Numerical Study of Cosmic Censorship in String Theory

Recently Hertog, Horowitz, and Maeda have argued that cosmic censorship can be generically violated in string theory in anti-de Sitter spacetime by considering a collapsing bubble of a scalar field whose mass saturates the Breitenlohner-Freedman bound. We study this system numerically and find that for various choices of initial data black holes form rather than naked singularities, implying that in these cases cosmic censorship is upheld.Comment: 16 pages, latex, 10 figures, uses JHEP.cls, v2: minor changes, version to be published in JHE

X-linked hypophosphatemia caused by the prevailing North American PHEX variant c.*231A\u3eG; exon 13–15 duplication is often misdiagnosed as ankylosing spondylitis and manifests in both men and women

Inactivating mutations of the gene coding for phosphate-regulating endopeptidase homolog X-linked (PHEX) cause X-linked hypophosphatemia (XLH). A nove

Analysis of detector performance in a gigahertz clock rate quantum key distribution system

We present a detailed analysis of a gigahertz clock rate environmentally robust phase-encoded quantum key distribution (QKD) system utilizing several different single-photon detectors, including the first implementation of an experimental resonant cavity thin-junction silicon single-photon avalanche diode. The system operates at a wavelength of 850 nm using standard telecommunications optical fibre. A general-purpose theoretical model for the performance of QKD systems is presented with reference to these experimental results before predictions are made about realistic detector developments in this system. We discuss, with reference to the theoretical model, how detector operating parameters can be further optimized to maximize key exchange rates

Sustained Efficacy and Safety of Burosumab, a Monoclonal Antibody to FGF23, in Children With X-Linked Hypophosphatemia

PURPOSE: In X-linked hypophosphatemia (XLH), excess fibroblast growth factor-23 causes hypophosphatemia and low calcitriol, leading to musculoskeletal disease with clinical consequences. XLH treatment options include conventional oral phosphate with active vitamin D, or monotherapy with burosumab, a monoclonal antibody approved to treat children and adults with XLH. We have previously reported outcomes up to 64 weeks, and here we report safety and efficacy follow-up results up to 160 weeks from an open-label, multicenter, randomized, dose-finding trial of burosumab for 5- to 12-year-old children with XLH. METHODS: After 1 week of conventional therapy washout, patients were randomized 1:1 to burosumab every 2 weeks (Q2W) or every 4 weeks (Q4W) for 64 weeks, with dosing titrated based on fasting serum phosphorus levels between baseline and week 16. From week 66 to week 160, all patients received Q2W burosumab. RESULTS: Twenty-six children were randomized initially into each Q2W and Q4W group and all completed treatment to week 160. In 41 children with open distal femoral and proximal tibial growth plates (from both treatment groups), total Rickets Severity Score significantly decreased by 0.9 ± 0.1 (least squares mean ± SE; P < 0.0001) from baseline to week 160. Fasting serum phosphorus increases were sustained by burosumab therapy throughout the study, with an overall population mean (SD) of 3.35 (0.39) mg/dL, within the pediatric normal range (3.2-6.1 mg/dL) at week 160 (mean change from baseline P < 0.0001). Most adverse events were mild to moderate in severity. MAIN CONCLUSIONS: In children with XLH, burosumab administration for 160 weeks improved phosphate homeostasis and rickets and was well-tolerated. Long-term safety was consistent with the reported safety profile of burosumab. CLINICALTRIALS.GOV: NCT0216357

Non-adiabatic geometrical quantum gates in semiconductor quantum dots

In this paper we study the implementation of non-adiabatic geometrical quantum gates with in semiconductor quantum dots. Different quantum information enconding/manipulation schemes exploiting excitonic degrees of freedom are discussed. By means of the Aharanov-Anandan geometrical phase one can avoid the limitations of adiabatic schemes relying on adiabatic Berry phase; fast geometrical quantum gates can be in principle implementedComment: 5 Pages LaTeX, 10 Figures include

Animation by Computer. a Tool for Understanding the Dynamical Behaviour of Ancient Machines

The datasets in this article are associated with the research article \u27Assessing biological and environmental effects of a total solar eclipse with passive multimodal technologies\u27 (Brinley Buckley et al., 2018). We documented biotic and abiotic changed during a total solar eclipse on 21 August 2017, in south-central Nebraska, USA, with a multimodel suite of tools, including time-lapse camera systems, data loggers, and sound recording devices. Time-lapse images were used to approximate changes in light, data loggers were used to record temperature and humidity, and sound recordings were used to calculate acoustic indices characterizing variation in the soundscape, as well as to manually identify and estimate avian vocalization activity

Genetic counselling for psychiatric disorders: accounts of psychiatric health professionals in the United Kingdom

Genetic counselling is not routinely offered for psychiatric disorders in the United Kingdom through NHS regional clinical genetics departments. However, recent genomic advances, confirming a genetic contribution to mental illness, are anticipated to increase demand for psychiatric genetic counselling. This is the first study of its kind to employ qualitative methods of research to explore accounts of psychiatric health professionals regarding the prospects for genetic counselling services within clinical psychiatry in the UK. Data were collected from 32 questionnaire participants, and 9 subsequent interviewees. Data analysis revealed that although participants had not encountered patients explicitly demanding psychiatric genetic counselling, psychiatric health professionals believe that such a service would be useful and desirable. Genomic advances may have significant implications for genetic counselling in clinical psychiatry even if these discoveries do not lead to genetic testing. Psychiatric health professionals describe clinical genetics as a skilled profession capable of combining complex risk communication with much needed psychosocial support. However, participants noted barriers to the implementation of psychiatric genetic counselling services including, but not limited to, the complexities of uncertainty in psychiatric diagnoses, patient engagement and ethical concerns regarding limited capacity

Experimental discovery of sRNAs in Vibrio cholerae by direct cloning, 5S/tRNA depletion and parallel sequencing

Direct cloning and parallel sequencing, an extremely powerful method for microRNA (miRNA) discovery, has not yet been applied to bacterial transcriptomes. Here we present sRNA-Seq, an unbiased method that allows for interrogation of the entire small, non-coding RNA (sRNA) repertoire in any prokaryotic or eukaryotic organism. This method includes a novel treatment that depletes total RNA fractions of highly abundant tRNAs and small subunit rRNA, thereby enriching the starting pool for sRNA transcripts with novel functionality. As a proof-of-principle, we applied sRNA-Seq to the human pathogen Vibrio cholerae. Our results provide information, at unprecedented depth, on the complexity of the sRNA component of a bacterial transcriptome. From 407 039 sequence reads, all 20 known V. cholerae sRNAs, 500 new, putative intergenic sRNAs and 127 putative antisense sRNAs were identified in a limited number of growth conditions examined. In addition, characterization of a subset of the newly identified transcripts led to the identification of a novel sRNA regulator of carbon metabolism. Collectively, these results strongly suggest that the number of sRNAs in bacteria has been greatly underestimated and that future efforts to analyze bacterial transcriptomes will benefit from direct cloning and parallel sequencing experiments aided by 5S/tRNA depletion