Beating the One-half Limit of Ancilla-free Linear Optics Bell Measurements

We show that optically encoded two-qubit Bell states can be unambiguously discriminated with a success probability of more than 50% in both single-rail and dual-rail encodings by using active linear-optical resources that include Gaussian squeezing operations. These results are in contrast to the well-known upper bound of 50% for unambiguous discrimination of dual-rail Bell states using passive, static linear optics and arbitrarily many vacuum modes. We present experimentally feasible schemes that improve the success probability to 64.3% in dual-rail and to 62.5% in single-rail for a uniform random distribution of Bell states. Conceptually, this demonstrates that neither interactions that induce nonlinear mode transformations (such as Kerr interactions) nor auxiliary entangled photons are required to go beyond the one-half limit. We discuss the optimality of our single-rail scheme, and talk about an application of our dual-rail scheme in quantum communication.Comment: 4+5 pages, 4 figure

COMPARISON OF XANTHINE OXIDASE INHIBITORS IN GOUTY PATIENTS WITH HYPERURICEMIA

Objective: Febuxostat is more effective/superior to Allopurinol in reducing the serum uric acid (SUA) level in the treatment of hyperuricemic withgout.Methods: This randomized control study included 200 hyperuricemic patients with gout, at Multi-center study including Outdoor Departments ofMedicine from four different hospitals of Lahore, Pakistan. Patients age range 18-50 years diagnosis with hyperuricemia and gout, SUA >8 mg/dlwere included while severe renal impairment and alanine aminotransferase and aspartate aminotransferase patients were excluded from the study.Results: About 200 patients treated with hyperuricemic with gout were randomly divided into four groups (50%) patients were in each groupreceived different treatment. Out of 200 patients, 118 (59%) were male and 82 (41%) were female with mean age 42.37±9.47 years. Among theFebuxostat group, patients' success rate of lowering SUA level was found to be 32 (64%) as compared to Allopurinol 16 (32%). Drug compliance wassimilar among treatment groups, i.e. Allopurinol and Febuxostat while the trend toward drug compliance in Allopurinol + Vitamin C and Febuxostat +Vitamin C groups showed similar in number.Conclusion: Febuxostat is safe and effective to Allopurinol for the treatment of hyperuricemia with gout as the Febuxostat has a significant associationwith lowering SUA concentration <6 mg/dl. It is concluded that although Febuxostat is safe and effect alone in gouty patients, but it has somehow alittle effect with Vitamin C especially in patients who are feeble.Keywords: Febuxostat, Allopurinol, Serum uric acid.Â

The Effects Of Framework Mutations At The Variable Domain Interface On Antibody Affinity Maturation In An HIV-1 Broadly Neutralizing Antibody Lineage

Understanding affinity maturation of antibodies that can target many variants of HIV-1 is important for vaccine development. While the antigen-binding site of antibodies is known to mutate throughout the co-evolution of antibodies and viruses in infected individuals, the roles of the mutations in the antibody framework region are not well understood. Throughout affinity maturation, the CH103 broadly neutralizing antibody lineage, from an individual designated CH505, altered the orientation of one of its antibody variable domains. The change in orientation was a response to insertions in the variable loop 5 (V5) of the HIV envelope. In this study, we generated CH103 lineage antibody variants in which residues in the variable domain interface were mutated, and measured the binding to both autologous and heterologous HIV-1 envelopes. Our data show that very few mutations in an early intermediate antibody of the lineage can improve binding toward both autologous and heterologous HIV-1 envelopes. We also crystallized an antibody mutant to show that framework mutations alone can result in a shift in relative orientations of the variable domains. Taken together, our results demonstrate the functional importance of residues located outside the antigen-binding site in affinity maturation

Operationalization of bi-directional screening for tuberculosis and diabetes in private sector healthcare clinics in Karachi, Pakistan

Background: Many countries are facing overlapping epidemics of tuberculosis (TB) and diabetes mellitus (DM). Diabetes increases the overall risk of developing Tuberculosis (TB) and contributes to adverse treatment outcomes. Active screening for both diseases can reduce TB transmission and prevent the development of complications of DM. We investigated bi-directional TB-DM screening in Karachi, Pakistan, a country that ranks fifth among high TB burden countries, and has the seventh highest country burden for DM.Methods: Between February to November 2014, community-based screeners identified presumptive TB and DM through verbal screening at private health clinics. Individuals with presumptive TB were referred for a chest X-ray and Xpert MTB/RIF. Presumptive DM cases had random blood glucose (RBS) tested. All individuals with bacteriologically positive TB were referred for diabetes testing (RBS). All pre-diabetics and diabetics were referred for a chest X-ray and Xpert MTB/RIF test. The primary outcomes of this study were uptake of TB and DM testing.Results: A total of 450,385 individuals were screened, of whom 18,109 had presumptive DM and 90,137 had presumptive TB. 14,550 of these individuals were presumptive for both DM and TB. The uptake of DM testing among those with presumptive diabetes was 26.1% while the uptake of TB testing among presumptive TB cases was 5.9%. Despite efforts to promote bi-directional screening of TB and DM, the uptake of TB testing among pre-diabetes and diabetes cases was only 4.7%, while the uptake of DM testing among MTB positive cases was 21.8%.Conclusion: While a high yield for TB was identified among pre-diabetics and diabetics along with a high yield of DM among individuals diagnosed with TB, there was a low uptake of TB testing amongst presumptive TB patients who were recorded as pre-diabetic or diabetic. Bi-directional screening for TB and DM which includes the integration of TB diagnostics, DM screening and TB-DM treatment within existing health care programs will need to address the operational challenges identified before implementing this as a strategy in public health programs

