Ultracold atoms in optical lattices

Bosonic atoms trapped in an optical lattice at very low temperatures, can be modeled by the Bose-Hubbard model. In this paper, we propose a slave-boson approach for dealing with the Bose-Hubbard model, which enables us to analytically describe the physics of this model at nonzero temperatures. With our approach the phase diagram for this model at nonzero temperatures can be quantified.Comment: 29 pages, 10 figure

Time is vision in recurrent optic neuritis

In optic neuritis (ON) inflammation precedes onset of demyelination and axonal loss. The anti-inflammatory properties of corticosteroids may be most effective in the early inflammatory phase, but rapid patient recruitment remains a logistic challenge. The aim of the study was to review the effect of time to initiation of treatment on visual outcome in recurrent ON. A retrospective case note review of patients known to our centre with recurrent ON. The primary clinical outcome was change of best corrected high contrast visual acuity (BCVA). The secondary outcome was the change of optical coherence tomography (OCT) thickness of the peripapillary retinal nerve fibre layer (pRNFL) and macular ganglion cell layer (mGCL) from baseline and after a minimum of 3months following the episode of recurrent ON. Of 269 patients with a previous episode of ON, 54 experienced recurrent ON. In total 40 OCT documented episodes of relapsing ON were captured in 19 patients. Treatment within <2days led to better recovery of the BCVA (+0.02) and mGCL (-2.4µm) if compared to delayed treatment (BCVA -0.2, p=0.036, mGCL -25.6µm, p=0.019) or no corticosteroids treatment (BCVA -0.2, p=0.045, GCL -5.0µm, p=0.836). These data suggest a beneficial effect of hyperacute corticosteroid treatment. A pragmatic approach for a prospective treatment trial should consider patients with recurrent ON for logistic reasons

Image-guided in situ detection of bacterial biofilms in a human prosthetic knee infection model:a feasibility study for clinical diagnosis of prosthetic joint infections

Purpose Due to an increased human life expectancy, the need to replace arthritic or dysfunctional joints by prosthetics is higher than ever before. Prosthetic joints are unfortunately inherently susceptible to bacterial infection accompanied by biofilm formation. Accurate and rapid diagnosis is vital to increase therapeutic success. Yet, established diagnostic modalities cannot directly detect bacterial biofilms on prostheses. Therefore, the present study was aimed at investigating whether arthroscopic optical imaging can accurately detect bacterial biofilms on prosthetic joints. Methods Here, we applied a conjugate of the antibiotic vancomycin and the near-infrared fluorophore IRDye800CW, in short vanco-800CW, in combination with arthroscopic optical imaging to target and visualize biofilms on infected prostheses. Results We show in a human post-mortem prosthetic knee infection model that a staphylococcal biofilm is accurately detected in real time and distinguished from sterile sections in high resolution. In addition, we demonstrate that biofilms associated with the clinically most relevant bacterial species can be detected using vanco-800CW. Conclusion The presented image-guided arthroscopic approach provides direct visual diagnostic information and facilitates immediate appropriate treatment selection

Quantum phase transitions of light

Recently, condensed matter and atomic experiments have reached a length-scale and temperature regime where new quantum collective phenomena emerge. Finding such physics in systems of photons, however, is problematic, as photons typically do not interact with each other and can be created or destroyed at will. Here, we introduce a physical system of photons that exhibits strongly correlated dynamics on a meso-scale. By adding photons to a two-dimensional array of coupled optical cavities each containing a single two-level atom in the photon-blockade regime, we form dressed states, or polaritons, that are both long-lived and strongly interacting. Our zero temperature results predict that this photonic system will undergo a characteristic Mott insulator (excitations localised on each site) to superfluid (excitations delocalised across the lattice) quantum phase transition. Each cavity's impressive photon out-coupling potential may lead to actual devices based on these quantum many-body effects, as well as observable, tunable quantum simulators. We explicitly show that such phenomena may be observable in micro-machined diamond containing nitrogen-vacancy colour centres and superconducting microwave strip-line resonators.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures (2 in colour

Influence of personalized extended interval dosing on the natalizumab wearing-off effect - a sub-study of the NEXT-MS trial

Background and objectives: Wearing-off symptoms during natalizumab treatment in multiple sclerosis are characterized by an increase of MS-related symptoms prior to natalizumab administration. The influence of extended interval dosing (EID) on wearing-off symptoms are important to consider, as this might cause hesitancy in initiating or continuing EID. Methods: Participants of the NEXT-MS trial, in which treatment intervals are adjusted based on drug concentrations, were divided into two groups: an extended group containing participants with at least one week of additional interval extension, and a group with a fixed interval during the trial (range 4–7 weeks). Changes in the occurrence, frequency, onset, and severity of wearing-off symptoms were evaluated. Results: 255 participants were included (extended group n = 171, fixed group n = 84). The odds on occurrence of wearing-off symptoms in the extended group did not increase after extending the treatment interval. Additional analyses for frequency, onset, and severity of wearing-off symptoms showed no changes over time. Mean decrease in natalizumab drug concentration did not influence the frequency of wearing-off symptoms. Discussion: Wearing-off symptoms were not reinforced by further extending the natalizumab interval. Wearing-off symptoms might increase in a minority of patients after EID, although our data support the view that wearing-off symptoms appear to be unrelated to the decrease in natalizumab trough drug concentrations.</p

