Unification of spatiotemporal quantum formalisms: mapping between process and pseudo-density matrices via multiple-time states

We consider the relation between three different approaches to defining quantum states across several times and locations: the pseudo-density matrix (PDM), the process matrix, and the multiple-time state approaches. Previous studies have shown that bipartite two-time states can reproduce the statistics of bipartite process matrices. Here, we show that the operational scenarios underlying two-time states can be represented as PDMs, and thereby construct a mapping from process matrices to PDMs. The existence of this mapping implies that PDMs can, like the process matrix, model processes with indefinite causal orders. We illustrate this ability by showing how negativity of the PDM, a measure of temporal correlations, is activated by creating a quantum-switched order of operators associated with reset channels. The results contribute to the unification of quantum models of spatiotemporal states.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figures, Comments are welcom

Expression of chemokine receptors on circulating tumor cells in patients with solid tumors

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The study was performed to investigate the expression of chemokine receptors (CR) on circulating tumor cells (CTC), which may be of importance for organ-specific metastases and cancer treatment since CR are potential drug-targets.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Blood samples from patients with metastatic carcinoma (MC) or melanoma (MM) were enriched for CTC and expression of CR (CXCR4, CCR6, CCR7 and CCR9) was evaluated by flow cytometry.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>CTC were detected in 49 of 68 patients (72%) [28 MC; 21 MM] with a median number of 3 CTC (range: 1-94)/10 mL of blood. CXCR4 was expressed on CTC in 82% (40/49) of patients [median number 1 CTC/10 mL blood; range 1-14] and CCR6 in 29 patients (59%; median 1, range: 1-14). In MM patients, CCR7 was expressed on CTC in 6 (29%) samples and CCR9 in 12 (57%). A positive correlation between surface expression of CR and organ-specific metastatic pattern was not observed.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>CR were expressed on CTC of patients with solid tumors. Along with our findings, the observation that CR could be involved in CTC proliferation and migration of tumor cells appoints CTC as potential CR-antagonist therapeutic target.</p

Negative enrichment by immunomagnetic nanobeads for unbiased characterization of circulating tumor cells from peripheral blood of cancer patients

BACKGROUND: A limitation of positive selection strategies to enrich for circulating tumor cells (CTCs) is that there might be CTCs with insufficient expression of the surface target marker which may be missed by the procedure. We optimized a method for enrichment, subsequent detection and characterization of CTCs based on depletion of the leukocyte fraction. METHODS: The 2-step protocol was developed for processing 20 mL blood and based on red blood cell lysis followed by leukocyte depletion. The remaining material was stained with the epithelial markers EpCAM and cytokeratin (CK) 7/8 or for the melanoma marker HMW-MAA/MCSP. CTCs were detected by flow cytometry. CTCs enriched from blood of patients with carcinoma were defined as EpCAM+CK+CD45-. CTCs enriched from blood of patients with melanoma were defined as MCSP+CD45-. One-hundred-sixteen consecutive blood samples from 70 patients with metastatic carcinomas (n = 48) or metastatic melanoma (n = 22) were analyzed. RESULTS: CTCs were detected in 47 of 84 blood samples (56%) drawn from carcinoma patients, and in 17 of 32 samples (53%) from melanoma patients. CD45-EpCAM-CK+ was detected in pleural effusion specimens, as well as in peripheral blood samples of patients with NSCLC. EpCAM-CK+ cells have been successfully cultured and passaged longer than six months suggesting their neoplastic origin. This was confirmed by CGH. By defining CTCs in carcinoma patients as CD45-CK+ and/or EpCAM+, the detection rate increased to 73% (61/84). CONCLUSION: Enriching CTCs using CD45 depletion allowed for detection of epithelial cancer cells not displaying the classical phenotype. This potentially leads to a more accurate estimation of the number of CTCs. If detection of CTCs without a classical epithelial phenotype has clinical relevance need to be determined

