Effects of depolarizing quantum channels on BB84 and SARG04 quantum cryptography protocols

We report experimental studies on the effect of the depolarizing quantum channel on weak-pulse BB84 and SARG04 quantum cryptography. The experimental results show that, in real world conditions in which channel depolarization cannot be ignored, BB84 should perform better than SARG04.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Microspinning: Local Surface Mixing via Rotation of Magnetic Microparticles for Efficient Small-Volume Bioassays

The need for high-throughput screening has led to the miniaturization of the reaction volume of the chamber in bioassays. As the reactor gets smaller, surface tension dominates the gravitational or inertial force, and mixing efficiency decreases in small-scale reactions. Because passive mixing by simple diffusion in tens of microliter-scale volumes takes a long time, active mixing is needed. Here, we report an efficient micromixing method using magnetically rotating microparticles with patterned magnetization induced by magnetic nanoparticle chains. Because the microparticles have magnetization patterning due to fabrication with magnetic nanoparticle chains, the microparticles can rotate along the external rotating magnetic field, causing micromixing. We validated the reaction efficiency by comparing this micromixing method with other mixing methods such as simple diffusion and the use of a rocking shaker at various working volumes. This method has the potential to be widely utilized in suspension assay technology as an efficient mixing strategy

Activation of spleen tyrosine kinase is required for TNF-α-induced endothelin-1 upregulation in human aortic endothelial cells

AbstractEndothelin-1 (ET-1) promotes atherosclerosis. We tested whether spleen tyrosine kinase (Syk) mediates tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α)-induced ET-1 upregulation in human aortic endothelial cells (HAECs) and sought to identify the signal pathways involved. TNF-α-induced reactive oxygen species (ROS) activated Syk and phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K), which was required for the activation of AP-1 and subsequent ET-1 gene transcription. ROS mediated c-Jun NH2-terminal kinase (JNK) is also required for AP-1 activation, but Syk and PI3K regulated AP-1 activation independently of JNK. Through regulation of ET-1 production, Syk could be implicated in atherosclerosis

Investigation of grain-boundary effect on hydrogen behaviors in single- and poly- crystalline medium-entropy CrCoNi alloy

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The association of fatty liver index and BARD score with all-cause and cause-specific mortality in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus: a nationwide population-based study

Background Type 2 diabetes and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) commonly coexist. However, NAFLD’s effect on mortality in Asian patients with type 2 diabetes awaits full elucidation. Therefore, we examined NAFLD-related all-cause and cause-specific mortality in a nationwide Asian population with type 2 diabetes. Methods We included patients who had undergone general health checkups between 2009 and 2012 using the National Health Insurance Service database linked to death-certificate data. Hepatic steatosis was defined as a fatty liver index (FLI) ≥ 60, and advanced hepatic fibrosis was determined using the BARD score. Findings During the follow-up period of 8.1 years, 222,242 deaths occurred, with a mortality rate of 14.3/1000 person-years. An FLI ≥ 60 was significantly associated with increased risks of all-cause and cause-specific mortality including cardiovascular disease (CVD)-, cancer-, and liver disease (FLI ≥ 60: hazard ratio [HR] = 1.02, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.01–1.03 for all-cause; 1.07, 1.04–1.10 for CVD; 1.12, 1.09–1.14 for cancer; and 2.63, 2.50–2.77 for liver disease). Those with an FLI ≥ 60 and fibrosis (BARD ≥ 2) exhibited increased risks of all-cause (HR, 95% CI 1.11, 1.10–1.12), CVD- (HR, 95% CI 1.11, 1.09–1.14), cancer- (HR, 95% CI 1.17, 1.15–1.19), and liver disease-related (HR, 95% CI 2.38, 2.29–2.49) mortality. Conclusion Hepatic steatosis and advanced fibrosis were significantly associated with risks of overall and cause-specific mortality in patients with type 2 diabetes. Our results provide evidence that determining the presence of hepatic steatosis and/or fibrosis potentially plays a role in risk stratification of mortality outcomes in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus.This work was supported by grants from the Seoul National University Hospital Research Fund (06‑2020‑4150) and from Liver Research Foundation of Korea as part of the Bio Future Strategies Research Project

Sofosbuvir-based therapy for patients with chronic hepatitis C: Early experience of its efficacy and safety in Korea

Background/AimsThe previous standard treatment for chronic hepatitis C (CHC) patients, comprising a combination of pegylated interferon (IFN) and ribavirin, was associated with suboptimal efficacy and severe adverse reactions. A new era of direct-acting antivirals is now dawning in Korea. Early experience of applying sofosbuvir-based therapy to CHC patients in Korea is reported herein.MethodsData on efficacy and safety were collected for CHC patients treated with a combination of sofosbuvir plus ribavirin or sofosbuvir/ledipasvir with or without ribavirin.ResultsThis retrospective study included 25 consecutive patients who received sofosbuvir-based therapy (19 with genotype 1b and 6 with genotype 2) at Seoul National University Hospital from May 2014 to April 2015. A virologic response was achieved at week 4 by 85.7% and 80% of the patients with genotypes 1b and 2, respectively. The HCV-RNA level decreased more slowly in IFN-experienced than in treatment-naïve patients with genotype 1b. However, the sustained virologic response at week 12 (SVR12) rate did not differ among these patients, and was as high as 100%. The presence of cirrhosis significantly increased the risk of a virologic response failure at week 4 (OR, 11.0; P=0.011) among patients with HCV genotype 1b. Only five patients (20%) experienced minor adverse events, including grade 1 fatigue and headache. The hemoglobin level decreased slightly after sofosbuvir-based therapy, but there was no case of premature discontinuation of this therapy.ConclusionsIn a real clinical practice, sofosbuvir-based therapy for CHC patients in Korea achieved optimal antiviral efficacy with insignificant adverse events. Long-term follow-up data are warranted to ensure the sustained antiviral efficacy and long-term safety of sofosbuvir-based IFN-free therapy

Severe Chronic Active EBV Infection in an Adult Patient: Case Report

Severe chronic active Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection is a rare and life-threatening illness. Although the criteria for diagnosis include chronic or recurrent infectious mononucleosis-like symptoms lasting more than 6 months and high titers of anti-EBV antibodies, clinical and laboratory findings may be heterogeneous and flexible application of those criteria is necessary in cases showing typical clinical and pathologic findings. We report a case of severe chronic active EBV infection in a 62-yr-old female patient who showed classical clinical findings with infiltration of EBV-infected T lymphocytes in the bone marrow, spleen, and lymph nodes, and died four months after presentation

A Hybrid Carcinoma of Epithelial-Myoepithelial Carcinoma and Adenoid Cystic Carcinoma in Maxillary Sinus

Hybrid carcinoma of the salivary gland is a very rare entity that has been described only in the parotid and palate. The occurrence of a hybrid carcinoma of maxillary sinus has not been reported. The diagnosis of hybrid carcinoma is important particularly when the components of tumor have different biologic behaviors. Diagnosis and treatment require a high index of suspicion, especially when the tumor is an epithelial-myoepithelial carcinoma, pathological effort to look for a more aggressive accompanying tumor, and proper oncologic treatment. We describe a case of 26-yr-old woman with a hybrid carcinoma composed of epithelial-myoepithelial carcinoma with an adenoid cystic carcinoma component (cribriform pattern) in the right maxillary sinus with a brief review of the relevant literature