46 research outputs found
Predictive value of less than moderate residual mitral regurgitation as assessed by transesophageal echocardiography for the short-term outcomes of patients with mitral regurgitation treated with mitral valve repair
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Traditionally, in patients with mitral regurgitation (MR) a successful mitral valve repair is considered when residual MR by post-pump transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) is less than moderate or absent. Little is known about the prognostic value of less than moderate (mild or mild-to-moderate) residual MR for the early outcome of patients treated with mitral valve repair.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Eligible for this study were patients undergoing isolated mitral valve repair. Patients with moderate or severe residual MR after valve repair were excluded. The primary endpoint of the study was the composite of death or need of reintervention.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>A total of 98 patients (54 with no residual MR-Group 1, and 44 with less than moderate residual MR-Group 2) were analyzed. Of these, 72% presented with New York Heart Association (NYHA) 3/4, and 38% were women. The primary endpoint of the study occurred in 3 (5.5%) patients in Group 1 and 6 (13.6%) patients in Group 2 MR (<it>P </it>= 0.31). There was a trend toward a higher incidence of use of inotropic drugs post-interventional (<it>P </it>= 0.12), and a longer hospital stay among patients with less than moderate residual MR (<it>P </it>= 0.18).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>In our study population, patients with less than moderate residual MR had a trend toward a higher risk of early adverse outcomes as compared with patients with no residual MR by post-pump TEE. Studies with a larger patient population and longer follow-up data may be useful to better define the clinical significance of residual mild MR after mitral vale repair.</p
Symmetric informationally complete positive operator valued measure and probability representation of quantum mechanics
Symmetric informationally complete positive operator valued measures
(SIC-POVMs) are studied within the framework of the probability representation
of quantum mechanics. A SIC-POVM is shown to be a special case of the
probability representation. The problem of SIC-POVM existence is formulated in
terms of symbols of operators associated with a star-product quantization
scheme. We show that SIC-POVMs (if they do exist) must obey general rules of
the star product, and, starting from this fact, we derive new relations on
SIC-projectors. The case of qubits is considered in detail, in particular, the
relation between the SIC probability representation and other probability
representations is established, the connection with mutually unbiased bases is
discussed, and comments to the Lie algebraic structure of SIC-POVMs are
presented.Comment: 22 pages, 1 figure, LaTeX, partially presented at the Workshop
"Nonlinearity and Coherence in Classical and Quantum Systems" held at the
University "Federico II" in Naples, Italy on December 4, 2009 in honor of
Prof. Margarita A. Man'ko in connection with her 70th birthday, minor
misprints are corrected in the second versio
Topology by Design in Magnetic nano-Materials: Artificial Spin Ice
Artificial Spin Ices are two dimensional arrays of magnetic, interacting
nano-structures whose geometry can be chosen at will, and whose elementary
degrees of freedom can be characterized directly. They were introduced at first
to study frustration in a controllable setting, to mimic the behavior of spin
ice rare earth pyrochlores, but at more useful temperature and field ranges and
with direct characterization, and to provide practical implementation to
celebrated, exactly solvable models of statistical mechanics previously devised
to gain an understanding of degenerate ensembles with residual entropy. With
the evolution of nano--fabrication and of experimental protocols it is now
possible to characterize the material in real-time, real-space, and to realize
virtually any geometry, for direct control over the collective dynamics. This
has recently opened a path toward the deliberate design of novel, exotic
states, not found in natural materials, and often characterized by topological
properties. Without any pretense of exhaustiveness, we will provide an
introduction to the material, the early works, and then, by reporting on more
recent results, we will proceed to describe the new direction, which includes
the design of desired topological states and their implications to kinetics.Comment: 29 pages, 13 figures, 116 references, Book Chapte
Genome of the Avirulent Human-Infective Trypanosome—Trypanosoma rangeli
Background: Trypanosoma rangeli is a hemoflagellate protozoan parasite infecting humans and other wild and domestic mammals across Central and South America. It does not cause human disease, but it can be mistaken for the etiologic agent of Chagas disease, Trypanosoma cruzi. We have sequenced the T. rangeli genome to provide new tools for elucidating the distinct and intriguing biology of this species and the key pathways related to interaction with its arthropod and mammalian hosts. Methodology/Principal Findings: The T. rangeli haploid genome is ,24 Mb in length, and is the smallest and least repetitive trypanosomatid genome sequenced thus far. This parasite genome has shorter subtelomeric sequences compared to those of T. cruzi and T. brucei; displays intraspecific karyotype variability and lacks minichromosomes. Of the predicted 7,613 protein coding sequences, functional annotations could be determined for 2,415, while 5,043 are hypothetical proteins, some with evidence of protein expression. 7,101 genes (93%) are shared with other trypanosomatids that infect humans. An ortholog of the dcl2 gene involved in the T. brucei RNAi pathway was found in T. rangeli, but the RNAi machinery is non-functional since the other genes in this pathway are pseudogenized. T. rangeli is highly susceptible to oxidative stress, a phenotype that may be explained by a smaller number of anti-oxidant defense enzymes and heatshock proteins. Conclusions/Significance: Phylogenetic comparison of nuclear and mitochondrial genes indicates that T. rangeli and T. cruzi are equidistant from T. brucei. In addition to revealing new aspects of trypanosome co-evolution within the vertebrate and invertebrate hosts, comparative genomic analysis with pathogenic trypanosomatids provides valuable new information that can be further explored with the aim of developing better diagnostic tools and/or therapeutic targets
