Broadband detection of squeezed vacuum: A spectrum of quantum states

We demonstrate the simultaneous quantum state reconstruction of the spectral modes of the light field emitted by a continuous wave degenerate optical parametric amplifier. The scheme is based on broadband measurement of the quantum fluctuations of the electric field quadratures and subsequent Fourier decomposition into spectral intervals. Applying the standard reconstruction algorithms to each bandwidth-limited quantum trajectory, a "spectrum" of density matrices and Wigner functions is obtained. The recorded states show a smooth transition from the squeezed vacuum to a vacuum state. In the time domain we evaluated the first order correlation function of the squeezed output field, showing good agreement with the theory.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figure

Delivering a “Dose of Hope”: A Faith-Based Program to Increase Older African Americans’ Participation in Clinical Trials

Background: Underrepresentation of older-age racial and ethnic minorities in clinical research is a significant barrier to health in the United States, as it impedes medical research advancement of effective preventive and therapeutic strategies. Objective: The objective of the study was to develop and test the feasibility of a community-developed faith-based intervention and evaluate its potential to increase the number of older African Americans in clinical research. Methods: Using a cluster-randomized design, we worked with six matched churches to enroll at least 210 persons. We provided those in the intervention group churches with three educational sessions on the role of clinical trials in addressing health disparity topics, and those in the comparison group completed surveys at the same timepoints. All persons enrolled in the study received ongoing information via newsletters and direct outreach on an array of clinical studies seeking participants. We evaluated the short-, mid-, and longer-term effects of the interventional program on clinical trial-related outcomes (ie, screening and enrollment)

Antiprogestins reduce epigenetic field cancerization in breast tissue of young healthy women

Background: Breast cancer is a leading cause of death in premenopausal women. Progesterone drives expansion of luminal progenitor cells, leading to the development of poor-prognostic breast cancers. However, it is not known if antagonising progesterone can prevent breast cancers in humans. We suggest that targeting progesterone signalling could be a means of reducing features which are known to promote breast cancer formation. Methods: In healthy premenopausal women with and without a BRCA mutation we studied (i) estrogen and progesterone levels in saliva over an entire menstrual cycle (n = 20); (ii) cancer-free normal breast-tissue from a control population who had no family or personal history of breast cancer and equivalently from BRCA1/2 mutation carriers (n = 28); triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) biopsies and healthy breast tissue taken from sites surrounding the TNBC in the same individuals (n = 14); and biopsies of ER+ve/PR+ve stage T1–T2 cancers and healthy breast tissue taken from sites surrounding the cancer in the same individuals (n = 31); and (iii) DNA methylation and DNA mutations in normal breast tissue (before and after treatment) from clinical trials that assessed the potential preventative effects of vitamins and antiprogestins (mifepristone and ulipristal acetate; n = 44). Results: Daily levels of progesterone were higher throughout the menstrual cycle of BRCA1/2 mutation carriers, raising the prospect of targeting progesterone signalling as a means of cancer risk reduction in this population. Furthermore, breast field cancerization DNA methylation signatures reflective of (i) the mitotic age of normal breast epithelium and (ii) the proportion of luminal progenitor cells were increased in breast cancers, indicating that luminal progenitor cells with elevated replicative age are more prone to malignant transformation. The progesterone receptor antagonist mifepristone reduced both the mitotic age and the proportion of luminal progenitor cells in normal breast tissue of all control women and in 64% of BRCA1/2 mutation carriers. These findings were validated by an alternate progesterone receptor antagonist, ulipristal acetate, which yielded similar results. Importantly, mifepristone reduced both the TP53 mutation frequency as well as the number of TP53 mutations in mitotic-age-responders. Conclusions: These data support the potential usage of antiprogestins for primary prevention of poor-prognostic breast cancers

Proc. of Int. Conf. on Computational Intelligence and Information Technology Surveillance using Video Analytics

Abstract—Surveillance using the video is a bit sophisticated task, yet making use of technology things can be done perfect. Security has been so difficult in the past that it was overlooked or avoided by security installers unless absolutely necessary. The present focus of computer vision Technology aimed at automating the analysis of Closed Circuit Tele Vision (CCTV) footages. This includes automatic identification of objects in a raw video, following those objects over time and between cameras, and the interpretation of those object’s appearance and movements. Here achieving video analytics by implementing its segments, through Open CV with an e.g., Extracting the edges of a live video through web cam and finding the motion detection in Live video. In this paper we even discuss about the feature of 3-D sensors in video surveillance. Key Terms — Surveillance, video analytics, contours, RGB image, binary image, threshold I

Purification of Membrane Proteins by Affinity Chromatography with On-Column Protease Cleavage.

A protocol is described for the isolation of recombinant polyhistidine-tagged membrane proteins from overexpressing Escherichia coli cells. The gene encoding a target membrane protein is cloned into an expression plasmid and then introduced into E. coli cells for overexpression. Membranes from bacterial cells are isolated and the tagged target membrane protein is solubilized in detergent and subsequently bound to an affinity matrix. Tagged proteins are commonly eluted by an excess of a solute that competes for the binding to the matrix. Alternatively, amino acid sequence-specific proteases can be used to cleave off the affinity purification tag directly on the purification column (i.e., on-column cleavage). This selectively releases the target protein and allows subsequent elution. Importantly, this step represents an additional purification step and can significantly increase the purity of the isolated protein

Antiprogestins reduce epigenetic field cancerization in breast tissue of young healthy women

Background: Breast cancer is a leading cause of death in premenopausal women. Progesterone drives expansion of luminal progenitor cells, leading to the development of poor-prognostic breast cancers. However, it is not known if antagonising progesterone can prevent breast cancers in humans. We suggest that targeting progesterone signalling could be a means of reducing features which are known to promote breast cancer formation. Methods: In healthy premenopausal women with and without a BRCA mutation we studied (i) estrogen and progesterone levels in saliva over an entire menstrual cycle (n = 20); (ii) cancer-free normal breast-tissue from a control population who had no family or personal history of breast cancer and equivalently from BRCA1/2 mutation carriers (n = 28); triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) biopsies and healthy breast tissue taken from sites surrounding the TNBC in the same individuals (n = 14); and biopsies of ER+ve/PR+ve stage T1–T2 cancers and healthy breast tissue taken from sites surrounding the cancer in the same individuals (n = 31); and (iii) DNA methylation and DNA mutations in normal breast tissue (before and after treatment) from clinical trials that assessed the potential preventative effects of vitamins and antiprogestins (mifepristone and ulipristal acetate; n = 44). Results: Daily levels of progesterone were higher throughout the menstrual cycle of BRCA1/2 mutation carriers, raising the prospect of targeting progesterone signalling as a means of cancer risk reduction in this population. Furthermore, breast field cancerization DNA methylation signatures reflective of (i) the mitotic age of normal breast epithelium and (ii) the proportion of luminal progenitor cells were increased in breast cancers, indicating that luminal progenitor cells with elevated replicative age are more prone to malignant transformation. The progesterone receptor antagonist mifepristone reduced both the mitotic age and the proportion of luminal progenitor cells in normal breast tissue of all control women and in 64% of BRCA1/2 mutation carriers. These findings were validated by an alternate progesterone receptor antagonist, ulipristal acetate, which yielded similar results. Importantly, mifepristone reduced both the TP53 mutation frequency as well as the number of TP53 mutations in mitotic-age-responders. Conclusions: These data support the potential usage of antiprogestins for primary prevention of poor-prognostic breast cancers