Quantum Advantage without Entanglement

We study the advantage of pure-state quantum computation without entanglement over classical computation. For the Deutsch-Jozsa algorithm we present the maximal subproblem that can be solved without entanglement, and show that the algorithm still has an advantage over the classical ones. We further show that this subproblem is of greater significance, by proving that it contains all the Boolean functions whose quantum phase-oracle is non-entangling. For Simon's and Grover's algorithms we provide simple proofs that no non-trivial subproblems can be solved by these algorithms without entanglement.Comment: 10 page

VIP contribution to the decidualization program: regulatory T cell recruitment

During early pregnancy, the human uterus undergoes profound tissue remodeling characterized by leukocyte invasion and production of proinflammatory cytokines, followed by tissue repair and tolerance maintenance induction. Vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) is produced by trophoblast cells and modulates the maternal immune response toward a tolerogenic profile. Here, we evaluated the contribution of the VIP/VPAC to endometrial renewal, inducing decidualization and the recruitment of induced regulatory T cells (iTregs) that accompany the implantation period. For that purpose, we used an in vitro model of decidualization with a human endometrial stromal cell line (HESC) stimulated with progesterone (P4) and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) simulating the inflammatory response during implantation and human iTregs (CD4+CD25+FOXP3+) differentiated from naïve T cells obtained from peripheral blood mononuclear cells of fertile women. We observed that VIP and its receptor VPAC1 are constitutively expressed in HESCs and that P4 increased VIP expression. Moreover, in HESC VIP induced expression of RANTES (CCL5), one of the main chemokines involved in T cell recruitment, and this effect is enhanced by the presence of P4 and LPS. Finally, assays of the migration of iTregs toward conditioned media from HESCs revealed that endogenous VIP production induced by P4 and LPS and RANTES production were involved, as anti-RANTES neutralizing Ab or VIP antagonist prevented their migration. We conclude that VIP may have an active role in the decidualization process, thus contributing to recruitment of iTregs toward endometrial stromal cells by increasing RANTES expression in a P4-dependent manner.Fil: Grasso, Esteban Nicolas. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Química Biológica de la Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Química Biológica de la Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales; ArgentinaFil: Paparini, Daniel Esteban. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Química Biológica de la Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Química Biológica de la Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales; ArgentinaFil: Agüero, Mariana. Universidad de Buenos Aires; ArgentinaFil: Mor, Gil. University of Yale; Estados UnidosFil: Perez Leiros, Claudia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Química Biológica de la Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Química Biológica de la Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales; ArgentinaFil: Ramhorst, Rosanna Elizabeth. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Química Biológica de la Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Química Biológica de la Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales; Argentin

Evolving discourse of practices for quality teaching in secondary school mathematics

International audienceThis paper presents initial findings from the project PRAQTAL: PRActices for Quality Teaching. Our project focuses on conceptualizing and identifying teaching practices for quality teaching of secondary school mathematics and physics. This work is driven by the understanding that to document, conceptualize, analyze and promote quality teaching, we need to constitute a discourse which articulates the diverse practices of teachers, in their multiple resolutions, and link them to educational theories on one hand and specific instruments on the other. For this purpose, we adopted Commognition as a conceptual framework. Here, we present our working definition of a teaching practice and our criteria for quality teaching practices. We discuss the procedures for identifying and documenting practices and their representation and illustrate our arguments with an example from the project’s emerging database

Benzene Metabolite, Hydroquinone, Activates the Aryl Hydrocarbon Receptor Pathway in Trophoblasts

Introduction: Benzene is the 6th most produced chemical in the world and a major pollutant that has been shown to have adverse effects on pregnancy. We previously showed that maternal benzene exposure during pregnancy induces maternal immune activation and also leads to an increase in fetal reabsorptions. The molecular mechanism in which benzene induces these negative effects is poorly understood. Here we developed a cellular model of benzene exposure to understand the molecular effect of benzene on trophoblast cells. Specifically, cells were exposed hydroquinone, a major benzene metabolite, in order to determine the molecular mechanism behind the observed maternal immune activation during benzene exposure. Method: Trophoblast cells (Sw.71) were exposed to 25μM of hydroquinone for 2, 4, 8, 16, 24 and 48 hours. Cells were collected at the time intervals specified above for RNA extraction and qPCR analysis. Results: Our data has shown that: 1) hydroquinone treatment activates AhR pathway as CYP1A1 is significantly induced in trophoblast cells; 2) hydroquinone treatment leads to inflammation in the trophoblast cells, which is shown as the significant increase of IL-6 and IL1- gene expression 24 hours after treatment; 3) hydroquinone treatment has a major impact on the ER stress that we reveal increased CHOP expression as early as 2 hours and in the later time points. Additionally, we see an initial increase in BIP. However, BIP is decreased at 24 hours of hydroquinone treatment. This expression pattern suggests that ER stress is being induced after hydroquinone treatment in a short time. 4) hydroquinone treatment induces interferon stimulated genes (ISGs) 24 hours after treatment, such as ISG20, Mx1. Conclusion: Our findings indicate that exposure to the major benzene metabolite, hydroquinone, induces activation of the AhR pathway in trophoblast cells. Activation of this pathway is known to lead to inflammation and ER stress. These processes were observed here by increased levels of inflammatory cytokines (IL-6 and IL1-) and transcription of genes associated with the unfolded protein response. Trophoblast cells exposed to hydroquinone also had higher levels of ISGs. The findings here suggest a potential molecular mechanism by which benzene and its metabolites exert detrimental effects on pregnancy

