Generalized Boolean Functions and Quantum Circuits on IBM-Q

We explicitly derive a connection between quantum circuits utilising IBM's quantum gate set and multivariate quadratic polynomials over integers modulo 8. We demonstrate that the action of a quantum circuit over input qubits can be written as generalized Walsh-Hadamard transform. Here, we derive the polynomials corresponding to implementations of the Swap gate and Toffoli gate using IBM-Q gate set.Comment: 7 pages, 8 figures, Accepted to Publish in: 10th International Conference on Computing, Communication and Networking Technologies and IEEE Xplor

Applying Prolog to Develop Distributed Systems

Development of distributed systems is a difficult task. Declarative programming techniques hold a promising potential for effectively supporting programmer in this challenge. While Datalog-based languages have been actively explored for programming distributed systems, Prolog received relatively little attention in this application area so far. In this paper we present a Prolog-based programming system, called DAHL, for the declarative development of distributed systems. DAHL extends Prolog with an event-driven control mechanism and built-in networking procedures. Our experimental evaluation using a distributed hash-table data structure, a protocol for achieving Byzantine fault tolerance, and a distributed software model checker - all implemented in DAHL - indicates the viability of the approach

A Bibliometric Perspective Survey of IoT controlled AI based Swarm robots

Robotics is the ­new-age domain of technology that deals with bringing a collaboration of all disciplines of sciences and engineering to create a mechanical machine that may or may not work entirely independently but definitely focuses on making human lives much easier. It has repeatedly shown its ability to change lives at home and in the industry. As the field of robotics research grows and reaches new worlds, the military is one area where advances can have a significant impact, and the government is aware of this. Military technology has come a long way from the days where soldiers had to walk into traps, putting their own lives in danger for their fellow soldiers, to today, when soldiers have robots walk into the same traps with possibility and result of zero human casualties. High-risk military operations such as mine detection, bomb defusing, fighter pilot aviation, and entering enemy territory without complete knowledge of what is to come are all tasks that can be programmed in a way that makes them accustomed to scenarios like these, either by intensive machine learning algorithms or artificially intelligent robot systems. Military soldiers are human capital; they are not self-driving robots; they are living beings with emotions, fears, and weaknesses, and they will almost always be unreliable as compared to computers and robots. They are easily affected by environmental effects and are vulnerable to external influences. The government\u27s costs for deployed troops, such as training and salaries, are extremely high. As a result, the solution is to build AI robots for defence operations that can sense, collect data by observing surroundings as any human soldier would, and report it back to a workstation where it can be used for strategy building and planning on what the next step should be during a mission, thus making the army better prepared for any kind of trouble that might be on their way. In this paper, the survey and bibliometric analysis of AI-based IoT managed Swarm Robots from the Scopus repository is discussed, which analyses research by area, notable authors, organizations, funding agencies and countries. Statistical analysis of literature published as journals, articles and papers that aids in understanding the global influence of publication is called Bibliometric analysis. This paper is a thorough analysis of 84 research papers as obtained from the Scopus repository on the 3rd of April 2021. GPS Visualizer, Gephi, wordcloud, and ScienceScape are open source softwares used in the visualization review. As previously mentioned, the visualization assists in a quick and easy interpretation of the different viewpoints in a particular study domain pursuit

Neurocysticercosis with symptomatic epilepsy manifestation

Aim To present a unique case of a 22-year-old male patient with symptomatic epilepsy manifestation on a background of neurocysticercosis (NCC). Methods An Indian student in Kharkiv, who lived in rural parts in India, presented with sudden episodes of seizure followed by severe headaches. Laboratory analyses and neurological status (MRI) were performed. Results Neurological status of the patient revealed nystagmus and difficulty in performing co-ordination tests. General analysis of blood showed raised eosinophil count to 8%. The MRI showed a few small conglomerating peripherally enhancing thick-walled infective granulomas in left frontal lobe with extensive surrounding oedema in the left fronto-parietal lobe. The patient was treated with albendazol, levipil, methylprednisolone and pantoprazole. Clinical symptoms and subsequent MRI showed improvement. Conclusion Neurocysticercosis is often misdiagnosed in the early stages, which leads to adverse outcomes. Although seizures are the most common clinical manifestation, it is a symptom that is not found in majority of the patients. The NCC of adult onset accompanying epileptic seizures is not well studied and a link between the helminthic invasion, epilepsy and psychiatric conditions needs to be established. This disease is potentially eradicable with wellplanned eradication programs targeting all stages of Taenia solium life cycle

