In men with metastatic, hormone-sensitive prostate cancer who were receiving testosterone suppression, the addition of enzalutamide led to significantly longer progression-free and overall survival ...than the addition of standard nonsteroidal antiandrogen therapy. The better outcome was less clear among patients who had received docetaxel.
Entangled states are a key resource in fundamental quantum physics, quantum cryptography and quantum computation. Introduction of controlled unitary processes--quantum gates--to a quantum system has ...so far been the most widely used method to create entanglement deterministically. These processes require high-fidelity state preparation and minimization of the decoherence that inevitably arises from coupling between the system and the environment, and imperfect control of the system parameters. Here we combine unitary processes with engineered dissipation to deterministically produce and stabilize an approximate Bell state of two trapped-ion quantum bits (qubits), independent of their initial states. Compared with previous studies that involved dissipative entanglement of atomic ensembles or the application of sequences of multiple time-dependent gates to trapped ions, we implement our combined process using trapped-ion qubits in a continuous time-independent fashion (analogous to optical pumping of atomic states). By continuously driving the system towards the steady state, entanglement is stabilized even in the presence of experimental noise and decoherence. Our demonstration of an entangled steady state of two qubits represents a step towards dissipative state engineering, dissipative quantum computation and dissipative phase transitions. Following this approach, engineered coupling to the environment may be applied to a broad range of experimental systems to achieve desired quantum dynamics or steady states. Indeed, concurrently with this work, an entangled steady state of two superconducting qubits was demonstrated using dissipation.
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DOBA, IJS, IZUM, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Summary
Food allergy is a growing clinical and public health problem world‐wide. The rising incidence is occurring more rapidly than changes to the genome sequence would allow, but it is yet to be ...determined whether environmental factors might act in interaction with genetic risk. That is to say, are environmental factors more likely to affect those genetically at risk? Family history is a strong risk factor for the development of food allergy as it co‐aggregates with other atopic diseases and as such genetic factors do play an important role in food allergy risk. However, significant interest has now turned to the role of epigenetic modifications of the genome as the major mediator of gene–environment interaction. The consideration of the role of epigenetics in food allergy is likely to provide an insight into aetiological and biological disease mechanisms. This paper discusses the current state of knowledge regarding genetic and environmental risk factors for food allergy, and considers the potential for furthering our understanding of food allergy aetiology by examining the role of epigenetic variation.
Cite this as: T. H.‐T. Tan, J. A. Ellis, R. Saffery and K. J. Allen, Clinical & Experimental Allergy, 2012 (42) 20–29.
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BFBNIB, DOBA, FZAB, GIS, IJS, IZUM, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
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The Role of Chemokines in Wound Healing Ridiandries, Anisyah; Tan, Joanne T M; Bursill, Christina A
International journal of molecular sciences,
10/2018, Volume:
19, Issue:
10
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
Wound healing is a multistep process with four overlapping but distinct stages: hemostasis, inflammation, proliferation, and remodeling. An alteration at any stage may lead to the development of ...chronic non-healing wounds or excessive scar formation. Impaired wound healing presents a significant health and economic burden to millions of individuals worldwide, with diabetes mellitus and aging being major risk factors. Ongoing understanding of the mechanisms that underly wound healing is required for the development of new and improved therapies that increase repair. Chemokines are key regulators of the wound healing process. They are involved in the promotion and inhibition of angiogenesis and the recruitment of inflammatory cells, which release growth factors and cytokines to facilitate the wound healing process. Preclinical research studies in mice show that the administration of CCL2, CCL21, CXCL12, and a CXCR4 antagonist as well as broad-spectrum inhibition of the CC-chemokine class improve the wound healing process. The focus of this review is to highlight the contributions of chemokines during each stage of wound healing and to discuss the related molecular pathologies in complex and chronic non-healing wounds. We explore the therapeutic potential of targeting chemokines as a novel approach to overcome the debilitating effects of impaired wound healing.