The Fas/FasL System in Reproduction: Survival and Apoptosis

For centuries, the question of “whether there is life after death” has intrigued the mind of philosophers, and the same question fascinates researchers in the field of apoptosis today. The death of a cell is by no means the end of the story. On the contrary, growing evidence suggests that the clearance of apoptotic bodies by macrophages is an important regulatory component in tissue renewal. Without death by apoptosis, the life of reproductive tissues and their function would not be possible. The survival signals that counteract cell death also prepare the cells for apoptosis, and dead cells are important stimuli for tissue survival. The Fas/FasL system is an important mediator in apoptosis and is and excellent example of this apparently contradictory phenomenon

Entretejidos. Desgarros, hilvanes y puntadas

Entretejidos. Desgarros, hilvanes y puntadas, es un proyecto que nos traslada al núcleo de la tradición rural. Allí donde el tejido y la construcción de piedra seca caracterizan y definen el lugar. Estas manifestaciones populares vinculadas a la localidad de La Iglesuela del Cid –donde se halla mi origen y mis raíces-, caracterizan la forma de vida de esta zona. Las obras que componen este proyecto toman el lenguaje de estos procesos artesanales para transformarlo y darle nuevas connotaciones creando un lenguaje propio que nos habla de un pasado reciente y unos medios. La materia es el medio de expresión de las obras que se utiliza mediante el gesto realizado entre la mancha y el relieve de la tela, haciendo que lo textil –vinculado a la tradición local- y lo pictórico dialoguen en la misma superficie del cuadro. El objetivo de la obra de arte es reconstruir un tiempo pasado, una forma de vida marcada por historias y recuerdos, que se tejen con el fin de permanecer a través del arte. Y al mismo tiempo sensibilizar y producir una reflexión acerca de las tradiciones y costumbres que determinan el modo de vida de un lugar en concreto, el medio rural

Loss of Connective Tissue Growth Factor Expression Promotes Remodeling of the Extracellular Matrix and Epithelial-to-Mesenchymal Transition in Ovarian Cancer

Background: Ovarian Cancer (OC) is the leading cause of death from gynecologic malignancies in the United States largely due to the advanced stage at the time of diagnosis. Epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a key biological process implicated in the pathophysiology of the metastatic spread of OC. Discovering the “trigger/s,” its downstream targets, and therapeutic targeting are essential to substantively improve the survival of women with OC. The objective of our study is to evaluate the role of Connective Tissue Growth Factor (CTGF) in EMT in OC. Methods: R182 and R2615 are well-described epithelial OC cell and MR182 and MR2615 are the mesenchymal counterparts. R182/R2615 CTGF knock outs (KO) were derived utilizing a Cas9/CRISPR-Cas9 lentivirus plasmid vector and verified by indel sequencing. Invasion, anoikis resistance, and chemosensitivity assays were performed in wild-type (WT) and KO cells. RNA sequence analysis was performed and analyzed using iPathway guide. Top five upregulated and downregulated genes involved in ECM organization pathway were validated by quantitative PCR (qPCR). Immunofluorescence was performed for F-actin. Results: CTGF was expressed in the epithelial and not in the mesenchymal OC cell lines. Loss of CTGF was associated with anoikis resistance, where KO and WT cells displayed 75% and 10% viability, respectively. KO cells were significantly more invasive than WT cells. Administration of exogeneous CTGF in KO cells decreased invasion in a dose dependent manner. No change was seen in chemosensitivity to Cisplatin in KO cells. RNA seq analysis identified ECM organization as the biologic process most affected by loss of CTGF. Upregulated (FREM2, LAMC2, ITGB4) and downregulated (SPP1, SV2A, RELN, COL6A3, COL4A6) extracellular matrix genes were validated by qPCR. Immunofluorescence staining of F-actin demonstrated increased cytoskeleton expression of F-actin in CTGF KO cells. Conclusion: Our data suggests that CTGF expression maintains the epithelial phenotype in OC. Loss of CTGF may be one of the early triggers of EMT in OC through extracellular matrix remodeling affecting anoikis and adhesion characteristics, thus acquiring a more migratory and invasive phenotype

Cytogenetic features of human trophoblast cell lines SWAN-71 and 3A-subE

Immortalization of primary cells with telomerase is thought to maintain normal phenotypic properties and avoid chromosomal abnormalities and other cancer-associated changes that occur following simian virus 40 tumor antigen (SV40 Tag) induced immortalization. However, we report that the human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT)-immortalized SWAN-71 trophoblast cell line has a near pentaploid 103∼119,XXXX[cp20] karyotype. Additionally, DNA typing analysis indicated that SWAN-71 cells have acquired microsatellite instability. In comparison, the post-crisis SV40-transformed trophoblast cell line 3A-subE was hypertriploid 69∼81,XX[cp20]. Both cell lines contained multiple specific clonal rearrangements. These findings emphasize the need to monitor for genetic instability in hTERT-immortalized cells