Fine-Grained Face Swapping via Regional GAN Inversion

We present a novel paradigm for high-fidelity face swapping that faithfully preserves the desired subtle geometry and texture details. We rethink face swapping from the perspective of fine-grained face editing, \textit{i.e., ``editing for swapping'' (E4S)}, and propose a framework that is based on the explicit disentanglement of the shape and texture of facial components. Following the E4S principle, our framework enables both global and local swapping of facial features, as well as controlling the amount of partial swapping specified by the user. Furthermore, the E4S paradigm is inherently capable of handling facial occlusions by means of facial masks. At the core of our system lies a novel Regional GAN Inversion (RGI) method, which allows the explicit disentanglement of shape and texture. It also allows face swapping to be performed in the latent space of StyleGAN. Specifically, we design a multi-scale mask-guided encoder to project the texture of each facial component into regional style codes. We also design a mask-guided injection module to manipulate the feature maps with the style codes. Based on the disentanglement, face swapping is reformulated as a simplified problem of style and mask swapping. Extensive experiments and comparisons with current state-of-the-art methods demonstrate the superiority of our approach in preserving texture and shape details, as well as working with high resolution images at 1024$\times$1024.Comment: Project page, see http://e4s2022.github.i

Coexistence of ferromagnetism, antiferromagnetism, and superconductivity in magnetically anisotropic (Eu,La)FeAs2

Materials with exceptional magnetism and superconductivity usually conceive emergent physical phenomena. Here, we investigate the physical properties of the (Eu,La)FeAs2 system with double magnetic sublattices. The parent EuFeAs2 shows anisotropy-associated magnetic behaviors, such as Eu-related moment canting and exchange bias. Through La doping, the magnetic anisotropy is enhanced with ferromagnetism of Eu2+ realized in the overdoped region, and a special exchange bias of the superposed ferromagnetic/superconducting loop revealed in Eu0.8La0.2FeAs2. Meanwhile, the Fe-related antiferromagnetism shows unusual robustness against La doping. Theoretical calculation and 57Fe M\"ossbauer spectroscopy investigation reveal a doping-tunable dual itinerant/localized nature of the Fe-related antiferromagnetism. Coexistence of the Eu-related ferromagnetism, Fe-related robust antiferromagnetism, and superconductivity is further revealed in Eu0.8La0.2FeAs2, providing a platform for further exploration of potential applications and emergent physics. Finally, an electronic phase diagram is established for (Eu,La)FeAs2 with the whole superconducting dome adjacent to the Fe-related antiferromagnetic phase, which is of benefit for seeking underlying clues to high-temperature superconductivity.Comment: 13 pages, 6 figures for the main tex

Superconductivity in a new layered cobalt oxychalcogenide Na6_{6}Co3_{3}Se6_{6}O3_{3} with a 3d5d^{5} triangular lattice

Unconventional superconductivity in bulk materials under ambient pressure is extremely rare among the 3$d$ transition-metal compounds outside the layered cuprates and iron-based family. It is predominantly linked to highly anisotropic electronic properties and quasi-two-dimensional (2D) Fermi surfaces. To date, the only known example of the Co-based exotic superconductor was the hydrated layered cobaltate, Na$_{x}$CoO$_{2}\cdot$ yH$_{2}$O, and its superconductivity is realized in the vicinity of a spin-1/2 Mott state. However, the nature of the superconductivity in these materials is still an active subject of debate, and therefore, finding new class of superconductors will help unravel the mysteries of their unconventional superconductivity. Here we report the discovery of unconventional superconductivity at $\sim$ 6.3 K in our newly synthesized layered compound Na$_{6}$Co$_{3}$Se$_{6}$O$_{3}$, in which the edge-shared CoSe$_{6}$ octahedra form [CoSe$_{2}$] layers with a perfect triangular lattice of Co ions. It is the first 3$d$ transition-metal oxychalcogenide superconductor with distinct structural and chemical characteristics. Despite its relatively low $T_{c}$, material exhibits extremely high superconducting upper critical fields, $\mu_{0}H_{c2}(0)$, which far exceeds the Pauli paramagnetic limit by a factor of 3 - 4. First-principles calculations show that Na$_{6}$Co$_{3}$Se$_{6}$O$_{3}$ is a rare example of negative charge transfer superconductor. This new cobalt oxychalcogenide with a geometrical frustration among Co spins, shows great potential as a highly appealing candidate for the realization of high-$T_{c}$ and/or unconventional superconductivity beyond the well-established Cu- and Fe-based superconductor families, and opened a new field in physics and chemistry of low-dimensional superconductors

Experimental Study on the Peeling Characteristics of Wax on the Surface of Flexible Composite Pipe and Plastic Alloy Tube

In this paper, the wax deposition stripping experiment on the surface of flexible composite tube and the surface of plastic alloy tube was carried out by using medical paraffin. Under different temperature and different thickness of wax, the peeling force of wax on the surface of flexible composite pipe and the surface of plastic alloy pipe lining was discussed. The experimental conclusions of this study are specific guidance for wax cleaning technology in nonmetallic pipes and device design