Bilocal versus non-bilocal correlations in entanglement swapping experiments

Entanglement swapping is a process by which two initially independent quantum systems can become entangled and generate nonlocal correlations. To characterize such correlations, we compare them to those predicted by bilocal models, where systems that are initially independent are described by uncorrelated states. We extend in this paper the analysis of bilocal correlations initiated in [Phys. Rev. Lett. 104, 170401 (2010)]. In particular, we derive new Bell-type inequalities based on the bilocality assumption in different scenarios, we study their possible quantum violations, and analyze their resistance to experimental imperfections. The bilocality assumption, being stronger than Bell's standard local causality assumption, lowers the requirements for the demonstration of quantumness in entanglement swapping experiments

Effects of psychological stress on skin and hair pigmentation in Polish adolescents

The effects of psychological stress, gender and age on hair and skin pigmentation levels were evaluated in the reported study. The material included Polish high-school and university students aged 18-22 (in the age range 17.50-22.49). All subjects who had sunbathed or used tanning beds or lamps, skin tanning agents, tanning extenders and/or medical agents affecting skin pigmentation during the 60 days preceding the beginning of the study were excluded. The use of hormonal contraceptives within a month prior to the study was also an excluding factor. Stress levels were evaluated by the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10) in the Polish adaptation, while hair and skin pigmentation levels were assessed with a dermaspectrometer (Cortex Technology®, Denmark, 2007). The study was carried out with the exclusion of the summer period. Skin pigmentation was evaluated in 395 subjects (264 women and 131 men). Hair pigmentation was analyzed in a smaller group of 351 subjects (223 women and 128 men), as some had had their hair dyed within 12 months prior to the study while in some others the hair was too short to be correctly measured. Regardless of their age, the studied women felt much more stress related to their life situation and were characterized by stronger skin pigmentation than the examined men. No sex differences were identified with regard to hair pigmentation. In the studied period of ontogenesis (18-22 years of age), hair pigmentation levels increased with age, while skin melanization remained stable. Disregarding the effects of age and sex, the level of perceived stress was negatively correlated with skin pigmentation levels; no such relationship was found for hair melanization. © 2012 Polish Anthtropological Society.Aneta Sitek, Elżbieta Żądzińska and Iwona Rosse

Association of FTO gene with obesity in Polish schoolchildren

The goal of the study was verification of fat mass and obesity-associated (FTO) gene polymorphisms as significant risk factors of obesity in the population of Polish children. Body mass index (BMI) and DNA were evaluated, where DNA was extracted from saliva, collected from 213 children at the age of 6-13 years. DNA was genotyped by PCR (polymerase chain reaction) and HRM (high resolution melting) techniques, as well as by direct sequencing. Three (3) FTO polymorphisms were identified: rs9939609, rs9926289 and rs76804286, the last polymorphism located between the first two. For the first time, absolute linkage disequilibrium (LD) of FTO gene rs9939609 and rs9926289 polymorphisms was confirmed in data for the Polish population (D’=1, r2=1). The lack of a complete dependence among the three single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of the FTO gene was a consequence of the concurrence of homozygotes with minor alleles A of rs9939609+rs9926289 of FTO (AA+AA) with major alleles of rs76804286 (GG). A case-control association analysis for BMI in obese children (n=51), as compared to normal-weight children (n=162), was based on the effects of genotypes homozygous for the minor alleles of the studied SNPs in recessive and codominant inheritance models (assuming an independent effect of each genotype). A comparison of children with normal BMI with obese children indicate a strong co-dominant effect of a genotype in homozygotes of minor alleles (AA+AA) of completely linked rs9939609+rs9926289 (OR at age 8.89 ± 1.54 years=4.87, 95% CI 1.81-13.12, p=0.002). An almost five-fold increase of obesity risk in the examined children indicates that the genetic factors, associated with excessive body weight gain, exert stronger effects in the early period of ontogenetic development vs. puberty and adulthood. The role of genetic factors in predisposing to obesity declines with age.Aneta Sitek, Iwona Rosset, Dominik Strapagiel, Małgorzata Majewska, Lidia Ostrowska-Nawarycz, Elżbieta Żądzińsk