Microbial exposure during early human development primes fetal immune cells

Human fetal immune system begins to develop early during gestation, however factors responsible for fetal immune-priming remain elusive. We explored potential exposure to microbial agents in-utero and their contribution towards activation of memory T cells in fetal tissues. We profiled microbes across fetal organs using 16S-rRNA gene sequencing and detected low but consistent microbial signal in fetal gut, skin, placenta and lungs, in 2nd trimester of gestation. We identified several live bacterial strains including Staphylococcus and Lactobacillus in fetal tissues, which induced in vitro activation of memory T cells in fetal mesenteric lymph-node, supporting the role of microbial exposure in fetal immune-priming. Finally, using SEM and RNA-ISH, we visualised discrete localisation of bacteria-like structures and eubacterial-RNA within 14th week fetal gut lumen. These findings indicate selective presence of live-microbes in fetal organs during 2nd trimester of gestation and have broader implications towards establishment of immune competency and priming before birt

The 22q11.2 region regulates presynaptic gene-products linked to schizophrenia

How the 22q11.2 deletion predisposes to psychiatric disease is unclear. Here, the authors examine living human neuronal cells and show that 22q11.2 regulates the expression of genes linked to autism during early development, and genes linked to schizophrenia and synaptic biology in neurons. It is unclear how the 22q11.2 deletion predisposes to psychiatric disease. To study this, we generated induced pluripotent stem cells from deletion carriers and controls and utilized CRISPR/Cas9 to introduce the heterozygous deletion into a control cell line. Here, we show that upon differentiation into neural progenitor cells, the deletion acted in trans to alter the abundance of transcripts associated with risk for neurodevelopmental disorders including autism. In excitatory neurons, altered transcripts encoded presynaptic factors and were associated with genetic risk for schizophrenia, including common and rare variants. To understand how the deletion contributed to these changes, we defined the minimal protein-protein interaction network that best explains gene expression alterations. We found that many genes in 22q11.2 interact in presynaptic, proteasome, and JUN/FOS transcriptional pathways. Our findings suggest that the 22q11.2 deletion impacts genes that may converge with psychiatric risk loci to influence disease manifestation in each deletion carrier.Peer reviewe

A Synthetic Adjuvant to Enhance and Expand Immune Responses to Influenza Vaccines

Safe, effective adjuvants that enhance vaccine potency, including induction of neutralizing Abs against a broad range of variant strains, is an important strategy for the development of seasonal influenza vaccines which can provide optimal protection, even during seasons when available vaccines are not well matched to circulating viruses. We investigated the safety and ability of Glucopyranosyl Lipid Adjuvant-Stable Emulsion (GLA-SE), a synthetic Toll-like receptor (TLR)4 agonist formulation, to adjuvant Fluzone® in mice and non-human primates. The GLA-SE adjuvanted Fluzone vaccine caused no adverse reactions, increased the induction of T helper type 1 (TH1)-biased cytokines such as IFNγ, TNF and IL-2, and broadened serological responses against drifted A/H1N1 and A/H3N2 influenza variants. These results suggest that synthetic TLR4 adjuvants can enhance the magnitude and quality of protective immunity induced by influenza vaccines

The effectiveness of a low-intensity problem-solving intervention for common adolescent mental health problems in New Delhi, India: protocol for a school-based, individually randomized controlled trial with an embedded stepped-wedge cluster randomized controlled recruitment trial

