1,264 research outputs found
Complete genome sequence of the hippuricase-positive Campylobacter avium Type 5 LMG 24591
cited By 0Campylobacter avium is a thermotolerant Campylobacter species that has been isolated from poultry. C. avium was also the second hippuricase-positive species to be identified within Campylobacter. Here, we present the genome sequence of the C. avium type strain LMG 24591 (= CCUG 56292T), isolated in 2006 from a broiler chicken in Italy. © 2017 Miller et al.Peer reviewe
Acute Haemodynamic Changes During Haemodialysis Do Not Exacerbate Gut Hyperpermeability
© 2019 The Author(s)Introduction: The gastrointestinal tract is a potential source of inflammation in dialysis patients. In-vitro studies suggest breakdown of the gut barrier in uraemia leading to increased intestinal permeability and it is hypothesised that haemodialysis exacerbates this problem due to mesenteric ischemia induced by blood volume changes during treatment. Method: The effect of haemodialysis on intestinal permeability was studied in ten haemodialysis patients and compared with five controls. Intestinal permeability was assessed by measuring the differential absorption of four orally administered sugar probes which provides an index of small and whole bowel permeability. A multi-sugar solution (containing lactulose, rhamnose, sucralose and erythritol) was orally administered after an overnight fast. Plasma levels of all sugar probes were measured hourly for 10hrs post-administration. In haemodialysis patients, the procedure was carried out twice – once on a non-dialysis day and once immediately after haemodialysis. Results: Area under curve (AUC) for lactulose: rhamnose (L:R) ratio and sucralose: erythritol (S:E) ratio was similar post-dialysis and on non-dialysis days. AUC for L:R was higher in haemodialysis patients compared to controls (0.071 vs. 0.034,p=0.001), AUC for S:E ratio was not significantly different. Levels of lactulose, sucralose and erythritol were elevated and retained for longer in haemodialysis patients compared to controls due to dependence of sugars on kidney function for clearance. Conclusion: We found no significant acute changes in intestinal permeability in relation to the haemodialysis procedure. Valid comparison of intestinal permeability between controls and haemodialysis patients was not possible due to the strong influence of kidney function on sugar levels.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio
Non-adiabatic geometrical quantum gates in semiconductor quantum dots
In this paper we study the implementation of non-adiabatic geometrical
quantum gates with in semiconductor quantum dots. Different quantum information
enconding/manipulation schemes exploiting excitonic degrees of freedom are
discussed. By means of the Aharanov-Anandan geometrical phase one can avoid the
limitations of adiabatic schemes relying on adiabatic Berry phase; fast
geometrical quantum gates can be in principle implementedComment: 5 Pages LaTeX, 10 Figures include
Gain in a quantum wire laser of high uniformity
A multi-quantum wire laser operating in the 1-D ground state has been
achieved in a very high uniformity structure that shows free exciton emission
with unprecedented narrow width and low lasing threshold. Under optical pumping
the spontaneous emission evolves from a sharp free exciton peak to a
red-shifted broad band. The lasing photon energy occurs about 5 meV below the
free exciton. The observed shift excludes free excitons in lasing and our
results show that Coulomb interactions in the 1-D electron-hole system shift
the spontaneous emission and play significant roles in laser gain.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, prepared by RevTe
Holonomic quantum gates: A semiconductor-based implementation
We propose an implementation of holonomic (geometrical) quantum gates by
means of semiconductor nanostructures. Our quantum hardware consists of
semiconductor macroatoms driven by sequences of ultrafast laser pulses ({\it
all optical control}). Our logical bits are Coulomb-correlated electron-hole
pairs (excitons) in a four-level scheme selectively addressed by laser pulses
with different polarization. A universal set of single and two-qubit gates is
generated by adiabatic change of the Rabi frequencies of the lasers and by
exploiting the dipole coupling between excitons.Comment: 10 Pages LaTeX, 10 Figures include
Novel universality class of absorbing transitions with continuously varying critical exponents
The well-established universality classes of absorbing critical phenomena are
directed percolation (DP) and directed Ising (DI) classes. Recently, the pair
contact process with diffusion (PCPD) has been investigated extensively and
claimed to exhibit a new type of critical phenomena distinct from both DP and
DI classes. Noticing that the PCPD possesses a long-term memory effect, we
introduce a generalized version of the PCPD (GPCPD) with a parameter
controlling the memory effect. The GPCPD connects the DP fixed point to the
