Analytical solution of thermal magnetization on memory stabilizer structures

We return to the question of how the choice of stabilizer generators affects the preservation of information on structures whose degenerate ground state encodes a classical redundancy code. Controlled-not gates are used to transform the stabilizer Hamiltonian into a Hamiltonian consisting of uncoupled single spins and/or pairs of spins. This transformation allows us to obtain an analytical partition function and derive closed form equations for the relative magnetization and susceptibility. These equations are in agreement with the numerical results presented in [arXiv:0907.0394v1] for finite size systems. Analytical solutions show that there is no finite critical temperature, Tc=0, for all of the memory structures in the thermodynamic limit. This is in contrast to the previously predicted finite critical temperatures based on extrapolation. The mismatch is a result of the infinite system being a poor approximation even for astronomically large finite size systems, where spontaneous magnetization still arises below an apparent finite critical temperature. We extend our analysis to the canonical stabilizer Hamiltonian. Interestingly, Hamiltonians with two-body interactions have a higher apparent critical temperature than the many-body Hamiltonian.Comment: 13 pages, 7 figures, analytical solutions of problems studied numerically in arXiv:0907.0394v1 [quant-ph

Effects of C282Y, H63D, and S65C HFE gene mutations, diet, and life-style factors on iron status in a general Mediterranean population from Tarragona, Spain

Mutations in the HFE gene result in iron overload and can produce hereditary hemochromatosis (HH), a disorder of iron metabolism characterized by increased intestinal iron absorption. Dietary quality, alcoholism and other life-style factors can increase the risk of iron overload, especially among genetically at risk populations. Polymorphisms of the HFE gene (C282Y, H63D and S65C) were measured together with serum ferritin (SF), transferrin saturation (TS) and hemoglobin, to measure iron status, in randomly-selected healthy subjects living in the Spanish Mediterranean coast (n = 815; 425 females, 390 males), 18 to 75 years of age. The intake of dietary components that affect iron absorption was calculated from 3-day dietary records. The presence of C282Y/H63D compound heterozygote that had a prevalence of 2.8% in males and 1.2% in females was associated with an elevated TS and SF. No subject was homozygous for C282Y or S65C. The C282Y heterozygote, H63D heterozygote and homozygote and H63D/S65C compound heterozygote genotypes were associated with increased TS relative to the wild type in the general population. These genotypes together with the alcohol and iron intake increase the indicators of iron status, while calcium intake decreases them. We did not observe any affect of the S65C heterozygote genotype on these levels. All the HFE genotypes except for the S65C heterozygote together with the alcohol, iron and calcium intake affect the indicators of iron status. The C282Y/H63D compound heterozygote genotype has the higher phenotypic expression in our Spanish Mediterranean population

Iron deficiency anemia is not a rare problem among women of reproductive ages in Ethiopia: a community based cross sectional study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>In Ethiopia, the existence of iron deficiency anemia is controversial despite the fact that Ethiopia is one of the least developed in Africa with a high burden of nutrient deficiencies.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The first large nutrition study of a representative sample of women in Ethiopia was conducted from June to July 2005 and a systematically selected sub-sample of 970 of these subjects, 15 to 49 years old, were used in this analysis of nutritional anemia. Hemoglobin was measured from capillary blood using a portable HemoCue photometer. For serum ferritin, venous blood from antecubital veins was measured by an automated Elecsys 1020 using commercial kits. Diets were assessed via simplified food frequency questionnaire. The association of anemia to demographic and health variables was tested by chi-square and a stepwise backward logistic regression model was applied to test the significant associations observed in chi square tests.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Mean hemoglobin ± SD was 11.5 ± 2.1 g/dL with a 29.4% prevalence of anemia. Mean serum ferritin was 58 ± 41.1 ug/L with a 32.1% prevalence of iron deficiency. The overall prevalence rate of iron deficiency anemia was 18.0%. Prevalence of anemia, iron deficiency, and iron deficiency anemia was highest among those 31-49 years old (p < 0.05). Intake of vegetables less than once a day and meat less than once a week was common and was associated with increased anemia (p = 0.001). Although the prevalence of anemia was slightly higher among women with parasitic infestation the difference was not significant (p = 0.9). Nonetheless, anemia was significantly higher in women with history of illness and the association was retained even when the variable was adjusted for its confounding effect in the logistic regression models (AOR = 0.3; 95%CI = 0.17 to 0.5) signifying that the most probable causes of anemia is nutrition related and to some extent chronic illnesses.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Moderate nutritional anemia in the form of iron deficiency anemia is a problem in Ethiopia and therefore, the need for improved supplementation to vulnerable groups is warranted to achieve the United Nation's Millennium Development Goals. Chronic illnesses are another important cause of anemia.</p