A squeezed review on coherent states and nonclassicality for non-Hermitian systems with minimal length
It was at the dawn of the historical developments of quantum mechanics when Schrödinger, Kennard and Darwin proposed an interesting type of Gaussian wave packets, which do not spread out while evolving in time. Originally, these wave packets are the prototypes of the renowned discovery, which are familiar as “coherent states” today. Coherent states are inevitable in the study of almost all areas of modern science, and the rate of progress of the subject is astonishing nowadays. Nonclassical states constitute one of the distinguished branches of coherent states having applications in various subjects including quantum information processing, quantum optics, quantum superselection principles and mathematical physics. On the other hand, the compelling advancements of non-Hermitian systems and related areas have been appealing, which became popular with the seminal paper by Bender and Boettcher in 1998. The subject of non-Hermitian Hamiltonian systems possessing real eigenvalues are exploding day by day and combining with almost all other subjects rapidly, in particular, in the areas of quantum optics, lasers and condensed matter systems, where one finds ample successful experiments for the proposed theory. For this reason, the study of coherent states for non-Hermitian systems have been very important. In this article, we review the recent developments of coherent and nonclassical states for such systems and discuss their applications and usefulness in different contexts of physics. In addition, since the systems considered here originated from the broader context of the study of minimal uncertainty relations, our review is also of interest to the mathematical physics communit
The Role of Body Mass Index, Insulin, and Adiponectin in the Relation Between Fat Distribution and Bone Mineral Density
Despite the positive association between body mass index (BMI) and bone mineral density (BMD) and content (BMC), the role of fat distribution in BMD/BMC remains unclear. We examined relationships between BMD/BMC and various measurements of fat distribution and studied the role of BMI, insulin, and adiponectin in these relations. Using a cross-sectional investigation of 2631 participants from the Erasmus Rucphen Family study, we studied associations between BMD (using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA]) at the hip, lumbar spine, total body (BMD and BMC), and fat distribution by the waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), waist-to-thigh ratio (WTR), and DXA-based trunk-to-leg fat ratio and android-to-gynoid fat ratio. Analyses were stratified by gender and median age (48.0 years in women and 49.2 years in men) and were performed with and without adjustment for BMI, fasting insulin, and adiponectin. Using linear regression (adjusting for age, height, smoking, and use of alcohol), most relationships between fat distribution and BMD and BMC were positive, except for WTR. After BMI adjustment, most correlations were negative except for trunk-to-leg fat ratio in both genders. No consistent influence of age or menopausal status was found. Insulin and adiponectin levels did not explain either positive or negative associations. In conclusion, positive associations between android fat distribution and BMD/BMC are explained by higher BMI but not by higher insulin and/or lower adiponectin levels. Inverse associations after adjustment for BMI suggest that android fat deposition as measured by the WHR, WTR, and DXA-based android-to-gynoid fat ratio is not beneficial and possibly even deleterious for bone
Gravitational Wave Detection by Interferometry (Ground and Space)
Significant progress has been made in recent years on the development of
gravitational wave detectors. Sources such as coalescing compact binary
systems, neutron stars in low-mass X-ray binaries, stellar collapses and
pulsars are all possible candidates for detection. The most promising design of
gravitational wave detector uses test masses a long distance apart and freely
suspended as pendulums on Earth or in drag-free craft in space. The main theme
of this review is a discussion of the mechanical and optical principles used in
the various long baseline systems in operation around the world - LIGO (USA),
Virgo (Italy/France), TAMA300 and LCGT (Japan), and GEO600 (Germany/U.K.) - and
in LISA, a proposed space-borne interferometer. A review of recent science runs
from the current generation of ground-based detectors will be discussed, in
addition to highlighting the astrophysical results gained thus far. Looking to
the future, the major upgrades to LIGO (Advanced LIGO), Virgo (Advanced Virgo),
LCGT and GEO600 (GEO-HF) will be completed over the coming years, which will
create a network of detectors with significantly improved sensitivity required
to detect gravitational waves. Beyond this, the concept and design of possible
future "third generation" gravitational wave detectors, such as the Einstein
Telescope (ET), will be discussed.Comment: Published in Living Reviews in Relativit