1,464 research outputs found
Investigating Rare Events by Transition Interface Sampling
We briefly review simulation schemes for the investigation of rare
transitions and we resume the recently introduced Transition Interface
Sampling, a method in which the computation of rate constants is recast into
the computation of fluxes through interfaces dividing the reactant and product
state.Comment: 12 pages, 1 figure, contributed paper to the proceedings of NEXT
2003, Second Sardinian International Conference on News and Expectations in
Thermostatistics, 21-28 Sep 2003, Cagliari (Italy
A Novel Path Sampling Method for the Calculation of Rate Constants
We derive a novel efficient scheme to measure the rate constant of
transitions between stable states separated by high free energy barriers in a
complex environment within the framework of transition path sampling. The
method is based on directly and simultaneously measuring the fluxes through
many phase space interfaces and increases the efficiency with at least a factor
of two with respect to existing transition path sampling rate constant
algorithms. The new algorithm is illustrated on the isomerization of a diatomic
molecule immersed in a simple fluid.Comment: 14 pages, including 13 figures, RevTeX
Rate constants for diffusive processes by partial path sampling
We introduce a path sampling method for the computation of rate constants for
systems with a highly diffusive character. Based on the recently developed
algorithm of transition interface sampling (TIS) this procedure increases the
efficiency by sampling only parts of complete transition trajectories confined
within a certain region. The algorithm assumes the loss of memory for highly
diffusive progression along the reaction coordinate. We compare the new
technique to the TIS method for a simple diatomic system and show that the
computation time of the new method scales linearly, instead of quadraticaly,
with the length of the diffusive barrier. The validity of the memory loss
assumption is also discussed.Comment: 12 pages, including 8 figures, RevTeX
Elaborating Transition Interface Sampling Methods
We review two recently developed efficient methods for calculating rate
constants of processes dominated by rare events in high-dimensional complex
systems. The first is transition interface sampling (TIS), based on the
measurement of effective fluxes through hypersurfaces in phase space. TIS
improves efficiency with respect to standard transition path sampling (TPS)
rate constant techniques, because it allows a variable path length and is less
sensitive to recrossings. The second method is the partial path version of TIS.
Developed for diffusive processes, it exploits the loss of long time
correlation. We discuss the relation between the new techniques and the
standard reactive flux methods in detail. Path sampling algorithms can suffer
from ergodicity problems, and we introduce several new techniques to alleviate
these problems, notably path swapping, stochastic configurational bias Monte
Carlo shooting moves and order-parameter free path sampling. In addition, we
give algorithms to calculate other interesting properties from path ensembles
besides rate constants, such as activation energies and reaction mechanisms.Comment: 36 pages, 5 figure
Assessment of eating rate and food intake in spoon versus fork users in a laboratory setting
Accumulating evidence show positive relationships between eating rate and body weight. Acute food intake is affected by eating rate, bite size, and palatability. The objective was to assess differences between participants who chose to use a spoon vs. fork in eating rate and food intake of four meals that differ in palatability (low vs. high salt) and in energy density (low vs. high fat). Forty-eight healthy adults (16 males, 18-54 y, BMI: 17.8-34.4 kg/m2) were recruited. Participants attended four lunch time sessions after a standardised breakfast. Meals were either (1) low-fat/low-salt, (2) low-fat/high-salt, (3) high-fat/low-salt, or (4) high-fat/high-salt. Nineteen participants (6 males) consistently used a fork and 21 (8 males) used a spoon, 8 participants were inconsistent in cutlery use and excluded from analyses. Spoon users had on average a higher BMI than fork users (p=0.006). Effects of cutlery use, BMI status (BMI<25 vs. BMI>25), salt, and fat, and their interactions were assessed in a General Linear Model. Spoon users consumed faster (fork: 53±2.8g/min; spoon: 62±2.1g/min, p=0.022) and tended to consume more (p=0.09), whereas the duration of the meals were similar (fork: 6.9±0.3min; spoon: 6:7±0.2min, p=0.55). BMI status affected both eating rate and food intake (p=0.005). There were no significant two-way or three-way interactions between salt, fat, and cutlery use on eating rate or food intake. In conclusion, participants who chose to consume with forks ate slower compared to spoon users
Efficient path sampling on multiple reaction channels
Due to the time scale problem, rare events are not accessible by straight
forward molecular dynamics. The presence of multiple reaction channels
complicates the problem even further. The feasibility of the standard free
energy based methods relies strongly on the success in finding a proper
reaction coordinate. This can be very difficult task in high-dimensional
complex systems and even more if several distinct reaction channels exist.