Iron and zinc content of selected foods in the diet of schoolchildren in Kumi district, east of Uganda: a cross-sectional study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Iron and zinc are essential micronutrients for humans and deficiency of the two elements is widespread in the world with the highest prevalence in less developed countries. There are few data on dietary intake of iron and zinc in Uganda, and no food composition table is available. There is hardly any widely published literature that clearly documents the quality of Ugandan children's diet. Thus information of both food intake and the concentration of these trace elements in local food ingredients are needed in order to assess daily intake.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The present study focused on the iron and zinc content in selected foods and intake of the micronutrients iron and zinc among schoolchildren in Kumi District, Uganda. Over a period of 4 weeks single 24-hour dietary recall interviews were carried out on a convenience sample of 178 schoolchildren (9-15 years old). Data from the dietary recalls was used when selecting foods for chemical analysis.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Results from this study showed that the iron concentrations varied, and were high in some cereals and vegetables. The zinc concentrations in foods generally corresponded with results from other African countries (Mali and Kenya). Data from the 24-hour dietary recall showed that the daily Recommended Nutrient Intake (RNI) was met for iron but not for zinc.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The schoolchildren of Kumi district had a predominantly vegetable based diet. Foods of animal origin were consumed occasionally. The iron content in the selected foods was high and variable, and higher than in similar ingredients from Kenya and Mali, while the zinc concentrations were generally in accordance with reported values. The total daily zinc (mg) intake does not meet the daily RNI. The iron intake is adequate according to RNI, but due to iron contamination and reduced bioavailability, RNI may not be met in a vegetable based diet. More studies are needed to investigate possible sources of contamination.</p

A Unique Regulator Contributes to Quorum Sensing and Virulence in Burkholderia cenocepacia

Burkholderia cenocepacia causes chronic and life-threatening respiratory infections in immunocompromized people. The B. cenocepacia N-acyl-homoserine lactone (AHL)-dependent quorum sensing system relies on the production of AHLs by the synthases CepI and CciI while CepR, CciR and CepR2 control expression of many genes important for pathogenesis. Downstream from, and co-transcribed with cepI, lies BCAM1871 encoding a hypothetical protein that was uncharacterized prior to this study. Orthologs of B. cenocepacia BCAM1871 are uniquely found in Burkholderia spp and are conserved in their genomic locations in pathogenic Burkholderia. We observed significant effects on AHL activity upon mutation or overexpression of BCAM1871, although these effects were more subtle than those observed for CepI indicating BCAM1871 acts as an enhancer of AHL activity. Transcription of cepI, cepR and cciIR was significantly reduced in the BCAM1871 mutant. Swimming and swarming motilities as well as transcription of fliC, encoding flagellin, were significantly reduced in the BCAM1871 mutant. Protease activity and transcription of zmpA and zmpB, encoding extracellular zinc metalloproteases, were undetectable in the BCAM1871 mutant indicating a more significant effect of mutating BCAM1871 than cepI. Exogenous addition of OHL restored cepI, cepR and fliC transcription but had no effect on motility, protease activity or zmpA or zmpB transcription suggesting AHL-independent effects. The BCAM1871 mutant exhibited significantly reduced virulence in rat chronic respiratory and nematode infection models. Gene expression and phenotypic assays as well as vertebrate and invertebrate infection models showed that BCAM1871 significantly contributes to pathogenesis in B. cenocepacia

Predicting risk for Alcohol Use Disorder using longitudinal data with multimodal biomarkers and family history: a machine learning study.

Predictive models have succeeded in distinguishing between individuals with Alcohol use Disorder (AUD) and controls. However, predictive models identifying who is prone to develop AUD and the biomarkers indicating a predisposition to AUD are still unclear. Our sample (n = 656) included offspring and non-offspring of European American (EA) and African American (AA) ancestry from the Collaborative Study of the Genetics of Alcoholism (COGA) who were recruited as early as age 12 and were unaffected at first assessment and reassessed years later as AUD (DSM-5) (n = 328) or unaffected (n = 328). Machine learning analysis was performed for 220 EEG measures, 149 alcohol-related single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) from a recent large Genome-wide Association Study (GWAS) of alcohol use/misuse and two family history (mother DSM-5 AUD and father DSM-5 AUD) features using supervised, Linear Support Vector Machine (SVM) classifier to test which features assessed before developing AUD predict those who go on to develop AUD. Age, gender, and ancestry stratified analyses were performed. Results indicate significant and higher accuracy rates for the AA compared with the EA prediction models and a higher model accuracy trend among females compared with males for both ancestries. Combined EEG and SNP features model outperformed models based on only EEG features or only SNP features for both EA and AA samples. This multidimensional superiority was confirmed in a follow-up analysis in the AA age groups (12-15, 16-19, 20-30) and EA age group (16-19). In both ancestry samples, the youngest age group achieved higher accuracy score than the two other older age groups. Maternal AUD increased the model's accuracy in both ancestries' samples. Several discriminative EEG measures and SNPs features were identified, including lower posterior gamma, higher slow wave connectivity (delta, theta, alpha), higher frontal gamma ratio, higher beta correlation in the parietal area, and 5 SNPs: rs4780836, rs2605140, rs11690265, rs692854, and rs13380649. Results highlight the significance of sampling uniformity followed by stratified (e.g., ancestry, gender, developmental period) analysis, and wider selection of features, to generate better prediction scores allowing a more accurate estimation of AUD development

