108 research outputs found
Characterizations and Quantifications of Macroscopic Quantumness and Its Implementations using Optical Fields
We present a review and discussions on characterizations and quantifications
of macroscopic quantum states as well as their implementations and applications
in optical systems. We compare and criticize different measures proposed to
define and quantify macroscopic quantum superpositions and extend such
comparisons to several types of optical quantum states actively considered for
experimental implementations within recent research topics.Comment: 13 pages, 2 figures, references added, review article to be published
in the Special Issue of Optics Communications on Macroscopic Quantumness:
Theory and Applications in Optical Science
Targeting phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC).
The landscape of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) has been changing rapidly due to growing proportion of HPV-related disease and development of new therapeutic agents. At the same time, there has been a constant need for individually tailored treatment based on genetic biomarkers in order to optimize patient survival and alleviate treatment-related toxicities. In this regard, aberrations of PI3K pathway have important clinical implications in the treatment of HNSCC. They frequently constitute 'gain of function' mutations which trigger oncogenesis, and PI3K mutations can also lead to emergence of drug resistance after treatment with EGFR inhibitors. In this article, we review PI3K pathway as a target of treatment for HNSCC and summarize PI3K/mTOR inhibitors that are currently under clinical trials. In light of recent advancement of immune checkpoint inhibitors, consideration of PI3K inhibitors as potential immune modulators is also suggested
Production of entanglement with highly-mixed states
We study production of entanglement with highly-mixed states. We find that
entanglement between highly mixed states can be generated via a direct unitary
interaction even when both states have purities arbitrarily close to zero. This
indicates that purity of a subsystem is not required for entanglement
generation. Our result is in contrast to previous studies where the importance
of the subsystem purity was emphasized.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure
Using macroscopic entanglement to close the detection loophole in Bell inequality
We consider a Bell-like inequality performed using various instances of
multi-photon entangled states to demonstrate that losses occurring after the
unitary transformations used in the nonlocality test can be counteracted by
enhancing the "size" of such entangled states. In turn, this feature can be
used to overcome detection inefficiencies affecting the test itself: a slight
increase in the size of such states, pushing them towards a more "macroscopic"
form of entanglement, significantly improves the state robustness against
detection inefficiency, thus easing the closing of the detection loophole.
Differently, losses before the unitary transformations cause decoherence
effects that cannot be compensated using macroscroscopic entanglement.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures, to be published in Phys. Rev.
Coanalysis of GWAS with eQTLs reveals disease-tissue associations.
Expression quantitative trait loci (eQTL), or genetic variants associated with changes in gene expression, have the potential to assist in interpreting results of genome-wide association studies (GWAS). eQTLs also have varying degrees of tissue specificity. By correlating the statistical significance of eQTLs mapped in various tissue types to their odds ratios reported in a large GWAS by the Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium (WTCCC), we discovered that there is a significant association between diseases studied genetically and their relevant tissues. This suggests that eQTL data sets can be used to determine tissues that play a role in the pathogenesis of a disease, thereby highlighting these tissue types for further post-GWAS functional studies
Entangling quantum and classical states of light
Entanglement between quantum and classical objects is of special interest in
the context of fundamental studies of quantum mechanics and potential
applications to quantum information processing. In quantum optics, single
photons are treated as light quanta while coherent states are considered the
most classical among all pure states. Recently, entanglement between a single
photon and a coherent state in a free-traveling field was identified to be a
useful resource for optical quantum information processing. However, it was
pointed out to be extremely difficult to generate such states since it requires
a clean cross-Kerr nonlinear interaction. Here, we devise and experimentally
demonstrate a scheme to generate such hybrid entanglement by implementing a
coherent superposition of two distinct quantum operations. The generated states
clearly show entanglement between the two different types of states. Our work
opens a way to generate hybrid entanglement of a larger size and to develop
efficient quantum information processing using such a new type of qubits.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figure
Green Tea Consumption and Stomach Cancer Risk: A Meta-Analysis
OBJECTIVES: Green tea has been suggested to have a chemopreventive effect against various cancers including stomach cancer. The aim of this study is to elucidate the relationship between green tea consumption and stomach cancer risk by meta-analysis.
METHODS: Eighteen observational studies were identified using MEDLINE, THE COCHRANE LIBRARY, RISS, and a manual search. Summary relative risks/odds ratios (RR/ORs) for the highest versus non/lowest green tea consumption levels were calculated on the basis of fixed and random effect models. Subgroup analyses were used to examine heterogeneity across the studies.
RESULTS: The combined results indicate a reduced risk of stomach cancer with intake of green tea (RR/OR=0.86, 95% CI=0.74-1.00). Subgroup analysis with six studies that reported differences between the highest and lowest consumption levels equal to or greater than five cups/day revealed a statistically significant protective effect (RR/OR=0.68, 95% CI=0.53-0.87).
CONCLUSION: Green tea appears to play a protective role against the development of stomach cancer. The results also suggest that a higher level of green tea consumption might be needed for a clear preventive effect to appear. This conclusion, however, should be interpreted with caution because various biases can affect the results of a meta-analysis.ope
Androgen deprivation therapy is associated with decreased second primary lung cancer risk in the United States veterans with prostate cancer
OBJECTIVES We investigated whether androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) in prostate cancer patients was associated with a decreased risk for second primary lung cancer in US veterans. METHODS Prostate cancer diagnoses in the US Veterans Affairs Cancer Registry between 1999 and 2008 were identified. Use of hormonal therapy and diagnoses of second primary lung cancer were determined from the registry. Synchronous prostate and lung cancers, defined as 2 diagnoses made within 1 year, were excluded from the analysis. Cancer-free survival was estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method and hazard ratios were estimated using Cox proportional hazard models. RESULTS Among the 63,141 identified patients with prostate cancer, 18,707 subjects were eligible for the study. Hormonal therapy was used in 38% of patients and the median follow-up period was 28 months. ADT use was associated with longer lung cancer-free survival in prostate cancer patients (log-rank p=0.01). After adjusting for age, race, smoking and prostate cancer stage, ADT use was associated with decreased lung cancer risk by 15, 21, and 24% after 1, 2, and 3 years, respectively. CONCLUSIONS ADT in prostate cancer patients may be associated with decreased second primary lung cancer risk among US veterans
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