Mixtures of Bosonic and Fermionic Atoms in Optical Lattices

We discuss the theory of mixtures of Bosonic and Fermionic atoms in periodic potentials at zero temperature. We derive a general Bose--Fermi Hubbard Hamiltonian in a one--dimensional optical lattice with a superimposed harmonic trapping potential. We study the conditions for linear stability of the mixture and derive a mean field criterion for the onset of a Bosonic superfluid transition. We investigate the ground state properties of the mixture in the Gutzwiller formulation of mean field theory, and present numerical studies of finite systems. The Bosonic and Fermionic density distributions and the onset of quantum phase transitions to demixing and to a Bosonic Mott--insulator are studied as a function of the lattice potential strength. The existence is predicted of a disordered phase for mixtures loaded in very deep lattices. Such a disordered phase possessing many degenerate or quasi--degenerate ground states is related to a breaking of the mirror symmetry in the lattice.Comment: 11 pages, 8 figures; added discussions; conclusions and references expande

Electrical conductivity of lithium at megabar pressures

We report measurements of the electrical conductivity of a liquid alkali metal - lithium - at pressures up to 1.8 Mbar and fourfold compression, achieved through shock compression experiments. We find that the results are consistent with a departure of the electronic properties of lithium from the nearly free electron approximation at high pressures.Comment: RevTex, 4 pages, 4 figure

Circulating Lipoproteins Are a Crucial Component of Host Defense against Invasive Salmonella typhimurium Infection

Contains fulltext : 79883.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Open Access)BACKGROUND: Circulating lipoproteins improve the outcome of severe Gram-negative infections through neutralizing lipopolysaccharides (LPS), thus inhibiting the release of proinflammatory cytokines. METHODS/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Low density lipoprotein receptor deficient (LDLR-/-) mice, with a 7-fold increase in LDL, are resistant against infection with Salmonella typhimurium (survival 100% vs 5%, p<0.001), and 100 to 1000-fold lower bacterial burden in the organs, compared with LDLR+/+ mice. Protection was not due to differences in cytokine production, phagocytosis, and killing of Salmonella organisms. The differences were caused by the excess of lipoproteins, as hyperlipoproteinemic ApoE-/- mice were also highly resistant to Salmonella infection. Lipoproteins protect against infection by interfering with the binding of Salmonella to host cells, and preventing organ invasion. This leads to an altered biodistribution of the microorganisms during the first hours of infection: after intravenous injection of Salmonella into LDLR+/+ mice, the bacteria invaded the liver and spleen within 30 minutes of infection. In contrast, in LDLR-/- mice, Salmonella remained constrained to the circulation from where they were efficiently cleared, with decreased organ invasion. CONCLUSIONS: plasma lipoproteins are a potent host defense mechanism against invasive Salmonella infection, by blocking adhesion of Salmonella to the host cells and subsequent tissue invasion

Proposal of an extended t-J Hamiltonian for high-Tc cuprates from ab initio calculations on embedded clusters

A series of accurate ab initio calculations on Cu_pO-q finite clusters, properly embedded on the Madelung potential of the infinite lattice, have been performed in order to determine the local effective interactions in the CuO_2 planes of La_{2-x}Sr_xCuO_4 compounds. The values of the first-neighbor interactions, magnetic coupling (J_{NN}=125 meV) and hopping integral (t_{NN}=-555 meV), have been confirmed. Important additional effects are evidenced, concerning essentially the second-neighbor hopping integral t_{NNN}=+110meV, the displacement of a singlet toward an adjacent colinear hole, h_{SD}^{abc}=-80 meV, a non-negligible hole-hole repulsion V_{NN}-V_{NNN}=0.8 eV and a strong anisotropic effect of the presence of an adjacent hole on the values of the first-neighbor interactions. The dependence of J_{NN} and t_{NN} on the position of neighbor hole(s) has been rationalized from the two-band model and checked from a series of additional ab initio calculations. An extended t-J model Hamiltonian has been proposed on the basis of these results. It is argued that the here-proposed three-body effects may play a role in the charge/spin separation observed in these compounds, that is, in the formation and dynamic of stripes.Comment: 24 pages, 4 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.

Sonication of heart valves detects more bacteria in infective endocarditis

Optimal antimicrobial treatment of infective endocarditis requires identification and susceptibility patterns of pathogens. Sonication of explanted heart valves could increase the identification and culture of pathogens, as shown in prosthetic joint and pacemaker/ICD infections. We tested 26 explanted heart valves from 20 patients with active definite endocarditis for added diagnostic value of sonication to the standard microbiological workup in a prospective diagnostic proof of concept study. Two sonication protocols (broth enrichment vs. centrifugation) were compared in an additional 35 negative control valves for contamination rates. We selected sonication/centrifugation based on acceptable false positive rates (11.4%; 4/35). Sonication/enrichment yielded many false positive results in negative controls (28.6%; 10/35), mainly Propionibacterium acnes (next-generation sequencing excluded technical problems). Compared to direct culture only, adding sonication/centrifugation (including molecular testing) significantly increased the diagnostic yield from 6/26 to 17/26 valves (p = 0.003). Most importantly, culture positives almost doubled (from 6 to 10), providing unique quantitative information about antimicrobial susceptibility. Even if direct molecular testing was added to the standard workup, sonication/centrifugation provided additional diagnostic information in a significant number of valves (8/26; 31%; p = 0.013). We concluded that sonication/centrifugation added relevant diagnostic information in the workup of heart valves with infective endocarditis, with acceptable contamination rates