Plasma Levels of Macrophage Migration Inhibitory Factor and d-Dopachrome Tautomerase Show a Highly Specific Profile in Early Life.

Macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) is a pleiotropic, constitutively expressed, pro-inflammatory cytokine and an important regulator of immune responses. d-dopachrome tautomerase (DDT), a newly described member of the MIF protein superfamily, shares sequence homology and biological activities with MIF. We recently reported that high expression levels of MIF sustain innate immune responses in newborns. Here, we elected to further characterize age-dependent MIF expression and to define whether DDT shares a similar expression profile with MIF. Therefore, we delineated the circulating concentrations of MIF and DDT throughout life using a large cohort of 307 subjects including fetuses, newborns, infants, children, and adults. Compared to levels measured in healthy adults (median: 5.7 ng/ml for MIF and 16.8 ng/ml for DDT), MIF and DDT plasma concentrations were higher in fetuses (median: 48.9 and 29.6 ng/ml), increased further at birth (median: 82.6 and 52.0 ng/ml), reached strikingly elevated levels on postnatal day 4 (median: 109.5 and 121.6 ng/ml), and decreased to adult levels during the first months of life. A strong correlation was observed between MIF and DDT concentrations in all age groups (R = 0.91, P < 0.0001). MIF and DDT levels correlated with concentrations of vascular endothelial growth factor, a protein upregulated under low oxygen tension and implicated in vascular and lung development (R = 0.70, P < 0.0001 for MIF and R = 0.65, P < 0.0001 for DDT). In very preterm infants, lower levels of MIF and DDT on postnatal day 6 were associated with an increased risk of developing bronchopulmonary dysplasia and late-onset neonatal sepsis. Thus, MIF and DDT plasma levels show a highly specific developmental profile in early life, supporting an important role for these cytokines during the neonatal period

Evaluation of Ultrasonic Measurement Variation in the Double-Shell Tank Integrity Project

Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS) under contract from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is responsible for assessing the condition of the double-shell tanks (DST) on the Hanford nuclear site. WRPS has contracted with AREVA Federal Services LLC (AFS) to perform ultrasonic testing (UT) inspections of the 28 DSTs to assess the condition of the tanks, judge the effects of past corrosion control practices, and satisfy a regulatory requirement to periodically assess the integrity of the tanks. Since measurement inception in 1997, nine waste tanks have been examined twice (at the time of this report) providing UT data that can now be compared over specific areas. During initial reviews of these two comparable data sets, average UT wall-thickness measurement reductions were noted in most of the tanks. This variation could be a result of actual wall thinning occurring on the waste-tanks walls, or some other unexplained anomaly resulting from measurement error due to causes such as the then-current measurement procedures, operator setup, or equipment differences. WRPS contracted with the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) to assist in understanding why this variation exists and where it stems from

Investigation of wall normal electromagnetic actuator for seawater flow control

Submitted versio

Distributing entanglement and single photons through an intra-city, free-space quantum channel

We have distributed entangled photons directly through the atmosphere to a receiver station 7.8 km away over the city of Vienna, Austria at night. Detection of one photon from our entangled pairs constitutes a triggered single photon source from the sender. With no direct time-stable connection, the two stations found coincidence counts in the detection events by calculating the cross-correlation of locally-recorded time stamps shared over a public internet channel. For this experiment, our quantum channel was maintained for a total of 40 minutes during which time a coincidence lock found approximately 60000 coincident detection events. The polarization correlations in those events yielded a Bell parameter, S=2.27/pm0.019, which violates the CHSH-Bell inequality by 14 standard deviations. This result is promising for entanglement-based free-space quantum communication in high-density urban areas. It is also encouraging for optical quantum communication between ground stations and satellites since the length of our free-space link exceeds the atmospheric equivalent.Comment: 8 pages including 1 figure and 2 tables. The first two authors contributed equally to this wor

Quantum Eavesdropping without Interception: An Attack Exploiting the Dead Time of Single Photon Detectors

The security of quantum key distribution (QKD) can easily be obscured if the eavesdropper can utilize technical imperfections of the actual implementation. Here we describe and experimentally demonstrate a very simple but highly effective attack which even does not need to intercept the quantum channel at all. Only by exploiting the dead time effect of single photon detectors the eavesdropper is able to gain (asymptotically) full information about the generated keys without being detected by state-of-the-art QKD protocols. In our experiment, the eavesdropper inferred up to 98.8% of the key correctly, without increasing the bit error rate between Alice and Bob significantly. Yet, we find an evenly simple and effective countermeasure to inhibit this and similar attacks

Feasibility of free space quantum key distribution with coherent polarization states

We demonstrate for the first time the feasibility of free space quantum key distribution with continuous variables under real atmospheric conditions. More specifically, we transmit coherent polarization states over a 100m free space channel on the roof of our institute's building. In our scheme, signal and local oscillator are combined in a single spatial mode which auto-compensates atmospheric fluctuations and results in an excellent interference. Furthermore, the local oscillator acts as spatial and spectral filter thus allowing unrestrained daylight operation.Comment: 12 pages, 8 figures, extensions in sections 2, 3.1, 3.2 and 4. This is an author-created, un-copyedited version of an article accepted for publication in New Journal of Physics (Special Issue on Quantum Cryptography: Theory and Practice). IOP Publishing Ltd is not responsible for any errors or omissions in this version of the manuscript or any version derived from i

Comparative chromosome painting discloses homologous Segments in distantly related mammals

Comparative chromosome painting, termed ZOO-FISH, using DNA libraries from flow sorted human chromosomes 1,16,17 and X, and mouse chromosome 11 discloses the presence of syntenic groups in distantly related mammalian Orders ranging from primates (Homo sapiens), rodents (Mus musculus), even-toed ungulates (Muntiacus muntjak vaginalis and Muntiacus reevesi) and whales (Balaenoptera physalus). These mammalian Orders have evolved separately for 55-80 million years (Myr). We conclude that ZOO-FISH can be used to generate comparative chromosome maps of a large number of mammalian species