Environmental effects on nonlocal correlations

Environmental interactions are ubiquitous in practical instances of any quantum information processing protocol. The interaction results in depletion of various quantum resources and even complete loss in numerous situations. Nonlocality, which is one particular quantum resource marking a significant departure of quantum mechanics from classical mechanics, meets the same fate. In the present work we study the decay in nonlocality to the extent of the output state admitting a local hidden state model. Using some fundamental quantum channels we also demonstrate the complete decay in the resources in the purview of the Bell-CHSH inequality and a 3-settings steering inequality. We also obtain bounds on the parameter of the depolarizing map for which it becomes steerability breaking pertaining to a general class of two qubit states.Comment: Accepted in Quanta. Accepted versio

Excess of homozygosity in the major histocompatibility complex in schizophrenia

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) in schizophrenia have focused on additive allelic effects to identify disease risk loci. In order to examine potential recessive effects, we applied a novel approach to identify regions of excess homozygosity in an ethnically homogenous cohort: 904 schizophrenia cases and 1640 controls drawn from the Ashkenazi Jewish (AJ) population. Genome-wide examination of runs of homozygosity identified an excess in cases localized to the major histocompatibility complex (MHC). To refine this signal, we used the recently developed GERMLINE algorithm to identify chromosomal segments shared identical-by-descent (IBD) and compared homozygosity at such segments in cases and controls. We found a significant excess of homozygosity in schizophrenia cases compared with controls in the MHC (P-value = 0.003). An independent replication cohort of 548 schizophrenia cases from Japan and 542 matched healthy controls demonstrated similar effects. The strongest case-control recessive effects (P = 8.81 x 10(-8)) were localized to a 53-kb region near HLA-A, in a segment encompassing three poorly annotated genes, TRIM10, TRIM15 and TRIM40. At the same time, an adjacent segment in the Class IMHC demonstrated clear additive effects on schizophrenia risk, demonstrating the complexity of association in the MHC and the ability of our IBD approach to refine localization of broad signals derived from conventional GWAS. In sum, homozygosity in the classical MHC region appears to convey significant risk for schizophrenia, consistent with the ecological literature suggesting that homozygosity at the MHC locus may be associated with vulnerability to disease

Independent evidence for an association between general cognitive ability and a genetic locus for educational attainment

Cognitive deficits and reduced educational achievement are common in psychiatric illness; understanding the genetic basis of cognitive and educational deficits may be informative about the etiology of psychiatric disorders. A recent, large genome-wide association study (GWAS) reported a genome-wide significant locus for years of education, which subsequently demonstrated association to general cognitive ability (g) in overlapping cohorts. The current study was designed to test whether GWAS hits for educational attainment are involved in general cognitive ability in an independent, large-scale collection of cohorts. Using cohorts in the Cognitive Genomics Consortium (COGENT; up to 20,495 healthy individuals), we examined the relationship between g and variants associated with educational attainment. We next conducted meta-analyses with 24,189 individuals with neurocognitive data from the educational attainment studies, and then with 53,188 largely independent individuals from a recent GWAS of cognition. A SNP (rs1906252) located at chromosome 6q16.1, previously associated with years of schooling, was significantly associated with g (P=1.47x10(-4)) in COGENT. The first joint analysis of 43,381 non-overlapping individuals for this a priori-designated locus was strongly significant (P=4.94x10(-7)), and the second joint analysis of 68,159 non-overlapping individuals was even more robust (P=1.65x10(-9)). These results provide independent replication, in a large-scale dataset, of a genetic locus associated with cognitive function and education. As sample sizes grow, cognitive GWAS will identify increasing numbers of associated loci, as has been accomplished in other polygenic quantitative traits, which may be relevant to psychiatric illness. (c) 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc

Food and welfare in India, c. 1900–1950

In 2001, the People's Union for Civil Liberties submitted a writ petition to the Supreme Court of India on the “right to food.” The petitioner was a voluntary human rights organization; the initial respondents were the Government of India, the Food Corporation of India, and six state governments. The petition opens with three pointed questions posed to the court: * A. Does the right to life mean that people who are starving and who are too poor to buy food grains ought to be given food grains free of cost by the State from the surplus stock lying with the State, particularly when it is reported that a large part of it is lying unused and rotting? * B. Does not the right to life under Article 21 of the Constitution of India include the right to food? * C. Does not the right to food, which has been upheld by the Honourable Court, imply that the state has a duty to provide food especially in situations of drought, to people who are drought affected and are not in a position to purchase food