Association of FTO and TMEM18 polymorphisms with overweight and obesity in the population of Polish children

Published Online: 2016-03-16The objective of the study was to verify whether or not FTO rs9939609, rs9926289 and TMEM18 rs4854344, rs6548238, rs2867125 variants are important risk factors for overweight and/or obesity in Polish children aged 6-16 (n=283). FTO rs 9939609 and rs9926289 exhibited a strong codominant obesity-predisposing effect of genotypes homozygous for minor alleles (OR=5.42, 95% CI: 2.04-14.39, p=0.0006). The important finding of the study is increased risk of overweight (OR=5.03, 95% CI: 1.15-21.93, p=0.0306) in individuals homozygous for the minor alleles rs4854344, rs6548238 and rs2867125 in the recessive inheritance model, while no other significant associations between TMEM18 variants and risk of obesity were found. Given the identified interaction TMEM18 genotype × BMI category (p=0.0077), it seems that the effect of homozygous for the minor alleles may be compared to a “weight guard”, which significantly increases the risk of overweight, but not of obesity, because it promotes weight gain only up to the threshold of obesity. Conclusion: The proposed hypothetical effect (“weight guard”) of homozygous for the minor alleles in the TMEM18 based on a rather small sample is a possible explanation of the effects of minor alleles, which minimize the risk of obesity.Iwona Rosset, Dominik Strapagiel, Aneta Sitek, Małgorzata Majewska, Lidia Ostrowska-Nawarycz, Elżbieta Żądzińsk

Estudo preliminar para a criação de selos de indicação geográfica de pinhão com base nas características locais e nos atributos sensoriais.

Este trabalho mostra uma forma de desenvolver estudos para obtenção de selo de indicação geográfica (IG) para pinhão e produtos derivados de pinhão. São várias as condições necessárias para obtenção do selo e o processo ocorre em várias etapas, sendo uma delas a caracterização do local (fatores naturais e humanos) e do produto ou serviço. Estas caracterizações são fundamentais, especialmente para obter o selo de denominação de origem (DO), onde as características do local têm forte peso na identidade do produto ou serviço, tornando-o singular. O estudo ambiental também subsidia a dimensão geográfica, ou seja, a área de origem do produto ou processo a ser delimitada. Este trabalho apresenta a caracterização local e também propõe uma forma de avaliar o produto, no caso pinhão, buscando identificar padrões de qualidade e de identidade por avaliações sensoriais e análises instrumentais como cor e textura. As localidades avaliadas neste trabalho foram: Lagoa Vermelha, RS, Painel, SC, Inácio Martins, PR e Cunha, SP e os pinhões avaliados foram provenientes destas localidades. Nestes locais há comunidades rurais organizadas, ou em vias de organização, que têm no pinhão uma fonte de renda alternativa e complementar, sendo que, em Painel, já há três produtos com selo de indicação geográfica. Esta nova linha de pesquisa da Embrapa Florestas objetiva congregar informações técnicas e direcionamentos para a obtenção de certificações regionais e agregação de valor aos produtos alimentícios de origem florestal. Este trabalho apresenta forte alinhamento às diferentes metas dos objetivos de desenvolvimento sustentável (ODS), estabelecidos pela Agenda 2030 da Organização das Nações Unidas (ONU). Destacam-se os ODS 2, 8, 12 e 17, pelo manuscrito apresentar proposta para a obtenção de certificações regionais e agregação de valor aos produtos alimentícios de origem florestal, reforçando a importância da gestão e uso eficiente desses recursos, além de contribuir para o desenvolvimento de políticas públicas direcionadas ao crescimento econômico regional e desenvolvimento sustentável.Selo ODS 2, 8, 12 e 17

Sinusoidal magnetic structure in a three-dimensional antiferromagnetic Co2(OH)AsO4: Incommensurate-commensurate magnetic phase transition

