5,699 research outputs found
Risk based culling for highly infectious diseases of livestock
The control of highly infectious diseases of livestock such as classical swine fever, foot-and-mouth disease, and avian influenza is fraught with ethical, economic, and public health dilemmas. Attempts to control outbreaks of these pathogens rely on massive culling of infected farms, and farms deemed to be at risk of infection. Conventional approaches usually involve the preventive culling of all farms within a certain radius of an infected farm. Here we propose a novel culling strategy that is based on the idea that farms that have the highest expected number of secondary infections should be culled first. We show that, in comparison with conventional approaches (ring culling), our new method of risk based culling can reduce the total number of farms that need to be culled, the number of culled infected farms (and thus the expected number of human infections in case of a zoonosis), and the duration of the epidemic. Our novel risk based culling strategy requires three pieces of information, viz. the location of all farms in the area at risk, the moments when infected farms are detected, and an estimate of the distance-dependent probability of transmission
Low rate of rhesus immunization from rh- incompatible blood transfusions during liver and heart transplant surgery
Transfusion of one unit or more of Rh-positive red blood cells normally causes circulating anti-D antibody to appear 2-6 months later in 80-95% of Rh persons. We asked whether transplant immunosuppression with cyclosporine and corticosteroids affects Rh immuniza¬tion. Nineteen Rh" liver, heart, and heart-lung transplant recipients received 3—153 (median: 10) units of Rh+ RBCs at surgery and were tested for anti-D >2 months later. Three patients developed anti-D at 11—15 days; one may have had an unusually rapid primary immune response and two were secondary to previous exposure by pregnancy. None of the other 16 patients had anti-D when tested 2.5-51 months later (13 patients, >11.5 months). This low rate of Rhesus immunization in association with cyclosporine immunosuppression allows greater flexibility in meeting the transfusion needs of Rh- liver and heart transplant patients. Caution is still advised in young females and in patients who may have been previously exposed to Rh+ RBCs by transfusion or by pregnancy prior to the availability of perinatal Rh immune globulin twenty years ago. Other humoral immune responses to some vaccines or infectious agents may also be impaired in transplant patients© 1989 by The Williams and Wilkins Co
Direct generation of photon triplets using cascaded photon-pair sources
Non-classical states of light, such as entangled photon pairs and number
states, are essential for fundamental tests of quantum mechanics and optical
quantum technologies. The most widespread technique for creating these quantum
resources is the spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC) of laser light
into photon pairs. Conservation of energy and momentum in this process, known
as phase-matching, gives rise to strong correlations which are used to produce
two-photon entanglement in various degrees of freedom. It has been a
longstanding goal of the quantum optics community to realise a source that can
produce analogous correlations in photon triplets, but of the many approaches
considered, none have been technically feasible. In this paper we report the
observation of photon triplets generated by cascaded down-conversion. Here each
triplet originates from a single pump photon, and therefore quantum
correlations will extend over all three photons in a way not achievable with
independently created photon pairs. We expect our photon-triplet source to open
up new avenues of quantum optics and become an important tool in quantum
technologies. Our source will allow experimental interrogation of novel quantum
correlations, the post-selection free generation of tripartite entanglement
without post- selection and the generation of heralded entangled-photon pairs
suitable for linear optical quantum computing. Two of the triplet photons have
a wavelength matched for optimal transmission in optical fibres, ideally suited
for three-party quantum communication. Furthermore, our results open
interesting regimes of non-linear optics, as we observe spontaneous
down-conversion pumped by single photons, an interaction also highly relevant
to optical quantum computing.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, 1 table; accepted by Natur
Negative Effect of Smoking on the Performance of the QuantiFERON TB Gold in Tube Test.
False negative and indeterminate Interferon Gamma Release Assay (IGRA) results are a well documented problem. Cigarette smoking is known to increase the risk of tuberculosis (TB) and to impair Interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) responses to antigenic challenge, but the impact of smoking on IGRA performance is not known. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of smoking on IGRA performance in TB patients in a low and high TB prevalence setting respectively. Patients with confirmed TB from Denmark (DK, n = 34; 20 smokers) and Tanzania (TZ, n = 172; 23 smokers) were tested with the QuantiFERON-TB Gold In tube (QFT). Median IFN-γ level in smokers and non smokers were compared and smoking was analysed as a risk factor for false negative and indeterminate QFT results. Smokers from both DK and TZ had lower IFN-γ antigen responses (median 0.9 vs. 4.2 IU/ml, p = 0.04 and 0.4 vs. 1.6, p < 0.01), less positive (50 vs. 86%, p = 0.03 and 48 vs. 75%, p < 0.01) and more false negative (45 vs. 0%, p < 0.01 and 26 vs. 11%, p = 0.04) QFT results. In Tanzanian patients, logistic regression analysis adjusted for sex, age, HIV and alcohol consumption showed an association of smoking with false negative (OR 17.1, CI: 3.0-99.1, p < 0.01) and indeterminate QFT results (OR 5.1, CI: 1.2-21.3, p = 0.02). Cigarette smoking was associated with false negative and indeterminate IGRA results in both a high and a low TB endemic setting independent of HIV status
Displacements analysis of self-excited vibrations in turning
The actual research deals with determining by a new protocol the necessary
parameters considering a three-dimensional model to simulate in a realistic way
the turning process on machine tool. This paper is dedicated to the
experimental displacements analysis of the block tool / block workpiece with
self-excited vibrations. In connexion with turning process, the self-excited
vibrations domain is obtained starting from spectra of two accelerometers. The
existence of a displacements plane attached to the tool edge point is revealed.
