Detection and evaluation of residual effects by defeated stripe rust resistance genes (Yr genes) in common wheat against virulent Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici isolates

Non-Peer ReviewedRace-specific stripe rust resistance genes (Yr genes) have been deployed into wheat cultivars against stripe rust caused by Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici Eriks. (Pst); however, the resistance has been quickly broken down only years after its introduction. Near isogenic lines (NILs) with defeated Yr genes were used in this study to evaluate partial non-race-specific resistance of the residual effect as possible durable resistance. The parental NILs with single Yr genes (Yr10, Yr26, Yr32) with Avocet background, F5 NILs with two Yr genes in the combinations of Yr26/Yr10, Yr32/Yr10 and Yr32/Yr26 and susceptible cultivar Avocet were inoculated with one of three Pst inoculums (W020, W049, T034+W052) virulent to all three Yr genes and infection type (IT), infection area (IA) and latent period (LP) were recorded. The same NILs were tested in stripe rust nurseries at Saskatoon, SK and Lethbridge, AB in 2018 and disease incidence and severity were recorded. The range of IT tended to be lower in NILs with Yr32/Yr10 and Yr32/Yr26 genes only with T034/W052. With different isolates, IA was reduced more often in the NILs with Yr32/Yr10 and Yr32/Yr26 genes than with Yr26/Yr10. The extension of LP correlated with reduction of IA. In disease nurseries, the natural Pst population appeared to be avirulent to Yr10 and Yr26 at both locations and the results were inconclusive. These results from growth chamber experiments suggest that residual effect by defeated Yr genes possibly exists in certain combinations

Matrix Element Distribution as a Signature of Entanglement Generation

We explore connections between an operator's matrix element distribution and its entanglement generation. Operators with matrix element distributions similar to those of random matrices generate states of high multi-partite entanglement. This occurs even when other statistical properties of the operators do not conincide with random matrices. Similarly, operators with some statistical properties of random matrices may not exhibit random matrix element distributions and will not produce states with high levels of multi-partite entanglement. Finally, we show that operators with similar matrix element distributions generate similar amounts of entanglement.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figures, to be published PRA, partially supersedes quant-ph/0405053, expands quant-ph/050211

Object oriented programming environment for reconfigurable applications implemented in FPGA chips

One of the methods to control and manage multichannel, distributed measurement systems (as the ones used in High Energy Physics experiments) is described in this paper. These systems are based on FPGA chips. The method fulfills requirements for system configurability and efficiency. The method is based on a new way of address space management called the Component Internal Interface (CII). Creation of a stable link between the hardware and software is the purpose of the designed and realized programing environment. Practical implementation and usage example of suggested application in the Muon Trigger RPC detector at CMS experiment is discussed. The work was realized with strong participation of Ph.D. students

Elevated ethyl methanesulfonate (EMS) in nelfinavir mesylate (Viracept®, Roche): overview

Roche's protease inhibitor nelfinavir mesylate (Viracept®) produced between March 2007-June 2007 was found to contain elevated levels of ethyl methanesulfonate (EMS), a known mutagen (alkylator) – leading to a global recall of the drug. EMS levels in a daily dose (2,500 mg Viracept/day) were predicted not to exceed a dose of ~2.75 mg/day (~0.055 mg/kg/day based on 50 kg patient). As existing toxicology data on EMS did not permit an adequate patient risk assessment, a comprehensive animal toxicology evaluation of EMS was conducted. General toxicity of EMS was investigated in rats over 28 days. Two studies for DNA damage were performed in mice; chromosomal damage was assessed using a micronucleus assay and gene mutations were detected using the MutaMouse transgenic model. In addition, experiments designed to extrapolate animal exposure to humans were undertaken. A general toxicity study showed that the toxicity of EMS occurred only at doses ≥ 60 mg/kg/day, which is far above that received by patients. Studies for chromosomal damage and mutations in mice demonstrated a clear threshold effect with EMS at 25 mg/kg/day, under chronic dosing conditions. Exposure analysis (Cmax) demonstrated that ~370-fold higher levels of EMS than that ingested by patients, are needed to saturate known, highly conserved, error-free, mammalian DNA repair mechanisms for alkylation. In summary, animal studies suggested that patients who took nelfinavir mesylate with elevated levels of EMS are at no increased risk for carcinogenicity or teratogenicity over their background risk, since mutations are prerequisites for such downstream events. These findings are potentially relevant to >40 marketed drugs that are mesylate salts

Entanglement Distribution and Entangling Power of Quantum Gates

Quantum gates, that play a fundamental role in quantum computation and other quantum information processes, are unitary evolution operators $\hat U$ that act on a composite system changing its entanglement. In the present contribution we study some aspects of these entanglement changes. By recourse of a Monte Carlo procedure, we compute the so called "entangling power" for several paradigmatic quantum gates and discuss results concerning the action of the CNOT gate. We pay special attention to the distribution of entanglement among the several parties involved

Conditional q-Entropies and Quantum Separability: A Numerical Exploration

We revisit the relationship between quantum separability and the sign of the relative q-entropies of composite quantum systems. The q-entropies depend on the density matrix eigenvalues p_i through the quantity omega_q = sum_i p_i^q. Renyi's and Tsallis' measures constitute particular instances of these entropies. We perform a systematic numerical survey of the space of mixed states of two-qubit systems in order to determine, as a function of the degree of mixture, and for different values of the entropic parameter q, the volume in state space occupied by those states characterized by positive values of the relative entropy. Similar calculations are performed for qubit-qutrit systems and for composite systems described by Hilbert spaces of larger dimensionality. We pay particular attention to the limit case q --> infinity. Our numerical results indicate that, as the dimensionalities of both subsystems increase, composite quantum systems tend, as far as their relative q-entropies are concerned, to behave in a classical way