Background Conduct, anxiety and depressive disorders account for over 75% of the adolescent mental health burden globally. The current protocol will test a low-intensity problem-solving intervention for school-going adolescents with common mental health problems in India. The protocol also tests the effects of a classroom-based sensitization intervention on the demand for counselling services in an embedded recruitment trial. Methods We will conduct a two-arm individually randomized controlled trial in six Government-run secondary schools in New Delhi. The targeted sample is 240 adolescents in grades 9-12 with persistent, elevated mental health symptoms and associated impact. Participants will receive either a brief problem-solving intervention delivered over 3 weeks by lay counsellors (intervention), or enhanced usual care comprised of problem-solving booklets (control). Self-reported adolescent mental health symptoms and idiographic problems will be assessed at 6 weeks (co-primary outcomes) and again at 12 weeks post-randomization. In addition, adolescent-reported impact of mental health difficulties, perceived stress, mental wellbeing and clinical remission, as well as parent-reported adolescent mental health symptoms and impact scores, will be assessed at 6 and 12 weeks post-randomization. We will also complete a parallel process evaluation, including estimations of the costs of delivering the interventions. An embedded recruitment trial will apply a stepped-wedge, cluster (class)-randomized controlled design in 70 classes across the six schools. This will evaluate the added impact of a classroom-based sensitization intervention over school-level recruitment sensitization activities on the primary outcome of referral rate into the host trial (i.e. the proportion of adolescents referred as a function of the total sampling frame in each condition of the embedded recruitment trial). Other outcomes will be the proportion of referrals eligible to participate in the host trial, proportion of self-generated referrals, and severity and pattern of symptoms among referred adolescents in each condition. Power calculations were undertaken separately for each trial. A detailed statistical analysis plan will be developed separately for each trial prior to unblinding. Discussion Both trials were initiated on 20 August 2018. A single research protocol for both trials offers a resource-efficient methodology for testing the effectiveness of linked procedures to enhance uptake and outcomes of a school-based psychological intervention for common adolescent mental health problems

Canagliflozin and renal outcomes in type 2 diabetes and nephropathy

BACKGROUND Type 2 diabetes mellitus is the leading cause of kidney failure worldwide, but few effective long-term treatments are available. In cardiovascular trials of inhibitors of sodium–glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2), exploratory results have suggested that such drugs may improve renal outcomes in patients with type 2 diabetes. METHODS In this double-blind, randomized trial, we assigned patients with type 2 diabetes and albuminuric chronic kidney disease to receive canagliflozin, an oral SGLT2 inhibitor, at a dose of 100 mg daily or placebo. All the patients had an estimated glomerular filtration rate (GFR) of 30 to <90 ml per minute per 1.73 m2 of body-surface area and albuminuria (ratio of albumin [mg] to creatinine [g], >300 to 5000) and were treated with renin–angiotensin system blockade. The primary outcome was a composite of end-stage kidney disease (dialysis, transplantation, or a sustained estimated GFR of <15 ml per minute per 1.73 m2), a doubling of the serum creatinine level, or death from renal or cardiovascular causes. Prespecified secondary outcomes were tested hierarchically. RESULTS The trial was stopped early after a planned interim analysis on the recommendation of the data and safety monitoring committee. At that time, 4401 patients had undergone randomization, with a median follow-up of 2.62 years. The relative risk of the primary outcome was 30% lower in the canagliflozin group than in the placebo group, with event rates of 43.2 and 61.2 per 1000 patient-years, respectively (hazard ratio, 0.70; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.59 to 0.82; P=0.00001). The relative risk of the renal-specific composite of end-stage kidney disease, a doubling of the creatinine level, or death from renal causes was lower by 34% (hazard ratio, 0.66; 95% CI, 0.53 to 0.81; P<0.001), and the relative risk of end-stage kidney disease was lower by 32% (hazard ratio, 0.68; 95% CI, 0.54 to 0.86; P=0.002). The canagliflozin group also had a lower risk of cardiovascular death, myocardial infarction, or stroke (hazard ratio, 0.80; 95% CI, 0.67 to 0.95; P=0.01) and hospitalization for heart failure (hazard ratio, 0.61; 95% CI, 0.47 to 0.80; P<0.001). There were no significant differences in rates of amputation or fracture. CONCLUSIONS In patients with type 2 diabetes and kidney disease, the risk of kidney failure and cardiovascular events was lower in the canagliflozin group than in the placebo group at a median follow-up of 2.62 years