This plane proves to be inclined compared to the machines tool axes. We
establish that the tool tip point describes an ellipse. This ellipse is very
small and can be considered as a small straight line segment for the stable
cutting process (without vibrations). In unstable mode (with vibrations) the
ellipse of displacements is really more visible. A difference in phase occurs
between the tool tip displacements on the radial direction and on the cutting
one. The feed motion direction and the cutting one are almost in phase. The
values of the long and small ellipse axes (and their ratio) shows that these
sizes are increasing with the feed rate value. The axis that goes through the
stiffness center and the tool tip represents the maximum stiffness direction.
The maximum (resp. minimum) stiffness axis of the tool is perpendicular to the
large (resp. small) ellipse displacements axis. FFT analysis of the
accelerometers signals allows to reach several important parameters and
establish coherent correlations between tool tip displacements and the static -
elastic characteristics of the machine tool components tested
A view to kill
Genome and proteome data from Hydra magnipapillata have opened the way for the molecular analysis of an ancient nervous system, which includes stinging cells, an unusual neurosensory and neurosecretory cell type. They hold some surprises for the mechanisms and evolution of sensory transduction that could not have been anticipated from what has been learned from flies and vertebrates. Research in BMC Biology now implicates the ancient opsin-mediated transduction pathway in the neuronal control of stinging cell discharge
Quantum teleportation using active feed-forward between two Canary Islands
Quantum teleportation [1] is a quintessential prerequisite of many quantum
information processing protocols [2-4]. By using quantum teleportation, one can
circumvent the no-cloning theorem [5] and faithfully transfer unknown quantum
states to a party whose location is even unknown over arbitrary distances. Ever
since the first experimental demonstrations of quantum teleportation of
independent qubits [6] and of squeezed states [7], researchers have
progressively extended the communication distance in teleportation, usually
without active feed-forward of the classical Bell-state measurement result
which is an essential ingredient in future applications such as communication
between quantum computers. Here we report the first long-distance quantum
teleportation experiment with active feed-forward in real time. The experiment
employed two optical links, quantum and classical, over 143 km free space
between the two Canary Islands of La Palma and Tenerife. To achieve this, the
experiment had to employ novel techniques such as a frequency-uncorrelated
polarization-entangled photon pair source, ultra-low-noise single-photon
detectors, and entanglement-assisted clock synchronization. The average
teleported state fidelity was well beyond the classical limit of 2/3.
Furthermore, we confirmed the quality of the quantum teleportation procedure
(without feed-forward) by complete quantum process tomography. Our experiment
confirms the maturity and applicability of the involved technologies in
real-world scenarios, and is a milestone towards future satellite-based quantum
teleportation
Lattice worldline representation of correlators in a background field
We use a discrete worldline representation in order to study the continuum
limit of the one-loop expectation value of dimension two and four local
operators in a background field. We illustrate this technique in the case of a
scalar field coupled to a non-Abelian background gauge field. The first two
coefficients of the expansion in powers of the lattice spacing can be expressed
as sums over random walks on a d-dimensional cubic lattice. Using combinatorial
identities for the distribution of the areas of closed random walks on a
lattice, these coefficients can be turned into simple integrals. Our results
are valid for an anisotropic lattice, with arbitrary lattice spacings in each
direction.Comment: 54 pages, 14 figure
Non-Invasive MRI of Blood-Cerebrospinal Fluid Barrier Function
The blood-cerebrospinal fluid barrier (BCSFB) is a highly dynamic transport interface that serves brain homeostasis. To date, however, understanding of its role in brain development and pathology has been hindered by the absence of a non-invasive technique for functional assessment. Here we describe a method for non-invasive measurement of BSCFB function by using tracer-free MRI to quantify rates of water delivery from arterial blood to ventricular cerebrospinal fluid. Using this method, we record a 36% decrease in BCSFB function in aged mice, compared to a 13% decrease in parenchymal blood flow, itself a leading candidate biomarker of early neurodegenerative processes. We then apply the method to explore the relationship between BCSFB function and ventricular morphology. Finally, we provide proof of application to the human brain. Our findings position the BCSFB as a promising new diagnostic and therapeutic target, the function of which can now be safely quantified using non-invasive MRI
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