musrfit: A free platform-independent framework for muSR data analysis

A free data-analysis framework for muSR has been developed. musrfit is fully written in C++, is running under GNU/Linux, Mac OS X, as well as Microsoft Windows, and is distributed under the terms of the GNU GPL. It is based on the CERN ROOT framework and is utilizing the Minuit optimization routines for fitting. It consists of a set of programs allowing the user to analyze and visualize the data. The fitting process is controlled by an ascii-input file with an extended syntax. A dedicated text editor is helping the user to create and handle these files in an efficient way, execute the fitting, show the data, get online help, and so on. A versatile tool for the generation of new input files and the extraction of fit parameters is provided as well. musrfit facilitates a plugin mechanism allowing to invoke user-defined functions. Hence, the functionality of the framework can be extended with a minimal amount of overhead for the user. Currently, musrfit can read the following facility raw-data files: PSI-BIN, MDU (PSI), ROOT (LEM/PSI), WKM (outdated ascii format), MUD (TRIUMF), NeXus (ISIS).Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Optimal pulse spacing for dynamical decoupling in the presence of a purely-dephasing spin-bath

Maintaining quantum coherence is a crucial requirement for quantum computation; hence protecting quantum systems against their irreversible corruption due to environmental noise is an important open problem. Dynamical decoupling (DD) is an effective method for reducing decoherence with a low control overhead. It also plays an important role in quantum metrology, where for instance it is employed in multiparameter estimation. While a sequence of equidistant control pulses (CPMG) has been ubiquitously used for decoupling, Uhrig recently proposed that a non-equidistant pulse sequence (UDD) may enhance DD performance, especially for systems where the spectral density of the environment has a sharp frequency cutoff. On the other hand, equidistant sequences outperform UDD for soft cutoffs. The relative advantage provided by UDD for intermediate regimes is not clear. In this paper, we analyze the relative DD performance in this regime experimentally, using solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance. Our system-qubits are 13C nuclear spins and the environment consists of a 1H nuclear spin-bath whose spectral density is close to a normal (Gaussian) distribution. We find that in the presence of such a bath, the CPMG sequence outperforms the UDD sequence. An analogy between dynamical decoupling and interference effects in optics provides an intuitive explanation as to why the CPMG sequence performs superior to any non-equidistant DD sequence in the presence of this kind of environmental noise.Comment: To be published in Phys. Rev. A. 15 pages, 16 figures. Presentation of the work was improved. One Figure and some Refs. were adde

Safety of herbal medicinal products: Echinacea and selected alkylamides do not induce CYP3A4 mRNA expression

Copyright © 2011 Maryam Modarai et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.A major safety concern with the use of herbal medicinal products (HMP) is their interactions with conventional medicines, which are often mediated via the cytochrome P450 (CYP) system. Echinacea is a widely used over-the-counter HMP, with proven immunomodulatory properties. Its increasing use makes research into its safety an urgent concern. Previously, we showed that Echinacea extracts and its alkylamides (thought to be important for Echinacea's immunomodulatory activity) mildly inhibit the enzymatic activity of the main drug metabolising CYP isoforms, but to this date, there is insufficient work on its ability to alter CYP expression levels. We now report for the first time the effect of a commercial Echinacea extract (Echinaforce) and four Echinacea alkylamides on the transcription of the major drug metabolizing enzyme CYP3A4. HepG2 cells were exposed for 96 h to clinically relevant concentrations of Echinaforce (22, 11.6 and 1.16g mL-1) or the alkylamides (1.62 and 44 nM). CYP3A4 mRNA levels were quantified using real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Neither Echinaforce nor the alkylamides produced any significant changes in the steady-state CYP3A4 mRNA levels, under these conditions. In contrast, treatment with 50M rifampicin resulted in a 3.8-fold up-regulation over the vehicle control. We conclude that Echinaforce is unlikely to affect CYP3A4 transcriptional levels, even at concentrations which can inhibit the enzymatic activity of CYP3A4. Overall, our data provides further evidence for the lack of interactions between Echinacea and conventional drugs.Bioforce, Switzerland and the Maplethorpe Trust (University of London)

Concatenated dynamical decoupling with virtual pulses

The loss of quantum information due to interaction with external degrees of freedom, which is known as decoherence, remains one of the main obstacles for large-scale implementations of quantum computing. Accordingly, different measures are being explored for reducing its effect. One of them is dynamical decoupling (DD) which offers a practical solution because it only requires the application of control pulses to the system qubits. Starting from basic DD sequences, more sophisticated schemes were developed that eliminate higher-order terms of the system-environment interaction and are also more robust against experimental imperfections. A particularly successful scheme, called concatenated DD (CDD), gives a recipe for generating higher order sequences by inserting lower order sequences into the delays of a generating sequence. Here, we show how this scheme can be improved further by converting some of the pulses to virtual (and thus ideal) pulses. The resulting scheme, called vCDD, has lower power deposition and is more robust against pulse imperfections than the original CDD scheme.Comment: 9 pages, 9 figure