IDENTIFICATION OF POTENTIAL ZONES FOR KIMBERLITE EXPLORATION – AN EARTH OBSERVATION APPROACH

In the present study, we have prepared the thematic evidence layers for identifying the potential zones of kimberlite emplacement in parts of Chhatarpur district, Madhya Pradesh. These thematic layers or evidence layers are geological structure, alteration zones, lineament density, surface alteration and geomorphic anomaly and these layers are prepared from the remote sensing data. As orientation of the geological structures (i.e fault system) and their density have the major role in the emplacement of kimberlite; both of these evidence layers are integrated using “AND” Boolean Logical Operator. On the other hand, two evidential layers regarded as the proxy to indicate the “surface expressions on kimberlite (i.e. alteration zones and geomorphic anomaly) are combined using “OR” operator as either of these two surface expression is indicative of kimberlite. Consequently, conjugate evidence layers on the surface expressions of kimberlite are integrated with the causative evidence layers of kimberlite emplacement using “AND” operator to identify the potential zones of diamond occurrences. Potential zones of kimberlite are overlaid on the residual gravity anomaly map derived from space-based gravity model of European Improved Gravity of Earth by New Technique (EIGEN6C4) to relate potential zones of kimberlite with the similar structural alignment (delineated in the residual gravity map) of known occurrence of kimberlite. We also have carried out indicator mineral survey around these potential zones and some of the kimberlite specific indicator minerals are identified in the stream sediments within these potential zones

Anticipatory anti-colonial writing in R.K. Narayan's Swami and Friends and Mulk Raj Anand's Untouchable

This article uses the term “anticipatory anti-colonial writing” to discuss the workings of time in R.K. Narayan’s Swami and Friends and Mulk Raj Anand’s Untouchable. Both these first novels were published in 1935 with the support of British literary personalities (Graham Greene and E.M. Forster respectively) and both feature young protagonists who, in contrasting ways, are engaged in Indian resistance to colonial rule. This study examines the difference between Narayan’s local, though ironical, resistance to the homogenizing temporal demands of empire and Anand’s awkwardly modernist, socially committed vision. I argue that a form of anticipation that explicitly looks forward to decolonization via new and transnational literary forms is a crucial feature of Untouchable that is not found in Swami and Friends, despite the latter’s anti-colonial elements. Untouchable was intended to be a “bridge between the Ganges and the Thames” and anticipates postcolonial negotiations of time that critique global inequalities and rely upon the multidirectional global connections forged by modernism

Incidence of multiple Herpesvirus infection in HIV seropositive patients, a big concern for Eastern Indian scenario

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection is associated with an increased risk for human <it>herpes viruses </it>(HHVs) and their related diseases and they frequently cause disease deterioration and therapeutic failures. Methods for limiting the transmission of HHVs require a better understanding of the incidence and infectivity of oral HHVs in HIV-infected patients. This study was designed to determine the seroprevalence of human herpes viruses (CMV, HSV 2, EBV-1, VZV) antibodies and to evaluate their association with age, sex as well as other demographic and behavioral factors.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>A study of 200 HIV positive patients from Eastern India attending the Calcutta Medical College Hospital, Kolkata, West Bengal, Apex Clinic, Calcutta Medical College Hospital and ART Center, School of Tropical Medicine, Kolkata, West Bengal was done. Serum samples were screened for antibodies to the respective viruses using the indirect ELISA in triplicates.</p> <p><it>CytoMegalo virus </it>(CMV), <it>Herpes Simplex virus </it>type 2 (HSV-2), <it>Varicella Zoster virus </it>(VZV), and <it>Epstein Barr virus </it>(EBV-1) were detected in 49%, 47%, 32.5%, and 26% respectively.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>This study has contributed baseline data and provided insights in viral OI and HIV co-infection in Eastern India. This would undoubtedly serve as a basis for further studies on this topic.</p