pregnancies without congenital malformation risk factors (n = 4050). Results Fifty-six cases of I-PRUV were diagnosed (incidence 1:770). A statistically significant association between I-PRUV and the presence of congenital malformations (odds ratio 4.321; 95% confidence interval 2.15–8.69) was found. This positive association was only observed with genitourinary malformations (odds ratio 3.038; 95% confidence interval 1.08–8.56). Conclusion Our rate of malformations associated with I-PRUV (17.9%) is similar to previously published rates. I-PRUV has shown a significant increase in the rate of associated malformations, although this association has only been found to be statistically significant in the genitourinary system. Noteworthy is the fact that this comparative study has not pointed to a significant increase in the congenital heart malformation rate. Diagnosis of isolated I-PRUV does not carry a worse prognosis

Comparison of retinal nerve fiber layer thinning and retinal ganglion cell loss after optic nerve transection in adult albino rats

We compared the time-course and magnitude of retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thinning with that of retinal ganglion cell (RGC) loss after intraorbital optic nerve transection (IONT) in adult rats

Intraoperative goal directed hemodynamic therapy in noncardiac surgery: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Background: The goal directed hemodynamic therapy is an approach focused on the use of cardiac output and related parameters as end-points for fluids and drugs to optimize tissue perfusion and oxygen delivery. Primary aim: To determine the effects of intraoperative goal directed hemodynamic therapy on postoperative complications rates. Methods: A meta-analysis was carried out of the effects of goal directed hemodynamic therapy in adult noncardiac surgery on postoperative complications and mortality using Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses methodology. A systematic search was performed in Medline PubMed, Embase, and the Cochrane Library (last update, October 2014). Inclusion criteria were randomized clinical trials in which intraoperative goal directed hemodynamic therapy was compared to conventional fluid management in noncardiac surgery. Exclusion criteria were trauma and pediatric surgery studies and that using pulmonary artery catheter. End-points were postoperative complications (primary) and mortality (secondary). Those studies that fulfilled the entry criteria were examined in full and subjected to quantifiable analysis, predefined subgroup analysis (stratified by type of monitor, therapy, and hemodynamic goal), and predefined sensitivity analysis. Results: 51 RCTs were initially identified, 24 fulfilling the inclusion criteria. 5 randomized clinical trials were added by manual search, resulting in 29 randomized clinical trials in the final analysis, including 2654 patients. A significant reduction in complications for goal directed hemodynamic therapy was observed (RR: 0.70, 95% CI: 0.62-0.79, p < 0.001). No significant decrease in mortality was achieved (RR: 0.76, 95% CI: 0.45-1.28, p = 0.30). Quality sensitive analyses confirmed the main overall results. Conclusions: Intraoperative goal directed hemodynamic therapy with minimally invasive monitoring decreases postoperative complications in noncardiac surgery, although it was not able to show a significant decrease in mortality rate

BCR-ABL induces the expression of Skp2 through the PI3K pathway to promote p27Kip1 degradation and proliferation of chronic myelogenous leukemia cells

Chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) is characterized by the expression of the BCR-ABL tyrosine kinase, which results in increased cell proliferation and inhibition of apoptosis. In this study, we show in both BCR-ABL cells (Mo7e-p210 and BaF/3-p210) and primary CML CD34+ cells that STI571 inhibition of BCR-ABL tyrosine kinase activity results in a G(1) cell cycle arrest mediated by the PI3K pathway. This arrest is associated with a nuclear accumulation of p27(Kip1) and down-regulation of cyclins D and E. As a result, there is a reduction of the cyclin E/Cdk2 kinase activity and of the retinoblastoma protein phosphorylation. By quantitative reverse transcription-PCR we show that BCR-ABL/PI3K regulates the expression of p27(Kip1) at the level of transcription. We further show that BCR-ABL also regulates p27(Kip1) protein levels by increasing its degradation by the proteasome. This degradation depends on the ubiquitinylation of p27(Kip1) by Skp2-containing SFC complexes: silencing the expression of Skp2 with a small interfering RNA results in the accumulation of p27(Kip1). We also demonstrate that BCR-ABL cells show transcriptional up-regulation of Skp2. Finally, expression of a p27(Kip1) mutant unable of being recognized by Skp2 results in inhibition of proliferation of BCR-ABL cells, indicating that the degradation of p27(Kip1) contributes to the pathogenesis of CML. In conclusion, these results suggest that BCR-ABL regulates cell cycle in CML cells at least in part by inducing proteasome-mediated degradation of the cell cycle inhibitor p27(Kip1) and provide a rationale for the use of inhibitors of the proteasome in patients with BCR-ABL leukemias

