1,822 research outputs found
Metabolic Dependencies in Pancreatic Cancer.
Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDA) is a highly lethal cancer with a long-term survival rate under 10%. Available cytotoxic chemotherapies have significant side effects, and only marginal therapeutic efficacy. FDA approved drugs currently used against PDA target DNA metabolism and DNA integrity. However, alternative metabolic targets beyond DNA may prove to be much more effective. PDA cells are forced to live within a particularly severe microenvironment characterized by relative hypovascularity, hypoxia, and nutrient deprivation. Thus, PDA cells must possess biochemical flexibility in order to adapt to austere conditions. A better understanding of the metabolic dependencies required by PDA to survive and thrive within a harsh metabolic milieu could reveal specific metabolic vulnerabilities. These molecular requirements can then be targeted therapeutically, and would likely be associated with a clinically significant therapeutic window since the normal tissue is so well-perfused with an abundant nutrient supply. Recent work has uncovered a number of promising therapeutic targets in the metabolic domain, and clinicians are already translating some of these discoveries to the clinic. In this review, we highlight mitochondria metabolism, non-canonical nutrient acquisition pathways (macropinocytosis and use of pancreatic stellate cell-derived alanine), and redox homeostasis as compelling therapeutic opportunities in the metabolic domain
Robust Multi-Partite Multi-Level Quantum Protocols
We present a tripartite three-level state that allows a secret sharing
protocol among the three parties, or a quantum key distribution protocol
between any two parties. The state used in this scheme contains entanglement
even after one system is traced out. We show how to utilize this residual
entanglement for quantum key distribution purposes, and propose a realization
of the scheme using entanglement of orbital angular momentum states of photons.Comment: 9 pages, 2 figure
Triggered qutrits for Quantum Communication protocols
A general protocol in Quantum Information and Communication relies in the
ability of producing, transmitting and reconstructing, in general, qunits. In
this letter we show for the first time the experimental implementation of these
three basic steps on a pure state in a three dimensional space, by means of the
orbital angular momentum of the photons. The reconstruction of the qutrit is
performed with tomographic techniques and a Maximum-Likelihood estimation
method. In this way we also demonstrate that we can perform any transformation
in the three dimensional space
Experimental Quantum Coin Tossing
In this letter we present the first implementation of a quantum coin tossing
protocol. This protocol belongs to a class of ``two-party'' cryptographic
problems, where the communication partners distrust each other. As with a
number of such two-party protocols, the best implementation of the quantum coin
tossing requires qutrits. In this way, we have also performed the first
complete quantum communication protocol with qutrits. In our experiment the two
partners succeeded to remotely toss a row of coins using photons entangled in
the orbital angular momentum. We also show the experimental bounds of a
possible cheater and the ways of detecting him
Curvature condensation and bifurcation in an elastic shell
We study the formation and evolution of localized geometrical defects in an
indented cylindrical elastic shell using a combination of experiment and
numerical simulation. We find that as a symmetric localized indentation on a
semi-cylindrical shell increases, there is a transition from a global mode of
deformation to a localized one which leads to the condensation of curvature
along a symmetric parabolic crease. This process introduces a soft mode in the
system, converting a load-bearing structure into a hinged, kinematic mechanism.
Further indentation leads to twinning wherein the parabolic crease bifurcates
into two creases that move apart on either side of the line of symmetry. A
qualitative theory captures the main features of the phenomena and leads to
sharper questions about the nucleation of these defects.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures, submitted to Physical Review Letter
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