354 research outputs found
Unconventional Josephson Effect in Hybrid Superconductor-Topological Insulator Devices
We report on transport properties of Josephson junctions in hybrid
superconducting-topological insulator devices, which show two striking
departures from the common Josephson junction behavior: a characteristic energy
that scales inversely with the width of the junction, and a low characteristic
magnetic field for suppressing supercurrent. To explain these effects, we
propose a phenomenological model which expands on the existing theory for
topological insulator Josephson junctions
Sex differences in risk factor management of coronary heart disease across three regions
Objective To investigate whether there are sex differences in risk factor management of patients with established coronary heart disease (CHD), and to assess demographic variations of any potential sex differences. Methods Patients with CHD were recruited from Europe, Asia, and the Middle East between 2012-2013. Adherence to guideline-recommended treatment and lifestyle targets was assessed and summarised as a Cardiovascular Health Index Score (CHIS). Age-adjusted regression models were used to estimate odds ratios for women versus men in risk factor management. Results 10 112 patients (29% women) were included. Compared with men, women were less likely to achieve targets for total cholesterol (OR 0.50, 95% CI 0.43 to 0.59), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (OR 0.57, 95% CI 0.51 to 0.64), and glucose (OR 0.78, 95% CI 0.70 to 0.87), or to be physically active (OR 0.74, 95% CI 0.68 to 0.81) or non-obese (OR 0.82, 95% CI 0.74 to 0.90). In contrast, women had better control of blood pressure (OR 1.31, 95% CI 1.20 to 1.44) and were more likely to be a non-smoker (OR 1.93, 95% CI 1.67 to 2.22) than men. Overall, women were less likely than men to achieve all treatment targets (OR 0.75, 95% CI 0.60 to 0.93) or obtain an adequate CHIS (OR 0.81, 95% CI 0.73 to 0.91), but no significant differences were found for all lifestyle targets (OR 0.93, 95% CI 0.84 to 1.02). Sex disparities in reaching treatment targets were smaller in Europe than in Asia and the Middle East. Women in Asia were more likely than men to reach lifestyle targets, with opposing results in Europe and the Middle East. Conclusions Risk factor management for the secondary prevention of CHD was generally worse in women than in men. The magnitude and direction of the sex differences varied by region
IL-13 Augments Compressive Stress–Induced Tissue Factor Expression in Human Airway Epithelial Cells
Tissue factor (TF) is best known as a cellular initiator of coagulation, but it is also a multifunctional protein that has been implicated in multiple pathophysiologic conditions, including asthma. In the lung, airway epithelial cells express TF, but it is unknown how TF expression is regulated by asthma-associated mediators. We investigated the role of IL-13, a type 2 cytokine, alone and in combination with compressive stress, which mimics asthmatic bronchoconstriction, on TF expression and release of TF-positive extracellular vesicles from primary normal human bronchial epithelial cells. Well-differentiated normal human bronchial epithelial cells were treated with IL-13 and compressive stress, alone and in combination. TF mRNA, protein and activity were measured in the cells and conditioned media. TF was also measured in the bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid of allergen-challenged mice and patients with asthma. IL-13 and compressive stress increased TF expression, but only compressive stress induced TF-positive extracellular vesicle release. Pretreatment with IL-13 augmented compressive stress–induced TF expression and release. TF protein and activity in BAL fluid were increased in allergen-sensitized and -challenged mice. TF was elevated in the BAL fluid of patients with mild asthma after an allergen challenge. Our in vitro and in vivo data indicate close cooperation between mechanical and inflammatory stimuli on TF expression and release of TF-positive extracellular vesicles in the lungs, which may contribute to pathophysiology of asthma
Quantum enigma machine: Experimentally demonstrating quantum data locking
Shannon proved in 1949 that information-theoretic-secure encryption is possible if the encryption key is used only once, is random, and is at least as long as the message itself. Notwithstanding, when information is encoded in a quantum system, the phenomenon of quantum data locking allows one to encrypt a message with a shorter key and still provide information-theoretic security. We present one of the first feasible experimental demonstrations of quantum data locking for direct communication and propose a scheme for a quantum enigma machine that encrypts 6 bits per photon (containing messages, new encryption keys, and forward error correction bits) with less than 6 bits per photon of encryption key while remaining information-theoretically secure
Introduction to topological superconductivity and Majorana fermions
This short review article provides a pedagogical introduction to the rapidly
growing research field of Majorana fermions in topological superconductors. We
first discuss in some details the simplest "toy model" in which Majoranas
appear, namely a one-dimensional tight-binding representation of a p-wave
superconductor, introduced more than ten years ago by Kitaev. We then give a
general introduction to the remarkable properties of Majorana fermions in
condensed matter systems, such as their intrinsically non-local nature and
exotic exchange statistics, and explain why these quasiparticles are suspected
to be especially well suited for low-decoherence quantum information
processing. We also discuss the experimentally promising (and perhaps already
successfully realized) possibility of creating topological superconductors
using semiconductors with strong spin-orbit coupling, proximity-coupled to
standard s-wave superconductors and exposed to a magnetic field. The goal is to
provide an introduction to the subject for experimentalists or theorists who
are new to the field, focusing on the aspects which are most important for
understanding the basic physics. The text should be accessible for readers with
a basic understanding of quantum mechanics and second quantization, and does
not require knowledge of quantum field theory or topological states of matter.Comment: 21 pages, 5 figure
Direct Evidence for Dominant Bond-directional Interactions in a Honeycomb Lattice Iridate Na2IrO3
Heisenberg interactions are ubiquitous in magnetic materials and have been
prevailing in modeling and designing quantum magnets. Bond-directional
interactions offer a novel alternative to Heisenberg exchange and provide the
building blocks of the Kitaev model, which has a quantum spin liquid (QSL) as
its exact ground state. Honeycomb iridates, A2IrO3 (A=Na,Li), offer potential
realizations of the Kitaev model, and their reported magnetic behaviors may be
interpreted within the Kitaev framework. However, the extent of their relevance
to the Kitaev model remains unclear, as evidence for bond-directional
interactions remains indirect or conjectural. Here, we present direct evidence
for dominant bond-directional interactions in antiferromagnetic Na2IrO3 and
show that they lead to strong magnetic frustration. Diffuse magnetic x-ray
scattering reveals broken spin-rotational symmetry even above Neel temperature,
with the three spin components exhibiting nano-scale correlations along
distinct crystallographic directions. This spin-space and real-space
entanglement directly manifests the bond-directional interactions, provides the
missing link to Kitaev physics in honeycomb iridates, and establishes a new
design strategy toward frustrated magnetism.Comment: Nature Physics, accepted (2015
Excess cardiovascular risk in diabetic women: a case for intensive treatment.
