Benchmarking the Variational Reduced Density Matrix Theory in the Doubly Occupied Configuration Interaction Space with Integrable Pairing Models

The variational reduced density matrix theory has been recently applied with great success to models within the truncated doubly occupied configuration interaction space, which corresponds to the seniority zero subspace. Conservation of the seniority quantum number restricts the Hamiltonians to be based on the SU(2) algebra. Among them there is a whole family of exactly solvable Richardson-Gaudin pairing Hamiltonians. We benchmark the variational theory against two different exactly solvable models, the Richardson-Gaudin-Kitaev and the reduced BCS Hamiltonians. We obtain exact numerical results for the so-called PQGT N-representability conditions in both cases for systems that go from 10 to 100 particles. However, when random single-particle energies as appropriate for small superconducting grains are considered, the exactness is lost but still a high accuracy is obtained.Fil: Rubio García, A.. Instituto de Estructura de la Materia; España. Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas; EspañaFil: Alcoba, Diego Ricardo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Física de Buenos Aires. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Física de Buenos Aires; ArgentinaFil: Capuzzi, Pablo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Física de Buenos Aires. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Física de Buenos Aires; ArgentinaFil: Dukelsky, J.. Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas; España. Instituto de Estructura de la Materia; Españ

Do children with uncomplicated severe acute malnutrition need antibiotics? A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Current (1999) World Health Organization guidelines recommend giving routine antibiotics (AB) for all children with severe acute malnutrition (SAM), even if they have uncomplicated disease with no clinically obvious infections. We examined the evidence behind this recommendation

Configuration interaction wave functions: A seniority number approach

This work deals with the configuration interaction method when an N-electron Hamiltonian is projected on Slater determinants which are classified according to their seniority number values. We study the spin features of the wave functions and the size of the matrices required to formulate states of any spin symmetry within this treatment. Correlation energies associated with the wave functions arising from the seniority-based configuration interaction procedure are determined for three types of molecular orbital basis: canonical molecular orbitals, natural orbitals, and the orbitals resulting from minimizing the expectation value of the N-electron seniority number operator. The performance of these bases is analyzed by means of numerical results obtained from selected N-electron systems of several spin symmetries. The comparison of the results highlights the efficiency of the molecular orbital basis which minimizes the mean value of the seniority number for a state, yielding energy values closer to those provided by the full configuration interaction procedure.Fil: Alcoba, Diego Ricardo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Física de Buenos Aires; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Departamento de Física; ArgentinaFil: Torre, Alicia. Universidad del Pais Vasco; EspañaFil: Lain, Luis . Universidad del Pais Vasco; EspañaFil: Massaccesi, Gustavo Ernesto. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Ciclo Básico Común; ArgentinaFil: Oña, Ofelia Beatriz. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico la Plata. Instituto de Investigaciones Fisicoquímicas Teóricas y Aplicadas; Argentin

Seniority number in spin-adapted spaces and compactness of configuration interaction wave functions

This work extends the concept of seniority number, which has been widely used for classifying N-electron Slater determinants, to wave functions of N electrons and spin S, as well as to N-electron spin-adapted Hilbert spaces. We propose a spin-free formulation of the seniority number operator and perform a study on the behavior of the expectation values of this operator under transformations of the molecular basis sets. This study leads to propose a quantitative evaluation for the convergence of the expansions of the wave functions in terms of Slater determinants. The non-invariant character of the seniority number operator expectation value of a wave function with respect to a unitary transformation of the molecular orbital basis set, allows us to search for a change of basis which minimizes that expectation value. The results found in the description of wave functions of selected atoms and molecules show that the expansions expressed in these bases exhibit a more rapid convergence than those formulated in the canonical molecular orbital bases and even in the natural orbital ones.Fil: Alcoba, Diego Ricardo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Física de Buenos Aires; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Departamento de Física; ArgentinaFil: Torre, Alicia. Universidad del País Vasco. Facultad de Ciencia y Tecnología. Departamento de Química Física; España;Fil: Lain, Luis. Universidad del País Vasco. Facultad de Ciencia y Tecnología. Departamento de Química Física; España;Fil: Massaccesi, Gustavo Ernesto. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Ciclo Básico Común; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Departamento de Matemática; ArgentinaFil: Oña, Ofelia Beatriz. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico la Plata. Instituto de Investigaciones Fisicoquímicas Teóricas y Aplicadas; Argentin