Casimir effect due to a single boundary as a manifestation of the Weyl problem

The Casimir self-energy of a boundary is ultraviolet-divergent. In many cases the divergences can be eliminated by methods such as zeta-function regularization or through physical arguments (ultraviolet transparency of the boundary would provide a cutoff). Using the example of a massless scalar field theory with a single Dirichlet boundary we explore the relationship between such approaches, with the goal of better understanding the origin of the divergences. We are guided by the insight due to Dowker and Kennedy (1978) and Deutsch and Candelas (1979), that the divergences represent measurable effects that can be interpreted with the aid of the theory of the asymptotic distribution of eigenvalues of the Laplacian discussed by Weyl. In many cases the Casimir self-energy is the sum of cutoff-dependent (Weyl) terms having geometrical origin, and an "intrinsic" term that is independent of the cutoff. The Weyl terms make a measurable contribution to the physical situation even when regularization methods succeed in isolating the intrinsic part. Regularization methods fail when the Weyl terms and intrinsic parts of the Casimir effect cannot be clearly separated. Specifically, we demonstrate that the Casimir self-energy of a smooth boundary in two dimensions is a sum of two Weyl terms (exhibiting quadratic and logarithmic cutoff dependence), a geometrical term that is independent of cutoff, and a non-geometrical intrinsic term. As by-products we resolve the puzzle of the divergent Casimir force on a ring and correct the sign of the coefficient of linear tension of the Dirichlet line predicted in earlier treatments.Comment: 13 pages, 1 figure, minor changes to the text, extra references added, version to be published in J. Phys.

Substantial and sustained reduction in under-5 mortality, diarrhea, and pneumonia in Oshikhandass, Pakistan: Evidence from two longitudinal cohort studies 15 years apart

Background: Oshikhandass is a rural village in northern Pakistan where a 1989-1991 verbal autopsy study showed that diarrhea and pneumonia were the top causes of under-5 mortality. Intensive surveillance, active community health education and child health interventions were delivered in 1989-1996; here we assess improvements in under-5 mortality, diarrhea, and pneumonia over this period and 15 years later.Methods: Two prospective open-cohort studies in Oshikhandass from 1989 to 1996 (Study 1) and 2011-2014 (Study 2) enrolled all children under age 60 months. Study staff trained using WHO guidelines, conducted weekly household surveillance and promoted knowledge on causes and management of diarrhea and pneumonia. Information about household characteristics and socioeconomic status was collected. Hurdle models were constructed to examine putative risk factors for diarrhea and pneumonia.Results: Against a backdrop of considerable change in the socioeconomic status of the community, under-5 mortality, which declined over the course of Study 1 (from 114.3 to 79.5 deaths/1000 live births (LB) between 1989 and 1996), exceeded Sustainable Development Goal 3 by Study 2 (19.8 deaths/ 1000 LB). Reductions in diarrhea prevalence (20.3 to 2.2 days/ Child Year [CY]), incidence (2.1 to 0.5 episodes/ CY), and number of bloody diarrhea episodes (18.6 to 5.2%) seen during Study 1, were sustained in Study 2. Pneumonia incidence was 0.5 episodes /CY in Study 1 and 0.2/CY in Study 2; only 5% of episodes were categorized as severe or very severe in both studies. While no individual factors predicted a statistically significant difference in diarrhea or pneumonia episodes, the combined effect of water, toilet and housing materials was associated with a significant decrease in diarrhea; higher household income was the most protective factor for pneumonia in Study 1.Conclusions: We report a 4-fold decrease in overall childhood mortality, and a 2-fold decrease in childhood morbidity from diarrhea and pneumonia in a remote rural village in Pakistan between 1989 and 2014. We conclude that significant, sustainable improvements in child health may be achieved through improved socioeconomic status and promoting interactions between locally engaged health workers and the community, but that continued efforts are needed to improve health worker training, supervision, and the rational use of medications