Diabetes is a common and rapidly growing disease that affects more than 380 million people worldwide and is an established risk factor for cardiovascular disease with differential effects on women compared to men. While the general population of women, particularly young women, has more favourable cardiovascular risk profiles than men, this protective effect has been shown to be lost or even reversed in diabetic women. Several studies have demonstrated a significant diabetes-associated excess risk of cardiovascular disease in women. Sex-specific differences in risk factors associated with diabetes and their management may be responsible for the relative excess cardiovascular risk in women with diabetes. Diabetic women need intensive treatment in order to optimize management of cardiovascular risk factors. Further studies are needed to elucidate the mechanisms underlying the excess cardiovascular risk in diabetic women in order to tailor prevention and treatment strategies
Occupational stress, work-home interference and burnout among Belgian veterinary practitioners
There have been few formal studies on stress in veterinary surgeons and, in the rare studies available, stress is not examined jointly through the levels of job strain and job engagement, the sources of stress in the issue of work environment and the work-home interference. The authors' goal in this study was to analyse job engagement, job strain, burnout, work-home interference and job stress factors among 216 Belgian veterinary surgeons. Rural practice was compared to small animal and mixed activity. The mean job strain and job engagement level in veterinary surgeons was not higher than what we found in other working populations. However, 15.6% of the group were found to be suffering from high burnout. Rural practitioners had a lower level of job engagement than small animal veterinary surgeons. These small animal practitioners had a lower level of job strain than the mixed practitioners. The level of burnout did not differ significantly across the three types of activity. In comparison to other Belgian and Dutch workers, veterinary surgeons perceived more negative work-home interference. Bovine and mixed practitioners were the most concerned with this problem. The two most important sources of stress reported by bovine practitioners were relations to farmers and working time management (including emergencies and availability)
Immune cell contexture in the bone marrow tumor microenvironment impacts therapy response in CML
Increasing evidence suggests that the immune system affects prognosis of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), but the detailed immunological composition of the leukemia bone marrow (BM) microenvironment is unknown. We aimed to characterize the immune landscape of the CML BM and predict the current treatment goal of tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) therapy, molecular remission 4.0 (MR4.0). Using multiplex immunohistochemistry (mIHC) and automated image analysis, we studied BM tissues of CML patients (n = 56) and controls (n = 14) with a total of 30 immunophenotype markers essential in cancer immunology. CML patients' CD4+ and CD8+ T-cells expressed higher levels of putative exhaustion markers PD1, TIM3, and CTLA4 when compared to control. PD1 expression was higher in BM compared to paired peripheral blood (PB) samples, and decreased during TKI therapy. By combining clinical parameters and immune profiles, low CD4+ T-cell proportion, high proportion of PD1+ TIM3-CD8+ T cells, and high PB neutrophil count were most predictive of lower MR4.0 likelihood. Low CD4+ T-cell proportion and high PB neutrophil counts predicted MR4.0 also in a validation cohort (n = 52) analyzed with flow cytometry. In summary, the CML BM is characterized by immune suppression and immune biomarkers predicted MR4.0, thus warranting further testing of immunomodulatory drugs in CML treatment.Peer reviewe
Evaluating the Sensitivity of Mycobacterium tuberculosis to Biotin Deprivation Using Regulated Gene Expression
In the search for new drug targets, we evaluated the biotin synthetic pathway of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) and constructed an Mtb mutant lacking the biotin biosynthetic enzyme 7,8-diaminopelargonic acid synthase, BioA. In biotin-free synthetic media, ΔbioA did not produce wild-type levels of biotinylated proteins, and therefore did not grow and lost viability. ΔbioA was also unable to establish infection in mice. Conditionally-regulated knockdown strains of Mtb similarly exhibited impaired bacterial growth and viability in vitro and in mice, irrespective of the timing of transcriptional silencing. Biochemical studies further showed that BioA activity has to be reduced by approximately 99% to prevent growth. These studies thus establish that de novo biotin synthesis is essential for Mtb to establish and maintain a chronic infection in a murine model of TB. Moreover, these studies provide an experimental strategy to systematically rank the in vivo value of potential drug targets in Mtb and other pathogens
- …