FMR1 expression in human granulosa cells increases with exon 1 CGG repeat length depending on ovarian reserve

Background: Fragile-X-Mental-Retardation-1- (FMR1)-gene is supposed to be a key gene for ovarian reserve and folliculogenesis. It contains in its 5’-UTR a triplet-base-repeat (CGG), that varies between 26 and 34 in general population. CGG-repeat-lengths with 55–200 repeats (pre-mutation = PM) show instable heredity with a tendency to increase and are associated with premature-ovarian-insufficiency or failure (POI/POF) in about 20%. FMR1-mRNA-expression in leucocytes and granulosa cells (GCs) increases with CGG-repeat-length in PM-carriers, but variable FMR1-expression profiles were also described in women with POI without PM-FMR1 repeat-length. Additionally, associations between low numbers of retrieved oocytes and elevated FMR1-expression levels have been shown in GCs of females with mid-range PM-CGG-repeats without POI. Effects of FMR1-repeat-lengths-deviations (n < 26 or n > 34) below the PM range (n < 55) on ovarian reserve and response to ovarian stimulation remain controversial. Methods: We enrolled 229 women undergoing controlled ovarian hyperstimulation for IVF/ICSI-treatment and devided them in three ovarian-response-subgroups: Poor responder (POR) after Bologna Criteria, polycystic ovary syndrome (PCO) after Rotterdam Criteria, or normal responder (NOR, control group). Subjects were subdivided into six genotypes according to their be-allelic CGG-repeat length. FMR1-CGG-repeat-length was determined using ALF-express-DNA-sequencer or ABI 3100/3130 × 1-sequencer. mRNA was extracted from GCs after follicular aspiration and quantitative FMR1-expression was determined using specific TaqMan-Assay and applying the ΔΔCT method. Kruskall-Wallis-Test or ANOVA were used for simple comparison between ovarian reserve (NOR, POR or PCO) and CGG-subgroups or cohort demographic data. All statistical analysis were performed with SPSS and statistical significance was set at p ≤ 0.05. Results: A statistically significant increase in FMR1-mRNA-expression-levels was detected in GCs of PORs with heterozygous normal/low-CGG-repeat-length compared with other genotypes (p = 0.044). Conclusion: Female ovarian response may be negatively affected by low CGG-alleles during stimulation. In addition, due to a low-allele-effect, folliculogenesis may be impaired already prior to stimulation leading to diminished ovarian reserve and poor ovarian response. A better understanding of FMR1 expression-regulation in GCs may help to elucidate pathomechanisms of folliculogenesis disorders and to develop risk-adjusted treatments for IVF/ICSI-therapy. Herewith FMR1-genotyping potentially provides a better estimatation of treatment outcome and allows the optimal adaptation of stimulation protocols in future

A hybrid configuration interaction treatment based on seniority number and excitation schemes

We present a configuration interaction method in which the Hamiltonian of an N-electron system is projected on Slater determinants selected according to the seniority-number criterion along with the traditional excitation-based procedure. This proposed method is especially useful to describe systems which exhibit dynamic (weak) correlation at determined geometric arrangements (where the excitation-based procedure is more suitable) but show static (strong) correlation at other arrangements (where the seniority-number technique is preferred). The hybrid method amends the shortcomings of both individual determinant selection procedures, yielding correct shapes of potential energy curves with results closer to those provided by the full configuration interaction method.Fil: Alcoba, Diego Ricardo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Física de Buenos Aires; ArgentinaFil: Torre, Alicia. Universidad del Pais Vasco; EspañaFil: Lain, Luis. Universidad del Pais Vasco; EspañaFil: Oña, Ofelia Beatriz. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico La Plata. Instituto de Investigaciones Fisicoquímicas Teóricas y Aplicadas; ArgentinaFil: Capuzzi, Pablo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Física de Buenos Aires; ArgentinaFil: Van Raemdonck, Mario. University of Ghent; BélgicaFil: Bultinck, Patrick. University of Ghent; BélgicaFil: Van Neck, Dimitri. University Of Ghent; Bélgic