Discordant identification of pediatric severe sepsis by research and clinical definitions in the SPROUT international point prevalence study

Introduction: Consensus criteria for pediatric severe sepsis have standardized enrollment for research studies. However, the extent to which critically ill children identified by consensus criteria reflect physician diagnosis of severe sepsis, which underlies external validity for pediatric sepsis research, is not known. We sought to determine the agreement between physician diagnosis and consensus criteria to identify pediatric patients with severe sepsis across a network of international pediatric intensive care units (PICUs). Methods: We conducted a point prevalence study involving 128 PICUs in 26 countries across 6 continents. Over the course of 5 study days, 6925 PICU patients &lt;18 years of age were screened, and 706 with severe sepsis defined either by physician diagnosis or on the basis of 2005 International Pediatric Sepsis Consensus Conference consensus criteria were enrolled. The primary endpoint was agreement of pediatric severe sepsis between physician diagnosis and consensus criteria as measured using Cohen's ?. Secondary endpoints included characteristics and clinical outcomes for patients identified using physician diagnosis versus consensus criteria. Results: Of the 706 patients, 301 (42.6 %) met both definitions. The inter-rater agreement (? ± SE) between physician diagnosis and consensus criteria was 0.57 ± 0.02. Of the 438 patients with a physician's diagnosis of severe sepsis, only 69 % (301 of 438) would have been eligible to participate in a clinical trial of pediatric severe sepsis that enrolled patients based on consensus criteria. Patients with physician-diagnosed severe sepsis who did not meet consensus criteria were younger and had lower severity of illness and lower PICU mortality than those meeting consensus criteria or both definitions. After controlling for age, severity of illness, number of comorbid conditions, and treatment in developed versus resource-limited regions, patients identified with severe sepsis by physician diagnosis alone or by consensus criteria alone did not have PICU mortality significantly different from that of patients identified by both physician diagnosis and consensus criteria. Conclusions: Physician diagnosis of pediatric severe sepsis achieved only moderate agreement with consensus criteria, with physicians diagnosing severe sepsis more broadly. Consequently, the results of a research study based on consensus criteria may have limited generalizability to nearly one-third of PICU patients diagnosed with severe sepsis

El laberinto de la autonomía indígena en el Ecuador: las circunscripciones territoriales indígenas en la Amazonía Central, 2010-2012

¿Cuáles son los avatares y desencuentros presentes en el proceso de constitución de las Circunscripciones Territoriales Indígenas (CTIs) en relación a la vigencia del derecho a la autodeterminación y autogestión territorial de las nacionalidades indígenas en el Ecuador? Para responder a dicha interrogante, el artículo considera el reconocimiento al derecho a la autonomía y autodeterminación de las nacionalidades y pueblos indígenas en Ecuador. Posteriormente, analiza el alcance de los procedimientos establecidos tanto en la Constitución Política como en el Código Orgánico de Ordenamiento Territorial y Descentralización (COOTAD), y su alcance potencial en generar un nuevo tipo de institucionalidad y una nueva organización territorial en el marco de la definición del Estado plurinacional Ecuatoriano. Esta contribución analiza además el proceso derivado de una hoja de ruta acordada entre el Estado y las nacionalidades amazónicas en el periodo comprendido entre 2010 y 2012, y analiza las diferentes acciones desplegadas desde entonces, enfatizando en los avances y contradicciones, tanto a lo interno del movimiento indígena como en su relación con otras instancias estatales centrales y locales. Se examinan los desencuentros y tensiones a lo interno del aparato Estatal y los sectores mestizos, que no se plantean ningún reparo al momento de obstaculizar los avances del proceso. El artículo analiza el desafío de crear las CTIs en el territorio de los Kichwa de las provincias de Napo y Orellana y en los territorios Kichwa y Achuar en la provincia de Pastaza, en la Amazonía central. Finalmente, el texto puntualiza críticamente algunas de las perspectivas y dilemas que dicho proceso plantea al futuro de la relación Estado-nacionalidades indígenas y al proceso de construcción del Estado plurinacional e intercultural en Ecuador