Co2 OH AsO4 has been prepared by hydrothermal synthesis and characterized from x-ray and neutron powder diffraction. The structure consists of a three-dimensional framework in which Co 1 O5-trigonal bipyramid dimers and Co 2 O6-octahedra chains are simultaneously present. The magnetic structure has been determined by neutron D2B and D1B powder-diffraction data. Below 22 K, the Co2 OH AsO4 phase shows an incommensurate antiferromagnetic structure along the b direction. The propagation vector 0, ,0 is temperature dependent with a value of =0.430 at the lowest temperature 1.8 K . Magnetization measurements of Co2 OH AsO4 show a complex magnetic behavior with the presence of three different signals. Between 6 and 21 K, a strong dependence of the magnetic field is observed with a shift of the inflexion point associated to the three-dimensional antiferromagnetic ordered from 18 K at 1 kOe to 20.1 K at 90 kOe. The small splitting observed in the zero-field-cooled-field-cooled curves at low temperatures is characteristic of ferromagnetic interactions but saturation is not reached even up to 90 kOe. Heat-capacity measurements show an unusual dependence on the magnetic field for antiferromagnetic transitions with a jump at the Neél temperature quite small 2 J/Kmol . The magnetic contribution exhibits a -type anomaly associated to the three-dimensional antiferromagnetic ordering. Surprisingly, the anomaly grows with the magnetic field and becomes better defined. Neutron powder diffraction in different fields shows a magnetic phase transition. The incommensurate magnetic structure evolves at low temperatures toward a collinear AF phase for fields higher than 35 kOe

Combined deletion of Glut1 and Glut3 impairs lung adenocarcinoma growth.

Glucose utilization increases in tumors, a metabolic process that is observed clinically by <sup>18</sup> F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography ( <sup>18</sup> F-FDG-PET). However, is increased glucose uptake important for tumor cells, and which transporters are implicated in vivo? In a genetically-engineered mouse model of lung adenocarcinoma, we show that the deletion of only one highly expressed glucose transporter, Glut1 or Glut3, in cancer cells does not impair tumor growth, whereas their combined loss diminishes tumor development. <sup>18</sup> F-FDG-PET analyses of tumors demonstrate that Glut1 and Glut3 loss decreases glucose uptake, which is mainly dependent on Glut1. Using <sup>13</sup> C-glucose tracing with correlated nanoscale secondary ion mass spectrometry (NanoSIMS) and electron microscopy, we also report the presence of lamellar body-like organelles in tumor cells accumulating glucose-derived biomass, depending partially on Glut1. Our results demonstrate the requirement for two glucose transporters in lung adenocarcinoma, the dual blockade of which could reach therapeutic responses not achieved by individual targeting

First Detection of Polarization of the Submillimetre Diffuse Galactic Dust Emission by Archeops

We present the first determination of the Galactic polarized emission at 353 GHz by Archeops. The data were taken during the Arctic night of February 7, 2002 after the balloon--borne instrument was launched by CNES from the Swedish Esrange base near Kiruna. In addition to the 143 GHz and 217 GHz frequency bands dedicated to CMB studies, Archeops had one 545 GHz and six 353 GHz bolometers mounted in three polarization sensitive pairs that were used for Galactic foreground studies. We present maps of the I, Q, U Stokes parameters over 17% of the sky and with a 13 arcmin resolution at 353 GHz (850 microns). They show a significant Galactic large scale polarized emission coherent on the longitude ranges [100, 120] and [180, 200] deg. with a degree of polarization at the level of 4-5%, in agreement with expectations from starlight polarization measurements. Some regions in the Galactic plane (Gem OB1, Cassiopeia) show an even stronger degree of polarization in the range 10-20%. Those findings provide strong evidence for a powerful grain alignment mechanism throughout the interstellar medium and a coherent magnetic field coplanar to the Galactic plane. This magnetic field pervades even some dense clouds. Extrapolated to high Galactic latitude, these results indicate that interstellar dust polarized emission is the major foreground for PLANCK-HFI CMB polarization measurement.Comment: Submitted to Astron. & Astrophys., 14 pages, 12 Fig., 2 Table