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IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UL, UM, UPUK
Virus-specific humoral and cellular immunity act synergistically to protect the host from viral infection. We interrogate the dynamic changes of virological and immunological parameters in 12 ...patients with symptomatic acute SARS-CoV-2 infection from disease onset to convalescence or death. We quantify SARS-CoV-2 viral RNA in the respiratory tract in parallel with antibodies and circulating T cells specific for various structural (nucleoprotein NP, membrane M, ORF3a, and spike) and non-structural (ORF7/8, NSP7, and NSP13) proteins. Although rapid induction and quantity of humoral responses associate with an increase in disease severity, early induction of interferon (IFN)-γ-secreting SARS-CoV-2-specific T cells is present in patients with mild disease and accelerated viral clearance. These findings provide support for the prognostic value of early functional SARS-CoV-2-specific T cells with important implications in vaccine design and immune monitoring.
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•Longitudinal immunological analyses of COVID-19 from onset until outcome•Early induction of SARS-CoV-2-specific T cells is associated with mild COVID-19•Detection of functional SARS-CoV-2-specific T cells has prognostic value
Tan et al. longitudinally analyzed the virological and immunological parameters in COVID-19 patients from disease onset until resolution or death. Early induction of functional SARS-CoV-2-specific T cells was observed in patients with mild disease and rapid viral clearance. This supports the prognostic value of detecting SARS-CoV-2-specific T cells.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
The efficacy of virus-specific T cells in clearing pathogens involves a fine balance between antiviral and inflammatory features. SARS-CoV-2-specific T cells in individuals who clear SARS-CoV-2 ...without symptoms could reveal nonpathological yet protective characteristics. We longitudinally studied SARS-CoV-2-specific T cells in a cohort of asymptomatic (n = 85) and symptomatic (n = 75) COVID-19 patients after seroconversion. We quantified T cells reactive to structural proteins (M, NP, and Spike) using ELISpot and cytokine secretion in whole blood. Frequencies of SARS-CoV-2-specific T cells were similar between asymptomatic and symptomatic individuals, but the former showed an increased IFN-γ and IL-2 production. This was associated with a proportional secretion of IL-10 and proinflammatory cytokines (IL-6, TNF-α, and IL-1β) only in asymptomatic infection, while a disproportionate secretion of inflammatory cytokines was triggered by SARS-CoV-2-specific T cell activation in symptomatic individuals. Thus, asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2-infected individuals are not characterized by weak antiviral immunity; on the contrary, they mount a highly functional virus-specific cellular immune response.
The ability of innate immune cells to sense and respond to impending danger varies by anatomical location. The liver is considered tolerogenic but is still capable of mounting a successful immune ...response to clear various infections. To understand whether hepatic immune cells tune their response to different infectious challenges, we probed mononuclear cells purified from human healthy and diseased livers with distinct pathogen-associated molecules. We discovered that only the TLR8 agonist ssRNA40 selectively activated liver-resident innate immune cells to produce substantial quantities of IFN-γ. We identified CD161(Bright) mucosal-associated invariant T (MAIT) and CD56(Bright) NK cells as the responding liver-resident innate immune cells. Their activation was not directly induced by the TLR8 agonist but was dependent on IL-12 and IL-18 production by ssRNA40-activated intrahepatic monocytes. Importantly, the ssRNA40-induced cytokine-dependent activation of MAIT cells mirrored responses induced by bacteria, i.e., generating a selective production of high levels of IFN-γ, without the concomitant production of TNF-α or IL-17A. The intrahepatic IFN-γ production could be detected not only in healthy livers, but also in HBV- or HCV-infected livers. In conclusion, the human liver harbors a network of immune cells able to modulate their immunological responses to different pathogen-associated molecules. Their ability to generate a strong production of IFN-γ upon stimulation with TLR8 agonist opens new therapeutic opportunities for the treatment of diverse liver pathologies.