Developmental potential of in vitro or in vivo matured oocytes

Summary This study compared the embryological features of mature and immature oocytes (different stages) collected from stimulated cycles of in vitro fertilization (IVF). Immature oocytes were identified, classified as PI (prophase I -germinal vesicle, GV) or MI (metaphase I), were matured in vitro and fertilized using the intra-cytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) technique. Fertilization potential, cleavage, and subsequent transfer/cryopreservation of the embryos derived from these in vitro matured oocytes were compared with those of in vivo matured oocytes (collected at the MII stage). The characteristics of embryos derived from gametes recovered in the MI and MII stages were similar. The fertilization rate of immature oocytes recovered in PI was significantly lower than that of MII oocytes (P = 0.031), and the cleavage rate of the PI group was also lower than that of the MI (P = 0.004) and MII (P < 0.001) groups. In vitro maturation of MI oocytes is a suitable alternative when immature oocytes are recovered, as their characteristics and development are similar to those of in vivo matured oocytes. Optimization of outcomes for PI oocytes will require development of techniques that can distinguish which of these gametes will mature and fertilize

Variational reduced density matrix method in the doubly occupied configuration interaction space using three-particle N-representability conditions

Ground-state energies and two-particle reduced density matrices (2-RDMs) corresponding to N-particle systems are computed variationally within the doubly occupied configuration interaction (DOCI) space by constraining the 2-RDM to satisfy a complete set of three-particle N-representability conditions known as three-positivity conditions. These conditions are derived and implemented in the variational calculation of the 2-RDM with standard semidefinite programming algorithms. Ground state energies and 2-RDMs are computed for N2, CO, CN-, and NO+ molecules at both equilibrium and nonequilibrium geometries as well as for pairing models at different repulsive interaction strengths. The results from the full three-positivity conditions are compared with those from the exact DOCI method and with approximated 2-RDM variational ones obtained within two-positivity and two-positivity plus a subset of three-positivity conditions, as recently reported [D. R. Alcoba et al., J. Chem. Phys. 148, 024105 (2018) and A. Rubio-García et al., J. Chem. Theory Comput. 14, 4183 (2018)]. The accuracy of these numerical determinations and their low computational cost demonstrate the usefulness of the three-particle variational constraints within the DOCI framework.Fil: Alcoba, Diego Ricardo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Física de Buenos Aires. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Física de Buenos Aires; ArgentinaFil: Capuzzi, Pablo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Física de Buenos Aires. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Física de Buenos Aires; ArgentinaFil: Rubio García, Alvaro. Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas; EspañaFil: Dukelsky, Jorge. Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas; EspañaFil: Massaccesi, Gustavo Ernesto. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Ciclo Básico Común; ArgentinaFil: Oña, Ofelia Beatriz. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Instituto de Investigaciones Fisicoquímicas Teóricas y Aplicadas. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas. Instituto de Investigaciones Fisicoquímicas Teóricas y Aplicadas; ArgentinaFil: Torre, Alicia. Universidad del País Vasco; EspañaFil: Lain, Luis. Universidad del País Vasco; Españ

Variational determination of the two-electron reduced density matrix within the doubly occupied configuration interaction scheme: An extension to the study of open-shell systems

This work proposes to describe open-shell molecules or radicals using the framework of the doubly occupied configuration interaction (DOCI) treatments, so far limited to closed-shell system studies. The proposal is based on considering molecular systems in singlet states generated by adding extra hydrogen atoms located at infinite distance from the target radical system. The energy of this radical is obtained by subtracting the energies of the dissociated hydrogen atoms from that provided by the two-electron reduced density matrix corresponding to the singlet state system in the DOCI space, which is variationally calculated by imposing a set of N-representability conditions. This method is numerically assessed by describing potential energy curves and reduced density matrices in selected ionic and neutral open-shell systems in the doublet spin symmetry ground state.Fil: Oña, Ofelia Beatriz. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Instituto de Investigaciones Fisicoquímicas Teóricas y Aplicadas. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas. Instituto de Investigaciones Fisicoquímicas Teóricas y Aplicadas; ArgentinaFil: Torre, Alicia. Universidad del País Vasco; EspañaFil: Lain, Luis. Universidad del País Vasco; EspañaFil: Alcoba, Diego Ricardo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Física de Buenos Aires. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Física de Buenos Aires; ArgentinaFil: Ríos, Elías Daniel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Instituto de Investigaciones Fisicoquímicas Teóricas y Aplicadas. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas. Instituto de Investigaciones Fisicoquímicas Teóricas y Aplicadas; ArgentinaFil: Massaccesi, Gustavo Ernesto. Universidad de Buenos Aires; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentin