Checklist of phytoplankton taxa in the Iranian waters of the Caspian Sea

Phytoplankton taxa composition of the Caspian Sea were evaluated by using samples collected at 12 stations along the Iranian coast of the Caspian Sea between 1996 and 2010. This study identified 158 phytoplankton species consisted of diatoms (70 species), dinoflagellates (23 species), chlorophytes (29 species), cyanophytes (31 species), and euglenoids (5 species). The dominant species were the diatoms Thalassionema nitzschioides, Dactyliosolen fragilissimus, the dinoflagellate Prorocentrum cordatum, and the cyanophyte of genus Oscillatoria. The average species diversity index of phytoplankton community was 1.88 as recorded in this study. There were main changes in phytoplankton composition as compared with previous study. It could be related to the severe human activities and difference in sampling strategies

Quantum-dot-spin single-photon interface

Using background-free detection of spin-state-dependent resonance fluorescence from a single-electron charged quantum dot with an efficiency of 0:1%, we realize a single spin-photon interface where the detection of a scattered photon with 300 picosecond time resolution projects the quantum dot spin to a definite spin eigenstate with fidelity exceeding 99%. The bunching of resonantly scattered photons reveals information about electron spin dynamics. High-fidelity fast spin-state initialization heralded by a single photon enables the realization of quantum information processing tasks such as non-deterministic distant spin entanglement. Given that we could suppress the measurement back-action to well below the natural spin-flip rate, realization of a quantum non-demolition measurement of a single spin could be achieved by increasing the fluorescence collection efficiency by a factor exceeding 20 using a photonic nanostructure

Phytoplankton population structure of the Anzali wetland (2010 and 2011)

Phytoplankton groups are very important producers in the Anzali wetland having a significant role in the quality and need to be constantly studied in term of their sequence and density. This survey was conducted at 6 stations between March 2011 and February 2012. According to the results, 67 different genera (22 Bacillariophyta, 26 Chlorophyta, 9 Cyanobacteria, 5 Cryptophyta, 1 Euglenophyta, 2 Chrysophyta, 1Dinoflgellata and 1 Xanthophyta) were identified. Most observed in Sorkhankol and Karkan stations with the annual average of 24.4±5.6 and 20.4± 5.4 cells/ liter respectively. The Bacillariophyta particularly Cyclotella was dominant in all of the stations, but high abundance of Cyanobacteria in Karkan station from July to mid-October caused the annual average of this phylum to be more than Bacillariophyta. The highest and lowest phytoplankton abundances were observed in September and December, respectively. The number of phytoplankton genera and diversity in this study were less than previous studies

Quantum Teleportation from a Propagating Photon to a Solid-State Spin Qubit

The realization of a quantum interface between a propagating photon used for transmission of quantum information, and a stationary qubit used for storage and manipulation, has long been an outstanding goal in quantum information science. A method for implementing such an interface between dissimilar qubits is quantum teleportation, which has attracted considerable interest not only as a versatile quantum-state-transfer method but also as a quantum computational primitive. Here, we experimentally demonstrate transfer of quantum information carried by a photonic qubit to a quantum dot spin qubit using quantum teleportation. In our experiment, a single photon in a superposition state of two colors -- a photonic qubit is generated using selective resonant excitation of a neutral quantum dot. We achieve an unprecedented degree of indistinguishability of single photons from different quantum dots by using local electric and magnetic field control. To teleport a photonic qubit, we generate an entangled spin-photon state in a second quantum dot located 5 meters away from the first and interfere the photons from the two dots in a Hong-Ou-Mandel set-up. A coincidence detection at the output of the interferometer heralds successful teleportation, which we verify by measuring the resulting spin state after its coherence time is prolonged by an optical spin-echo pulse sequence. The demonstration of successful inter-conversion of photonic and semiconductor spin qubits constitute a major step towards the realization of on-chip quantum networks based on semiconductor nano-structures.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figures, Comments welcom

The role of the Th1 chemokine CXCL10 in vitiligo

Editoria

Challenging loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) technique for molecular detection of Toxoplasma gondii

Objective: To compare analytical sensitivity and specificity of a newly described DNA amplification technique, LAMP and nested PCR assay targeting the RE and B1 genes for the detection of Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) DNA. Methods: The analytical sensitivity of LAMP and nested-PCR was obtained against10-fold serial dilutions of T. gondii DNA ranging from 1 ng to 0.01 fg. DNA samples of other parasites and human chromosomal DNA were used to determine the specificity of molecular assays. Results: After testing LAMP and nested-PCR in duplicate, the detection limit of RE-LAMP, B1-LAMP, RE-nested PCR and B1-nested PCR assays was one fg, 100 fg, 1 pg and 10 pg of T. gondii DNA respectively. All the LAMP assays and nested PCRs were 100 specific. The RE-LAMP assay revealed the most sensitivity for the detection of T. gondii DNA. Conclusions: The obtained results demonstrate that the LAMP technique has a greater sensitivity for detection of T. gondii. Furthermore, these findings indicate that primers based on the RE are more suitable than those based on the B1 gene. However, the B1-LAMP assay has potential as a diagnostic tool for detection of T. gondii. © 2015 Hainan Medical College