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DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
The accurate computation of Hamiltonian ground, excited and thermal states on quantum computers stands to impact many problems in the physical and computer sciences, from quantum simulation to ...machine learning. Given the challenges posed in constructing large-scale quantum computers, these tasks should be carried out in a resource-efficient way. In this regard, existing techniques based on phase estimation or variational algorithms display potential disadvantages; phase estimation requires deep circuits with ancillae, that are hard to execute reliably without error correction, while variational algorithms, while flexible with respect to circuit depth, entail additional high-dimensional classical optimization. Here, we introduce the quantum imaginary time evolution and quantum Lanczos algorithms, which are analogues of classical algorithms for finding ground and excited states. Compared with their classical counterparts, they require exponentially less space and time per iteration, and can be implemented without deep circuits and ancillae, or high-dimensional optimization. We furthermore discuss quantum imaginary time evolution as a subroutine to generate Gibbs averages through an analogue of minimally entangled typical thermal states. Finally, we demonstrate the potential of these algorithms via an implementation using exact classical emulation as well as through prototype circuits on the Rigetti quantum virtual machine and Aspen-1 quantum processing unit.The quantum imaginary time evolution and Lanczos algorithms offer a resource-efficient way to compute ground or excited states of target Hamiltonians on quantum computers. This offers promise for quantum simulation on near-term noisy devices.
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FZAB, GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, MFDPS, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, SBMB, SBNM, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK, VKSCE, ZAGLJ
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) breakthrough infections in vaccinated individuals and reinfections in previously infected individuals have become increasingly common. ...Such infections highlight a broader need to understand the contribution of vaccination, including booster doses, and natural immunity to the infectiousness of individuals with SARS-CoV-2 infections, especially in high-risk populations with intense transmission, such as in prisons. Here we show that both vaccine-derived and naturally acquired immunity independently reduce the infectiousness of persons with Omicron variant SARS-CoV-2 infections in a prison setting. Analyzing SARS-CoV-2 surveillance data from December 2021 to May 2022 across 35 California state prisons with a predominately male population, we estimate that unvaccinated Omicron cases had a 36% (95% confidence interval (CI): 31-42%) risk of transmitting infection to close contacts, as compared to a 28% (25-31%) risk among vaccinated cases. In adjusted analyses, we estimated that any vaccination, prior infection alone and both vaccination and prior infection reduced an index case's risk of transmitting infection by 22% (6-36%), 23% (3-39%) and 40% (20-55%), respectively. Receipt of booster doses and more recent vaccination further reduced infectiousness among vaccinated cases. These findings suggest that, although vaccinated and/or previously infected individuals remain highly infectious upon SARS-CoV-2 infection in this prison setting, their infectiousness is reduced compared to individuals without any history of vaccination or infection. This study underscores benefit of vaccination to reduce, but not eliminate, transmission.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK, ZAGLJ
IntroductionThere are serious adverse effects on the physical and mental wellbeing of patients with alcohol use disorders.It is important to screen and provide brief intervention for these group of ...patients during their inpatient admission.Prompt identification and treatment of patients with alcohol use disorders are contingent on the attitudes of healthcare workers towards them.Non-psychiatric doctors and nurses might respond inadequately due to negative attitudes and beliefs.ObjectivesWe examined the attitudes of non-psychiatric workers in the medical and surgical wards.MethodsThe Alcohol & Alcohol-Problems Perceptions Questionnaire (AAPPQ) was administered to 128 doctors and 785 nurses from the medical and surgical disciplines in a tertiary hospital.Results75.5% of doctors and 51.9% of nurses endorsed the domain of role legitimacy in the AAPPQ.However both groups reported low-levels of role-adequacy (combined: 41.2%), role-support (combined: 36.9%), motivation (combined: 36.5%), task-specific self-esteem (combined: 25.1) and work satisfaction (combined: 20.5%) in the AAPPQ.ConclusionsWhile non-psychiatric healthcare workers acknowledged the importance to initiating intervention for patients with alcohol-use disorder in daily work, there were low levels of therapeutic commitments towards patients with problematic alcohol-use.It is vital to introduce in-house programmes to educate, empower and emphasise the importance of therapeutic contact with patients for alcohol intervention.Disclosure of InterestNone Declared
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