Moreover, even if a proper reaction coordinate can be found, ergodic sampling
will be a challenge. In this article, we discuss the recent advancements of
path sampling methods to tackle this problem. We argue why the path sampling
methods, via the transition interface sampling technique, is less sensitive to
the choice of reaction coordinate. Moreover, we review a new algorithm,
parallel path swapping, that can dramatically improve the ergodic sampling of
trajectories for the multiple reaction channel systems.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures. Article submitted for the proceedings of the
Conference on Computational Physics, Brussels 200
Role of therapeutic drug monitoring in pulmonary infections : use and potential for expanded use of dried blood spot samples
Respiratory tract infections are among the most common infections in men. We reviewed literature to document their pharmacological treatments, and the extent to which therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) is needed during treatment. We subsequently examined potential use of dried blood spots as sample procedure for TDM. TDM was found to be an important component of clinical care for many (but not all) pulmonary infections. For gentamicin, linezolid, voriconazole and posaconazole dried blood spot methods and their use in TDM were already evident in literature. For glycopeptides, beta-lactam antibiotics and fluoroquinolones it was determined that development of a dried blood spot (DBS) method could be useful. This review identifies specific antibiotics for which development of DBS methods could support the optimization of treatment of pulmonary infections
The Asakura-Oosawa model in the protein limit: the role of many-body interactions
We study the Asakura-Oosawa model in the "protein limit", where the
penetrable sphere radius is much greater than the hard sphere radius
. The phase behaviour and structure calculated with a full many-body
treatment show important qualitative differences when compared to a description
based on pair potentials alone. The overall effect of the many-body
interactions is repulsive.Comment: 9 pages and 11 figures, submitted to J. Phys.: Condensed Matter,
special issue "Effective many-body interactions and correlations in soft
matter
Density functional theory and demixing of binary hard rod-polymer mixtures
A density functional theory for a mixture of hard rods and polymers modeled
as chains built of hard tangent spheres is proposed by combining the functional
due to Yu and Wu for the polymer mixtures [J. Chem. Phys. {\bf 117}, 2368
(2002)] with the Schmidt's functional [Phys. Rev. E {\bf 63}, 50201 (2001)] for
rod-sphere mixtures. As a simple application of the functional, the demixing
transition into polymer-rich and rod-rich phases is examined. When the chain
length increases, the phase boundary broadens and the critical packing fraction
decreases. The shift of the critical point of a demixing transition is most
noticeable for short chains.Comment: 4 pages,2 figures, in press, PR
Treatment of Highly Drug-Resistant Pulmonary Tuberculosis
BACKGROUND Patients with highly drug-resistant forms of tuberculosis have limited treatment options and historically have had poor outcomes. METHODS In an open-label, single-group study in which follow-up is ongoing at three South African sites, we investigated treatment with three oral drugs - bedaquiline, pretomanid, and linezolid - that have bactericidal activity against tuberculosis and to which there is little preexisting resistance. We evaluated the safety and efficacy of the drug combination for 26 weeks in patients with extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis and patients with multidrug-resistant tuberculosis that was not responsive to treatment or for which a second-line regimen had been discontinued because of side effects. The primary end point was the incidence of an unfavorable outcome, defined as treatment failure (bacteriologic or clinical) or relapse during follow-up, which continued until 6 months after the end of treatment. Patients were classified as having a favorable outcome at 6 months if they had resolution of clinical disease, a negative culture status, and had not already been classified as having had an unfavorable outcome. Other efficacy end points and safety were also evaluated. RESULTS A total of 109 patients were enrolled in the study and were included in the evaluation of efficacy and safety end points. At 6 months after the end of treatment in the intention-to-treat analysis, 11 patients (10%) had an unfavorable outcome and 98 patients (90%; 95% confidence interval, 83 to 95) had a favorable outcome. The 11 unfavorable outcomes were 7 deaths (6 during treatment and 1 from an unknown cause during follow-up), 1 withdrawal of consent during treatment, 2 relapses during follow-up, and 1 loss to follow-up. The expected linezolid toxic effects of peripheral neuropathy (occurring in 81% of patients) and myelosuppression (48%), although common, were manageable, often leading to dose reductions or interruptions in treatment with linezolid. CONCLUSIONS The combination of bedaquiline, pretomanid, and linezolid led to a favorable outcome at 6 months after the end of therapy in a high percentage of patients with highly drug-resistant forms of tuberculosis; some associated toxic effects were observed. (Funded by the TB Alliance and others; ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT02333799.)
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