A semantic interoperability approach to support integration of gene expression and clinical data in breast cancer

[Abstract] Introduction. The introduction of omics data and advances in technologies involved in clinical treatment has led to a broad range of approaches to represent clinical information. Within this context, patient stratification across health institutions due to omic profiling presents a complex scenario to carry out multi-center clinical trials. Methods. This paper presents a standards-based approach to ensure semantic integration required to facilitate the analysis of clinico-genomic clinical trials. To ensure interoperability across different institutions, we have developed a Semantic Interoperability Layer (SIL) to facilitate homogeneous access to clinical and genetic information, based on different well-established biomedical standards and following International Health (IHE) recommendations. Results. The SIL has shown suitability for integrating biomedical knowledge and technologies to match the latest clinical advances in healthcare and the use of genomic information. This genomic data integration in the SIL has been tested with a diagnostic classifier tool that takes advantage of harmonized multi-center clinico-genomic data for training statistical predictive models. Conclusions. The SIL has been adopted in national and international research initiatives, such as the EURECA-EU research project and the CIMED collaborative Spanish project, where the proposed solution has been applied and evaluated by clinical experts focused on clinico-genomic studies.Instituto de Salud Carlos III, PI13/02020Instituto de Salud Carlos III, PI13/0028

NIKA2: a mm camera for cluster cosmology

Galaxy clusters constitute a major cosmological probe. However, Planck 2015 results have shown a weak tension between CMB-derived and cluster-derived cosmological parameters. This tension might be due to poor knowledge of the cluster mass and observable relationship. As for now, arcmin resolution Sunyaev-Zeldovich (SZ) observations ({\it e.g.} SPT, ACT and Planck) only allowed detailed studies of the intra cluster medium for low redshift clusters ($z0.5$) high resolution and high sensitivity SZ observations are needed. With both a wide field of view (6.5 arcmin) and a high angular resolution (17.7 and 11.2 arcsec at 150 and 260 GHz), the NIKA2 camera installed at the IRAM 30-m telescope (Pico Veleta, Spain) is particularly well adapted for these observations. The NIKA2 SZ observation program will map a large sample of clusters (50) at redshifts between 0.5 and 0.9. As a pilot study for NIKA2, several clusters of galaxies have been observed with the pathfinder, NIKA, at the IRAM 30-m telescope to cover the various configurations and observation conditions expected for NIKA2.

The NIKA instrument: results and perspectives towards a permanent KID based camera for the Pico Veleta observatory

The New IRAM KIDs Array (NIKA) is a pathfinder instrument devoted to millimetric astronomy. In 2009 it was the first multiplexed KID camera on the sky; currently it is installed at the focal plane of the IRAM 30-meters telescope at Pico Veleta (Spain). We present preliminary data from the last observational run and the ongoing developments devoted to the next NIKA-2 kilopixels camera, to be commissioned in 2015. We also report on the latest laboratory measurements, and recent improvements in detector cosmetics and read-out electronics. Furthermore, we describe a new acquisition strategy allowing us to improve the photometric accuracy, and the related automatic tuning procedure.Comment: 24th International Symposium on Space Terahertz Technology, ISSTT 2013, April 8 to 10, 2013, Groningen, the Netherland