PCPD point continuously. Monte Carlo simulations show that the GPCPD displays
novel type critical phenomena which are characterized by continuously varying
critical exponents. The same critical behaviors are also observed in models
where two species of particles are coupled cyclically. We suggest that the
long-term memory may serve as a marginal perturbation to the ordinary DP fixed
point.Comment: 13 pages + 10 figures (Full paper version
Ultrafast carrier relaxation and vertical-transport phenomena in semiconductor superlattices: A Monte Carlo analysis
The ultrafast dynamics of photoexcited carriers in semiconductor superlattices is studied theoretically on the basis of a Monte Carlo solution of the coupled Boltzmann transport equations for electrons and holes. The approach allows a kinetic description of the relevant interaction mechanisms such as intra- miniband and interminiband carrier-phonon scattering processes. The energy relaxation of photoexcited carriers, as well as their vertical transport, is investigated in detail. The effects of the multiminiband nature of the superlattice spectrum on the energy relaxation process are discussed with particular emphasis on the presence of Bloch oscillations induced by an external electric field. The analysis is performed for different superlattice structures and excitation conditions. It shows the dominant role of carrier-polar-optical-phonon interaction in determining the nature of the carrier dynamics in the low-density limit. In particular, the miniband width, compared to the phonon energy, turns out to be a relevant quantity in predicting the existence of Bloch oscillations
Neutrino Masses, Mixing and New Physics Effects
We introduce a parametrization of the effects of radiative corrections from
new physics on the charged lepton and neutrino mass matrices, studying how
several relevant quantities describing the pattern of neutrino masses and
mixing are affected by these corrections. We find that the ratio omega = sin
theta / tan theta_atm is remarkably stable, even when relatively large
corrections are added to the original mass matrices. It is also found that if
the lightest neutrino has a mass around 0.3 eV, the pattern of masses and
mixings is considerably more stable under perturbations than for a lighter or
heavier spectrum. We explore the consequences of perturbations on some flavor
relations given in the literature. In addition, for a quasi-degenerate neutrino
spectrum it is shown that: (i) starting from a bi-maximal mixing scenario, the
corrections to the mass matrices keep tan theta_atm very close to unity while
they can lower tan theta_sol to its measured value; (ii) beginning from a
scenario with a vanishing Dirac phase, corrections can induce a Dirac phase
large enough to yield CP violation observable in neutrino oscillations.Comment: 14 pages, 21 figures. Uses RevTeX4. Added several comments and
references. Final version to appear in PR
Knowledge-based energy functions for computational studies of proteins
This chapter discusses theoretical framework and methods for developing
knowledge-based potential functions essential for protein structure prediction,
protein-protein interaction, and protein sequence design. We discuss in some
details about the Miyazawa-Jernigan contact statistical potential,
distance-dependent statistical potentials, as well as geometric statistical
potentials. We also describe a geometric model for developing both linear and
non-linear potential functions by optimization. Applications of knowledge-based
potential functions in protein-decoy discrimination, in protein-protein
interactions, and in protein design are then described. Several issues of
knowledge-based potential functions are finally discussed.Comment: 57 pages, 6 figures. To be published in a book by Springe
Differential cross section and recoil polarization measurements for the gamma p to K+ Lambda reaction using CLAS at Jefferson Lab
We present measurements of the differential cross section and Lambda recoil
polarization for the gamma p to K+ Lambda reaction made using the CLAS detector
at Jefferson Lab. These measurements cover the center-of-mass energy range from
1.62 to 2.84 GeV and a wide range of center-of-mass K+ production angles.
Independent analyses were performed using the K+ p pi- and K+ p (missing pi -)
final-state topologies; results from these analyses were found to exhibit good
agreement. These differential cross section measurements show excellent
agreement with previous CLAS and LEPS results and offer increased precision and
a 300 MeV increase in energy coverage. The recoil polarization data agree well
with previous results and offer a large increase in precision and a 500 MeV
extension in energy range. The increased center-of-mass energy range that these
data represent will allow for independent study of non-resonant K+ Lambda
photoproduction mechanisms at all production angles.Comment: 22 pages, 16 figure
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